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Mr. Payne walked in at that moment. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize she was up there until I heard the sobs."
"Her hands?"
"Cut everywhere but nothing that required stitches. They should be fine in a few days." Mr. Payne took a thoughtful pause before he asked, "Should I clean up the room?"
"No!" It came out in a roar as all the feelings assailing Gabriel wrecked havoc on him, but he softened his voice and added, "No, just lock it up."
"Very well." Mr. Payne said and turned to leave the room as he added, "I'm glad she destroyed it. I never liked that room, bad vibes up there."
Gabriel replied flatly, "Evil vibes."
After Mr. Payne departed the room, Gabriel reached for his cell phone and called Nicholas. He didn't waste time with greeting his friend before he asked, "Did you know?" The question was so softly spoken but there was no mistaking the thread of barely controlled fury.
"Gabriel, what's happened?" Nicholas asked with genuine concern.
"The place I made roots, the place I brought Quinn, did you know it belonged to that bastard Scarcliff the first?"
Nick's gasp of shock wasn't feigned. "Jesus, I didn't know. Gabriel, I honestly didn't know."
Some of Gabriel's rage abated at his friend's sincere denial since part of what fueled him was the idea that he had been deceived by someone he considered a friend.
"How the hell did we miss that? I wouldn't have encouraged you to buy the place if I had known that bastard owned it. Why the hell didn't I know it had one time been Scarcliff property? It isn't documented in the family papers," Nick asked genuinely pissed and hearing his friend in temper had the rest of Gabriel's anger fizzing out.
"I didn't know, my friend, but it's your home now. You've breathe a new life into the stone and wood." Nick paused for a moment before he asked, "You were just pissed thinking I had deceived you."
"Yeah."
"I value our friendship as much as you," Nick said sincerely.
"That's what I wanted to hear. Good night, Nick and I'm sorry."
"No apology needed my friend."
Quinn woke with a searing pain in her hands and for a moment panic gripped her because she didn't recognize where she was. Then she heard Gabriel's soft voice coming from across the room. Her eyes adjusted to the dim light and she saw him sitting at the desk in the corner. His hair was a mess, as if he'd spent the past few hours pulling his hand through it. His oxford shirt was opened at the collar and his sleeves were rolled up. She climbed from bed and padded over to him.
"Have you slept?"
He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her onto his lap burying his face in her neck so he could breathe her in.
"No." He looked down and reached for her hand. "How are the hands?"
"Sore."
"Would you like me to get you something for them?"
"No, it's not that bad." She looked down before she asked, "Are you mad?"
He lifted her chin. "Mad at you? Why would I be mad at you?"
She shrugged but couldn't deny the relief she felt that her freak out hadn't upset him.
"I'm mad that you hurt your hands but I'm not mad at you."
He tucked her hair behind her ear and continued, "I can't explain it but I have impressions, memories really, that are not mine but in a sense they are. I know the kind of man and father Bryon Scarcliff was and how this place had never been a home to Archer."
"I called Nick, while you slept, with the intent of reaming out my best friend but Nick didn't know about this house. We never discussed it openly but we both know there is a link between us that goes deeper than friendship. I didn't think that he would intentionally push a house on me that had an unpleasant history, one that I am somehow linked to, but I needed to be sure."
"He's upset at himself because he didn't know that this place was linked to his family. He didn't see it documented anywhere."
