Never Fear (16 page)

“
Oatmeal again?” Belle
complained.

“
You’ll eat it and be
grateful,” Holly chided. “There are children in the world who would
love to have a warm breakfast like this one. In fact—”

She was interrupted by a terrible
tumbling noise, ending in a thud. She heard Nick cry out in pain
and immediately feared the worst. She hurried into the living room
to find her son lying in a crumpled heap at the foot of the stairs,
his leg jutting out at an unusual angle.

“
Oh my God, Nicky! Are you
okay?”

“
My leg hurts, Mom. It
hurts so much!” He was fighting back tears, and her heart melted at
the sight of him trying to be a tough guy.

“
It’s broken. Listen to
me. I want you to stay right here, and I’m going to call an
ambulance.” Chris had already left for work, so as soon as she had
the ambulance on the way, she dialed his office number, crouching
next to Nick and rubbing her hand soothingly on his
forehead.

“
Chris Marshall’s office.
Carol speaking. How may I help you?” came the saccharine-sweet
voice of her husband’s assistant.

“
Carol! I need to talk to
Chris right away!”

“
Oh, I’m afraid he’s
stepped out. Can I take a message?” Carol oozed insincerity, and it
grated on Holly’s already frayed nerves.

“
No, thanks. I’ll try his
cell.”

“
Oh. Oops. I’ve got it
right here. He must’ve forgotten it.” The assistant
snickered.

“
Wow. Okay. Just... tell
him to call me as soon as he gets back. Okay? It’s an emergency. As
soon as he gets back,” Holly insisted.

“
Will do, Sugar,” Carol
replied, then hung up the phone. Holly didn’t have time to let the
exchange get to her. The ambulance had arrived and she stayed by
Nick’s side to offer whatever comfort and reassurance she could
while the paramedics carefully lifted him onto the gurney and into
the back of the ambulance.

Before the ambulance had even left the
driveway, Holly had strapped Belle into her booster seat and
cranked the car, ready to follow Nick to the hospital. She tried
Chris’s cell, but was directed straight to voicemail. “Hey. It’s
me. Nicky fell down the stairs. I think his leg is broken, and
we’re headed to the hospital now. Call me as soon as you get this.
Or better yet, meet me there.” She hung up and silently prayed that
her husband would get the message and come right away. She really
needed his strength right now, because she was just about to lose
her mind. Why was this happening now? All she’d wanted was a
peaceful, relaxing holiday at home with her husband and kids, and
now it seemed to all be going to hell in a handbasket.

Back home that afternoon, Holly fought
back tears of anger and frustration as she busied herself settling
Nick in and making him comfortable. She hadn’t heard from Chris all
day, and she’d had to watch her son suffer through the painful
procedure of setting the bone and casting the bottom half of his
leg over the knee. Thankfully, Diana had come right away to see to
Belle, getting her to school and bringing Holly a tall mocha latte
back to the hospital.

Diana Ramos was the sweetest, most
caring friend Holly could have asked for. She was so warm and open,
the eternal earth mother, and Holly knew she could count on Diana
if ever she needed her.

Trouble was, Holly wasn’t used to
needing anyone. She usually had her life in order and under
control, but lately, she couldn’t seem to get it together. In fact,
she was afraid she was finally falling apart. Every night since
they’d buried the family dog, she’d been hearing sounds like the
animal was scratching and whining to get in. When she’d tried to
tell Chris about it, he’d been dismissive, saying she was having
nightmares or suffering from stress. As a result, she hadn’t told
him about the shadows she’d seen dancing on the wall the previous
night. She wasn’t even sure how she’d describe what she’d seen. The
terrifying figures seemed to be performing some sort of ritual
dance, moving in time to a beat she couldn’t hear. She tried to
convince herself that there was some logical explanation for what
she’d experienced, but in truth, there wasn’t.

Determined to put it all out of her
mind, she made Nick his favorite supper of grilled cheese and
tomato soup and delivered it to him in bed. She helped him sit up
and propped pillows behind his back before placing the tray on his
bedside table.

“
Mom?” he
began.

“
Yeah? What is it, son?”
she asked brightly.

“
I don’t want Belle to get
in trouble,” he replied.

“
What do you mean, Nicky?
Why would Belle be in trouble?”

“
Because she pushed me and
made me break my leg,” he answered matter-of-factly.

“
What? Where did you get
an idea like that?”

“
I felt it. I was at the
top of the stairs, and Belle pushed me. She made me lose my
balance, and I fell and broke my leg.” He seemed so sincere, and
for a moment Holly wondered if it could be true. But no.

“
No, honey. Belle was in
the kitchen with me. I was giving her breakfast, and she was giving
me grief about having oatmeal again. I was scolding her when I
heard you fall down the stairs,” she informed him. Stroking his
face, she added, “I think that pain medicine they gave you might
have made you a little loopy.” She winked at him and chuckled, but
noticed that the color had drained from his face.

“
Mom!” he whispered
intensely, “Something pushed me! It had to be her! She had to be
there! Something pushed me!” he was trembling, and his
panic-stricken face twisted with frightened tears. He was
petrified, and when Holly pulled him into her embrace, he sat
stiffly against her, his breath short and ragged, not responding to
her attempts at soothing him.

“
Oh, honey. It’s okay.
Shhh. It’s okay. There’s nothing to be afraid of. It was just an
accident. You must have tripped. No one pushed you. It was just an
accident,” Holly cooed.

Nick pushed back to look at his mom.
His eyes were as big as saucers. “I saw something,” he choked.
“Something in my room. Last night. I was scared, but I didn’t think
it was real. But what if it was real, Mom? What if it was real and
it pushed me and it made me hurt myself? Mom, what if it was
real?”

“
What did you see, Nick?
Tell me exactly what you saw,” she whispered softly.

“
I don’t know what it was.
It was a shadow or something dark. There were more than one. They
were dancing. I couldn’t hear the music, but they were dancing. I
didn’t think they could be real, but what if they were? If Belle
didn’t push me, it might have been them.” His voice rose with panic
again, and Holly pulled him in tight, rocking him and stroking his
hair reassuringly.

“
Hush, now. You’re
alright. You’re safe. Nothing’s going to hurt you. Mommy’s here,”
she whispered over and over until he finally began to calm down. “I
want you to try and rest. Lie back and close your eyes. I’ll be
right here.”

She tucked him in again
and smoothed his hair back from his forehead. She tried to mask her
concern for Nick’s sake, but every cell in her body was on high
alert. Her son was experiencing the same things she’d been
experiencing, and now it seemed he’d been hurt as a result of it.
She had to do something, but what? What did people do when their
nightmares became real? Where did you turn in a situation like
that? And where the
hell
was her husband? He should be here, helping her,
helping Nicky.

*

Holly trudged downstairs, exhausted.
Nicky had finally gotten to sleep, thanks to the combination of
painkillers he’d been prescribed and her reading a few of the
Christmas story books she’d brought down from the attic a week ago.
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t seem to ease Nick’s mind
about what had really caused him to fall down the stairs, and he
hadn’t wanted to fall asleep for fear of having more of the strange
nightmares he’d experienced the night before. It broke her heart to
see him suffer.

She needed tea. Sweet, hot, chamomile
tea to help calm her nerves and make her feel normal again. Just as
she reached the bottom of the stairs, she heard what sounded like a
drum beat—faint, low, and steady. “Damn kids,” she thought, moving
to the living room window to spot the car from which she believed
the sound was coming. When she neared the living room, the sound
grew louder, but she saw no sign of a car. She shook her head,
willing the sound away, but it only came stronger. Then she saw
headlights turning into the drive. Chris! Finally!

She rushed to the door, a swirl of
emotions running through her mind. Where had he been? Why hadn’t he
called? Was he okay? Had something terrible happened to him too?
She felt relief mixed with fear and frustration as she flung open
the door to greet her husband.

“
Where have you been?” she
cried, wrapping her arms around him and squeezing
tightly.

“
I told you. We had the
company Christmas party tonight,” he replied, puzzled.

“
You’ve been at a
party
? All this time?
Why didn’t you come home when you got my messages?” she asked in
disbelief. “What are you talking about? What messages?”

“
I left a message with
your secretary and on your cell. Nicky fell down the stairs today.
He broke his leg!” she countered.

“
What
? Is he okay?” Chris made for the stairs, but Holly grabbed
his arm to stop him.

“
He’s all right. I finally
got him to sleep a little while ago. Chris, what happened to you?
Why didn’t you call me back?” she pleaded.

He ran his hand through his hair,
shock on his face as he glanced up the stairs. “It was a slow day,
so Mr. White took a bunch of us in the loan department out for an
early lunch. We wound up at this little karaoke bar and had a few
drinks.”

“
Why didn’t you answer
your cell?” she asked again.

“
I gave it to Carol this
morning. She needed to get some contacts from it. I guess we both
forgot she had it. It must still be on her desk.”

“
Carol, huh? What’s going
on there, Chris? I left a message with her this morning right after
the accident. I told her to have you call me right away, and she
said she would. Did she even
tell
you about it?” Holly’s voice rose now as rage
boiled up inside her. How dare that little blond bitch keep her
husband from her!

“
She never mentioned, it,
no,” he replied, deflated. “I really want to see Nicky for myself.
I’m just going to poke my head in the door and check on him. I’ll
be right back.”

“
Don’t wake him up!” she
snapped.

Exasperated, Chris climbed the stairs
two at a time. Holly watched him go, hearing the drums beat louder
now. Her anger at Chris, at the whole situation, grew stronger with
each beat of the drum. She no longer cared where it was coming
from. She paced in time to the sound, waiting for her husband to
return so she could rip into him. He was going to hear about this.
And she was not going to allow him to patronize her. He needed to
know what had been going on, and he needed to help her get to the
bottom of it.

Chris descended the stairs, his
shoulders slumped, his eyes red-rimmed. Seeing their son in a leg
cast had shaken him, and he was kicking himself for having not been
there. For kicking up his heels at the bar, and, later, back at the
office during the Christmas party.

“
Where’s Belle?” he asked
when he rejoined Holly in the living room. “And where’s that
beating coming from?”

“
With Diana, to the first
question, and I don’t know to the second,” she bit back. “What the
hell, Chris? You just party with your secretary all day. You don’t
check in, even
once
, and she doesn’t bother giving you an important message from
your WIFE? And you’re okay with that? Because I’m not!”

“
No, I’m not okay—” he
began.

“
There’s something else.
You know I told you that some really weird things were happening
ever since Snowflake died. Like me hearing her trying to get in.
And seeing shadows on the wall. Well, Nicky’s been seeing them
too.” The words tumbled out of her. She barely registered Chris’s
dumbfounded expression as she continued. “He thought Belle pushed
him down the stairs this morning. I told him it couldn’t have been
Belle. She was right there with me, in the kitchen, when it
happened. When I told him that, he freaked out! He started telling
me about the shadows and how it must have been them who pushed him.
No matter what I said, he insists he was pushed. Something is going
on, Chris. Something awful, and you’re off partying with your
stupid secretary!” she finished on a high-pitched
shriek.

“
Whoa. Wait a minute.
First of all, I had no idea all this was going on today. If I had,
you know I’d have been right here. Second, there is nothing going
on with Carol and me. She might be a little flirty, but I promise
you, I have not encouraged her to be that way.” He noted his wife
rolling her eyes. It pissed him off, frankly, but he reminded
himself of all the stress she must have been through today, for the
past week, really, and he tried to exercise his
patience.