Page 15 of Never Leave Me
“If you won’t do it for them, do it for me.” His words were a whispered plea. He didn’t care if he was begging her or if she realized how desperate he was not to lose her.
She finally nodded.
He expelled a tense breath. “Let’s go find Drake and get the other ampulla.”
Thankfully, she didn’t resist as he led her down the stairs and across the hallway room. When he walked into the entryway where Drake was anxiously waiting for the doctor’s arrival, the older man took one look at Harrison, crumpled to his knees, and began to weep silent tears.
Drake’s reaction brought Ellen to tears again and moisture to Harrison’s eyes. After they composed themselves, they returnedupstairs. Ellen lay down on her bed. Then Harrison uncorked the flask and tipped it to her lips.
“What if it doesn’t work on me?” She pushed his hand away.
“We have nothing to lose for trying, do we?” He stood above her, his legs straight and strong. He shifted just to be sure, luxuriating in the solidness of muscle that radiated underneath his trousers.
Her gaze held his, the fear, worry, and anticipation turning the blue of her eyes stormy. “Please don’t be disappointed if I’m not healed.”
“I’ll be absolutely devastated.”
“I know. I understand now.”
There was no way she could begin to understand. But he nodded anyway.
She studied his face for several seconds, as though attempting to memorize his features.
He tilted the container again. “Ready?”
She nodded. And this time, when he touched the ampulla to her lips, she didn’t resist. He poured every precious drop into her mouth and then prayed.
Ellen fought against the darkness that held her captive.
She wasn’t sure how long she’d been passed out. But she had the vague awareness she’d been asleep for a while, much longer than Harrison had been. Did that mean the holy water hadn’t worked to heal her in the same way? For whatever reason, maybe it had put her into a coma.
Voices beside the bed drew her into further wakefulness. Was Harrison speaking to the home health care nurse? Or the nurse’s aide he’d hired to monitor her at night?
“The ampullae are gone,” said a woman.
“That is what you wanted,” a man replied. “Now we can do nothing more.”
“But what if someone else took them before Ellen could?”
Ellen startled at the sound of her name. She tried to sit up, but her arms and legs felt as though they’d been chained to the bed beneath her. She struggled to open her eyes. Marian? Was Marian here?
“We have to put more holy water in the vault, just in case.” The woman’s voice was louder and most definitely Marian’s.
“Impossible.” The man spoke tersely.
Ellen’s eyes flew open to a dark room lit by a stubby candle on the bedside table, except that it was a strange table and a strange bed canopy above her. There, only feet away, stood her sister, her long hair shimmering a rich auburn in the candlelight. It hung in curly waves down her back almost to her waist over what appeared to be a simple white nightgown.
But that made no sense. Marian was dead. Was this an apparition? With Marian’s back turned to the bed, Ellen couldn’t see her sister’s face, but she knew without a doubt it was her.
“Please, Will.” Marian pressed a fist into her lower back.
“You can either get back in bed on your own or I shall put you there myself.” The man spoke from somewhere else in the room, but Ellen only had eyes for Marian.
Marian sighed and then turned. Her hand splayed across her white nightgown, pressing down and revealing a very rounded stomach. Was Marian pregnant?
Ellen gasped. The noise caught Marian’s attention. Surprised brown eyes caught with Ellen’s for just a fraction of a second before disappearing.
“Ellen, what is it, love?” Harrison’s voice came from nearby.
