In Your Dreams (25 page)

He
started to nod when a sudden thought struck him and he blurted, “One more
thing. Grant Justin Penn and Anthony Francona a child of their own and a long
and happy life together.” Satisfied now that he’d covered all Isabelle’s
possible concerns, he stepped back, head bowed, hands clasped behind his back,
and waited for the Board’s yea or nay.

“No.”
Xavia sank to her knees, weeping, and Contel stepped forward to gather her in
his arms.

“It’s
okay, Mom. It’s gonna be okay.”

Mom.
Contel called Xavia, “Mom.” Sean’s heart filled with light. He’d done that,
brought those two together, mended two broken people. Now, he’d mend two more.
This was good. This was what he was meant for.
          “You are willing to
serve in whatever capacity the Board asks of you?” Verity asked. “No matter how
dire?”

Dire.
So he’d be sentenced to the Chasm, after all. From the moment he first landed
there to collect the remains of Luc and Jodie, he’d always known, eventually,
his fate was to become as they wound up: pink glitter scattered all over that
stark and dismal ground. A fireball of dread rose up from his gut, but he
swallowed hard before nodding. For Isabelle. He would do this for Isabelle. He would
willingly destroy himself so that she might live. If only he could be certain
she was still alive.

“For
as long as the Board deems necessary?” Verity continued.

Another
nod.

“Very
well. Step forward, Sean Martino.”

He
took two steps toward the edge of the stage and forced himself to remain calm.
For Isabelle, he reminded himself. And for Ava. He cast a sideways glance at
the blown-up image of his little girl on the screen. The sheer size and his
proximity blurred her features to pixelated dots, but he memorized every
scintilla nonetheless. His baby girl. If she remained with her mother, the best
part of him would live on long after the Chasm had done its worst.

“I’m
ready,” he said and, closing his eyes, inhaled a deep breath.

“Be
gone then,” Verity announced.

He
heard a sharp scream—Xavia, he imagined—and he reached out a hand to tell her
he was fine with this unholy bargain. He’d made his choice and wouldn’t back
down now. Before he could tell her what was in his heart, or even say goodbye,
his cells spun into vapor, carried by the air.

The
last words that reached him before he transformed fully came from Verity. “Come
along, Xavia. You and Contel will sit beside me and watch the rest of
Isabelle’s day on Earth.”

After
that, Sean Martino was gone from the auditorium.

His
essence hurled through time and space, an asteroid on a collision course, bound
for whatever punishment the Board had devised him to pay for Isabelle’s sake.
He landed, on his feet, to heat and brightness. And the scream of sirens. Funny.
He remembered the Chasm as a place of mournful moans and grayness. Not this
sunny light and noise. He opened his eyes.

Before
him, a red convertible sat crunched into the front grill of a tractor-trailer.
A baby’s cries pricked his ears. Ava! He raced to the totaled car and vaulted
past the shattered glass of the smashed window to reach inside. Ava, strapped
in her car seat in the rear, red-faced, screamed at full lung capacity. It was
the sweetest sound Sean had ever heard. She was alive. He still had time to
save her.

He
slid into the car’s interior and sat beside the car seat, struggling with shaky
hands to release the latch that kept her restrained.

“Here,
Lieutenant,” a voice shouted from outside the car. “Give the kid to me. Then
get to the driver.”

Lieutenant?
No time to consider the odd title. A pair of arms, clothed in a police uniform
reached inside to take Ava. After several more minutes of fumbling, a quick
click told him he’d managed to unlock the car seat. “Okay, Ava,” he crooned.
“It’s okay. You’re gonna be fine.”

He
pulled his daughter out of the seat and traced a finger across her tear-stained
face. His daughter. Ava Rose Martino. What a beauty she would grow up to
become. She seemed to recognize him, and her perfect lips turned upward into a
smile.

“Lieutenant?”
the voice outside came again.

“Got
her!” he announced. Thrusting her into the waiting arms, he turned his
attention to the front of the car.

 Behind
the steering wheel, a large white bag enshrouded the driver’s face. Isabelle! Heart
thumping at a crazy pace, he climbed over the console to get to her. With
gentle pressure, he pushed her out of the steering wheel’s air bag and toward
the seat. Her hair curtained her face, but he immediately caught sight of the
slight rise and fall of her chest. She breathed!

“Isabelle,
can you hear me?”

No
reply.

“Lieutenant
Martino?” The outside voice came again. “How’s the driver?”

“Alive,”
he called back.

“And
damn lucky,” the voice rejoined.

“Let’s
hope so,” Sean murmured. “Can you get any of the doors open?” he asked his
assistant outside the vehicle.

“Front
passenger’s the least warped,” came the reply. “If you kick from the inside and
I pull from the outside, we’ve got a shot.”

“Let’s
do it. On three.” Bracing himself against the center console, he tightened his
muscles. “Ready? One, two,
three
!” On three, he propelled all his weight
into his legs and shoved. A chink of light appeared as the door gave slightly.
“Again.”

They
repeated the procedure four times before he had enough of an opening to drag
Isabelle out of the wreckage. “Okay, sweetheart. I’ve got you. Let’s go.” After
unbuckling her seat belt, he grabbed her under her arms and pulled. Once he’d
freed her from the driver’s seat, he gathered her close and inched his way
backwards from what was left of the demolished convertible.

Outside,
a stretcher waited with a medical team. “Set her there, officer,” a woman at
the head of the stretcher directed. “We’ll take it from here.”

After
placing Isabelle onto the stretcher, Sean straightened to review the scene.
Dozens of police cars, lights flashing, cordoned off the palm-tree-lined
road.  Two ambulances stood nearby, back doors open. A team of EMTs tended
to the truck driver who, from the look of him, had a broken nose and possibly, a
shattered knee.  A tall, lanky man wearing latex gloves examined the
still-screaming Ava.

What
the hell was happening to him? This wasn’t the Chasm. If he didn’t know any
better, he’d swear he was in Malibu. With Ava and Isabelle. Was this a dream?
Or some kind of bizarre punishment where, while he watched, the scene would
change and everything he’d just accomplished would be revealed as some kind of
alternate reality? He had to be sure what he experienced was real.

The
dark-haired woman was checking Isabelle’s vitals, and a beefy uniformed
policeman grinned at Sean as he approached.

“You
know, sir, you didn’t have to dive into the car and play super-cop. We had a
team here ready to cut them out, if necessary.”

“Didn’t
want to take a chance,” he replied and returned his attention to Isabelle.

As
if sensing his scrutiny, she opened her eyes. She blinked several times,
regaining focus. When she finally managed to speak, she cried out, “Ava!”

“Easy,
ma’am,” the tall EMT said from near the first ambulance. “I’ve got her here,
and she’s just fine. Not a scratch on her.”

“Oh,
thank God,” Isabelle said on a long exhale of breath. “Can I see her, please?”

The
man brought the baby forward, but the female EMT held out a hand. “Just show
her the baby. I’m not done with my exam yet.”

Sean
thrust out his arms. “I’ll take her,” he said.

         
For the second time, he held his daughter, noted her flawless skin, her bright
blue eyes, the blond hair caught up in a tiny pink barrette shaped like a bow.
He cradled her close, inhaling her baby powder scent, and turned his gaze
heavenward, waiting for the scene to change.

When
he didn’t immediately feel himself yanked away, when everything remained the
same, he dared to kiss the infant’s cheek. Her life pulsed through his lips,
strong and steady.

Then
he bent toward the stretcher’s occupant, his arm still holding his daughter
close to his heart. “Hey, Belle,” he said softly and held Ava up for her to
see.

She
looked into his face, eyes wide with shock. “Sean?”

When
she struggled to rise, the woman’s hands pressed her shoulders back into the
stretcher. “Ma’am, I’m gonna have to ask you to stay still until I’m done
checking for injuries.”

Although
she submitted to the woman’s demands, Isabelle’s gaze remained firmly locked on
Sean. “Am I…dead?”

He
bent closer, pressed a soft kiss to her lips. Electricity zinged between them.
“I don’t think so. I think…I’m very much alive.”

“Sure
you’re alive, Lieutenant,” the police officer barked from above him. “You’re
alive, I’m alive, we’re all alive, and it’s another beautiful day in sunny
California.”

Sean
swerved to stare at the man before declaring, “Go help with crowd control while
I take the lady’s statement.”

“Yes,
sir.” The police officer dashed off.

“It’s
amazing,” the woman EMT announced as she backed away from the stretcher.
“You’re completely unharmed. This is your lucky day, ma’am. You and your baby.
You guys oughta buy a lottery ticket.” On those words, she strode away, leaving
Sean alone with Isabelle.

“Alive?”
Isabel whispered. “How is that possible?”

“The
Board doesn’t just deal with death, you know.”

“But,
I don’t understand. You’re real? This isn’t a dream?”

“I’m
real. And apparently, I’m a lieutenant with the local police department.” He
jerked his head toward where the other officer was setting up traffic cones on
the shoulder of the highway. “I’m guessing he works for me.”

One
eyebrow arched in doubt. “For how long? If I fall asleep, will you still be
here when I wake up? Or are you going to stick around long enough for Ava and me
to get used to having you and then one day,
poof
! You’re gone, and we’re
the only ones who ever knew you existed.”

He
had no ready answer to that question. This entire situation was as new to him
as it was to her. “I have no idea.”
          Sitting up, Isabelle
sighed. “Then we’ll have to take what we’ve been given for as long as we have
it. I’m glad you got to hold Ava and see her for yourself. What do you think of
your daughter?”

He
glanced at the infant in his arms then back at Isabelle. “I think, next to her
mother, she’s the most beautiful girl in the world. And...” He took a deep
breath, partly for courage, but also to absorb as much of these two females as
he could into his memory for the moment they were ripped away from him. “I love
you, Isabelle. I wanted you to know that.” He didn’t add the
just in case
part of his speech. Why ruin a perfect moment with impending doom?

Isabelle
beamed. “I love
you
.” She snuggled against him, filling the parts of him
he’d always thought empty. “Now and always. No matter what happens, I’m yours
for as long as we have together.”

He
pulled her closer, absorbing the love she radiated, sending his own love back
to her in waves. With both his girls in his arms, Sean felt an odd phenomenon:
his heartbeat. A
real
heart, pounding inside his chest. For this perfect
moment in time, he was human. He was blissful. He was complete.

A
soft glow of light enveloped the three of them, and the world disappeared.
Slowly, the light took shape into the form of Verity, who floated toward them.

Sean
stiffened. Here it came. The moment where he’d lose everything he held dear.

“No,
Sean,” Verity said, her hands upheld to stop the bitter thoughts running
through his mind. “I’m not here to take you back to the Afterlife. All of this
is yours now. You’ve earned it. You both have.”

Suspicion
still lingered in the deepest recesses of his soul. Could he believe in what
his Elder Counselor proclaimed? Or was this a trick? The ultimate test of his
love and loyalty? “How do I know this is for real? I mean, you say I earned
this. How?”

“The
purest sacrifices are for love’s sake,” Verity replied with a blinding smile,
“and you have proven your love in so many different ways. You sought and gave
forgiveness to those who might have held you in contempt for your actions in
the past. By doing so, you not only gained their forgiveness, you brought Xavia
and her son together again. When you were given the opportunity to gain the
Board’s favor, you thought of others before yourself. Isabelle’s happiness was more
important to you than your own comfort. You even included her friends’ needs in
your request, knowing Isabelle’s happiness was directly linked to the happiness
of Justin Penn and Anthony Francona.”

A
kernel of doubt wedged inside his new, pounding heart. “Xavia,” he prompted.
“What’s going to happen to Xavia?”