Page 23 of Our Lips Are Sealed
“She’s a perfect princess,” Ben said from beside her. “Just like her mother.”
The scene shifted, and they were standing on their beach, his hand in hers. “You wanted a castle,” he teased while they watched the construction of their home. “And a castle is what I’m giving you.”
The beach faded away along with the warmth of Ben’s touch, and she was back on the side porch with little Evie sitting at an easel.
“I can’t do it, Mama.”
“You can do anything, kitten,” she heard herself say. “All you have to do is try.”
The landscape spun, and the conservatory rose around her. Moonlight and music filling the space. “I love you,” Ben whispered in his kiss, holding her close as they danced. “Until the end of it all.”
The dark returned, and when the light came again, it formed as streaks of sun shining through the kitchen windows of Haven House.
Miranda and Simone were waiting for her.
“It’s almost done, darling,” Miranda said.
Simone stared off at Devon, standing just beyond the back screen door. “We would save you from this pain if we could.”
The howling winds of a hurricane ripped the scene to shreds, bringing Ben back to her. She sat in his lap on the cottage floor, his mouth inching towards hers for the first time. “I’m so fucking in love with you.”
Laura Jean could still taste his lips when the cyclone swept him away. This time, his loss felt everlasting. As if someone had severed the tie that bound them together.
“I can’t do this,” she screamed into the nothingness. “Don’t take him from me.”
A bright light blinked and bloomed, revealing the interior of a car. She was in the backseat, with an infant Evie strapped in the baby car seat beside her.
“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,” Albie sang from the driver’s seat. “You make me happy when skies are gray.”
Through the windshield, a semi-truck plowed toward them on the highway.
Laura Jean beat on the back of his seat. “Turn the wheel, Albie.”
The truck’s horn blared, and Albie shifted to look at her. He was crying. “I’m sorry. I should have been paying attention that day.”
Her hand continued to slap the back of his headrest. There was still time. “Turn the wheel.”
“It’s done, my beautiful girl.”
“Please, Albie.”
The semi-truck’s tires screeched, and Evie fussed at the sound, making the little meowing noises that had earned her the nickname of kitten early on.
Everything slowed, seconds stretching.
“Listen to me,” Albie pleaded, the reverberation of the veil bending at a near deafening level. “Stay. To help her, to save them, you have to stay behind. It’s going to be hard to watch, and it’s going to be harder to wait, but I know you can do it. You’re so very strong.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You will.”
Albie angled himself up to see his daughter’s face one last time. “And remember, Ben always keeps his promises. When it’s the end of it all, he’ll find you.”
Laura Jean’s eyes opened, bile and tears choking her.
A large hand covered her bare stomach. “Nightmare?”
Unable to speak, she nodded and dashed to the bathroom when she couldn’t keep the vomit down any longer. Ben chased after her, holding her hair back until she finished.
