'Tis the Season: A Collection of Mimi's Christmas Books (35 page)

Some time later, when the phone rang, he had to admit to feeling relief at the diversion.

“Yes, Mrs. Tennyson?”

“I’m sorry to disturb you, Mr. Chapman, but Dr. Andrews is on the other line and says he has something very important he needs to discuss with you. I tried to put him off, but he insists you’ll want to talk to him. He said to inform you that it’s about Miss Taylor.”

“Yes, I’ll take the call. Put him through.”

“Yes, sir.”

Within a few seconds Marcus heard the doctor’s voice, and his words left him flabbergasted.

“You believe you know the cure to Abbie’s problem? I don’t know what to say. Except that I’m relieved.”

“Mr. Chapman, we shouldn’t get our hopes up too high. If you come to the hospital as soon as possible, I’ll try a little experiment, and we’ll see what happens.”

“Certainly, I’ll come. I do hope you’ve found the answer, Doctor. Let me assure you, it’ll be a huge load off my mind.”

In a short time, Marcus pulled into the parking lot and sat in the car to realign his thoughts. I do want her to be able to return to her own body, Lord. I really do. But I also don’t want to let her go. I can’t bear the thought of not having her being a part of me any longer. It’s unconscionable to imagine my future without her in it, and worse to think of her in the role of sister. But on the other hand, she has a life of her own. I have no right to stand in her way, none whatsoever. Only, how could I live in the same town, be expected to invite her into our family, and not let her see my suffering? You ask a lot, Lord. Maybe too much.

He rubbed his hand over his chest, knowing that the expanding tightness must be stress-related but not knowing how to stop it. The last thing he needed was to have a relapse, so it was essential he calm himself. A few deep breaths seemed to help. Plus the flowing serenity that came from his inside angel eased the building tension.

“Do us a favour then, Marcus. Either you tell Dr. Andrews the real story about what happened this time, or I will. We can’t stay together anymore; it’s impossible under the circumstances. And if the truth will somehow set us free, we need to find out. Even though I’ve tried, I can’t hide my feelings while inside you, and it’s making your suffering worse. Promise me.”

“This infernal situation is…”
Her wailing his name stopped his rambling. “Shush, Sweetheart. I promise.”

Knowing he couldn’t waste any more time, he left the car and strode into the hospital, making his way directly to Abbie’s room, where Dr. Andrews waited.

As if drawn by invisible threads, his eyes sought the sleeping beauty on the bed. He sensed her excitement by the strange tingling he experienced, sensations not originating from him.

“We’ll see this through together, Abbie. Don’t you worry.”

“Hello, Mr. Chapman. I’m glad you and Abbie could make it.”

“Excuse me?” Marcus stiffened as if shot in the back.

“I said, I’m glad you and Abbie could make it. I don’t want to startle you, sir, but I do know your secret. You didn’t tell me the whole truth yesterday, did you?” His hesitation left an opening for Marcus to fill. But he didn’t say anything. Instead he shook his head and waited to see where Dr. Andrews was going with his astounding pronouncement.

“Before I can do anything to help you, I need you to confirm one thing. In some way, both you and Abbie had to have been near the roses behind the vicarage bench. Come now. I can’t help you if you won’t confide in me.”

“Yes, you’re right. How incredible that you know we were. She was putting bags over the bushes because she worried they might suffer from the snow. I tried to help her and fell onto the branches.”

“At any time, were you both pricked by the thorns?” The doctor surveyed him over the lenses of his bifocals, his expression serious and astute.

“Now that you mention it, yes, I do believe we were. First Abbie—it was her getting pricked that led me to offer my help.”

Hearing his own throat clear made him smile and rephrase. “Actually, I believe it happened the other way around. She asked for my assistance.”

Dr. Andrews grinned and shocked him by saying, “Don’t let him get away with telling porkies, Abbie. Good for you. Then what happened?”

“Well, if I remember correctly, I fell onto the bush and the same thing happened to me—I got pricked, also. Come to think of it, right after the thorn entered my finger, I felt the first sensations of discomfort. But I didn’t dwell on that because it was right then Abbie collapsed. I fought off the weird reactions so I could get to her as quickly as possible.”

“Only to find her in a coma, while you had an inner guest.”

“Yes, exactly. You do understand.”

“You aren’t the first to have suffered the magic from that same rose bush. There have been others. Thankfully, I’ve managed to help them, and I believe I can help you, also.”

“We’ll do whatever you wish, Doctor. Will it take very long for you to change us back? Or whatever hocus-pocus you need to do for us to separate?”

“No, you’re quite right. It’s like a reversing procedure, in a way. To undo the damage, in the past, we’ve taken a thorn from the same bush and pricked both fingers again. Previously, the one important detail was making sure to do it in the same order. Now, I’ve taken the liberty of bringing a branch with a thorn here to the hospital with me. Since the weather is so horrible and the vicarage bush under feet of snow, I thought it would be less of an inconvenience. Only I don’t know if it’ll work, as we’ve always before gone to the actual bush when we attempted to cancel the magic.”

“I can’t imagine it would be easy to carry Abbie past the nurses without them putting up a bit of a fuss.” Marcus chuckled.

“Neither can I, dear fellow, neither can I. Shall we try it, then? You say Abbie pricked her finger first, so here goes.” The doctor lifted her hand and gently pushed the thorn into her finger.

He then passed it to Marcus, who sat at the edge of the bed and caressed the lifeless hand before he jabbed his own.

Nothing! Absolutely nothing. Inside, Marcus felt Abbie’s disappointment and waited to speak until he knew her tears of disappointment wouldn’t clog up his throat.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Chapman. It looks as if we’ll have to take Abbie to the vicarage bench roses after all.”

Thoughts played war in Marcus’ mind. First he decided that the doctor wasn’t a raging lunatic, because he’d known that Marcus possessed Abbie. No one else had a clue about that. Second, if the man said he’d had cases with similar experiences and had overturned the supernatural happening with proper results, who was he to argue. They’d run out of options, hadn’t they?

“How do you propose we manage that, sir?”

“Truly, since we’ll be together in taking Abbie hostage, partners in crime, so to speak, I think it’s time you started calling me Robert.”

“Fine by me. I’m Marcus.”

“Well, Marcus, I have an idea, but we’ll need the help of my very trustworthy housekeeper to pull it off. Shall we go to the house and coax the poor woman into helping us break our Abbie out of here?” The twinkling in the doctor’s eyes showed Marcus clearly how much he was enjoying the adventure ahead. Well, what the hell? He had nothing better to do anyway.

“Lead the way, Robert.”

Once they arrived at the doctor’s house, they settled into comfortable chairs in the doctor’s office and coaxed Mrs. Dorn to join them.

“If you’re not too busy, Mrs. Dorn, might we have your company in my office for a short consultation?”

“Certainly, sir. But do us a favour, then. I’ve me pudding in the oven, so keep a listen for the oven bell. Now, how can I help yer?”

“It’s Abbie. We need to steal her from the hospital and get her to the vicarage bench so we can undo the spell. Can you help us out by staying in her room and watching for the nurses? Stop them from finding out that she’s missing. It shouldn’t take us very long.”

“Crikey, I knew the magic had gotten you, Mr. Chapman. I coulda sworn I saw Abbie smiling at me through your eyes. I’ll do me best to help ya, Abbie.” Mrs. Dorn leaned forward, sticking her face within inches of the startled man.

Marcus relaxed and let Abbie use his voice. “Bless you, Mrs. Dorn, and you, too, Dr. Andrews.”

Later that evening, after the ward settled down for the night, Dr. Andrews showed the other two a back way onto the ward. In no time at all they’d organized Abbie’s disguise and were ready to begin.

“God love ya, sir, be careful. Don’t let the wee pet fall.”

“We’ll be fine, Mrs. Dorn. It’s you I’m concerned for. Are you sure you’ll be able to keep the nurses away from Abbie’s bed for the time it’ll take us to get her body to the bush and bring her back?”

“Quit your lollygagging, sir. You know me; I’ve never had a problem with spinning tales. That’s if someone from the nursing staff should happen into the room. Everyone recognizes me as your housekeeper, and they know Mr. Chapman has brought you in as a consultant on the case, so I’ve no doubt I can come up with a good story. Now, I’ll hear no more on the subject. Go on with ya. And bring our Abbie back to life.” Her chubby hand waved them on in a rather royal-like fashion.

Dr. Andrews winked at Marcus. “I think she’s been watching the Queen too often on the telly.”

“Whatever made you think of dressing Abbie in Mrs. Dorn’s coat and boots and having us walk her out past the nurses, and what makes you think it’ll work?”

“Number one, we’ve got her wrapped in so many blankets that she looks about Mrs. Dorn’s size under the coat. The white fur hat covers most of her face, and they are pretty close to the same height. Trust me, people see what they expect to see. We’ll have no trouble. Just follow my lead.”

They each wrapped an arm around the frail patient and lifted. She moved between them as if she glided across the floor. Coming to the corner, Dr. Andrews stopped and peeked around before giving Marcus the all-clear signal. Once past the desk, where the busy nurses ignored the three, it seemed they were home free. Until, that is, two nurses came around another corner ahead and walked toward them.

Without missing a beat, Dr. Andrews turned to the woman draped in his arms and muttered, “You poor dear. Mrs. Dorn, I’m so sorry about your ankle. Don’t fret. Marcus and I can carry your weight and help you to the car.” His brisk reply to the nurse’s salutations, given as an aside, didn’t spark any interest at all.

“Why, you crafty old dodger. You totally had them fooled.”

“I told you. People only see what they expect to see. Now, let’s get her to the car and head over to the bush, so we can return her as soon as possible. Did you bring the shovel from the garden?”

“Yes, it’s in the boot. I’ll gladly dig a path and call you when it’s ready. You can stay in the car with Abbie and keep the motor running so she’ll be warm.”

“Fine. You know, I can’t believe this weather. We’ve never had as much snow as we’ve had this season, and it’s coming down again tonight. It’s lovely to look at, but a bugger to drive around in. Here we are. Go on with you now.”

Marcus retrieved the shovel and started to clear away the snow from the sidewalk around to the back of the bench. With twilight just beginning, lights from all over the village were coming on and forming halos of gold on the brilliant white carpet, magically transforming everything in sight. Large flakes fluttered from the heavens, while crystals sparkled in the frozen depths and radiance illuminated the ground. Something caught his eye as he brushed the snow away from the rose bush. Bending down on one knee, he looked closer, and the wondrous thing he saw made him catch his breath.

“Oh, Marcus. Look! How very spe…cial.”
A sob splintered her voice.

Even his Abbie, strong as she was, cracked with emotion once she spied the miraculous bloom. He reached in to gently snip it from the snow-covered bough. An exquisite red rosebud, perfectly formed, glowing amongst the frosty dried branches of a leafless bush, soon rested in his gloved hand. It radiated with brilliant tones of crimson, and it’s whiff of perfume was faint but present. Until he held it, he couldn’t accept its reality; he’d thought his eyes might have been playing tricks on him, but now he knew it to be real.

“My darling girl, this is for you, with all my love.”

He waved to the watchful doctor, and, laying the rose down carefully on the cleared bench, he went to the vehicle to help with Abbie. He lifted her in his arms and followed Robert.

“What in the world!” Robert exclaimed as soon as he spied the flower. “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen!”

“Yes, I know. It was waiting on the bush for us. I want to use the thorn from that stem.”

“Yes, of course. Here, sit down on the bench with her, and I’ll pass you the flower.” Within moments, Dr. Andrews sat on the other side of the lifeless girl and administered the remedy. Both men waited, unmoving. The one who moved was Abbie. To begin with, her eyes twitched and blinked open, and then her body stiffened. She moaned and quivered, fighting to regain consciousness.

“Dear girl, don’t try so hard. It’ll all come back, but it takes time. Let your body get used to life again.” He glanced over to where Marcus waited. Before he had time to clear his agonized expression, Marcus knew the other man had seen his distress. The doctor, smart as a whip, ignored what he’d witnessed and instead motioned to their waiting transportation.

“We should get her back to the hospital and save Mrs. Dorn. No telling what kind of trouble the woman has gotten herself into by now.”

The trip back happened very quickly, and all the time he drove, Marcus marvelled at the terrible emptiness he now experienced.

Chapter Fourteen