The Hidden - Jessica Verday [3]
There were words. Soft words. Words I didn’t understand but knew I would follow anywhere because he was speaking them.
“Astrid.”
I turned my head to follow the voice but kept my eyes closed just in case it might not be real. In case it was a dream. The words came again, intermingling with ones I recognized.
“Astrid, can you hear me? Tu sei una stella … la mia stella. You’re my star, Abbey.”
I opened my eyes slowly. His face came into focus. Tears stung the backs of my eyes, and my throat burned. “I’m so happy to see you. I thought you were …”
He shook his head and glanced back at the door behind him. “I’m fine, and you’re fine, and we’ll talk later. You just concentrate on getting better. You’re going home tomorrow, right?”
I nodded.
“Get some sleep. I’ll be right here when you wake up. But remember, other people will be here too. Don’t talk to me if anyone else is in the room.”
I nodded again and closed my eyes. A shiver came over me as he spoke into my ear. “I love you, Astrid.”
“Love you, too,” I mumbled. “Caspian …”
I spread my left hand wide on the covers, palm-side up. And fell asleep to the sensation of a faint tingle against my arm.
When I woke up the next morning, Caspian was there just like he’d said he would be, sitting in the chair on the other side of the bed. But Cacey was gone. I shot him a grateful smile, glad that he was with me and I wouldn’t have to be alone when a couple of police officers came in to ask me some questions about the “break-in.” I just kept repeating what Cacey had told me. Once it became obvious that my answers weren’t going to change, they decided to leave.
“If you think of anything else, give us a call,” one of them said. He pulled a business card from his pocket and handed it to me.
“I will,” I promised.
The one who handed me his card shook my hand before they left the room. An instant later a huge balloon bouquet squeezed through the door, being carried by Mom. Dad was right behind her with a fistful of flowers.
“Hi, sweetie! How are you feeling?” She nodded toward the door. “How did that go?”
She set the balloon weight on the empty bed beside me, then leaned down and brushed some hair away from my face and kissed my cheek.
“It was okay,” I replied. “I don’t really remember much.”
Mom shot Dad a look and busied herself with rearranging the balloons. Dad put the flowers he had on my nightstand and came over to my other side. “Hey, honey. It’s good to see those baby blues again.”
I beamed up at him. “Good to see you, too, Dad.” I shifted my elbow underneath me so that I could sit up. Suddenly I noticed the flower bouquets that filled a table in front of a large window. Daisies, carnations, lilies, roses … even a baby tree.
“Are those all for me?” I asked, stunned at how many there were.
“They sure are,” Mom said proudly. She flitted over to some pink daisies in a polka-dotted pot. “These are from the Maxwells.” White lilies were next. “And these are from Mrs. Walker, the librarian.” She fussed with a carnation stem. “Word spread pretty quickly about what happened …” She stopped and bit her lip.
“Who’s the tree from?” I asked as a distraction.
Caspian surreptitiously moved out of Mom’s way as she came closer to it. I flashed him a quick smile.
Mom picked up the card. “Oh! It’s from Ben. Isn’t that nice of him?”
I had to hold back a snort of laughter at the “matchmaker” tone in her voice. She had no idea that Ben was in love with my dead best friend, and I was in love with a ghost. My eyes found Caspian’s. He gave me an exasperated look, and I quickly raised one eyebrow. “Yeah, Mom,” I said. “He’s very … nice.”
“We’re going to have a fun time dealing with them on the way home,” Caspian said as soon as Mom and Dad left the room again.
“We? Are you planning on hitching a ride with us?”
“As long as Vincent’s still out there, consider me rabbit skin.”
“Rabbit skin? Do I even want to know what that is?”
“It’s glue. Sorry. Obscure artist term.”
A thrill raced through me at the thought of having him so close. “What if I just call you Elmer’s?”
He snorted. “I