Gathering her strength, she reached for her…
* * *
“Mag… Mag!” Rachel kept calling desperately, searching for the woman’s soul. She didn’t want to give up. “Mag, answer me, dammit!”
“Rachel, I’m here.”
Rachel moved her spirit to where she heard Mag’s voice.
“Thank God.” Rachel dropped down next to Mag, her pale eyes staring up at her.
“Don’t leave,” Rachel begged. She looked up, seeing the bright light approaching, and then held her hand tighter.
“Girl, I wasn’t meant to stay here forever. It’s time I went home.”
The acceptance in her voice had Rachel shaking her head. “Your time is close, but not now. It doesn’t feel right,” Rachel begged. “Listen to me, Mag. Something is wrong, but it’s not anything wrong with you. I would feel the pain. Please stay…” She was unaware of the small cries escaping her as she pleaded with the woman she had come to love.
Rachel felt Mag’s acceptance; she wasn’t even putting up the least resistance. Life was not given freely; it had to be wanted… she needed to be wanted. The answer came to her.
“I need you, Mag. Who is going to make Cash behave if you leave? Don’t you want to stay and see your first great-grandchild born? Isn’t that worth living for?”
“I’m going to have a great-grandchild?”
Rachel felt the spark within Mag flicker, the light pausing above her.
“Yes!” Rachel felt no qualms about lying to her if she lived. “Stay, please, stay… for Cash, me, and our child.”
Rachel put her last bit of strength into Mag’s fluttering heart, holding it steady until she could see the blinding, beautiful light receding away from Mag.
Rachel looked up; the light was moving toward her. She instantly understood the peaceful serenity that Mag hadn’t wanted to give up…
* * *
Cash was holding her when she woke. He held his breath as her eyes opened, staring up at him groggily.
“Cash?”
“I want to shake you. Don’t you ever fucking do that again. I don’t care who it is. Not Ever Again!” His hands tightened on hers, trying to give some of his warmth to her ice-cold flesh.#p#分页标题#e#
“Is Mag okay?”
“She’s fine. Wants to know what’s for dinner.”
Relief at his grandmother’s rapid recovery had been offset by his fear for Rachel. If he’d had any doubts of his feelings for her, they had been destroyed when he had come so close to losing her.
“What happened? I remember Mag fell and I helped her. I didn’t pull back in time, did I?”
“No, you didn’t. You almost died. The paramedics had to shock your heart back into rhythm.”
“I’ll be fine in a couple of days.”
Cash couldn’t believe the lack of concern she had for her own safety.
“You knew when you helped her what was going to happen, didn’t you?” When he saw the guilty look in her eyes, he had to get up. Moving to the window, he stared out.
“I didn’t know for sure. After I helped you my gift disappeared, I thought it was gone. My mother and grandmother both warned me that our gift is limited. We can’t do what we’re doing unless we give away a piece of ourselves. I gave too much.”
“It happened when you saved me, didn’t it? Lily didn’t tell me that part.”
“I made her promise.”
Rachel’s soft explanation raised his fury.
“Stop keeping secrets from me. You didn’t tell me that you saved my life, you sure as hell never told me that you’re a damn genius, and you didn’t tell me you’re pregnant.”
“What!” She tried to sit up in bed, only to fall back when she couldn’t contain the laughter erupting from her chest. “I only told her that to give her the will to live,” she tried to excuse the lie she’d told.
Cash wasn’t going to let her off that easily. “Mag has told anyone who will listen that she’s expecting her first great-grandchild.”
“You have to stop her. If my brothers hear that rumor, they’ll kill you.”
Seeing she was getting upset, he decided to ease her worry. “I’ll talk to her,” he assured her. “In a couple of days,” he clarified. “We don’t want to set her recovery back, do we?”
“No, I don’t want to do that,” she said suspiciously.
“Good. That’s settled, then.”
“Do they know what happened to Mag? Was it another stroke?”
“No, it wasn’t a stroke or her heart. She was poisoned.”