Black Forest, Denver Cereal Volume 5 by Claudia Hall Christian Read Free Book Online Page B

here.”
    “ Is… is Sandy here?
Wh-where’s my daughter?” Out of breath, Aden’s words came out in
puffs.
    “ Rachel? She’s resting
with Sandy.” The nurse shook her head at him as if he’d lost his
mind. “Rachel started to fuss around one o’clock. I hated to do it,
but I had the nurse wake Sandy. Of course, she came down right
away. They’ve been kangarooing since then.”
    “ Oh,” Aden said. He felt
such an intense rush of relief that he fell forward. His hands
caught his thighs. Still unsure if he was dreaming, he looked up to
ask, “I thought we couldn’t kangaroo too long.”
    “ That’s true,” the nurse
said. “I’ll probably get it when the doctor gets here. It’s just
that every time we tried to put little Rachel back in her
incubator, she went ballistic. Sandy even tried to hold her in the
incubator. Rachel was so distressed that we decided to try to keep
them both warm. They’re over there.”
    The nurse pointed to a recliner. Sandy was
wrapped in blankets with one over her head. Only her face
showed.
    “ You ran right passed
them,” the nurse said. “Let’s get you dressed so you can go see
them. I know Sandy’s been worried about you.”
    Aden let the nurse help him change into
clean scrubs. The nurse put his clothing in a trash bag. She looked
him over then led him to Sandy. Sandy’s face brightened when she
saw him. She gave a little wave.
    “ Rachel, you’re Daddy’s
here,” she said.
    Aden felt like he floated across the floor
on her smile. He leaned down to kiss her lips. The nurse indicated
a nearby chair and he took it.
    “ How did it go?” Sandy
asked.
    “ It was horrible,” Aden
said. “And… kind of… awesome.”
    “ Awesome?” Sandy pushed
off some of the blankets so that Aden could see Rachel’s
face.
    “ Hi Rach,” Aden
said.
    Rachel opened and closed her eyes. She
nestled back into Sandy. Aden helped Sandy put the blankets over
them.
    “ How was it awesome?”
Sandy asked.
    “ You remember me talking
about my brother Mark?”
    “ He was supposed to come
to Denver to set the next scam,” Sandy said. “But instead he came
here, met a girl, got married, and pregnant. When your family
arrived, there was nothing set up. Your father was furious. You
were six.”
    “ I like that you
remembered that,” Aden said.
    She smiled.
    “ After I got my GED, I
decided I’d go and find Mark. He was my favorite brother. I always
liked that he stood up to Dad and…” Aden said. “Anyway, that’s how
I got to the mansion. Celeste’s father ran a little grocery store
near Barr Lake.”
    “ How did you get to the
mansion?” Sandy asked.
    “ They’re there,” Aden
said. “Trapped in the mansion. Mark and Celeste. Delphie says
they’re the ‘lovers’. You know, the skeletons found under the
Castle. They haunt the mansion in Brighton.”
    “ Was it nice to see them?”
Sandy asked.
    “ Yeah,” Aden said. “It was
really nice. I guess they protected me from the evil thing that
lives there.”
    “ We wondered how you did
that,” Sandy smiled. “I thought it was your profound lack of
psychic capacity.”
    “ How’s Jake?” Aden
asked.
    “ Not great,” Sandy said.
“Jill called a little while ago. I’ve been here trying to send him
love or light. Mostly, I’m saying the rosary.”
    “ I’m…” Aden’s eyes filled
with tears. He sniffed and looked away.
    “ What is it?” Sandy
asked.
    “ I had this dream or sort
of dream, a nightmare really,” Aden said. “I dreamed you spiked a
fever and died. Rachel died too.”
    “ I did spike a fever,”
Sandy said.
    “ You did?” Aden asked.
“How…? What…?”
    “ Blane was here,” Sandy
said. “He brought the fever down. In fact, he had just taken the
needles out when they came to get me for Rachel. I would have been
asleep otherwise.”
    “ I’m glad Blane was here,”
Aden said.
    “ Me too,” Sandy said. “Did
Seth find his killer?”
    “ They found his ‘trophies’
in the