The Keepers Book Two of the Holding Kate Series (24 page)

“Kate?”

We both turned around and shined our lights in the path. A muffled sound and a sigh reached us, and we careened back down the corridor to find Kate sprawled on her back side.

“Kate!” We both reached out a hand to help her up.

She looked up at us sheepishly and took our offered hands. We helped her to her feet and she let go of our hands to dust herself off. “Hit my head on that.” She pointed to the low place in the corridor.

“How did you get so far from us? I thought you were right behind me,” I asked.

“I got a rock in my shoe and stopped back there to get it out. Where is my flashlight?” She turned in a circle. I found it on the ground under the overhang, switched off. I handed it to her.

“Is your head okay?” I bent her head down to look at it, and then kissed her forehead.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She shifted her eyes to Trip and laughed awkwardly.

“We might as well get back, just in case.” Trip started down the corridor, and Kate hurried along behind him.

We broke out of the cave entrance into the shadowed bay and headed toward camp. Kate kept pace with Trip and didn’t seem to show any harmful side effects from hitting her head. Worried since she just had a head injury on our last jump, I watched her closely.

We got back to camp and found the rest of the team setting out dinner. Kate sat down in the sand and drank two bottles of water and watched everyone. I took a plate to her and another bottle of water and sat and ate with her in silence. We listened to the surf wash in and sigh against the sandy shore.

Kate watched me, giving me sidelong glances and awkward smiles. I thought she must being trying to hide the fact that her head hurt worse than she let on. Then it hit me. She sought a way for us to sneak off together.

Dirk called us over to the campfire for debriefing. Kate found a place next to Trip and sat down beside him.

She scanned the circle and stopped when she saw Tara walk up.

“Tara,” she said, then stiffened her lip while staring at her feet. I sat on the other side of Kate, and Dirk debriefed us on what they found on the south side of the bay.

“There are signs of a civilization around the bend. We saw ships in the distance and evidence of prior campers.”

“We saw people and dragons,” Kate spoke up proudly.

Mel, Donnie, Tara and Dirk turned shocked faces to her.

“Explain.”

“You tell ‘em Trip.” She beamed at him.

Trip glanced at her, then made a double take and locked eyes with her. Something flared up in his gaze, and he smiled back at her.

“Well, we saw kids and dragons,” he said. “They were hanging out together, just playing and swimming. They were being guarded by two really large creatures.”

“Creatures?”

“Yeah big things. Broad build, big heads, and these antler things.” He pantomimed their pincer horns.

Tara and Mel gasped.

We all turned toward them.

“They sound like those creatures in our Scriptorium,” Mel said.

Tara nodded.

Everyone turned their heads to me then to Kate, probably expecting a meltdown like the one at the pool debriefing.

Kate looked up. “What?” she said, stunned by the sudden attention.

Everyone looked away from her except for me. She met my gaze with confusion. Really worried about her head now, I thought she would be more affected that we were possibly in the jump that culminated in her betrayal, but she just seemed confused. It could be a good sign that she’d started to let go of her fear over that situation. God knows she’d had plenty to worry about since then.

“No worries.” I took her hand. She bounced her sight from our hands to Trip and back to me.

Trip told Dirk about the cave we found. We made plans to explore it the following day after we were able to note the tide line.

“So first watch?”

“I’ll stand,” Trip volunteered.

“Me too,” Kate spoke up. Trip turned to her in surprise. So did I. She hadn’t volunteered to be alone with Trip since our understanding. I guess she changed her mind about getting some time alone with me tonight.

Tara made eye contact with me, and I looked down at the sand, feeling very confused. I leaned over to Kate. “Hey, I thought we had a date,” I whispered and squeezed her hand.

“Oh. Well I thought I’d better stay awake since I hit my head.” She kissed my cheek. “I’m sorry, Corey. Rain check?”

Relief flooded through me. I smiled at her. “Of course.”

Night fell rapidly behind the ridge, and we rolled into our bags. Donnie and Mel took the tent, and the rest of us just slept out under the stars. I imagined holding my wife under this jewel-spangled sky when her shift ended and smoothed out her bag next to mine in anticipation of her warmth and presence.

The next thing I knew Dirk shook me awake. “Dude your watch is up.”

He and Tara sauntered over to their bags and crashed. I looked down at Kate’s sleeping bag. She should have come hours ago, before Tara and Dirk’s watch. I scanned the beach and the site and saw Trip wrapped up in his sleeping bag. I stood and stretched, buckled my sword to my hip and scoured the ground for Kate. I peeked into the tent, but only Donnie and Mel slept there. I considered rousing everyone when I heard whispers and headed in that direction.

I stepped up to Trip’s head and gazed down on my wife wrapped in his arms. Pain and rejection laced through me.

“What’s going on here?” I whispered.

They snapped their heads up to me and Kate smiled.
Smiled
!

Trip sat up suddenly. “Hey, Corey. We were just discussing if Kate should go back to her own sleeping bag.”

“Why isn’t Kate in her own sleeping bag now?” I asked. I hated the sound of my voice, vulnerable and cracking.

“She was afraid she would fall asleep and asked me to stay awake with her. She got cold and crawled in. That’s all dude.”

“Kate?” We had an understanding between us. How could she break it so blatantly? I couldn’t begin to express the deep sorrow that grew in me.

“Chill out, Corey. It’s no big deal. Does it matter if I sleep in my bag or not?” Kate snapped at me.

I shook my head and stepped back a few steps.
Was I overreacting?
Kate had proven her devotion to me over the past few weeks.
Was I being selfish?
I should be more concerned about her head injury than my own feelings of rejection. I hung my head in shame.

“You’re right, Kate. I’m sorry. It just surprised me, that’s all.”

She crawled out of Trip’s bag and walked over to me. “No, I’m sorry, Corey.” She touched my cheek. “Obviously I have done something to upset you.”

I wrinkled my brow and looked at her.

“Take me to my bag, Corey, and tuck me in?” She smiled and cocked her eyebrow.

“I’m on duty now.” I took her by the hand and walked her over to our sleeping bags and zipped her into her bag.

“Do you think it is safe to sleep now?” I knelt down beside her and kissed her forehead.

“Yeah, now that you are watching over me.” She sighed and closed her eyes, then snapped them open. “I have loved you for a thousand years, Corey.”

My heart completely settled. “I will love you for thousands more, my love, my wife.”

Her eyes widened, and I chuckled. “What?”

“I just love it when you call me that.” She tugged my face to her and kissed me in a way that made me wish I didn’t have guard duty. I sat beside her, playing with her hair while she slept.

Just before dawn the sphere fell.

Everyone sat up groggily and looked around in the bright lights of QHR.

“Well, that’s a first,” Dirk frowned.

Mel and Donnie unzipped their tent and peered out with confused faces.

“What was that about anyway?” Trip asked.

“Yeah, nothing happened. Why are we back?” I asked.

No one had an answer. We gathered up our equipment and stalked down the empty terminal to the detox showers, the muted halls eerily quiet.

“Where is everyone?” Kate asked.

“They sent a lot of the white coats on leave. Only the ones assigned to the Keepers are left on duty.”

“Yeah,” Kate nodded remembering. “I just can’t get used to the emptiness.”

“Me either,” Dirk agreed.

We showered and debriefed quickly, our report void of detail or incident. We loaded up in the cart and headed to First Cabin. Kate craned her neck around to look at our old cabin.

I took her hand. “Miss our old cabin?” I asked her.

“Not really.” She shrugged and put her head on my shoulder.

“Swear not by the moon...the inconstant moon that monthly changes in her circled orb, lest thy love prove likewise variable.” ~
Shakespeare

“We now know that the moon is demonstrably not there when nobody looks.” 
~
N. David Mermin

WHEN WE WALKED
up to the porch, Kate dropped her bags and jumped into my arms. “Carry me to our room, husband.” She beamed.

I laughed and gladly whisked her off to our master suite where we spent a few hours settling in.

Kate, wild with desire, stripped and coaxed me into the shower with her then we finally made our way to the bed and continued settling in there. Kate made love like a machine, and got no complaints from me. But for the first time in our marriage, she turned over and fell asleep without our usual pillow talk. I chalked it up to sheer exhaustion. She hadn’t slept much and she did work extremely hard in the last few hours.

I frowned, something felt wrong. I couldn’t put my finger on it. Though eager and exuberant in our love making, she seemed strangely absent, too. Maybe this is what happened to married couples after the first few weeks. Things just settled into a rhythm, or maybe her grief still affected her.

I turned to watch my wife sleep, one of my favorite things to do. I hadn’t realized how long her hair had grown. She slept so peaceful, the beauty beside me. I traced my finger along her shoulder and bare back drinking in the sight of her. I found a tiny scar on her hip. I thought I knew everything about her body, and a thrill shot through me to discover this new part of her. She stirred in her sleep. I didn’t want to disturb her, so I turned over and fell asleep beside Kate, my beautiful wife.

I woke to find Kate already gone, her side of the bed, empty. Strange, we usually started the morning talking and holding each other while we shared our plans for the day.

After I showered and dressed, I strolled into the kitchen. Tara scrambled eggs and drained bacon on a plate of paper towels.

“Want some?” she asked.

“Mmmhmm, you know how I like them.” I snatched a piece of bacon and poured a glass of orange juice and moved to the table. I sat down and glanced out of the patio doors to see Kate in her bikini laying on the diving board splashing Trip with her toe.

She trilled a sparkle of laughter, fell into the pool, and came up beside him. They were horsing around splashing each other trying to dunk each other. Comical, I grinned to see tiny little Kate try to push enormous Trip under the water.