Ben smiled to himself, shaking his head when the stack of checkers fell to the floor. Dropping to his knees, he picked them up, counting by fives out loud for each one he picked up. “Batter up,” he beamed once he retook his seat to begin stacking again.
All at once I knew what I had to do. “I know what I want,” I said, my eyes on the man whose life I’d utterly destroyed. “Can you fix Ben? Alter reality so it’s as if he and I never met at all? Then he could go back to being a cop and he’d have his normal life back before all this craziness happened.” I turned to face Gabriel. “Can you do that?”
“As you wish,” Gabriel nodded.
“Good.” I let out another long breath. “Good, so um, how does this work? Is there some kind of spell, or does the Big Kahuna have to give the order?”
“We all have the power within us to shape the world, you have only to learn how to use it. Take my hands.” He held out his palms to me. “Lend me your Grace and I will show you.”
“Right now? Here?” My eyes darted around nervously, but none of the other residents or staff paid us any attention whatsoever.
“You would prefer to wait?” he asked, and I shook my head, gingerly placing my hands in his. “Have faith, Merceline. All will be well.”
“Right,” I nodded, more than a little nervous. What if it didn’t go well and taking Ben out of the picture screwed up something else? Would it just affect people’s memories? How much of reality were we changing? I tried to trust Gabriel to know what he was doing. “Goodbye, Ben. Good luck, I wish you a happy, normal, quiet life.”
“Quiet is as quiet does,” he murmured, eyes never leaving the stack of checkers.
“Okay, what do I do?”
“Relax, and leave everything to me,” Gabriel replied, his tone oddly commanding. His eyes drifted shut and his chest rose as he took in a deep breath. Instead of the incantation I expected, his mouth opened to accommodate a low note of song, almost like a Gregorian chant but with no words.
As I watched, his voice grew louder, expanding to fill the room, though no one else seemed to notice. The tone deepened and intensified and it sounded like a score of voices singing at once. I found myself singing along, knowing instinctively how to join my Grace with his. I became a part of the sound, and it filled all my senses, obscuring everything but the truth in the tone. All too soon it faded and I became aware that we still sat at the table, our hands joined, but there was no sign of Ben anywhere.
“Did it work?” I yawned, trying to clear the ringing sensation in my ears that lingered.
“It is done,” Gabriel said simply, releasing my hands. “His life has been restored and he will not know you should you come face to face in the future.”
“Thank you.” I sat back in my chair. There, at least I could say I’d done something right. “Listen, about this Clarion thing. Are you sure I’m the right choice for this thing? Half of the angels don’t want to listen to anything I have to say anyway.”
“You, more than anyone, have the ability to make them listen, Merceline,” he smiled, rising to his feet.
“If you say so,” I muttered. “How often will I have to serve as your messenger?”
“When the need arises,” he replied, and I bit back the urge to thank him for vagueing that up for me. “You’ll know what to do when the time comes.”
“Super.” I smiled with false cheer, standing up to get out of there before someone asked me what I was doing in the looney bin. “Listen, thanks again. I just hope it was enough to set Ben’s life back on track.” It was tempting to try and sneak a peek and make sure Ben was alright, but I didn’t want to risk him getting mixed up in my life again.
Gabriel simply nodded, but turned back as an afterthought before he left. “You chose wisely.”
* * *
The whole way home I second guessed myself, despite Gabriel’s assertion that I’d made the right choice. Could I have somehow worded the request to restore Parker’s memories too? Or would that leave things open to tumble down the same path again? I had to face the facts. There were no easy outs. Parker and I would rebuild what we had before, I just had to give it some time.
But the moment I stepped across the threshold Parker ambushed me, capturing my mouth in a deep, passionate kiss.
“Wow, you really missed me, huh? I’ll have to go out and come back more often,” I quipped once he let me come up for air.
“More than you know, darlin’.” His face fairly shone with excitement, and I couldn’t help but think he knew something I didn’t.
“What is it? What did I miss while I was out?”
“It’s not what you missed, it’s what I found.”
“You lost me,” I stared at him blankly.
“I’ve got it all back. The past few months, our time together.”
“Are you kidding me? How?”
“I have no idea. I was winding up the mobile for Bunny’s nap and it all came flooding back, just like that.”
“Gabriel…” I murmured, that had to be it. Somehow he’d decided I deserved a bonus maybe? “It had to be him. I saw him while I was visiting Ben.”
“Visiting who?”
That solved the question of whether or not Ben’s reality and mine were separated. It begged the question, where did Parker think I’d gone out to? I dismissed it as unimportant. “It doesn’t matter, none of that matters. Are you alright though? Is it weird merging those realities in your head?” Clearly he hadn’t just gone back to the way things were before, he remembered having those missing memories, that was a little different from just rewinding things.
“Yeah, it’s fine, I’m good. Better than good. I’m just so… God, you can’t imagine what it’s like to know a piece of you is missing and holding you back from everything you know you should feel.” He wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me close again.
“Then you remember everything?”
“I remember it all. The late night cravings for chili fries, the back rubs, that awful movie with the hairy couple, everything that matters. I remember every bit of
awesome
.”
“Oh, you do, do you?” I settled my arms around his neck, matching his smile. “I’m sorry things haven’t been so awesome between us these past few weeks. It’s just been crazy trying to settle back in and taking care of Bunny and…”
“No, I know, I get it.” He let me off the hook, fingers tugging at the belt loops of my jeans to pull me closer. “There’s no reason why they can’t be awesome between us now though, is there?”
“You mean now, now?” I pressed my body against the length of his, a teasing smile on my lips as I kissed him. I could feel just how ready he was to take things to the next level between us.
“You’re not gonna make me wait any longer, are you?”
I was tired of waiting. There was nothing to stand between us and I wanted nothing more than to take that final step with Parker. “How long ago did you put Bunny down for a nap?” I whispered at his ear, catching hold of the delicate lobe between my teeth for a little love bite. The effect was electrifying. Parker pulled me in for a possessive kiss, his hands roaming freely over my body. Not to be left out, I responded in kind, tugging his shirt free to slip my hands underneath, exploring the strong planes of his back.
“About twenty minutes ago, she should be good for a couple of hours,” he managed to get out between kisses as he tugged my shirt up and over my head. No sooner had he said the words than Bunny proved him a liar. For such a little thing, she sure had a piercing cry. Parker let out a little whimper of his own, his head resting against mine. “Perfect timing.”
“It’s okay, there’s no rush. We have the rest of our lives together.” Of course there was still a huge chance I’d outlive him by eternity, but I didn’t want to think about that for the moment. “I’ll go see what our Mistress wants and I’ll come right back to you.” I gave him a brief kiss, trying to untangle my shirt enough to get it back on.
“No, you leave that off,” Parker shook his head with a grin. “I’ll go get her settled back down and I’ll meet you in the bedroom.”
“Are you sure?” I already had my arms in anyway.
“Yeah, I’m sure, I got this.” He stole another quick kiss. “Give me ten minutes, tops.”
But he didn’t move another muscle. Not a single one. It took me a few seconds to realize he was completely frozen in place. “Parker?” I patted his unresponsive cheek. That’s when I noticed the baby had gone silent. “Oh, sweet Jesus…” My feet barely touched the floor as I zoomed up the stairs, my heart pounding a mile a minute as I burst into the nursery to see Bunny gurgling happily in Adam’s arms.
“What the… Adam! What is wrong with you? Don’t
do
that!” I tugged my shirt the rest of the way on with short, angry movements.
“What?” he blinked innocently. “You said I could visit her whenever I wanted. She missed me, see? Didn’t you, baby Bunny…” he added in a ridiculously saccharine tone. Bunny cooed happily at the attention, and I started to wonder if he’d woken her up deliberately.
“Yeah, you can visit her, but you can’t pop in whenever you want like you own the place. And you sure as hell can’t freeze Parker like that. You almost gave me a freaking heart attack.”
“Oh right, sorry. I didn’t want to have to hear you getting busy with him. Today’s the big day, huh?”
I pressed my lips tightly to keep from letting out a scream of frustration. It took a few seconds, but when I opened my mouth again, I could maintain a civil tone. “If you’d knocked at the door you wouldn’t have had to hear any of it,” I pointed out.
“I didn’t think he’d let me in without you here. You know I’m starting to think he doesn’t like me,” he feigned surprise. “Especially now.”
Then he’d been there for some time… All at once I clued in to the reason for his visit. “That was you who fixed his memory, wasn’t it?” I’d thought Gabriel went out of his way to make things right, but it was Adam all along. “Why would you do that?” I knew he didn’t approve of my relationship with Parker, he could have used the missing memories as a wedge to drive between us.
“Call it an early wedding present.”
“We’re not engaged to be married.”
“It’s not hard to see where this is headed,” he shrugged, rocking Bunny gently in his arms. “As much as I hate to say it, it’s not the worst idea ever, the two of you together. And Bunny seems to like him.”
Was he really the same man who said he’d love me more than any other? Or maybe he finally figured out what that meant. “I don’t know what to say. Thank you for doing this, Adam.”
“You’re welcome, Mama.” He waved Bunny’s little fist. “She helped, didn’t you, sweetheart.”
I didn’t want to think how he’d managed to accomplish that. “Please don’t use our daughter’s Grace, we don’t know what that’ll do to her.”
“Oh relax, it didn’t hurt her. She had a good time, didn’t you, Bunbun?”
“Ugh, don’t call her that. Can’t you be serious for two seconds?” Why did everything have to be a big joke to him?
“I’d never hurt her,” Adam said seriously, holding the baby to his cheek for long seconds before putting her back down in the crib.
“I know you wouldn’t.” Not on purpose anyway. “Look, do you want to stay for dinner or something?”
“No thanks, I don’t think I’m invited for what Parker has planned on the menu. I’d better take off.”
I didn’t know how long he’d be gone this time. Maybe I’d never know. Maybe my life would be full of impromptu visits from Adam whenever he felt like it; freezing Parker, dropping in unannounced. That didn’t sound like the worst thing in the world. “Thanks again, I owe you one.”
“You still owe me a striptease, you know,” he winked. “You could pay me back with that anytime.”
“Someday, maybe,” I smiled.
“Someday,” he nodded thoughtfully, already halfway through the window. “I’ll take it, for now.”
The future held endless possibilities.
Feedback is Love,
If you enjoyed this book, please leave a review today!
Read on for a preview of Lisa Olsen’s novel,
Wake Me When the Sun Goes Down
, available now!
Books by Lisa Olsen:
The Touch
Pretty Witches All in a Row
Moonsong
Nine Steps to Sara
The Fallen Series:
Angel of Mercy
Mercy for the Wicked
Mercy for the Damned
Child of Mercy
Forged Bloodlines Series:
Wake Me When the Sun Goes Down
Meet Me When the Sun Goes Down
Find Me When the Sun Goes Down (Spring 2013)
For more information, visit the author’s website at
http://www.lisaolsen.net
Wake Me When the Sun Goes Down
Chapter One
I couldn’t move.
I wasn’t strapped to the table, or in a straight jacket, though one might have been a good idea in hindsight; I just couldn’t make my limbs obey me. It felt like my entire body was weighed down, as if I’d been mountain climbing all day (not that I’ve ever done such a thing in my lifetime). I couldn’t even turn my head, which was disconcerting, especially since the hard surface at my back didn’t feel at all like my Serta mattress.
My other senses were in overdrive though. Something strong and astringent in the air made the back of my throat tingle unpleasantly. Was my roommate up cleaning the bathroom with a bucket of bleach? No, that didn’t seem quite right. It had a different chemical smell I couldn’t quite place, along with an underlying scent that smelled good. Like the spicy aroma of Chinese food that lingers long after the last egg roll is gone. Besides, I couldn’t picture a world in which Bridget would be up cleaning in the middle of the night.
My skin felt itchy all over, irritated by the rough material pressed up against it. Where were my warm, cuddly pajamas? A sheet was pulled all the way up over my head, as if I’d been trying to hide in my sleep. I noticed my feet were bare, which was really odd. I always slept with at least one pair of socks on, so my feet wouldn’t freeze. They didn’t feel cold at the time though. I didn’t feel hot or cold, just… normal, apart from the fact that I couldn’t move. I took some small comfort in the fact that I wasn’t completely paralyzed with no feeling in my body whatsoever. A muffled but steady thump reached my ears, and in my foggy state I lay there trying to figure out what it was.