Page 1 of It's You
Part One
Origins
1
Darcy Turner fidgeted in the stiff waiting room guest chair, flicking her eyes to her wrist. The “doctor” was running seven minutes late. Shooting a quick look at the receptionist, she wondered if the petite blonde would chase after her if Darcy suddenly got up and walked out the door without a word. But then what? She’d still need answers she didn’t have.
As a rule, Darcy didn’t believe in holistic practices like hypnosis, which she regarded with a boatload of skepticism. So the fact that she was sitting in the waiting room of the most well-regarded hypnotist in New England meant that she was miles away from her comfort zone. It also meant she was desperate.
She needed answers.
She needed to go back to that night in her mind and figure out what had happened, because the dream was relentless. Barely a night had passed in decades when she hadn’t experienced it all over again, and it was?—
“Mrs. Turner?”
“Ms.,” said Darcy, standing up and gathering her purse and jacket from the chair beside her.
“Sorry!Ms.Turner, Dr. Canard will see you now.”
Darcy took a deep breath, offering the perky receptionist a tight smile as she stepped toward the office door. She hesitated for a moment, but heard Willow’s voice in her head,What do you have to lose, Darce? I made you an appointment. Go for me. Just go and see what happens.
I’m only doing this for Willow, she thought, turning the knob and entering the dimly lit office.
“Darcy.” A tall, dark-haired woman stood up from an easy chair, holding out her hand. “I’m Dr. Canard.”
Darcy almost replied that one of them was a doctor, and it certainly wasn’tDoctorCanard, but Darcy rarely made use of the academic title conferred on her from Harvard almost ten years ago. Instead, she offered the woman a weak smile and shook her hand before sitting down on the couch across from the hypnotist.
“Would you be more comfortable calling me Fanny?”
“Yes.” Darcy nodded. “I would.”
“Are you a skeptic?”
“I’m a scientist,” Darcy explained. “I have a PhD in Botany.”
“I see,” said Fanny, with a warm, confident smile. “Do you mind my asking why you’ve decided to be hypnotized?”
“I wouldn’t have chosen to come here. My best friend insisted I give this a try.”
“Ah. I assume she believes in the efficacy of hypnosis?”
Darcy took a deep breath, moving her jacket and purse from her lap and settling them on the couch beside her. When she looked up, Fanny’s eyes were wide and curious, warm and kind.
“She’s a doctor too. A medical doctor. But, yes. She’s always embraced whole body medicine. She says that we will never understand the human body completely, and that ancient and holistic medical practices have their place in our world.”
“I’d love to meet her.”
Darcy found herself smiling back at Fanny. “She’s one in a million.”
“Take another deep breath with me, Darcy.” They inhaled and exhaled together. “Feeling better? Less anxious?”
Not really. “Maybe a little.”
“It’s okay. It’s actually easier to hypnotize an anxious person.”
“Is that right?”
“Mm-hm,” said Fanny in her low, soothing voice. “That’s right.”
