The Way to Yesterday (24 page)

"No. I just needed to touch you... to know if you were real."

Daniel took her hand and lifted it to his lips, pressing a kiss in the palm
of her hand.

"I'm real, baby... and so are you." He drew a deep, shuddering
breath. "God, Mary ...I've never been so scared."

"Me, too."

Gently, he lifted the wayward strands of hair from her forehead, then bent
down and kissed her.

"The girls... they told us what you did. I am so proud of you."

"Are they all right?"

"Yes...oh, and Reese said that Justine wanted you to know that Amy Anne
talked. Is that important?" Mary closed her eyes briefly, picturing the
silent child with horror-filled eyes.

"Very important.
She was the first one he
took. She was alone with that... that man...for almost a month before he took
Justine. By that time she wouldn't make eye contact or react in any manner to
what was happening. All the time I was with them I kept thinking ... what if
this had happened to Hope?"

"You saved their lives, honey. You're a real heroine, did you know
that?"

"
Does the media
know about me?"

"No. At my request, Reese kept it quiet... mostly because of
Hope."

Mary sighed. "Thank God. Could we please keep it that way?"

"You can have anything you want," Daniel said. She tried to smile and
then winced from the pain in her jaw. "What I want is to turn over, but I
think I'm going to need some help."

"Sure, honey," Daniel said, and slid his hands beneath her
shoulders. Just as he started to lift, she cried out in pain. He withdrew
immediately, uncertain as to how he had hurt her. "Mary... darling, I'm so
sorry. What did I do?"

She grabbed his hand. "No, Danny ... I'm the one who's sorry. I didn't
mean to frighten you. It's just that my back and shoulders are so sore."

"Your back?
What did he do?"

"I had to stop him from running after the girls, so I grabbed his legs.
The only way I could keep him from kicking me loose was to wrap myself around
the lower half of his body. I had control of his mobility, but not his
fists."

"He beat you?"

The tone in Daniel's voice was chilling. Mary knew he was struggling with a
terrible rage. She tried to make light of it by teasing.

"I stuck to him like a tick. You should have heard him screaming at me
to let go."

"The bastard," Daniel muttered. "Let me see." He turned
on the light and then opened the back of her gown. Her skin was a mass of
bruises, ranging in color from faint blue to a deep, dark purple. Some of them
bore deep scratches, as if he tried to claw himself free. The shock of what
Mary had endured made him sick. He stroked her arm, then her face, then lowered
his head until their foreheads were touching.

"Oh sweet heaven
.. .oh
baby ...I didn't know.
I didn't know."

"Daniel ...
don't
. They will heal and I still
want to turn to my side."

Still Daniel hesitated. Mary sighed. The shock on his face was impossible to
miss.

"Please," she begged, and then gritted her teeth when Daniel slid
his hands back beneath her body and began to help her turn.

Groaning softly from the relief, she settled into a new position.

"Thank you, darling. That's much better."

Daniel stared at her without moving.

"How is Hope? Is she with Mike and Phyllis?"

"Yes, and she's fine. She doesn't even know you were gone."

Mary sighed. "What's the date today?"

"The 2nd of October."

"Oh no...
it's
her birthday. What's she going
to think?"

"She doesn't know what day it is. Mom and Dad made sure of that. We'll
celebrate her birthday when we're all home together."

"That's good."

There was a brief and uncomfortable moment of silence. Neither Mary nor
Daniel could think of a safe topic of conversation.

"Do you need anything for pain?" Daniel finally asked.

"No," Mary said, and then to her horror, felt tears rolling down
her face. For Daniel, it was the proverbial last straw. Rage spilled out of him
in violent waves, making his body tremble.

"I should have killed the son of a bitch."

"Just hold me," Mary begged.

He lowered the bed rail and crawled in beside her. Sliding his arm beneath her
neck, he pillowed her head on his chest and held her while she cried. He wanted
to tell her that whatever that man had done to her would never destroy what was
between them. He wanted to say it-but he was afraid to bring it up and so he
held her and thanked God that she was still alive.

Several minutes passed, then several more, and Daniel was certain that Mary
had fallen asleep. He figured he would catch hell from the first nurse to come
in and find him in bed with her, but he didn't really care. He closed his eyes,
trying to make himself relax. One moment led to another and then an other, and
just when he was on the verge of going under, he heard Mary's voice. The words
were slurred, as if she were talking in her sleep, but they were a gift, just
the same.

"He didn't rape me."

Ah God... thank you for sparing her that. "It's okay, baby... go back
to sleep," he said softly.

Mary sighed. Her breathing slowed and he felt her muscles relax.

"Daniel..."

"What, honey?"

 "The baby is okay."

He smiled to himself. She was so sleepy she was barely making sense.

"Yes, honey... Hope is okay."

She sighed. "Not Hope.
The baby."
Then
she reached for his hand and laid it on her stomach. "Our baby," she
mumbled, and fell back to sleep. Daniel went from shock to elation. He splayed
his fingers across her belly and realized that she hadn't just been fighting
for Justine and Amy Anne's lives, but for the life of her unborn child. He laid
his face against the back of her neck, unashamed of the tears that he shed.

"Thank you, Mary Faith," he said softly. And then it was morning.

Mary was going to be dismissed, but she had adamantly refused to wear her
dirty clothes ever again, and at her insistence, Daniel had gone home to get
her some clean clothes.

She had showered earlier, and was sitting on the side of the bed in her gown
and robe, waiting for Daniel to come back when she heard a knock at the door.

"Come in," she called.

The door swung slowly inward, and then Mary started to smile. She didn't
recognize the four adults, but she knew the two little girls with them. She
slid off the bed and then opened her arms.

"My heroes," she cried, and gathered them close to her breast.
"Did you girls know that you saved me?"

Justine nodded importantly, while Amy Anne ducked her head and then buried
her face in the curve of Mary's neck. Mary looked up then, remembering the
adults who'd come with them.

"Where are my manners?" she said. "Please sit down."

"Not until you get back in bed," one of the women said.

Justine took Mary by the hand. "We'll help you, won't we, Amy
Anne?"

Amy Anne nodded,
then
looked nervously toward her
parents.

"The girls can sit with me," Mary said, as she got back in bed,
and helped both of them up in her lap.

Justine giggled as they snuggled close. "This is the way we slept in
the room, isn't it, Mary?" Mary's eyes filled with tears. "Yes, it
sure is." The parents gathered around her bed, all talking at once.
Finally, it was Amy Anne's father, Michael, Fountain, who spoke for them all.

"We don't know how to thank you," he said, his voice breaking with
emotion. "Justine told us 'what you did. You saved their lives, and we
will be forever in your debt."

"No," Mary said. "You don't owe me anything."

She thought back to the day she'd walked into that antique shop. "I
didn't used to believe this, but I do now. I think everything happens for a
reason.
Even the bad stuff.
We don't always understand
why, but, eventually, it finally becomes clear. I was in that place because it
was meant to be. I had to be there because of them, so don't thank me, thank
God. He's the One who made it possible."

Then she hugged both the girls and tickled Amy Anne's ear.

"Do you remember what we promised we would do when we got to go
home?"

To Mary's surprise, it was Amy Anne who answered.

"Play with Hope."

Mary laughed with delight,
then
began to explain to
the parents.

"Hope is my little girl. Yesterday was her seventh birthday, but the
party has been a little delayed. I kept telling the girls that they would soon
see you again, and that when you said it was okay, that they could come and
play with Hope."

"It's a promise," they echoed,
then
added, "And it's also time for us to go. You need to rest, but the girls
were adamant about coming to visit. I think they needed to see for themselves
that you were all right." Mary hugged them close. "I am very okay,
aren't I?"

Justine's mother handed Mary a card.

"Just a little something from all of us for what you did. Our phone
numbers and addresses are en closed. Please stay in touch."

"Thank you," Mary said, and kissed both of the
girls
goodbye. As she did, it made her think of Hope and how badly she needed to hold
her own child again.

They left as quietly as they'd come. Mary waved until the door went shut,
then she turned the card over, smiling to herself at the awkward writing of her
name. Something told her that Justine and Amy Anne had done it themselves.

She slid a fingernail beneath the flap and popped it open, then pulled out
the card. As she read the verses, the hair on the back of her neck began to
crawl.

A
promise made is a thing to behold

A
promise kept is worth more than gold.

So
I promise you forever a love strong and true

Because you kept your promise when I needed
you.

Justine and Amy Anne had signed it, one in green pencil,
one
with a pink marker. But it was the verse that gave her a chill. She closed her
eyes, picturing the antique store and the sign, Time After Time. She saw
herself going inside,
then
moving down the narrow,
dusty aisles to the back of the store-finding the jewelry case and then that
ring.
That marvelous ring that had let her change the future
and her fate.
There had been an engraving inside.

I promise you forever.

Forever was a long, long time with Daniel at her side.

She leaned back against the pillows as the last of her uncertainty ebbed. As
she waited for him to come back, she felt a tiny flutter beneath her heartbeat.
A sigh of contentment slid through her, filling her with such a sense of peace.

Yes, baby ...I know you're still there. Then she laid her hand on the flat
of her stomach, as if in comfort to the tiny spark of new life that still
burned. The girls weren't the only ones who were depending on me, were they,
sweet thing? She closed her eyes, letting the silence envelope her. A few
minutes later, she heard the familiar tread of Daniel's footsteps and sat up on
the side of the bed, awaiting him with a smile.

Epilogue

The staircase at the O'Rourke house was entwined with fresh pine boughs and
holly, and in the living room, the lights twinkled brightly on the six-foot
Norfolk
pine that Daniel,
Mary and Hope had decorated last night. The scents of fresh greenery mingled
with a simmering potpourri of sweet spices that Mary had going on the
sideboard. She sat cross legged in the floor in front of the tree, staring up
at the lights, wanting to be close to the joy. Then her gaze slid to a very
obviously handmade elf hanging from the lower branches.

Last night she'd watched Hope pull it from the box of decorations and
listened to her chatter as she reminisced about making it at school the year
before. It had been made from a juice carton and a dozen or so multicolored
pompons. It looked more like an explosion of fuzzy M&M's, than one of
Santa's elves The odd thing was, Mary thought she could remember watching Hope
hang it proudly on the tree, when she knew in her heart she'd been very alone
last year. The transition between her life before the antique shop and her life
after was something she would never be able to share, but however it happened,
she was forever thankful.

Her wounds from the abduction had long since healed, although there were
still nights when she woke up in a sweaty panic, thinking she was still
fighting Howard Lee Martin for her life. Both Justine and Amy Anne were still
in therapy but had become fast friends with Hope. With the
naivete
of the child that she was, Hope had blithely accepted them as Mommy's friends
who had now become hers, as well.

Howard Lee Martin had never gone to trial, but Daniel had assured Mary that
the institution for the criminally insane where he had been committed was a far
worse sentence than anything else he could have ever received. He would never
see the light of day as a free man again, and for Mary and the little girls'
families, it would have to suffice.

Her life was peaceful and filled with joy on a daily basis. She went to bed
each night with a prayer of thanksgiving on her lips and woke up each morning,
grateful for what she had. By this time next year, there would also be an
addition to their family and for that Mary was ecstatic. She'd missed all those
early memories with Hope, but she wasn't going to miss them again.

She glanced at the clock. It wasn't quite ten. She still had time to run a
quick errand before she met Daniel for lunch and she didn't want to be late.
Even though she was moving on with her new life, there was a part of her old
one she needed to put to rest. She got to her feet, grabbed her coat and her
purse as she headed out the door.