Rise (34 page)

Epilogue

(Riley)

I heard screaming.

I jumped out of bed and sprinted out of my room. Throwing on the bedroom light, I found her sitting up in bed, hands covering her eyes and her mouth wide open as wails poured out of her throat.

I ran up beside her, and she removed her hands from her face, revealing large eyes filled with tears. Her arms flew into the air, and her hands clasped open and closed in a fit of wanting to be comforted.

“You’re okay,” I whispered. “I’m here.” Reaching over, I took her into my arms.

“Riley?” Attie’s voice was groggy.

“It’s okay; I’m here. Go back to sleep.”

“No,” she said softly as she walked my direction. “You’ve got to go to work in the morning. Give her to me; I’ll take her. You go back to bed.”

“Silly girl.” I kissed Attie on the tip of the nose. “I’m wide awake.” I slightly bounced the baby in hopes that she would fall back to sleep, but it was no use. She was wide awake.

“Poor Melody,” Attie soothed. “Are you sick? I wish you could tell me what’s wrong.”

I placed my cheek against our daughter’s forehead but kept my eyes on Attie. “You can probly tell better than me, but she doesn’t feel warm or anything. I think she just had a bad dream.”

Attie rubbed Melody’s bald head as I continued to bounce. “Why don’t you just bring her to bed with us?”

“I thought we weren’t gonna start the whole ‘baby sleeping in our bed’ thing.”

“Good grief, she’s ten months old. One night isn’t going to hurt her.”

I shrugged. “Hey, you don’t have to convince me. If I had my way she’d be in our bed almost every night. I mean look at her; she’s irresistible—just like her mother.”

Somehow I managed to bounce and walk simultaneously as we made our way back to the bedroom. Attie looked over at me and giggled, causing her nose to scrunch up ever so slightly.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothing. You’re just cute.”

“I’m glad that after ten years you still think so.”

“Ten?” She climbed back into the bed and under the covers. “Try twenty-seven. We’ve known each other our entire lives, remember?”

“Well then, ten since you finally came to your senses and agreed to go out with me. Or wait, make that nine, seeing as how you dumped me and it took you almost a year to take me back. Or seven years since the last time you broke up with me—”

“That time lasted less than a month.”

“Still.”

“Well, if you hadn’t gone and acted like such a guy, I wouldn’t have had to put the fear of God in you like that.”

“Now why ya gotta go and bring that up?”

“I gotta bring it up because I know it drives you crazy, and you know how much I like to drive you crazy.”

“You’re so good at it.”

“It’s a gift.”

“Uh-huh.” I handed her the baby before climbing into bed.

“Still, here we are after all these years,” she said with a tired smile.

“Here we are.” There was no place I’d rather be.

Attie laid Melody onto her back in the space between us on the mattress, and after several minutes both Attie’s and her daughter’s eyes were growing heavy.

“Go to sleep, Charlie. I’m wide awake; I’ll keep an eye on her.”

“Are you sure?” she mumbled.

“Positive.”

She gave me a small smile before closing her eyes and allowing herself to drift off. Melody’s hand was clasped around Attie’s pointer finger.

“You too,” I whispered to Melody as I rubbed her fat little belly. “I’m right here. You can go back to sleep now.”

Finally, after several minutes, the baby’s eyes closed, and I listened as her breathing became soft and rhythmic. Propping myself up on a few pillows, I watched them as they slept.

I was near, and no more monsters would come for them tonight.