The Keepers Book Two of the Holding Kate Series (11 page)

She drew strength from our presence and stood up, hands still clasped and against her chin. Looking over the lid of the casket, she froze, face contorted in a grimace.

Anger flared, and she jerked backward. Pushing me aside, she stomped around to her mother’s casket, approaching her father. He bent over the body of her mother.

Kate shoved at his arm. “Get away from her!”

He jerked up, startled by her vehemence. Kate slapped him as hard as she could. “You don’t deserve a chance to say goodbye,” she wailed and shoved at him. I ran to her and she lost all strength, collapsing into my arms.

“Corey, Corey! I can’t stand it.”

Her father staggered back into a spray of flowers, knocking them over. Trip had run around behind him and steadied him from falling over.

“Nooo. Make him get away from her, Corey! Make him leave her alone!” She sobbed into my chest.

I caught Trip’s eye and jutted my chin toward the door. He clenched his jaw and turned to Kate’s father. “Sir, are you finished?”

Mr. Wilson straightened his posture and adjusted his jacket, then nodded curtly. He gazed at Kate over Trip’s shoulder. His face fractured into unfathomable loss, guilt, and grief. He broke down and wrapped his face in a hanky. His wife took his hand.

“Then let’s give Kate some time alone with them.” Trip escorted them to the door, handed him over to the funeral director, and shut the door behind them. He turned and fell into his familiar bouncer stance, guarding us.

Kate, hunched over her mother, reached down and touched her dress and then her hair. She spoke softly, cooing as she would to a child. She tucked something into her folded hands. Then she reached over and drew me to her side.

“This is my Corey. I wanted you to meet him. He is my husband, Mommy. He is going to take good care of me now.” Her voice splintered into a high-pitched whisper of a wail, and her knees buckled. I held her up and cradled her to my chest while she sobbed.

“Kate, my darling, Kate,” I whispered into her hair and kissed her temple. I could feel her pain, physically. It clamped my organs in a vice grip. I sent up a prayer for her strength.

She finally stilled into sighs and sniffs.

“Kate, love. Do you want to see Jimmy?”

She nodded. I directed her over to the small silver casket, careful to bear her weight as much as I could. People had tucked tiny treasures inside the casket. A Spider Man action figure, a Pokemon index, a bag of Skittles, and a Mario pin were among some of the things kindred had given as their final token.

Jimmy and Kate were as different as two siblings could be. Thick, bright, red hair topped a round beefy face dotted with freckles. To the degree that Kate appeared feminine and slight, he looked big for his age and all boy. Tears trickled down my face at this sweet life stolen so young. We were meant to have a lifetime together. I had always wanted a little brother, and I had anticipated spoiling this one rotten, bonding and building a life of security and love around Kate. That future evaporated in sorrow.

I watched Kate. She seemed almost serene as she gazed at her brother’s body. She placed her cheek against his little chest and began softly humming. I didn’t recognize the tune, a haunting lullaby in minor scales. Her hands trembled as she rearranged all of his treasures into safe little nooks and pockets, then reached into her own pocket and slipped something into his hands. “Goodbye, Jimmy-Jim-Jim.”

She stood up and braced herself on the edge of the casket. I pressed against her side and slid my arm around her waist. She transferred her dependence to me. We walked over to Trip and he escorted us to the waiting limo.

The graveside ceremony depleted us, odious and tragic. We stayed long after the other guests had left and watched butterflies flit around the flowers piled on the caskets. We sat in the grass and talked about how nice a spot her grandparents had chosen. They were buried in a family plot. Kate and I made plans to reserve the surrounding area and have it fenced in with a nice wrought iron gate and family marker. She thought they would like that. Trip, Tara, Donnie, and Mel stood under a nearby tree and waited until Kate had recovered enough to move onto the gathering.

The church had prepared a meal, so we all went back and met Kate’s family and friends. Kate stiffened when her dad came over to our table. She clenched my hand under the table.

“Who is your friend, Katie?”

She stared at the still full plate in front her and steeled her emotions. “Daddy, this is Corey Chastain, the love of my life.” She raised her eyes to mine, love and commitment glimmered there.

Her dad warmed up to me a little after that, but his focus slid back and forth between Trip and me in confusion.

The Chartreuse team left after the graveside ceremony. They were escorted back to the village by Dirk. Struck with the irony, I mulled over the fact that my 230 year old friends needed to be accompanied by my 22 year old friend as a legal guardian.

The Keepers stayed the night with us in a penthouse suite of a chain hotel owned by the same company that owned the village. Kate refused to go to her father’s house. Evidently, she hadn’t completely dealt with her anger on her jump.
Complete forgiveness is an investment in time and determination.

The next morning as Kate lay awake in my arms, we stared at the blinking light of the smoke detector mounted on the ceiling. She whispered. “Take me home, Corey.”

“I’ll call a cab.” I reached to the bedside table for my phone. “What is your dad’s address?”

She took my face in her hands. “Take me home to First Cabin.”

WE FLEW BACK
on a commercial airline and set up house in First Cabin. Mama Ty and Dirk thought it would be best for the quest if Kate had some time to grieve before we jumped into our investigation of the Inner Circle. So we walked the hills hand in hand, fished in our private little pond, sat on the porch rockers and sipped lemonade. In addition to seeing a therapist, we kept up intense weapons training with Trip and Tara and that seemed to be as much therapy as the joint or individual sessions. At night we read the dossier files to the other Keepers, Trip, Tara, Mel, Donnie, and Dirk. We used the files to discuss each of the 12 scientists and professionals who made up the Inner Circle. We decided the more we knew about the people who collectively sourced the jumps, the easier it would be to reveal which one was the saboteur.

At times Kate would wander off alone, and I would find her in a fetal position by a tree crying, or sitting on a rock in a lone meadow staring into the ghostly past where memories stalked her.

I found her in the woods one day sitting in Trip’s lap sobbing into his chest as he stroked her hair and sang a soft song to her. I backed away and gave them some space, though my heart shrank.

I found them on a different day sitting in the rockers on the front porch, holding hands. Kate smiled at me and motioned for me to join them. She stood up, pushed me down into her rocker, then crawled into my lap before reaching for Trip’s hand again. I grinned, glad she didn’t try to hide it. Somehow it made it seem more platonic. Trip’s face turned bright red, though. I think he had the same thought but did not take comfort in it.

I wanted Kate to be whole. If Trip could help her along that path, then I couldn’t begrudge him for being willing to give of himself to my wife. Could I?

Secretly, though, I burned with jealousy. I wanted to be everything to Kate as she fulfilled me. I wanted her to take comfort only from me, and I wanted to be enough for her. I died a little every time I realized the draw Trip had on her, and his willingness to be her protector and strength.

The time finally came when Kate’s therapist released her to go on the jumps, and Kate agreed, eager to get on with it. The call came from Mama Ty, we were on green status. The jumps could start at any time, and Eunavae traveled across campus to bring us baked muffins from Kim. Eunavae would be the target jumper. We had decided in order to more fully control the jumps, we’d take one Chartreuse team member along on each jump. Since we had all had our own jump therapies, they would take a turn at being the target of the Inner Circle, allowing us to more fully observe the intricacies of how the perpetrator manipulated and sabotaged the jump. We hoped we could identify the infiltrator quicker this way.

We gathered our supplies, suited up in our jump attire and stood on the front porch waiting for Eunavae. When she zipped up to First Cabin in the golf cart, she stepped out with a large basket covered with napkins. She glanced at the cabin then jerked a double take at us all standing on the front porch. She stilled, raised her brows and turned her head suspiciously from side to side, eyes darting. We burst out laughing.

“What are you all doing out here?” she asked as she climbed the steps toward us in a slow and measured pace.

“Waiting for you,” Tara answered with a brow cocked. Then the screeching started and she pointed up before adding, “And that.”

The sphere descended, and we were vacuumed into the spinning vortex that dissipated into miniscule fizzes of light and winked out all around us.

Kate hung in front of me her hair fanning out around her in a spray. Each member of the team dangled at odd angles, floating around. The supplies drifted in suspended gravity.

“What the hell?” Dirk grumbled and threw his arms out to his sides. The sudden movement propelled him down to the soft spongy ground beneath us. His boots barely tapped the soil, and he ricocheted back toward us. I slowly reached out and grabbed his arm as he floated by me.

“Zero gravity?” Donnie whispered.

“Not zero, but close,” I murmured. “Okay, everyone, slowly grab a crate.”

A comedy of errors ensued as Eunavae overshot her crate and slammed into Trip, sending him tumbling over Kate. She grabbed his shoe as he passed her, and his significant mass dragged her along.

“Whaaahhh!” She made a noise that started in the back of her throat and grew in volume as she whisked away, tumbling head over heels. Trip had a good hold on her as they somersaulted into the distance.

We burst out laughing, the surprise on her face, priceless. Exhilarated by the buoyant feeling of freefall, or maybe the thin air on this jump compelled us. Whatever the reason we laughed until our sides hurt.

Kate called my name indignantly and that sent us into another fit of chuckles. Their momentum slowed, so I knew they wouldn’t get too far away from us.

Dirk and I sank to the ground and then assisted the others to a landing. Trip and Kate were a dot on the horizon, but they appeared to be descending too.