Until I Die Again [On The Way To Heaven] (Soul Change Novel) (27 page)

She hugged him fiercely, nearly squashing the pup between them. “But how did you know I would have one of my nightmares tonight?”

His eyes grew serious. “Hallie, I know you have one just about every night. You try to hide them from me, though I can’t imagine why.”

She hid her eyes, looking down at the pup on her lap as she stroked his soft fur. His ears folded down at the tips, and his pointy cold nose made her jump when it touched her arm.

“I don’t want to bother you.”

Jamie sat up, turning her so that she faced him. “Bother me? Do you think that I wouldn’t stay up all night just to be there when you woke from a nightmare? Don’t you know that I’d jump right inside your head and fight your bridge monsters myself if I could?”

He pulled her close, so different than the way Alan jerked her toward him in his dreams. The tears flowed, but she wasn’t sure why. Happiness? For a life lost? For a past that wouldn’t let go? Maybe for all three.

“Come on, George, don’t be pissy about this,” Hallie pleaded into a tall breadfruit tree in the backyard the next evening. “You’re not being usurped, I promise.”

George refused to come down, chattering in shrill tones. Phoenix was still a little shy, standing close to Hallie’s feet as he looked up into the dark place among the branches where the awful noise originated.

She gave up on George and walked back to the lanai. Jamie was swimming laps in the pool. The pool lights were the only ones on in the house, giving everything nearby an eerie glow that shimmered with the waves. She sat and dangled her legs in the water, watching Jamie’s firm bare buttocks skim just under the water’s surface. Like a shark, he glided underwater toward her and tickled her feet. With a flick of his head, he sent wet locks back off his face.

“Mm mm mm,” she said with a smile. “I sure do enjoy watching you swim, Buns DiBarto.”

His blue eyes widened. “How did you know about that?”

“What, your moon shot back in college? Oh, I have my connections.”

“Tell me where you heard about that,” he said, threatening to tickle her feet again.

She squirmed when his fingers grazed the bottom of her foot. “Okay, I give up! I had lunch with Dave once, and he told me. I wanted to know more about you, about my chances for getting you back.” Among other things, of course.

His grin faded. “You really wanted this to work, didn’t you?”

“More than anything. You said you had reasons to leave, just as you had reasons to stay. What were the reasons you stayed with…me?”

Something flickered behind his eyes for a moment, and his lips turned up in a crooked smile. “It’s silly.”

“I won’t think it’s silly.”

“Well, it’s probably ludicrous. It’s…” He looked at her intently for a moment. “When I met you, I had a feeling, a strong, hit-you-in-the-gut feeling, that you were the woman I was put here on earth to protect and love. I stayed because that feeling never went away.”

Her heart seized up. She was that woman he was put here to protect and love. She, Chris. She, Chris. Drops of water slid down his cheek and nose. Her eyes were locked to his, held by a spell of the heart.

“Do you love me, Jamie?”

He pulled her down into the pool to face him. Pressing his forehead up against hers, he closed his eyes. “Yes,” he whispered. Then he opened his eyes, and she fell into their depths. “I love you, Hallie, with everything that is me.”

“I love you too, Jamie. I think I have always loved you somewhere deep inside me. Now that love is everywhere.”

His hands encircled her face, and he kissed her, becoming more arduous. He reached behind her neck and untied the string of her bikini. And then she heard the noise. The
crack!
of someone stepping on a twig.

“What was that?” she asked, catching her breath.

He shrugged, then pulled her close again, continuing his exploratory kiss.

She squeezed his arm. “I heard something.”

“We live in a jungle. We’re far away from the rest of the resort, so we tend to get a few wild animals out here. You, of all people shouldn’t be afraid of a few animals.”

She searched the black curtain that surrounded them, cloaking everything but the immediate proximity. Phoenix stared into the direction the sound had come from, his ears perked and responsive.

“See, even the pup heard it.”

The blood drained from her face, and she scrambled for the edge of the pool to pull herself up. Jamie followed, wrapping a towel around himself. Her heart lurched when she saw him walking toward the darkness, in the direction of the breadfruit tree. George shrieked from a short distance away.

“Where are you going?”

He turned, giving her a slightly exasperated look. “I’m checking the noise out. The only times I see that expression on your face is when you wake up from those nightmares.”

He continued walking across the deck.

She swallowed hard. “There have been more phone calls. Two yesterday, after you left. Three more today. Let’s just go inside and lock the doors.”

He shook his head. “And have you staring at the windows all night? Uh-uh. Go on inside, I’ll be right back.”

With her heart in her throat, she watched him disappear into the darkness. Fear paralyzed her, kept her from taking her eyes off the area he’d walked off into. She should have told him about Mick’s threat. She shouldn’t have let him go.

CHAPTER 15

Movement at the far corner of the lanai made Hallie reel around, her heart thumping against her ribs. She nearly fainted from relief when Jamie strode toward her, towel still intact.

“Jamie, I’m sorry I made you go out there.”

“You didn’t make me do anything. I told you I was here to protect and love you.”

He continued to stare out at the darkness for a moment. His light expression of earlier was gone.

“What is it?”

He shrugged. “Not sure. Probably nothing, bird noises and scurrying animals. What concerns me is that they only make those sounds when they’re disturbed. It could be a panther or bobcat.”

Even his solid arms wrapped around her couldn’t bring on the security of sleep that night. Her eyes were wide as she stared at the ceiling, listening for any sound at all. The doors were closed and locked, the curtains pulled shut.

Even when sleep did claim her, nightmares held her in their grip. Now it was Mick who clutched her in front of the body shop Alan owned. Mick who drove the semi that pushed her off the bridge. Jamie drove her car and held her hand as they plunged to their death. She woke with a scream as the rocky ravine closed in.

“It’s okay, baby. It’s okay.” Jamie soothed her, and she clung to him.

He’s alive, I’m alive.

She shivered, even in his warm embrace. “You were dying with me,” she said on a gasp. “You were in the car this time.”

“I’m fine.” He smoothed hair from her face. “It was only a nightmare.”

“It’s not only a nightmare. There’s something I haven’t told you.” He didn’t stiffen this time, a good sign. “It’s Mick.” She rushed on before he could even begin to think she was confessing feelings about the creep. “He threatened you, Jamie. He said he’d hurt you if I stayed with you. I should have told you earlier, but I thought it was just a threat, nothing more. But now, with the spooky phone calls, the sound we heard, maybe he’s here. Booked under another name, or even living in the forest.” A tremor shook her body at the thought.

His arms tightened around her. “I’d forgotten all about that scum. He wouldn’t come here, not after all this time. What would he do, kidnap you? Take you where? I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise.”

He didn’t know about the gem, why Mick might be angry enough to come after her. She squeezed her eyes shut and lost herself in his words and warmth.

“Good morning, Maven County Public Library. This is Clarisse, can I help you?”

Hallie clutched the receiver so tight, her damp fingers threatened to pinch it right out of her grip. She could picture Clarisse at the large desk up front, long brown hair and a pencil behind her ear,

“I hope so. I understand a good friend of mine, Chris Copestakes, was killed in a car accident about two months ago.”

“Aw, yeah. It was a real tragedy. Did you go to the funeral? There were a thousand people there, and—”

“Actually,” Hallie interrupted, not wanting to hear the details. “I’m from out of the country. We were, um, pen pals. I wondered if you could do me a big favor and send me a photocopy of the newspaper. I’d like to read the article, and the newspaper doesn’t have articles on the website.”

“I know, they’re so totally in the dark ages. Would you like the obituary, too? It was really nice.”

Hallie choked back a sob. “Yeah, sure. Let me give you the address here, and a credit card for the copies and postage.”

She’d found a couple of online articles in the larger newspapers from the surrounding cities, but very little detail.

Then she called someone from Hallie’s old life.

“You want me to
what?
” Joya screeched over the line.

“Just call Mick’s house for the next few days at all kinds of odd hours and see if he’s there. I’m probably paranoid, but I want to find out.”

“All that paradise and sex is getting to you, darling. God, how I envy you!”

Hallie smiled for the first time since Jamie left that morning. “Joya, the sex is paradise.”

Joya groaned on the other end. “How did you do it? Find a life so wonderful, a fantastic husband, everything?”

“I guess you could say that I finally saw the Light.”

Hallie heard a sigh on the other end of the line. “I need to see that light, too. Hallie, I’m leaving Stan, Body Rhythms, La Moustache and everything. I’m afraid that my nine lives will run out, and the AIDS monster might get me.”

“I’m glad. I think you’ll be glad, too.”

Joya snorted. “Glad? Well, I might be lonely, horny and broke, but at least I’ll be true to myself. That’s most important, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it is. It definitely is.”

“Hallie, why are the curtains all closed? There’s a beautiful sunset tonight.”

Jamie set some papers down and nuzzled her neck, chasing away the chill. Her arms were wrapped around herself, and she had been deep in thought when he had come home. Phoenix, who had been at her side, now approached Jamie for a petting. Jamie crouched down and scratched the pup’s fuzzy head.

“Hey there, little guy.”

She turned and moved into his embrace. “I’m glad you’re home. I hate when you work late.”

“I never work late now that I have something interesting to come home to,” he said, his voice laced with sensuality. “The days are shorter now that fall is here. Want to take a walk on the beach and watch the sunset?”

She glanced toward the door. “Out there?”

He laughed. “Yeah, that is where the sun is setting. Come on, it’ll be good for you to get out of this house for a change. You’ve been so…”

“Paranoid. Just say it, Jamie. I’ve been paranoid. Between the nightmares and the phone calls, I’m just about strung out.”

He tugged at her hand, pulling her reluctant body to the door. “I would die before I let anyone hurt you.”

She shivered at his words. Yes, he would die for her, she knew that. Her gaze drifted down his strong neck, wide shoulders and capable arms. To think of that body lying still in death…this time the chill made her entire body stiffen with dread. She squeezed his hand, and he mistook the gesture for compliance.

When they walked down the lighted pathway, she noted that some of the bulbs had burned out. Or maybe someone had started loosening them, one by one. Maybe…her heart felt strangled as she remembered vivid scenes from every horror movie she had ever watched.

“Hallie,” he said as they came to a stop in the sand. “How is it that you look the same as you did before the stroke, yet somehow you’re more gorgeous?”

She found the place in his arms where her body fit perfectly. The warm, soft breeze made her long hair tickle her waist, and made her nose itch with the saltiness of it. She looked up at him, kissing the spot just under his chin. His eyes were filled with strength, love, and awe, a compelling mixture. Especially surrounded by the glow of the setting rays.

“Sometimes I think I really did die and now I’m in Heaven. And you’re a beautiful angel come to fill my soul with happiness.”

He bent down and kissed her, crushing her against his chest. She could hear his quick, shallow breaths as they slowly dropped down to the sand. And then she could only hear the crashing of waves inside her body, could only feel the tidal surge lifting her up, up to the night sky, to the sun that was always there when Jamie made love to her.

Later, in the darkness, she positioned herself so that she could watch for shadows in the jungle. Little good it would do, for Mick would be two feet away by the time she could see them.

Jamie was lying on his back in the sand, her sitting at his side. He traced his finger languorously along her leg… “Tell me what I can do to ease your fears.”

She looked down at him, realizing he’d been watching her staring into the darkness. She wrapped her fingers around his forearm. “Did you ask?”

He studied her, as if weighing whether to tell her the truth. “We’re the only ones getting hang-ups.”

“Jamie, they’re not hang-ups. Someone is staying on the line, waiting. We know it’s a man.”

He sat up, wrapping his arms around her shoulders. “What are you afraid of?”

The muscles in her face were freezing into a stiff frown. “Mick hasn’t been home for the last five days. Joya’s been checking.”

“Well, he isn’t staying here.”

Her eyes widened. “You’ve checked?”

“For you. Okay, maybe for me, too. I think your imagination is kicking in because of your nightmares.”

She took a deep breath. Now was the time to broach the subject. If he accepted the first part, she would tell him the rest.

“Jamie, what would you say if I told you I was thinking about going to that bridge in my nightmares? That I think I know where it is and I want to see why I keep dreaming about it.”