Johnny Angel by Danielle Steel Read Free Book Online Page B

source, or are you just trying to cheer me up?” she asked, smiling at him. It felt so good to see Johnny again, even if only in a dream.
    “Both. Actually, I just know it in my heart. I can always hear him in my head. I always did.”
    “I know,” she said sadly, thinking of her younger son, and the trauma he had had, “and no one else does.”
    “I think you could hear him too, if you tried,” Johnny said, and she considered it for a while. It was an intriguing thought. She had never tried. She just filled in the blanks for him, but it had never occurred to her to listen to Bobby in her head, as Johnny had done.
    “I'll try it when I go home,” she promised, wondering if that was why she had seen Johnny in the dream, if that had been his message for her. Or maybe it was what they had given her in the hospital. Maybe the medications were making her imagine things. And she had a sense, as they were talking, that it was nearly morning by then. She dreaded waking up and losing him again. She hated mornings now. She would wake up with a lead ball on her chest, remembering that something terrible had happened to them, and within seconds, as she opened her eyes, she knew just what it was. Johnny was gone.
    “I don't want to lose you again,” she said sadly, as his pace slowed down again. “Can't I just stay here with you?” All she wanted was to be with him.
    “Of course not, Mom, you're not dead. And you're not going to be for a long time. You've still got too much work to do here.” He sounded firm.
    “I miss you so much.” She could barely say the words, they hurt so much.
    “I miss you too, Mom,” he said quietly. “A lot. I miss Becky too … and Bobby … and Charlie … and Dad. It's hard to get used to not being with you. But I'm going to be around for a while.”
    “You are?” She was surprised, and he smiled.
    “I have an assignment to do,” he said mysteriously.
    “You do?” She looked confused. “Like what?”
    “I don't know. They don't tell you that part. You have to figure it out. They don't give you details. I think it just kind of … unfolds.”
    “What do you mean?” She was puzzled by what he'd said.
    “I'm not sure myself, Mom. I think I just do what I feel like I'm supposed to do … and when everything gets done, I can go.” It seemed pretty simple, as long as he could figure out what he was supposed to do in the correct amount of time.
    “I don't understand. And what happens now when I wake up? Will I have this dream again when I go back to sleep?” It made her want to sleep forever, just so she could see him.
    He laughed at the question she asked, and it was the laugh she remembered so well, and the smile she had missed so much. It felt so good to see him again, and made her feel more than ever that she didn't want to wake up.
    “I think you'll be seeing me a lot.” He didn't mention the dream.
    “When?” She wanted answers from him, and promises that she'd see him again in her dreams. The past two nights had been like a gift from him. It was exactly like being with him.
    “Now,” he said comfortably. He seemed completely at ease with her.
    “What do you mean now?”
    “I mean now, when you wake up.”
    “I'll see you when I wake up?” Even she knew better than that.
    He nodded again, and she stared at him, confused.
    “How about explaining that?”
    “Okay Wake up.”
    “Now?”
    “Yeah, now. Open your eyes.”
    “I don't want to open my eyes. If I wake up now, you'll be gone, and everything will be awful again. I refuse to wake up.” She sounded more like a child than her son, and wanted to squeeze her eyes shut as tightly as she could.
    “Wake up, Mom. Open your eyes.” She tried to resist at first, and then found that she could not. It was as though he were compelling her to do as he said. Her eyes fluttered open, and she couldn't see clearly at first in the darkened room, but when her eyes adjusted, she could see Johnny sitting at the end of her bed,