Dreams~Shadows of the Night (9 page)

“Here, maybe this will help.”

His fingers grabbed the s
lender stem like a lifeline and
he immediately gulped down a couple of deep swallows.

“You should have told me your cousin was coming.”

“Why, so you could start worrying that much sooner? Or end up not coming at all?” She patted his arm. “It’s only dinner with a woman you haven’t met before.”

He swallowed more wine.

“I’d rather walk over hot coals in my bare feet.”

“Oh come now, it won’t be that bad and you needn’t worry about her bringing you any fruitcake because my cousin doesn’t bake,” she said in a laughing voice.

“I’m lousy at socializing and
I’m so nervous I can’t even remember her name
.”

“It’s Nancy Mills.” Her smile faded. “We need to try and get our minds away from what’s happened with Josh. I thought this evening might help us both, Tom.”

“I know. I’m sorry for being such a wimp about this dinner thing.”

“You’re not. I need to check on dinner. I’ll leave you to answer the door.”

“Wait!” He started to grab her arm, but stopped when she lifted her eyebrows at him. “Okay, okay, I can do this.” He drained his glass, as she walked away.

The doorbell rang a couple of minutes later. He took a deep breath and yanked it open before he could lose his nerve. He stood, rooted to the floor, fac
ing
the petite woman with hair the color of ginger and big brown eyes that suggested welcoming warmth.

“Hi, you must be Tom. I’m
Nancy
,” she said cheerfully, holding out her hand.

The brief
touch caused the air to leave his lungs in a quiet little whoosh.

She tilted her head to one side and grinned. “Aren’t you going to invite me in? I do believe I’m expected.”

“Huh? Oh! Sure.” He stepped back and caught
the scent of flowers as she moved inside. “Um, Catherine’s in the kitchen,” he mumbled thinking his voice sound
ed
like he was talking through sponge rubber.

She gave him another smile.

“I’ll go say a quick hello.”

He watched her walk away. She moved with just enough sway of her slender hips to make a man want to follow her and right now he realized he was that man.

Later, as they sat at the dinner table, Tom could have been eating sawdust for all he knew.
Nancy
consumed his thoughts. He’d never reacted to a woman like thi
s before.

It was a new and heady experience. He asked if he could walk her out to her car when the evening ended.

“I enjoyed tonight. Thanks for coming.”

A soft light came into her eyes. “I was about to say the same thing. I don’t usually do blind dates, but I made an exception because I trust Catherine’s judgment. I’m glad I did. It’s been fun.”

“That’s good.” 
He blew out a little breath, gearing himself up to
issue his request
. “
Um, m
ay I call you sometime?”

“I’d be disappointed if you didn’t.” She pulled a business card out of her purse.

Tom watched her flip it over and write on the back before handing it to him. “That’s my home phone, but you can call the shop, too. I own a boutique with my mom, Priscilla.”

He
fiddled with the card.

“I swear this isn’t a line, but
I feel like something
special happened here tonight. For me, anyway,” he added
, as his cheeks grew hot.

“I certainly hope so. That’s why I gave you my number.” She scooted onto the front seat of her car, flashed him a final smile, waved, and pulled away from the curb.

>>>>dreams<<<<

An hour later in his apartment
,
Tom sat stunned listening to Hamilton’s message. He phoned Catherine. “I just got an update about Josh
. I’m coming back to your place.”

“What did they say?” A sob caught in her throat. “Oh God. Is he dead?”

“No! He’s not dead. Hold on until I can get there and I’ll explain everything.”

The drive back was sheer torture. He’d been ready to tap dance on the clouds. Now tension hung heavy, weighing him down. Catherine
all but pounced on him when
she ope
ned the door. He led her to a chair and relayed his bad news.

“I met Marie Rabb the day they left. She was a very attractive woman, and I’m ashamed to say I was jealous thinking of how much time she’d be spending around Josh. But I admit, she sounded quite excited about the job and apparently very dedicated. Being kidnapped must have been horrible for her. I may not have liked her, but she certainly didn't deserve to die that way. Was Josh ill, too?”

“I don’t know. He left with a native woman before the rescue team got to him and even the natives didn’t have any idea where she was taking him.”

“If only he had waited a bit longer he would have been there when the rescue team arrived. Are you going to go see his family again?”

“Not right now. The company CEO, Douglas Marsh, has already notified them personally.”

“You’d think my nightmares would have prepared me better for this, but they never quite do.”

“Knowing something ahead of time doesn’t always ease the burden.”

“No it doesn’t.” Her eyes clouded with sadness. “Josh and I had barely begun and now it looks like our time together is over.”
Silent tears slid down her pale cheeks,
slender
ribbons of g
rief
.

He pulled her into his arms.

“It’s not over. He’s going to be in our lives again,” he insisted in a voice that wasn’t quite steady.

Chapter Eight

Josh
blinked his eyes several times trying to bring his surroundings into sharper
focus
and caught brief glimpses of flashing colors through the masses of greenery. Birds? Flowers? He wasn’t sure. The whole scene
resembled
a watercolor painting left out in the rain.

He held his hand up in front of him. It looked blurry around the edges and when he wiggled his fingers they appeared to melt together. He stared at them and found it strangely fascinating as though he
were
caught up in a
psychedelic hallucination.

Light and shadows swirled around him twisting everything into odd shapes. He shook his head trying to clear it, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t distinguish between what was real and what had become a product of his confused mind. Josh wasn’t sure what was happening to him, but he sensed he was slowly coming unraveled.

A hodgepodge of sounds came at him from every direction, distorted and difficult to differentiate. Weariness bit into him like an animal clawing at his body. He stumbled often, falling to his knees or sometimes on his face when he wasn’t quick enough to catch himself. Each rising to his feet pushed his waning
strength ever closer to its fragile limit.

Sad Eyes seemed to understand his difficulty and often tried to help him, but her small stature was no match for his size. She sat by him patiently waiting while he struggled to right himself. His biggest fear was that he wouldn’t be able to get up at all and he’d end up lying there until
Orlando
or some marauding animal found him. That and his need to get to wherever Sad Eyes was going gave him the will to go on. Sometimes she would reach into the mesh bag that
held their meager supplies and pour out a small
measure of water
for him.
But with the unquenchable thirst that raged throughout his body, it was never enough. She’d brought along a small cache of food as well, but Josh could barely manage to swallow a few bites.

He’d become so accustomed to being surrounded by the cocoon of thick foliage that when Sad Eyes suddenly led him
through
a break in
the jungle
barrier he stood swaying
in confusion
,
as
the impact of the
sun in the
open space hit him.
Struggling to make
sense of his new
surroundings, Josh finally
realized he was looking at what appeared to be a road of sorts.
He turned to Sad Eyes wishing he could
find a way to
thank her;
yet Orlando had left him with n
othing more tangible to offer ,
just
his gratitude.

Suddenly, huge drops of rain
pounded against his sensitive flesh
.
He
flinched as
water quickly began
slashing
down
in heavy sheets
.
Al
on
g with his blurred vision,
Josh found it even more difficult to see
but
thought he could make out
a few
crude houses lining either side of the rutted lane.
He
b
egan to understand that Sad Eyes
had brought him to some kind of a settlement.

He touched her gently on one bony shoulder in a gesture of appreciation. She
smiled shyly
before gesturing toward the houses and pointing to the sky reminding him that darkness would soon envelop everything within its claustrophobic cloak. Josh waited for her to
lead them on
once more, but she shook her head and pointed to the houses again telling him in her own way that he no longer needed her.

He nodded and concentrate
d
once more on putting one foot in front of the other; stopping briefly to wave a last farewell, as Sad Eyes slipped back into the jungle.

Josh set off again, staggering through the rain as his body reeled with illness and fatigue.

The downpour had turned the dirt road into a quagmire of soft mud that sucked at his boots
.
He kept losing his balance and slipping until he was spending more time on the ground than on his feet.
Night’s heavy shade slid down obscuring everything behind its murky darkness. Someone
lit a lamp in the h
ouse nearest to him and Josh gratefully used the small beacon
to guide him
there
.

When he arrived at the house
he
stood at the base of the small porch and
reached
out,
trying to grab hold
of
the slender railing. But his hands were
slick
with mud and they kept sliding away from the
wood.
He sank to his hands and knees, laboring to get each breath. When he raised his head he saw someone walk by a window.

Realizing he didn’t have the strength to go any farther,
Josh
g
athe
r
ed
his rapidly waning
energy
and
called out, but the sound of the rain on the tin roof muted his voice to nothing more than a hoarse whisper. He tried once more and waited, but still no one came.

Too weak to form the words again, Josh collapsed onto the ground. He lay silent and
defenseless covered in mud and pelted by silver darts of rain. His heavy eyelids drooped closed. His body had given out and he felt his mind shutting down as well. He felt oddly at peace knowing he didn’t have to fight anymore. His last coherent thought before everything faded into nothingness was
that Catherine’s nightmare had come true.

>>>>dreams<<<<

Raymond and Hannah Daniels had been serving as missionaries in South America for over twenty years
,
the last eight in the Amazon region.
Unfortunately, no
matter how hard they tried, most of the natives refused to be Christianized
, but
their faith and perseverance kept them there. The small settlement they’d carved out of the jungle was a humble monument to their dedication and determination to continue doing God’s work.

Following his nightly ritual, Raymond sat reading aloud from a well-worn Bible opened on the table in front of him while Hannah relaxed in a rocking chair with her head leaning back. She listened to him as he strained to be heard above the din of the heavy rain, when a sudden, unfamiliar noise made her lift her head.

Certain she’d heard a sound beyond the rain and her husband’s voice, she looked
inquiringly
at him, but he continued to drone on. He could very well have heard something, but he hated to have his reading interrupted. Requesting that he stop was like asking a dedicated athlete to break his stride, but curiosity compelled her to get up and walk to the window.