Lucidity

Chapter 31 - Sweet Dreams

Alex slept, his arms wrapped around Jimmy’s chest. It was the first time since he’d left his mother’s womb that he’d had the chance to sleep with the heartbeat of another person echoing his, rocking him into his dreams.

In his dreams, the sky was a brilliant blue, its colors shimmering in warm sunshine. The breeze was sweet with the scent of honeysuckle and new spring grass rustled beneath his bare feet. Alex sighed. This was his all time favorite dream.

Made better now with the addition of a family. Warm arms surrounded him, cradled him. A woman’s laugh—Grace’s—circled around him, snuggling him in its embrace. She was answered by Kat’s mischievous chuckle and he closed his eyes, content to drift in the joyous harmony.

Grace’s voice soothed him as his breath caught and a quick spiral of pain shot through his chest. Kat held one hand and Grace the other. Sunshine warmed his face, danced in bright plumes of crimson through his closed eyelids.

Alex allowed himself to fall into the blissful realm that beckoned.

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Lukas was reliving his favorite dream. The day he met Grace, the day they fell in love. He remembered his embarrassment, a man his age—twenty-eight he’d been back then, six years ago—shouldn’t lose control like that, punch a wall just because his mother had left him again, extending her stay in Washington.

After all, he had a job to do, so did she. Together, she had promised, they were going to change the world. Just the two of them. Because Lukas was special, so very special.

He’d taken the bus to Angels of Mercy. Actually two buses and a walk of almost a mile. But he didn’t drive and couldn’t stand to ask George, the chauffeur and handyman who was responsible for Lukas when his mother was gone. Sure, George pretended that he was really watching out for the estate, that he and Lukas were buddies—but Lukas knew better. He’d seen the gleam in George’s eyes whenever his mother handed him an extra-bulky envelope before she’d leave for a lengthy trip.

It was the same look his father’s whores had when Earl had plied them with free drugs and cash. That same measuring look that they’d cast over Lukas, weighing if allowing him to watch was worth the payoff, deciding if they were selling their special services too cheap.

George had been particularly condescending, laughing when Lukas had become immersed in his mother’s latest assignment—a feasibility study of a re-introduction of a bill designed to circumvent Roe v. Wade. Lukas had wandered out of his room in search of food, unaware that he’d passed almost two days in cyberspace without bathing. Which in itself was not unusual, but Lukas had also forgotten that he wore the Toy Story PJ’s his mother had bought him for Christmas.

Lukas had not said a word when George had looked at him and his Buzz Lightyear pajamas and burst out in laughter. Instead he’d pulled himself up straight, shoulders back like his mother had taught him, and returned to his room.

He’d emerged, clean and suitably attired a half hour later, his fury simmering, ready to confront George. But George was gone, busy on the grounds somewhere and Lukas was left alone with his anger. Soon, as was all too often the case, he found himself in his father’s bedroom, a red rage blurring his vision as he searched for something, someone, anything to hit.

But all that had faded into distant memory the moment he arrived in the ER and saw Grace. Ah, Grace. Those deep, blue eyes of hers had promised him so much, the healing touch of her hands, so gentle yet so strong.