If you are new to my Reluctant Psychic series, please consider starting from the beginning. The story, characters and events in this chapter will make more sense when given context from the preceding chapters. If you're returning, welcome back and I hope you enjoy the story.
* * *
We didn't take long getting cleaned up and were soon walking through the woods on our way back to the main house. Jill held my hand as the darkness settled around us. My thoughts were also turning to darkness.
Betsy's father's funeral was tomorrow, and I was worried. Betsy was taking her father's death as well as anyone can take a death of a loved one. I was more worried about who might show up to the funeral. The local paper, that ran the obituary, had significant regional distribution and could be found at news stands around the country. It was unlikely that any of my enemies would happen to read the obituary, but...
Jill jerked on my hand, pulling me out of my paranoid musings. I looked over at her and saw that she was watching me intently. We stopped in the middle of the woods, holding hands and looking into each other's eyes. She leaned forward, rubbed her nose against mine and gave me a little kiss. Then she smiled, as if to remind me to be happy.
She was right, I should be happy. I was walking through the woods with a beautiful woman, a woman who loved me, and whom I loved. Looking into her eyes, I was reminded of one of Jill's favorite sayings, "Don't borrow worries from tomorrow." I cupped her head in my hands and gave her a gentle kiss then said softly, "Thanks for the reminder."
I could have stayed in her loving embrace for hours, but Jill was a bit more pragmatic, and reminded me that dinner was about to be served. I was about to say they would wait for me, but Jill gave me a look that let me know that that might not always be the case. So we continued our walk back to the house, but with our arms around each other instead of only holding hands.
* * *
Dinner seemed a more raucous affair that usual. Stefanie sat with me at the head of the table, but her attention was mostly on Jill who was sitting on her other side. Stefanie and Jill had been an item almost since Stephanie joined my household. Jill's strange blend of pragmatism and optimism had helped Stefani get over her lover's murder.
On my other side sat Katia, who had become a fixture at the head end of the table. It was the girls' way of making sure Katia and I had plenty of opportunity to get to know each other. They also made sure that Magda wasn't sitting close enough that Katia could rely on her sister for conversation. The later wasn't too much of a concern since Katia seemed to be fitting in with the girls quite well, even if she remained a bit of an enigma to me.
It was strange, really. Here I sat with psychic power, but I hardly knew the first thing about the woman sitting next to me. Of course, I didn't currently have my powers since Jill had seduced me not an hour past. Actually, I seemed to have had that problem quite a bit recently. It seemed like every time Katia was going to join us for a meal...
Dinner certainly was raucous tonight. I had been saying something to Katia and my mind suddenly blanked. To make matters worse, I felt a headache coming on. "I'm sorry Katia, I seemed to have lost my train of thought."
"Are you feeling alright?" she asked. I could see more than a usual amount of concern on her face. "You keep getting this pensive look on your face. Then you suddenly snap out of it and seem to forget what you were saying."
I searched my memories, but I couldn't remember losing my train of thought earlier. I also couldn't seem to remember what sort of brooding thoughts might have been on my mind. "I feel fine, I suppose I just have a lot on my mind right now. Thoughts of retiring, welcoming a lovely new member into our family, and –" I knew there was something else that was on my mind. I looked up and down the table to try to jog my memory.
That's when I realized it wasn't something that was there that was nagging at my memory, but what was missing, or more precisely who was missing. "Where's Betsy?" I asked. There wasn't an empty chair which is likely why it took me so long to realize Betsy was missing.
"She's taking a nap. She hasn't been sleeping, so we thought it best not to wake her for dinner," answered Marie. Marie had been Betsy's first lover and was still her most frequent lover. If any of the girls would be aware of Betsy's trouble sleeping it would be she. But despite the practicality of the reply, I still didn't like the idea of Betsy being alone.
I excused myself to go find Betsy, but halfway through standing up, I found myself sitting down instead. Katia asked again if I was okay. I felt a headache coming on as I tried to stand once more. As I struggled to rise, all I could think was that I couldn't let Betsy down. My head was pounding, and I began to wonder if there really was something wrong with me.
I felt a moment of calm, and suddenly I was able to stand. I could barely think over the throbbing in my temples, but I could move. I excused myself again, and walked out of the dining room. I barely noticed that the table had all but fallen silent behind me.
As I walked, a part of me realized I didn't know where I was going. I had never been to Betsy's room; I had never even been in the portion of the house given over to the girls' rooms. They didn't tell me I couldn't but it had always been an unspoken arrangement.
Even though I had never set foot in the hallway, it seemed familiar. I turned a corner and entered a large foyer that had a marble fountain set in the middle. I looked around the large space with a touch of awe before another wave of pain shot through my head.
Gritting my teeth against the pain, I began walking again. I was in a bit of a daze as I walked the unfamiliar space, but I unerringly navigated to Betsy's door. I entered her room as quietly as I could, and found Betsy asleep on her bed. She was curled up on her side, clutching the lion doll I had given her over a decade before.
I sat on the bed next to her, and with a gentle touch moved a strand of hair from her face. She looked just as frail as she had when I first met her, and tried to buy her trust with a toy from the hospital convenience store. At the time, I didn't know that she was too old for stuffed animals, and she didn't realize that some things you never quite grow out of. The little lion always seemed to be in the closet when I had visited her room during the day, and in her arms if I checked on her at night.
I looked around her room and realized it was almost exactly the same as the room she'd had when she first moved in with me. The computer on her desk might be much smaller than it was a decade before, but everything else was remarkably the same. On the nightstand she had the same picture of her and her father, taken at Disneyland the year before he was shot. The picture of Betsy and me was much more recent, but it was in the same frame as the first picture we had together. I kissed her forehead as she slept on, reflecting that a man couldn't ask for a better daughter than Betsy.
My headache hadn't eased any, but I had been able to block out the pain while I was checking on Betsy. I desperately wanted one of Magda's massages, but I didn't think I could face any of the girls after invading their sanctum. I decided on the medicinal solution and thought of the bottle waiting in my medicine cabinet.
I carefully wrapped Betsy and her lion in her blanket and lifted her out of bed. I carried her out of her room and began walking toward my own bedroom. I don't remember much of the walk, except that at one point Betsy woke enough to wrap her arms around my neck. By the time I settled Betsy onto my own bed, my vision was getting red on the edges.
I staggered to the bathroom and pulled out the supply of pain pills. I spilled four into my hand and swallowed them with a gulp of water. I held on to the bathroom counter with my head hanging, waiting for the pills to start to take effect. Thankfully, the narcotics were quick acting and it didn't take long to take the harsh edge off the pain. I splashed some water on my face and then made my way back to my bed.
It wasn't until I wasn't nearly back to bed that I remembered I was only supposed to take one pill, or two for severe pain. I sat on the edge of the bed, trying to decide if taking four pills was really that bad. The euphoria that started pouring over me pushed the pain far enough away that I didn't really mind anymore.
As I turned to snuggle up behind Betsy, a voice told me to lock the door. 'Why should I lock the door?' I wondered. Does the door even have a lock? The latter question somehow seemed more relevant to me, and I made my way over to the door to investigate. There was a little button on the doorknob that did indeed seem to be a lock. I pushed it in and it gave a click.
Now the other lock, the voice told me. The voice was very patient explaining where I could find the secret button that would engage the door's deadbolts, and reminded me that it was a secret. Eventually I found the button and felt more than heard the strong bolts settle into place. I walked to the door and discovered it was so secure that it didn't even rattle in its frame.
The voice was now happy, and would let me go to sleep in peace. I lay down in bed, snuggled up close behind Betsy and wrapped my arms around her, just as her arms were wrapped around her stuffed lion. Just before the drugs dragged me into the darkness, I asked the voice if this meant she had forgiven me, but I didn't get a reply.
* * *
I woke sometime later, sweating out my nightmares. I was still disoriented by the pain medication but my headache seemed to have gone away completely. I felt a cool hand gently stroking my face and heard faint calming murmurs. I opened my eyes to see Betsy lying in front of me, one hand still clutching the lion, the other stroking my cheek. The really strange thing was that we were lying on the floor next to the door.
"What happened?" I asked.
