Brody sighed with relief and visibly relaxed. “I heard you screaming like someone was trying to kill you.” Brody jumped when a hand touched his shoulder. He turned to find Sadie standing behind him, wearing a robe and slippers and her hair bound for sleeping. Jeb was directly behind her, dressed in lounge pants and a T-shirt. His feet were bare. “It’s all right, Jeb. I think she had a bad dream.” Sadie bustled by him, pushing him out of the doorway.

“You two can go on back to bed, now,” she mumbled as she closed the door in their faces.

“But…” Brody stammered as the door was about to close.

She spoke through the crack in the door. “I’ll take care of this, Brody. Take yourself off to bed, now.”

“Come on, boy.” Jeb placed a playful arm around Brody’s shoulders. “Since we’re both up, I’ll treat you to a cup of coffee downstairs. You had better put some clothes on first, though.” Jeb snickered and shook his head. A bat in his hand with him in his underwear. He’d blasted into the room like a naked avenger. He needed clothes. And coffee sounded good, too.

Jeb and Brody sat in companionable silence at the kitchen table until Sadie joined them thirty minutes later. “Is she okay, Sadie?” Brody asked, his eyebrows crunched together with concern.

“She’s taking a shower, now. Poor thing was wringing wet with sweat.” Sadie’s eyes met Jeb’s over the table. If Brody didn’t know her so well, he wouldn’t have seen the concern etched in her brows.

“Been a long time since she’s woken up like that,” Jeb said to Sadie with a sigh.

“Wait,” Brody broke in. “She’s done that before?” Surely it didn’t happen often. It was terrifying.

“When she first came here, she woke up like that every night. Then the dreams started to get fewer and farther between until they stopped completely. She hasn’t had one in years,” Sadie clucked.

“What are they about?” Brody asked.

Sadie started to speak and Jeb cut her off. “That’s her business, Brody. If she wants you to know, she’ll tell you.” Sadie nodded in agreement.

John walked into the room, rubbing his sleepy eyes as he tried to wake. “What’s all the ruckus?” he asked around the yawn that filled his mouth.

“Lou had a nightmare,” Brody announced. If no one else wanted to talk about it, perhaps John would.

John came instantly awake. “She hasn’t had one of those in a long time. Did it wake Sarah up?”

“That child could sleep through a hurricane, John,” Sadie replied with a slight chuckle.

“Was the dream as bad as they used to be?” John asked.

“Yeah. But she’s fine now. You can go back to bed,” said Jeb. He touched Sadie gently on the elbow to urge her back to bed as well.

Realizing no information would be forthcoming, Brody broke from the group surrounding the kitchen table and climbed the stairs back up to his bedroom. He passed by Lou’s room and noticed the door was still slightly ajar. He tapped softly, calling out, “Lou?” He received no response.

He opened the door a few inches and peeked through the crack he had made. “Lou?” he called out again. Still no response.

Brody pushed the door wide open before he heard the creak of the rocking chair outside her room. Brody tiptoed through the room and opened the door to the porch slowly.

“Lou?” he called again, quietly.

Lou jumped as though someone had grabbed her. She was sitting in the dark in the rocking chair, much like before. Her long dark hair was hung over the back of the rocking chair, swaying in the breeze. She wore a fresh pair of pajamas, again a strappy pajama top and matching shorts. She sat forward quickly and was momentarily startled until she looked up and saw Brody standing in the doorway. Then she relaxed considerably, leaning back against the chair and wiping her wet hair from her eyes. “Hey,” she said quietly.

“Hey, yourself. Are you okay?” Brody asked gently, sitting down in the rocking chair beside hers.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She dismissed his fear with a gentle wave in his direction. “Thanks for coming to my rescue with the baseball bat.” She chuckled.

Her laughter lightened the mood considerably. He shrugged his shoulders. “It sounded like someone was trying to kill you. I had to do something.”

“Next time, you might want to remember to put on some clothes before you go saving lives,” said Lou, cutting her dark eyes in his direction. Brody could see the shine of her white teeth glowing in the dark, evidence of a smile.

Brody grunted. “You should be happy I wasn’t sleeping naked.”

Lou’s grin got bigger. “If that’s how you normally sleep, I’ll consider myself warned and will try to keep my screams to myself.” She put on a mock-offen

ded look.

Tags: Tammy Falkner Romance
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