Charade (16 page)

“Ow!” I pulled my hand back and saw the puncture, blood trailing down my wrist. I cradled the hand against my chest as another sound at my feet caught my ears. I looked down. Even in the dim lighting I knew what I was looking at.

I screamed.

The snake slithering across my shoe reared up and bared its surprisingly long fangs.

I screamed again.

Hands grabbed my shoulders and I struggled.

Heven, it’s me. Calm down.

Sam?

Yes.

A sob caught in my throat as I collapsed against him. The well melted away and I was once again in Gran’s kitchen encased in Sam’s arms.

The door swung open and Cole charged in. “I heard a scream.”

Gran was following behind him, both staring.

I forced a laugh. “I’m sorry. I saw a spider.”

Gran chuckled, moving around Cole to place spoons in the baked beans and potato salad. “You never have liked spiders. Close the fridge door, honey.”

Sam pushed the fridge door shut as I peaked over his shoulder to stare at Cole. He was frowning. When he saw me looking, he scowled. Clearly, he didn’t believe my story. I shut my eyes tight, willing away the images. Seconds ticked by and I forced myself out of the comfort of Sam’s arms.

He bent down and picked up the pills that I dropped and handed them to me. Then he reached into fridge and pulled out a water bottle. I couldn’t help but peer into the fridge with fear.

What happened?

I looked down at my hand where I had cut it against the stone. There was nothing there. It was like it never happened.

Just then, Henry poked his head in the back door while Logan entered from the living room, carrying a brightly colored vinyl tablecloth.

“You found it!” Gran exclaimed, taking the cover out of his hands. “I wasn’t sure it would be where I told you.”

Logan beamed under her happiness. “It was right where you said.”

“I don’t want to alarm anyone,” Henry said. “But we need some ice out here.”

“Is someone hurt?” Gran asked, turning away from Logan.

Henry nodded. “Madeline stumbled into the grill and burned her hand.”

“Goodness!” Gran grabbed a huge ice pack out of the freezer and raced outside calling behind her, “Heven, get the burn cream!”

Logan followed Gran outside, still carrying the tablecloth. I hadn’t realized he had been in the house before.

I ran forward toward the cabinet with our medical supplies. “I want to know what is going on.” Cole demanded as I dug through the cabinet.

“Cole, please,” I begged. “Not now.”

He stared at me for a long moment then nodded tightly and stalked out of the room.

What’s going on?

“Cream must be in the bathroom,” I said and rushed out of the kitchen. Sam kept pace along with me easily. Once I had the cream, he grabbed my hand to stop me from rushing by.

Stop for a second. What happened back there?

I thought I saw something. It’s like my mind is playing tricks on me.

Your headache still hasn’t gone away.
He touched my forehead. It wasn’t a question. He could probably feel my headache. I nodded in response anyway and prayed the pain reliever would start working.

Still have a sore throat?

I forgot about my sore throat with all the other drama going on around us. “Not really.” I made a move to walk past him. “I really need to go see about Mom.”

“Of course.” He towed me along with him outside where everyone was gathered around my mother who was at the picnic table with an ice pack on her arm.

“Mom, what happened?”

“Oh, honey, I’m fine. Clumsy me stumbled and my arm caught the grill.” She lifted the ice pack and showed me an angry red welt already raised on her arm.

I gasped. “That looks horrible! We should go get it checked out.”

“It looks worse than it is,” Mom said, shaking her head. “With the ice, it hardly hurts at all.”

“Did you get the cream?” Gran asked me. I looked at her for some back-up about taking Mom to the doctor. Her aura was smooth and unruffled. It was like she wasn’t worried at all.

“It’s right here.” I held out the tube.

“Here. I’ll put some on you,” Gran said, uncapping it to smooth a thick layer of the stuff over the burn. Mom didn’t even wince.

I did. I looked at Henry who was watching the scene with mild interest. He saw my stare and looked fully at me. “What do you think, Henry? Think Mom should get looked at?” It was almost a challenge.

He smiled. “I think if your mother says she’s all right, then she probably is.”

Mom beamed up at Henry, her aura not even displaying the slightest bit of pain. “I’m just fine. Let’s not ruin the afternoon with this. Shall we eat?”

I seemed to be outnumbered. I looked at Sam and he shrugged.

“At least let me wrap the burn,” I tried, not ready to give up.

“That would be wonderful. But let me keep this ice on it while we eat; then you can wrap it.”

I stopped arguing. She really didn’t seem to be in any pain. Her aura was clear and auras didn’t lie. So I let it go.

Everyone took a spot around the table, but I was slower to sit down. My stomach still revolted at the thought of food, but I couldn’t avoid at least sitting with everyone. To my utter dismay, the only empty spot at the table was right next to Cole. Rather than allow Sam to slide in next to him, I hurried over and Sam sat down on my other side, frowning. Inside I winced, thinking that it probably didn’t look too good when I hurried to sit next to Cole.

Gran said a short blessing and everyone dug in. I couldn’t help but notice the apprising looks she was giving Cole and I. Was Gran trying to set me up with Cole? No. She couldn’t be. She loved Sam, and I knew it. I saw it in her aura. Yet, there was love in her aura too every time she looked at Cole. I prepared myself for a long dinner, but it ended up not being as uncomfortable as I thought.

Henry was a captivating storyteller. He possessed a magnetism that drew you in when he spoke, and all throughout dinner, he told us stories about the places he had traveled to and the people that he had met. I found myself unable to relax, but at least the pressure in my skull was easing. Because of Henry’s talent for speaking, no one seemed to notice that all I did was push the food from one side of my plate to the other. Finally, I gave up even making it look like I was eating and looked up, brushing away a fly that was swarming around the table. My mother was clearly happy, staring at Henry with a sort of awe in her eyes. I just couldn’t believe that her arm didn’t bother her at all.

Not long after eating, my mother announced that they needed to be going. I had to make an effort to seem disappointed. It made me feel guilty, and I insisted on applying more burn cream to her nasty-looking burn and wrapping it lightly in some gauze. That burn was going to turn into one nasty blister. After I had her all bandaged up, Sam and I walked Mom and Henry to his car while I tried one last time to convince her to get her arm looked at. She still insisted she was fine. I tucked the burn cream into her purse and kissed her cheek. “I’ll call you later,” I promised before Henry ushered her into a very black sedan with very dark tinted windows.

“Heven, promise me that we will see each other again before you go off to Italy,” Mom said before Henry could close the door.

I was still a little shocked that she was so willing to let me go after months and months of her insisting that I go to a Bible camp to exorcise the evil out of me.

“Sure, Mom. I’ll come by next week and we can have lunch together.”

“Great. I had a great time today. I love you.”

I swallowed past the lump suddenly in my throat. “I love you too, Mom.”

She said a short, but nice, goodbye to Sam, and then Henry shut the door. The tint was so dark that she disappeared from view. On his way around to the driver’s side he touched my hand and said, “Thanks for the wonderful day.”

Red beady eyes swam before me. My lungs squeezed. I swayed a little on my feet. Sam was there, his body coming up against mine. Henry looked at me with concern in his eyes. “Are you all right?”

I forced a smile. “I’m great. Just a little headache is all.”

“Well, get some sleep tonight. I’m sure you’ll feel better in the morning.”

“I will. Thanks.”

We watched until they were out of sight, and then I turned to lay my head on Sam’s chest. The sound of his heartbeat made me feel stronger.

“Are you going to tell me what’s going on with you?”

“It’s nothing,” I insisted. “I just got a little dizzy.”

“Yeah, and your mind is just playing tricks on you,” he muttered.

Gran stuck her head out the back door. “Heven, could you come in here please?” Her aura was flaring nervous energy.

Something is going on with Gran.
I told Sam.

She does seem a little preoccupied.

Inside, Cole was sitting at the table in the kitchen with a plate of cookies in front of him. Gran was standing at the sink washing dishes.

“Let me help you,” I said, going over to the sink.

She waved me away and picked up a towel to dry her hands. “Sit down. There’s something I need to tell you.”

“What?” I plopped into a chair next to Sam and across from Cole.

Gran patted her pocket before saying, “I debated on whether or not to say anything, but I think you both have a right to know.”

I didn’t understand who or what she was talking about. “Me and Sam?”

“No, you and Cole.”

Cole and I looked at one another. He shrugged.

“I don’t understand,” I said.

Gran nodded. “When you first came here, Cole, I am sure that you thought I acted a little strange.”

He shook his head. “I wasn’t really myself the other night.” His cheeks turned pink with embarrassment.

“Don’t think anything of it,” Gran replied and patted her pocket before continuing. “It’s because you remind me of someone. Two people actually.”

“Who?” Cole asked.

“My late husband and son.”

My heart stuttered. I groped for Sam’s hand beneath the table.

“About seventeen years ago, my son Jason met and married your mother, Heven. But what you don’t know, what no one knows, is that before he met her, he was involved with someone else.” Gran looked at Cole.

“Your mother’s name is Christine? Christine Matthews?”

“Christine Springer, used to be Matthews until she married my Dad when I was two,” Cole said as the color leeched from his skin.

Gran nodded. “My son Jason is your biological father, Cole.”

I gasped and I felt the blood drain from my face.

Cole stood, the chair clattering to the floor behind him. “No.”

“Yes.” She pulled a photograph from her pocket and laid it on the table in front of Cole. It was a photograph I knew well. It was my dad and grandpa smiling into the camera with their arms thrown around each other. It was an old photograph from when Dad was about my age and my grandpa was what age my dad would be now. I never realized it before because the memories of my grandpa were from when he was older, but Cole looked a lot like him when he was younger.

Cole stared down at the photograph on the table. “So I look like him.” He pointed at my grandfather. “But not that much. And not like him.” He pointed to my Dad. His aura was all over the place. Disbelief, hurt, curiosity…

“I had a DNA test done,” Gran said quietly then she pulled another sheet of paper from her pocket and laid it next to the photo.

We all stared at her. “That night you stayed here, I—I snipped a piece of your hair off and took it to the hospital for a DNA test. The lab ran it against my blood since Jason isn’t here. It matched. You’re my grandson.”

We all sat there stunned.

“Please understand. I wanted to be sure before I said anything.”

Cole picked up his chair and dropped back in it. “Then that means…” He looked up and our eyes met. Joy flowed through me. Joy and relief.

“Heven is your sister.” Gran said.

Sam started laughing. I brought my eyes away from Cole and I looked at him. He was happy. This news thrilled him. I focused on the feeling swirling through me, pushing past my own to find his. He was relieved. He didn’t have to feel threatened by me and Cole’s relationship anymore. I was shocked he had felt that threatened before. I must not be the only one who could push down my feelings.

“I’m sorry,” he said, noticing everyone staring. “It’s just really great news.”

Cole jumped up and stormed out the door.

“Cole!” I yelled and went after him. Sam got up to follow, but I stopped him. “Give me a minute with him, okay?”

Sam sat back down.

Cole was at the far end of the porch, staring out toward the orchard. I approached him and leaned my back against the railing next to him, facing the opposite direction. We stood like that for a long time, not saying anything.

Finally, Cole cleared his throat. “I could never figure it out.”

I looked up. “What?”

“What it was that I felt for you. At first I thought I was attracted to you… but it was different somehow. I always wanted to protect you, to watch over you and be close to you, but the other night, when I kissed you, it didn’t feel right.”

“I felt the same way.”

“Really?” His aura flared magenta, mixing with the blue and green.

“I think that might be why Sam doesn’t like you. He could feel how much I cared about you and knew I was confused.” He thought I was torn between the two of them, but really I couldn’t figure out my connection to Cole.

“The guy sure is relieved,” Cole muttered, the side of his mouth picking up.

“So do you believe her?” I asked timid.

He was quiet a moment. “I’m not sure. Why would she lie? I should talk to my mom.”

“Yeah.” I wondered how that would go.

“I should go.” He pushed away from the railing and went toward the stairs then turned back. “You think she would let me take the DNA results with me?”

I nodded and he disappeared inside. When he came back he was clutching the paper and the photo of my dad and grandpa. When he saw me staring at the photo, he cleared his throat and shoved them into his pocket walking quickly toward the steps.