Soul and Shadow (19 page)

I was worried that my troubles had so upset her that she had had to be put to bed. Perhaps all those maladies I had listened to with only half an ear were more serious than I realized.

Voices in the hallway distracted me from these guilty thoughts. I recognized them as Katy
'
s and Stephen
'
s. They were too low for me to understand, but the conversation lasted long enough for me to know that Katy really had changed her opinion of him. She never would have had so much to say to Stephen before.

After a few minutes, he was in the room, smiling at me.
"
How are you feeling today, honey? You have a lot more color. I hear you were able to get out of bed.
"

"
It wasn
'
t
my
idea,
"
I replied,
"
but I lived. I
'
m mainly just tired and sore. How can laying around do such a number on your muscles?
"

"
That would be dehydration and mineral loss. Nothing the IV won
'
t cure. Drink as much as you can. That will help more than anything.
"

"
Stephen,
"
I said, feeling suddenly shy,
"
Katy was telling me what happened. I don
'
t quite know how to say thank you. You saved my life.
"

He sat down on the bed beside me, and a strange look came over his face.
"
You know, Lily, it
'
s a funny thing.
"

He paused, and I waited expectantly. Stephen had always been a very practical man, not given to flowery language or displays of emotion. I had no idea what he was going to say, but I was still shocked when I heard it.

"
I had to be up very early Saturday morning, so I was asleep by nine o
'
clock Friday night. Remember how odd you used to think it was that I never remembered my dreams?
"

I nodded. He was a very sound sleeper, and claimed that he didn
'
t ever recall them. When I was irritated with him, I used to wonder if this was due to the fact that he didn
'
t have any imagination.

"
Well, I had one hell of a nightmare,
"
he said
.
"
I was standing beside your body. You were dressed like an ancient Egyptian, but it was you. You were lying in the sand, and the sand was trying to suck you in. I grabbed hold of your arms and pulled, but I wasn
'
t strong enough. You were getting dragged down. First your feet, then your legs—it was swallowing you whole.
"

He gave an involuntary shudder, then continued.
"
Finally, there was nothing left but your head. I was afraid that you were dead. But then your eyes opened, and your lips moved.
'
Help me!
'
you said. God, it was awful. There was sand coming out of your mouth. And a cat was crouched there, too, howling like a demon. I was so relieved when I woke up.
"

"
I bet,
"
I said.

He looked away.
"
The dream stayed with me, like a weight pressing down. So I got up and decided that I had to see if you were okay. I called and the phone clicked like you had picked it up, but you didn
'
t say anything. All I could hear was Cleo yowling. It sounded just like the cat in my dream. I knew I couldn
'
t rest until I talked to you.
"

"
So you drove to my place,
"
I said.

"
Yes. And I cursed myself for a fool the whole time. I saw your car, but there were no lights on, and you didn
'
t come to the door. Before I even knew it, I was running inside. I found you on the bed. Your pulse was so rapid, I was afraid...
"
He sucked in a breath and shook his head.
"
But here you are, safe and sound. So do you think I
'
m crazy now?
"

In answer, I put both of my arms around him.
"
I think you
'
re absolutely wonderful.
"
Tears of gratitude trickled down my cheeks. I silently thanked Amisihathor for sending him.

We held each other for a few minutes in a comforting embrace. Then I told him the rest of Katy
'
s news.
"
They
'
ve arrested Dr. Briggs. Kent turned him in a while ago. The other charges were serious enough, but poisoning should get him put away for quite a few years.
"

Stephen sighed and released me. Instead of relief, I saw sadness on his face.

"
What?
"
I asked, feeling a new knot of fear in my stomach.

"
Honey, there
'
s something I
'
ve got to tell you. I don
'
t know exactly what crimes Briggs has committed, but poisoning is not one of them.
"

"
But you said that it was deliberate. You said the poison was put into my food.
"

"
It was. But not by someone who really wanted to hurt you. She thought you
'
d feel unwell, but she never dreamed it would almost kill you. You
'
ve got to believe that, Lily.
"

"
She? Stephen, who is
she
?
"

He hesitated, then quietly said,
"
Your mother.
"

Chapter Twenty-Two

For a full minute, I stared at him, uncomprehending. Then I shook my head, and I went on shaking it, violently.
"
No,
"
I said. In case he didn
'
t understand, I said it again.
"
No!
"

"
Honey, listen.
"
He stilled my movement by taking my face in his hands.
"
You
'
ve got to accept this. She didn
'
t realize how dangerous it would be. All she wanted was for you to decide that your life was too stressful, that having Kent in it was making you sick. She thought you
'
d turn to me if you didn
'
t feel well and that would bring us closer together.
"

"
She what?
"

"
Your mother added a few toxic berries to a pie. If you
'
d only eaten one piece, it wouldn
'
t have come to this, but you ingested much more than she intended. She really had no idea of the harm she was doing or that you
'
d have such sensitivity to the alkaloid. She didn
'
t want you to marry Kent and go off to England. She
'
s a troubled woman, Lily, and she needs help. I
'
m not trying to defend her, but I know that in her own twisted way she believed she was acting for your own good.
"

"
Is that what she told you?
"
I was full of so much hurt, anger, and pain that I thought it might choke me.
"
That she was doing me a
favor
?
"

"
Of course not. She was horrified when she saw what she
'
d done. They took her away for a psychiatric evaluation. She
'
s here in the hospital now.
"

My mind reeled in despair. What more was there for me to endure? Was there no end to this nightmare?

Stephen rubbed my back as if I was a child.
"
I
'
m so sorry,
"
he said gently.
"
I know what a blow this is. I think you might want to talk to a professional about it. There
'
s an excellent doctor on staff here.
"

"
Oh, good,
"
I exclaimed, my voice rising dangerously high.
"
Maybe he can treat my mother
and
me. Kill two birds with one stone.
"

He did not reply, but instead he poured me a cup of water.
"
Drink.
"

I obeyed.

"
Now take a deep breath. That
'
s right. And another one. Remember the most important thing, Lily. You are alive. You are going to get well. And you are incredibly strong. You
'
ve handled everything that
'
s happened to you, and you
'
ll be able to handle this.
"
He tilted up my chin and locked his eyes with mine.
"
And you
'
re not alone.
"

I sucked in my sobs, and nodded. I could not afford to deal with this right now. I had to push it away or it would overwhelm me.
"
Thank you,
"
I gulped.
"
If you don
'
t mind, I think I need some time alone.
"

"
Sure. I
'
ll tell Katy to come back later. And you know that all you have to do is call me.
"

I nodded again and Stephen
'
s lips brushed across mine.
"
I
'
ll see you soon.
"

After he was gone, I stared off into space for a minute, trying to make my mind a blank. Then I turned on the TV for a numbing distraction. I watched cartoons until I was almost in a trance. I didn
'
t even see the door open, and didn
'
t notice Kent until he put himself between the screen and me.
"
Hello, love,
"
he said, almost apologetically.
"
Do you feel up to a visit?
"

The sight of him shook me out of my self-absorption. He looked terrible. His face was lined with worry and fatigue, and an ugly yellow bruise was spreading across his jaw. I held out my hand to him in a rush of compassion.
"
Oh, Kent. Come here and tell me what
'
s happened. Katy said that you
'
ve been in jail.
"

"
True.
"
He shuffled over and sat down beside me.
"
I must say, I
'
m done in. But what about you? How do you feel?
"

"
Horrible,
"
I said.
"
But I want to hear
your
story. You
'
re not in any trouble, are you? You didn
'
t get arrested?
"

"
No.
"
He sighed.
"
I went voluntarily. Briggs wanted me done for assault and slander, but I told the police that I was assisting them in apprehending a criminal. I don
'
t know which one of us they believed, if either. It
'
s been left to our defenders to sort out. Both of us have been released, but strongly cautioned not to leave the area. I had no intention of doing that, anyway.
"

As curious as I was about the showdown with Briggs, there was still the mystery of Kent
'
s previous disappearance.
"
Why did you have to leave before?
"
I asked.
"
It sounded serious, and I was really worried. I couldn
'
t find out anything. I still don
'
t know what the emergency was or how it came out.
"

"
I
'
m sorry. More deep dark secrets, I
'
m afraid. My God, I can
'
t believe how many of them are lurking in our lives. This one is Philip
'
s. He
'
s married, you see. She
'
s a former flamenco dancer who snared him one night when he got drunk in a club.
"

"
Poor Philip.
"

"
I know. His one and only act of abandon, and it got him shackled to this harpy from hell. She won
'
t divorce him. When he first brought it up to her, she checked herself into a very exclusive private facility and had a complete breakdown. He gives in to outrageous demands to keep her out of our lives. She
'
s been in Spain for the past year, but last week we got a call that she was in the London house swanning about like the Queen of Sheba. I went over with Philip to help sort her out.
"

"
Did you? And what about Ursula?
"

"
We didn
'
t want Gram to know, but she found out anyway and insisted on coming as well. To make a long story short, we all finally just decided that enough was enough. It
'
s horrible to live with things being held over your head. What passes for peace can have too high a price. It will be unpleasant, and scandal is taken more seriously in England, but we won
'
t have any more secrets. Not about her, nor about Mum.
"

"
You all decided to confront Briggs,
"
I said quietly. Now that I knew attempted murder had never been part of the picture, I admired their courage. It would have been easier to hush it up, deal with it privately, yet they had not taken the easy path.
"
You have a lot of character, Kent Ashton.
"

"
I don
'
t know.
"
He sounded so tired, so sad, that my heart ached for him.
"
I was half out of my mind with worry. When I got back on Friday night, I went to your house. The lady next door saw me standing there and came running out, all agog with the news that you
'
d been taken away to hospital. I rushed over and they told me that you were having GI decontamination, and you were in serious condition.
"

"
I
'
m sorry you were so worried.
"

"
When I went to the emergency waiting room, I recognized your mum from the pictures at your place. The insufferable Stephen—sorry, I know he saved your life, and I
'
m forever grateful, but—he was with her. I introduced myself and they greeted me like I was Jack the Ripper.
"

"
Did my mother say anything to you?
"

"
She told me everything was all my fault. I was gobsmacked. You having to drink liquid charcoal? All my fault? What would you have thought?
"

I couldn
'
t help but smile.
"
Poor Kent. You thought I
'
d tried to do away with myself because of you.
"

"
Well, not really,
"
he said sheepishly.
"
But it was hard to think straight, I was that upset.
Why
hadn
'
t I called you? Why hadn
'
t I told you I was coming back? Why hadn
'
t I
been here to prevent it somehow? I was torturing myself when Stephen said,
'
Lily has been poisoned. It
'
s built up in her bloodstream and her system has gone into shock.
'
'
What do you mean?
'
I demanded.
'
What kind of poison?
'
It was at that moment the doctors came out to tell us they were going to move you upstairs. Stephen and your mother went in to see you and I followed them. Your mum was muttering something but I couldn
'
t understand her. All of my attention was on you, lying there, looking so—
"
He didn
'
t seem to want nor be able to dwell on that.

"
Keep going,
"
I said.

"
Suddenly, your mum started to cry.
'
I didn
'
t mean it. I didn
'
t know. I only used a little. My baby. Oh God, don
'
t tell me I did this!
'
She was trying to hug you and making the most horrible noise. She was hysterical and the doctors asked us to take her away.
"

"
Did you?
"
I asked, ignoring the tears that streamed down my face.

Kent nodded.
"
Stephen and I each grabbed one of her arms. When we got out into the hall, she simply collapsed. He held her up and she admitted that she
'
d put some kind of berry into your food. She said,
'
I just wanted her to marry you and stay here, Stephen.
'"

"
What did you do then?
"

"
Stephen put her into a chair and then he rang the psychiatric chaps. I went back in to check on you, and they said you had responded and that was very encouraging. After that, I just sat in the waiting room until you fell into a natural sleep. That was when you were pronounced out of danger. Since Stephen was glued to your side and could be of more use, I went to the house and slept for a few hours. I didn
'
t think I
'
d be able to close my eyes, but I was so shattered that it was hours before I opened them. I came back the next morning, and that was when you told us about Briggs.
"