18. Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Sixteen
Keir
A steady beat interrupted my nightmare. I sat up, a crick in my neck making me groan from sleeping in a shitty chair. I scanned my surroundings, seeing a room with glass walls. A woman was standing beside a hospital bed, holding a small device in the ear of a man with blond hair and a banged-up face…
I gasped in relief— my husband . Every memory came rushing back in an instant.
My ability to speak with the dead and try to help them with whatever tethered them to the Human Realm so they could rest in peace.
Meeting Dash when he came to Dearly & Son to arrange his brother’s funeral. Remembering how smitten I was with him immediately. The pain I felt when Dash left me to go to Italy. Hearing about him falling off a boat and finding out he’d suffered a brain injury.
Finding out Dash could see auras of the dead and the living to sort the dark from the light spirits to keep me safe. Learning we were the Gatekeeper and the Key, a balanced pair intended to save humankind from evil.
Becoming friends with angels and demons. Our wedding and honeymoon. The two of us fighting side-by-side to save the Human Realm.
So many memories hit at once. It was like a tsunami flowed over me, pulling me down as glimpses of events that had occurred since the whole Gatekeeper and Key business began whirled in my mind’s eye.
A shadow caught my attention. The nurse had stepped in front of me. “Are you okay, Mr. Dearly? Your husband is going to be fine. The doctor said the surgery went well to install the support rod and fuse the vertebrae together. It’ll take a lot of physical therapy, but he’ll recover most of the movement in his neck and full movement in his back. He’ll be fine.”
There was a knock on the glass, getting the nurse’s attention. She smiled. “Oh, your aunt is here. I bet that little girl of yours is missing her daddies.”
That was when the final memory slid into place. Our beautiful daughter Grace.
I stood and turned toward my husband who was sleeping like the dead, though the beeping of the monitors assured me he was still alive. I stepped over to his bed and leaned into his ear. “Come back to us. We love you. I’m sorry you were hurt, but Grace and I need you.”
I kissed his forehead and glanced at the nurse. “I’ll be back.” She nodded, and I walked out of the room and into the arms of Jo in her human form.
“How is he?”
“You tell me. It sounds as though he has a broken neck. How’d we get here? What happened?”
Jo looked around and took my arm. “Let’s go get a cup of coffee.”
“Where’s Grace?” Our sweet little girl was nowhere in sight.
“Grace is fine. She’s with your mother and Lenny at the hotel. I’ll explain the rest when we get to the cafeteria.”
We boarded the elevator and rode in silence. When we arrived on the second floor, we stepped off and went right into the cafeteria. I was trying like hell to remember how we got to the hospital or even what happened after Lucifer ate Erebus and I touched Nyx, hopefully sending her back to her corner of Hell.
“How did we get here, Jo? When did Mom and Lenny arrive?” I was drawing blanks.
We got coffee and sat at a table for two at the back of the large cafeteria. Jo grinned before they started speaking. “I’m proud of you and Dash. You two are remarkable men.”
It felt good to hear, but… “How did we get here?”
“While Dash was still part human, he had Lilith’s blood in his veins. Otherwise, Nyx would have crushed him completely. There would have been no way to save his human life had you not sent her to Droh. As a reward for all your sacrifices, the Celestial Council, along with the princes of Hell, agreed to return Dash to his original human form.”
“He looks the same as he did before the fight.” He was still muscular and taller than me.
Jo chuckled. “Now, it would be noticeable if he suddenly shrank, wouldn’t it? From now on, he’ll have to maintain all that muscle on his own. But the rest of his gifts are gone. His eyes are back to his original hazel. He can say he had corrective surgery if anyone asks. He’ll heal, Keir, and with time and effort, he’ll be his old self, except he won’t remember any of this. It’s as though none of it happened for him.
“The fire at Dearly & Son sealed the portal there. The ground in Normandy will be sanctified, and that portal will be closed too. The Council and the princes agreed not to allow anymore portals to be opened in the Human Realm, and I’m here to offer you the opportunity to forget all your interactions with the dead—if that’s what you want.”
Was that what I wanted? Did I want to forget some of the most important moments of my life? The lessons taught to me by some of my guests over the years? The beautiful moments I’d been given with my father after he’d died?
It only took a moment to answer. “No. I don’t want to forget, but I wouldn’t mind not being able to see and chat with the dead going forward. I don’t want to have to lie to my husband if he catches me chatting with them. He’ll think I’ve lost my mind.”
We both laughed. “We’ll leave the past intact, but we’ll ensure you’re not bothered going forward.”
I nodded in gratitude. “Will I still have to be the Gatekeeper until the next one comes along?”
“No. You and Dashiell will live your lives as normal humans. There will be no interference from anyone upstairs or down. Your future is in your hands completely. You’re no longer the Gatekeeper and he’s no longer the Key.”
Jo gathered their knitting bag and stared into my eyes. “I’m sorry Dash was in such a nasty accident. He fell through the floor of the funeral home while getting your important papers from the safe in your office. He hit the tile floor in the mortuary. All your friends will be there to support him in his recovery. You’ll no longer have spirits knocking on your door.”
Jo stood and smiled as they touched my arm. “I’ll check in on your family on occasion. Call me Aunt Jo. And no worries about the future Gatekeeper. That job has already been reassigned.” They leaned forward and kissed my cheek before leaving the cafeteria.
I was filled with an enormous amount of gratitude, and as I looked around, relief consumed me when the spirits that had been mulling around when we arrived had now vanished before my eyes.
It was the dawn of a new beginning for our family.