Children of the Sea 02 - Sea Fever

None of us are.”
     
    Caleb frowned thoughtfully. “Because of Donna Tomah?”
     
    “There was no taint of demon in her.” Or Dylan would not have let the doctor live, let alone get on the same helicopter that transported Regina.
     
    Caleb sighed. “Just as well. I’m having enough trouble explaining how two more women got the crap beat out of them on my island. Thank God nobody died.”
     
    Dylan shot him a hard look. “You cannot blame Regina for defending herself.”
     
    “I don’t. I’m just telling you how the DA is going to see it.”
     
    “And how will the DA see it?”
     
    Caleb gave his brother a level look. “I’m investigating the possibility that an unknown intruder got into the clinic.”
     
    An intruder. Dylan nodded. It was as good a description of demonic possession as any.
     
    “Of course, that story will only work if Donna doesn’t tell them what really happened,” Caleb continued.
     
    “She will not remember.”
     
    246
    “You think her head injuries—”
     
    “The demon did not leave her willingly or gently. Its presence may have damaged her mind. Or at least her memory.”
     
    “You sure it left?” Caleb asked.
     
    Dylan shrugged. “Once her body lost function, it was of no further use to the demon. Anyway, I did not sense any trace of fire spawn.”
     
    “So it could be anywhere.”
     
    “Yes.”
     
    “Shit,” Caleb said wearily. “I’m still looking for a witness to identify the bastards who snatched Nick.”
     
    “Whoever it was had a boat,” Dylan offered.
     
    “Which means it may not have been someone from World’s End at all. Hell.”
     
    “I will do all I can to ward the island,” Dylan said.
     
    “Then I guess you’re planning on sticking around.”
     
    “Yes. No.” Dylan caught the gleam in his brother’s eyes and scowled. “I will not make Regina promises that I can’t keep.”
     
    That she would not believe. Not after the way he’d failed her.
     
    Caleb scratched his jaw. “Has she asked for promises?”
     
    Another sore point.
     
    “No,” Dylan admitted.
     
    “Then what’s the problem?”
     
    The problem, Dylan realized, was that he wanted those promises.
    Wanted to make a life with her. Wanted to make children with her. And now was a piss poor moment to tell her so.
     
    247
    “The timing sucks,” he said. “There are too many factors . . . Too many dangers . . .”
     
    “That’s not necessarily reason to wait. When you know what you have to lose may be the best time to be honest about what you feel. About what you want. Any Army chaplain will tell you he performs more marriages in war time.”
     
    “And these marriages . . . do they last?” Dylan challenged.
     
    “If you’re asking me for guarantees, I don’t have any,” Caleb said evenly. “But if you’re asking me if love is worth the risk, any risk, I’d have to say yes.”
     
    Dylan raised one eyebrow. “Is that what you tell Margred?”
     
    “That’s what we tell each other. You can get through anything if you have love. If you have trust.”
     
    “If you have hope,” Dylan said.
     
    Caleb exhaled slowly, looking at his hands. “She wants a baby,” he confessed.
     
    Dylan regarded his brother with understanding. Caleb— careful, upright Caleb— would not want to put his wife or a child at risk. “You have my sympathy. Margred is used to getting what she wants.”
     
    “She—”
     
    The door swung open. Antonia marched out, holding Nick’s hand.
     
    Dylan lurched to his feet, his heart banging against his ribs.
    “Regina?”
     
    Antonia’s straight gaze met his. Her hard mouth relaxed into a smile.
    “They’re moving her to the maternity wing.”
     
    “Then . . .” Dylan swallowed, hardly daring to hope.
     
    “The doctors want to keep her overnight. For observation.” Antonia ran a hand through her uncompromisingly black hair. “God, I need a smoke.”
     
    248
     
    *
     
    “We’re all set.” Antonia leaned over the metal railing to press her lips to Regina’s forehead. Regina closed her eyes, comforted by the familiar tang of tobacco in the midst of all the hospital smells, fear, sweat, and antiseptic.
     
    “Caleb is taking us back on the boat tonight,” Antonia continued.
    “I’ll talk to you in the morning after you’ve seen the doctor.”
     
    Nick stirred in the rocking chair, his bottom lip jutting dangerously.
    “I don’t want to go. I want to stay with you.”
     
    Regina’s heart