CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Ellie emerged from her dream like a person deep under water, searching for the surface when the air was running out. Her mouth opened with a gasp and she sucked in as much air as she could hold in her lungs, the exhalation bringing with it her first signals of consciousness.
“Ellie. Ellie, sweetie,” she heard an unexpected voice say. She opened her eyes and then bolted backwards on the couch.
“Linda!” she cried out.
“Yes, dear,” Linda laughed in reply. “Who did you expect? Ellie, you just scared me terribly there for a moment. Were you having a bad dream?”
Linda looked phenomenal. Her white blond hair had recently been done, and she was wearing an emerald pantsuit. An expensive bag sat at her feet, and as Ellie started taking in other details around the room, she could see another piece of luggage sitting in the doorway.
Ellie’s head swung from right to left. She had been lying on the couch, alone. The couch across from her was empty. “Where’s David and Jenny?” she asked anxiously.
“It’s all right, dear. They are upstairs,” Linda said, patting her on the forearm.
“Upstairs, why?” Ellie asked. The vestiges of her dream still remained, and she was horrified to realize that she was suspicious of Linda and her intentions. This wasn’t the Lillian of her dreams, she had to tell herself. After all that had happened in the last week, she should be delighted to see her old friend.
“Apparently that young lady was quite close to her due date, and that bump on the head sent her into preterm labor or something like that. David was quite concerned, so he wanted to move her upstairs to somewhere more comfortable.” Linda tsked. “What an unfortunate accident. I had no idea that Joe had such a violent streak. It's so scary to think how people can appear so normal but have such awful intentions. That poor girl.” Linda handed Ellie a cup of coffee that she had been holding.
Ellie took it in a trance. The parallel to her dream was uncanny. She wished again that she could see Linda’s aura. Linda seemed calm and serene.
“Shouldn’t we be calling an ambulance? I couldn’t find your phone, Linda,” she said.
“We did call, dear, as soon as Randall and I saw how serious things were. Unfortunately, we were quite lucky to have made it back here ourselves.” Linda pointed to the window at Ellie’s questioning glance. “Look for yourself. It’s nasty out there.”
Ellie got up and made her way through the office to the window at the front of the house. The window pane was covered in a thin layer of ice. Beyond it, she could barely make out tall snowdrifts. She couldn’t see the lake. It looked like a complete whiteout. She knew it had been snowing when she fell asleep, but this was ridiculous. She felt like she was on the verge of understanding, but she still didn’t have all the pieces.
“Winters in Minnesota are just dreadful, aren’t they?” Linda called from the library. “Come. Sit. David told me that you have had the most awful week. I’m so sorry that I wasn’t here for you. Drink your coffee too. It’ll help warm you up.”
Ellie felt the soothing tones in Linda’s voice more comforting than she remembered. As much as she had disliked it before when Linda fussed over her, today she felt like the mothering was exactly what she needed. She went back over and sat down on the couch where Linda had patted.
“Are they all right upstairs?” she asked. "Shouldn't we check on them?"
“Jenny is in very good hands with David,” Linda assured her. “Randall is keeping an eye on things. He’ll let us know if there is anything we need to be concerned about, but I just know that our David has everything under control. We are so lucky to have him here.”
Ellie felt odd listening to the intimate way that Linda was talking about David. She made it sound like she had known him for a long time. She felt anxious about the whole situation, but there was nothing that could be done but wait for the ambulance. She didn’t want to get in David’s way.
“I guess we’ll just have to wait then,” Ellie said out loud, sipping her coffee. Her words earned an approving nod from Linda.
“Yes, dear. I’m sure all will be well,” Linda agreed.
“Where have you been, Linda? I admit that with the way you left, I didn’t expect to see you back so soon,” Ellie said, wanting to deflect the conversation away from having to explain her story again. She was almost sick of it herself.
“We got to London, and had the most wonderful time there,” Linda said, apparently sensing Ellie’s reluctance to talk about anything at that moment. “Randall was so sweet, after he saw how upset I was after the party. I really feel quite silly now. Just an old lady who got a little depressed, and probably worried everyone around her,” she said, shaking her head.
Ellie absently patted her hand and encouraged her to continue. She felt surreal, after the wildness of her dream, and now the heavy snows. She sipped her coffee again and made a deliberate effort to keep her attention focused on Linda and what she was saying, although a large part of her just wanted to stare into the fire and try to digest the message that her dream had tried to tell her.
“But you really can’t cry over spilled milk, can you? So I found myself in London. Randall had it all planned out. We were going to go to Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona, and maybe even over to Rome and Venice.”
“That sounds like it would have been nice,” Ellie said vaguely.
“Yes, it does, doesn’t it?” Linda agreed. “But after a few days, I told Randall in no uncertain terms that as wonderful as that all was and as marvelous as it all sounded, I had responsibilities here that could not be ignored.”
“We would have managed, Linda,” Ellie said. “I hope you didn’t rush back for that. I would have taken good care of the house, and Jeffrey was doing a fantastic job at the shop, at least, while the shop was open this week.”
“That is one thing that is very good about Randall,” Linda said, standing up. “He is very good with the details. He always says that I’m the emotional one, but in all actuality I don't know how he'd get anything done without me.”
Linda went over to the fire and threw a few more pieces of wood into it. Ellie watched the flames climb higher before adjusting to the new fuel and coming back down to their original size.
Ellie was starting to feel sleepy again. “Man, I don’t know what this is all about,” she said out loud.
“What, dear?” Linda asked.
“It is so crazy. I’ve just been falling asleep lately without even trying. That’s what happened earlier. David told me to shut my eyes for a few minutes, and I fell into such a deep sleep that I didn’t even hear him and Jenny leave the room, or you and Randall coming back,” she said. She tried to keep her mouth shut, but it opened in a yawn despite her efforts.
“From the sounds of things, you’ve been through quite an ordeal over the last few days,” Linda said sympathetically.
“Yeah, but I can’t believe how tired I feel again. You would think that my body would recognize that I just had some good sleep. I feel like I could just drift off again right now.” Ellie stood and immediately sat back down again as she felt an uncomfortable head rush.
The effort of standing seemed too great at that moment, and she had wavered ever so slightly. “What’s the matter with me?” she said. Then she frowned. There was something behind Linda. She squinted to try to make it out.
Linda returned to her side and stroked her hair. “You shouldn’t fight it, Ellie. That doesn’t help anything.”
Ellie heard something new in Linda’s voice. It was…expectation. She looked up at Linda. “Linda?”
“You will be asleep in a few moments, and that is good,” Linda said. Ellie looked at her coffee cup in mortification, and then back at Linda, who nodded. “We can’t have you up and about, accidentally stepping into something that you wouldn’t understand.”
“Wouldn’t understand?” The words managed to escape Ellie’s lips with great effort.
“Don’t worry, dear. Slight change of plans, but you are s
till in them. That is a wonderful thing for you, don’t you think? I've grown somewhat fond of you, and it would have been a shame to have to toss away the planning that has been going on for the last several months, don’t you think?”
It was like all of her muscles were frozen. Ellie was unable to respond to Linda’s question, although she suspected it was rhetorical anyway. Linda tossed Ellie’s legs onto the couch and then pulled so that Ellie slid back down on the couch. Linda was surprisingly strong.
Then she knelt in front of Ellie, her face filling Ellie's entire view. “The sleep is coming. It should be pleasant. No more dreams,” she whispered as if talking to a confidante.
Ellie’s eyes widened. She finally could see who was standing behind Linda. It was Emma. And Emma was watching her and slowing shaking her head, as if in disappointment. Then she was gone.
Linda nodded. “I know about the dreams, yes. I know about everything. Poor Ellie, with all of your loneliness and all of your pain.” Linda’s words were tinged with a sarcasm that Ellie had never heard before. “Until I met you, I thought I was self-involved.” Linda laughed at her own joke.
“Darling?” Ellie heard Randall’s voice coming from the hallway, and then he appeared over Linda's shoulder in the space that Emma had just vacated. Ellie was terrified. She didn’t know what had come over her friend, and now she was frightened for David and Jenny as well. “Everything taken care of in here?”
Ellie definitely had hoped for a different reaction than the one she saw on Randall’s face. Not shock or outrage, but instead he looked…satisfied.
“Everything is fine here,” Linda said, standing up and turning to greet him. She put her arms around his waist and then they both looked down at Ellie. “It was actually easier than I expected. I believe she just came out of one of those dreams again, so I had no idea how she’d react.”
The emphasis on the word “those” confirmed that Linda knew the dreams that Ellie had been having were out of the ordinary. Ellie wondered how much they actually knew about her dreams.
“I thought she’d be asleep by now,” Randall commented, pointing at her open eyes.
“She will be,” Linda purred. As if Linda’s words were the reason, Ellie felt her eyes starting to shut. She screamed in her head that she needed to stay awake. She needed to understand. She was in hell. But the blackness overtook her, and Ellie had no choice but to surrender.