Lost Wanderer Awakened - Book One of the Airendell Chronicles (24 page)

After a thorough exam, Seth smiles as he
writes his notes on his chart. He has her go through her exercises
and is happy she does them effortlessly. He goes through the
exercises with her that require two people. They are strenuous and
require a great deal of strength, and he is very impressed with her
performance.

Once he is finished he leaves the room and
comes back with a heat pack for her hip and leg. “Just a
precaution,” he says as he puts it in position. “Your range of
motion is great, and you even seem to be gaining more muscle tone
and definition, but I don’t want you to get stiff after that exam
and treatment.” He settles onto his work stool then says, “Do you
mind if I hang out in here and chat with you while that works?”

“I’d enjoy that Seth,” she says
sincerely.

“Deidra, I think I might be able to release
you in a week or two if your progress continues. I am very pleased.
What would think of that?” he asks.

“Great,” she says.

“Well, we might be going to Chicago next
week. Luca wants me to see a neurosurgeon there.”

Concern flashes across Seth’s face and he
asks, “Why? Any problems I am not aware of?”

“No, no. Not exactly. The body is doing fine,
but I have some minor memory issues and Luca wants me to see this
friend of his in Chicago that has an excellent reputation. Nothing
to be concerned over,” she assures him.

He smiles and says, “Let’s set up a couple of
appointments for next week, and then re-evaluate after that. How
does that sound?”

“Sounds good.”

“Oh okay. Good then. Keep me posted about
what the neuro guy says,” he says. “Okay lady, I will send Bobby in
here in ten minutes to take those heat packs off. Then you can
dress and scoot. Just speak to Cathy to schedule a couple of
appointments for when you guys get back. Okay? Keep doing the work
at home. You are doing great.” When she nods, he stands and places
his hand on the door knob, but before he leaves, he says,
“Seriously, I am glad you finally gave our buddy the time of day.
He will be great for you and you for him. You guys have really made
my week.” He laughs as he walks out of the exam room.

“Mine too,” she whispers. And closes her eyes
and recalls some of the life changing events of this past week. She
is still lying there with eyes closed and smiling when the moody
Bobby comes in and takes the packs away. He reminds her to pay the
receptionist on her way out. She chuckles to herself as she wonders
why Seth keeps the moody youth on. He’s such a stark contrast from
everyone else at the facility. “Oh well.” She thinks and then
shrugs as she dresses. On her way out she stops at Cathy’s desk.
Cathy just smiles at her and says, “All taken care of hon. Mr.
Michaels has your appointments for week after next. Keep up the
good work, you are getting around great.”

Morna isn’t surprised that Luca took care of
business with the receptionist, but feels obligated to offer to
reimburse him once they are back in the car and driving out of town
toward neighboring town and The Bridge. “Seriously Morna?” he
scoffs when she broaches the subject.

“Sorry Luca, it’s just that I am perfectly
capable of covering my own expenses,” she says quietly.

“I know love; I asked Carlisle to get the
settlement for you. I didn’t want you to ever have to worry about
paying your bills.”

Morna laughs dryly. “I guess I should have
figured that one out. Okay, okay. Forgive me. I have always been
the caretaker in this incarnation. Bear with me Luca,” she
beseeches. “It’s hard to leave the current personality behind and
embrace my original personality. I just kind of end up with a
hodge-podge of personalities.”

“Fine, fine,” he says softly. “Baby, I know
how you struggle to integrate all your experiences and
personalities, but you need to relax and rely on me more. Taking
care of each other is just what we do. You know that.”

“I am remembering that, but old habits die
hard. Don’t get too put out with me when I get my independent
backbone up, okay?” she asks.

“Of course,” he soothes in his velvet voice,
and turns to favor her with his lopsided grin. “Now, I want to go
on to something else I am very eager to resolve. When can we renew
our vows?” he asks quietly.

She gasps, looks down at her hands. “I want
to as much as you do, Luca. But I hate to admit it… but what would
people think if I obviously start moving on with my life so soon
after my babies die. They haven’t even been gone a year.” The pain
in her eyes is almost more than Luca can bear to witness. “Would I
be dishonoring their memories?”

“I don’t think so,” he soothes, “But we can
come back to that later. Now I want to ask a question and clear
something up. You mentioned your children, but not Rolan. You
rarely speak of him, why baby?”

“Rolan and I had not been living together as
man and wife for nearly seven years when they all died,” she admits
quietly.

“I didn’t know that,” he says thoughtfully.
“May I ask why not? Didn‘t you love him?”

“In the beginning, I loved him like my best
friend. I thought that was enough to build a life on. We got on
very well for many years. But our marriage was pretty much over
shortly over after Aiden was born. Rolan resented all the effort
and time that I spent on Aiden and Kyle. And I grew to despise
Rolan for being so selfish. I was a bit of a coward. I really
should have demanded a divorce, but I just put on a good face every
day and muddled through. Finally one day, Rolan came in and found
me lying in the floor. I had fallen asleep while working on
progress reports for my students. Aiden was still on his bean bag
where I had propped him up while I worked.”

“Rolan had been sullen for weeks because I
wouldn’t have sex with him and had asked for a divorce. When he
found me like that, vulnerable wearing only a long tee shirt and
panties. He pinned me face down into floor, ripped my panties and
rutted me from behind like the pig he was.” Morna looks out the
window for a long while, struggling to get her emotions in
check.

“I begged him to stop but I didn’t fight him
because I knew Aiden was in the bean bag. I could hear him making
the little noises he made whenever he was frightened. When Rolan
finished, he slapped my ass and whispered in my ear, ‘There ya go
honey. I know you liked it better than I did.’ I didn’t say a
single word, and I absolutely refused to cry. I just got up and
picked Aiden up and carried him into his room. I was talking to
him, trying soothe his fears. He knew his Daddy had hurt his Mommy.
I wasn’t fooling him a bit. He wasn’t even four years old yet, but
he was a very smart boy.”

“Anyway, I changed his diaper, put on his pjs
and settled him into bed. I read his favorite story to him then I
stayed with him until he finally went to sleep. Then I snuck out
and went to the kitchen. I yanked my destroyed panties off my hips
and threw them in the trash. I grabbed a butcher knife out the
drawer and snuck into Rolan’s bedroom. I had taken to sleeping on
the couch or in the floor in Aiden’s room.”

“I watched that bastard lying in what had
been our marriage bed. He was naked, except for a towel around his
waist. He had obviously showered and flopped down onto the bed to
sleep with out another thought to what he had done in the living
room, in front of our son. I made up my mind he was going die,
right then and there. I quickly straddled his back, pinning his
arms under my legs. I yanked his head back by his hair, exposing
his throat. I jammed the knife against his throat hard, I was going
to slit him like the pig he was and watch him bleed to death.”

“Then the strangest thing happened; Aiden
started crying loudly and Kyle screamed my name in his sleep. I
came to my senses. So I just told Rolan to pack his belongings and
leave, immediately! I assured him that if he did not leave within
the next 15 minutes, he would never leave alive. Then I got off his
back, took the knife back to kitchen, and went to take care of
Aiden. I guess Rolan knew I was serious, because I heard him leave
about ten minutes later. He never stepped a foot in the house
again, well until the day of Aiden‘s funeral. I took the next day
off from work, called a locksmith to change all the locks, packed
the rest of his things into a U-haul trailer that I had parked on
the street, and called him to come pick it up.” Luca thinks Morna
looks proud of herself.

“I contacted a divorce lawyer the same day,
but when Rolan saw me five months later and realized that I was
pregnant, he really started fighting the very idea of a divorce.
Before that I hadn’t even been able to locate him about insurance
matters, or even to serve him my petition for divorce. It was
weird, it was like he fled the country.”

“Anyway, that all changed when he realized I
was carrying a girl. He was suddenly very interesting in being a
father.” Morna shakes her head in disbelief at the memory of her
ex’s abrupt turnaround. “His lawyer petitioned for paternity tests
on all the kids, then for full custody. He fought me over our
meager assets. Accused me of being an unfit guardian and caretaker
for Aiden. It was a long nightmare. He even filed a nonsense suit
about naming Nora, I told you that I wanted to name her Lucy or
Morna. He even tried to sue for full custody of her before she was
even born. He really made my life hell. He had finally agreed to
stop fighting the divorce after I offered to let him off without
paying child support and his lawyer convinced him there was no way
on God‘s green earth that an Oklahoma judge would take custody of
any child away from a mother who is deemed fit. It was strange,
very strange.”

“Our lawyers were going to file the papers
when Aiden got sick that last time. That put everything on hold. I
have to admit there were many moments when I regretted not
murdering him.”

“So Nora was not a planned child?” Luca asks
quietly, holding Morna‘s hand gently.

“No,” Morna admits, “but even though she was
conceived under horrible circumstances, she was the most amazing
gift from heaven. The pregnancy was very hard. I have to admit. I
wondered how I would feel about her once she got here. But it was
love at first sight Luca! Just like it was with her brothers. She
was an amazing little girl. So loving and sweet. I was truly
grateful that Rolan never expressed any interest in spending time
with her, I think the sod actually felt guilty by that time for
what he had done. He quit his job at the school shortly after Nora
was born and I rarely saw him around for over six years, except
when he was harassing me about visitation rights. He wanted to see
Kyle, but not the other two. I never understood why he was so
interested in Nora when I carried her, but not after she was
born.”

Morna finally looks up from her folded hands.
This was the first time she had ever shared the story of Nora’s
conception and all the details of the nasty divorce with anyone.
She hadn’t realized that Luca had pulled the car over. He was
watching her, his eyes filled with love and compassion. And
something else, hate! Yes, that was it. Morna had no doubt it was
for Rolan and not her, but it still made her flinch.

Luca reaches over and takes her hands into
his. He’s looking deeply into her eyes, trying to gauge her mental
state. She looks back at her hands. “Morna, I am so sorry. I had no
idea.”

“Luca, no one knew, except our lawyers. I
gave up a lot of power to keep it out the public view. I didn’t
want our children to be dragged down by all the ugliness between
Rolan and me.”

“I spent a lot of time trying to learn about
your life. Your friends did not even know, or at least they did not
discuss the fact that you and Rolan were going through a bitter
divorce. I guess you have worked very hard to keep it all quiet?”
He pauses to watch her face. When she doesn’t react, he murmurs, “I
see. Morna, please tell me that you know what he did to you that
night was not your fault. Being vulnerable in one’s own home
doesn’t excuse what he did. You did not cause it.”

“Sure Luca. I know that. Hey, we really
should get going. Amanda will be late for her appointment,” She
looks at the clock on the dash. It’s almost 10:00 am. Then she
looks out her window. “Please, let’s just go. I really don’t want
to talk about this anymore.”

CHAPTER 11 - MORNA’S FAMILY GROWS

THE GIRLS

Luca restarts the car and pulls back onto the
road. He’s very concerned about her mental state. It’s obvious that
she has worked very hard to keep all of this buried very deeply. He
knows she will need to deal with it at some point, but he knows
better than to push her right now, Morna pushes back hard when she
feels she is cornered. He pats her knee and says, “I love you
Morna.”

“I love you too,” is her quiet reply.

When they pull up in front of The Bridge,
Morna turns to face Luca with a bright smile lighting her lovely
face. “We have a new resident. Her name is Mac, well that’s really
just a nick-name, her real name is Mackenzie Summers. Anyway, she’s
19 years old, and has been on the street since she was 15. She has
autism and other issues. Mostly, I want you to understand she has
extreme sensory processing issues. Don’t take this the wrong way
darling, but under no circumstances should you touch her.”

“You think that she will react as Natalie
did?” he asks.

Morna looks confused for a moment and then
understanding dawns as the memories of that past incarnation flood
back. “Yes, I am sorry. I know that time isn’t a good memory for
you,” Morna says quietly. “I just don’t know how Mac will react to
your cold, hard skin. She is very high functioning, obviously, she
has been able to survive on the street for over four years, but she
can turn violent in an instant. If she becomes overwhelmed and
can’t access her coping mechanisms, she lashes out physically.
Okay?”