The Source: Book III of the Holding Kate Series (21 page)

“Tara! Please talk to her. Make her see reason.”

“I will, Corey. Sleep, now.” Her ragged voice caught and she swiped her tear off his cheek that fell while she hovered over him. “We are going to get to the bottom of this. Don’t worry.”

“Tara.” Corey grabbed her arm as she turned to leave. “We found a cure. Eunavae figured it out.”

“That’s great!” she sniffed. “See? Things are turning around. Everything is going to be alright,” she whispered and stroked his hair.

“Tara.”

“Hmm?”

“Stay until I fall asleep?” he asked, staring at the ceiling with a lifeless gaze.

“Sure, honey. I’ll stay right here.” She settled down on the bedside, and Trip slid down the wall to sit on the floor in the hall. He put his head into his hands and wiped away the tears that had slipped down his cheeks. “We will keep watch over you. Go to sleep, now.”

After a few minutes, Corey’s soft snores indicated he’d finally given into slumber, so Tara slipped out of his room and closed the door behind her. Trip looked up at her and held out his hand. She sat down beside him and leaned her head into his shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her and Tara sank into the comfort and warmth of his strong presence.

Watching Corey beat on Kate’s door, desperately begging her to come out and speak to him had done her in. She didn’t think she would ever get over the agony of his wails. She’d never seen him so distraught. It knotted her stomach and scraped open old wounds inside of her.

She melted into Trip’s embrace. For the first time she could remember, she needed him. She needed his nearness, his goodness and his devotion. He kissed her hair and hugged her tightly. She pressed into Trip’s strength, and they fell asleep wrapped in each other’s arms.

The next morning, Corey opened his bedroom door and found Tara and Trip slumped together. Tara curled over Trip’s legs, and Trip lolled over her back.

“Some watchmen you two are,” he teased, nudging Trip’s foot with his toe.

Trip jerked awake and bolted up. Tara jostled awake, turned heavy eyes to Corey, then stood to stretch.

“I have two more bedrooms,” he said. “If you two wanted to have a sleepover you could’ve crawled into the beds. You didn’t look very comfortable.”

Tara glanced at Trip and her neck flushed a vivid pink. She quickly looked away.

Corey placed a hand on both of their shoulders. “Thank you.” Pouring out sincerity and gratitude, he searched their eyes.

They nodded.

“Breakfast?” Corey asked.

“I’m famished,” Tara exclaimed and followed him into the kitchen.

Trip trundled along behind them and plopped down on the couch. “Wake me when it’s ready.” Before the bacon was in the pan, he was snoring.

“I am going to woo and win my wife back, Tara.” Corey cracked another egg, his heart filled with determination.

“Good.” Tara smiled at him. “What’s the plan?”

“Gifts, first. Then I thought I would try acts of kindness. After that, maybe she will consent to spend time with me again so we can talk.”

“I just don’t understand. What happened, Corey? Why won’t Kate answer your summons?”

“Didn’t Trip tell you?”

“Trip knows something about this? He hasn’t said a word to me.”

Corey glanced over at his best friend snoozing on the couch. He had sorely misjudged him and owed Trip an apology.

“He saw us one night when Najwa was confused. She tried to kiss me, but I backed away and told her I was only for Kate.”

“What did Kate say about that?” Tara maneuvered another mellow pepper, a spicy fruit that grew only in the Crags, to the cutting board and continued slicing.

“I never got the chance to tell her. She moved out the next day. I just assumed Trip told her what he saw.”

“Corey, Najwa told Kate that you were in love with her.”

“What?”

Tara nodded. “Kate thinks you dumped her for Najwa because she looks so much like Taylia.”

“Me dump Kate? That is crazy! I’ve only ever loved Kate. Why would Najwa say something like that?”

“Come on, Corey. You know how Najwa feels about you.”

Corey thought of the note and all of the advances that Najwa had made toward him. He popped a slice of mellow pepper in his mouth and chewed. “Tara, this is good news. Kate still loves me.”

“Of course she does, silly.” Tara punched his arm playfully.

“Tara?”

“Go. Just go.” She giggled as Corey ran to the door and threw a huge grin back at her.

Corey banged on the door of Stealthlin’s house. There was still no answer. He couldn’t believe everyone in the house was so mad that they wouldn’t come to the door. Trip and Tara stepped out onto his front porch and watched with perplexed expressions.

Finally, Trip crossed over and stood beside him. “Stealthlin, it’s me. Trip.”

He knocked on the door. “Candol? Kate?”

“Can they all be that angry with me?”

“They would answer if they were in there,” Trip said and turned the doorknob. It was unlocked and the rooms were dark.

“Stealthlin, Candol? We’re unarmed, man, don’t attack us,” Trip called with a grin.

Corey walked into the guest room where he and Kate had lived the first year they arrived while their house was built.

“Kate, darling. We need to talk.” He stepped into the room and stopped. The bed was made and nothing indicated Kate had stayed there. “Trip, she’s not here. Her bed hasn’t been slept in.”

“Neither has Stealthlin and Candol’s bed.”

“That’s weird.”

They sought clues through the house.

“The tub is dry.”

“So is the sink. Hey, here is a letter with your name on it, Corey.”

Corey came out of the back rooms and took the letter from Trip. He ripped it open and saw Kate’s handwriting. It appeared sloppy and rushed looking but he recognized the way she made her capital “I.”

Dear Corey,

It has been a great 37 years. You were a wonderful husband and companion. I’m glad you have found someone who shares your interests at the hospital. I truly hope you will be happy together. I’ve found true happiness with Stealthlin. We have fallen in love over the last decade and cannot deny our passion any longer. We’re leaving the village to go settle in the south and start a family. Please don’t follow us. I don’t think you will, now that you have found love in Najwa. It makes it easier for me, knowing you will not be alone. Please care for Candol as she will need someone strong to lean on in these hard days. I am glad the Cheleuthi are here to support her.

Know that I will always have a place for you in my heart, my Corey. I am sorry that things ended so badly between us. I would have liked to have parted as friends. Maybe that isn’t possible for us anyway.

Love,

Kate

Corey read the letter again and then handed it to Trip.

Trip sluiced out a few harsh words, then looked at Corey. “Dude, this can’t be real.”

“It isn’t,” Corey said with confidence. He lowered himself into the nearest chair.

“What do you mean?”

“This is the second letter full of lies I have received in the last 24 hours. I think our friend Najwa is up to something.”

Trip snorted. “Ya think?”

“Yep. We need to find Candol. I am worried for her. Set up a search team.” Corey held the letter to Candol in his hands and thumped it. “What are you up to, Najwa?” he murmured.

“How do you know the letters aren’t real?” Eunavae asked as they mass produced the cure in the lab.

“It wasn’t Kate’s voice,” he answered. “She has written me many love letters over the years and even though the handwriting seemed similar, it was not her way of putting things.”

“I can see that.”

Manifus came into the lab to get more trays of the cure. “They found Candol.”

They snapped their heads up. “Is she okay?”

“A bit groggy and stark naked, but okay.”

“I’m going to see her,” he informed Eunavae, shrugging out of his lab coat.

She nodded.

“She’s still in triage,” Manifus called as Corey breezed past.

Corey ran down the hall and skidded around the corner into the triage unit. Candol sat up on a cot, fidgeting with the simple sun-bleached shift that they used as hospital gowns.

“Stark naked, huh?” he teased her.

“I have no idea how I ended up out there without my clothes!” Candol covered her face with her hand. “Kate handed me a letter that she said she found on the front porch.” She adjusted herself on the mattress. “It was from Stealthlin telling me to meet him up on the ledge.”

“I went up there to wait for him and sat down on a rock. A bug stung me on the back of my neck. That is the last thing I remember before Starlythe found me.”

“Candol, I need to show you something, but I want you to know that I don’t believe it’s real.”

He handed her the letter with her name on it. She frowned and looked up at him.

“What is this? Why didn’t Stealthlin bring this to me?” She took the letter, searching the unit with growing concern. “Where is Stealthlin?”

“Read your letter, then I’ll tell you what I think.”

Candol tore open the note and read a few lines before tears began pouring down her cheeks. When she finished the letter she handed it to him and turned her face to the wall.