Page 44 of A Brambleberry Summer

She shook her head, too afraid to tell him. What would he think if he knew? He would never look at her the same way.

“It does not matter,” she told the dream Wyatt. “I must keep running. If I don’t, they will find me.”

“Who?”

“The ghosts,” she told him. Tears were running down her face. She could feel them dripping down her cheeks and reached to brush one away but it dried before she could touch it.

“I will protect you. I’m with thepolicia. Just like Daniel. Trust me, Rosa. Trust me. Trust me.”

As she watched, the fear still coursing through her with every heartbeat, his image grew more and more faint until he completely disappeared, leaving her alone again.

She awoke with gritty eyes, a dry mouth and the unsettling sensation that she was not alone.

Rosa blinked for a moment in the darkness, not sure exactly where she was. Not her bedroom in Brambleberry House. She would remember that. Not her room at her parents’ home in Utah, either.

A man was there, she suddenly realized. She could see the outline of him in the darkness. She struggled up, tangled in yarn, as instinctive fear and dark memories crowded through her, leaving little room for rational thought.

She had to escape. Run. Hide.

A hand was suddenly on her arm. “Easy. It’s okay. It’s me.”

The voice, calm and measured, seemed to pierce her sudden panic. She knew that voice. Wyatt Townsend.

Was this still part of her nightmare?

Not a nightmare. She blinked a little more as the room came into focus and her consciousness seemed to calibrate again. Right. She had been watching his son for him while he went out to a crime scene and she must have fallen asleep.

Rosa drew in a deep, shuddering breath, embarrassed that she had given in to unreasonable panic for a moment. She thought she had come too far for that.

“You startled me.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. I was just debating if you would be more annoyed with me for waking you or for letting you sleep here until the morning.”

“I am not annoyed with you,” she assured him. “I was having a bad dream. I am glad you woke me from it.”

“Do you mind if I turn on the lamp?”

She probably looked horrible, with her hair tangled and her eyes shadowed. She carefully reached a hand up to her cheek and was relieved when she didn’t feel any moisture. The tears must have only been in her dream.

“It’s fine. Go ahead.”

He did, and that’s when she saw the fatigue in his eyes. This was more than physical, she realized instinctively. Something was very wrong. She wasn’t sure how she knew but there was an energy that seemed to be seething around him. Something dark and sad.

“What is it?” She could not resist asking, though she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer. “What has happened?”

He released a sigh that sounded heavy and tired. “It was a long, difficult night. That’s all.”

Whatever he had been dealing with seemed to have impacted him deeply.

She had seen that look before on her adopted father’s face when he would return from a bad crime scene or accident. He would walk in the door and go immediately to Lauren, wherever she was, and would hold her tightly, as if she was his only safe haven in a terrible storm. She would hold him, comfort him, help him put the pieces of his soul back together before she sent him out again to help someone else.

She could not do that for Wyatt and it made her sad, suddenly. She was no one’s safe haven.

“How can I help? Can I make you some tea?”

As soon as she made the offer, she thought it was silly to have even suggested it, but for some reason she thought something warm and comforting might be exactly what he needed to ease the turmoil.

He gave a ragged sound that wasn’t quite a laugh. “I don’t have any tea. And before you say you’ve got some upstairs and it will only take you a moment to run and get it, I’ll tell you thank you but no. I probably need sleep more than anything. And maybe one of your cookies, but I might save those for breakfast.”

---