She wasn’t sure she dared believe him. But she was glad that he was there. She was more than glad, she realized. He was a steadying influence. He was the love and support she needed.
How strange that she realized it so clearly now. She’d been away so long. They’d been out of one another’s lives. And she knew now that she had always loved him, and it had been so easy to be with him because she should have been with him long ago.
Ah, but could he feel the same? How could anyone be certain about her, when it seemed that her family and even the house itself were cursed?
Not cursed. There was someone out there killing people. A real live human being. She didn’t know what forces were driving that person, but a person was trying to steal the reliquary, and that person was committing murder because of greed.
And, after all, Liam was friends with a ghost. They were all a bit different, so it seemed.
“I’m going to see what I can do,” Liam told her. “I’ll be right back.”
When he stood and left, she saw Bartholomew. He had apparently accompanied Liam.
“You said that you wanted to fly,” she told him, smiling weakly.
“Not this way,” he said.
“It’s all right. How was the ride?”
“Tense,” Bartholomew said.
“But did you enjoy it?” she asked.
“I think I’d like to fly first class in an airplane, someplace with first-class hotel accommodations,” he said. He shrugged. “I’ve roamed the Caribbean, I’ve set sail on majestic waters, I’ve walked streets of mud and seen a great deal of time pass. I’d like something contemporary and modern, and, of course, I can’t really feel it, but I’d love a hot tub and a cushion-top bed.”
He made her smile. She wished she could really touch him, squeeze his hand.
“So, does Liam know that I see you, that we converse?” she asked him.
Bartholomew grinned wickedly. “Not yet. We’ll let him know at an appropriate time.”
Liam came back down the hallway. He wasn’t smiling, but he didn’t look as if he were going to have to give her awful news, either.
“Avery’s brain was not deprived of oxygen too long,” he assured her quickly. “He really should make a full recovery.”
“Should?”
“He’s still unconscious. He took a tremendous wallop on the head,” Liam said.
“So someone struck him?” she asked.
“I asked the doctors about that—they can’t say for certain. They don’t know how he fell into the water. The injury could have been caused by the dock if he fell a certain way. We won’t know until Avery wakes up and tells us,” Liam explained.
“When can I see him?” she asked.
“I brought you dry clothing. Why don’t you go change, and then you can go in and see him,” Liam suggested.
Kelsey nodded and thanked him for the duffel bag of belongings he had brought for her. He pointed down the hall to a restroom.
Kelsey changed from her damp clothing and immediately felt better. Oddly enough, simply being dry and warm seemed to give her more strength.
When she came out, Bartholomew was seated in one of the hallway chairs, listening. The doctor was talking to Liam.
She hurried up to the two of them, anxious to hear what was being said.
“Kelsey Donovan, Dr. Lee,” Liam told her. “Kelsey is Avery’s business partner and best friend. He was staying with her.”
“He’s going to be all right? Has he come to yet?” Kelsey asked.
“We’ve done scans, and we’re not seeing anything worrisome. His brain activity is functioning well by all our standards, so we don’t believe that he was deprived of oxygen long enough to cause damage. We’re concerned that he hasn’t come to yet, but such an injury to the head can, naturally, cause a coma. We’re still hoping that in a few hours, he’ll be doing much better.”
“Thank you. May I go in and sit with him?”
“Yes, and go ahead and talk to him. Don’t upset him, but talk to him. Maybe your presence will help.”
He pointed to a room. She hurried through the door.
Avery looked much better than he had when she and Jonas had first fished him from the water. His color was back. There was an IV needle in his arm, and he was attached to a monitor with waving lines. Kelsey had spent enough time with her dad in the hospital to know which monitored his respiratory function and his heart, and both seemed to be functioning at an even keel.
She sat by his side and took his hand in hers. “Avery, I’m here. I’m so sorry! I wish I knew what happened. I shouldn’t have left you out there alone. I’m so sorry. I love you. You’re my best friend.”
She thought that his hand twitched. She could swear that there was movement behind his closed eyelids.
But he remained silent.
Liam felt as if a hand were constricting around his heart; it was horrible to watch Kelsey sit next to Avery and be powerless to lessen her worry and her pain. He thought about her life, her mother gone when she was so young, her father passing when she was young as well, and then the news about Cutter Merlin.
And a friend, who had nearly died, in her house, as her guest.