Deadly Expectations (86 page)

“I think you’re right about that Anna,” he said.

“Andre,” Paul whispered.

He nodded.
 
Fire light made his bent glasses sparkle and turned his dirty uniform gold.
 
His attention went to me as he spoke.

“You did need me Anna,” he said with distaste.
 
“You were so ready to give up at your sister’s, just a frightened little child.
 
Refusing to do your part unless you were certain you could still whisper dirty things to him in the dark when it was all over.”

Andre made a face and leaned his head toward Paul.
 
Paul stiffened with anger so I took his elbow and held it.

“I made you keep it together.
 
You should be thanking me, not cursing me.”

“Bastard,” I breathed in pain, my arms still locked around Paul’s.

“Pilot didn’t tell you why Damian was incurable, did he?”

“No,” I whispered.

Andre laughed.

“Pilot’s father was incurably insane … he fucked up his own brother to be the cure.
 
Just like he did to you.
 
He picked his weakest brother, just in case it went wrong.
 
Damian failed, cursed forever with someone like me always whispering in his ear.
 
Pilot got it right the second time, sending his other brother to do the job.
 
Then he made you to deal with his mistake.
 
Only a lunatic could sever the line from another.

“If we failed there wouldn’t be another chance next time around.
 
We’d be stuck with each other waiting for the cure.”

“What I did to you,” Andre said, “you brought on yourself.”

I let go of Paul and took a step back as he took a step toward Andre.
 
Andre didn’t move.
 
He knew what was coming.
 
Paul’s right hand stretched wide open then his fingers came together, pushing off each other until he was satisfied with their positions.
 
He held his left up to guard as he swung his right up and around hard, connecting with Andre’s jaw and throwing him back almost off his feet.
 
There was the crack of bone and a puff of dust where Andre’s face should have bled if his dried out skin could split.

“That’s for putting your hands on my wife, asshole.”
 
Paul breathed.

Amen, I thought.

Paul kept his hands up ready to give Andre another but Andre only nodded to Paul.
 
I knew what he was thinking.
 
It was honourable to take the punch because he’d given attention to another man’s property.
 
Attention he thought would be acceptable if I was his.
 
After a few seconds his body seemed lit by dull flames then I realized the flames were behind him growing brighter.
 
He faded.
 
When he was nearly gone he turned and walked away.
 
After a few steps he disappeared completely as another contraction released me.

Paul still stood with his back to me as he spoke.

“Watching you tonight is the hardest thing I have ever done.
 
What do you say when sorry isn’t enough, Anna?”

“Forgive me Paul,” I whispered.
 
“Please forgive me.”

He turned to me and held my face in his hands, putting his cheek on mine.

“Is he gone now?”

“Yes …” I breathed in his ear.
 
I could hear him breathing with me, gently.

“We do everything together from now on.
 
Got it?”

I nodded and pulled out his ring from under my shirt.
 
I held it in my fist for a moment then I opened my hand.
 
He struggled with the clasp behind but couldn’t get it, wincing as he tried.
 
His hand was swelling, Andre’s dust mixing with the blood from his cut knuckle.
 
I opened the necklace to take his ring off it and pushed it back on his finger.
 
Then I fastened it back up around my neck.
 
As I did I felt the baby’s line start to shift in my
chest.
 
We were running out of time.

I closed my eyes as he kissed me.

“I love you more than anything,” I whispered.

“I didn’t tell you to talk,” he whispered back as he kissed me again.

“Paul,” I said as I pulled away.

“I love you more than anything too,” he said as he tried to pull me in again.

“Paul,” I said.
 
“My water broke and her line is loosening … we have to go.”

“You’re right … we’ve been here too long.”

He took my bag and put it over his shoulder but we only got a few steps before labour stuck my feet to the ground.
 
I leaned my head on his chest, turning my neck and rocking my forehead on him as he checked his watch.
 
His other hand reached around and rubbed my back.

“A minute and a half,” he said.

“Was that all?”
 
He could have said forever and wouldn’t have been far off.
 
We didn’t get far before another one started.

“Half a minute in between.
 
I have to get you to the hospital now.”

“No,” I said when I could talk again.
 
“Home … hospital will be swamped.”

He gave me his phone and picked me up, my legs over his right forearm so he didn’t have to grip my ribs with his broken hand.

“We’ll never get there with you on foot,” he said.
 
“Call Ray.”

We weren’t far from my house.
 
The phone should have worked but it said No Signal.
 
Then Searching.
 
Then No Signal.
 
This was like at Pilot’s.
 
As we got closer to my house I could make out the sounds of the engines and blue and red lights.
 
Voices.
 
Bars lit up on the phone.
 
The houses that had only been burning when I set off down the alley were almost gone.
 
The orange had faded from the sky and the clouds had quieted.
 
There were no stars, just a flat ceiling of dark gray from the city lights below.

“Where were they all this time?”
 
Paul wondered.

“No,” I shook my head during a break in the pain.
 
“The question is where
were we
.”

As we crossed the street half a block from my house a fireman approached us with a blanket, the first person I’d seen other than Paul and Damian in hours.

“My wife’s in labour,” Paul explained.
 
“I’ll take her myself … you folks have a lot on your hands.”

He noticed the blood on me.

“Which house did you come from?” he asked as he put the blanket over me.
 
It was cold now that we were away from the fading fire; Paul’s body shielded me from the weak heat still radiating from the flames behind him.

“Back that way,” Paul said tilting his head to the left as he kept walking.

“Anyone else hurt there?”

“No.”

“Congratulations,” he said and disappeared.

There wasn’t much left of my house when we got to it.

“After the plane came down I pulled Denis out to the lawn … out of the fire.
 
The Colonel will take care of him.
 
The house was going up fast.”

I started to cry again.

“Sshhh,” he said.
 
“It’s not goodbye.”

I dialled Ray when the next contraction went away.
 
By then Paul had put me in the car.
 
I was surprised he still had his key.
 
If he hadn’t come back I would have had to break in and crack the ignition to get home.
 
Other than some embers sizzling on the vinyl roof and some bubbles in the paint it looked okay.
 
The wind pulling toward the fire had drawn the flames away from it.

“Paul?” Ray picked up right away.
 
“What’s going on?”

“Ray?” I said.

“Anna?
 
What?”

Paul took the phone from me as I lost the ability to speak again.

“We’re coming Ray,” he said.
 
He had started the
Lincoln
and was racing up to the highway.
 
“Yes, it’s over.
 
She did it … as soon as she can jump.”

He was listening to Ray.

“Her water broke and she says she can feel the baby’s line loosening.”

Another pause.

“Minute and a half … thirty second breaks,” he listened.
 
“Thanks Ray.”

“He’s ready … we just have to get there.”

I closed my eyes and concentrated.
 
It was a good distraction from the pain I was in and I quickly focused on home.
 
Paul didn’t comment this time as he struggled to keep us on the road.
 
He had taken a right onto the highway rather than waiting for the lights to go south.
 
I could hear him sigh with relief when the gusts moved behind us.

“When I say so close your eyes and step on it,” I told him.

“Me?” he asked.

“Yes … I’m not moving,” I waited until there was a straight stretch of highway in front of us.
 
The pressure was getting strong.

“Anna,” he whispered.
 
“Use me to get us home.”

I shook my head.

“Please,” he insisted.
 
“She’ll need you more … you’ll be down for a couple of days.
 
Me a lot less.”

Paul reached his hand to me.

“Please,” he said again.
 
“Whatever you need is yours.”

I took his hand and breathed through a strong one, feeling deep low pressure, wanting to push.
 
When it passed I quickly checked my focus and felt Paul’s energy in my hand.
 
Just enough to recharge and get home, I thought, just enough.
 
I didn’t want to be without Paul again any longer than I had to.

We were pushed from behind again.

“Ready?”
 
I asked.

“Yes.”

I quickly checked my focus one last time and closed my eyes.

“Home,” I said.

A moment later the car leaped.

Chapter 61

I leaned on the wooden shed by the gas barrels working through another contraction.
 
The strong wind that whistled through the gap in the buildings stung my bare skin with hard bits of frozen snow.
 
The sudden cold threw my concentration and I yelled in pain.
 
Paul’s calls to me stopped when he heard it and I felt his coat go over my shoulders as it passed.