The Shadow Wife - Diane Chamberlain [34]
“Does it hurt a great deal?” Carlynn could already feel the area beneath her hands growing warm from her touch, and she knew that was a good sign.
“It’s horrid,” Penny said.
“And just what were you and Jinks doing on the terrace?” Carlynn asked with a grin.
“You mean—” Penny managed a smile “—this is God punishing me?”
“You never know,” Carlynn said. “You are the rowdiest of my friends—do you know that, Pen?”
“But you love me anyway.”
“Yes, I do. Very much.” She looked earnestly into Penny’s eyes. “Even though you’ve probably gotten me into big trouble with my father.”
“Sorry.” Penny giggled, the lightness of the sound encouraging to Carlynn’s ears.
She continued talking with her friend, keeping her hands on her leg, for another fifteen minutes. Finally, Penny said, “This is so strange. It’s not hurting. At least not while I’m lying still.”
“Move it then, with my hands still on it. Slowly. See if you can bend your knee.”
Penny bent her leg. “My God, Carlynn, it doesn’t hurt. Just feels a little stiff.”
“Do you think you can stand on it?”
She helped Penny to her feet and accepted the grateful hug she offered. The guests cheered from behind them, as though they were witnessing an injured player rise from the ground on a football field.
“Can you walk?” Carlynn asked. Penny began to carefully move toward the house, leaning against Carlynn, just in case. “Now,” Carlynn said as they neared the rear door, “we really should get some ice on it. No point in getting too cocky about all this.”
After the party, Carlynn and Lisbeth sat on the edge of the cold stone terrace, their legs dangling over the side, bundled up in jackets against the chill. Behind them, in the house, they could hear the tinkle of glasses and clatter of plates as Rosa and the other servants cleaned up. Fog was rolling in over the Pacific, but they could still see the lights of a boat that must have been quite close to shore.
“We shouldn’t be out here,” Carlynn said. “We’re both going to get sick, sitting on the terrace in the cold.”
“You can heal us, then,” Lisbeth said, and Carlynn looked at her quizzically.
“That sounded snide,” she said. “Did you mean it that way, Lizzie?”
It was a moment before Lisbeth answered. “Sorry,” she said. “I just…it still amazes me, that’s all. How do you do it?” She turned to her sister. “How did you fix Penny’s leg?”
It was not the first time Lisbeth had asked Carlynn about her healing skills, but this time the tone of her voice was marked more by envy than curiosity.
“I don’t understand any more than you do, Lizzie,” Carlynn said. “Maybe Penny’s leg wasn’t really broken. Maybe she just scared herself when she fell.”
“I saw it. It was twisted up.”
Carlynn gently let one of her feet touch one of Lisbeth’s. “I have to be touching the person,” she said. “At least I know that much. But other than that, what I do doesn’t seem like anything special. I’m not a magician. It’s just that when I’m touching a person, I think only about him or her. I try to send them all my love, everything good that’s inside me. I concentrate really hard.”
“It’s amazing,” Lisbeth said, shaking her head in quiet wonder.
“Do you remember Presto?” Carlynn asked. “The night before he was going to be put to sleep?”
“Of course.” Lisbeth nodded. Presto had lived for three more years after that night.
“All night long I lay next to him with my arms around him, and I prayed. I just kept hoping and praying he would get well.”
“Is it praying, then?” Lisbeth asked. “Is that what you’re doing?”
“Not always. I’ve sort of experimented with it,” Carlynn admitted. “Sometimes I pray. Sometimes I just think as hard as I can about the person I’m touching. It doesn’t seem to matter what I do. The only thing I know for sure is that, afterward, I’m more tired than you can imagine.”
Lisbeth knew this. She had seen her sister after her visits to Letterman Hospital. It was all Carlynn could do to drag herself upstairs to bed, and she would sleep so deeply that nothing could wake her for