Authors: Linda Mooney
She leaned over and lightly kissed his cheek. “Goodbye, Sam. I’ll never forget you, and I’ll never forget Kiel. I promise, and I always keep my promises.”
Pressing her forehead into his shoulder, J silently prayed as exhaustion settled over her. She ached mentally, emotionally, and physically. More than that, she ached in a way she knew she would never ache again.
Everything in her world was gone now. Every time she had loved, it had been taken away from her. It was as though she didn’t deserve any kind of happiness. That she wasn’t worthy of love. Didn’t God already prove that fact to her when He took away her sight before she ever had the chance to experience His beauty in the world?
The tears were back. She felt sick, like she wanted to throw up.
It wasn’t fair! Why should other people be allowed to love and be loved in return, but not her?
It isn’t fair!
“What have I done to be punished like this?” she murmured, clutching the sheet. “Why did you have to take him away from me?
Why?
Kiel. Oh, Kiel.”
Pure, black rage boiled up inside her. She was divided into two selves. One of them bemoaned the fact that she didn’t deserve to be happy. That there had been something she’d done wrong that she didn’t know she had done, which had ultimately sentenced her to live the rest of her life alone. Unwanted and unloved.
The other half screamed she deserved love. To love and be loved in return. That she was innocent, or at the very least, deserving of a second chance. And that everyone was worthy of being cared for.
“I
am
worthy!” she cried out, beating a fist on the mattress. “I
am
worthy! I
am
! I’ve done the best I could, so why am I being punished?
Why am I being punished?
“You brought Kiel into my life. Why?
Why?
How could You be so cruel as to let us have such a short and meager time together?
“Please, if you have any mercy, Lord.” She leaned back over the bed. All the energy had left her. There was nothing in her anymore. Not hate, or anger, or grief. Not even sadness. She was a mere shell with nothing to go home to, and nothing to look forward to.
“If there is any mercy in You, Lord.”
The sheet moved slightly.
J gasped and jerked back.
A muscle spasm.
She had heard about corpses still moving because of all sorts of scientific explanations. Yet…
The sheet moved again. J involuntarily looked toward Sam’s uncovered face.
She blinked. Rubbing her eyes with the backs of her hands, she looked again.
A faint glow surrounded Sam’s head. Faint and barely perceptible, but it was there.
J literally trembled as she stared at the impossible.
The glow wasn’t purple. It wasn’t Sam’s aura. It was white. Almost pure white, tinged with a little gold.
Like Kiel’s.
“He was wrong.”
J gave a little shriek at the sound coming from behind her. She whipped around to see the immense black figure standing a few feet away. Its shape seemed to swallow the room as it filled the small area.
There was nowhere to run. The darkness was between her and the door. J could only stare in growing horror at the thing that had killed everyone but her.
Everyone but her.
He’s come back to finish what he left behind.
“He was wrong,” the Shredder repeated. “He was not to be. I fixed him now.”
It held out a dark arm and pointed at the bed.
“I fixed him,” it repeated.
The blackness wavered in place a moment longer. J remained staring in stunned silence as the inkiness began to lighten, turning gray, then off-white, and then it was completely gone. Dissipated.
“I fixed him.”
She forced herself to turn around, hoping, praying she understood what Conader meant.
Yes. The brightness was there, and it was steadily growing brighter. Stronger. It was a white aura, tinged with a hint of yellow like chrysanthemums in the autumn. But there was also…
J blinked again. No, she wasn’t imagining it. There was some purple in there, too. Not much, not a lot, but unmistakable.
The sheet under her hand moved slightly, and she heard a soft sigh.
Tentatively, she reached out to touch his face. It was Sam’s face. It was Sam who was opening his eyes.
“J?”
It was Sam’s voice.
Fresh tears burned her face. “It’s okay, Sam. I’m here. L-let me go call the doctors and tell them you’re awake, okay?” There was no way she was going to leave him. Instead, she fumbled for the controls on the side of the bed, when his hand stopped her.
“Why are you calling me Sam?”
Her heart nearly stopped as the truth came to her, wide and sparkling like the first morning of the world.
“J?”
“K-Kiel?”
“Yeah, honey. I’m Kiel. Are you okay?”
It was all she could do to lean over him, wrap her arms about his neck, and hold on for dear life. Her senses confirmed what she believed. Only, it was too much to believe in. Too much to hope for. And yet, he was here, alive, breathing and speaking to her.
“Am I in a hospital?”
“Yes.”
“
I fixed him.
”
J trembled. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. What did I do?”
She giggled at his obvious confusion. The giggle brought more tears. “I’ll tell you later. Promise.”
“Oh, just like you’ll tell me one of these days what J stands for?” he softly teased.
His aura was so bright, she would swear it lit up the whole room.
Nuzzling his cheek, she giggled softly. “I already told you, silly. It means I love you.”
He thought for a moment, long enough to let her kiss his cheek. His warm cheek.
“French, huh?”
“Uh-huh.”
“So how do you say ‘I love you’ in French?”
“
Je t’aime.
”
“
Je t’aime
. The J is short for
Je t’aime?
”
“You got it,” she whispered. “Kiel?”
“Yeah?”
“You’re not dead anymore.”
“I, uhh, sort of figured that out. Want to tell me how?”
“Not now. Later.” She gave him another hug, knowing the nurse would soon return. Only this time the woman would be in for the shock of her life to discover the patient was back among the living.
After that, J would have to be here for him when he found out his brother was dead, and that he had been given his own life back in the only way Conader could manage it. Forget the how, but she could guess at the why. Why Conader had buried Kiel’s body beneath the fresh cement patch. It was because he was ashamed of his mistake. Ashamed he had taken an innocent life. That’s why he’d hidden Kiel, and why he had returned once the hiding place had been discovered.
That was why the Shredder had been determined to fix his mistake.
“I fixed it.”
Of course, it was merely a guess. No one would ever find out the real reason, and J no longer had any desire to pursue it further.
Kiel was alive. He was here, back with her. And once they managed to grieve for Sam, to accept the impossibility of what had occurred, and put that part of their lives behind them, they would have the chance to share, to love, and to be happy.
They both had earned it. She had no doubt they both deserved it.
Today would be the start of a new beginning.
Linda loves to write romance with a fantasy or science fiction flair. Her technique is often described as being as visual as a motion picture or graphic novel. By day she is a kindergarten teacher, wife, and mother of two who lives in a small south Texas town near the Gulf Coast. But at night she delves into alternate worlds filled with daring exploits and sensuous, erotic romance.
Included in her accomplishments with Whiskey Creek Press Torrid are ten consecutive Number One Bestsellers, and in March 2010, Linda was named the Whiskey Creek Press Torrid Author of The Year.
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