A Chance for Charity (The Immortal Ones) (13 page)

I wiggled my way out of Link’s embrace
without waking him, and quietly made my way across the room to the
closet, shutting the door behind me. When I turned on the light, I
glanced at myself in the full length mirror, and immediately
frowned at my appearance. My favorite Forties outfit was badly
wrinkled, having been slept in all night. There was a slight tear
in the seam at the shoulder of the shirt, the stitching now old and
delicate. The skirt seemed to have made it unscathed. At least the
jacket had been safely discarded and placed on the back of my desk
chair, before we fell asleep in each other’s arms.

A quick change of my clothes, into pajama
pants and a tank top, and I was tip-toeing my way out of my
bedroom. I heard Catherine softly humming a Gaelic tune in the
kitchen and went downstairs to see her.

“
Good morning,” I hugged
her. “Can you fix the shirt I was wearing yesterday? I fell asleep
with it on and it tore at the shoulder,” I explained.

“
That’s good to hear,”
Catherine mused.

“
It’s good to hear that my
shirt is ripped?”

“
No, it’s good to hear you
slept in your clothes. I was afraid you would be rushing into the
unknown. I’m glad you are keeping a level head,” she
said.

“
Catherine, I’m not sure
yet what it means to me, to have him. But I won’t rush into
anything, physically. Emotionally, it may be too late. I think it
was too late two months ago,” I half-heartedly joked.

“
I think you may be right.
I see the way you look at him and the way he looks at you. I can’t
say I’m entirely displeased. I’ve been waiting years for you to
find someone that you can love again. It just seems appropriate
that he has a connection to your past.”

“
What about the mortal,
immortal issue?” I asked.

“
What issue?” she asked
innocently.

“
You know what I mean,” I
pressed.

“
Charity, anything can
happen to anyone at any time. James could be taken away from me
tomorrow. Yes, Lincoln will age and you will not. You have to ask
yourself if that will become an issue for you as time passes. Only
you can answer that,” Catherine responded and gave me a comforting
hug.

“
I’ll contemplate that
later, I guess. Right now I think I’ll just take things as they
come,” I said. “Is James in his lab?”

“
Yes he’s been in there all
night. I think he is trying to isolate the healing compounds in our
blood. He asked me for a sample a few hours ago. He’ll probably be
begging you next,” she gave me a wary glance.

“
No way! If I fall down and
scrape myself he had better be right there with a collection vial.
Otherwise no dice... I don’t do needles or scalpels,” I
protested.

“
Why not?” asked a voice
from behind me.

“
Aaah,” I
squealed.

“
Good morning, Lincoln,”
Catherine greeted him.

“
Guess that super hearing
thing’s not working too well this morning,” he chuckled at my
startled expression.

“
Too distracted by James’s
supposed need for my blood. Like I said he’ll have to catch me
doing something stupid and collect it then.” I knew it was
unreasonable for me to make such a stipulation. But I’d had an
irrational fear of needles since I was a kid getting shots at the
doctor’s office. The self inflicted wounds of my past provided for
the other fear.

“
That’s what I told him,”
Catherine sang.

“
No intentional
bloodletting huh?” Link asked as he encircled me in his
arms.

“
No!” I wrinkled my face in
disgust. “What are you doing awake? It’s only five thirty,” I
asked.

“
You left me,” he answered,
his face sober.

“
I didn’t leave. I came
downstairs,” I justified.

“
You left,” he
insisted.

“
I’m sorry. Good morning,”
I leaned into his embrace, resting my head on his chest.

“
Good morning,” he echoed
as he kissed the top of my head. “What are
you
doing fully awake at five thirty
on a Saturday?” he asked, confused.

“
Our internal clocks run a
little... differently,” Catherine explained

“
I’m sure there are quite a
few
different
things that I’ll have to get used to,” he yawned.

“
A few,” I answered
vaguely.

“
How about food? That’s all
still the same, right? I’m starving. We never ate dinner last
night,” he said.

“
Oh you’re right, and yes,
food is pretty much the same. Except for the death by starvation
part. We just get weak,” I answered.

“
I’ll just take that as
‘yes I’m hungry too.’ May I be so bold as to open this refrigerator
and see what I can make for our breakfast?”

“
Yes, please be so bold,” I
smiled.

“
I’m going up to my study,
to read. Have fun you two,” Catherine excused herself and made her
way upstairs.

I sat on the stool by the kitchen counter
and watched as Link surveyed our fridge. He looked adorable with
his bare feet, his wrinkled t-shirt, and jeans. His tousled hair
simply added to the appeal.

“
How about an omelet, with
cheese, ham... What else you got? ... mushroom, tomato, onion, you
name it,” he asked over his shoulder.

“
All of the above, except
onions, yuck,” I wrinkled my face in distaste.

“
So, the lady doesn’t like
onions,” he noted.

“
No, the lady hates
onions,” I clarified.

“
Got it, no onions,” he
smiled, as he transferred items from the fridge to the
counter.

“
Let me help you,” I said,
as I got up from the stool.

“
No, no, I’m making
breakfast for us. You stay put,” he ordered. So, I simply pointed
out where all the kitchen tools and pans were kept.

A few minutes later, he sat down beside me
and placed a plate, containing a huge overflowing omelet bubbling
with cheese, on the counter between us. He handed me a fork and we
both dug in.

“
Wow! That is heavenly. You
make a good omelet,” I said after swallowing the first
bite.

“
I’ve got powers,” he
shrugged.

“
Awesome powers,” I
agreed.

“
What should we do
today?”

“
Since you are a self
proclaimed excellent shopper and Christmas is what, like two weeks
away...” I trailed off as I took another bite.

“
Christmas shopping?” he
asked.

“
Would that be alright with
you? I haven’t got anything for James or Catherine and I want to
get a little something for my friends at school too. Would that
bore you?”

“
I’d be spending the day
with you. I have nothing to complain about,” he smiled.

“
Thank you!” I smiled in
return as I leaned forward to place a kiss on his nose.

“
Do you want to walk around
town or go somewhere else?”

“
Oooh! I hadn’t thought
about that, where else could we go?” I loved the thought of being
alone with him, somewhere away from here.

“
Montrose isn’t too far,”
he offered.

“
Let’s do it,” I
beamed.

“
Whatever the lady wants,”
he smiled my brilliant smile.

“
The lady wants to be with
you,” I said matter-of-factly.

He gathered me into his arms. At that
moment, there was no other place I would rather be.

After we finished our breakfast, I ran
upstairs to get myself ready to go out. Link had headed off to his
apartment to do the same. I hated to let him walk out the door, but
decided I could spare him for an hour. When I was finished getting
ready, I found Catherine and told her my plans for the day. With
keys in hand, I dashed down the stairs and outside to my SUV. My
need to be with Link was a magnetic pull, stronger than anything I
had ever imagined.

The drive to his apartment seemed
excruciatingly long. As I turned into the parking lot, my heart
beat quickened and a wide smile automatically appeared on my face.
Link was standing at the entrance, waiting for me. He hopped in the
passenger seat, after I unlocked the doors, and leaned over to
place a frosty kiss on my lips.

“
Ooh, your lips are cold,”
I pretended to shiver.

“
I thought you’d never get
here,” he poured, with fake exasperation.

“
Poor baby, have you been
waiting long? I am a girl remember. We take longer to get ready,” I
reminded him as I started our drive out of town.

“
Yeah I know. It’s just
been awhile.”

“
What’s awhile?” I
questioned.

“
The last time I waited for
a girl?” He paused, waiting for an answer. I gave a quick nod. “I
guess that would have to be Jade, my high school girlfriend. We
broke up a few months before Grandpa died.”

“
What happened?”

“
I pushed her away. Grandpa
was real sick toward the end and I wouldn’t allow her to help me.
Emotionally, I turned myself off.”

“
So she left,” I
concluded.

“
Technically I left first.
The last few times we were together, I wasn’t really
there.”

“
Did you love
her?”

“
We were both eighteen when
we started dating and were together for about a year and a half. So
yes, I loved her, as much as I was capable of at the time. She
deserved better.”

“
Do you know where she is
now?”

“
I heard she got engaged
six months ago or so. I’m glad she’s happy now. She really is a
great girl.”

“
I’m actually a little
jealous,” I admitted.

“
Don’t be. I’ve come to
believe there is a reason for everything, a reason it didn’t work
out with Jade and a reason I found my way to you,” he grasped my
hand.

I beamed.

“
How about you?” Link
asked.

“
How about me what?” I
countered.

“
When’s the last time you
made a guy wait on you?”

“
Roger,” I let the sad
little word slip from my mouth and my expression clouded. “You shut
yourself off emotionally for over two years. I’ve done it for
several decades,” I berated myself.

“
Okay... New topic... Since
you brought up your age... I would love to know what you thought
about each decade?”

“
Seriously?” I was stunned.
I had never been able to talk with anyone but Catherine and James
about the past.

“
We’ll start with the
Fifties.”

“
Okay, I loved the music
and the changing fashions. Oh, and automobiles were so stylish,” I
answered.

“
Sixties?”

“
Music, not so much, except
the British invasion. The whole hippie thing was way over my head,”
I admitted.

“
Okay,
Seventies?”

“
Don’t hate me... I did
enjoy disco. But polyester clothes – yuck!” I shook my
head.

“
Disco?” he frowned,
“Eighties?” he continued

“
Great music... Terrible
big hair on women... and I never understood the shoulder-pads that
were sewn into so many outfits. I looked like a linebacker
sometimes, but you gotta go with the flow,” I sighed.

“
Nineties?”

“
Still liked the music...
clothes started to reflect the Sixties and Seventies again so that
was interesting... But technology, which started out great in the
Eighties, really took off. I love gadgets and a new one was popping
up every other day,” I paused. “Don’t ask me about the new century.
It just started,” I finished.

“
I won’t ask,” he promised,
“but I’ll hope you like it as much as I do now.”

I didn’t respond to his last statement.
Letting myself hope for the future was not something I was used to.
I had resigned myself to a life without love and romance, without
hope.

The conversation, for the rest of the drive,
concentrated on our musical likes and dislikes. I shocked him with
my love of the Eighties hair bands and he admitted to liking the
occasional rap song. We both agreed on alternative rock, it was the
perfect music to lose yourself in. Loud music with great drums and
guitars could be very freeing. He surprised me with his knowledge
of the Big Band Era and that discussion carried on, until we
reached Montrose.

Our little shopping excursion turned out to
be more of a treasure hunt. I drove the streets looking for thrift
stores, antique stores, vintage shops, and used book sellers. I
dragged Link into every small shop with a storefront that captured
my interest. My hunting always paid off. I found ten yards of
antique French silk and fifteen yards of a delicate cotton floral
fabric for Catherine. I lucked out again at a quaint little
rare-books store. I found two first editions - Hawthorne and Poe.
They were two of James’s favorite authors. Pleased with my finds I
turned my attention to the girls at school.

We stumbled upon an antique shop that had
trays and trays of authentic jewelry pieces from almost every
decade. I found some stunning black and white art deco pieces from
the mid Nineteen Twenties, some pretty little rhinestone Christmas
pins from the Fifties, and some leather bracelets woven with beads
from the Sixties. Link, the perfect shopping companion as promised,
even helped me choose two leather bracelets. One each for Summer
and Delilah. I was quite pleased with my purchases.