The Vengeance (14 page)

“Then I won’t stand in the way,” AJ said, giving the man a little breathing room. “Unless I feel like you’re going to hurt her. I’ve taken out one Grim and I won’t hesitate to do it again – especially one that threatens her,” he gestured, pointing to the house.

Addie was unobserved, watching from the screen door.

“You’ve taken out a Grim?” Robert’s defenses stormed his body.

“It’s a long story,” AJ sighed, not wanting to get into all of it. “He wasn’t like you. He wasn’t controlled and balanced. He was vengeful and wanted to kill Addie. Hell, he almost killed Rose. I couldn’t let that happen. Addie was there when it happened.”

“She was there?”

The anger began seething through Robert’s veins, his hands forming fists. Addie watched, convinced the men were ready to go at it. A vision flashed into her mind – AJ kissing her. His lips pressed to her, his arms wrapped around her. Was it a real memory? Or a daydream? She couldn’t remember the past few months, but watching him out there, she knew it wasn’t merely a friendship they had shared.

“She wouldn’t take no for an answer,” AJ replied, flexing his muscles again and standing as tall as he could. “She was going to get herself killed if I didn’t let her help. If I let her, I could control the situation, monitor her, and keep her safe, which I did.”

Robert softened slightly. Addie was still here. She was safe. AJ wasn’t lying about that.

“And he almost killed Rose?”

“He touched her. She fell off a ladder and the rung speared her leg. Addie was there and that’s when she found out about me. I had to heal Rose. I couldn’t let her die.”

Robert’s eyes had a hint of gloss to them as AJ spoke. The disgust rose into his throat with the bile, making him want to vomit that his own people had such an evil streak in them. He wasn’t like this Grim, the one AJ had fought. He would never be like that, he swore to himself silently.

AJ didn’t know why he was saying all of this. Robert undoubtedly knew the rules of both sides and a human seeing something like that meant that a Healer had to lose his powers.

“How do you still possess your gift then? Shouldn’t it be revoked?”

“It’s a long story. A friend stepped in, took the fall. Figured I had the heart of someone who would benefit the world and who could do more good things. I know we broke the rules, but there are extenuating circumstances.”

“Your secret is safe with me,” Robert said, meaning every word. “Thank you for saving my little girl.”

“That’s why Addie can’t remember me,” AJ said softly. “The elders came. They made me stronger. But she’s human. She couldn’t know about everything. The elders, they follow the rules. If she remembered, she’d be considered a threat. And I didn’t have a choice. I had to take the path of helping the world. I couldn’t give up my gift.” He didn’t mention that Rose still remembered him, although he remained unsure as to why he didn’t mention it.

“So they wiped her memory?”

“Yeah. Everything. From the day I arrived in town.”

“Oh, God.”

“They’re fine, Robert. Both of them. Addie’s just confused. Really, really confused and I don’t blame her.”

“Does she know you love her?”

“No. Not now.”

“Did she?”

“I told her, the night before the fight. I kissed her and told her how I felt. But she won’t remember now.”

“Did she feel the same about you?” Robert asked.

AJ was growing uncomfortable with the conversation.

“I need to know what I’m up against.”

“She said she loved me,” AJ replied, his eyes steady on the ground. “But she won’t remember that now, Robert. You have nothing to worry about. No contenders except for Addie’s fear of you. I’m not going to stand in your way, as long as you promise to take care of her the way she deserves. I chose this life, the life of a Healer.”

Robert could only imagine the restraint that choice took. As much as he loved Addie, he could see in the Healer’s eyes that the man felt the same. The decision had to be killing him inside, he thought.

“I will take care of her, of both of them; that I can promise you.”

“Then I won’t stand in the way of that,” AJ replied.

“I’d like you to stay.” Robert hadn’t meant to say the words; they’d just risen to his lips. “I’d like you here, protecting my family.”

“I don’t know if
… I don’t know if I can do that,” AJ stuttered.

Robert nodded in understanding.

“I’ll leave it up to you. But after all you’ve done for them, AJ, you are always welcome around me and around them. I will always consider you a friend.”

The afternoon had been long. Addie wanted to just go to bed after dinner, longing for a hot bath and some sleep. She’d called Gram to let her know perhaps another night Rose would be over. After years of waiting, she figured whatever explanation Robert had for his whereabouts could hold off one more day. Obviously, he wasn’t going anywhere. He had all that he owned, which wasn’t much, in the back of that beat up truck.

She watched from the doorway as Robert tucked Rose in. Rose definitely rejoiced in every moment shared with the man who had only been a creased, faded picture her entire life. With arms crossed and leaning against the doorframe, Addie took in the sight that she had only dreamed about before: Robert tucking his daughter into bed.

Robert carefully placed each well-loved stuffed animal in place where Rose directed him to, her pink and polka dot nightgown landing mid-thigh on her tiny little legs. He marveled at her beauty and innocence and cursed his heritage for the fact that he’d had to miss out on watching her grow for so long. The anger was fleeting as he placed the last teddy bear in place. As he reached to draw up the blanket, he paused at the vision before him – the scar on her thigh. He traced his fingers softly along it, feeling the same strength he had felt in AJ’s handshake earlier. It was a mark of sorts that any Healer would leave on someone they’d touched; a remnant of the good they’d done in the world, like a legacy. The reminder of him would forever be etched onto and inside of the scar.

Robert
recognized feeling it on Addie, too. Even if she couldn’t remember AJ, he’d always be a part of her soul and Robert would be reminded of it every time he touched her.

“That’s a big boo
boo, isn’t it Daddy?” Rose said, bringing him back from his thoughts.

“It sure is! What happened?”

“I don’t remember exactly. It left a big mark though. I think it’s kind of cool. The boys will think I’m tough!”

“Boys?” Robert said, feigning surprise. “You better not be talking to any boys!”

“Daddy,” she replied with her sweet smile, “I was kidding. I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“Well that’s good,” he said, pulling the blankets up. “I’d hate to have to give a good talking to
, to such a young man.”

“Boys have cooties.”

“Even daddies?”

“Nope! Only boys that are my size.”

“Well, then let’s not get cooties okay? I got rid of mine a long time ago when I grew up and I don’t want them back again.”

“Okay,” she giggled, clutching her teddy bear closely to her chest.

Robert noticed it looked more tattered than the rest. Surely Addie hadn’t really kept it, had she?

“That’s the one you bought her at the hospital,” Addie’s voice said softly, tears evident in the tone. “She’s slept with it every night of her life.”

Robert smiled, his eyes moving over to meet Addie’s. She smiled back at him; she couldn’t help it. This was the life she’d dreamt about.

“Thank you,” he whispered, his own tears forming.

After years of holding back all emotion, the past few days had been too much. He didn’t want to hide anymore. He placed a soft kiss upon Rose’s forehead, tucking her in more tightly as he stood up.

“Are you leaving?” she asked, distress tainting the sweet sound of her voice as her hands clutched the blanket taut enough to make her tiny knuckles turn white. She’d asked the same thing the past few nights.

“No, no sweetheart,” he whispered while crouching back down to her, his hand resting on top of hers and easing the tension with which she held her cover. “I will be back tomorrow, I promise. I am never going to leave you again. Okay?”

“Okay.”

The trust was barely evident in her response. He knew there was no way that either one of his girls trusted him right now, which was his own doing. He knew it would take time to earn their love and faith back – and he was more than willing to wait.

He kissed her again and turned off her lamp, shutting the door lightly behind him. He and Addie were inches apart, their breath close enough for the other to feel.

“You’re good with her,” Addie said, her arms still snugly wound across her upper body.

Her body language spoke volumes and he reminded himself that he deserved every bit of it. The fact that she had let him into her home at all had surprised him; he’d expected to be tossed
, not-so-gently, to the curb. He hadn’t taken into account that Rose would know who he was when he arrived. While he had many of the same features, he’d also grown physically in the past years and had definitely changed in his outward appearance. He was harder and fiercer. And he hadn’t thought that Addie would even give Rose a picture of a man who had walked away from them both.

He smiled at the woman before him, older and wiser
, yet still as shockingly attractive as the day he’d met her. He began to reach for her face, to touch it and feel her skin in his hands again, before stopping himself cold.

“It’s okay,” she whispered, reaching down and picking up his shaking hand in hers.

Part of her was trying to stop her arms from moving while the scared, teenage girl inside of her was coming forth and aching for the love they once had. Despite what had happened, he was the last thing she’d had in her life that was stable and normal. She missed the feeling of his skin on hers. She raised his fingertips to her cheek and he took over, smoothing his palm across the subtle skin of her face.

She closed her eyes, the feelings of her life years ago washing over her. She saw the last time they’d kissed
, moments after the tiny, plump faced little angel they had made was placed in her arms. His smile had been inextinguishable, lighting up the entire gray hospital room. It was the first moment in her entire life she’d felt complete and totally consumed by love. Not soon after that, her world crashed. When he left, he took every ounce of hope and security she’d felt. She stopped herself from thinking of that moment, wanting to focus only on the good times they’d shared as if she were willing herself to forget they’d ever been apart.

His fingers traced the skin on her face, over her eyes, down her nose, across her cheek, and through her hair. He traced the ridge of her ear, which had been his favorite place to kiss her. It had always given her chills and he would promptly relish in pulling her into an embrace. Somewhere lost in all the feelings, her mouth had twisted into a smile.

She opened her eyes to his and he smiled back.

“I better go,” he said, letting his hand fall and tucking it into his front pocket along with the other. “You need some sleep. We can talk more tomorrow.”

“Robert?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I ask just one thing tonight?”

“Sure. Go ahead.” He knew what it would be.

“Did you leave because of me?”

“Never!” he said hurriedly, his arms instinctively reaching out to pull her into him.

Her body melded into his, their shapes fitting perfectly together as her head rested against his chest. Her hands clutched lightly at his waist, shaking and unable to fully control the movements she wanted to make.

“I had to leave. I don’t know how to explain it, but I will. Soon, I promise. I had to leave and it only had to do with not wanting to hurt you.”

“Well that didn’t work,” she huffed.

“It did, Addie. Trust me, it did. I’m here now. I want to be here forever, if you’d let me. I know it’s going to take time… a lot of time to fix things. Or just smooth them over. I don’t expect you to forget what I did, but I will do my best to prove I am
worthy of your time. Your love and Rose’s love.”

“If you hurt me, well, that’s my fault,” she muttered, the tears falling freely from her eyes as they had so many years ago. “But if you hurt that little girl I swear to you, it will cost you your life.”

She didn’t know why, but she knew that if Robert hurt Rose in any way, AJ would handle it. And knowing that scared her – because maybe she didn’t know who she loved.

“Do you remember Isabelle, AJ?” Rose asked, hopping from one square to the next on her makeshift hopscotch board unsteadily drawn in chalk on the quiet street.

AJ watched her delicately leap on one foot, intense concentration wrinkling up her tiny forehead. He’d taken a break from the hot afternoon sun to share a few minutes with Rose after seeing her get off the school bus. He told himself it was for a rest, but knew it was simply because he liked to spend time with the little girl.

“I do,” he softly replied, his hands folded in front of him as he sat awkwardly on the curb.

He didn’t lead with more questions, though he was dying to know why she was asking. Talks like this with little ones were not his strength and he didn’t want to put thoughts into her head that weren’t already there.

“I remember her, too,” she said, stopping at the last square and turning around. “I miss her a lot.”

“I’m sure you do. There are a lot of people who do.”

“Have you ever lost a friend?”  Rose looked up at him, locking her gaze onto his bright eyes.

“Yes. Everyone feels things differently, but I have an idea of how you feel missing your friend.” AJ stopped short of saying he’d lost his mother; the last thing he wanted to instill within Rose’s mind
was the idea that her mother could get sick and die, too.

“I miss talking to Isabelle. We used to talk about a lot of stuff.”

“Like what?” 

Talking seemed to relax Rose. Perhaps, he thought, she simply needed to talk about it without being hugged and hushed, as many adults tended to do when a child was scared or hurt. Her shoulders relaxed and she left her hopscotch square, sitting down next to AJ on the cool cement.

“She always told me I was special and that I was funny,” Rose replied, tugging at the weeds near her feet popping up through well-worn cracks in the asphalt. “At her big party, she told me she was going to have to leave. I told her I wanted to go with her, but she said I couldn’t.”

“Your mom would miss you too much.”

“I know. And Isabelle said I had to stay here and grow up and change the world someday. She said my smile would make lots of other people smile when they needed it.”

“I think Isabelle is right. You have a pretty amazing smile.” AJ pulled Rose closer to him. “She was a very smart little girl.”

“Why did she have to leave?”  The question sent a shockwave through AJ’s heart. He had no good explanation – either human or supernatural – to explain this to a child.

“Sometimes there is just no reason Rose, at least not a good one. Sadly, sometimes people need to leave and others are lucky and get to stay a very long time, like Gram.”

“Do the ones who leave go to heaven?”

“They do,” AJ replied, not wanting to get into details of good versus bad, especially
during a conversation focused around Isabelle.

“How come some people die so young, like Isabelle?”

“I don’t have an answer for that, sweetie. I wish I did, but I don’t. But I can tell you this: sometimes it is the littlest people that we lose, like Isabelle, who make the biggest impact on the world and make it a better place. Maybe that’s what Isabelle was talking about – maybe you will do great things in her name someday to honor her memory.”

“Maybe.” Rose sighed, unhappy still with the non-explanation about her friend’s death.  “She told me you were special, too.”

“She did?” AJ raised an eyebrow, curiosity getting the better of him. “What did she say?”

“She said that you couldn’t help her, but you can help others. She told me not to be mad at you that you couldn’t save her. She said you would save lots of other people someday.”

“That’s a lot of pressure,” AJ smiled, trying to play off the thought. “Did you ever tell your mom about your talk with Isabelle?”

Not that Addie would remember, but he also didn’t want her thinking Rose was making up stories.

“No. Isabelle told me not to. She said it was our secret and that I’d understand it all someday. But she said it would be okay to tell you. Is it true?”

What should he say, he wondered? She knew far too much and he was sure Benjamin would be back to take it all away if it was found that she possessed this type of information.

“I don’t know if I can fix people, Rose.”

“You fixed me.”

“Fixed you how?”

“My leg,” she said matter-of-factly, lifting up the hem of her shorts to reveal the scar, now nearly nonexistent. “The scar is almost gone, but I remember it. You fixed me so I didn’t die.”

“Rose,” he said softly. He didn’t want to lie, and yet didn’t want to verify her claim.

He examined where the scar had been.
Barely visible now, simply a slightly off-colored line of flesh remained, not even causing a bump on the skin anymore.

“I’m not going to tell anyone, AJ. Isabelle told me not to. She said you’d be able to help me understand why she had to leave. That’s all.”

He looked at her again; a small frame of a girl with such an old soul at such a young age. Why would Isabelle tell her all of this? The sick children always knew who AJ was, but not one had ever spoken of it to another as far as he knew. It wasn’t
possible
, from what he understood – they were bound without knowing it, to keep the Healer’s secret.

“I wish I could give you a reason, but I can’t,” he whispered as he pulled her
tiny hand into his. He had no idea how to broach the topic of his fixing her. “Why do you think I fixed you?”

“I remember it. I fell off the ladder and it hurt so bad when that stick went through my leg. Then I couldn’t see you and Mommy and Gram but I could hear everyone. I remember you put your hands on my leg.”

“How do you know it was my hands if you couldn’t see?”

“Because your hands feel different. Just like now,” she whispered as though she were relaying a secret, looking down at his hand wrapped around hers. “They’re warm. And then my leg didn’t hurt anymore.”

“And you remember all of this?”

“I didn’t until Benjamin reminded me.”

What the hell was Benjamin up to, AJ questioned? He was supposed to take the girl’s memory away, not reinstall it. AJ’s heart skipped a beat, wondering if this was all tied to somehow punishing them for Max taking the fall. Maybe Benjamin would be returning, blaming the girl for knowing too much and then wiping out AJ’s strength and everyone’s memory. It wasn’t the Healer way. However, even Healers were half human and still possessed the power of free will. It was rare, but not unheard of for a Healer to do wrong.

AJ hoped this wasn’t the case.

“Rose, you can’t talk about this, okay? It’s just… it’s something special between you and Isabelle. You should keep it that way.”

“Okay. I won’t.”

She went back to playing hopscotch as if the conversation had never happened, smiling and giggling as she wobbled her way from one end of the chalk squares to the other. AJ wasn’t as lucky, his thoughts worried about what the future might hold.