Dream of Me: Book 1 The Dream Makers Series (24 page)

“Okay, so thinking those thoughts is not going to help me calm down,” he growled to himself. He had to step back and clear his mind. She wasn’t dead, not yet, and he of all people knew that nothing was set in stone, not when humans had free will. If things were set in stone, then there would be no need for him―no need for his dreams to attempt to influence people to choose the paths laid out for them.

“She’s not dead yet,” he told himself again. As his mind considered what the Creator had told him, that he had free will, he realized how he would make sure that Serenity remained
not
dead. He knew with more certainty than he had ever felt that he would take Serenity’s place. She would not die. Dair had walked the earth since the beginning of time, and she had been the first light and warmth to captivate him, and he simply couldn’t imagine her light being snuffed out so soon. There was so much good she could do in the world, so much she had to offer, and he would gladly sacrifice his existence for her. It would be no sacrifice, not really, if it meant that Serenity would continue on to share the light inside of her.

Dair turned and looked at the window to her room. Just beyond that thin piece of glass his love lay, sleeping peacefully lost in the dream he had made for her. And she would live to have many, many more dreams, maybe not weaved by him, but they would be beautiful nonetheless because she was beautiful.

Chapter 10

To see the grim reaper in your dream doesn’t necessarily mean you or someone you love is going to die. Rather, it marks the end of something important in your life―perhaps a special relationship, a job, or the loss of a material possession you value highly.

I
t was Christmas Day and Glory let herself into Wayne and Darla’s house as she always did when she came to visit. Glory’s family celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve. Mornings were rough on her mother and her dad like to let her sleep in. Knowing this, Serenity had invited Glory to come spend Christmas morning with her. At first Glory had tried to argue that she didn’t want to impose. But when Serenity told her that Dair would be in attendance, her best friend was more than happy to show up.

“So where is the yummy immortal with the euphoric inducing voice?” she asked as she took off her coat, scarf, and hat.

“Good morning to you too,” Serenity said as she wiped the sleep from her eyes. She reached her arms up over her head giving her back a good stretch. Her shirt rose up just enough to show a small amount of skin, and when Dair’s fingertips glided across her back, her breath caught and her arms dropped quickly.

“Ahh, there he is,” Glory grinned as Dair stepped up beside Serenity and wrapped an arm around her waist pulling her against him as if he’d done it a thousand times before.

He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her hair and whispered, “Good morning, beautiful.”

Glory fanned herself dramatically and Serenity had to wonder again if her friend really was in her twenties.

“Hello, Glory,” Dair said as his eyes left Serenity and turned on Glory. He held out his hand which Glory grabbed with no small amount of enthusiasm. “I’ve heard much about you; it’s nice to finally meet you.”

“She wasn’t lying. You definitely have a voice that could give a girl—,”

“SOOOO,” Serenity cut her friend off not even wanting to take a guess about what was about to spill from her unfiltered mouth. “How was your Christmas Eve?”

Glory let go of Dair’s hand and turned a raised brow on her. “We talked about it just a little while ago when you called me. Why don’t you let me and your eye candy get to know each other? I approve on the hotness level, but the rest is yet to be seen.”

Serenity wanted to smack her forehead and then Glory’s forehead. So began the interrogation of Brudair AKA Sandman by Glorious Day. But actually, it wasn’t until Raphael walked into the room that things got really bad.

“You must be Raphael,” Glory said as she held out her hand from where she sat on the couch. As he shook her hand, Glory gave him a wink. “My, my, they sure know how to grow them in heaven.”

“Glory!” Serenity chastised. “He’s an angel. He’s doesn’t…he’s not,” she stuttered and finished. “available.”

Glory gave Raphael her signature single eyebrow raise. “You got any friends who have fallen from grace and are available?”

Serenity did smack her forehead that time.

“Kidding,” Glory huffed. Then she turned her head and muttered, “Sort of.”

Raphael looked from Serenity to Glory and then back to Serenity. “This is the one with no filter?”

Serenity nodded wordlessly.

Glory wasn’t offended by the question. Serenity would never say anything about Glory to someone else that she wouldn’t say in front of her best friend. And Glory knew it was true; her filter had been broken long ago, if it had ever existed.

“Filters are overrated,” Glory said as she leaned back on the couch and got comfortable.

“And on that note, I’m going to go see if Emma is ready to join us,” Serenity said as she headed for the hallway. She could feel Dair on her heels and before she could make it down the hall, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward her own room. He tugged her inside and turned her so her back was against the wall. Serenity looked up at him and knew he could see the question in her eyes without her even asking.

“I just wanted a moment with you,” he answered the unspoken question. “I have a feeling that the rest of the day will be filled with the presence of others, and I’m a tad jealous of my time with you.”

“A tad?” She smiled at him.

Dair’s hands came up to cup her face as he tilted it back. She knew he was going to kiss her. Though he’d kissed her before, her breathing still quickened with anticipation, because Dair’s kisses were supernatural. Well, she didn’t know if that was really true, but Serenity swore that when he kissed her it was more than just their mouths connecting.

When his lips finally pressed to hers, Serenity felt the earth move beneath her feet. Her whole world shifted until Dair was all there was. For that brief moment in time, only he existed. There was no Mildred, or Rat, or the constant dread that something terrible was going to happen to Emma. It was just her, pressed close against Dair. She was almost surprised that her skin, which was growing warmer by the minute, wasn’t giving off steam by now. And when he pressed even closer and his hands fisted in her hair, she was pretty sure she could hear a little crab in the background singing
Kiss the Girl
. Of all the things to pop in her head in that moment, she thought. But oddly enough it did nothing to distract Serenity from the passionate male who had her completely enraptured with his touch.

When Dair finally pulled away, he pressed his forehead to hers. Both of them were trying to catch their breaths, and Serenity wondered if her lips looked as swollen and thoroughly loved as his did.

“You test my resolve, love,” Dair whispered.

“Your resolve?”

He nodded against her forehead. “My resolve to make sure you remain a pure maiden.”

Serenity snorted out a laugh. “Please tell me you didn’t just say pure maiden. You’re showing your age when you talk like that.”

Dair released his hands from her hair and smoothed it back down. He gave her a final short kiss on the lips and then stepped back, out of temptation’s reach.

“I better go check on Emma.” Serenity motioned over her shoulder towards her door.

“That would be a very good idea,” Dair agreed. “Unless you would like Raphael to marry us and then we can pick up where we left off.”

Serenity’s eyes widened and her mind raced to all sorts of places at his words. “Is Raphael ordained to marry people?

Dair chuckled at her. “Go Serenity, before I decide to let you find out.”

E
mma blinked several times attempting to push sleep away as the morning sunlight peeked through the curtains. When she realized that there actually
were
curtains in the room she remembered that she wasn’t at her aunt’s house. Then her mind jumped to
why
she wasn’t at her aunt’s house, and she quickly pushed those memories away. She would need to deal with them eventually but that morning was not the time, not Christmas morning. Her lips spread into a wide smile as she thought about spending Christmas with Darla, Wayne, and Serenity. She didn’t believe in Santa Clause. In fact, she had questioned the plausibility of his existence several years ago after she got out a map and sat down to calculate flight times from the Arctic Ocean to every other country in the world. Constrained by the laws of physics, it simply wasn’t possible to visit every boy and girl in the world in one night. But that was okay with her. Christmas in her family had been about the birth of a baby given to man by God. She knew not everyone in the world believed in God, or his son, but she did. And her parents did, so that was what Christmas was to her. It was a joyful time in their home. Her heart ached with the loss and suddenly her smile was gone. This would be the first of every Christmas to come without her parents. Emma missed them beyond any words she could use to express. But if indeed there was a God, and her parents’ beliefs about heaven were true, then she knew they were in a much, much better place. There were no men like Rat, or the man who had killed her parents, in heaven. There was no pain, no tears or grief, only joy and she wouldn’t take that from her parents, not even to bring them back to her. She would see them again one day, of that she had no doubt.

There was a soft knock on the bedroom door and then Serenity poked her head in. She had a contagious smile on her face. Emma’s own lips stretched up in response.

“Are you just going to lay in that bed all day contemplating whatever it is that geniuses contemplate?” Serenity asked.

Emma’s head tilted ever so slightly. “Why do you ask? Is today something special?” Her voice was full of innocence as she stared wide-eyed at Serenity.

Serenity shrugged. “Nope, nothing special about today. You just stay in here while I go open all those presents that are under a tree that’s up for no particular reason.” She turned to go.

“Are there…,” Emma began and then paused. Serenity turned back to face her. Emma wanted to hide the vulnerability that she knew filled her eyes but it was no use. She was worn out from trying to keep it all together. “Are there presents for me?” she finally asked.

Serenity’s smile stretched even wider. “Santa doesn’t forget you just because you’re in a different house.”

Emma shook her head at the girl who was quickly becoming like a big sister to her. She climbed out of the bed and headed toward the now wide-open door. “My mama would have liked you,” Emma told Serenity as she followed her into the hall and toward the living room.

“Why’s that?”

“Because you’re young at heart. You definitely have an old soul, and she would have pointed that out to you as well. But, mama liked to laugh. She liked to be happy. You make people happy. You make me happy,” she admitted with a sad smile.

As they stepped into the living room already filled with Wayne, Darla, Raphael, Dair, and another lady that Emma hadn’t met yet, her eyes widened as they landed on the tree and the presents beneath it. She could read her name written on many of them, too many of them she decided. How was it in a world with people like Mildred and Rat, that people like Serenity and Darla could exist? Emma almost felt as if it should be an impossibility for the goodness of a family like this one to be anywhere near people like her aunt.
“There is no sun without the rain, Emma Jean. There is no rejoicing if there is no sorrow.”
Emma wondered if she would ever stop hearing her mother’s words in her mind, and as the ones that had just popped up resonated with her soul, she hoped she would always hear them.

She was brought from her momentary stupor when Serenity gave her a small nudge in the back. She looked back at her friend, but before she could speak Serenity spoke up. “Don’t argue, or say you can’t accept it, or do anything else that we southerners seem to think appropriate when we don’t know how to show our gratitude. A thank you is always sufficient. So go open your presents.”

Emma decided that if they went to all the trouble to do this for her, she wouldn’t let them down by not showing them how much she appreciated it. But instead of sitting down and immediately opening her presents, she started sifting through the pile. As she read labels she began passing them out to each recipient. When she headed toward the lady she didn’t know with two bags loaded with tissue paper, Emma held out her hand. “I’m Emma Whitmore. I haven’t met you before.” The lady smiled and Emma could see the kindness in her eyes, though there was also a hint of mischievousness.

“Emma Whitmore,” she said as she took her hand. “I’m Glory Day, and yes my parents really did do that to me.” Emma grinned as Glory shrugged. “It is what it is. Anyways, I’m Serenity’s friend and I’m glad to finally meet you. She’s told me lots of great things about you.”

After all the presents had been distributed, there was a pregnant pause before the room erupted into chaos. Emma looked around, her jaw dropping open. And when her eyes fell on Dair and Raphael, she saw that they had the same astonished look she did.

Wayne, Darla, Serenity, and Glory had all begun to tear into their presents with an exuberance that made Emma think of rabid beavers on the back of a logging truck. Paper was flying. Oohs and Ahhs bounced off the walls as they each began to get beyond the packaging to the goodies inside. It truly was a sight to behold. In Emma’s home, they had always taken turns opening their presents so that everyone could appreciate and see what the gift was. She had to admit there was something so freeing and childlike about the display of eagerness.

She looked back at Dair and shrugged. “When in Rome,” she muttered and began to tear into the packages before her. Emma couldn’t help the grin that spread across her face, which seemed to get wider with every present she opened. Whoever had gone shopping for her had truly understood her. She loved the books. Knowing that they were way above what she should be able to read, but also knowing that she’d have no problem with them, gave her a little bit of a confidence boost. But then, seeing the crafts reminded her that she still needed to be a kid, regardless of her IQ. All in all, it was actually one of the best Christmas’s she’d ever had.