Gray's Domain: Purgatorium Series, Book Two (4 page)

Little girl?
Her stomach clenched, and she wanted to burst into tears. He hadn’t called her his little girl in forever. “Okay.” She suddenly felt like burying her face in his chest, but she fought the urge.

“I’m glad you talked us into staying. This has been fun today.”

Before Daphne could reply, Sharon and Roger emerged from the cave, Sharon smiling from ear to ear.

When they were a safe distance from the opening, Sharon said, “They really are pretty.”

Daphne was beginning to suspect with growing disappointment that there was no game today when she noticed a dozen or more bugs crawling from her mother’s shorts’ pocket. They were brownish gray, about an inch in length, with at least ten tiny feet. They had two long antennae and backs that looked like armor. They made her think of tiny armadillos, but with pinchers trailing behind. Sharon seemed oblivious to them until they reached her pale pink blouse.

Sharon flinched back and screamed, swatting the bugs as she jumped from one foot to the other. “Get ‘
em off! Get ‘em off!”

Joe tried to help her, but Sharon ran around, flailing her arms.
“Oh, God! Get ‘em off!”

“Hold still and let me help you,” Joe said, exasperated.

Roger said, “They aren’t harmful. Calm down. Don’t scare the birds.”

“Get ‘
em off me, Joe!”

Daphne’s dad swatted the bugs to the ground, but a few landed on Sharon’s bare legs, making her scream and kick in a frenzied dance. She made Daphne think of a circus clown.

“What are they?” Daphne asked, trying not to smile, as she helped her father scrape them away from her mother’s jerking body.

“Rock lice,” Roger said. “They aren’t poisonous, and their bites don’t sting.”

“They bite?” Sharon squealed. Her entire body flailed about. She scratched at her scalp and twitched her mouth as she clamped her eyes closed.

“Almost got ‘
em all,” Joe said. “There.”

Sharon couldn’t hold still. “Are you sure?
All of ‘em?” She untucked her blouse and shook it.

Daphne and Joe looked all over Sharon, but saw no more of the rock lice.

“You’re good, Mama,” Daphne said.

Sharon stopped flailing and gazed at Daphne, her jaw hanging open.

Daphne felt the blood rush once again to her face. “What?”

Tears pooled in Sharon’s eyes and spilled down her cheeks. At first, Daphne thought her mother was crying with relief, to have all the bugs off her body. But then her mother said, “You haven’t called me ‘Mama’ in two years. Did you know that?”

Daphne
did
know that.  Since Kara’s death, since her mother had said those haunting words (“You mean you heard and did nothing?), Daphne hadn’t been able to call her mother the name she had called her all her life. The horrible guilt she had felt, the guilt she had seen reflected back at her in her mother’s eyes, had made her pull away and erect walls, and from that moment on it had been “Mother” and sometimes “Mom.” She hadn’t meant to call her “Mama,” just then, either, but her guard had come down, and the old name had slipped out.

Joe hugged Sharon and patted Daphne on the back. “It’s been an exciting day,” he said.

Daphne avoided her parents’ eyes, holding back tears. She cleared her throat and asked, “Where do we go from here, Roger?”

“Don’t you
wanna take a look?” Roger asked.

Everyone turned their eyes on Daphne, waiting for her reply.

“Do you think I’ll regret it if I don’t?” Daphne asked Roger, speaking in a kind of code.

“I think so,” he said. “Come on. I’ll be right there with you.”

Daphne felt her knees about to buckle as she followed Roger through the narrow opening into the cave. She fought off images of getting trapped, of the cave collapsing on top of them and crushing them. He shined the flashlight on his face, holding one finger to his lips. Then he pointed his finger and moved the light toward a nest. He didn’t shine the light directly on the birds; rather, he pointed the light to the right of them and allowed the outer rim to cast a soft glow across the nesting pair, so as not to startle them.

Then Roger moved the light to their left. Daphne searched for another nest, but instead, was startled to see a black hooded figure. She flinched, but Roger held her hand and stilled her. A black-gloved hand lifted the hood, and the light shone on Cam.

Daphne gasped.

Cam moved a finger to his lips in the same way Roger had, warning her to stay silent. Then he reached into a pale with a long set of tongs, plucked up a rock louse, and slowly reached over to the nest. Roger followed Cam’s arm with the flashlight as Cam released the bug a few inches from the birds. Daphne watched in amazement as one of the birds snatched the bug up in its beak and shared it with its mate. Then Roger took her hand and led her from the cave. She turned back to look at Cam but could no longer see him in the darkness.

Daphne wondered as they followed the trail back to the jeep if Cam or Roger had put the handful of lice in her mother’s pocket. She smiled at Roger several times as they ascended the hill, unable to contain how pleased she was with the game. It took all her self-control to hide her eagerness for the next one.

Back in her room, as she freshened up before lunch, she thought about her mother’s reaction to being called, “Mama.” Tears threatened to well in her eyes when she realized the added pain she’d caused her mother these past two years. Daphne hadn’t done it to hurt her mom; she’d done it to protect herself. Avoiding terms of endearment like “Mama” and “Daddy” was one of many ways she had prepared herself to leave everyone behind. Even though she was still upset over what they had put her through here on the island, she realized today that she’d never, ever stopped loving them. In a strange way, being punished by them through this therapy and having the opportunity to punish them back worked to bring them closer together.

After calling Brock and learning he wasn’t hungry, Daphne walked with her parents to the banquet hall for lunch where they sat at a table with Cam and Bridget. She felt members of both the older crowd at Hortense’s table and the younger crowd at another looking at her with conspiratorial smiles. Did they all know what had transpired on the bird trail? She smiled back at them and enjoyed her lunch. At their table, her father retold what had happened with the bugs, and even her mother laughed.

Daphne turned the silver bracelet around and around her left wrist, pushed herself to be brave, and said, “That’s Mama for you.”

Her mother and father beamed.

Then Cam said, “We’re taking a sunset cruise this evening after dinner.” He winked at Daphne. “I hope you can all go. It’s beautiful, isn’t it Daph?”

It was Daphne’s turn to beam as she wondered which among Brock and her parents would be manipulated into jumping into the sea.

“Absolutely,” she said. “You’ll love it.”

Chapter Four: Snakes

After lunch, Daphne said goodbye to her parents in front of their unit before continuing down the path to Brock’s.  Cam and Bridget caught up with her and pulled her aside by the tennis courts, which were abandoned.

“Want to have some fun with Brock today?” Bridget couldn’t stop giggling.

Daphne glanced at Cam. “What do you have in mind?”

Cam gave her a mischievous smile. “Let’s just say today would be a great day for a picnic.”

“I just ate,” Daphne said.

“But Brock hasn’t,” Bridget pointed out. “You could make him a couple of sandwiches in the room and suggest eating on the bluff overlooking the beach.”

“The one you like to jump from?” Daphne asked.

Bridget blushed, apparently unaware until then that Daphne knew about the exercise with newcomers. “That’s right. So?”

“Anyway, there are extra blankets in the chest at the foot of his bed,” Cam said. “Use one of those for the picnic, and don’t be surprised if a few snakes join you on the bluff.”

“What?” The corners of Daphne’s mouth reached all the way to her cheeks. This sounded like fun. “Not poisonous ones.”

“Of course not,” Cam said.
“Perfectly harmless, but scary as hell.”

“You have to pretend to be frightened of them, too,” Bridget coached her. “And don’t look like you’re waiting for something to happen.”

“We almost didn’t tell you for that very reason,” Cam said.

Bridget put her hands on her slim hips. “You could ruin the whole exercise if you don’t play it cool.”

“Just spread the blanket next to the big boulder on top of the bluff,” Cam said. “We’ll be hiding on the other side with the snakes. Go in about an hour, so we have time to set everything up.”

“What should I do when we see the snakes?” Daphne asked. “Run?”

“Improvise,” Cam said. “You can’t really mess this up, unless you’re obviously expecting something to happen.”

“You know the one rule, right?” Bridget said with a sober look on her face.

“Right.”

“And remember,” Cam said. “It’s not why, but what.”

Cam and Bridget walked off hand in hand, leaving Daphne to process this new information. With a smile on her lips, she turned and headed for Brock’s unit.

When he came to the door, he had that oh-so-hot, fresh-from-a-nap look about him. She wanted to throw her arms around him and push him on the bed. She almost forgot all about the picnic with the snakes.
Almost.

“I didn’t sleep well last night,” he said. “The prank with the ghosts freaked me out.”

She didn’t want to admit as he closed the door behind her and took her in his arms that she had had the best night of sleep since her arrival. The exercise with the ghosts had purged her of anger and guilt and a whole lot of messed up feelings.

“I’m tired from the morning hike with my parents. Mind if I join you?”

He grinned in that sexy way that almost made her forget she was mad at him. “Do you have to ask?”

She kicked off her shoes and curled beside him on the bed, offering to scratch his back. He purred like a kitten beneath her fingernails. She had to suck in her lips to keep from giggling. She couldn’t wait to see him scream.

“Reminds me of the good ol’ days,” he said softly.

Her heart skipped a beat as the smile left her. How could she be so cruel?

“Remember that time I got snowed in at your house?” he asked.

“Of course I do.” Her parents had let him stay overnight on their sleeper-sofa.

“I prayed for hours that you’d come visit me in the middle of the night. I was shocked when you actually appeared. I thought I was dreaming.”

“It
felt
like a dream.” She sighed. Those were the days when she was still trying to cheer him ups after his mother had died—before Daphne had begun to feel guilty about her own happiness. It wasn’t long after that snow day that Daphne started folding like a dying rose further and further into herself as she erected thorns.

Brock turned over on his back and pulled her in for a kiss. His lips were trembling beneath hers, and when she opened her eyes, she saw him gazing at her with tears in his eyes.

“Brock?”

“If only you knew how much I’ve missed you.” His voice cracked. “I thought I wasn’t ever going to get you back.”

She wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her cheek against his chest, unable to meet his eyes. Here he was confessing his unending love for her, and what was she doing? She was planning to scare the living daylights out of him.

Brock slipped his hand beneath her t-shirt and returned the back-scratch. His nails softly caressed her skin, making her aware of how tense she had been as she relaxed the muscles in her shoulders and neck. Taking in a deep
breath, she relaxed into his chest and closed her eyes. A sigh escaped her lips. Maybe she wouldn’t suggest the picnic after all. This felt so entirely wonderful, and she hadn’t realized how tired she was. A nap in Brock’s arms as he gently scratched her back sounded heavenly.

“
Mmm,” she purred. “Don’t stop.”

Sometime later, her body twitched and woke her up. Had she really fallen asleep?

“You okay?” Brock murmured in a sleepy voice.

“Yeah.”
She glanced at the clock on the nightstand. She’d been asleep for twenty minutes. “You hungry?”

He lifted his arms above his head and stretched the length of his body. She watched the muscles on his arms and chest with fascination. He made a sexy, stretching sound in his throat, bringing a smile to her face. She still wasn’t sure what to do about the picnic.

Then she realized her scarf was off-center, exposing part of her bald head. She jumped from the bed and went to the bathroom mirror to fix it.