The Second Heart (21 page)

Eleanor reached a hand down and wiggled her
fingers, beckoning the cat closer. Sabrina trotted over to her and
sniffed Eleanor’s fingertips cautiously before jumping up onto the
couch. Eleanor petted the cat in silence for a few moments while
Rob and Amelia exchanged perplexed looks.

Rob cleared his throat, preparing to
speak.

“You guys don’t really like cats, huh?”
Eleanor asked casually.

“Not really,” Amelia admitted. “But we’re
getting along okay.”

“So you are,” Eleanor agreed with a small
smile. She continued to admire Sabrina and stroke her long white
fur.

“I’m sorry, but can you tell me why you’re
here looking for our daughter, exactly?” Rob asked, attempting to
be polite. He wasn’t quite able to hide his exasperation as his
impatience leaked into his voice.

Eleanor looked up and met his eye with a
critical expression. “Cats are remarkable creatures, Mr. Carpenter.
They can observe and sense a lot more than we give them credit for.
You should give them a chance to comfort you. I’m sorry that you
are so distraught over your daughter’s disappearance, as it is
partially my fault.”

“Enough about the damned cats!” Rob snarled.
“How is it your fault that Meredith is missing? What did you
do?”

Amelia’s lips were pressed into a thin line.
Like her husband, she wanted Eleanor to come clean. “Please just
tell us. Whatever you tell us could help us find her.”

“I told your daughter the truth; having
surgery to remove her ‘growth’ would kill her,” Eleanor said
plainly.

“Then why didn’t she just come home?” Amelia
asked perceptively. She could tell that there was more to Eleanor’s
story.

“Her medical condition makes her very
valuable. I told her that it makes her a target, and if certain
people find her, she will be killed for it.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Rob scoffed.
“Can she shit golden eggs now?”

Eleanor gave him a grim smile and stood up.
“There is more to this world than you think, Mr. Carpenter. I’m
sorry, but that is all I can say.” She began to walk toward the
front door.

“Wait,” Amelia said, joining Eleanor in the
entryway. She laid a hand on Eleanor’s shoulder, looking her in the
eyes, searching for answers in Eleanor’s shielded expression. “This
is my only daughter,” she pleaded.

Eleanor looked at her with pity and then
reached into her purse, taking out a small notebook and a pen. She
wrote something on one of the sheets of paper and then tore it out
and handed it to Amelia. “Your daughter needs my help. If you talk
to her, please give her that number and have her call me right
away.”

Disappointed, Amelia numbly opened the door
to let Eleanor out. From the moment the nurse had arrived, Amelia
had hoped that she would provide them with the information they
needed to find Meredith and make sure she was okay.

After Eleanor left, Amelia rejoined Rob in
the living room. Rob stood up from his seat, opening his arms to
his wife. Amelia stepped into the embrace gratefully, breathing
deeply and taking in Rob’s comforting scent. The fabric of his
flannel shirt was soft against her cheek, and she relaxed against
him for a moment as she gathered her thoughts.

“I guess we can’t count on Meredith to come
home on her own then, if Eleanor is to be believed,” she said then,
stepping out of the hug.

“Where will she go? She’s gotta have some
sort of plan,” Rob replied.

“Honey, she’s twenty-three. She doesn’t have
a plan.”

“You mean, other than the one that Eleanor
put into her head,” Rob countered, turning the corners of his mouth
down in an angry grimace. “That woman wasn’t straight with us.”

“No,” Amelia mused. “If she wasn’t outright
lying to us, she definitely wasn’t giving us the whole truth. If we
do talk to Mere, do you think we should give her Eleanor’s
number?”

Rob shook his head. “I don’t know.” He turned
on his heel and stalked to the window that looked out onto the back
yard. The swimming pool was full of dust and bougainvillea leaves
that had been tossed into it by the storm. “I do know that I can’t
sit around here doing nothing.”

“Maybe we should go down and fill out a
missing persons report. At least then the police will know to keep
an eye out for her, too.”

Rob nodded silently as a steely determination
seeped into him. He was thinking about what Eleanor said about
people wanting to kill his little girl. He wasn’t sure whether it
was true, but he knew that if it were, he would stop at nothing to
protect her.

* * *

“What are you doing here?” Meredith asked as
she closed the door behind her. Miguel lay in the bed with a dark
expression on his normally cheerful face. “How did you know I was
here?” he countered, ignoring her question.

He was angry with her, Meredith noted with
some surprise. Her mind was racing as she could feel the magical
energy radiating from him. Miguel had a second heart, too? Could he
feel the magic, like she could? Was their potential to emerge as
magicians what had drawn them together in the first place? He was
waiting for her to respond, so she said softly, “I tried calling
you, but you didn’t answer.”

“Too late, Mere.” Miguel looked away, folding
his arms across his chest. He winced slightly as he bumped the IV
needle in his hand. “I know when I’m not wanted.”

“This is because I miss one phone call?”
Meredith asked defensively. Now was not the time to be having a
petty squabble, not when she had so much to tell him.

Miguel scoffed. “We both know that this isn’t
over a single missed call. I have been pushing you and pushing you
for more, and you’ve always held back. I don’t want to do it any
longer. I want to find someone who is as excited about me as I am
about her.”

“Miguel, I
am
excited about us. But,
right now there is something--”

Miguel held up a hand, cutting her off.
“Please just leave, Meredith.”

“No,” Meredith said definitively. “You asked
me how I knew you were here--I didn’t. I needed to talk to the
person in this room, but I had no idea it was you.”

“What then? What do you want?” He narrowed
his eyes at her, waiting impatiently.

“This thing you have--this growth? I have it,
too. It started as a stomachache, but then I had the worst cramps
of my life. It was so bad I had to go to the hospital.”

Miguel looked mildly interested but didn’t
say anything, waiting for her to continue. He pursed his lips and
waved his hand at her to tell her to hurry up and get to the
point.

“Is that how it was for you? Last I heard,
your car was broken down.” Meredith hoped that by getting him to
open up a little, he would forget to be so pissed off. She needed
him to listen to her--to take her seriously. His life depended on
it.

“Yes, my car was broken down, and I was
walking home in the rain.” Miguel gave her a bitter smile, as if to
remind her of her failure to answer his call for help. “As I was
walking, the cramps got too intense, and I had to sit down at the
side of the road. I tried calling everyone I knew for help.
Finally, a stranger pulled over and asked me if I was okay. They
brought me to the hospital.”

Meredith reached out a hand to comfort him,
but his eyes flashed dangerously. She withdrew her hand, and
instead said, “That sounds awful. I’m so sorry I didn’t answer. If
I had known, I would have come in a heartbeat.”

“Well, it turns out I didn’t need you after
all, did I? I got here just fine on my own.”

“Miguel, I’m sorry. I am so, so sorry. What
can I say to make you believe me?” Meredith asked with a hitch in
her voice.

Miguel’s expression softened slightly. “I
know you’re sorry, Mere. But it’s not enough, okay?” He paused for
a moment, waiting to see if Meredith would respond. When she
didn’t, he asked, “So if we have the same thing, why aren’t you
still in the hospital?”

“There was someone at the hospital who knew
what my condition was. She said that the growth is called a Second
Heart, and it gives you a sort of...sixth sense.” Meredith wondered
how much she should tell him. She worried that if she talked to him
about the magic, he would dismiss her completely, as she would have
dismissed Eleanor if the nurse hadn’t been able to show her proof.
“She also said that once the Second Heart is part of you, your body
will die without it. That’s why I came today. I heard that someone
at this hospital had grown a Second Heart, and I had to come and
stop them--you,” she amended, “from having the surgery.”

“A sixth sense?” Miguel looked dubious.

Meredith persisted. “Can you feel anything?
Did you notice anything when I came into the room?” She could still
feel the energy that pulsed between them, stronger now that they
had been in the room together for a few minutes. It felt almost
like the magic was knitting them together in some way.

“All I felt when you walked in is anger,”
Miguel stated flatly.

“Please, Miguel. Just try.”

With a heavy sigh, Miguel closed his
eyes.

After a moment, Meredith felt his energy
pulse more deliberately toward her. “Yes!” she cried. “You
do
feel it, don’t you?”

He opened his eyes again, looking at her with
an expression she couldn’t read.

Just as he opened his mouth to speak, the
door opened to reveal an older couple who bustled into the
room.

“Mama, Papa,” Miguel said with a wide
smile.

Meredith stepped out of the way as Miguel’s
mother rushed to her son’s bedside, showering him with kisses.
“Miguelito, we came as soon as we could, but your father”--she cast
a withering glance toward Miguel’s father--”had to work the late
shift. As if he couldn’t take any time off for his first-born
son.”

Meredith remembered that Miguel’s family all
lived in Los Angeles. His parents must have started driving at two
or three in the morning to arrive at this hour.

Mrs. Alvarez stepped back to look at her son
critically. “You don’t look that sick.”

That’s because you’re not
, Meredith
thought, staring hard at Miguel.

He studiously avoided her gaze, instead
looking at his mother and reaching out to grasp her hand. “I am,
though, Mama. They say I have a growth that needs to be
removed.”

Meredith scoffed quietly, drawing the
attention of the Alvarezes.

“And who is this?” Mr. Alvarez asked with a
friendly twinkle in his eye.

“Her name is Meredith. I know her from
school,” Miguel said in a clipped tone. “She just came to let me
know what I have missed.”

Undaunted by his son’s cool dismissal, Mr.
Alvarez asked Meredith, “So you want to be an animal doctor, too,
huh?”

Meredith forced a smile, though inwardly she
was seething. “That’s the plan!” To her own ears, her voice seemed
too bright, too strained.

Mrs. Alvarez turned to face her with a stern
look on her face. “Don’t you think my son could use a little rest
from schoolwork right now?”

Meredith swallowed hard. “Yes, I do.
Actually, he isn’t missing much, since school has been closed for
almost a week now. I didn’t really come here about that, though.
I--”

“
Meredith
,” Miguel cut her off
sharply. His jaw clenched as his eyes warned her not to say another
word. Once he was relatively sure that she wouldn’t resume talking,
he said to his parents, “Do you mind if I finish talking with
Meredith for a few minutes? Alone?”

Mrs. Alvarez gave him a knowing smile, and
then met her husband’s eye happily. “Of course, you two take
whatever time you need.” She ushered her husband out of the room,
giving Miguel one last peek, brows raised, as she closed the
door.

Once alone, they stared at each other mutely,
both trying to find the right thing to say. Finally, Meredith said,
“So those are your folks, huh? They seem nice.” The words were
empty, a desperate attempt to thaw the ice that had formed between
them.

“My family is Catholic, Mere.” Miguel said
tentatively. Then, with more resolution, he added, “If they find
out that I have this… power… they will think that I am condemned to
hell. Those aren’t just words to them, either. It would break my
mother’s heart.”

“So don’t tell them, but don’t have the
surgery, either. Just say that you feel better and don’t want to
risk it,” Meredith urged.

“How do you know that the surgery will kill
me?” Miguel asked.

“The person who helped me… she told me.”

“Yes, but how do you
know
? Did she
have any proof?”

“Well, no. But she was right about the sixth
sense. I trust her.”

“I am going to have the surgery,” Miguel said
decisively.

“But--”

“Just stop, Mere. This is my decision, not
yours. We aren’t meant to have this sort of power, it’s immoral. I
would rather die having it removed than live as a… a…” He wrung his
hands, searching his vocabulary for the right word.

“A freak?” Meredith asked quietly.

“Than live knowing that I have chosen to
embrace something that is wrong,” he said on a sigh.

“How do you know it’s wrong? Where’s
your
proof?”

“Just like you trust the woman who helped
you, I have to trust what I have been taught for my entire
life.”

“Can’t you trust me?” Meredith begged in a
small voice.

Miguel’s voice was so low that Meredith had
to strain to hear him. “I don’t even know you.”

Meredith blinked furiously, trying to keep
the tears in her eyes from falling onto her cheeks. “Miguel,” she
began.

The door opened a second time to admit a
nurse, who smiled at Miguel. “Are you ready to go? We’ve got the
O.R. prepped, so now we just need the star!” The nurse had blonde,
curly hair that rioted around her head, and her warm brown eyes
sparkled as she spoke.