The Memory Keeper

Chapter 6

From the top drawer of her night stand, Natalie retrieved the opal Piper had given her the day after she told her about the nightmare that kept plaguing her at night, the one about her parents.

In the nightmare, she sat in the frail boat with her mother and father. In her mother's hand was a candle. It was lit, despite the thumping winds. Her father would turn to Natalie and say something, a smile on his kind face, but she could never hear it over the thrashing waters. "What?" she would scream. Her mother would wink. And soon after that, the boat would sail straight into a rock, and the three of them would fall out, claimed by the deep, black water.

She knew that was not what really happened. First of all, they hadn't been alone on a frail boat, but a larger one, full of other vacationers. Second, her mother was not able to light a candle in the sheets of wind like that, was she? Surely she would not wink so charismatically while the boat careened straight into the rock's path?

It was only a dream, one that would not let her sleep, as if they were trying to tell her something, and she was not understanding it. Either way, she could not face the idea of approaching a middle person, to ask them for help. She was not supposed to associate with them. Piper would not even suggest it, instead opting to offer her sleeping potions and healing stones. When Natalie brought the idea up once, while they sat across from each other at Piper's dinner table, the witch shot her hand out across the air and told her no, that if her parents were really trying to offer her a message, they would find a way. If they wanted to show themselves, manifest as ghosts, they would, with or without a middle's help.

A middle person would rip Natalie off because she was a mind weaver, rumored in their lot, that someone like her practically swam in money. And it was possible her parents would not even show, too busy at rest, unaware of their daughter's nightmares.

Natalie wanted to believe Piper, but sometimes it was hard. She squeezed the opal in her fist and then unclenched it, staring at the colorful little stone. It helped to release attachments, Piper had said. Perhaps it would help Peter more so than herself. A stone would never ease the loss of her parents. It was the larimar stone she wanted to keep for herself, to help relax her.

Back down the stairs, she found Peter studying a painting hung on the wall of her office. He turned and smiled when he heard her approaching. "I did not touch it. Afraid I'd break it." He lifted his elbows, gesturing to the fact that his hands were shoved deep in the pockets of his coat. "But it is lovely. Your work space is very lovely. I wanted to tell you that."

Her smile rocked to one side. "Even the rats?" She walked over and handed the opal to him "Here. This will help. Place it under your pillow before you fall asleep."

He took it from her. Their skins brushed as he took it up from her palm, staying that way a lot longer than was necessary, but she did not protest. She could tell there was something he wanted to say, but he did not. She tried to smile.

At last he said, "Thank you for your help, Natalie."

At the sound of her first name, her heart ceased its pounding for a second to flutter. She had given him permission to call her by her first name, but now that he had, it felt as intimate as though he had moved his hand from her palm to stroke the side of her face.

She forced herself out of this sensation and cleared her throat, taking her hand away from his, placing it in her own pocket. "You are very welcome, Mr. Sheinfeld."

He nodded, took his hat from the table beside the leather chair he had occupied for the last hour, and placed it back on his head. "Good night to you, then. I shall see you tomorrow, at the crack of dawn?"

"Crack of dawn."

He was out the door before Natalie had time to walk him to it. When she pulled her hand back out of her pocket, between her fingers shone the ticket from she and Piper's day out, from Pemawick Cove's train station to Coldton.