Nancy K. Duplechain - Dark Trilogy 03 - Dark Legacy (24 page)

“Seriously?”

She nodded and
coughed again, this time finding it hard to catch her breath. She let go of my
hand. I reached out for her again but she shook her head. “Can’t … risk it.” I
realized she meant that she couldn’t risk me trying to heal her. She got her
breathing under control again and laid her head back on her pillow.

“Anyway,” she
continued, “where was I?”

“Dublin. Why
there?”

She shrugged her
frail shoulders. “I got a map, closed my eyes, and put my finger down. It
landed on the Irish Sea, so I settled on Dublin. Anyway, when I got there, I
sent Mama and Daddy a post card to let them know I was okay. I didn’t have
anywhere to sleep, though. I got a job as a bar maid at one of the taverns, and
the owner let me have a little apartment upstairs. One of the young men who
worked there became my friend. His name was Desmond. Lucas reminds me of him,
but he had hair black like coal and blue eyes.” After a moment of quiet
reflection she added, “Best lover I ever had.”

“Maw Maw!”

“Hush! You’re
old enough to hear that now.”

“Not sure I want
to. No, wait, I
know
I don’t want to.”

“Anyway, those
were two of the best months of my life. I almost stayed with Desmond, but I
knew it was time to come back.” Her eyes considered me. “The rebels inside us
never die, but as we get older they seem more content to sit on the porch and
sip iced tea. Iced tea with lemon. And mint from the garden.”

“Are you hinting
for me to get you some tea?”

She waved her
hand away and took another ragged breath.

We were silent
for a little while. I thought she had fallen back asleep, but when I whispered,
“I love you,” she opened her eyes again.

“I’m proud of
you,” she said.

I furrowed my
brows. “For what?”

“Your strength.
You survive, and you do a good job of it.”

“Are you in
pain?”

“Life is pain.
And joy. Mostly joy.”

Tears fell down
my cheeks.

“I said I didn’t
want you to cry.”

I looked at her
dresser with the little milk glass lamp on it. “How do you expect me not to? I
wish you’d just let us heal you—”

“Look at me,
Leigh-Leigh.”

I gazed upon her
with blurry vision but could see that her expression had softened.

“It’s time for
me to go. I’m ready. Too many people waiting for me.”

“How can anyone
be ready to die?”

Her breath
hitched again. “There is no death.” She patted my hand and drifted back to
sleep. I sat near her for perhaps half an hour, wanting to hold her hand, listening
to her uneven breathing. And my memories of her came and went. I was left with
an impression of a tough old lady who was a lion for her family. I kissed her
forehead and went outside to find the others to tell them to come be with her
again, because, with every hitching breath, I feared the end was coming before
too long.

Lyla and
Jonathan were by the pond, sitting on the swings, but not swinging. Jonathan
looked like he was trying to cheer up Lyla the best way he could, but she just
sat there, angrily staring at the pond. Smittens glided lovingly in between her
legs, but she paid her no attention.

Lucas had his
truck bed down, and he was sitting on it, looking out at the setting sun and
the dark, gathering clouds with a beer in his hand. I joined him. He gave me a
questioning, panicked look.

I shook my head,
and he relaxed a little.

“How’s Lyla?”

He shrugged.
“How you’d expect her to be. Angry. Scared.”

“She looked like
she wanted to kill me when I got here.”

“Give her some
space right now. She’s still just a little girl. But
after
, when it’s
over, don’t give her any space, because she won’t know what she needs.”

I nodded,
feeling numb. “Where’d Cee Cee go?”

“Pick up your
friends at the airport. They said a guy called Felix told them to go ahead and
come here, that he’d round up the ol’ posse.”

I ignored his
cynicism. “Ruby didn’t come?”

“Cee Cee said
she was on her way.”

I nodded at the
beer in his hand. “That from Maw Maw Clo’s fridge?”

He smiled a
little, but I could tell he had been crying. “Yeah. Funny thing is, she hates
beer, but always keeps a few in there for me.”

Thunder rumbled
to the southwest, and a drizzle began to fall as the sun continued to slip
below the red horizon.

“I can’t do
this, Lucas. I don’t know how to deal with it. I can’t …” My voice strangled
with tears. Lucas held me tightly to him. He was crying, too, but he did his
best to be strong for me. Lucas, the strong and silent.

“I’m not going
anywhere, Leigh. You won’t be dealing with this alone, you got me? Let me take
care of everything for a little while.”

The rain held
off, but ash from the field continued to fall like black snow all around us as thunder
rolled again, but farther away this time. It seemed the storm would miss us.

I pulled away,
wiping my eyes. “We should all get back inside.”

The kids were no
longer near the pond. A quick look around, but they were nowhere that we could
see.

“They probably already
went back in,” he said.

We went back to
Clothilde’s room. The first thing I saw when we opened the door was Jonathan
sitting in the chair by the window, transfixed as he stared at Clothilde with
his mouth slightly agape. In front of him, though he could not see, were two
tall, nearly transparent figures looking down on Clothilde. I stopped short,
not prepared to see the Guardians already.

I stepped
further into the room to see Lyla standing over Clothilde, one hand placed on
her head and the other on her heart.

“Lyla, no!”

I rushed to pull
her off of Clothilde, and she screamed, “NO! I can help her! Make them go away!
Tell them not to take her!”

“Leigh …” said
Lucas.

“She can’t, or
she’ll turn,” I told him, struggling to hold her back as she kicked and
scratched my arms that held her waist.

“I can help
her!” she yelled.

Jonathan began
to cry.

And now I could
see a light leaving Clothilde’s body as she started to slip away.

It took all my
strength to hold Lyla back as she kicked and screamed.

“Lucas … hold
her hand! Hold it for me, please!”

He rushed to her
side and held one of her hands in his. “It’s okay, Miss Clo,” he murmured to
her. And, despite the piercing pain in my heart and my exhausted muscles from
restraining Lyla, I had a sudden surge of gratitude for Lucas. I couldn’t touch
her, so he took my place. His hand was the last thing she felt as her light
expanded, filling the whole room, and I was the only one who could see it. It
was the most awe-inspiring thing I’d ever experienced. And, even though tears
were streaming down my face, I smiled and felt a sudden overwhelming peace,
because I knew there was more; there was more to this life after all, and
someone as good as her—well, the light never dies.

The Guardians
held their arms open, and the light became concentrated into one white, blazing
orb. They enclosed their arms around it, and then disappeared, taking the light
with them.

I let Lyla go.
She lunged for the bed and Clothilde’s other hand. She closed her red, angry
eyes and tried with all her heart to bring her back.

But it was too
late.

Drained, I just
sat on the floor under the window that looked out over the garden.

Jonathan still
cried in the chair near the door.

Lucas, still
holding her hand, leaned over and kissed her forehead. He went around to the
other side of the bed and put an arm around Lyla, who paid him no notice. He
smoothed her long, brown hair and kissed her on the top of her head. He gently
pulled her hands away from Clothilde’s body. She struggled a little, but she
knew it was over. Lucas bent down and hugged her. She buried her face in his
shoulder and cried her heart out.

***

Cee Cee arrived
with Noah and Miles about an hour later. They said Felix was going to finish
gathering the rest of the paladins and then come to the house. Ruby came by
half an hour or so after they arrived. She had packed an arsenal in her bag:
powders, dust, trinkets, her staff. She gave some things to Cee Cee, who added
them to her rhinestone Elvis purse.

While we mourned,
Noah patrolled outside, and Ruby was careful to perform a protection spell on
every door, window and wall in the house. Miles seemed saddened, and though he
probably thought no one noticed, I saw a few tears roll down his cheeks. He sat
quietly in the living room, either meditating or praying. Lucas put Jonathan to
bed, but it was a while before he would sleep. They were in the guest room
above us, and I heard him explain to Jon about life and death and Heaven. It
seemed to comfort him.

Cee Cee sat on
the couch, in between Lyla and me, her arms around our shoulders as she wept.
Lyla’s red eyes stared at the door to Clothilde’s bedroom which was next to the
living room. I thought the tears had finally stopped for me, but every now and
then I’d replay everything in my mind and cry again.

Ruby came to get
us when she was done with protecting the house. Noah came in from outside. I
went upstairs to tell Lucas that it was time for him and Jonathan to leave.

He lay beside
Jonathan, who was deeply asleep.

“Is he okay?” I
whispered.

Lucas kissed his
son’s head and then sat up. “No,” he whispered back. “And I’m not either, to
tell you the truth.” Even in the dim light, I could see his eyes were still red
and glistening like mine.

“You need to get
him out of here.”

He nodded. “Yeah,
I was thinking about taking him to Carrie’s. I’ll drop him off and be right
back.”

I was firm. “Luke,
no.”

Affirmation
washed over his face, and he looked me square in the eyes. “I’m not leaving you
here to face this without me.”

My heart sank,
and I wanted nothing more than for him to stay. “What about Jon? If something
happens to you … don’t leave
him
to face this world without you.”

His gaze turned
upon Jonathan who now began to softly snore.

“You know I love
you,” I said, “but there’s nothing you can do. Guns don’t work on them, you
know that.”

He looked at me
again and his eyes smiled. “That’s the first time you said that.”

It took me a second
to realize what he meant. “You don’t know how much I wish I didn’t need you.
How much I wish I didn’t want you.”

He smiled
warmly.

“Yeah, I do
love you,” I said. “I love you for all the years of being my friend, for the
way you love your son, for being a father to Lyla after David died, for holding
Clothilde’s hand as she slipped away … and I love you for the way you make me
feel like I have a family, like I belong somewhere. I love you because you …
because I feel like I’m
home
when I’m with you. I don’t
ever
want
to lose that.”

He got up and
put his arms around me, his hand on the small of my back, pulling me to him.
And then his lips pressed against mine. I saw our future together in that
moment—he, Lyla, Jonathan and I—and I wanted it so badly I’d do anything for
it.

“Okay,” he said
with a strangled voice.

“What?”

“I’ll go.”

I hugged him.
“Thank you.”

“But you promise
me that you’ll protect Lyla and yourself as best you can, okay?”

I nodded my head
against his shoulder, and then he picked up Jonathan and carried him
downstairs. I opened the front door for him, but before he walked out, he
turned to Noah, and I saw a pleading look in his eyes that said
protect them
.
Noah nodded a silent promise, and Lucas carried Jon out to his truck.

I held the door
open for him as he placed Jon inside and buckled him up. He hugged and kissed
me goodbye, and as his taillights faded out of the driveway, I wondered if I’d
ever see them again.

When I went back
into the living room, Noah looked at me with sympathetic eyes, and I realized
that he had probably heard every word Lucas and I said upstairs. He smiled
sadly for me as if to give his blessing. I returned the smile and then sat on
the sofa beside Lyla, who was nestled in the crook of Cee Cee’s arm. As soon as
I sat next to her, Lyla got up and went into the kitchen and sat at the table,
facing the refrigerator.

Cee Cee patted
my knee. “Give her time, my baby.”

Ruby rocked in
my grandfather’s old chair. I had never seen her look so nervous, and that
scared me more than I cared to admit.