Chapter 5
W hen they pulled up in front of the castle doors in the huge roundabout driveway, Amy was shocked. She leaned forward and muttered, “Seriously?”
Riff laughed. “Yes, seriously.”
It was late and dark, but the castle had lights all around that gave it an eerie, almost haunted glow. As they got out, she looked back at Wallace. “Are you sure about this?”
He nodded.
Just then the castle’s front door opened, and a tall figure was outlined there. Riff sighed. “Hello, Angela.”
She glared at him. “Well?”
He shook his head. “No, not yet.”
She turned and walked back inside.
At that, Amy looked back at Wallace. “That’s not an auspicious beginning.”
He shrugged. “It is what it is. Don’t make it more than that.”
She wasn’t sure what that meant, but she could do only so much about it anyway.
So she walked inside to find a lot of people sitting around a massive table, all talking.
The conversations died when they entered, but one man, whom she recognized—more on instincts than anything else—got up and walked over, separating himself from the crowd.
He opened his arms, and, when she fell into them, they closed around her securely, almost with a sense of homecoming.
She tilted her head back and whispered, “Hi, Terk.”
He smiled, leaned down, and whispered, “Hi back.” He held her shoulders and smiled at her. “Come on. Let’s get you upstairs.”
“What about everybody here?” she asked, looking behind him.
“No need to worry about that now,” he said, “Tomorrow will be soon enough. An awful lot of people live here, and you don’t need to deal with that just now. Take your time and get some rest.”
She nodded and whispered, “Thank you.”
He just smiled and escorted them upstairs via an elevator.
That setup was way more modern than the castle appeared to be from the outside.
By the time they got to a room, he pushed open the door and announced, “This is a suite, with two rooms, that you and Wallace can share. As you can see, it’s got an adjoining living area and an en suite bathroom.
So, Wallace, once you have a chance to settle in, come on down, and we’ll send some food up for you two. ”
She was so grateful for his consideration.
Terk looked down at her and added, “I don’t expect to see you until morning, do you hear?”
She smiled and whispered, “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. You’ve had more than enough to deal with. We’re not putting more on your plate tonight.” With that, he said good night and quickly disappeared.
She stared behind him and told Wallace, “I forgot how nice he always is.”
“I would imagine so. Remember that he can read your energy and a hell of a lot more. He probably can tell how exhausted you are, how emotionally worn out, and lots of other things that you and I can’t even imagine yet.
He knows what you’ve been through, so he’s being a kind, compassionate, empathetic person. ”
“I get that,” she admitted, “but I was still expecting to have to socialize. While I’m not feeling quite up to it, it was nice that he didn’t put me through it.”
“It was.” Wallace dropped their bags in their respective bedrooms.
“I’m so exhausted. I don’t know if I should just… collapse or have a shower.”
They walked into the bathroom together, and she gasped. “My God,” she muttered. “It’s huge.”
“It is nice.” He looked around, then pointed out the tub. “Unless you want a bath instead of a shower.”
She stared at it in delight, a great big stone claw-foot bathtub, but fully modernized.
“I absolutely love it,” she exclaimed and nodded.
“I think a bath would be a great idea. I could completely destress in all that water.” As she eyed the assortment of bubble baths on the side, she nodded. “I’m definitely heading for a bath.”
He leaned over, turned on the water, checked the temperature, and nodded. “Go ahead and add what you want. I’ll clean up a little, then head downstairs and see about some food.”
“I don’t even think I could eat,” she added, turning to him. “Especially not if it means going downstairs.”
“I don’t think you have to go downstairs,” he said, “but I’ll go check it out.” She smiled at that, and he closed the door behind him, as he headed off to his part of the suite.
She slid into the hot water, almost groaning in relief.
Her body had been chilled deep inside from her time in the tunnels, a chill that she hadn’t fully noted until now, when she had been able to do something about it.
Her body had shut down, not able to cope in that terrible place.
Now here, everything was so big and so overwhelmingly beautiful.
She just collapsed into the water, closed her eyes, and rested.
It must have been at least thirty minutes later when she heard a knock on the door. “Who is it?”
Wallace answered with a laugh, “It’s me. I hope you’re not expecting anybody else.”
“Come in.”
He hesitated at the doorway. “Are you covered?”
“I am, at least I think so.”
He came in a little bit closer, setting a small coffee table beside her. “I brought you a cup of coffee. I know it’s late, but it was either that or herbal tea.”
“Coffee is fine,” she murmured. “It never affects me.”
“Good for you. They’re sending us up a couple plates in a bit, just something light,” he added, “so I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“Do I have to get out?” she asked, twisting to look up at him.
“Nope, I don’t see why you would need to,” he said, “especially if you don’t want to. So you might as well eat in the tub if you’re comfortable.” He shrugged.
“Sounds good to me.”
And, with that, he was gone.
She laughed, as it sounded good to her too. Damn good. Too good to be true. She didn’t think she’d ever had a meal in a bathtub before. But right now, still loath to move, anything that allowed her to stay up to her chin in a bubble bath was just fine.
When Wallace returned a little bit later, he had a small plate on a small tray in his hands. She’d finished the coffee, and he quickly removed that and put down the tray. “Here’s a bowl of soup and a meat pie,” he said. “Do you want it here, or are you ready to come out?”
She contemplated it and nodded. “I think I need to get out. As much as I don’t want to, I’ve had enough.”
“Then I’ll take this out in the other room and wait for you,” he murmured and quickly disappeared around the corner.
After scrubbing down from head to toe, including her hair, she got up, dried off, wrapped her hair in a towel, snatched up the robe and pajamas that had been provided for her, and dried off a little bit before getting dressed.
She then headed into the other room. Wallace was sitting down at a small table for two, with the plates of food.
She smiled. “I don’t know what I expected, but I wasn’t expecting hotel treatment.”
“I think it’s just a matter of whatever is available to eat under these circumstances,” he said, with a smile. “And, in this case, they just happened to have soup to warm up and some meat pies left over.”
“Sounds good.” She sat down, tasted the soup, then groaned. “Wow, I hadn’t realized I was so hungry.”
“Eat,” he urged.
She quickly dove into the food. When she lifted her head a few minutes later, she realized half the soup was gone already. She looked over at him, shamefaced. “Sorry.… I didn’t even say thank you .”
“I think you did.” He chuckled. “It really doesn’t matter anyway. Keep eating and enjoy it.”
“I will,” she murmured, as she quickly dropped her head and finished the soup.
Then she sat back and rubbed her tummy. “The flavor’s absolutely to die for.
But then again, as hungry as I was, it could have been terrible, and I wouldn’t have noticed.
Yet it was delicious.” She picked up a fork and had a bite of her meat pie as she looked over at his.
“Did you get enough? They only gave you a little soup and one meat pie too?”
Wallace nodded. “I’m good.”
She asked, “What about Riff?”
“I think Riff has a room here. The woman who met him at the door? They’ve got some relationship history, but I don’t know the details. I’m not sure what the deal is because nobody talks about it, and nothing was mentioned about them tonight.”
“Right, everybody here has their own personal lives. That’s the thing to remember, isn’t it?”
“Everybody everywhere has a personal life,” he clarified, with a smile. “We just aren’t always privy to what that means to the individuals.”
“Right. Just like you?”
“I don’t have a life anywhere, remember?” he shared, with a laugh.
“You always had short-term relationships. You never wanted anything longer than that. Has that changed?”
“Nope, still don’t.” He shrugged. “I’m happy as I am.”
“Are you though?”
He smiled at her. “I have been, up until now at least.”
She laughed. “If that’s a hint…”
“Not necessarily a hint, just saying that I’m not against opening myself up to a relationship in the future,” he explained, still smiling. “I’m not in any rush, and we’ll see where things go. Right now, I just want to stay safe.”
“Right, because that asshole will be coming after you too, won’t he?”
“I’m hoping they’re completely discouraged from coming after any of us,” he declared, shooting her a look. “The last thing we need is to watch our backs constantly.”
“I agree,” she replied, “and I would like to think that they’ll ignore us now that they’ve lost me.
However, they went to a lot of effort to get you, then got the wrong guy.
So, I imagine they won’t give up that easily, not now that they know they’re on the right track to the real Wallace guy they wanted. ”
He nodded slowly. “It is a consideration,” he murmured. “That’s another reason for both of us to keep up our strength, just in case they try again.”
“They better not,” she murmured, “because, this time, I’ll be ready.”
*