Captured In Concho

Chapter 4

He raised one dark eyebrow, "Promise?"

This time I shut my eyes and willed my heart to be still. Now was not the time for me to tell this man I loved him. There was so much I hadn't gotten to say to him. I felt his lips upon mine for a brief second. I wondered if I had dreamed it, when I opened my eyes. Had it been wishful thinking on my part. I turned to the door, "Where do you think the two of you are going?"

"I was going to drop Nellie off at Pop's and Mama's, then I was coming back here."

I held out my arms, "Bring Nellie here, I want both of you," was that a gleam of hope I saw in the depths of his eyes, that I had started thinking of as my wolfen eyes? I gave it not another thought as I snuggled Nellie onto the bed beside me. She lay there all night, curled into the protectiveness of my free arm. Cy held onto my hand and talked for hours of his hopes and dreams. Not once was I mentioned in those dreams. I did not care, for I was just content to listen. His first ambition was to have a working ranch, well he had half of that dream. Next he wanted Nellie to go to a college like Harvard, Yale, or Princeton. I told him she may want to go into acting and this got me a glaring look. He shook his head violently and said no child of his was going to go into that profession. I wondered what he had against acting, but I did not push it. I knew he would tell me if he wanted me to know.

Somewhere around 1 in the morning Cy drifted off to sleep. I had too many thoughts roaming around in my mind for me to sleep. It felt like I had been here a week already, but this was only the starting of the third day. Would I be alive in three weeks, when it was time to go back to Tennessee. Would I want to go back, if I were. I knew the answer to that, it was a resounding NO, but it all hinged on how this man would feel after I administered the test. The test involved the darkest secret of my life and I never shared it with anyone, not even Margaret. I told myself I would do it some day, when we are old and gray. As for using it to test Cy, the idea had come to me last night, after he had kissed me and I'd nearly fallen apart. I knew now that I was hopelessly head-over-heals for this man and his tiny daughter, but I needed a man who could stand beside me; and support me, when I turned myself over to the police. There is no limitation on murder, and I am tired of safe-guarding this secret, that I've carried since I was ten years old. It had slowly been eating me alive. Soon I would have been ready to stick in a funny farm and I knew it would be because of my own doing...or...lack of doing.

I finally fell asleep around four, when the fire blazed before me, I must've whimpered in my sleep. I heard a voice saying, I't Cy, Harmony, I am here and I am not going anywhere. My eight year old heart and head trusted the voice, even though, again, he called me Harmony, but I didn't care. I liked his voice and I wished, like heck, I was older, so I could tell him I loved him. The fire dimmed and each time it reignited, I called out Cy's name. His voice would come to me through the blackened smoke, to douse the flames. I kept count of the times his voice came to me and I was surprised to find the fire had been vanquished 30 times. Before Cy's voice started coming to me, the fire never once went out. Would I ever get to thank this anonymous stranger? I didn't know that each time I whispered thank you, to his voice, I was indeed thanking him in person. And each time he wondered what I had thanked him for.

For the first time in years, I awoke well rested and I remembered every time Cy had come to my rescue. I rolled my head to peer at the chair, he sat in, regarding me with a puzzled expression. He arose to plant a kiss on the tip of my nose, "Hi, Sleepyhead, I was beginning to wonder if you wanted to stay in this hospital room forever," my eyes widened, "yep, he said you could go home, when you're ready."

I ushered him out of the room and when he would have taken Fenelia with him, I gently shoved him through the door. I closed it softly behind me and let the slow tingle warm me. The doctor said I could go home, I liked the sound of that. I knew no matter what demons I faced, I'd have Cy right there, but I couldn't tell him until my three weeks in paradise were over. I dressed hurriedly, as I could, opened the door, and motioned for Cy. I put my finger over his lips, he kissed it, and I pulled him down so I could whisper for him to pick up Nellie. When I let hum go, I saw disappointment flit across his face. I pulled his head down once more to tell him not to awaken her. The disappointment sent a shiver through me, I pulled his head down a third time. This time I ran my tongue around the perimeter of his ear. The quiver I saw in his hard jaw, was almost my undoing. So I did it again for good measure and the low moan, that escaped his lips, had my knees buckling. I leaned into him and he wrapped his arms around me, he huskily said, "Let's go home."