Ever After

  “I’ll clean up, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “And I’ll look at your leg.” She covered her yawn. “Mmmm. Sorry. See you in the morning.” The house was so new to her that she had to think about where the stairs were. She had to go through the living room and past Jamie’s narrow bed to get to the front stairs.

  At the top she looked right and left. Each doorway led to a bedroom. She wished that when she first saw the rooms she had chosen which was to be hers. She stepped left, but it was almost as though she heard two female voices say, “No.”

  She went to the right and felt a sense of calm, as though the old house was smiling at her. There was a pretty chorus of voices who whispered, “Hyacinth.” Maybe she should have been frightened, but it was almost as though she was being welcomed. Smiling, she thought how she needed to undress, take a shower, and find her nightclothes in her suitcase. For that matter, she needed to find her luggage.

  It was still daylight out, but between the eventful day and overwhelming emotion, she was worn out. The big bed beckoned and she threw back the covers to expose crisp white sheets. The bed was high off the floor and she had to throw her leg up to get on it. She told herself that she was just going to test the mattress. Were the pillows any good?

  She put her head down and was instantly asleep.

  Jamie finished putting the kitchen back in order and had just sat down in the chair at his desk when his cell buzzed.

  “I’ve been trying to get you all day!” his brother said. “Can’t you carry the damned phone with you?”

  “I came here to get away,” Jamie said, unperturbed by his brother’s anger.

  “From them, but not from me,” Todd said and when Jamie was silent, he backed down. “All right, do whatever you want. What’s she like? Other than too beautiful to be real?”

  “It’s not the girl you saw in those photos,” Jamie said. “The blonde is the stepsister. Jared didn’t tell me the details, but she pulled a con and tried to steal the house.”

  “That’s illegal,” Todd said, his voice stern.

  “Yeah, Detective Chief Inspector, it is. Why don’t you drive down to Boston and find out the truth of it all?”

  “I can’t now. I’m dealing with a string of armed robberies and what may turn out to be a homicide case. What I want to know is how you are.”

  “Fine.”

  “Don’t give me that crap! How are you?!”

  Jamie took a breath. “Good. I still don’t like how you got me here, but…it’s okay.”

  “Ah,” Todd said.

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  “It means that Jared called Aunt Jilly who called Mom who called me. Seems you made a fool of yourself over your physical therapist.”

  Jamie rolled his eyes. “And here I thought I got away from the family hovering over me. Yeah, when I first saw her, I did have a moment of weakness. She’s pretty and built and…I don’t know. There’s something about her that I like. She’s smart and—Stop laughing!”

  “I’m not,” Todd said. “Well, maybe I am, but not in the way you think. I—”

  Jamie cut him off. “She wants to start on my leg tomorrow.”

  Todd lowered his voice. “How much are you going to let her know?”

  “As little as I can get away with. She thinks I’m some rich playboy. I think she believes I jet around the world from one fun place to another.”

  “And you’re going to let her keep thinking that, aren’t you?”

  “I’m going to encourage it,” Jamie said. “It’ll be a relief not to have to deal with pity. I gotta go. I need sleep.”

  “Take your pills,” Todd said.

  “I won’t forget. Do me a favor, will you? Call Mom and tell her to back off for a few days. Tell her I’m all grown up and can feed myself. I’m worried she’ll helicopter in baskets of groceries.”

  “Then you’re planning on leaving the grounds to get food?” There was hope in Todd’s voice.

  “Not yet!” Jamie snapped. “And stay off my back about it! Understand?!”

  “I hear you,” Todd said softly. “So go to bed and I’ll deal with Mom. And Jamie…I, uh…”

  “Yeah, me too,” he said, then clicked off.

  Hallie awoke abruptly. The inside of her mouth was fuzzy and she had that swollen feeling of having slept in her clothes.

  She turned on the bedside light and looked at her watch. It was just after two A.M. She got up, went to the bathroom, and rinsed her mouth. The first thing she was going to do in daylight was find her bags and unpack them.

  As she was walking toward the bed, she heard what sounded like a moan. “Oh, great,” she mumbled. “More evidence that I’ve inherited a haunted house. Maybe I should give it to Shelly. I’d like to see how they would deal with her!”

  With a yawn, she started to unfasten her jeans so she wouldn’t have to spend the rest of the night in them. But then she heard the sound again, only this time it was louder.

  It’s him, she thought and ran toward the stairs. By the time she got down to his room, she could hear him making noises, sounding as though he were trying to escape from someone. There was a nightlight, the kind used for children, on the desk and in front of it was an orange plastic pill bottle. From the time she could read she’d helped her father with the drugs he sold. By the time she was in high school, she was reading the brochures about the latest medicines and paraphrasing them for her dad so he could sell them.

  When Hallie read the prescription label, she knew it was a very strong sleep aid. If he’d taken two of these, a tractor could run over him and he wouldn’t wake up.

  She looked at Jamie on the bed. He was rolling his head from side to side and his body was beginning to move. The bed was narrow and he was big. All it would take was one toss to the side and he’d be on the floor. Even though he had on his leg brace, a hard impact could re-injure him.

  She went to his head and began to massage his temples. “Ssssh. Be quiet. Everything is all right,” she said softly, soothingly.

  He calmed a bit, but the moment she took her hands away he began to turn in the bed.

  “No, no,” she said. “Don’t do that.”

  When he kept moving, she went to his side and made an attempt to hold him on the bed. She had to plant her feet firmly on the floor and push against his chest with both her hands. It worked and he didn’t fall out of bed. He rolled onto his back, and for a moment he was so calm that Hallie moved toward the door.

  But when a shout came, she ran back to him. His whole body was shaking, as though in fear, and he lifted his arms as if he were reaching out for someone.

  “I’m here,” Hallie said. “You’re safe.” When she leaned toward him, he put his arms around her and pulled her down to him, holding her close.

  It was an awkward position that nearly twisted Hallie in half. She knew she wasn’t strong enough to break his hold, and she doubted if she could wake him to make him let her go. Whatever was the basis of his nightmare, right now he needed comfort.

  It wasn’t easy to stretch out beside him on the little bed, but as soon as she did, he turned to his side and pulled her to him. He tucked her into his body as though she’d always been there, and he quieted instantly.

  “So now I’m your teddy bear?” she said, her face against his chest.

  But for all her sarcasm, it felt good to be held, even if the man doing it was sound asleep.

  She could feel herself drifting off, but as she did, her mind began going over the events of the day. Seeing the contract Shelly had signed and the passport she had redone had hurt more than she wanted to admit. A week earlier, Shelly had asked Hallie to stop by an office supply store after work to buy her some glue and a new pair of scissors. “They need to cut cleanly,” Shelly had said. “So no edges are showing.” It seemed that Hallie had helped her stepsister defraud her.

  When Jamie kissed the top of her head, Hallie started crying. He might be asleep, but he seemed to sense that the wo
man he was holding needed help. His body quit twitching, and he was quiet and relaxed. It was almost as if he were waiting for her to tell him what was wrong.

  “I didn’t deserve it,” Hallie whispered. “I’ve never done anything bad to Shelly. She and her mother took over my life, but I stood for it. When Dad and Ruby died, I had no time to grieve. I had to take care of Shelly. I don’t know how I did it, but I did. So why did she try to steal from me?”

  Hallie looked up at him, saw that his eyes were still closed, and put her head back down. “If I’d been told about this house, maybe I would have given her the one in Boston. That’s what she wanted. She said it wasn’t fair that I own two houses and she has none. I don’t know what I would have done, but I certainly would like to have been given the choice.”

  Her tears were fading, even if the pain wasn’t. “I don’t know what to do now, either legally or ethically. Should I reward Shelly by giving her a house? But I know that won’t be enough for her.” She looked up at him.

  There was enough light that she could see his sleeping face. He looked so sweet, so calm. But then suddenly, he began to thrash about again. She could see movement under his eyelids, as though another nightmare was beginning.

  “Oh, no, you don’t!” she said. “You start rolling again and I’ll be crushed. Be quiet! You’re safe.”

  But Jamie didn’t quit moving, and when he threw his big leg over her hips, she pushed hard to get out from under him and stood up. As she looked down at him, she saw that he seemed to be gearing up for another round of thrashing.

  Bending, she put her hands on the sides of his head. “You are safe! You hear me? There are no demons chasing you.” His face was so near hers, his lips so very close, that she couldn’t resist kissing him. It wasn’t a kiss of passion, but one of reassurance. A kiss of friendship and understanding. Two people who had deep problems were sharing them.

  The kiss lingered for a while, as though they were receiving strength and reassurance from each other. They deeply and truly needed each other.

  When Hallie pulled away and looked at him, Jamie’s face was calmer, more relaxed. Taking her hands away, she let him lean back on the pillow, and at last he seemed to sink down into a restful sleep.

  She watched him for a few moments, then turned to go back upstairs. But she got only as far as the couch at the end of the room. What if he had another nightmare? He could fall off the bed and damage his torn knee.

  Looking at the old couch, she sighed. Upstairs was a bed with crisp, clean sheets and a down comforter. The couch had nothing on it but one small pillow.

  She hesitated, but with a sigh, she stretched out on the couch. If Jamie again became restless, she’d hear him and would be able to keep him from falling.

  I’ll settle him with sleeping kisses, she thought, smiling as she began to fall asleep. As barren as the couch was, it felt better not to be alone in a strange house.

  Chapter Three

  “So you decided to get up, did you?” Jamie said when Hallie walked into the gym.

  He was teasing, but his words implied that she was someone who lolled about in the mornings. It was tempting to tell him the truth about her night of wrestling with him. At five she’d awakened on the couch, her body stiff, her teeth chattering from the cold, and made her way upstairs to her bedroom. She’d staggered to the bed and flopped down on it, awoke hours later, took a shower and washed her hair, then went downstairs. On the kitchen table was a lovely breakfast of boiled eggs, little apricot turnovers, sausages with bits of apple inside, and cut fruit. Jamie must have just prepared it because the dark tea in the pretty ceramic pot was still hot.

  But Hallie didn’t tell him about last night. Using kisses to calm him from a nightmare wasn’t exactly professional behavior. “Thanks for breakfast,” she said. He was straddling a bench and doing lat pull-downs. Her eyes widened at the amount of weight he was using.

  He finished his set before speaking, then picked up a towel to wipe his face. His thick shirt was soaked with sweat. “I’ll tell Mom thanks for you.”

  “I want to see your leg.”

  “It’s fine today. No need to go poking around.” He gave her a smile of such promise that she was sure it had made many women forget their resolve.

  Hallie smiled back at him with the sweetest look she could manage. “Do you have your cell phone with you?”

  “Sure. Want to check your emails?”

  “No. I want to call Jared and tell him that you’re not allowing me to treat you.”

  After a moment’s hesitation, Jamie laughed. “All right, you win. But we keep it to the leg.”

  She didn’t know what he meant by that, but she went outside to get the big massage table and set it up. When Jamie came out on his crutches, he was still wearing his heavy clothes.

  “Everything off,” she said as she began coating her hands and forearms in almond oil. “Or if you’re modest, leave your undies on. I’ll keep you covered.”

  He was frowning at her, as though trying to decide what to do.

  She knew that people varied in their sense of modesty. Some people quickly stripped down to their skin while she was in the room; others wouldn’t remove their shoes without absolute privacy. It looked like he was the latter version. Excusing herself, she went into the gym for a few minutes.

  When she returned, Jamie was on the table, but he’d only partially undressed. He still had on his heavy sweatclothes, but on the right side, he’d slipped out of the pants and rolled their leg to one side. Except for his brace, he was nude from waist to toes. But his left leg and the upper half of his body were completely covered by his heavy gym clothes. “This isn’t what I meant,” she said. “You need to—”

  He didn’t let her finish. “This is what you get,” he said in a tone she’d not heard him use before. His usual manner was teasing, as though he were on the verge of laughter, but now he looked as though he were daring her to take what he was offering—and if she didn’t, he’d leave.

  Angering an injured client was not something she was going to do. “This will be all right,” she said in a cheerful voice. “Want to lie back?”

  He was leaning on his hands, his arms rigid behind him. “This works for me.” That tone was still there.

  Smiling, she began to unfasten the Velcro bindings of the big brace. “Whatever you do, don’t move. I want to see how your leg is healing and I’m going to do some gentle massage. Okay?”

  He didn’t answer, and his face seemed to be settling into a deeper frown.

  His knee was very swollen, but worse, every one of the big muscles of his leg seemed to be tied into a knot. Hallie had long ago learned that a person’s body often told a different story from what could be seen on the outside. It looked like Jamie’s easygoing manner was hiding a great deal of stress.

  “Will I pass?” His voice had an edge to it, as though he were challenging her.

  She kept smiling. “I can’t answer that until I get my hands on you.” She picked up the bottle of oil. The thickness of his leg muscles meant they would take some work.

  “You’ve seen my leg, so that’s it,” he said. “I’ll do some leg extensions and we’ll be done.” He started to get off the table.

  She put her hand on his chest. “You move that leg with the brace off and I really will call…” She narrowed her eyes. “I will call your mother.”

  Jamie blinked a few times, then the frown left and he genuinely smiled. “And she’ll tell Dad. You do know how to terrify a man. All right. One leg and that’s it.”

  “You are kindness personified.”

  Hallie coated her hands in the oil, then set to work. She’d worked on a few bodybuilders and it took a lot to dig into their muscles, but Jamie was the worst she’d ever encountered. There was so much tension in his body that his muscles were the consistency of hard rubber tires. As her fingers dug deep, she thought she might be hurting him, but she could feel him beginning to relax, and finally, he lay back on the table.
br />   At his knee she moved the skin around gently, trying to get the blood and fluids to start to flow again. She attacked his thigh and calf, digging as deeply as she could manage.

  It took over an hour on his leg before she felt that she’d done as much as she could. As she refastened the brace, she wished she could get at the rest of his body, but since he had left most of his clothes on, it was covered. He didn’t move, just lay quietly on his back on the table, his eyes closed.

  Tentatively, she went to his left foot. It was bare so maybe he’d allow her to work on it. When he didn’t protest at her hands, she massaged pressure points in his feet, flexing his ankle back and forth. She thought he had fallen asleep, but when she slipped her hands under his sweatpants at the ankle, he immediately tensed and she withdrew.

  She massaged his hands. He had beautiful fingers, long and strongly made. From there she began on his head. The amount of tension he was holding in his neck was horrible to feel. There were lumps of lactic acid at the base of his trapezius muscles. She went over his head, feeling his short, dark hair. Her hands roamed over his face, massaging, caressing. Cheekbones, his nose, his lips. Her fingertips touched them all.

  She kept remembering the kiss of early this morning. But from the way he’d greeted her, he didn’t seem to remember any of it.

  He had an extraordinarily beautiful body! As her hands slid over his skin, she remembered being held in his arms, kissing him.

  Maybe she was losing herself more than she realized in the pleasure of touching him because when she put her hands on his shoulders, she started to move down his shirt and over his chest. But Jamie caught her hands before she could pass his collarbone. He held on to her wrists for a moment, then released them. It looked like she wasn’t to touch the areas covered by his clothing.

  Embarrassed, Hallie stood up straight. “Sorry,” she murmured and stepped away from him. There was a water spigot nearby with a hose attached and she thought about turning it on. She would like to douse herself in icy water. Just hold the hose over her head and let it flow.