Page 8 of Stay with Me

He peered back at her, his eyes brimming with sadness.

A knot looped tightly in her middle, adding to the tangle already there. What would Dawson do if Acey left? His emotional state was already precarious. Any more instability would tip him over the edge.

“Don’t give up yet.”

“Yet?” Acey released a bitter laugh. “We’ve been trying to help him for years. And you can’t help someone who won’t help himself.”

“We’ll work out something.” But even as the words fell out, deep in her heart she knew the truth, had just told herself the same thing when she’d walked into the flat: Everything she’d ever done to help Dawson had failed.

Acey stuffed a huge chunk of ice cream into his mouth.

She waited for him to respond, to offer a suggestion like he normally did. But he chomped on the first bite while he mined for another spoonful.

“I’ll have a word with him,” she offered.

“We’ve already said it all.”

He was right about that. But they had to keep working to save Dawson, didn’t they?

Acey crammed in another obscene amount of ice cream. “We’ve already done it all too.” Acey’s tone contained finality, as though he’d read her mind.

Protest pushed for release, but she bit it back. Between Acey and her—and Mum before she’d disappeared—they’d labored tirelessly to resurrect Dawson, to give him a reason for living. Was it finally time to admit they hadn’t made any progress? That Dawson was no better now than the day he’d come home from the hospital? That maybe he was worse?

Acey stabbed the spoon back into the container and returned it to the freezer. When he turned to face her, something in his expression made her brace herself for what he was about to say.

“I’ve put off proposing, and Chloe has been patient—never met a woman more patient. But I need to get on with my own life now.”

“Right. I understand.” Honestly she did. Chloe was a nice girl, a professor of architectural conservation at the University of Kent. The two had been dating for ages and were good together. Acey couldn’t keep placing his life on hold for Dawson. They were nearing thirty, and it was past time for them both to settle down and start families.

She volleyed the crumpled aluminum into the bin but overshot. The piece hit the wall and pinged back forcefully. Wasn’t that the story of her life? Trying her best but never hitting the mark?

“I’m sorry, Sybil.” Acey white-knuckled the handle of his cane. “This isn’t what I’d hoped for either.”

“You’ve done more than any friend should have to.”

“If our situations were reversed, he would’ve helped me the same way.”

“He was a good guy.”

“And he still is... somewhere underneath all his pain.”

“I hope so.” She wanted to believe it, but at times she couldn’t put aside the feeling that a large part of Dawson had died in the war.

“I’m planning to propose this weekend.” Acey didn’t look at her.

“When will you move out?”

“How long do you need in order to make other arrangements for him?”

Would any length be sufficient, short of a miraculous healing?

The racing in her mind came to an abrupt halt. A miracle. She needed a miracle for Dawson. And she knew of only one way. Through holy water.

But other than the miniscule amount in the test tube she’d found in the lab of Reider Castle, there was no holy water anywhere to be found. The scarcity was why Dr. Lionel had sent Ellen into the past. He’d tasked her with finding the holy water and acting as his courier, delivering a steady supply to him in a special alcove under the dungeon stairs. At least that’s what Ellen had secretly told her about the reason for the kidnapping. Ellen and Harrison had given other more plausible reasons tothe police, deciding it was for the best not to share their theories about the holy water and time traveling.

Sybil had agreed that it was wiser to leave such speculations unspoken to protect Harrison’s upstanding reputation in the community. Most people would ridicule Harrison and Ellen if they claimed they’d crossed to a different time. Others, who were like Dr. Lionel, might threaten them.

Even though Ellen hadn’t delivered a supply of holy water to Dr. Lionel, she’d insisted it was possible for people in the past to place holy water in locations that still existed in the present—like that dungeon stairway alcove at Reider Castle—and transfer it to the current day.

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