A Chance for Charity (The Immortal Ones) (16 page)

“
You are such a goof Dee,”
Summer admonished her friend. “You’re welcome,” she whispered in my
ear while giving me a hug.

“
I’m really lucky to have
friends like you,” I mumbled and grabbed Delilah to include her in
our now group hug.

Moving to Telluride had been the best
decision James could have made. We would make it work here. I
wasn’t ready to run, yet.

Saturday morning was spent in the Game Room,
again. I was desperately trying to compel Link to become more
comfortable with throwing stars. He kept saying there were too many
sharp edges on one small instrument. I chided him, playfully, and
showed him my two favorites, a six blade and a three blade, folding
models. Once folded, they were compact enough to fit just about
anywhere, undetected.

“
Do you actually carry
these?” Link asked, shock present in his voice.

“
I usually have the three
blade with me,” I admitted.

“
Everywhere you go?” He
wondered.

“
Yes,” I simply
stated.

“
I never would have
guessed.”

“
That’s the idea,” I
smiled, trying to put him more at ease. “I’ve always thought all
guys found martial arts weapons to be... well, exciting. Why the
hesitation?” I asked.

“
They are. If I were with a
bunch of friends, trying these out for fun, it would be very cool.
But here you stand, the woman I love, telling me that you carry a
weapon on a daily basis, for protection. It is just a bit
unnerving. I really wish you didn’t have to do that. I wish we
could just live without that fear hanging over us. I just wish this
was not a lesson based on need,” he explained.

“
You love me?” I whispered
looking down.

“
Yes, I’ve told you that
before,” he said.

“
No, you’ve implied. But
you’ve never said it that plainly,” I pointed out, keeping my eyes
focused on the floor.

Link put his hand under my chin and raised
my head. He captured my eyes with his own, and declared, “I love
you, Charity.”

“
I love you too,” I bubbled
with joy and wrapped my arms around his neck. Love had finally
found a way to sneak back into my well guarded heart.

Link held me firmly, stroking my hair.
“That’s good to hear,” he murmured softly in my ear.

After a few moments, spent basking in the
glow of newly acknowledged love, I was ready to get down to
business.

“
Can I please show you how
to throw these now?” I asked.

“
Right back to business,”
he commented.

“
You can only put me off
for so long by telling me you love me,” I teased.

“
You are bad,” Link cried,
displaying a fake pout. “I am wounded.” He clutched his
chest.

“
Poor baby,” I soothed,
“What can I do to make it better?”

“
A kiss?”

“
A kiss,” I agreed. “Then
back to the weaponry.”

“
Absolutely,” Link
promised.

I raised myself up on my tip-toes to place a
chaste kiss on his lips. He bent forward to receive it, but with a
fierceness that shocked me. My head leaned back as my arms twined
up around his neck, pulling him closer to me. His lips on mine,
were so soft, so right. A current surged through my body, exiting
at the tips of my fingers and soles of my feet – a lightning shock.
I gasped for air, he parted his lips, deepening the kiss, taking my
breath away.

I pulled away, breathing heavy,
lightheaded.

“
Did I do something wrong?”
he smiled.

“
That kind of distraction
won’t deter me either,” I murmured, catching my breath. “No matter
how good you are at it.”

Link smiled brilliantly, “At least I know
you liked it.”

“
Yes,” was all I could
say.

It was weirdly appropriate
that A Perfect Circle’s
Weak and
Powerless
was playing on the radio at that
exact moment. The lyrics kept repeating in my head... sometimes I
felt absolutely weak and powerless when it came to my feelings for
him. Then Glenn Miller’s
Fools Rush
In
popped into my head! It was amazing how
many songs I could find to sum up the moments of my life, in a few
lines of lyric.

The Game Room door opened, I quickly
composed myself, embarrassed at my body’s actions. It was as if I
had no control of myself when it came to Link, and I had to admit
that it bothered me a little.

“
What are we doing today?”
James called out.

“
Throwing stars,” I
answered. “Come show Link how it’s done,” I challenged him,
throwing a star across the room, aiming for his head.

James, with his remarkable reflexes, easily
caught the star with his thumb and middle finger.

“
Amazing,” Link breathed as
James quickly flicked his wrist, sending the star back across the
room and into the mannequin’s head.

“
Your turn,” I said,
handing him a star.

Link tossed it toward a target, it thumped
as it hit, and then clanged - striking the ground.

“
Again,” was all I said
handing him another, and another, and another.

We repeated this process for an hour with
James and me offering tips and critiques along the way. Fairly soon
he was hitting his mark.

“
This is kinda cool,” Link
smiled and I tossed him a star.

But I shouldn’t have tossed it.

“
Crap,” I grimaced. Stupid,
Stupid, Stupid – I tossed it without thinking. I was used to
practicing with James and Catherine, not with a person that could
sustain a real injury – a person who could bleed.

The blade sliced across his palm as he tried
to catch it. Blood immediately pooled in his now cupped hand.

“
I’m so sorry,” I cried
out, rushing to his side.

“
That’s gonna leave a
mark,” he tried to joke, but his face puckered. I knew he was in
pain. “You wouldn’t happen to have a first aid kit Doc?” he
addressed James.

“
No, we’ve got something
better,” James said walking over with a towel to sop up the blood
and assess the injury.

“
This is going to be one of
those
something different about
Immortals
moments, so be open minded,” I
warned.

James took a dagger and sliced into his own
palm. Link’s eyes widened but he remained still, not making a
sound. James held his palm open, letting a few bright red beads of
blood build up and then took hold of Link’s hand with his own. He
grasped firmly. To any outside observer it would appear as a
handshake, a greeting or a thank you between friends. James
released Link’s hand and again used the towel, this time to clean
up any remaining blood. Link raised his hand and examined his gash.
But there was no gash. Only a minor scar remained where the gash
had been.

“
Incredible,” Link
whispered. “Thank you,” he grabbed James and hugged him... clearly
grateful. Then he turned to face me, “Why didn’t you tell me you
could do that?”

“
I don’t know for sure that
I can,” I answered.

“
I’m sure she can.
Catherine is able to,” James explained.

“
I don’t understand,” Link
looked at me.

“
I’ve never wanted to try.
Self inflicted wounds and all,” I muttered turning my head
away.

“
Okay, I understand,” he
said plainly, hugging me tightly, and kissed the top of my
head.

“
It’s pretty cool though,”
I admitted.

“
Yes it is. How long have
you known that you could do that?” Link asked James.

“
Many, many years. I found
out during the war,” he said.

“
Which war?” Link
asked.

“
How much have you told
him?” James asked me.

“
He knows nothing about you
or Catherine, before I met you in San Diego. I figured your story
should come from you,” I explained.

“
Mortal age wise, you look
older than Charity. Does that mean you are older? I mean, will she
eventually look twenty-five or thirty?” he asked.

“
No, Link, I will always
look this age,” I stroked his arm.

“
The aging process just
stops at an arbitrary age. We really do not know why. Charity was
around twenty when it happened. I had aged around thirty years and
Catherine... somewhere in-between,” James explained.

“
Were you together when it
happened?” Link asked James.

“
No we didn’t cross paths
until years later. Come, let’s go upstairs and sit. I’ll tell you
my story, it will answer many questions, and also explain how we
came to be aware of the Lord family,” James opened the door and led
the way to the kitchen.

I got us all a drink, grabbed a bag of
pretzels, and we each took a stool at the kitchen counter.

“
Ready for a history
lesson?” James asked.

“
Fire away,” Link
answered.

chapter ten

HISTORY

“
I was born in Cambridge,
Massachusetts. The year was Eighteen Hundred Twenty,” James
began.

“
My God,” Link breathed,
“that makes you a hundred years older than Charity. I never
imagined.”

“
Yes it does, Link. You’re
quick on the math,” James smiled. “My father was a Professor of Law
at Harvard, my mother a school teacher. Education was prized above
all in my household. At an early age I was taught and encouraged to
read. My parents brought all varieties of books home for my young
mind to absorb. A journal of medicinal practices caught my eye when
I was twelve and a fascination with all things medical in nature
ensued. I was determined to become a doctor.

“
My father, on the
contrary, was determined that I become a lawyer and trained me as
such. After exiting Harvard as a lawyer I worked in my given
profession for a few years but still yearned for medicine. In
Eighteen Hundred Forty-Six I moved to Boston and entered the
Massachusetts Medical College of Harvard University, as it was
called at the time. That was the last year that the Medical College
was located on Mason Street near the Boston Common,” he
paused.

“
I’ve been there, to the
Boston Common, it’s beautiful. I went with my parents when I was
eight. Harvard Medical used to be there? I never knew that,” Link
commented.

“
Many people don’t,” James
said, then continued, “It was my good fortune to witness one of the
first surgeries performed using ether as an anesthetic. In October,
of that year, a man was administered ether before surgery. A blood
vessel tumor was then removed from his neck. I knew at that moment,
without a doubt, that I would be forever fulfilled in my chosen
profession of medicine.

“
I worked as a doctor, at
Massachusetts General Hospital, for a few years after finishing
school. The hospitals, at the time, mainly served the poor. People
who could afford their own quality healthcare received it in their
homes, with house-calls by private doctors. The hospital gave me a
greater chance to improve upon and gain new skills, with a variety
of ailments and injuries walking through the doors each new
day.”

“
You were part of the birth
of modern medicine,” Link said.

“
I guess I was,” James
said. “I stayed at the hospital through Eighteen Hundred Fifty-Two,
when a peculiar thing happened to me. I was walking to work one
December morning when I tripped and fell into the street, a horse
drawn cart was coming my way and I was unable to avoid it. The
heavy cart rolled over my left leg and an audible snap of bones
occurred. Other than the broken leg, I escaped with just a few
cuts, scrapes, and bruises. I was taken to the hospital where my
injuries were assessed and my leg was set. I felt quite fine and
insisted that I be brought home to convalesce in
private.

“
Alone that night, I
examined my cuts to find them all but gone. My bruises which were
only hours old were already faded from their original deep purple
hue to a light yellowish tinge. The scrapes had disappeared without
a trace. I wondered if I had imagined them. By nightfall that
evening I attempted to put some weight on my leg to find that there
was absolutely no pain. I removed the dressings and bindings to
discover that indeed, I had full use of it. I hopped around the
room on my injured leg, daring it to give way, fully expecting to
collapse in pain at any moment. But nothing... it was as if the
injury had never occurred. Had I imagined the snap of my own bones
as well then?”

I looked at Link. His face was transfixed on
James’s.

“
Go on, tell me more,” he
said.

“
I walked into the hospital
the next day to the shock of my colleagues. Gerald asked what magic
I held to be able to walk on my injured leg so soon. William said
his eyes must be deceiving him. Jackson stood frozen with his mouth
agape.

“
There was an old woman,
Martha was her name, a patient at the hospital. Martha had watched,
the previous day, as I was carried in. She was witness to my
injured state, now healed twenty-four hours later. The old woman
observed my steady walk, as I entered the hall where she lay, and
called out to me.