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I half-dozed in the middle of Noah’s king size bed. Dani had tossed a comforter over me, and I burrowed into it, a little chilled. The medication Dr. Heaton had prescribed helped smooth out my aches and pain, making it easier to breathe beyond my injured ribs. It had me drifting in the clouds, but I still picked out bits of conversation from the other room.
“She can’t keep doing this…”
“I don’t know what the hell Noah is thinking …”
A can tab popped open. “I have another buddy who went to Afghanistan, and won’t even leave his house now. They went through hell.”
“I know. I do understand, but it’s pretty damned obvious Klahanie did, too. We don’t even know what happened, but she scared the shit out of me. I honestly thought she’d died when she dropped over on us.”
“Yeah, same. Hell, maybe we should call Dr. Heaton again. At the very least, she should go stay with her grandmother …”
“She should, but you know how stubborn she can be.”
“Doesn’t matter. If we took her, there’s not much she can do about it right now…”
“Have you heard anything about Jay? Is there even going to be a funeral? It seems a little weird that his wife and kid took off.”
“There were feds on the island, that’s the thing. I think something huge happened, but we’re being left in the dark, and it’s fucking aggravating. Don’t we have a right to know? This is our home.”
“Whatever happened won’t stay a secret for long. You know how things are around here, hun. People weigh in on everyone else, and everyone else’s business.” Dani soothed her husband’s growing ire, although her tone wasn’t all that different.
Within Dani and Dean’s banter and voiced curiosity, I fell asleep.
****
Something had changed.
I swam just below the surface of consciousness, so the thump of a door closing and additional voices stayed distant and hazy. I tried to listen, but every word was at once familiar and indistinct, almost like another language with similar sounds but incorrect meanings. I couldn’t make any connections.
I dozed off again, barely stirring when the bed shifted a little bit later. Solid warmth curled around me, a whiskered cheek pressed against mine, and the scent of Noah settled deep within. His voice rumbled through his body and into mine. “I love you so much, Klahanie, and I’m so very sorry for doing the instinctive, stupid, selfish,cowardlything, instead of the right thing.”
“You’d better be…” I mumbled, drifting, my control gone in a wave of love and relief. At that moment, I finally let myself cry, but the sobs sounded weak to my own ears.
He kissed the side of my head, cuddling close, but achingly gentle. “It’s okay, baby. I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere, I promise.”
Within the comfort of his arms, my crying ceased, and I allowed myself to slip away into a warm darkness.
Chapter Forty-Nine
“Good evening, everyone. I hope you all are warm, safe, and loved on this unusual star-filled pre-pre-Christmas Eve. Clouds will be back tomorrow to possibly give us a taste of snow.
As you can tell, I’ve wrestled my station back from my beautiful cryptid. She is currently, once again, under Dr. Tim’s care, after pulling a fast one and bribing a friend to help stage a coup at my place.
Before I discuss anything else, you first need to know that we do have good news within recently horrifying events. This isn’t brand new, and, unfortunately, it got lost. Anyway, one of our island matriarchs, Mrs. Judith Holt, got a tentative thumbs up from her orthopedic team. With some patience and physical therapy, our cryptid’s grandmother will be running, skipping, and hang gliding in no time.
Okay. I’m pretty damned sure you all would like me to address the incident that occurred on my property a few days ago. No doubt some of you have tuned into news from the mainland, but there’s so much flying around, it’s hard to decipher fact from fiction from rumor. This story will gain momentum, and infamy, as more information becomes available, but right now, I’m going to try to keep my head and report to you what we actually know. Our local cop, Jay Patterson, died recently in a building collapse. It’s rough, because most of us have known him a very long time. Unfortunately, it turns out that he was not the man we thought he was. It’s hard to fathom, but according to the authorities, he’s been connected with several unsolved murders in the mountains around Southern California. Possibly elsewhere, too.
And Klahanie almost became one of his victims.”
Noah took a long pause to calm his voice.
“But, like her grandma, she’s a tough lady. Despite sustaining several injuries, she managed to turn things around on Jay, to save herself, and who knows how many others down the road.”
Taking another moment, Noah stared through his front window to watch the swell of white tipped waves flow over the beach, swirling, bubbling, and displacing bits of land, plants, and small animals. He timed his breath with the steady movement for a few more seconds before he continued.
“On a personal note, I want to thank everyone for reaching out to give me a figurative kick in the head. I’ve been having some … struggles … for a long while, so my first reaction was a huge mistake. You all helped me see through my stupidity. Also, I had no idea our senior population were such experts in profanity. Seriously. I think I may have even learned some new neon metaphors. Thanks for that.
I’m going to call it a night, but not before I tell you again, Klahanie, that I love you. I’ve loved you since that first day on the playground when we watched the seeds of that dandelion float away.”
