Nine, Ten ... Never Sleep Again (23 page)

I was holding
my
dad's hand when he woke up. Three days had passed
since I had escaped the castle in Brabrand holding Julie in my arms. While we
were running outside, we heard sirens blaring in the distance. We found the
boat Henrik had used to get to the island and sailed away to safety while hundreds
of officers stormed the house.

Apparently, Peter had put up a fight, so the
officers had ended up shooting him, while Henrik Fenger was arrested for
breaking and entering. He ended up paying a fine. The police never could find
evidence enough to accuse him of any of the killings that I knew he had
committed. The story had gone worldwide about the lunatic man alone in a castle
on an isolated island who wanted to make the exhibition from hell. The kings'
coffins were returned to the churches and I took Julie back to Karrebaeksminde
to be with my dad while he was recovering.

"Sweetie," he mumbled and opened his
eyes. "I'm so glad to see you."

"You're doing much better, Dad. Don't
worry. The doctor says I can take you home, maybe tomorrow."

My dad chuckled. "No, that's not what I
meant. I'm glad you're here because someone came in earlier. I told him to come
later today so he could see you."

"Hi Rebekka."

I turned my head and looked into the eyes of
Sune. I rose to my feet and let go of my dad's hand. "Sune? What are you
doing here? Jens-Ole said you quit. I thought you had left town."

Sune smiled. "I was about to, but I wanted
to say goodbye to your dad. He has, after all, meant a lot to me. He convinced
me I should at least say a proper goodbye to you."

My heart was pounding in my chest. There was so
much I wanted to say, but why? To make him stay? Was that what I wanted? Him to
stay against his will just because I might or might not be pregnant with his
child? I had my doubts.

"Did you hear about …?”

Sune nodded. "Peter? Yeah. I heard. Quite
the story, huh?"

I exhaled. "The funeral is Friday. I guess
we'll be there, since Julie needs to say goodbye to her dad."

"Naturally." Sune looked at me and
sighed. "Well okay. I'd better … I should just … I mean we need to be in
Copenhagen at three, so I should …"

"Stop." I looked at Sune. It had burst
out without me even thinking. Our eyes locked. I gasped. My tongue felt so dry.
I could hardly move my lips.

"Argh, for Christ sake," my dad
grumbled. "She's pregnant and the child is probably yours."

My heart stopped. I wanted to yell at my dad for
blurting it out like that. But then I saw the look on Sune's face.

"Is it true?" Sune asked.

"Well … uh … I guess it is. Yes, Sune, yes.
I'm pregnant."

Sune's eyes grew wide. He was breathing heavily.

"You don't have to do anything, Sune. It's
okay. After all it might be Peter’s."

"But it might be mine?"

"Well, yes. I mean we did try for a long
time … and the dates fit. The doctor told me it happened by the end of June and
there was no Peter then. Not until July."

Sune smiled widely. "I'm gonna be a dad
again? We're going to be parents?"

"I guess so?"

Sune grabbed me around my waist and picked me
up. He started spinning around with me in his arms. I laughed. He stopped and
let me slide down slightly till my eyes were in front of his.

"I love you Rebekka Franck."

"I love you too."

Then we kissed.

THE END

Dear reader,

Thank you for purchasing
Nine, Ten ... Never sleep again
. This was
the last and final book in my series about Rebekka Franck and her photographer
Sune Johansen. I hope you have enjoyed their crazy journey as much as I have.
It is with great sadness that I let them go. They have been a big part of my
life for a very long time now.

 But if you enjoyed this series then you
might also enjoy my Emma Frost-series. I have included an excerpt from the
first book
Itsy Bitsy Spider
on
the following pages. Get the entire series by following the links below.

And don't forget to check out some of my other
books as well.

Take care,

Willow

Connect with Willow online and you will be
the first to know about new releases:

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I promise not to share your email with anyone else, and I
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Books by the author

Mystery/Horror
Novels:

One, Two ...
He is coming for you
(Rebekka Frank #1) -
http://www.amazon.com/One,
two ...

Three, Four
... Better lock your door
(Rebekka Frank #2) -
http://www.amazon.com/Three,
Four ...

Five, Six
... Grab your Crucifix
(Rebekka Frank #3) -
http://www.amazon.com/Five,
Six ...

Seven, Eight
... Gonna stay up late
(Rebekka Frank #4) -
http://www.amazon.com/Seven,
eight ...

Itsy Bitsy Spider
(Emma Frost #1)
-
http://www.amazon.com/Itsy
Bitsy Spider

Miss Dolly had a Dolly
  (Emma Frost #2)- Coming out
October 2013

Run Run as fast as you can
(Emma Frost #3) - Coming out later this
fall 2013

Edwina
-
http://www.amazon.com/Edwina

Horror Short
stories:

Eenie, Meenie
-
http://www.amazon.com/Eenie,
Meenie

Rock-A-Bye Baby-
http://www.amazon.com/Rock-a-bye

Nibble, Nibble, Crunch -
http://www.amazon.com/Nibble,
Crunch

Humpty, Dumpty -
http://www.amazon.com/Humpty,
Dumpty

 Chain
Letter
-
http://www.amazon.com/Chain
Letter

Paranormal
Romance/Suspense/Fantasy Novels:

Beyond  (Afterlife #1)
-
http://www.amazon.com/Beyond

Serenity (Afterlife #2)
-
http://www.amazon.com/Serenity

Endurance (Afterlife #3)
-
http://www.amazon.com/Endurance

Courageous (Afterlife #4)
-
http://www.amazon.com/Courageous

Savage
(Daughters of the Jaguar #1) -
http://www.amazon.com/Savage

Broken
(Daughters of the Jaguar #2) -
http://www.amazon.com/Broken

A Gypsy Song
(The Wolfboy Chronicles) -
http://www.amazon.com/A
Gypsy song

I am WOLF
(The Wolfboy Chronicles) -
http://www.amazon.com/I
am WOLF

Box Sets:

Rebekka Franck Series
-
http://www.amazon.com/Rebekka Franck

Daughters of the Jaguar
-
http://www.amazon.com/Daughtersof
the Jaguar

The Afterlife Series
-
http://www.amazon.com/Afterlife

Horror Stories from Denmark
-
http://www.amazon.com/Horror
Stories

The Wolfboy Chronicles
-
http://www.amazon.com/THE
WOLFBOY CHRONICLES

Willow
Rose
is an international Best-selling author. She
writes Mystery/Suspense/Horror, Paranormal Romance and fantasy. Originally from
Denmark she now lives on Florida's Space Coast with her husband and two
daughters. She is a huge fan of Stephen King, Anne Rice and Isabel Allende.
When she is not writing or reading she enjoys watching the dolphins play in the
waves of the Atlantic Ocean. Her books have been downloaded in more than
300.000 copies.

Connect with Willow
online: 

http://www.willow-rose.blogspot.com/
www.facebook.com/willowredrose
https://twitter.com/madamwillowrose

The fol
lowing is an excerpt from Willow Rose's
newly released Horror Short Story:

Itsy
Bitsy Spider
:

Emma Frost #1

Willow
Rose

The
Itsy Bitsy Spider crawled up the water spout.

Down
came the rain, and washed the spider out.

Out
came the sun, and dried up all the rain,

And
the Itsy Bitsy Spider went up the spout again.

 -
Nursery Rhyme

At first she
thought
it was an accident. That the door to the
bunker had shut by accident. Then she tried to open it on her own, but
couldn't. It was either too heavy or must have locked when it shut. She knocked
carefully.

"Hello?"

The quiet coming from outside the iron door was
gruesome. Astrid swallowed hard and knocked once again, this time harder.

"Hello?"

But nothing. Nothing but the horrendous sound of
her own breathing.
Someone will open it.
Once they realize it has shut, they'll come.
Astrid took the ten
steps from the door down into the bunker. She felt tired and her feet were
swollen. She sighed and sat down on a bench, waiting, staring at the door
anticipating it swinging open at any moment now. It was actually two doors
separated by a small hallway between them. Even if she hammered they wouldn't
be able to hear her. All she had to do was wait. Someone would eventually come
for her.

Wouldn't they? Of course they
would. He would come. He who told her he loved her?

Astrid knew she wasn't among the smartest of the
young kids on the island. Her mother always told her that. But she had good
hands and she wasn't a half bad cook. If she stuck to what she knew, she might
be lucky enough to one day have a man, her mother had always said. Now she had
found one. And he wanted more than just her cooking. He wanted her. He loved
her, he said. Then he made love to her in the dunes by the beach.

He was nice to her and she wanted him to meet
her mother, but he kept telling her
, not
now, not today.
Astrid never thought of asking when, she waited
patiently for him to find the time in his busy schedule. She never wondered why
he never took her places, why he insisted they only meet at night or why he
never spoke to her except for the dirty words he whispered in her ears, that
Astrid was educated enough to know wasn't something they would say in church.

No, Astrid never thought there could be anything
wrong with her relationship to this boy who once said he loved her, and who
showed his love for her in the dunes again and again, night after night during
that endless summer in 1977. Instead she started looking forward to their life
together, preparing herself to one day become the mother she had always dreamt
of.

"You'll get nothing but dummies like
yourself," her mother had said. "There should be a law that demanded
that people like you were sterilized so you wouldn't pass your stupidity on to
your kids. Stupid girl," she said and slapped Astrid across the face.

Yes, Astrid was very well aware that she wasn't
the smartest among people, but she had a good heart to her. That much she knew.
One day she would become a great mother to a child that would have the father's
intellect and that child was going to go on into the world and do great things.

"That'll show them," she said
sniffling while staring at the closed iron door up the stairs.

"He'll come for me, won't he?" she
asked and her voice echoed into the small room behind her lit only by a light
bulb hanging from under the ceiling.
Of
course he will. Of course.

Astrid drew in a deep sigh. She looked around
and spotted the big flashlight on a shelf in the corner among blankets, water
bottles and canned food. She pulled it out and held it in her hand. Then she
sat down again, waiting for someone to come and get her.
Not just someone. Him, the boy of your dreams, the love
of your life. Not just anyone.

Astrid sighed and calmed herself down. She
always did this, mother would say, she always made herself uneasy or even
anxious for no reason at all.