Chapter Twenty #3
“Do not leave me!” he cried, his voice cracking.
One moment of slapping turned into another of desperate embraces, clutching her against his hard chest as tightly as he could.
“I forbid you to leave me, do you hear? You have made me whole, sweetheart. Without you I am nothing. Christ, do you hear what I am saying? I need you! I love you more than life!”
Toby’s face was in his hand, hiding the tears that were coursing down his cheeks. Ali, having regained his breath and strength, knelt on the other side of Peyton’s body.
“Lay her down, Alec,” he encouraged firmly. He could see that Alec was beyond rational thinking. “Let me try.”
“No!” Alec sobbed, his face in her dirty hair. “She can’t leave me, Ali. I will not live without her!”
“If I am successful, you will not have to live without her,” Ali said firmly, gently. “Lay her down!”
After a moment’s hesitation, Alec tenderly lowered his wife to the ground, kissing her sweetly as he released his hold.
“Oh, Peyton….” he whispered, kissing her again. “Do not leave me, sweetheart. I love you.”
Ali gently pulled him away, moving to resume blowing air into Peyton’s lungs. As he put his hands on her face and hovered over her lips, she suddenly let out a violent cough.
Ali let out a whoop of surprise and barely managed to turn her on her side as she commenced vomiting water. Alec, overcome with astonishment, began gasping like a dying man as Ali thumped Peyton on the back to aid her in clearing her lungs.
“Peyton!” Alec cried, nearly pushing Ali over in his attempt to be near his wife. “Can you hear me, love? Peyton?”
Peyton vomited until there was nothing left. Air, rushing into her lungs, sent stabs of pain radiating throughout her body. Vaguely, she could hear Alec’s voice and Ali’s low laughter, but beyond that she was incapable of sensing anything else. She thought she was dreaming… or dead.
Last she remembered, she had been struggling with Colin. And now…. she truly had no idea what had happened, or where she was. Mayhap, in fact, she had dreamed the whole event with Colin. Or mayhap she was simply insane.
However, she had heard one thing clearly; Alec told her that he loved her.
Somewhere in the mists that had fogged her mind, she had felt a stinging pain to her cheek and she had heard an unashamed declaration of his love.
Then there had been this man…a man with golden red hair.
He seemed to know her, for he had been smiling openly.
Strangely, she did not fear him. As he moved toward her through the mists, tall and broad and handsome, she realized there was something very familiar about him.
His voice, rich and deep, distinctly informed her that it was not yet her time. She thought she had dreamt him, too.
Alec’s voice reached her again, panicked and pleading.
The tall man seemed to hear it, for a wistful look came to his eyes.
Then, he put his hands on her shoulders and turned her away from the warm, bright light that had been intent on luring her.
She had gazed at him questioningly but he had merely smiled and gave her another brotherly shove.
Then she heard Alec’s voice again, telling her that he loved her.
It had been enough to bring her back from the light beckoning her towards everlasting peace. A glance over her shoulder had showed the red-headed man once last time, his smile faded into a pensive gesture. His sky-blue eyes had reached out to her.
“Tell Nubs there is nothing to forgive, Peyton,” he said.
And then she had come back.
“Alec?” she rasped; talking as well as breathing was mayhap the most painful experience of her life.
His hands were on her face, clutching her as if he were afraid she was intent upon leaving him again. “I am here. Christ, Peyton, can you hear me?”
She slipped into a coughing fit, agonizing with every breath. “Where…. where I am?”
His tears were falling freely, pelting her pallid cheek. “Safe, love. You are safe.”
She swallowed hard, trying to calm her breathing. Slowly, the sapphire blue eyes opened and Alec nearly collapsed when they focused on him. His lip quivered and Peyton shushed him softly.
“Do not cry, my Alec,” she whispered. She tried to raise her hand to him but was far too weak; he saw her feeble attempt and grasped her hand, holding it against his cheek fervently.
He closed his eyes against her frail, cold hand as his tears coursed warm paths over their flesh. “I thought you were lost,” he whispered.
She managed a very weak, very pale smile and closed her eyes. “Not hardly. I…. I had to live long enough to hear you tell me of your love.”
He kissed her hand eagerly. “’Tis more than love, sweetheart. Much, much more. You are my life.”
She started to respond when her smile suddenly vanished and her eyes opened again. “Where’s Colin?”
Alec kept her hand clasped to his cheek, his red-rimmed eyes steady. “Dead.”
She coughed again. The pain, though still there, was fading. She seemed to be looking at him strangely. “You are wearing your armor?”
He smiled weakly. “It’s almost too small. I fear I have grown in twelve years.”
Ali and Toby chuckled softly at Alec’s expense, remembering that they had almost been unable to secure the protection about his wide shoulders.
Alec had not only grown upward, but he had also gained pure muscle and power since he last wore it.
Before long, he would have to have a new suit commissioned.
She smiled in response to the low chuckles, her fingers gently caressing his cheek. “You look every bit The Legend. Welcome back, darling.”
His smile faded as his tears returned. Choked, he kissed her palm tenderly, worshiping the feel of her warmth. “I would say the same to you,” he murmured.
The setting sun bathed the fen in a golden glow, kissing the earth with a fading warmth. As Alec gathered his wife into his arms, he couldn’t dwell on how very close he came to losing her. He was desperate to return her home, where she belonged, and put this episode far behind them.
“Tell me of your brother, Alec,” she whispered as he moved toward his destrier.
He paused, confused. “I will later, love. I promise.”
“Tell me now,” she could barely speak.
Alec reached Midas and gently handed his wife to Ali before vaulting onto the saddle. Ali lifted Peyton up to him as if she were made of the most fragile glass while Toby covered her with a traveling cloak to ward off the evening’s chill.
“Tell me, Alec.”
He gathered his reins. “What do you wish to know?”
She did not say anything for a moment. “Was he very tall, with golden-red hair?”
“Aye, I told you he had red hair.”
“And his eyes were sky-blue, like yours?”
He nodded faintly. “Why?”
She opened her eyes, gazing up at his helm-clad head. “He told me it wasn’t yet my time.”
He looked at her, then. “Who told you?”
“Peter,” she whispered. “He told me it wasn’t yet my time and helped me return to you.”
Alec didn’t say anything. He continued to stare at her, wondering if her experience had somehow damaged her mind.
However, there was just the smallest part of him that was somehow willing to believe her.
He hadn’t listened to Jubil and it had nearly cost him everything.
Mayhap Peyton had indeed seen something in the great beyond.
He forced a gentle smile. “You are sure it was Peter? I cannot be positive that my brother made it to Paradise. More than likely, he is paying for his sins as Lucifer’s minion.”
She smiled, feeling weak enough to sleep for a thousand years. “He said something else, something strange. He told me to tell Nubs that there was nothing to forgive.”
Alec’s face drained of all color. He stared at his wife, his mouth agape, and she caught his astonished expression immediately.
“What’s the matter?”
“You…. what you said,” he whispered in a tight voice. “Christ, Peyton…. he mentioned Nubs?”
“Who is Nubs?”
He could barely speak. “Me,” he breathed. “’Tis a nickname my brother gave me when we were children because I used to chew my nails until they were bloody nubs. Only Peter called me by that name.”
She smiled and reached up a frail hand to touch his face. Shaken, he kissed her fingers. “He really said that?”
She nodded slowly. “He said there was nothing to forgive.”
He blinked and tears glistened on his thick lashes. He was so choked with emotion that he could not speak. Had he been hesitant before, there was no lingering doubt that Peter had indeed appeared to Peyton as she drifted in the realm between life and death.
Only Peter would have humiliated him by mentioning an embarrassing nickname.
Only Peter would have known how very much Peyton meant to him, breaking whatever bonds confining him to the Netherworld to help her return to her frantic husband.
As Alec had taken from him, only Peter would have given his brother his life back.
He clutched Peyton tightly, kissing her forehead tenderly as she dozed against his chest. The world around him, though fading in the weak light, was bright and new.
“I love you, sweetheart.”
“I love you, too, my Legend.”