Revel (Second Chance Romance #1) (16 page)

They woke up late the next morning. The tide was in and the Atlantic was lapping at the shore a mere twenty feet from Charlotte’s back deck. She sat in an Adirondack chair, naked with a blanket wrapped around her, sipping instant coffee.

She’d thought about Declan all night. Watching him sleep next to her, it brought her such comfort. And despite the revelations about his mother’s part in her own mother’s death, she couldn’t let him go. She didn’t know how any of this could work, but being with him again was like coming home. Except home wasn’t a place, like she always assumed it was. Charleston wasn’t home.

Declan DeGraff was.

********

She’d awakened Declan by mounting him. He was hard under the sheets and she couldn’t help it. She needed him inside of her.

“Fuck,” he said, his eyes fluttering open. He watched her riding him, slowly. Her hips bucked, her large breasts bouncing, the nipples rigid.

“Make me come,” she begged. “Please.”

“Not a problem,” he said, placing his hands on her waist. “Ladies first.”

Afterwards they’d laid there quietly, panting from the exertion.

“This is going to sound weird,” he said. “But do you mind coming with me to see my dad today? He’s probably wondering where I am. I don’t think he even realizes I went to the ball last night; he was asleep when I left.”

Charlotte sat up, “I don’t know. You don’t think it would be weird?”

“He knows you’re here,” Declan said. “So it wouldn’t be
that
weird. Just a little weird.”

Charlotte rolled her eyes, “Well as long as it’s only a little weird.”

“You don’t have to,” Declan said. “I know it’s asking too much. But it’s getting harder and harder for me to see him.” Declan’s voice choked up for a moment. “I have a feeling there’s not much time left. I keep waiting for my phone to ring and it be one of his nurses telling me he’s gone.”

Charlotte took Declan’s hand and pulled it towards her chest, “My baby. I’m so sorry. That’s so terrible. Of course I’ll go see him with you.”

“Thanks,” he smiled. “It will be different than your last run-in with him. Cancer has humbled his ass.”

Charlotte laughed, “It’s fitting that it would take a terminal illness to humble Henry DeGraff. But God, I hate it for you, Declan. And for him. It’s not right.”

“No,” Declan said. “It isn’t right. But it’s life.”

********

Charlotte couldn’t help but be a little nervous as they entered the DeGraff home. Everything looked almost exactly as it had ten years ago when she’d first come for dinner- though it didn’t seem quite as bright now. It looked a little duller and more somber. The absence of Anna DeGraff was apparent. The mansion hadn’t known the touch of a woman in a long time.

Henry was asleep in his bed in the living room and although Charlotte was used to seeing patients and had done some of her residency at an oncology ward, it was still unsettling to see the once larger than life Henry DeGraff reduced to what looked like almost a skeleton of a man.

“Hello, Mr. DeGraff,” a tiny woman whispered to them across the room. She was replacing IV fluid. “He just fell asleep. He ate a tiny bit though. I told him you’d be here in a moment. He asked for you as always.”

Declan smiled, “Thanks, Marie. And please, Mr. DeGraff is my father. Just call me Declan. This is Charlotte.”

Charlotte stepped forward and awkwardly shook Marie’s hand, “Hello, nice to meet you.”

“Charlotte,” Marie said. “Mr. DeGraff actually mentioned you this morning.”

“He did?” Charlotte looked over at Declan. “I haven’t seen him in years and it was only one time.”

“He had just received his morphine,” Marie said. “Said you were his son’s great love and he hoped you’d find one another again.”

Declan laughed, “Really? That’s funny.”

“Is it?” Marie asked sternly. “Not maybe what a woman would want to hear you refer to it as.”

Charlotte gave Declan the side-eye, “Yeah. What’s so funny about that?”

Declan threw up his hands, “No, no. It’s not funny. It’s perfect. It’s just I mentioned you one-time yesterday and we barely spoke about you. It’s just funny in the way that drugs make you always tell the truth, is what I meant. It’s funny because it’s true. You
are
my great love.”

Charlotte rolled her eyes, “Nice save, Mr. DeGraff.”

Marie chuckled, “I like Charlotte. She keeps you on your toes.”

“That she does,” Declan said, wrapping his warm around her shoulders.

“He’ll probably sleep a couple hours,” Marie said. “If there’s anything you need to get done today, this might be a good time to do it.”

Declan sighed, “Well, I was hoping we’d catch him before he had his afternoon nap, but I think I have an idea of something that can distract us. Charlotte, I’ll be right back. I need to make a quick phone call.”

“Okay,” she said as Declan walked out into the foyer, his iPhone already to his ear.

Charlotte walked around the living room quietly as Marie did her nurse duties. She wasn’t sure what to say. Charlotte wasn’t great at small talk.

“You make him happy,” Marie said.

Charlotte turned to her, a quizzical expression on her face.

“Declan. Mr. DeGraff’s son. When he first came here, he was very down. No light in his eyes. I thought it was because of his father,” Marie said, folding a sheet. “I think maybe it was because you weren’t here. You’ve tamed him.”

Charlotte sat down in the chair across from Henry’s bed.

“We were together a long time ago,” Charlotte said. “And we kind of met up again by coincidence.”

“You believe in coincidence?” Marie asked.

“Of course,” Charlotte said. “Don’t you?”

“Oh no,” Marie grinned. “My momma used to say that coincidence is just how God stays anonymous.”

Charlotte laughed, “I like that. Maybe so. Maybe so.”

Declan had walked back into the room, “You ready? Marie, we’re going to be back in about two hours. If he wakes up before that, just text me, okay?”

“Certainly,” Marie said. “It was nice to meet you, Charlotte.”

“Really nice to meet you too, Marie.”

********

Declan was driving with the windows down, the smell of the lowcountry filling their nostrils.

“Where are we headed?” Charlotte asked, taking his hand in hers.

“Angel Oak,” he replied. “I’m meeting someone there. Someone who wants to talk to you, actually.”

Charlotte looked at him, “Who on earth knows me that would be on Johns Island?”

Declan grinned, “It’s a surprise. You might not remember her. But she remembers you. I only cried on her shoulder drunkenly over you about a dozen times.”

Charlotte went through the very small rolodex of people it could be in her mind but came up with nothing.

“Alright,” she said. “I have no guesses. Can you at least tell me what Angel Oak is?”

“You don’t know what Angel Oak is?” Declan asked, incredulous. “I’m genuinely surprised. It’s one of my favorite things about this place.”

“Is it a tree?” Charlotte said.

“Not just any tree,” Declan replied. “It’s the oldest tree east of the Mississippi. Some say it’s 1500 years old. Some say its only 700 years old. Everyone agrees though- it’s old as hell, and there’s a magic about it. You’re going to fall in love. Hard.”

Charlotte couldn’t imagine what could be so incredible about a tree. Sure, Charleston had some beautiful ones. Live oaks with the hanging Spanish moss; it was all very romantic and all. But if you’d seen one live oak, you’d seen them all.

How wrong she was.

********

Angel Oak was something out of a fairy tale. It’s long, thick branches were the circumference of most trees’ trunks. They stretched out beyond its own massive trunk, reaching out for something that Charlotte would never be able to imagine.

“This is like something out of Tolkien’s imagination,” Charlotte said as she shut the door to Declan’s car, staring up at the imposing oak. “You’re right. I love her.”

“I knew you would,” Declan said as he walked around the rear of the car to meet her, taking her by the hand. “She’s very special. You know, the Gullah say the spirits of the Kiawah guard her at night.”

“The Kiawah?” Charlotte asked as they started walking towards the tree.

“Yep. Native American tribe that used to live on the island. Before my people came and ruined things for everybody,” Declan winked at her.

“How do you know this?” Charlotte said. “And what is Gullah?”

“Damn. You really didn’t live in Charleston long enough if you don’t know about the Gullah,” he said. “Geechee is how we know them around here. They are the descendants of African slaves. They have a unique culture and way of life. They’re a small community now, they used to live up and down the Carolinas, but now they live primarily here in the lowcountry. And you’ve seen them, selling their sweet grass baskets up and down Meeting Street near my house.”

“Oh!” Charlotte said. “Yes! I love those baskets.”

“And you’ve also met a Gullah woman. And that’s who we’re here to see today. She’s waiting for us over at the picnic tables.”

Charlotte was lost. Who could this be?

As they approached a table, a thick waisted black woman stood up to greet them, her smile broad and warm, her arms outstretched.

“Declan!” she said.

“Antonia!” Declan exclaimed leaning down to hug her.

Oh, yes!
Now Charlotte recalled her. Antonia had been the DeGraff’s housekeeper and chef when Charlotte visited. She was older now and a little bit heavier, but Charlotte recognized her immediately.

“Hello, Antonia,” Charlotte said.

“Oh, sweet Charlotte,” Antonia leaned forward to embrace her. “I’m so happy to see you. When Declan told me how you’d find one another again, it made my heart so happy for you both. He’s told me so many things about you over the years. His heart has always been broken over you.”

Declan sighed, “Antonia. You’re making me sound a little pathetic.”

Charlotte laughed, “I like it. Tell me more.” She threw her elbow into his side. “I can’t help but get a little pleasure out of knowing you were pining away for me.”

“Oh he was!” Antonia said. “But now fate has thrown you together yet again. There are no coincidences when it comes to love.”

“Coincidences are just God being anonymous,” Charlotte said out loud and both Antonia and Declan looked at her in shock.

“Oh my. That’s some wise words there, Charlotte,” Antonia said. “And it’s true too. I think you might have been Geechee in another life. Just like Declan.”

Declan laughed, “You’ve been telling me that since I was a kid.”

“Well, it’s true,” Antonia said. “Not that Geechee believe in reincarnation. But sometimes I think it’s possible. And what I know, is that you have been with one another in many lifetimes. And now this one.”

Charlotte wasn’t sure what to say to that. She had no idea what would happen with her and Declan. But Antonia seemed so sure.

“Well, anyway,” Declan said, clearly embarrassed. “I came here to make sure arrangements were made and everything should be okay.”

Antonia nodded, “Yes. I’ve talked to who needed to be talked to. We will do it like with your mother. All is okay.”

“What’s going on?” Charlotte asked.

Declan looked over at Angel Oak and didn’t say anything for a moment.

“My mother,” Declan said. “Her ashes are here. We scattered them at night after the park closed. It was her request and now it’s my father’s request that he join her here. This is where he asked her to marry him.”

Charlotte teared up thinking of it.

“I can think of no better place,” Antonia said. “To begin a love and to sleep the eternal sleep with a love than right here at Angel Oak. She will guard their souls. No haints touch these grounds.”

“Haints?” Charlotte asked.

“Evil spirits,” Declan explained.

“Oh,” Charlotte said. Coincidence she could possibly deny. But evil spirits? She was a doctor. Pragmatic and mostly unbelieving in the things she couldn’t see. But both of them seemed so sure of it, so she said nothing.

“Charlotte,” Antonia continued. “I wanted to tell you something. And I hope it doesn’t upset you and I hope it’s not out of line. May I tell you?”

Charlotte looked up at Declan, “Sure. Though I’m a little nervous.”

“I was a longtime confidant to Miss Anna,” Antonia said. “I know what she done to you. I didn’t know it was you until a few years ago when Declan told me one night. But Miss Anna had told me about a terrible thing she did. And how it hurt her heart every day to know she made the wrong decision. Your mother’s death laid heavy on her soul.”

Charlotte’s tears stung her eyes. She wasn’t sure what to make of this.