Chapter 21 #2
In Gwen’s mind, she sauntered instead of walked, planning her attack.
Michael held the gate wide for her to enter, the distance between her foot and his face so perfectly measured as to be considered a gift.
Gwen shifted her weight to one side and lifted her other leg, kicking Michael soundly in the throat with the pointed heel of her sandal.
He hit the concrete face first, the sound a sickening smack.
She made sure he was dead, then turned to the boy in the cell. “It’s okay now, sweetheart. He can’t hurt you anymore.” She opened her arms and Luke ran to her, taller and older than she’d been expecting. “Come. We need to call for help.”
The pair jogged back to the elevator where Colin sat on the floor, blood streaming from his face. “Gwen?”
“And Luke.”
“Michael?”
“He’s dead.”
“Thank God you’re okay.” He took his cell phone out of his pocket and handed it to her. “You’ll have to make the call. I can’t see a damned thing.”
There was a knock on the open door.
“Can we come in?”
Colin couldn’t place the voice, the bandages over his eyes making him completely blind. With any luck, it was a temporary inconvenience and not a permanent disability.
“Of course,” said Gwen. She touched his hand and said quietly, “It’s Emma and Luke.”
“How are you feeling, Colin?” asked Emma.
“Pretty good,” he lied smoothly. “They think the vision will come back as everything heals up.” There was some truth to that. The doctors were confident at least one of his eyes would see again.
Luke was beside Colin, closer than he realized. “Thank you for saving me.”
“You’re welcome, buddy, but it was Gwen who really saved you.”
“Thank you too, Miss Gwen.”
“You’re most welcome, Luke.”
“How’s Jerry doing?” Colin asked.
“He’s great,” said Emma. “Up and walking around already.”
Luke shuffled his feet. “He told me I need a haircut.”
“They might discharge him in the morning,” said Emma. “He’s going to need physical therapy for a while, but the doctor expects him to make a full recovery.”
“Oh, what a relief,” said Gwen. “I’ll bet you want him home.”
“Yes, I really do,” said Emma.
Becky’s overly loud voice joined the chorus. “Howdy kids.”
Emma and Luke said their goodbyes, heading upstairs to visit with Jerry until his release, and Becky plopped down on the hospital bed at Colin’s feet. “I got you something.”
Something light landed on his lap and he picked it up, a stuffed animal of some sort.
“It’s a bat.”
He smiled at her sense of humor. “Blind as a bat. You shouldn’t have.”
“I really wanted a mole, because technically speaking, they’re the only truly blind animal, according to Wikipedia. But no one sells stuffed moles. Apparently they’re not cute or cuddly enough. And,” she said with a flourish, “I brought you cake.”
“What kind?” he asked.
“Carrot, cheese, chocolate and homemade rum spice made with real rum, thank you very much. I wasn’t sure what you liked.”
He chose some of each cake and made small talk with the people who cared about him. It was several hours later when Colin had to admit defeat. “I was trying to wait for Rowan, but I’m tired.” His brother was headed back to Italy on a late flight this evening.
“It’s been a long few days,” Gwen said. “Get some rest. I’ll wake you when he gets here.”
Colin slept heavily, with strange dreams of a warehouse full of bats turning into seagulls on the beach. Quiet talking woke him slowly.
“I still miss him.” It was Rowan, the sadness in his voice nearly palpable.
“As do I,” said Gwen. “I’ve felt him around me more in the past few days than I have in the past few years.
It reminded me of how much I still love that man.
” She sighed heavily. “I’ll be in love with David Beaumont until I’m an old woman, crossing over the River Styx and running into his waiting arms.”
The emotion in Gwen’s voice was so powerful, her love so profound. Colin’s heart ached. Could there be room in Gwen’s heart for any other man?
“Is that ridiculous?” she asked. “I’ve had that image in my head for so long. I can almost imagine it happening.”
“You two were something special. That kind of love doesn’t come around every day.”
“And what about you?” she asked. “Your wife?”
“It’s complicated, Gwen.”
“Do you love her?”
He whistled between his teeth. “I don’t know.”
“Now that, I can relate to.”
Colin felt a physical pain, like a stab through his middle when he thought he was safe. Gwen was talking about him, unsure if she loved him or not. How was that possible, when his own feelings were so strong?
Gwen’s voice was quiet. “It’s not always easy to tell what love has in store for us, is it?”
“Definitely not,” said Rowan.
“I wish you well, my friend,” said Gwen. “Are you sure you don’t want me to wake him so you can say goodbye?”
“Nah. I’ll call him in a day or two once we’re both home.”
“I’ll give him your love. Have a safe journey.”
“I will. Bye, Gwen.”
He had known he wanted Gwen Trueblood since the moment he first met her, yet she was still uncertain.
Would she stay with him, even if she didn’t love him?
For just a moment he considered the possibility before he discarded it.
He was unwilling to settle for less than all of her love, something it seems he had never experienced.
The rest of the evening he wallowed in his decision, never acknowledging to Gwen that he was awake.
He heard her bustle around the room, felt her eyes upon him, yet still he chose to remain in his own private realm.
Once he could smell her, the scent of her hair and warm skin, and he inhaled deeply like a man about to go underwater.
That single breath would need to last him the rest of his life without her, and he knew for certain it would never be enough.