I nodded my head. “Do you think that maybe we could sleep some more this afternoon? I think all this honeymooning is catching up with me.” I tried to add a little laughter.
He lifted his hand to his head again, this time closing his eyes as he held the bridge of his nose. “I think that sounds great,” he answered a few moments later, his voice sounding slightly pinched.
When the moment passed he continued to feed me until I told him I couldn’t eat another bite. He took the tray and placed it by the door, before returning to climb in next to me.
He actually fell asleep quickly, and I felt a little more at ease. Maybe he was just really tired.
I watched over him for a very long while before I finally relaxed enough to go to sleep, too.
A couple of hours had passed by the time I ventured back out into reality, and I awoke to find him gone from the bed again.
This time he was fully dressed and pacing the floor at the end of the bed, holding both of his hands against the sides of his head as if he were in agony.
“What is it?” I asked, watching him, my eyes wide in concern.
He yanked his head over to look at me while I spoke, as if I had caught him totally unaware, dropping his hands instantly back to his sides, though his fists remained clenched there.
“You’re awake,” he said, coming over to the side of the bed. “Do you want to go for a walk with me?”
“Right now?” I asked, and I looked over at the fading light in the window. “It’ll be getting pretty cold outside.”
“I need some air,” he said, standing up and resuming his pacing at the end of the bed. “I think I’m getting cabin fever.”
I could see that he did indeed need to get out and do something. He was acting very strangely.
“Just let me get dressed real quick,” I replied, swinging my legs over the edge of the massive bed.
I walked into the closet and pulled on a heavy sweater and jeans, as well as some good walking shoes. I went into the bathroom and brushed through my hair then snugged a knit hat over the top if it for warmth.
He had his coat and hat on when I came back out. He helped me into my coat and picked up my red scarf, wrapping it around my neck.
We went down the stairs, passing Colin on our way to the front door.
“We’re going on a walk,” he said brusquely to him when we passed, pulling me behind him.
“Please tell Douglas and Fiona we’re sorry that we haven’t had the chance to visit with them yet today,” I called over my shoulder, since Vance didn’t pause in his stride for the door.
It wasn’t like Vance to not be polite.
We stepped out into the brisk evening air, and I immediately hunched my shoulders up in protection against it.
Vance didn’t let go of my hand as he pulled me along. I had to step up my pace to keep up with him.
He turned out of the driveway and headed off across the immaculate property.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“I have no idea,” he replied shortly.
We had probably walked for about a mile at the rapid pace he had set before he finally slowed a little, though he still didn’t speak to me.
We wandered on until the land opened up into a very large pasture, and I noticed that a herd of sheep was out in the middle of the field.
“Do you care if we go to see the sheep?” I asked him.
He shrugged indifferently.
“Go ahead,” he said.
Letting go of his hand, I turned to walk out into the field. I noticed that he was kind of hanging behind, just watching me.
Slowly, I made my way up to the small group of sheep that was nearest to me, trying not to startle them.
I had always loved sheep as a child. My parents had a touch-and-feel book they used to read to me. The sheep in it always looked and felt so soft and fluffy. I just wanted to see if they really were as soft as they looked.
A few of them made some gentle bleating sounds as I approached, and some shifted nervously at my presence the closer I got. I stretched my hand out and spoke in soft soothing tones, allowing my magic to flow through me in an attempt to communicate with them.
As it turned out, they allowed me to walk right into the center of them. I petted one of them on the head, and several others came over to nudge at me, awaiting their turn for attention.
I laughed softly, crooning over them.
The texture of their coats was much rougher than I had expected it to be, but they were very thick.
I played with them for several minutes before turning to look at Vance, who was leaning up against a fence post with his arms crossed over his chest, watching me in the rising moonlight.
“Why don’t you come and join me?” I called out to him while I scratched one of the bigger ones behind the ear. “They’re very friendly.”
He didn’t say anything for a moment before he finally pushed away from the post and began walking toward me. He had only gone a few steps before the sheep suddenly started bleating and running.
I stood and watched in amazement while they scattered in every direction, except for the one closest to Vance.
“What’s happening?” I asked and I looked carefully at him. “Why did they all run away like that?”
“I guess they don’t like me.” He laughed in a slightly uncomfortable voice.
“That’s not possible,” I replied watching him. “I remember how the dolphins responded to you. You’re a natural with animals.”
He shrugged nonchalantly. “Don’t know what to tell you.”
I marched over and grabbed his hand, turning to move back toward the herd, determined to prove him wrong, but every time I tried to approach one of the sheep, it would run away.
I turned to him in frustration. “This is weird,” I said, biting at my lower lip as I pondered this.
I let go of his hand and tried walking back into the group by myself. The sheep easily let me approach.
“Why won’t you let Vance touch you?” I said squatting down in front of the largest one. “He’s a nice guy.”
I reached out to rub the sheep around the neck with both of my hands.
“Now come over,” I said, not willing to let this go. “Only this time call out to them with your magic like you did with the dolphins.”
He gave a sigh, shaking his head, as he started toward me again.
The instant he began to walk forward the sheep ran off again, even though I tried to hang on to the one I was petting. The big male bucked against me until I fell over onto my rump, and then he took off to join the others.
I threw my hands up in frustration.
“Just forget about it,” Vance said coming up next to me. “They just don’t like me.”
“But why?” I said asked, feeling completely perplexed. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
He laughed at me then, reaching out to turn my face to look at his.
“They are sheep, Portia. It really isn’t a big deal. Everything in the world is not attracted to me the way you are. That’s perfectly normal,” he said, and I could see the light dancing in his eyes.
“Well, they should be, because you’re wonderful,” I replied with a little pout and a scowl.
He really laughed then, and he came to wrap his arms around me in a giant bear hug, leaning his head against mine.
“You’re too good to me,” he said with a grin that warmed my heart, and I snuggled in closer to him.
This was the Vance I knew and loved.
“Are you feeling better now?” I asked, and I nuzzled my cold nose in against his warm neck.
“Yes, much better,” he said. “You always know how to cheer me up.”
“Good,” I replied, feeling relieved at his words. “Then do you want to continue on, or can we please get out of this freezing air?”
He nodded his head in the general direction of the manor house.
“Let’s go,” he said, taking me by the hand once again.
&
nbsp; Chapter 9
Colin met us at the door, almost as if he had been expecting us, taking our coats and hats for us.
I followed as Vance led me by the hand down the hall, then into the grand salon, where Douglas and Fiona were sitting in front of the fireplace.
“Well, there they are!” Fiona said when she spotted us in the doorway, waving us over to join the two of them.
“Sorry we’ve been such horrible guests,” I spoke up, feeling really sorry that we hadn’t socialized with them before now. “Last night really wore us out!”
“Not a problem!” Fiona replied. “I slept in, too.” She smiled softly, as if she were telling us some dreadful secret. “Douglas, however, was up and at the offices early this morning, managing the estate.”
“The party was wonderful, by the way,” Vance added with a polite smile, looking between both of them.
“Everyone was so excited to meet our long-lost grandson,” Douglas replied with a smile. “And of course you too, Portia,” he added cordially, almost as an afterthought.
“I was just the side show,” I laughed, shaking my head slightly. “Vance was the main event.”
“Whatever,” Vance said, squeezing my hand tighter as he looked over at me.
Fiona changed the subject then.
“I told Colin to serve dinner in here tonight. I thought we’d all enjoy a more relaxed environment after last evening’s formal affair.”
“That sounds nice,” Vance agreed, and I saw he was being truthful when he allowed his posture to relax and lean back into the furniture a little bit.
“So let’s visit,” Fiona said brightly as she watched him.
“All right. What do you want to know?” he replied with a small smile.
“Well, for starters, how long are you planning on staying in Scotland?” she asked.
“Actually, we’d been thinking of leaving in a day or two,” Vance said, surprising me since the two of us had never discussed any such thing. “We came here specifically on the hope of finding my mother, but it seems that’s no longer an option. Portia and I are still in the middle of a school year, so it would probably better for both of us if we were to hurry and get back to that.”
“So soon?” Douglas replied looking a bit downtrodden at the idea. “We had hoped that you’d stay much longer.”
“What if we had a tutor come here for both of you?” Fiona piped up. “That way you could both finish your studies on time, and we could enjoy having you here for a while.”
“We don’t want to be an imposition,” he said, and he turned to look at me, slightly raising an eyebrow.
“That wouldn’t be the case at all,” Douglas spoke up. “We want you to stay. We want to get to know you. In fact, I’d be willing to teach you about running the estate if you’d stay. Why not even make Bell Tower your permanent home? It’ll be yours someday anyway.”
Vance seemed very surprised at this comment, and he faltered as he searched for the right words.
“Thank you for your offer, but I’d definitely have to discuss a decision this big with Portia and her family first.”
“Whatever you need, son,” Douglas said kindly. “Feel free to use the house phone for any calls you might want to make.”
Vance nodded his head, the surprised look still on his face.
Colin arrived in the room rolling a large cart with dinner on it then. He served each of us our food on small trays for our laps.
The meal was simple, crusty bread bowls filled with steaming hot potato soup. After the cold walk we had been on this evening, it was the perfect thing, warming us from the inside out.
We enjoyed small talk, mostly about the running of the estate and the charities that the Cummingses were involved in, just getting to know them a little better.
When we were finished with our meal, Colin magically reappeared to clean up after us and then returned with a fresh bottle of chilled champagne.
I refused any when he came to pour my glass, and Fiona looked at me with a questioning gaze.
“It doesn’t agree with me,” I explained at her look.
“Would you care for something else then?” she asked me.
“No. I’m fine thank you.” I smiled.
I noticed that Vance had several glasses throughout the night, and Colin seemed to magically reappear every time a bottle ran dry. Vance seemed fine, though, so I tried to put it at the back of my mind and enjoy the rest of the evening getting to know his family.
When we finally retired to our bedroom, closing the door behind us, Vance turned to me immediately.
“So what do you think about the offer they placed on the table this evening?” he asked.
“About staying here?” He nodded his head. “I don’t know,” I answered honestly, going over to sit cross-legged on the bed. “I was kind of looking forward to getting that cozy little place in Flagstaff we’d talked about.”
“Me too,” he said with a smile, coming over and flopping backward onto the bed next to me, resting his head on arms. “I just never imagined this as a possibility.”
“Would you like to stay here? I know how much you’ve wanted a family connection in your life. How do you feel about all this?” I prodded.
“I honestly don’t know how I feel about it. I’ve never really had a place to call home before I met you. I think Sedona has been more my home than anywhere else in the world. Even when I was a child with both of my parents, we traveled a lot. Now, I find out that I have this whole history and heritage I was never aware of. The idea is intriguing to me, I guess.” He looked over at me to gauge my reaction.
I reached over to place one of my hands on his chest, and he covered it with his own.
“I just want you to be happy,” I said, as I watched him. “As long as I’m with you, I’ll be fine.”
He looked at me seriously. “I don’t want you to do something just because it’ll make me happy. I want to make a decision based on both of our needs and desires. You know, whatever is best for us.”
I nodded my head in understanding.
“So would you like living here or not?” he asked me again.
I sat back for a moment and really thought about it for a minute before I answered him. “I don’t know. I’ve been having a wonderful time here on our honeymoon, but I’m really missing Sedona.”
“That’s our answer then,” he replied. “Both of us mentioned going back to Sedona. I think that’s where we should be.”
“Are you sure?’ I asked him, knowing he was giving up a lot.
“I’m positive,” he replied, pulling me down so he could kiss me.
I enjoyed that for a moment before I pulled away with a sigh. “I guess we should break the news to Douglas and Fiona tomorrow then. They’re going to be really disappointed,” I said sadly.
“It’ll be fine. They have a lot of money, and so do we. That’s what vacations are for. We’ll come to visit and have them to our place as well.” He shrugged, dismissing the subject quite easily, I thought.
He hopped up off the bed then and walked towards the fireplace. I felt my heart sink when I realized there was another freshly chilled bottle of champagne on the coffee table. I breathed a little sigh of relief when he walked right by it, without even noticing it, to enter the closet.
“What are you doing?” I called to him.
“Just taking my shoes off,” he called out, before reappearing in the doorway. “Thanks for letting me drag you out on that walk earlier.” He smiled.
“I hope it helped,” I replied, watching him.
“It really did,” he said. “I think I just needed to clear my head.” He laughed then. “We need to get back to Arizona. I miss riding my motorcycle. A good ride always helped me straighten out the kinks.”
I smiled, remembering the first time I had ever seen him on his motorcycle, thinking he was the most devastatingly handsome thing I had ever seen. Never in a million years would I have guessed that I would have ended up married to him, and def
initely not at this age.
Lucky me, I thought.
“I’m all excited to go home now,” he continued smiling. “When do you want to leave?”
I shrugged.
“Whenever you’re ready, I guess,” I said.
“How about the day after tomorrow?” he suggested. “That’ll give me enough time to call the airport and give us one more day to spend with my grandparents before we have to leave.”
“Sounds wonderful,” I replied, catching his enthusiasm.
He surprised me when he came over then, picked me up off the bed and twirled me around in a circle.
“We’re going home!” he said with a grin. “Home. I really like the sound of that.”
He leaned in to kiss me then, but stopped suddenly, getting a strange look on his face.
“What is it?” I asked while he let me gently slide down the full length of his body back to my feet.
“I don’t know,” he said, looking at me.
“Are you feeling okay?” I asked him, watching the turmoil that moved over his face.
“I don’t think so,” he replied. He quickly turned and headed for the bathroom. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
He started running then.
I stood there stunned for a moment, until I heard him begin to heave. I ran after him and found him kneeling at the edge of the toilet.
He was vomiting hard, unable to stop.
I knelt next to him, wrapping my arms around his waist not knowing what to do. I just held him while it went on and on, until I began to feel a little sick myself. He wasn’t even throwing anything up now; he was just racked with uncontrollable dry heaves.
I felt him struggle for control, and finally things slowed down. He sat back from the toilet with his eyes closed as he wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand.
“What caused all that?” I asked, concerned.
“I have no idea,” he replied, turning to look at me.
I jumped up then and backed away from him, placing my hand over my mouth.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Look in the mirror,” I replied.
He stood and turned to look into the glass at the red streaks that were filling his eyes.