A Brand New Twist, Chapter 34
by Luvin_Evian
Chapter 34
Julian searched the cold, vast darkness. Straining his eyes to focus on
anything in the pitch-blackness to confirm the truth in the words he just
heard. “Timmy, is that really you?”
“Yes, Julian, it’s Timmy,” answered the unmistakable warm voice.
“Why can’t I see you?”
“Because you’re lost. Julian’s in total darkness, but he can find his way
to the light. Julian has to want to live.”
“Why don’t you scoot back to wherever it you came from, little Timmy,”
Death advised. “This matter does not concern you. Julian did call for me.
He wants Death!”
“Julian! Julian, please come back to me.”
“Eve,” Julian murmured, searching for the face he knew the darkness wouldn’t
allow him to see.
“Eve needs you, Julian,” Timmy said.
Guilt tightened Julian’s chest. He shook his head. “No, she deserves so
much better than me.”
“But you love Eve.”
“Yes, but my love hurts her. It always finds a way to hurt her.”
“Does Julian think this is better?”
“Julian, don’t leave me.”
The knot in Julian’s throat grew more constricting. He shook his head.
No. He couldn’t waver. This was for the best.
“Does Julian hear the pain in Eve’s voice?” questioned Timmy. “He is hurting
her now. Timmy thought Julian didn’t want to be a coward anymore.”
“I’m not being a coward,” he answered, abruptly. “I’m putting Eve first.
I’m thinking of her.”
Death groaned. “You don’t have to explain anything to this interloping
troll with his annoying third-person speak. Julian, you called for me. I’m
here. Follow my voice, and you’ll have your wish.”
Julian stumbled through the darkness, making his way to Death’s voice.
“That’s right, Julian, come to me,” Death urged.
“No! Julian can’t go to Death,” Timmy implored him. “How can you do this
to Eve when you say you love her?”
Julian stopped and turned to Timmy’s voice. “Didn’t you hear what I said,
Timmy. I’m doing this for Eve and our child—our children.”
“What Julian is doing is running away. When you were on the road with Timmy,
you changed. You saved Timmy’s life.”
“I did what anyone would have done.”
“The old Julian wouldn’t have done that. You put someone else before Julian.
Now, you’re putting Julian before the woman you love. The woman you want
to marry. On the road, when you slept, you spoke of Eve and your love for
her.”
“I did what?” Julian asked, not sure he heard Timmy right. He never talked
in his sleep, did he?
“Timmy wanted to wake you up, but he didn’t. Instead, he listened. He listened
to Julian declare his undying love for Eve, and apologize for hurting her.
Now, Julian is hurting Eve again, and he’s doing it on purpose.”
“I don’t want to hurt Eve. I want to protect her. I love her.”
“Timmy knows this, but Julian has to be stronger than his fear and guilt.
Death is not his friend. Death told Julian when Eve learned about Sheridan
she would hate him, but she didn’t. Eve told Julian she would stand by him,
but Julian didn’t want to believe it. He chose to believe evil over the
woman he loves. Julian dying won’t make anyone but Death happy.”
“That’s wrong,” Death explained. “Dying will make Julian happy, too. Come
to me, Julian.”
“Julian was so excited about his baby with Eve,” Timmy continued. “He was
making plans and reading books. How can he just walk away now? How can he
leave Eve, Sheridan, and his son?”
Julian shook his head, sighing. “You don’t understand.”
“Timmy understands perfectly. It’s not going to be easy to deal with what
you did, Julian, but you can do it. Sheridan may be angry for a long time,
and she might not forgive Julian, but Julian has to try. He has to be the
man who promised to never hurt Eve again and to never leave her.”
A reluctant smile turned Julian’s lips. Timmy had a way of holding up a
mirror to him, even in this darkness, and making him take a good, hard look
at himself. His little friend was right. He couldn’t leave Eve.
“Julian, I’m waiting,” said Death, a notable lilt in his usual bone-chilling
tone.
“I’m afraid you’ll have to wait a little longer,” Julian said. “I’m going
back. Back to Eve--back to my family.”
The suffocating darkness in the room slowly began to dissipate.
“What? You can’t!” Death blasted, his pale blue form becoming translucent.
“You want to come with me, Julian. You need to come with me.”
“What I want and need is to be with Eve. To try and explain things to our
daughter, find our son, and raise our new baby.” Julian spotted Timmy on
the left side of the fading Death. His little friend’s sweet smile beamed
brightly as he watched the evil force disappear completely. “Thank you, Timmy,”
Julian said.
“Julian being happy is all the thanks Timmy needs. Julian is stronger than
he thinks. He’ll be okay. Timmy will be watching out for him.”
“I miss you, Timmy. I miss your friendship and your wisdom. Especially
at times like this when I need a swift kick.”
“Timmy is Julian’s guardian angel. He will always be there when Julian
needs him, with his foot ready to kick.” Timmy shooed him off. “You go back
to Eve now. She needs you as much as you need her.”
Julian nodded. “Goodbye, Timmy.” Timmy waved as Julian’s spirit returned
to his body. The feel of Eve’s hand, the soft, familiar touch, prompted
his eyes to open. “Eve.”
“Julian.” Her hand closed around his. Tears shined in her beautiful eyes.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes,” he answered, realizing he was off the floor and lying on the hospital
bed. He touched his chest, fingering the circular tabs connecting him to
a heart monitor. “What--what happened?”
“An anxiety attack,” Matt answered, annoyance heavy in his tone. “You worked
yourself into such a state, you passed out. It felt like a heart attack,
but it wasn’t.”
“If it wasn’t a heart attack, why am I hooked to a heart monitor?”
“So I can monitor your heart,” Matt answered flippantly. Julian rolled
his eyes. He probably asked for that response. “I need to make sure you
stay calm.” The doctor frowned. “You have got to take better care of yourself,
Julian. The tests I ran all came back negative, but this erratic behavior
has got to stop. You’ll be staying here another day.”
Julian’s shoulders tensed. “But…”
“It’s not up for discussion.”
Eve smoothed her hand against his chest. Her soothing touch against his
bare skin always worked wonders. He relaxed immediately. “You’re staying,
Julian,” she echoed.
Julian nodded. “Fine.”
“See to it he remains calm, Eve.” Matt backed his chair toward the door.
“I’ll be back to check on you later, Julian.”
Eve rolled the bedside stool closer. Julian braced himself. He could see
the question in her eyes even before she asked it.
“Let me explain,” he said.
“I don’t want any explanations, Julian.”
“I know better than that. I can read you like a book, Eve.” She lowered
her head. “My love.” He lifted her chin, forcing their eyes to meet. “I can’t
apologize enough for causing you the pain I did. I was afraid. I’m still
afraid,” he admitted. “But, I’m going to face my fears, and I’m going to
promise, if you still want to marry me, to be the husband you deserve and
the father to our children I always wanted to be. Sheridan is—she’s probably
going to hate me, I can’t see how she won’t, but I’m going to do everything
I can to make it up to her.”
“I accept your apology, and, yes, I still want to marry you,” she said,
settling her lips against him for a breath’s moment. “I’m going to be with
you every step of the way, Julian, but I’m going to need you to make me another
promise.”
“Anything,” he said, licking his lips after the way too short kiss.
“Promise me you’ll never consider dying a solution to problems you don’t
want to face. You are so much stronger than that. I don’t want to be without
you, Julian. I can deal with anything with you by my side, but you have
got to believe that, too.”
“I do believe it, Eve. That Death, he was like, I don’t know. He played
on all my insecurities and preyed on all my worst fears. He made me believe
dying was best for everyone, for you, our baby, and for me. If I didn’t
know any better, I’d think he was working for my father.” Julian smirked.
“Hell, he was so evil, he could be Father.” Eve’s soft laughter brought
on the levity the situation warranted. Julian took her hands in his. “You
don’t have to worry. I see the light now. Thanks to your love and thanks
to Timmy.”
“Timmy?”
“Yes. When I had that anxiety attack, I saw him.”
“You did?”
Julian nodded. “He’s my guardian angel, and he said some things I needed
to hear. Things I already knew, but I guess needed to be reinforced.”
“I can tell seeing him did you a world of good,” she said with a smile.
“It did. Which brings me to a question. Eve, have you ever known me to
talk in my sleep?”
“No.” She raised a curious eyebrow. “Why do you ask?”
Julian shrugged. “Just curious.” He tightened his hand around hers. “So,
do you think Sheridan will come by later? I’ve resigned myself to telling
her everything, but I’d be lying if I said I was looking forward to it.”
Vicious images of Sheridan railing at him in anger and disgust haunted him.
He shuddered. “I don’t want our daughter to hate me.”
“Julian.” Eve kissed his cheek. “Sheridan could never hate you,” she assured
him. “I know you’re worried, but try not to think the worst. She knows the
kind of man Alistair is. Yes, she might be hurt and angry, but we have to
believe she’ll also be understanding as to why it all happened.”
“I hope so,” he said with a reticent smile. Eve’s confidence gave him reason
to be hopeful, but a pack of butterflies still wreaked havoc in the pit
of his stomach.
“Believe it, sweetheart. Sheridan is sympathetic to what Alistair did to
us. She is working feverishly to find our son, a man she doesn’t know is
her brother, with no regard to what Alistair would do to her if he ever found
out. That means something.”
“I think it might mean he already knows,” Julian said. Eve’s surprised
expression called for an explanation. “I’ve had investigators searching
for our son for months, and after a few days Sheridan’s P.I. discovers we
had twins. I never knew that before Father told me. The old man has something
up his sleeve, Eve. I just wish I knew what it was.”
***
“So good,” Sheridan said, licking mayonnaise and mustard from her fingertips.
“Ahem.”
Sheridan turned to the clearing throat. “Thomas?” She closed the lid of
the near empty Styrofoam tray on her lap and flashed a nervous smile as the
handsome investigator walked into his office. “I got a little hungry,” she
said, wiping her hands with a paper napkin.
“I see,” he said, removing his leather jacket and taking the seat behind
the desk. “I guess I should be upset you helped yourself to all of my fries,
but since you’re the first person I’ve met who likes them saturated in mustard
and mayo, I can’t be too ticked.” He smiled.
“I did save you this,” she said, extending the remaining half of the turkey
club sandwich from the plate.
“How nice of you,” he quipped. “Considering I did pay for it and all.”
He took a big bite of the sandwich.
“Wrong, Thomas, I paid for it. You weren’t here when the delivery guy showed
up.”
He laughed. “Touché.”
Sheridan smiled as she watched him eat. There was something about this
man she couldn’t put her finger on. Not since Luis had she met someone she
felt such an instant connection with. Both Luis and Thomas were tall, dark,
and handsome, but her attraction to Luis wasn’t like her attraction to the
man who would help her find her nephew. It was just as intense, but it felt
so very different.
“What are you grinning about?” he mumbled through a mouthful of sandwich.
“I don’t know,” she answered. “I just, and don’t take this the wrong way,
but I really like you. I don’t want to jump your bones or anything, not
that you aren’t a very attractive man, but I’m not attracted to you. Well,
at least not like that.” She tilted her head. Her eye narrowed. “Do you understand?”
Thomas swallowed the bit of sandwich in his mouth and laughed. “Amazingly,
yes, I do. I feel the same way about you, Sheridan. I’ve know you for what,
three days, and it’s like…”
“We click,” they said in unison.
“Yes.” Sheridan nodded.
“Maybe it’s this case we’re working on. It’s very intriguing.” Scoffing
down the last bit of sandwich, Thomas wiped his mouth and hands with a napkin
and then shot it into the wastebasket. “I have more information for you,”
he said, opening his briefcase and pulling out a file.
“I doubt this information will do me much good,” Sheridan confessed. “I
spoke with Eve while you were gone, and she insisted she didn’t have twins.
I wonder why I even questioned that? If Eve had twins, she would have told
me when she told me about her son. It looks like my father is up to his old
tricks, and we’re back to square one.”
“Hmmm.” Thomas shook his head. “I don’t know, Sheridan. My contacts are
pretty dependable, and this new information I have is very compelling.”
She leaned forward in the chair, her curiosity piqued. “How so?”
“Take a look at this,” he said, handing her a picture from the folder.
Sheridan gasped. “That’s Eve.”
“Uh-huh.”
“She’s holding two babies. She told me… I don’t understand.” Sheridan rubbed
her forehead, totally confused. “I know Eve wasn’t lying to me, but this
picture looks authentic.”
“It is authentic.”
“Where did you get this?”
“From the son of the doctor who was present during Eve’s delivery. He shared
this amazing story.”
“What amazing story?” She waved her hand, urging him to continue. “Tell
me, Thomas.”
He slumped his shoulders, groaning. “You know, Sheridan, I feel the connection,
and I enjoy helping you with this search, but this Thomas thing. Ugh, it’s
killing me. Nobody calls me Thomas. Well, except for the mother of a friend
of mine in Salem. Celeste doesn’t much like me, and she says my name with
such disdain. ‘Thomas’” He grunted.
“But that’s your name. Thomas Edward Kramer.”
“Tek, Sheridan. Tek,” he said, slowly annunciated the name for her. “People
who like me call me Tek.
“I like you a lot, but I don’t want to call you Tek. It sounds like a computer.”
“I’m a wiz. The name fits.”
Sheridan rolled her eyes, both annoyed and amused by his answer. “You’re
also extremely modest, too, right?”
“Whatever works.” He flashed that charming smile. Sheridan laughed. She
figured he had a line of women falling at his feet. It might explain why this
Celeste didn’t like him being friends with her daughter. “So, will you call
me Tek, please?”
“I’ll try,” she conceded, “but I prefer Thomas. Now, tell me, Tek, what’s
this incredible story?”