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I rolled my eyes as I sat on the cream colored couch. “Normally I’d scold—”
“Not funny.”
And while his reply was amusing, but I could no longer give him time to avoid his fears. “How much longer do you have, Alfred?”
Silence.
“I was doctor in four of my past lives. I know that cough is not just a cough.”
He snorted. “Four out of a thousand is horrible statistic.”
“Says the man with tuberculosis in this era of modern medicine.”
Silence again. And I didn’t mind silence. In fact, I preferred it which meant I could wait until he either hung up or spoke.
He chose to speak. “They say it’s antibiotic resistant but not contagious. However….”
“In a man your age it will be fatal.”
He exhaled as if in relief. “The doctors here want to try all these new drugs and whatnot. Part of me said forget it because I wasn’t going to be anybody’s guinea pig. But then my granddaughter…” he laughed with joy at the thought of her. “She comes home crying, and though I’m used to her crying fits, I still gave her my attention and listened as she complained about the hero of the latest book she was reading. She called him every name under the sun for giving up on his love after finding out he had a terminal illness. She said he should live on for love, and yadda, yadda, yadda. And at the end of her rant she hugged me and told me she loved me. I knew then that I was going to be a guinea pig.”
I could feel the pain, the darkness slithering around me like a snake. I didn’t want to shoulder his pain but I couldn’t help it. “I’m sure you’d prepare a much more formal goodbye for me than this call, so what do you need from me, Alfred?”
“Yes,” he finally said. “But let me make an excuse for it anyway.”
Only Alfred. “I’m listening.”
“We aren’t publishing your next novel because it’s boring.”
I paused trying to pretend I didn’t hear that but I couldn’t. “I’m sorry, did you just say the tragedy that was one of my past lives is boring?”
“Yes,” he replied and I was starting to hate this excuse. “It’s only boring because it ends like your other books. Everyone knows your face right now. They will be expecting greatness from their real-life hero and we can’t give them more of the same.”
“So you want me to write a happily ever after? They ride off into the rainbow-filled sunset?” It was like he was mocking me. “To the rest of the world it is fictional, but to me it is an autobiography. I can’t write what didn’t happen!”
“I know, Malachi. I know which is why it’s an excuse,” he said and I relaxed slightly.
“For?”
“My granddaughter.” He didn’t bother to hide it any longer. “She’s smart, beautiful, funny, and just odd enough that it’s adorable, but most importantly she’s kind, she always makes those around her smile, and….and I don’t want the last time I see her or hear from her filled with…this. I don’t want her crying over me. With me gone, and you now knowing who your past lover is, I hoped she could spend the next couples of weeks in Montana with you while I seek treatment here. She’s a fan of your novels. In fact, she’s a super-fan. She’s the one who titles most of your novels and runs your fan page. If anyone ca
n help you make up a happy ending it’s her. And I don’t want her figuring it out or meeting anyone by chance. She’s not trouble, you’d hardly even notice she’s there—”
“Send her when you’re ready.” He didn’t need to explain at all. He merely had to ask. “I don’t know about this book but I’ll keep playing along until...you return.”
“Thank you.”
“I’m a man of word.” No matter what lifetime, if someone of the Noëlle family needed help I’d offer it. It was my eternal debt to pay.
June 17th 1853- St. James Parish, Louisiana
“Are you sure the lady is fine?” Philip de Noëlle asked from up above us as he held the plank of wood tightly at his side. I waited for her to answer because I knew he’d be more satisfied but she didn’t say a word, and even I looked to make sure she was alright, but she merely smiled that smile of hers, her eyes glistening with excitement and jubilation.
“Mary-Margaret?” I spoke her name to get her attention, and when she blinked, her green eyes shifted to Dr. de Noëlle.
“I’m much more than fine, Sir. Thank you. You’re quite kind helping us like this.”
When I looked back, his white face was dumbstruck as if he figured she’d be coming to her senses by now…now that we were miles away from her home and my bondage, and hiding in a dirt ditch as we tried to make it up north.
