Chapter Seven #3
Something that had been knotted up in his chest for hours finally loosened.
“Thanks, Nick. That’s great. I probably do look pretty bad.
” He looked at the clock. “It’s nine in the morning for me, and I drank way too much coffee.
So I’m exhausted and wired at the same time.
” He leaned on the counter. “But Francesca’s fine. That’s terrific.”
“I have more, but first…” He took a large mug from the counter and filled it with something steeping in Grace’s teapot. “I am under orders to make sure you drink all of this.” He set the steaming brew down in front of Daniel. “It was the only way I could get her to go to bed at a decent hour.”
Daniel sniffed it.
“It’s her blend for sleep plus a good dose of your special extract, she said.” Nick folded his arms, apparently ready to strong-arm Daniel into downing the brew. “Don’t make me get the funnel.”
“No way. I am happy to drink every drop. Trust me,” Daniel said. “But while I am still lucid, should I be worried about men in white coats coming to get me?”
Nick grimaced. “No real reason for that. They were a bit more than curious about me tracking down information about an Italian train passenger right before an Italian train she might have been on was derailed by an earthquake, but I think I finessed everything well enough for them not to be bringing out the straitjackets for both of us.” He gestured toward the mug.
Daniel sipped at it. It was doctored liberally with honey and tasted pretty good.
“It was really an impossible situation. We could make assumptions about where she was going, and when she might have boarded a train out of Parma, but…Francesca has a rail pass, so no reservations. And she might not have been going home at all. She could have been heading back to the university,” Nick said.
“There were just too many variables to be able to stop that wreck, when we didn’t know which train to stop. ”
“I should’ve just told her.”
“Too many variables there too. Unlikely she would believe you. But let’s assume she did. Then what? I doubt you could convince the authorities in time, if at all. And you would have exposed yourself to…who knows what. And you’ve still just saved her.
Daniel closed his eyes. “But just one. I saved one person out of, what, they said forty some? I just… It just feels like I should’ve—”
“Did you hear the part about it being an impossible situation?” Nick peered at him. “No wonder you’re exhausted. I’ll bet you’ve been beating yourself up like this all day. Take it from someone who has dealt with that kind of guilt, sometimes there just isn’t a good solution.”
Daniel frowned and gulped down more tea.
“The point is you saved Francesca. She had to find an alternate way home, but she did arrive, safe and in one piece. Some place called Santo Stefano di Magra.”
“Her family’s okay?”
“Yeah, her village wasn’t damaged.” Nick looked solemn. “Do you think she’ll put two and two together about your visions?”
Daniel looked up. “Not really. I was really careful.” He rubbed at his temple. “Although my memory of some of it is fuzzy.”
“What about this Mel? The reporter?”
If his ability had shown him everything he needed earlier, he wouldn’t have had to spend the whole day running around Florence with Mel. He probably wouldn’t have even given Mel the time of day.
“Not so careful, I’m afraid. I was doing fine up until… It’s a long story, but I said a few things after drinking a bottle of wine or two. She probably wrote me off as a kook.” He rubbed his eyes. “But she’s a reporter…”
“Hopefully not an extremely curious one,” Nick said.
No such luck. “I really need to talk to Grace about my… About this.”
Nick raised his hand. “Yeah, but it can wait. We all need some sleep first. Grace isn’t going anywhere.”
Daniel nodded. “Yeah. Sure. Sounds good.” He took another gulp, finally noticing the bitter tang of the herbs. “How’s the baby?”
Nick grinned. “I’m taking Grace to get a sonogram on Friday. But other than that…”
“Everything’s fine, right?”
“Oh yeah. The baby’s great. Kicking like crazy,” Nick said. “This is just a photo session. First picture and all.”
“Not exactly a family portrait at J.C. Penney’s.” Daniel chuckled.
Nick put a hand on Daniel’s shoulder. “Good to have you home. Oh, I should warn you, Grace’s been nesting. She found some antique furniture in the basement and she’s been… Well, you’ll see when you go up to your room.”
“Nesting, huh?” Daniel chuckled as Nick left the kitchen, imagining a bunch of old furniture piled up into a round bird’s nest. God, he had to be tired if he found that funny. “I really appreciate the hospitality.” He gulped down the last of the tea.
Nick turned and gave Daniel his raised-eyebrow look. “This isn’t hospitality, Daniel. It’s your home.”
“I—”
“Your home. It’s a huge house. Even with Eddie and Ouida downstairs, Grace is always saying this house feels empty.” He paused. “She misses you…and Thea.”
“She told you about Thea?” He shook his head. “Sorry. Stupid question. Of course she did.”
“Yeah,” Nick said. “And I can tell she misses her.”
“We all do.” The situation with their sister was complicated. And it was way too late and he was way too drained to be thinking about it.
“So…if you don’t want to share the kitchen, you can move to the old home place when the renovations are finished.”
Daniel lifted his hand. “No. No. I’m fine. Just exhausted. Not thinking. I’ll stick to my old room, if that’s all right?”
“Sure. By the way, Grace and I moved into the master suite. We’re converting that storage room into a nursery.”
Daniel was glad that Grace hadn’t given in to the temptation to make Pops’ suite of rooms into some kind of a shrine. Pops would have hated that. That old storage room was the perfect location for a nursery.
“Hopefully having her there won’t disturb everyone else when the middle-of-the-night feedings start. You might want to reconsider moving to the old home place if she’s a screamer.”
Daniel really laughed then, and it felt good.
“Speaking of the middle of the night.” Nick picked up his phone.
“I can’t thank you enough.”
Nick gestured dismissively as he headed for the master suite. “Sleep well.”
Daniel thought about Nick’s words. This was home.
This mountain. This family. His apartment in Raleigh wasn’t home, as much as he had tried to turn it into one.
He’d been ambivalent about going back to the university.
Now, if they offered him a contract to teach again, after all this? It would be a tough decision.
Every time he shook hands at one of those boring faculty get-togethers, he would have to wear gloves or risk having a vision, which would raise eyebrows.
And if the disabling headaches continued, he would have to cope with that as well.
He rubbed at the bridge of his nose. He loved teaching and loved his research, but the world of academia with its politics and pressures had never appealed to him.
This new development was only going to make that environment harder to navigate.
He scooped up his bags and headed for the back stairs.
Maybe he would try a few bee talks up here. Give a plant walk or two. Even if he did return to Blount, he still had some time before he needed to be on campus. He might even start outlining that book of Pops’ tales and teachings.
He remembered Mel’s laughter when he told her the story about the drones. Grace and Jamie would probably remember even more tales, and some of their older guests as well.
That looks like an epiphany on your face there, Dr. Woodruff.
Mel would approve.