Loving You (Remembrance Series, Book 2) (5 page)

“Oh, no,” I said, raising my hand to my mouth to prevent myself from hurling.

Gregory’s eyes widened and he grabbed hold of me. One second we were in bed, the next, he was by the toilet, one hand supporting me around the waist, the other held my hair back, while all of my dinner came up.

When I was done, he reached for a washcloth and dampened it, before wiping my face. He picked me up gently and carried me back into the bedroom, before flashing out for a cup of water.

His face looked panic-stricken when he flashed back with the plastic cup in hand. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you, Jordan.”

The water tasted refreshing and the wave of nausea appeared to have passed. “I know you would never do anything to hurt me, Gregory. I trust you to the point of putting my life in your hands.”

I paused for a moment to think about how my ear was feeling and motioned for him to sit beside me on the bed. “Something is happening to my ear. I don’t know how best to describe it, but it is a strange awareness. A feeling of warmth first spread through it and then I heard, or maybe felt, a pop-like sensation. That’s when the nausea hit and I couldn’t help but throw-up. I should thank you for getting me to the bathroom so quickly and apologize for having to watch me do that.” I never liked throwing up at all, let alone throwing up in front of anyone. It was embarrassing.

“Nothing you do will ever turn me away from you. Don’t you know, by now, that I would move heaven and earth just to be near you?”

“I think I will just lay still for the remainder of the night, because I still feel a little iffy.” His face looked crest-fallen and I felt terrible for hurting his feelings. “I know why you did that and I’m not complaining. I truly appreciate the closeness we have and how you were able to make me mindless for a few moments. Actually, you can enthrall me anytime you want.”

I reached up to caress his face, and the corners of his mouth lifted. “I don’t know what happened; only that something is still going on inside my ear. Whether it’s good or bad, we’ll have to wait and see, since some things take time to heal. Even with your healing powers, if it worked, it will take time to see the effects, since the inner ear is buried so deeply.”

He leaned down, planting a gentle kiss on my lips, careful to keep my head still. “You know I love you with everything that I am, right?”

“As do I, Gregory. It’s late and we both need our sleep.”

He climbed into bed beside me, snuggling up close. “Did you find any dresses that you like in the new magazine? You know money is no object.”

I moved my hand over his heart and replied, “I know that you, along with everyone else, want me to be happy on our special day. I just worry about spending that kind of money if our wedding might never take place.”

He let out a frustrated grunt. “I don’t want you talking like that. You heard Ray. We stand the best chance getting married and fulfilling the prophecy, together.” He leaned up in bed so he could get full vision of my eyes. “Nothing, and I do mean
NOTHING
, will keep me from marrying you!”

“I’m not going to argue with you because that is my heart’s desire, too, to spend an eternity with you as your wife. I just haven’t found ‘the’ dress, yet.”

“Did you have something in mind?”

“I was kind of thinking it might be nice to pay a bit of homage to our predecessors, by having some small element of that era represented in the dress. We know we existed in Victorian times and now, sometime near the Revolutionary War. I have an idea of what I’m looking for, but the groom doesn’t need to know what the bride is wearing. That’s bad luck.”

“I like the idea. If you wanted to do a period style wedding, we could easily fit that into the theme of our ‘Engagement Party’. What do you think?”

“Sounds nice, but I think I would rather stick with a party theme and only have a dress reminiscent of times past.” The look on his face told me he was in deep thought. “What are you thinking about?”

“I’m trying to imagine specific dresses on you. How about we get some sleep and dream about it?”

“Sounds like a plan. Goodnight, my love.”

“Goodnight, my forever beauty.” He leaned in and kissed my forehead before curling up as close as he could to me, in bed.

Our minds slowly drifted to the boundaries of our subconscious. Gregory had us near the edge of the lake, by the garden. The sweet smell of the flowers filled the air, reminding me of Aaron and Hannah’s engagement. I shared with him my earlier visions and he started meshing bits and pieces of both Angeline and Hannah’s fancy dresses with a little bit of modern flare, creating a breathtaking vision of a wedding gown. I didn’t dare admit it, but that was “the” dress I had been looking for.

The following day I was not surprised to find my vertigo had improved slightly and I didn’t require as much assistance from my mother to move around the house. I was able to run a couple more reports for Caroline and write-up an analysis of the findings.

Terry was making great use of the call-me-if-you-have-any-questions invitation. I finally had to tell her to write down her questions and limit the calls to twice a day, so I could have some time to rest.

One call I wasn’t expecting was from Pamela. Her attitude was very condescending and accusatory. “I’ve been extremely worried about your health and safety, Jordan. But, now I feel I wasted my energy on you, now that I hear that you’re able to work from home. I’m disappointed that you would use this organization to your benefit and milk your accident in order to collect disability and put out only a little effort toward your work.”

I knew she was trying to push my buttons and I intended to inform Caroline of her attitude. “I don’t know what your problem is, Pamela, but you need to leave me alone. I would like to come back now, but the doctor refuses to release me to work at this time. Only after persistence, on my part, did he finally relent to allow me to work only a few hours each day. I’m doing what I can to get back, but an injured body with broken and fractured bones takes time to heal. You, of all people, should understand this, considering your career in healthcare marketing.” I paused for a moment to gather my thoughts. “Now, if there is something you need, spit it out; otherwise, I appreciate your concern and will, hopefully, see you at work, soon. If you need my assistance with anything, please direct your requests through Caroline!”

I hit the end key on my phone before she could say anything further and immediately called Caroline, who was not surprised by Pamela’s actions. “I’m sorry you had to deal with her, Jordan. She has been causing chaos all through the office. The negativity has reached an all time high; so we’ve kept her busy with as much ‘out of office’ activity as possible. I’ll talk with her and let her know there will be absolutely no calling you. If she needs anything from you, then she will have to go through me. Just do what you can for us and take as much time as you need to heal. We would rather have you come back feeling great, than trying to rush yourself and causing complications. We appreciate all you have been able to do for us, from home. Now, take it easy and don’t give Pamela a second thought.”

I spent the afternoon relaxing and going through more magazines with Mom. I tried to explain the details of the dress in my dream, but didn’t know exactly how to describe some of the fine points. “Why don’t you take some scissors and cut out what you like from dresses you’ve seen and paste what you’re looking for on a piece of paper. We can take that picture with us to the dress shops and see if they have anything similar. If we don’t find what you are looking for, we can always see if a seamstress could make the gown from scratch; but we need to move fast, since we have a short period of time.”

“Thanks, Mom. I love that idea. Maybe that would also help us narrow down where to find the dress.”

Mom looked in deep thought for a second. “Have you tried the Internet to see if there are any designs out there?”

“I have looked at a couple of well known shops, but didn’t find anything. There are tons of dress shops out there, but not necessarily in the immediate area. I guess I could extend the search to see if the dress I’m looking for even exists.”

Gregory arrived home a little later than usual, with his arms loaded down full of wedding catalogues. Lorraine had not only managed to secure albums from various wedding shops; but had also acquired pictures of various bridesmaid styles, colors, linen samples, floral pictures, and so on. My future mother in-law could have easily started her own wedding coordinator business.

I was about to object to the amount of information Gregory sat before me, when he spoke up. “I know. My mother can sometimes go overboard, especially if she’s excited about something.” He shrugged his shoulders. “What can I say…? She adores you, as do I.” He leaned forward planting a firm kiss on my lips.

That gesture led to a few more and after a long kiss that sent my heartbeat into overdrive, Gregory pulled away and reached into his pocket. “Almost forgot. Mom received a couple of cards for you at her place. Looks to be some get well cards from the sister-in-laws.”

He gave Mom a quick hug and made his way to the food in the kitchen. While he prepared himself a plate, I started opening up the cards.

The first card was from Robin. I had talked with her on the phone a couple of times, over the past few weeks. She seemed genuinely concerned over how I was doing and offered any assistance she could toward helping plan our wedding. Her card was a simple “Get Well” signed by both her and Jonathan, with a small hand-written statement:

This card is sent with healing thoughts for a speedy recovery for you, Jordan. I’m excited to know I will have a new sister in-law joining our family. Gregory is a good man and I look forward to meeting you in the near future and giving you a proper welcome to our family, sister!

Hugs to you!
– Robin

Her sentiments seemed genuine and the card had a warm presence radiating in my hands. The aura around it glowed in a soft yellow, letting me know that, according to Ray’s code, I could trust Robin.

I showed the card to Gregory and he smiled. “Robin is a sweetheart. You two will probably be as close as sisters.” I smiled back at him, cherishing the idea of having someone I could call “sister”.

The next card was hard to open and gave me a paper cut in the process. “Ouch!”

Gregory captured my finger, taking a look at the drop of blood. Mom yelled from the kitchen, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, just a paper cut, Mom.”

He wiped away the blood and pulled the cut toward his lips. He gently kissed the area and then, in a seductive move, ran his tongue across the cut. No matter how many times I watched him do something like that, I was always turned on by his actions and amazed at the sight before me—the cut instantly closed, forming a tight seal, before fading into oblivion.

He pulled the card out for me and laid it on the table. It was a generic Get Well card with a floral arrangement on the front and the words, “Get Well,” on the inside. But there was no signature on the card from either Phillip or Gwen.

Instead, there was a neatly folded piece of paper. As I unfolded it, I felt a weird vibe and an aura that was hard to detect. In one sense, it glowed with slight hues of yellow; but the edges were red. Usually, any red or black aura made my hands feel like they were on fire, but this time it only felt lukewarm, much like its writer.

The note was from Gwen. It read:

Here’s a “Get Well” card for you. Lorraine insisted I send one. I’m also supposed to write a note welcoming you to our family. I would give you proper salutations, but your relationship with Gregory has progressed far too fast, which can only mean that you will break-up before you ever reach the wedding, so why waste my efforts! Besides, even if you do make it to the altar, you will not have any attention given to you, because I’ve just discovered that we’re expecting and due around the time of your wedding. So, you will take a back seat to my glory! At this point, why not move the wedding back a few months so my pregnancy can take center stage. Know that the family will never accept you willingly. I hope you know what you are in for. Things are not always as they appear to be. If and when you make it into this family, I’ll give you the proper welcoming you so truly deserve! Consider this fair warning!

Cordially yours
– Gwen

Before I could even respond to the note, Gregory’s fist came down hard on the table. “What the heck does she think she’s doing? I’m going to have to tell Mom about this.” His tone was cold.

I just shook my head. “You weren’t kidding when you said she was a piece of work, wanting all of the family’s attention to herself.”

“She was warned when she sent a similar note to Robin, right before she married my brother. Gwen tried to prevent that marriage from happening, too.” He rubbed his forehead, as if trying to ward off the onset of a headache. “She has already been warned not to mess with our family when it comes to affairs of the heart. Looks like we need to have another talk with my brother and I, personally, want to verify that her pregnancy announcement is even true.”