Eyes to the Soul (28 page)

She wanted him to be different, but she hadn’t seen many men who could deal with a blind partner.

Back to reality, she dressed quickly in capris and a bright-colored t-shirt. She needed to do her laundry soon. Returning to the bed, she quickly straightened out the bedding and in the process she found the hairbrush he’d used last night.

It reminded her of how she’d gone to sleep. She’d asked him to stay.

He hadn’t stayed because he wanted to be here. He’d stayed because she’d specifically asked him to.

She had to remember that.

*

After a quick
breakfast of toast and cheese – apparently she needed to go shopping too – Stefan took her first to see Jacob. As they walked through the crowded hospital area, her hand tucked securely in Stefan’s arm, she realized how much nicer it was to walk with someone. She was always so independent – specifically so as to not become dependent – that she’d forgotten the joy of just being able to relax and let go, knowing that she’d be taken care of.

She’d often wondered if there was something wrong with her. As a young teenager, after losing Caslo, then her parents, any association she made immediately became something she grasped onto so tightly she often choked the relationship – sometime to death. She hadn’t realized what she was doing, of course, but she’d been very good at it. She’d also become scared of going anywhere on her own in case no one was there when she came back.

Over time, she’d lost a lot of friends and had clung a little too tightly to the rest until she was sure she wasn’t going to lose them too. Eventually they had drifted away anyway. Then she’d become fiercely independent, refusing any and all assistance to the point of being stupid about it. It stopped her from being hurt when friendships broke up.

Her ghosts had helped. They were always around. In some cases there were too many around. Still, they never seemed to leave. She could send one or two away to the light, but for the most part the others stayed around all the time.

After losing her sight some problems had returned. Like the lack of self-confidence and the feeling that her friends wouldn’t want to be around her now that she was blind.

It had been a rude awakening to realize that except for her co-workers at the symphony she had no friends.

Somehow she’d become isolated anyway.

At Jacob’s doorway she stopped and stared in the direction of the bed. She didn’t hear anything. “Is he there?” she asked Stefan in a low tone.

He squeezed her hand and led her forward. “His body is here, but it looks like he’s not.”

“What?” she asked, confusion coloring her voice. “Is he dead?”

“No. Not at all.” Stefan pulled a chair forward and helped her into it. He then placed her hand on Jacob’s warm, still one.

“Remember how you look around a room and see ghosts?” he asked.

“Yes.” She frowned up at him. “And?”

“Do that now,” he instructed.

With a shrug she opened her eyes to the ghosts in the room, realizing with surprise that there really was a process to it. She’d been doing it for so long it came naturally, so she hadn’t seen the steps she took. With her eyes now open to the ghostly visitors in the room she cast a quick glance. There, on the other side of a long, slim rope-like thing stretching across the room to the bed she was sitting beside was a man.

She frowned, half-recognizing him, but his features were blurry. That he had distinct features at all was already unusual. Normally ghosts were blurred until she got to know them. Maybe she put their features in place so she could identify with them or be more comfortable talking to them. When a ghost appeared out of focus like this it was hard to stare at them. It actually gave her a headache, so she always brought them more into focus. And that meant adding features.

She went through the same process right now.

She gasped in joy then cried, “Jacob.”

*

Jacob had lit
up at the sight of Celina and a stranger walking into his room. Finally, a visitor he’d been waiting for. He understood that only family had been allowed for a long time, but apparently that rule had been lifted.

When she’d sat down he’d wished more than anything that he could squeeze the hand holding his. He’d tried. But he’d felt nothing. Then she’d turned that wonderful gaze and looked right at him.

He’d caught his breath, that non-existent air in his chest, and hoped for something – anything – but had expected nothing.

Then she’d seen him, like actually
seen
him. And had called his name.

How could that be? He hopped off the window ledge and walked slowly toward her. He waved his hand in front of those blind eyes and laughed in disbelief when she reached out a hand to catch his. Of course her hand went right through his, but she’d actually seen it. Seen him. He wanted to laugh and scream and really wanted to cry.

He dropped to his knees beside her and laid his head on her lap. Sobs wracked his frame. Someone actually saw him.

“Jacob. This is Stefan,” she said gently. “He’s a friend.”

Jacob lifted his head and studied the man at Celina’s side. And damn if that man didn’t smile at him too. “You can see me?” he asked in shock. “Both of you can?”

He turned to make sure his body was still lying separate from his soul. It was still there, so nothing had changed. He looked back to the two people watching him. “How is this possible?”

Celina laughed. “I have no idea.”

“It’s because the more open you are to seeing the energy vibrating at different frequencies the more able you can see what’s around you.”

Jacob stared at him. Who was this man who stood so possessively by Celina’s side? “Who are you?”

Celina lifted a hand to grasp Stefan’s hand in a lover-like way. Had he been out of real life for so long that she’d actually met someone and formed a relationship already, or had this been going on and he hadn’t known? Either way, it almost made him laugh at his disgruntlement.

“I’m a friend of Celina’s,” Stefan answered carefully.

“A friend?” Jacob asked cautiously. He watched the corner of Stefan’s lips quirk slightly. Suspicions aroused, he said, “How good a friend?”

Celina flushed and rushed to say, “Jacob, that is none of your business.”

Stefan just laughed. “I’m a good friend that hopes to become a much better friend.”

“At least you’re honest,” Jacob muttered. He stepped back to study the two of them. “Why can you both see me, talk to me, when no one else can?” Stefan remained silent, just staring back at him with a twinkle in his eye. Realizing he’d get no answers there, he turned his attention to Celina. “Celina?”

With a tiny wrinkling of her beautiful face she admitted, “I see and talk to ghosts.” At his shocked look, she grinned. “I know you’re not dead, and supposedly I shouldn’t be able to see you, not to mention that I’m blind, but I think Stefan had something to do with that.” She reached up to pat Stefan’s hand on her shoulder.

“Stefan?”

“Yes?”

“You can see people like me?”

“Obviously.”

Stefan didn’t appear to want to discuss Jacob’s state, but damn it, that’s all he wanted to talk about. “Can you tell me how to get back into my body?” he asked, flinching slightly at the desperation in his tone.

“No. It’s instinctive for you to leave and to go back.” Stefan studied him. “Your life force is strong, your cord is healthy. Your body still needs healing time and could be in a coma for another few days.”

“That’s not good.”

“Why?” Stefan asked.

“I…” Jacob shrugged. “There’s something I was supposed to do or say. And I can’t remember to whom or why.” He turned to Celina and dropped back to his knees. “I think it was to you. A warning.”

“A warning?” Celina reached forward to grasp his ghostly hands. “About what?”

“I don’t know!” He shuddered. “I’ve been trying to wrack my brain about what it was but I can’t remember.”

“About the accident at Chico’s?” Stefan asked. “Did you have something to do with the message on Celina’s bathroom?”

Celina gasped in shock, her head shaking in denial. Not possible. “Surely that couldn’t be?”

Stefan squeezed her shoulder. “When someone needs to send a message, the how and why they succeed is often a mystery. I had to ask.”

Only Jacob’s face was screwed up as if trying to remember.

“I don’t know. Maybe? Yes.” Jacob stood up and stared at Stefan. “Yes. A warning. About the car accident. The driver. Something…”

“Did you know him?”

Jacob frowned. “I don’t know. Who was driving?”

“Owen Dugar, and he didn’t survive the crash.”

“Owen? Dead?” Jacob stepped back, his hands slapping to his chest even as he struggled to breathe. His hand fisted at his mouth to hold back his cries. He could see his form waver and thin. He looked longingly at his body. “My phone. He texted me. At the end. Almost at the end.”

“Who is he to you?” Stefan asked urgently.

“He desperately wanted to meet Celina.” Jacob stared at Celina, her blind gaze staring back at him. “I thought it would be okay.”

“Yes, but who was he? Why did he want to meet me?” she asked, then suddenly understood something. “Was this your new boyfriend?”

“He was the love of my life.” Jacob cried out, “And now he’s dead.”

Overcome with grief, Jacob disappeared.

*

Celina stared at
the drifting remains of Jacob’s ghostly image and said, “Please tell me he hasn’t died.”

“No, he’s not dead.” Stefan turned her slightly and put her hand back over Jacob’s hand in the bed. “He’s back in his body.”

He just didn’t know what shape Jacob was in emotionally after that shock. It was also hard to focus on what was happening here, and now he wanted to call Brandt and set him to tracking down Jacob’s cell phone. The driver of the car was important. He wished they’d fully understood why Dugar had wanted to meet Celina. That he was Jacob’s partner was one thing, but he doubted it was everything.

She brightened. “That’s great. Right? That’s what we want, right?”

“Absolutely. It’s where he belongs. Hopefully now that he’s back he’ll heal.”

“Goo–”

A series of alarms went off from the machines at Jacob’s side.

“Oh my God, what’s wrong?” she cried. “Stefan.” She stood up and leaned over Jacob, her hands reaching for his face.

Running feet in the hallway were followed by a strange voice calling out, “Get back, please.”

Stefan moved Celina gently but firmly off to the side. He held her close, feeling her shudder as they listened to the orders given and instructions taken as the team worked to save Jacob.

“It’s all right, Celina. I can see a shift happening. He’s going to be okay,” he murmured against her ear. Jacob’s cord was strong, glowing. “It might take a bit for his body to recover but he should heal now.”

She stilled, turning her face toward him in hope. “Really? Oh, thank God.”

“If you two will please step out in the hallway?”

Stefan led Celina out into the hallway at the nurse’s request. Out there he ran his hands up and down her arms in a soothing motion. “There’s nothing more we can do to help here. Are you okay to leave?”