Double Take - Catherine Coulter [76]
At seven o’clock in the morning, Dix was jerked awake by the sudden jab of an elbow in his neck.
"He’s still asleep,” Ruth whispered.
Dix slowly lowered the little boy’s arm and turned slowly to his side to face Ruth. Sean was between them.
Dix whispered, “Nightmare, I guess. Did he wake you up when he came in?”
At that moment, they heard Sean’s name shouted from outside the door. It was Sherlock, and she sounded scared to her toes.
Ruth slipped out of bed, pulled on the robe she’d tossed over the end of the bed, and opened the door. “Sherlock, it’s okay. Sean came to sleep with us in the middle of the night. He’s okay.”
Sherlock rushed into the bedroom, as if she couldn’t believe what Ruth had told her was the truth, and skidded to a stop. She shook her head, relief pouring off her. “Oh, Sean.” Graciella came running into the room on her heels, her face pale as the moon.
Sherlock saw her little boy in Dix’s arms, dead to the world, and sucked in a deep breath. “All right, then. It’s okay.” She turned to give her husband a blazing smile.“Dillon, we’re in here.”
Dix said, “Nightmare, strange house, and we’re the first bedroom next to Sean’s. He landed here. There was no problem.”
Sean yawned, raised his head, looked at Dix and smiled. “Hi, Uncle Dix,” he said. “Where’s my mom?” And he turned to look at the other side of the bed, stretched out his small hand, and frowned. “Where’s Mama?”
“Well, that’s a fine thing for him to think, isn’t it?” Sherlock said.
Savich laughed. “Hey, Champ, you ready for some Cheerios?”
Dix got another elbow in the neck when Sean dashed out of bed to get scooped up by his father. He saw Savich whisper against Sean’s cheek, “Hey, you’re at your grandparents’ house, in San Francisco. Do you remember that?”
Sean reared back in his father’s arms, studied his face a moment, and said, “Cool. I can play with Grandpa and Grandma.”
Dix said, “I remember when Rob would wake up with a nightmare and come running. Rafe usually came running in right behind him, didn’t want to be left out. That kid could make up scarier tales than Rob, who’d actually had the nightmare.”
Ruth said as she punched him lightly on his bare shoulder, “The boys are in good hands, Dix, stop worrying about them. Mrs. Goss and Chappy will spoil them rotten. Tony and Cynthia will take them to NASCAR, and all of them will be in Rob’s cheering section at the ball game tomorrow. And by the time we get back to Maestro, Brewster will rule at Tara.”
Dix realized he still hadn’t told Ruth he loved her.
CHAPTER 37
SAN FRANCISCO
Tuesday morning
The reason Cheney kept checking his rearview mirror was because of Kathryn Golden’s phone call at six-thirty that morning.
"I had another vision, Agent Stone. It was him, the man who wants to kill Julia. He’s been to Pacific Heights, he managed to break into Julia’s house, I saw him, and then he came out again because she wasn’t there, and he was angry. He knows about you, Agent Stone, I think he’s found out where you live. He doesn’t know if Julia’s there, but he’s coming. He’s in a car, driving. He looks calm, but he isn’t, not really—it’s like a layer of snow covering up a fire. He’s coming. Please be careful.”
And he’d thanked her, hung up, and sneered. Another safe guess on her part. The only thing that had