Droplets (DROPLETS Trilogy Book 1) (8 page)

      A relief like I had never known before flooded me. My muscles relaxed as I sank to the ground. My back was still pressed against the solid rocks. A sudden, pitiful cry escaped my lips and the tears began. I couldn’t stop them from coming.

     Something had changed in that brief moment when I had found the courage to ask him why he had been near the boat the night I was singing. For just a moment he had been entranced, something about my voice made him fall under a spell. Maybe I did have a way of protecting myself against him after all.

     As I stood to walk back to the restaurant I recalled the look he had given me when he realized that I had momentarily mesmerized him. For in that moment I knew it was true. I was his. And I was just what he had been searching for.

     For the rest of my walk only one word hung in the air, swimming through my mind, dancing on the waves of thought.

     Marina
.

8. Unknown

Upon reaching the restaurant, I took a large breath and prepared myself for the scene awaiting me inside. I opened the door cautiously and the scene was so normal it was as though I had stepped back onto my home planet. When I had been with Morven, my whole world had been filled with fear, desperation, and anguish. It was as though the earth had stopped moving, each second had worn on my nerves and self-control just too much.

     The welcoming chatter and buzz of voices pulled me from my thoughts. No one noticed my presence at first, luckily, because I had been standing with my mouth hanging open.

     With all the confidence I could muster, I crossed the room to where Laura was still playing hostess. As I walked, the restaurant slowly quieted and the weight of wondering eyes pressed upon my shoulders. I ignored it, trying to act as though what just happened was a typical, daily occurrence.

     Laura spotted me and her body went rigid with excitement. It was like watching a puppy try to contain itself from jumping on those around it when its owner had told it to sit.

     Thankfully, she waited until I reached the hostess stand to loudly whisper what she could no longer restrain. “Oh. My. Goodness. Who the heck was that guy?!”

     She was so loud I cringed. “You have to tell me everything right now!” She started to tug me back toward the exit, but I dug my heels into the wooden floor and stopped her from moving me any farther. Confused, she glanced back at me. From the corner of my eye I saw three figures approaching. Internally, I groaned. How was I going to get through this without looking like I was lying?

     “Who was that, Lissie?” Chelsea asked. She looked a little unhappy about what happened—I assumed she was the one who had to clean up the mess I had made. The four girls, who now stood before me, held their breath for my answer. I tried to find my voice.

     “He’s just this guy.” I knew my answer wouldn’t satisfy, and it sounded weak even to me, but I shrugged my shoulders and tried to play it off as nonchalantly as possible.

     “Well, does he have a brother or cousin? Cause,” Laura fanned herself with her hand, “I mean whoa, he was hot!”

     Chelsea rolled her eyes. I glanced at Jessie and Hannah to see how they were taking this. Jessie was laughing at Laura’s joke, but Hannah seemed to be studying me with concern. I cringed, not wanting her to see what I was hiding.

     “Shut up, Laura.” All three girls stopped laughing and stared at Hannah like she was from a different planet. “Can’t you see that she doesn’t want to talk about it?” Hannah continued. I struggled not to fidget under their concerned glances and pitying expressions.

     “Oh, Lissie!” Jessie apologized. “I’m sorry we didn’t mean to be rude, we just wanted to know who—”

     “Hey,” Hannah said and then glared at Jessie. “Just leave her alone and get back to work. We’ll get fired with all five of us talking when we’re supposed to be working.”

     My disappointed cousins dispersed among the sea of tables, heading back to their individual jobs. I couldn’t have been more grateful for Hannah. She watched them leave and then turned back to me.

     “Umm…,” she hesitated as she nervously wiped her forehead. “You were only gone like thirty minutes, so some of your tables are still here. Jessie and I split them between us, while Chelsea cleaned up the mess you made. She loved every minute of it,” Hannah said sarcastically. Her smile was contagious.

     “Why don’t you get back to the tables you were working? You look like you could use a distraction right now.” I nodded and placed my hand on her arm.

     “Thanks,” I said quietly. She shrugged and headed back to the kitchen. I stared after her, not sure of where to start. My eyes grazed the room for an unrecognizable customer who wouldn’t bother me with too many personal questions. In other words, I was looking for tourists who had never met me.

     Someone was waving his arms at me and caught my attention. I looked to see who it was. There at the same table as before sat Jonathan with a big happy grin on his face. He waved for me to come over to him. Reluctantly I did.

     “Hey there, girl!” Jonathan’s friendly smile spread across his face. “What was that all about? Hmm?” He raised an eyebrow making a joke of what had happened. “Who the hell was that guy?” I swallowed the hard lump lodged in my throat, and tried to shrug it off with a laugh.

    “He’s just this guy I know.”

     “Course he is,” Jonathan said and winked knowingly. “But the question, Lissie, is,” he looked at me with happy eyes, “how
well
do you know him?” The other guys at the table giggled while I blushed at his insinuation. Trey, however, looked particularly irritated by Jonathan’s question. 

     “Jonathan,” I said, trying to sound normal and relying on my flirting skills to get through the awkward moment. I lightly smacked him on the shoulder. “Do you really think so little of me to sleep with a guy like that?” I hooked my thumb over my shoulder as though Morven was still standing in the doorway behind me. 

     I had never tried my hand at acting, but I knew I had to pull this one off. I couldn’t let a rumor like this be spread around, even if it was probably better than the actual truth. 

     “I know, I know, Lissie,” Jonathan said, still all smiles. “I’ve never thought that little of you. I mean you’ve never been that sort of girl, if you catch my drift.” I nodded and rolled my eyes at him thankful he had dropped the subject. Even though Jonathan and I were really only friends at school from all the classes we had taken together, I still had a sweet spot for him. 

     “I see you’ve had your soup,” I gestured towards the empty bowls, trying to change the topic.

     “Not to mention all over him, too,” Ethan said, reminding me of my blunder when Morven had arrived. The other boys started to laugh rambunctiously and I took my leave, all the while aware of how Trey’s eyes followed every move I made. Pushing the idea from my mind, I got back to work. I tried to clear my head of all thoughts—especially those which revolved around a certain pair of stormy gray eyes.

__________

    
I heard the waves crashing on the shore, smelled the salty wind, and felt the cool sand beneath my fingers. I exhaled and opened my eyes to look around me. My breath hung in the air. I started to shiver and became aware of a loud noise that sounded like a storm. The pouring rain hit the sand, creating dents in the grainy substance. I sat up confused. I did not know where I was. Getting to my feet, I trudged along the shore calling out for help, hoping someone I knew would hear me. I said each of their names over and over again, but nothing happened. Nothing changed. I was all alone on some beach. I continued to walk, my clothes drenched and sticky against my wet skin. I didn’t know where I was going, I was just walking. The rain poured, thundering from the sky in torrents. I continued to walk because it was all I knew to do, yet I soon realized someone was walking beside me, matching me step for step. I stopped, he stopped. Part of me wondered if it was him. I began to panic. I turned and looked up, but I could not see him. He was a silhouette, a blurred image, but enough for me to realize that it was not him. This person did not walk with power and malice. I became happy knowing he was not the one who I feared, and continued to walk. I wanted to say something to this stranger, but didn’t know what. All of a sudden the person beside me stopped. This time I stopped, too. I turned to see what was wrong, but he disappeared. Just like that he wasn’t there anymore. And then, without warning, an excruciating agony and sorrow filled my chest. Crippling in pain I fell to the sand and cried out in horror.

     My eyes flashed open and took a moment to focus. When they finally did, I saw my bedroom ceiling above me. I was breathing hard. Looking around, I saw that everything in my room was still in its proper place. A shaky breath escaped my lips.

     “It was just a dream,” I mumbled to myself. Even though I knew it had been a dream, I couldn’t shake the strange feeling off.

     I had never been one to have nightmares. Sure, I had vivid dreams where I was scared or hurt, but not like this. I had never felt such terrible pain, sadness, and anguish in a dream. Maybe that was why it bothered me. Instead of experiencing fear like a usual nightmare, I had felt the pain of losing someone I loved.

     I had only felt it when I lost my mother, but even this didn’t compare to the strong emotions that had grasped and pierced my heart to the point of crying out as though I were being tortured. I could still feel the throbbing spot where my heart had felt like it was going to burst into a million pieces.

     I shook the thoughts from my head and got up to go to the bathroom, thinking that a splash of cold water on my face might do me some good. When I reached the bathroom, I opened the door to find Jillian sitting in the dark on the edge of the bathtub.

     “Hey,” she said softly and I could hear the smile in her voice. “Couldn’t sleep either?”

     “Nope,” I said and took a seat beside her. We sat in silence for a bit, and just when I was about to speak Jillian cleared her throat.

     “Oh, boy,” she exhaled. I looked at her in an odd way. “I was hoping to save this until morning. I hadn’t really figured out what to say to you yet, but we’re ahead of schedule and I’m just gonna have to wing it.” She glanced at me to see if I followed along. I didn’t, but I let her talk anyway. With Jillian it was better to just let her talk and eventually everything would make sense.

     “Your Aunt Sue called after you were in bed,” she said. Still confused, I waited. “She told me….” Jillian drifted off. She took a big breath, “She said some guy came to the restaurant and took you outside for a while.”

     I froze, I hadn’t expected Morven to show up in this conversation. I wanted to smack myself for thinking Laura would keep her big mouth shut.

     Jillian looked at me, visibly concerned. I could see her in the mirror, but couldn’t bring myself to look directly at her. I was such a coward.

     “Lissie, honey, please look at me,” she asked. I did so cautiously. “I know you’re young and all, believe me I’ve been there before, but just be smart okay? There’s a lot of stuff I did when I was your age that I regret.”

     Her face was so serious and caring that I almost broke down and told her the truth, but I didn’t, I couldn’t. I remembered the threat Morven had made the night he changed me.

     “I know,” I muttered. I looked guilty, for not being able to tell her the truth. My toes played with the fuzzy bathroom rug under my feet and I stared at them as though they were the most interesting things I’d ever seen.

     “It’s not what it looks like. He’s just some guy and I would never…” I waved my hand, “do stuff with a guy before I was married.” Jillian let out a sigh of relief.

     “I’ll hold you to that. I knew you were smart, I just wanted to make sure.” She smiled, “Besides, it’s good for a girl to have standards. Guys respect that.” She put her arm around me, “And don’t you worry, I won’t tell your father. There’s no reason for him to know anyway—this is girl stuff.”

     She laughed and was back to her cheerful self. I wished I could let her know how thankful I was for not telling Dad. She had no idea what she was really keeping from him.

     “Thanks,” I said with more gratitude than she knew.

    “Whoops! Do you have to pee? I’m just sitting here jabbering away in the bathroom and you’ve probably got to go.” Jillian chuckled to herself. “You’ve got to love pregnant women.”

     I laughed as she stood up with a sigh and said goodnight, while proceeding to waddle out of the bathroom with her hands pressed to her lower back. A moment later I heard her groan and then softly swear. I opened the door to find her standing in the hall with her back facing me. I saw the water on the floor and realized what was happening.

     “You okay?” I said, still in a whisper.

     “Wonderful,” she said, excited for the arrival of the long-awaited baby.

     “I’ll go wake up Dad.”

_______________

     Five hours later we were at the hospital and Jillian was in full-fledged labor. The baby was coming early, but the doctor said it wouldn’t be a problem. All of Jillian’s kids had come early, why would this little girl be any different?

     I sat in the waiting room twiddling my thumbs. I was nervous, as I always was in this situation. The idea of meeting a new sibling had always been nerve wracking and rewarding. I bounced my legs up and down and checked my phone again for the time; it had been five hours since Jillian’s water broke.

     Derek and Sean were still at home. They were supposed to keep an eye on the others while we took care of Jillian. Of course, it was only six in the morning, so they probably weren’t even awake yet. My job was to call them when our new sister was born and then they would all come and see her.

     The minutes ticked by slowly and finally Dad came out smiling brilliantly to tell me my new sister had arrived. I called the twins and with the little ones they made it to the hospital in record time. When they arrived, we all followed Dad to Jillian’s room.

     We peeked around the entrance to the room. There lay Jillian holding a small bundle in her arms. She looked up peacefully.