4. Fable
4
Fable
T he meal is as delicious as it smelled.
“I really like your home, Leo,” I say as he’s getting me a second bowl of stew.
“Thanks.”
“It’s so wonderfully quiet here. I like how cozy it is. It looks lived in. I really hate living in a house that looks like a mausoleum.”
I blink as some of my present world fades away. Another world shimmers just out of my memory. I know that I wasn’t happy there that I felt sad and cloistered. But there is one bright light. A person. I feel her happiness, and I try to grasp onto it, pull it closer. But as I do, it dissolves, and the cabin comes back into view.
The progression only took a few seconds. I close my eyes, trying to gain my wits again because I feel as if I’m on a rollercoaster that’s jerked me around. Although, I’m not sure if I’ve ever been on a rollercoaster.
The sound of the bowl being set down on the table in front of me pulls me all the way back, and I open my eyes slowly.
“Did you remember something?” Leo asks, his deep, baritone voice washing over me. He isn’t pushy, which I appreciate.
“Just another feeling.” I groan. “Why can’t I remember anything?”
“You got hit in the head and apparently went through something awful. That will do a number on the mind. Believe me, I understand. Your memory will return soon enough.”
His calm voice and the certainty I see in his gaze quiets all my fears. I know the doctor told me to take it easy, but I’m so frustrated.
“Have you always lived here?”
“In this house?” he asks with a smile.
I chuckle. “No, this area. You said, Pottsville, Virginia?”
He nods. “I grew up here, then I went into the Air Force for a decade.”
“Did you fly a plane?”
“No.” He smiles. “It’s funny. That’s the question I always get. But I was a PJ.”
“A PJ?”
“Parachute Jumper.”
My eyes widen. “Oh, wow.” Then, I think about it. “What did you do after you jumped?”
He lets out a bark of laughter. The sound makes me smile. “I worked rescue. If they needed people to go in and save people, but it was hard to get to them, they sent us. We go through the same kind of training SEALs do, but we have medic training. It’s one of the reasons the doc let you come home with me. He knew I could handle the situation.”
I’m not surprised at all. He’s so competent at everything. All I know how to do is art. I frown.
“You had another memory.”
Not a question but a statement. He’s so perceptive.
I nod. “I think I’m an artist. I don’t know why but you were talking about being a parachute jumper and I thought all I do is art. I have no idea what kind, but apparently, it’s something I do?”
Before he can answer, there’s a knock at the door. Immediately, fear surges in me, and I hate it. I wish I could be strong like Destiny.
Memories of a funny girl hit me, us laughing, playing pranks…my best friend. But then it fades away, and all I have is just wisps as I try to grasp hold of the memory.
“Fable?” I look up at him.
I shake my head. “Just had a little memory, but it isn’t going anywhere.”
“What memory?”
God, that voice. He softens it when he talks to me, making sure that he doesn’t freak me out. It sinks beneath my skin and seems to brighten my soul. It’s silly to be this attached to a man who I barely know, but for some reason, I’m sure that I will always be safe with him.
“A friend. Someone I knew, and I remember us laughing, and that’s it.”
He nods. “They are all little pieces of you. Pretty soon, we’ll have all of those pieces to put your past back together.”
I smile at him, contentment filling me. It’s like we vibrate together when we’re in the same room. When we’re apart, it feels as if I’m out of step with the world. It’s so weird.
“It’s just Frank. I don’t know if you remember him, but he’s the deputy who was in charge of the accident site.”
Again, I nod and stay seated. When he opens the door, I hear him curse.
“I said to come alone,” he says, standing in the doorway so I can’t see who is there.
“I know, but she heard me talking to you, and you know wives.”
“No. I don’t know them.”
“Oh, get over yourself,” a female voice says. “I stopped by to drop off some extra clothes for your company.”
Leo grunts and I have to fight a giggle. He’s so sweet to me. It’s funny seeing this side of Leo. He’s like a big bear, but I know his growl is just to protect me. That makes me like him even more.
“I swear if you don’t let me in, I’ll call your mama.”
That gets Leo moving, and that does make me laugh. He pulls the man—I’m assuming it’s Frank—aside to talk with him. The woman comes walking toward me. She’s tall, with a full figure and a ready smile. She has the kindest eyes and a shock of red hair that is so bright it can’t be natural.
S he would make a good subject.
I blink.
Again, with the art.
“Hey, there,” she says much more softly than she was when she threatened Leo. “My name’s Mirabelle, and I work as dispatch at the station. That’s my husband Frank over there talking to the Sheriff.”
“I’m Fable, I think.”
Her eyes soften even more. “Fable is a beautiful name. I brought you some clothes. We have some sweatpants from the department. No one could wear a small, and Frank said you were tiny.”
I smile, immediately liking her. Concern shines in her eyes, and I think I wouldn’t mind having her as a friend. I blink as my smile fades.
“Are you okay?”
“Fable?” Leo says as he rushes back over to where we are standing. “What’s wrong?”
I shake my head. “Just another memory that came to me. Or a thought.”
“What?”
I don’t want to admit my thoughts to these two new strangers. Of course, I didn’t think twice about revealing all kinds of things to Leo, but this is different.
“Hey, listen, we’re going to get going,” Mirabelle says, giving me a wink telling me she knows I’m close to being overwhelmed. “Tell the sheriff to give you my number if you need to have some girl talk or whatever. Believe me, I know what it’s like to be surrounded by men.”
I give her a smile. “Thank you, Mirabelle.”
She hurries Frank out the door, and then Leo and I are alone.
“I’m going to go put these in the bedroom, then I’ll help you clean up.”
He nods, and I hurry away, trying to deal with all these warm feelings he gives me. I know he’s nice to me because he wants to solve the mystery and send me on my way. Why does that make me so sad? Is it just because I don’t remember my family? Am I clinging to Leo because I see him as my savior?
I put the sweats away and join him back in the kitchen. He as almost everything cleaned up. I frown. “I wanted to help.”
He shrugs. “I’m used to handling my own cleaning.”
“Well, until I leave, I want to pull my weight.”
“And I want you to rest. If you overexert, it might wear you out, and you might have more issues remembering.”
I nod. Of course. He wants to get rid of me as soon as he can. Sadness fills me, but I fight the need to wallow. Barely.
“Hey,” he says, his voice even more gentle, “we’ll find your people.”
“My people?”
He nods. “Don’t worry. It will all come back to you soon so we can find your family.”
For some reason, the laughing girl comes back into my mind.
“I think I have a sister.”
“Yeah? That’s good, right?”
I nod as my mind tries to wrap around the idea of having a sibling. I try and try to remember her, to figure out if she is really my sister.
“Hey,” he says, his voice soft and gentle. I look up at him, and my vision wavers. It’s then that I realize that my eyes are filled with tears. I despise crying in general. Or I think I do. God, what a mess. As tears spill down my cheeks, I try to brush them away, but he stops me. Cupping my face, he forces me to look up at him. He uses his thumbs to brush the tears away, and the kind light in his eyes is my undoing. The sob that escapes surprises me, but soon a torrent of tears spill down my cheek.
He wraps his arms around me, enveloping me in his warmth as he rocks us back and forth.
“Everything is going to be okay, Fable.”
Anger hits me hard and surprises me. I’m angry at the situation, at not being able to remember who I am and who apparently is after me. A girl like me doesn’t get attacked and have to escape only to found in the snow with no memory.
“How do you know everything is going to be okay?” I demand, not understanding why I’m so angry at him. He is the one person I should be thanking every minute of every day. I tear myself out of the warmth of his embrace. I beat my fists on his chest. He takes the blows, but mainly because I’m sure he doesn’t feel them.
He just pulls me against him again, his strong arms surrounding me once again.
“I know you’re angry. I’d be pissed too,” he says, his voice rumbling against my ear pressed to his chest. “I promise you, though, we will figure this out. We’ll find out what happened to you and find the person who hurt you.”
There’s no doubt that he will. The conviction in his voice tells me he will do anything to protect me from whoever hurt me. I look up at him, no longer embarrassed by the tears. He does that for me. He makes me normal. For some reason, I think that I might not be considered normal in my old life, and right now, I don’t care. What I care about is this man and the way he makes me feel.
Safe.
It might be normal for other people to feel safe, but I think I didn’t feel that in my old life.
“What?”
He is always asking questions, knowing that I’m grabbing tendrils of memories before they dissolve before I can discover what they mean.
“I don’t think I was safe in my old life. I don’t know why but I wasn’t.” He opens his mouth, but I press my finger against his lips. “Thank you. You make me feel as if nothing in the world could hurt me.”
I rise to my tiptoes, replacing my finger with my own lips, brushing my mouth against his.
I lower back down and blink up at him.
“What was that for?”
His voice is low and growly. It sends a shot of heat dancing through my blood and straight to my clit. I just want to climb him like he’s a big oak tree.
“I was thanking you.”
Something moves over his expression, his eyes darkening. I should be scared. I barely know Leo, but some instinct is telling me I can trust him with my life.
“I don’t want your gratitude.”
“You don’t?”
He shakes his head, but his gaze is zeroed in on my mouth. I lick my lips. He groans and tightens his arms around me, dipping his head and slamming his mouth on mine.