Gates of Paradise (Casteel 4)

"Annie! Nurse, she's opening her eyes. Nurse . nurse!"

I turned slowly, my head feeling as if it had been turned to stone, like the bust of Jefferson Davis in the front yard of the Winnerrow School. A woman in white--a nurse--took my right wrist into her fingers to check my pulse, and I saw the i.v. tube attached to my arm.

I looked to my left. There sat a gray-haired elderly gentleman with the brightest light blue eyes I had ever seen. I turned back to the nurse. She was busying herself writing on a chart and only glanced quickly at the man, who took my left hand into his hands and leaned closer to me, close enough for me to get a whiff of his sweet after-shave.

"Who are you?" I asked. "What am I doing here?"

"Annie, I'm afraid that it has fallen to me to deliver the most terrible news you will ever hear. I hope you won't hate me for being the bearer of this great sorrow" He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as if it had taken the air out of him to say just those few words.

"What sorrow?" I tried to raise myself up, but below my waist my body felt numb. I was able only to lift my shoulders a few inches from the mattress.

"You were in a terrible car accident, and in a coma."

"Accident?" I blinked. Then it all came rushing back to me: the rain, my mother's scream, my father calling "Annie!" The wails of my heart quivered. "Oh, my God! Where are my parents? Where is my mother? Mommy!" I -screamed, suddenly feeling frantic. I looked at the nurse. "Where's Daddy?" A cold, wet panic claimed me.

The strange man closed his eyes and then opened them slowly, tightening his grip on my hand. "Annie, I'm very sorry."

I felt as if I were living in a slow motion nightmare. I looked at the man and saw the pain in his eyes melt into tears. He lowered his head and then raised it to look at roe. "I'm so sorry, Annie."

"No!" I wanted to deny his words before he spoke them.

"They were both killed," he said, tears streaming down his cheeks. "You have been in a coma for two days."

"No!" I pulled my hand from his strong fingers and turned my face into the pillow. "No, I don't believe "I felt numb all over now, frozen, dead myself. I didn't want to be here, and I wanted this man to go away. All I wanted was to be home again, to be with my parents. Oh God, I prayed, please make this happen and please make this terrible nightmare disappear. Please, please . .

"Annie, poor Annie." I felt him stroking my hair the way my mother often had. "I came as soon as they called me, and I've been at your bedside ever since."

I turned around slowly and peered over my fingers. The man's face was full of sympathy and sorrow. He was mourning and hurting sincerely.

Suddenly it dawned on me who he was. This was the mysterious Tony Tatterton, the prince of Farthinggale Manor, and he was here at my bedside.

"I hired round-the-clock nurses and flew in my own physicians for you, but the facilities here are far from adequate. I must get you to Boston and then to Farthinggale," he continued. Everything he said rushed by me like words mumbled in a dream. I shook my head.

"Mommy. I want to see her. Daddy . . ."

"They are dead and await burial back at Farthinggale Manor. I'm sure it's what your father would have wanted," he said softly.

"Farthinggale Manor?"

"The Stonewalls, your paternal grandparents, are both dead, or I would consult with them, but I'm sure they would want the same things--a proper interment for your parents and my using every available dollar toward getting you healthy and well again."

I stared at him a moment, and then the tears that had pressed themselves up against the floodgates behind my eyes broke free and I sobbed and sobbed, my entire upper body shaking. Tony Tatterton leaned forward to embrace me and hold me as best he could.

"I'm so sorry, my poor, poor Annie. Heaven's beautiful daughter, Leigh's granddaughter," he muttered as he kissed my forehead and gently pushed back strands of my hair. "But you won't be alone; you'll never be alone. I'm here now, and always be here for you as long as I live."

"What's wrong with me?" I asked through my tears. "I can't seem to move my legs. I don't even feel them!"

"You received a bad blow to your spine and your head. The doctors believes the trauma about your spine has affected your motor coordination, but you don't worry about what's happened to you, Annie. As I said, make you well again." He kissed my tear-soaked cheek and smiled, his blue eyes soothing.

"Drake," I said. "Where's Drake? And Luke Junior. Where's Luke? Aunt Fanny," I muttered. I needed my family around me now, not this stranger. Oh God, what was going to happen to me? I felt lost, bereft, empty, floating off like some kite in the wind whose string had torn. What would I do now?

"Drake's in the lobby, waiting. Luke and Fanny have been by a few times, and let them know you've come out of the coma," Tony said. "But first send my physicians in here."

"No. I want to see Drake first, and please call Luke and Fanny and tell them to come right away."

"All right, I will. Whatever you want." He kissed my cheek again and stood up. He smiled down at me in a warm but strange way and then left. Moments later Drake entered the room, his face glum, his eyes bloodshot. Without speaking, he embraced me and held me so tightly to his chest, my tears burst out again. My sobbing brought pain into my back and heart. He kissed me and held me and rocked me like a baby, pressing his face to mine, his own tears mixing with mine.

"You know they were more like my parents," he said. "My real mother couldn't have loved me any more than Heaven did, and Logan always treated me the same as he would have treated his own son. Once, when I went for a ride alone with him, I remember him telling me that he always thought of me as his son. 'What's mine is yours,' he said 'and always will bed"