Love Immortal (28 page)

He went back to his room and picked up the
suitcase. He walked back to the garage and slipped out of the
house. His car was parked in the driveway behind the other cars. He
got into his car, and started it, wincing at the sound as the
engine revved. He sat for a moment, watching the front door. When
no one came out, he shifted his car into reverse, and backed out of
the driveway.

Once on the road, he didn’t know which way to
go. He turned right, driving until he found a service station where
he purchased a map of Tucson and asked directions to the nearest
airport. He was back in New Orleans by eight. He rented a car,
opting for something nondescript rather than his usual choice. He
had noticed that he still had a key to the New Orleans House on his
keychain so he drove there. He half expected someone to be waiting
for him, whether his uncle, or one of the mysterious Obsidian
Knights. But when he arrived, the house was empty, looking just as
it had when he had last been there two days ago.

He went to the back of the house, to the
servants’ quarters where he stayed before. He set his alarm for
five, planning to drive to the hospital in the morning to wait for
Jewell. If she wasn’t there, he would drive to her house. He lay
down on the bed and closed his eyes.

Collin fell asleep quickly, despite having
been asleep for over twenty-four hours the day before. Collin
dreamed of Jewell. Initially, his dreams were pleasant. He dreamt
of the two of them together. They were happy, they were both young.
Soon however, he began to sleep more fitfully, his dreams
unpleasant. They were running, huge black shadows chasing them. As
fast as they ran, the shadows moved faster, always gaining on them.
When the shadows reached them, they were plunged into blackness so
deep that he couldn’t see his hand in front of his face. He called
for Jewell, there was no answer. Abruptly, the scene changed. He
was sitting in front of an old woman. She was crying, apologizing
over and over again. He held her hand, trying to soothe her. When
she looked up, he saw that it was Jewell; she was apologizing for
growing old, leaving him behind.

As he drove to the hospital the next morning,
he thought about his dreams. Then he thought about the story his
uncle had shared with him. If he stayed with Jewell, would he put
her in danger? Would he put her family in danger? Would he put his
Family in danger? As he drove into the garage at the hospital, he
no longer had the resolve of this morning. Instead, he realized
that his uncle was right; he had to leave her, to let her live a
normal life. But first, he told himself, he would make sure she was
safe. Just look at her one more time, but without letting her know
he was there.

He parked his car near the employee entrance
and watched as employees filed out the doors. Jewell was not among
them. She must not have worked last night. He was a bit disturbed
that no one had asked him why he was there, but he thought that
perhaps it was because Jewell wasn’t working, and since she was the
target, security was not as careful. He left the garage, turning
towards the Causeway leading to Jewell’s house.

Chapter 33

“He’s only been gone for three days. What do
you mean ‘get over it’?” Jewell was irritated that her best friend
wasn’t even supporting her.

“C’mon Jewell; you know that’s not what I
meant. I just meant…you need to keep going. It’s not going to do
you any good to stay in bed all day. I want to go to the Aquarium
and I don’t want to go by myself. Neither of us has been there
since Katrina. Let’s go.” Ashley gave Jewell her most pathetic,
needy, pleading look. “I let you stay in bed all day yesterday
feeling sorry for yourself. You need to get out and do
something.”

Jewell didn’t want to go to the aquarium; she
didn’t want to do anything. But looking at Ashley standing there,
she knew that if she didn’t go, Ashley would stand there all day;
it wasn’t going to change the fact that Collin was gone, but Ashley
was right, lying in bed feeling sorry for herself wasn’t going to
make anything better. “Fine. It might be good to get out. At least
the aquarium is one thing we didn’t do together. Maybe it’ll take
my mind off of him for a while. Let me take a quick shower.”

Ashley put down the magazine she had been
leafing through when Jewell came back into the bedroom. “That’s my
girl!” Ashley handed Jewell a white sleeveless Polo top and a pair
of floral shorts.

“Where’d these come from?” Jewell asked
pulling on the shorts.

“I’m getting fat. They don’t fit me anymore.”
She shrugged.

Ashley put the shirt on and buttoned it up.
“Let me brush my teeth and blow-dry my hair.” Jewell walked slowly
back to the bathroom.

Ashley pulled open Jewell’s closet and
started sorting through her shoes. She sighed at the collection of
shoes that looked like they belonged to a twelve year old. Finally
she found a pair of cute white strappy sandals. She pulled them out
of the closet and waited for Jewell to come back. When Jewell came
back to her room, Ashley handed her the sandals, “here, put these
on and we’ll go.”

Jewell stared at the shoes for a minute. “No,
not these,” she said quietly. She put them back in the closet and
pulled out her white Keds.

“What was wrong with those, they would’ve
looked cute…” Ashley looked at Jewell’s face. “Oh, you’re right,
the Keds are more practical. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
Ashley silently scolded herself. She should have known that Jewell
would have never bought those shoes for herself, they were too
stylish. They must have been one of the pairs that Collin had
bought for her.

Jewell pulled on her shoes and they walked
out to the driveway. Ashley had parked her Corolla on the street so
they could take Jewell’s car. “So when are you going to get a car
as stylish as your clothes?” Jewell asked, opening the driver’s
side door to get in.

“As soon as I can afford a Nissan Z
convertible.” Ashley answered bluntly, pulling her door closed.
Jewell carefully backed out of the driveway and drove to the end of
the street. Neither of them noticed the silver Mazda sedan pulling
into traffic behind them.

Collin followed Jewell’s car as she turned
right onto West 21st Avenue. He tried to keep a couple of cars
between them so that the girls wouldn’t notice they were being
followed. He was happy to see that she was getting out. He had been
concerned about how his leaving would affect her. He had sat in
front of her house all day yesterday and hadn’t seen her at all. He
knew she wasn’t at work, and that she wasn’t with Ashley. The fact
that she hadn’t left the house had worried him. He saw Ashley pull
up this morning. When Jewell’s dad opened the door, he looked tired
and anxious. He spoke with Ashley at the door for a minute before
nodding and letting her in.

Collin followed Jewell and Ashley to the
Aquarium of the Americas. He tried to stay far enough behind them
that they wouldn’t notice him if they turned around as he followed.
He knew that if Jewell saw him, she would recognize him
immediately.

He hadn’t intended to stay once he determined
that Jewell was alright, but somehow, he just couldn’t leave. Part
of him knew that it was best for Jewell if he would turn around and
walk away now, but part of him couldn’t live without her. He
justified following her by telling himself that he was just making
sure that she wasn’t be followed by anyone, well…anyone
undesirable.

He didn’t have any trouble keeping an eye on
the two women. Jewell’s hair practically glowed, sending out its
own light, a beacon guiding him home. He looked around the crowd
surrounding the shark tank. His eye was caught by two middle aged
men staring at Jewell and Ashley. He tensed as the men walked up to
them. He watched as the girls listened to the men, then Jewell and
Ashley looked at each other, smiling. She saw Ashley shake her
head, and gesture between her and Jewell, taking Jewell’s hand. The
two men looked at the two girls holding hands and stepped away,
holding their hands up as if in apology. When they had dissolved
into the crowd, Jewell and Ashley looked at each other and laughed.
They moved in the opposite direction as the two men, moving towards
the stairs to the second floor.

He watched them as they moved through the
exhibits slowly, pointing to the different animals as they looked
into the tanks; they even went to the stingray touch pool.

When Ashley and Jewell turned to leave the
stingray pool and head to the food court for some lunch Jewell
stopped, staring. “Did you see that?” Jewell asked Ashley pointing
towards the sea otter exhibit.

“See what?” Ashley asked as Jewell grabbed
her hand and pulled her in that direction.

“I saw Collin.” Jewell said excitedly.

“What?” Ashley pulled her hand free of
Jewell’s and stopped, crossing her arms across her chest.

“Ashley, c’mon. I’m serious. It was Collin,
I’d know him anywhere.” She started walking, not checking to see if
Ashley was following. She searched the area where she had seen him
standing and saw him as he turned the corner heading towards the
Frogs exhibit. Moving as fast as she could through the crowd, she
searched for the figure she had seen watching her. As she came to
the corner, she stopped, searching.

Ashley walked up beside her. “Jewell, it was
probably just someone who looked a little like him. I know how much
you miss him, but you need to let him go.”

Jewell was still searching the crowd. She
walked forward into the Frog Exhibit, straining her head to see if
she could catch sight of him again. Not seeing him, she turned,
walking toward the seahorse gallery. Ashley sighed and followed.
Finally, they had made a full circuit of the second floor. “I know
it was him.” She said, depressed and frustrated.

Ashley put her arm around Jewell’s shoulders
and led her into the food court. They bought a couple of hamburgers
with some French fries and Cokes. Finding an empty table, they sat
down to eat. Jewell sat, facing the aquarium, watching the people
as they passed. She didn’t even touch the hamburger sitting on the
tray in front of her. Ashley sighed. She was trying not to worry,
but if Jewell was going to see Collin in strangers…She worried
about the possibilities if she followed the wrong person.

When they finished eating, they cleared their
table and started toward the stairs leading to the ground floor.
“You think I’m crazy.” Jewell said, suddenly a hint of anger in her
voice.

“No.” Ashley responded. “I think you really
loved him, and you miss him, and it’s going to take time before you
can accept that he’s gone.”

Jewell nodded, looking at her feet. After a
few minutes, she looked up. “Thanks. For being here, I mean; for
understanding.”

Ashley reached around and squeezed Jewell’s
shoulders. They walked like that, Ashley’s arm around Jewell’s
shoulder as they left the aquarium.

Collin sat on the ground near the parking lot
waiting for Jewell and Ashley to leave the aquarium. He had managed
to slip into a bathroom, and then leave the aquarium after Jewell
had passed. When Collin spotted the girls, he followed them to the
French Market in the French Quarter, a sort of large flea market,
where they wandered slowly between the displays, picking up an item
here and there, putting it back and moving on to the next
display.

On their way back to the car Ashley and
Jewell walked past Jackson Square where Jewell stopped. Collin
could see Jewell gesturing toward St. Louis Cathedral as if she was
explaining something. After a minute, she stopped, and he saw
Ashley pull her into an embrace. Although he wasn’t close enough to
hear or see what was happening, he could tell that Jewell was
crying. He took several steps towards the two girls before
realizing what he was doing. He yearned to take her in his arms, to
comfort her, to tell her he loved her and they would be together
forever. He felt guilt wrench at his insides, knowing that he was
the one that caused her pain, knowing that he was the one that
could end it.

But then he thought of what his uncle told
him about Avelyn. How her choice, in his uncle’s mind, had caused
her more misery than she would have suffered had she stayed in
Bishop’s Lynn with her family. Collin’s uncle also blamed himself
for Avelyn’s death; and even though Collin knew that Avelyn would
have probably suffered the same fate at home in Bishop’s Lynn, he
couldn’t help but think that in those last moments, her thoughts
were probably of her family. He also thought about the pain her
decision must have caused her family, never knowing of her
fate.

Could Collin do that to Jewell? He thought of
her father, the only family she had left. She was the only family
he had left. Taking her away from him would not be fair to either
of them; and if he did take her away, what then? Could he subject
her to the life he led? Even though he had been unaware of the
dangers that followed him up until a couple of days ago, moving
every few years was a hard life. He had always hated when his uncle
moved them. Though now he understood the necessity, when they moved
to a new town, he had to make new friends, and he found it
difficult to leave those relationships that he had formed behind.
Could he ask her to do the same? And what about her father? How
much contact could she have with him? Would his enemies go after
her father to get to him?

He slowly retreated across the street, trying
not to draw attention to himself. He watched her as she cried. “I
am so sorry I did this to you Jewell. If I had known, I would have
never hurt you this way,” he whispered, as if somehow, she would
hear his words. A tear trickled down his cheek. “I love you.” He
saw Jewell look up, and watched as Ashley turned to look behind
her.

Finally, Jewell seemed to calm down. Ashley
pushed her away a little bit and reached up to wipe Jewell’s tears
away with her thumbs. He could see Ashley talking to Jewell and
Jewell nod in response. Finally, Ashley gave Jewell another quick
hug, and they started walking back toward the car. Collin wished he
could see Jewell’s face. He hoped that this small gesture of
friendship had made Jewell feel better. He silently thanked Ashley
for seeing Jewell through this.