Celia's Puppies (36 page)

Jacob laughed. Jill looked from a laughing
Jacob to a beaming Delphie.

“
I was testing your
desire,” Delphie said. “It’s hard work, harder than it looks, and
not very glamorous.”

“
I like waiting tables!
How glamorous is that!”

“
We’re wasting time,”
Jacob said. “Did you set up the room?”

Delphie nodded.

“
Jill, would you mind if
Katy joined us?” Jacob asked. “Even asleep, she can
help.”

“
I’ll get her.” Jill’s
defiance never waning, she added, “But I’m still
helping!”

“
Where’s Dad?” Jacob
asked.

“
He’s waiting for us in
the room,” Delphie said. “I hope I didn’t offend you, Jill,
or...”

“
You’d really offend me if
you didn’t let me help.”

“
Good.” Delphie hugged
Jill. “Go with her, Jacob, so she doesn’t get lost.”

“
Lost?” Jill
said.

“
We do this in a room off
the tunnels,” Jacob said. “It’s a part of the Castle. We get there
through the tunnels.”

“
I’ll meet you there,”
Delphie said.

“
Mommy!” Jill’s baby
monitor squawked. In a sing-song calling voice, Katy called,
“Mommy.”

Jill and Jacob ran the stairs to their attic
apartment. They found Katy waiting for them on the other side of
the door. She held her arms up for Jill to pick her up.

“
I wanna help,” Katy
said.

A quick potty stop and they were off through
the Castle to the tunnels.

~~~~~~~~

With his hand over Honey’s heart, MJ poured
all of his love into her. He didn’t notice Blane leaving or the
nurse returning to check on Honey. His sole focus was Honey and his
love for her. Unbidden, his mind drifted to the day he met her.

She was nine years old, a mere child to his
mature fifteen years. His sister and Honey had been planting
strawberries in his mother’s backyard. They were covered in dirt,
and giddy with the idea of fresh warm strawberries. There was a
smudge of dirt under her pale blue left eye like eye black on a
football player. She was adorable.

MJ smiled. He was in charge that day and his
sister had not asked permission to have a guest. In his mind, his
ears filled with his sister’s rapid excuses:

“
But Honey has just
started going to school with me. Today. And don’t tell Mom. And her
new step-dad bought the strawberries. And don’t tell Mom. And they
are going to grow. And we’ll share with you. And don’t tell Mom.
And...”

His eyes focused on this tiny elfin
creature. This Honey.

Honey couldn’t read. She could barely sign
her name. She didn’t know anything about math or science. All she
had was this idea that she had a chance at a decent life.

A tiny chance, but a chance none the
less.

In this moment, lying next to his beloved,
MJ realized that his whole world revolved around her.

Overcome with sorrow, MJ wept.

Why had he waited so very long? His very
soul begged her to hang on. Yet under his hand, he felt her
drifting away.

~~~~~~~~

As they worked their way through the Castle,
Jill tried to prepare herself for Delphie’s chambers. Her mind
filled with images of the torch-lit catacombs from Charmed.
Delphie’s chambers must be dark, with a black light, candles with
wax dipping on the floor, and pagan or devil symbols chalked all
over the room. Following Jacob into a hallway off the tunnels, she
pressed Katy’s head into her shoulder to protect her against
anything scary. Jacob held two wooden swinging doors open and…

Jill stood in on the edge of a light and
airy chapel. There was an enormous bouquet of purple and yellow
spring flowers on the alter. A cross hung on the wall as well as
other religious and spiritual symbols. She didn’t know all of them,
but she made out a statue of Buddha and one of the multi-armed
Shiva. Behind a few statues, she saw Saint Brigid, Jill’s
confirmation saint. There was a Star of David beside a Wiccan
Pentagram. There was something that looked like a moon and a star
next to a kind of druidical obelisk. Each symbol, including the
cross, had a lit white pillar candle in front of it. The Stations
of the Cross were represented in rectangle stained glass near the
ceiling.

Stepping into the room, Jill felt a rush of
joy. She stifled her urge to giggle.

“
It’s nice. Isn’t it?”
Jacob asked. “It was the original Castle chapel.”

“
Are we underground?” Jill
asked.

“
About half,” Sam said.
“From the garden, the stained glass is about a foot off the ground.
We haven’t figured a way in from the house.”

“
It’s gorgeous,” Jill
said. “Where do we go?”

Delphie pointed to an area where padded
floor chairs and mediation pillows where set in a circle. Jacob
took a sleepy Katy from her arms so Jill could sit down on a
meditation pillow. He passed Katy back into her arms. Katy snuggled
into Jill shoulder and fell asleep again.

While the others picked a chair or a pad,
Jill felt a wave of panic. What if she couldn’t help? What if she
screwed the whole thing up? She almost said something when Sam
said:

“
Valerie? Are you
there?”

“
Mike and I are here,
Dad.” Valerie’s voice came in over the speaker of Sam’s cell phone.
“We’re ready when you are.”

Just knowing her brother was there helped
Jill relax. Even over the phone, Mike would make everything all
right.

“
Delphie? Would you mind
giving Jill and Mike instructions?”

“
The instructions are
easy. In practice, it can be much harder,” Delphie said. “You just
think about Honey.”

“
Think about Honey?” Jill
asked.

“
Prayers are thoughts,”
Delphie said. “Right?”

“
Then what?” Mike asked
through the speaker.

“
You try to keep your
attention on Honey. It can be a memory of her or the essence of her
or...” Delphie scanned Jill’s confused face. “Or just send her your
love.”

“
Can I pray the rosary for
her?” Jill asked.

“
The rosary! Of course,”
Delphie said. “Sam, can you get...?”

Sam gave Jill a rosary set made from
beautiful blue stones.

“
Are we ready?” Delphie
asked.

“
Jill?” Mike’s voice came
over the phone. “It’s twenty mysteries, one Our Father, three Hail
Mary’s and what?”

“
One Glory be to the
Father,” Jill said.

“
Got it.”

“
Let’s begin,” Delphie
said.

Closing her eyes, Jill began to pray the
rosary for Honey Lipson with all her heart and soul.

~~~~~~~~

Honey was slipping away.

And there was nothing MJ could do about
it.

In despair, he looked over Honey’s shoulder.
And saw a familiar woman. Her sandy hair and creamy skin gave her
the look of an angel. She stood near the chair he had vacated.
Noticing his attention, she smiled at him.

“
I know you,” MJ
said.

“
Yes,” the woman
replied.

“
You were in Iraq,” he
said. “You told me to tourniquet my leg. I never believed I did
that myself. I always figured someone else did it. But you ordered
me to do it. You made me do it.”

“
For Honey,” the woman
said. “Honey loves you.”

“
Are you taking her from
me?”

“
She was supposed to
transition tonight,” the woman said. “But someone has intervened on
your behalf.”

“
On my behalf?” MJ asked.
“What do you mean?”

“
Honey has been given a
chance. However, Honey’s chance depends on your choice and
commitment.”

“
Anything,” MJ
said.

“
Before you say that, you
must understand the choice. If you decide to make this choice, you
and Honey’s souls will be linked. What will be good for you, will
be good for her. What will be bad for you, will be bad for her. You
will no longer be separate individuals, but two souls joined
possibly forever.”

“
I...”

“
You’ll give up your
independence and your freedom. Honey’s well-being will bring your
well-being.” The woman smiled a familiar smile. She definitely
looked like someone he knew. “We’re not sure you’re willing to make
this kind of sacrifice. You have to choose. Honey must also
choose.”

“
Choose?”

“
Keep your separateness or
join your soul with Honey.”

“
What did Honey say?” MJ
asked.

“
Honey has to make her
choice regardless of what you choose or do not choose. You must
choose regardless of Honey’s choice.”

MJ’s mind whirled.

Honey didn’t want to even marry him. There
was no way she’d give up her independence for anyone or anything.
Why would she choose to live in her paralyzed form? No way. She
hated what she’d become. She’d never choose to stay with him over
her independence. Death would give her freedom from the broken body
she hated. A wave of futility overcame him.

“
Don’t choose based on
what Honey may or may not do, MJ,” the woman said. “You decide
based on what you, and only you, want. No ego. This must be a free
choice. Choose to join or remain separate.”

“
I’ve never thought about
it before. Can I have a minute?”

“
No, Honey is out of
time,” the woman said. “You’re out of minutes, moments and seconds.
If you won’t choose, you’re choosing to stay separate. You’re
simply afraid to make the commitment.”

MJ nodded. He cuddled back around Honey. He
pressed his nose into her hair. He had washed her hair just a few
hours ago. Her beautiful blonde hair with its new haircut still
smelled like the honeymoon suite’s shampoo.

“
I choose....”

Chapter Forty-Nine
Warm

One hour later

Her first sensation was radiating warmth.
Lazy, easy, happy, drenching warmth. She had no sense of herself as
separate, no sense of her own body. Just warmth.

Then searing pain. She tried to scream but
there was something in her throat. Jerking, her eyes opened to
blinding light. She tried to move.

“
She’s awake,” a woman’s
voice said.

“
Good,” another woman’s
voice said. “Nurse?”

She felt the tube move from her throat.

“
Honey?” the second woman
asked. “If you can hear me, blink.”

Honey blinked the light from her eyes.

“
Good,” the woman said.
“We’re almost done here. Do we need to put you out? Blink once for
no, twice for yes.”

She blinked the light from her eyes.

“
Good,” the woman’s voice
said. “Sir, you may take her hand again.”

The warmth returned. Calm spread through her
body. Closing her eyes, she slipped into the safety of his
warmth.

~~~~~~~~

Tuesday morning — 5: 00 A.M.

Jacob and Sarah, his Labrador, waited for a
break in the traffic on Seventeenth before making their way into
City Park. Starting their usual route, they ran past a silent
Thatcher fountain toward the Martin Luther King monument. They were
running past the early morning empty soccer fields when they caught
up with a medium sized woman with salt and pepper hair and a gray
standard poodle. Jacob slowed his pace to match the woman.

“
Thanks for meeting me,
Helen,” he said. “I know how crazy the Marlowe School is this time
of year.”

“
Thanks for making time
for me today,” Helen Seigle said. “I’ve been at a loss since the
Senator’s son dropped off a check for double full
tuition.”

“
Sorry about that. I
should have known he would do that.”

“
You can’t know
everything, Jacob,” the director of the Marlowe school said. “But
first, how is Honey?”

“
She seems to have turned
a corner,” Jacob said. “We won’t know for sure for a couple days
but we’re hopeful.”

“
Thank God,” the woman
said. “Last I heard, the doctors didn’t think she would make the
night. What happened?”

“
It’s one of those funny
things.” Jacob pointed to the path along Ferril Lake. They
continued a slow jog east toward the Museum of Nature and Science.
“In our efforts to ensure Honey felt like family, no one mentioned
the fact that she wasn’t my Dad’s biological child. And with all
the trauma, the surgeons never noticed it.”

“
Noticed what?”

“
Honey has Crohn’s
disease,” Jacob said. “We’ll find out today from her doctor whether
she’s ever been diagnosed but I doubt it.”

“
I’m not sure what that
means.”

“
We assumed Honey’s
infection was from her injury. But it’s more likely that it’s
related to her Crohn’s disease. Untreated, undiagnosed. She’s right
at the age to have her first flare up. We feel kind of foolish
because she has all the symptoms – she’s so tiny, has always had
some kind of digestive issues, and this infection. Anyway, they put
her on a massive dose of steroids. Low and behold, she turned the
corner. Her body couldn’t fight the Crohn’s and the infection and
the injuries at the same time.”