“Oooooh, nice,” she said, making him laugh as he ran his hands over her breasts, then down her flat stomach, his hands spanning her little waist.
Later, as he collapsed against her for the fourth time in as many hours, he started telling her how much he loved her.
“Still going to marry Fiona?” she asked innocently.
At that he gave her a whisker burn on her soft neck that made her squeal.
“Will this come out?” he asked, holding her hair up and referring to the color. There was light coming through the window and his vision was clearing more with every hour.
“Do you care?”
“I love you whatever color your hair, but…It is nice having a little variety.”
“You!” she said and rolled on top of him.
The next moment she was clasping her head in pain.
“What is it? Catherine? What is it?”
“No,” she said. “No, I don’t want to go back. I want to stay here.”
“Of course we can stay here. Oh, you mean you don’t want to go to the house. If you don’t want to go—”
“No!” she said sharply, her eyes shut tightly, and it was as though she were talking to someone else. “I don’t want to go back.”
When she looked up at him, there was agony in her eyes. “It is Nora. She is calling me back. She says that I have done what I needed to do and now I must return. She says that I do not belong here. Don’t let her take me.”
He didn’t understand what she was saying but he knew that she was frightened. And if she was frightened then so was he. Wrapping his body about her, he held her as tightly as he could without breaking her bones. “I will let no one take you. You are mine.”
“Yes,” she said, “I am yours and only yours. I have never loved anyone but you. Not in all my lives. Even the ones I spent without you.”
He didn’t bother trying to understand what she meant, but just held her, as that was what they both needed.
“Don’t let her take me. She is calling for me. She means to take me away from you.”
“I won’t let her take you.”
“No, you don’t understand. She will take my spirit, but she wil
l leave my body. Oh, Talis, don’t leave me. I have lost you too many times.”
“You won’t lose me this time as I will go with you. I will always stay with you.”
Pulling her head back, she looked at him. “I wish I had time to explain everything to you. Take care of Catherine. She is me and she loves you.”
“You are Catherine; you love me,” he said and was frightened at her words, which made no sense. It was almost as though she believed that she was dying. “I will not allow you to leave me.”
“I am not Catherine. I am Hayden Lane and I live in another time and place, but I love you there as much as I love you here. Hold me tighter. Hold me. She’s getting stronger. Make her leave me alone. I don’t want to go back. I want to stay with you forever.”
He held her, caressing her hair and trying to pull her body into his while he talked to her calmly and with all the love he felt. “I will not leave you. Wherever you go, I will go with you.”
“Swear it!” she said, her voice muffled from her face pressed against his chest. “Swear it on your immortal soul!”
“I swear it,” he said softly. “I make a sacred vow to you and God. I will go with you wherever you go. I will never leave you. Never.”
And it was with those words that Hayden began to feel herself growing weaker. Her spirit was leaving Catherine’s body. She protested in her mind, protested out loud. She tried to reason with the voice of Nora in her head, the voice that was growing stronger by the minute.
But she knew that she was losing when she heard Milly’s voice. “Hayden, please wake up. We love you and need you. Please come back to us. Please don’t die.”