“Bully.” Mine. Wonderful word that could mean so many things when spoken between them. “I’ll see about that.” She was having to force her lids to stay open. “And it might not have been that I was really blacked out. Might have been Jenny…”
COMMUNITY HOSPITAL OF THE MONTEREY
PENINSULA, CARMEL, CALIFORNIA
“Eve?”
Margaret’s voice, Eve realized drowsily as she fought to rouse herself from sleep. She slowly opened her eyes to see Margaret standing beside her bed. The hospital room was dark except for the light streaming in from the hallway. “Hi, what are you doing here?”
“Sneaking in where I’m not supposed to be.” She smiled down at her. “Joe helped me, but he’s not pleased. I wouldn’t have done it except that the doctors said that you’re not nearly as fragile as you looked right after you got that knock on the head.”
“It must be important if you’re barging in here in the middle of the night.” Eve yawned. “Is everything okay?”
“No. But I think it might be something you can fix.” She turned her head. “Cara.”
Cara Delaney moved out of the shadows in the far corner of the room. “Is it all right that I’m here? I won’t be any trouble.”
“Cara.” Eve held out her hand to her. “It’s all right as long as we don’t get caught. They seldom have middle-of-the-night visiting hours at hospitals.” She glanced at Margaret. “But she’d be better off in bed.”
“No, she wouldn’t,” Margaret said. “Nalchek pulled strings to keep her out of a child-care facility, so she could stay in my hotel room tonight. But she kept waking up with nightmares. The last time she woke up, she said she had to come here to you. She was getting upset, so I stopped arguing and decided to try to negotiate our way in here.”
“You evidently succeeded,” Eve said dryly.
“I won’t be any trouble,” Cara repeated. “Just let me stay.”
“She’s very good,” Margaret said quietly. “I wouldn’t have brought her if I’d believed she’d be a hassle for you.”
“I’ll just sit here and be with you,” Cara said. “Like Jenny would want me to do.”
Eve went still. “What?”
“She didn’t tell me that,” Margaret said.
“No?” She was gazing at Cara. She looked so much like Jenny, yet there were differences. Her features were not as delicate, and her eyes were hazel, not green. She had Jenny’s exotic cheekbones but they looked stronger, more defined. There were other differences; the years of living and being on the run had given Cara a reserve and quiet strength unusual in a girl her age.
And she was gazing steadily at Eve as if she were trying to tell her something.
Perhaps she was, and whatever it was, Eve wanted to hear it. “You can leave her with me, Margaret. We’ll be fine together.”
Margaret nodded and fetched a chair from against the wall and set it beside the bed. She turned on the lamp on the bedside table that cast a low glow in the room. “I believe you will.” She headed for the door. “But you can expect Joe to peek in shortly just to make sure.” She glanced over her shoulder at Cara. “Don’t wear her out.”
“I won’t.” The little girl settled in the chair, and added gravely, “I know I have to take care of her.”
Margaret’s brows rose. “Really?” She shrugged. “Whatever.” She left the room.
“Do you want me to turn out that light? I don’t want to keep you awake,” Cara said. “I just wanted to be here.”
“No, it won’t bother me.” She smiled. “And I’d like to see you. You’ve been the mystery in this puzzle. Joe and I have been searching for you and looking at hundreds of pictures to try to locate you. We couldn’t find one until we saw you in that choir photo.”
“Elena didn’t want me to be in that photo. But she found out too late to stop it.” Her lips were suddenly tight with pain, her eyes glittering with tears. “She always told me that we still had to be careful. Sometimes, I didn’t believe her. I should have believed her.”
“The young always believe the best,” Eve said gently. “Elena considered it her duty to protect you from the possibility that the best wouldn’t happen. She loved you very much.”
Cara nodded. “I loved her, too.” Two tears rolled down her cheeks. “Now she’s gone, Eve.”
She wanted to reach out and hold her. Instead, she took her hand. “Not really gone.”
“I know,” she whispered. “She’s with Jenny. Jenny said that she’d make sure that she was safe and happy before she left her.”
Eve stiffened. “She did?”
Cara nodded. “But it’s still hard. I miss her.”
“Of course you do.” She paused. “When did Jenny tell you that?”
“In the dream tonight. I was having a nightmare, and suddenly Jenny was there, and all the bad stuff went away.”
“I … see. And do you often dream about Jenny?”
“No, only lately. The first time was when we were still at the apartment, and I didn’t know anything was wrong.” She was smiling eagerly again. “It was so good to see her. I thought she was gone, but there she was, just like before.” Her smile faded. “You think I’m crazy? I know she’s dead. I knew it before she told me in that first dream. But she was there.”
“No, I don’t think you’re crazy. I think something very special happened to you because of the bond between you and Jenny.”
“She told me that you’d understand that first time she came to me. She said, Go to Eve. You’ll begin to feel what she’s feeling, just like I do. I didn’t know what she meant. I didn’t know who she was talking about.”
A ripple of shock went through Eve. “She was probably preparing you to accept me if I tried to help you get away from Walsh.”
“I don’t know.” She frowned. “But I don’t think so. Because she said something like that again tonight. She said, Go to Eve and take care of her. She’ll need you. And you’ll need her.”
“But you said yourself that it was a dream, Cara,” Eve said gently.
“You don’t want me? That’s okay.” She was speaking quickly. “But just let me stay and take care of you for a while. I promised her. I won’t get in your way.”
“Cara…”
“It’s okay.” She released Eve’s hand and leaned back in the chair. “Now go to sleep, and I’ll be quiet and not bother you.”
“You’re not bothering me.”
“I’ll just turn out the lamp.” The room was plunged into darkness.
So that Eve wouldn’t see the hurt she had inflicted by that gentle reminder.
But she knew it was there, and she wanted to heal it. How to do it when the situation was bewildering, and promises couldn’t be given? It reminded her of that similar moment with Jenny in the early days when she had first come to her. But Cara was no spirit, she had her entire life to live, and mistakes could be made so easily.
“Cara, we’ll work this out. I only want you to be happy and safe.”
“I know. Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”
“Yes, you will,” Eve said firmly. “I’ll make sure of it. Just hold on and give me a little time.”
“I’ll hold on as long as you let me, Eve…”
* * *
Joe Quinn was standing in the hall when Margaret came out of the room. “Eve’s going to let her stay?”
Margaret nodded. “She won’t be a bother to her, Joe. She’s a good kid.”
“Even good kids can cause disturbance. Eve doesn’t need it.”
“I told Eve you’d be checking in on her. Judge for yourself.”
“I will.” His gaze was fastened on her face. “You look tired. It’s the first time I’ve seen you without your usual vim and vigor.”
“I’m not tired. I’m feeling a little at a loss. Everything is winding down, and there doesn’t seem to be anything that I can do.”
“No interesting coyote discussions to instigate?” Nalchek had just gotten off the elevator and was coming toward them. “What a pity.”
“What are you doing here in the middle of the night?” she asked. “I called and told you that Eve was going to be okay.”