***
“I want to hold you while you sleep,” Torin whispered that night after everyone left.
I scooted to create room for him. Since the incision on my head was behind my right ear, I spent most of the time on my left side. He curled behind me in the narrow bed, his hand resting around my waist. “Let me know if anywhere hurts.”
“I don’t care.”
“I do.” His thumb touched my lips as though to stop me from speaking, but the effect on me was instant. My lips tingled. “I want to kiss you, but I’m afraid of hurting you.”
I wanted to kiss him, too. “You could never hurt me. Not with a kiss.”
He chuckled. “I’ll not want to stop, so let’s not try it. Go to sleep, Freckles.”
The next morning, I opened my eyes and looked into his beautiful eyes. It was still dark outside, and it sounded like the nurses were changing rotations. He cupped my face and gently stroked my cheek. Only one rune glowed on his forehead. He had an amazing ability to control them, I’d noticed.
“I’ll be back later with breakfast,” he whispered.
For the rest of the week, Eirik and Cora stopped by in crazy Spirit Week outfits. Eirik came during lunch and sat with me. In the evenings, he stayed after Cora left, did his homework, and even watched a little TV. Torin left whenever Eirik appeared, but he hated it. I saw it in his eyes, yet I couldn’t bring myself to tell Eirik the truth yet.
Night was my time with Torin. We spent every night together. I didn’t know if he used runes to stay invisible or if he enchanted my room so the nurses saw only what he wanted them to see. I didn’t care. I loved sleeping in his arms.
While he was at school, I tried to stay active by walking around. My doctor encouraged it. Often, I crossed from Surgical to the Women’s Center to see the newborns. It was as though a force I couldn’t explain pulled me there.
“Is one of them yours?” a man asked me.
I laughed at the thought of me with a child. “No. I’m only seventeen.”
“What happened to you?” he asked, his gaze on the bandage around my head.
“I fell from a tree and injured my ribs and head. Which one is yours?”
He grinned with pride and pointed to a puny baby in an incubator. “His name is Jeffrey. He came out early, but he’s a fighter.”
Tears rushed to my eyes. The pride in his voice made me think of my father. “I was a preemie, too,” I whispered. “My father said I fought to live, but holding and massaging me helped a lot. They say human contact is good for preemies.”
“Is that so?” The man thanked me and walked away.
On Friday, I got enough courage to approach the nurses’ station at the Women’s Center and asked for Nurse Guillaume.
The nurse behind the desk frowned. “Who?”
“Gabby Guillaume. I just wanted to say hi.”
The nurse shook her head. “You must be mistaken, honey. We don’t have a nurse by that name working at this center.”
I frowned. “Are you sure? My friend and I were here a week ago and talked to her. She was behind the counter and… and her aunt worked here seventeen years ago, too.”
“It’s okay. Calm down.” The nurse reached across the desk and patted my hand. “What floor are you from?”
“Not the crazy ward,” I retorted and yanked my hand from under hers. I was annoyed and, to be honest, spooked. Had I imagined visiting the hospital with Cora and meeting with the Gabby Guillaume?
“Just a second. Could you describe her?” the nurse called out.
I debated whether to keep walking, but I needed answers. Someone was messing with my head. “Medium height, brown skin, and braids. I think she’s Creole. Her cousin goes to my school.”
She quickly typed on her keyboard. “I’m sorry, but someone played a cruel joke on you, honey. We’ve never had the person you just described work here. Maybe she works at a different center.”
“Even seventeen years ago?”
“I can’t say for sure, but Records would have that information.” She gave me a smile filled with pity. Not only had the fake nurse lied to me, Marj had, too.
Puzzled, I turned to leave and almost missed the father of the preemie I’d spoken to a few days ago. He was with his wife in one of the rooms and in his arms was little Jeffrey. Smiling, I left the center.
That night, I told Torin what I’d learned about the fake nurse. “That means Marj lied to me.”
“Marj? Who’s Marj?”
“Marjorie LeBlanc. She, Jeannette, and Catie helped you with your party last Saturday.”
Torin sat up and came around the bed so I could see his face. “What are you talking about?”
“When Cora and I came back from shopping, Marj and her friends were helping you get groceries from an SUV.”
He chuckled and shook his head. “I think your memories are a little off, Freckles. I used a catering company to help with the party. They sent three women, and if I recall correctly, not one of them was called Marj or Marjorie, and I don’t recall the names of the other two.”
“I talked to Marj, Torin,” I insisted, trying not to panic. “She’s on the swim team. The three of them are. They also helped Eirik with my birthday party at the club.” A foreboding feeling washed over me. What if all my memories were false and things I thought had happened never did?
Torin frowned. The next second, he was pacing room. He paused and said, “Describe them.”
“Marj is brown-skinned, Creole, I think, with dark-brown eyes. Catie has black hair, hazel eyes, and tan skin, and Jeannette has blonde hair and gray eyes. They’re about the same height, five-seven or eight, neither skinny nor fat. They all transferred to our school last year and became fast friends. I’ve never asked them, but I always assumed they knew each other before they came to our school.”
“Norns,” he whispered.
“What?”
He paused and looked undecided, then came back and sat on the edge of my bed. “I’m sorry there’re things I cannot share with you yet, but I promise to tell you everything once I know whether we’re dealing with good or bad ones.”
“Did you say norms?”
His frown deepened. “No, Norns. Don’t bother looking for the three nurses who took care of you when you were born, because you won’t find them. If we’re dealing with Norns, it might explain their presence.”