Page 35 of The Unseen

N ICOLE HADN’T LEFT THE HOSPITAL SINCE HER ARRIVAL . H ER clothes were wrinkled, her hair a bedraggled mess. Her muscles ached, and a headache throbbed behind her eyes.

Friday was passing in a haze of worry. Remy phoned Lucas to check on Sean’s condition, but given the circumstances, he thought it best to stay away. Just before noon, Aunt Rachel arrived with Josh, who had driven her to Baton Rouge from Belle Reve.

“How’s our sweet boy?” she asked, leaning over to hug Nicole, then taking a seat next to her in the waiting room.

“No change. He’s still in the ICU. They may have to operate, but so far, the doctors are hopeful that won’t have to happen.”

Rachel glanced around. “Where’s Lucas?”

“He just left. He tried to get me to go home, while he stayed here, but I just couldn’t leave. He’s gone to shower and change. He had some things to do at the youth center, but then he’ll be back.”

“I’ll stay until he gets here,” Rachel remarked.

“Are you sure you’re feeling up to it?”

Her aunt looked worried, but at the same time oddly serene. “I feel fine. I had a restful night.” She smiled as she said the words and color rose in her cheeks.

“You are positively glowing. Did he come to you last night? Your Francois?”

A soft smile touched her lips. “Yes.”

Having no idea what to say to that, Nicole merely nodded. With Sean in the hospital, Lucas had phoned his grandmother and postponed their session at Belle Reve. Which meant Simone could reappear and then Rachel would be in a far different kind of danger.

One more thing to worry about.

The doctor finally allowed them to see Sean for a brief moment in the ICU, where he lay pale as death in an induced coma. Nicole’s eyes teared up at the sight of him, hooked up to an IV, a heart monitor beeping a much steadier rhythm than the erratic pulse pounding in her own ears.

Aunt Rachel stayed until Lucas returned, and Josh drove her home. He was a good man, Nicole thought, more than just conscientious about his job. Clearly, he cared about the people under his protection.

Late Saturday morning, after a sleepless Friday night, Nicole was sitting next to Lucas in the hall outside the ICU when Dr. Mathias arrived. Lucas took hold of her hand and both of them stood up. There was nothing in the doctor’s expression to tell if the news was good or bad.

Her heart rate kicked up. Please let Sean be okay, she silently implored.

Her hold tightened on Lucas’s hand. “Is he—”

“Sean’s out of danger. The swelling subsided and everything is heading back to normal.” The doctor’s thin face lit with a smile.

“Thank God.” Relief washed over her, so strong her legs felt weak. As if he knew, Lucas’s hand tightened around her waist.

The doctor’s smile widened. “In time, aside from a powerful headache, your brother should be fine. We’ll be keeping him overnight for observation. But if there are no unexpected complications, we’ll be releasing him in the morning.”

“Thank you, Doctor. Thank you so much.”

Lucas shook Mathias’s hand. “We can’t thank you enough, Doctor.”

The man just smiled and nodded.

Sean’s improving condition was eventually changed to stable, and a few hours later, he was moved into the private room Lucas had insisted upon and was paying for.

Sean was sleeping when the two of them walked into his room, their arrival rousing him enough to open his eyes.

“Hey,” Sean said drowsily. His head was partially shaved and bandaged, the side of his face bruised, one of his eyes puffy.

Nicole’s heart squeezed. “Hey, yourself.” She leaned over and kissed his cheek, pasted on what she hoped would pass for a smile. She hoped he wouldn’t notice the smudges beneath her eyes. “Welcome back.”

“Yeah … thanks.”

“How do you feel?” Lucas asked.

Sean managed a faint, lopsided grin. “Like someone shot me.” The grin slid away. “The doctor says I can go home tomorrow.”

“That’s right,” Lucas said. “He says you’re out of danger.” Lucas then told the boy not to speak to the police, that he’d have an attorney to handle things for him.

Sean just nodded and drifted back to sleep.

By late Sunday afternoon, Sean had been released from the hospital and was back at Belle Reve. He was resting comfortably in his bedroom, rapidly recovering, a huge worry lifted from Nicole’s shoulders. He would be staying home through the week, then returning to school the following Monday.

Lucas told Nicole that until the situation was resolved with the police, and he was certain she and Sean would be safe, he planned to sleep on the sofa in the living room. This was a conversation her brother must have overheard.

Sean called Nicole and Lucas into his bedroom.

“Listen, you guys, I know the two of you are together. I’m old enough to handle it. There’s no reason for Coach to sleep in the living room.”

Nicole blushed. Sex wasn’t a subject she had ever discussed with her brother.

“You know how I feel about your sister,” Lucas said.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

Lucas’s gaze locked with Nicole’s. When she made no protest, he swung his attention back to Sean. “First I think it’s time you called me Luke, or Lucas, at least when we’re not at school, and we’ll accept your offer with our thanks.”

Nicole wasn’t sure she liked the idea. Her feelings for Lucas were confusing and uncertain at best. At times, they were terrifying. She wasn’t ready to face them, though it was beginning to look as if she had no choice.

For the moment, she was just happy her brother was going to be all right.

As promised, on Monday morning, Lucas contacted an attorney named Diego Reyes to represent Sean in the arrest proceedings.

Unfortunately, a total of four vehicles had been stolen that night before the police had interceded.

The other two, an Aston Martin DB12 and a customized Porsche Carrera, had not been recovered.

That made cutting a deal more difficult.

Reyes presented Sean’s written statement to the court, in which he swore that Bruno Takov had threatened his sister’s life.

She had already suffered a beating, the results of which Lucas had wisely photographed on his cell phone.

Under the circumstances, Reyes said, Sean felt he had no choice but to cooperate.

In the end, after a session with the judge, Reyes was able to negotiate a simple six-month extension of Sean’s time at the youth center and keep the teen’s role in exposing the car theft ring a secret.

In other good news, Mick Dugan, in exchange for a lighter sentence, identified the head of security at Casino Rouge Chateau, Roman Cormack, as the man behind the thefts. Cormack had taken the heat and refused to cooperate, preferring to go to prison rather than incriminate anyone else.

Lucas tried to convince himself it was over, but Cormack’s silence felt like a loose end that remained unresolved.

Lucas didn’t like it.

Late in the afternoon the following Sunday, Rachel sat on the terrace overlooking the garden.

It was the third week of April, sunny, the temperature in the eighties; as it was this time of year, the humidity, still tolerable, was climbing.

Pulling off her wide-brimmed straw hat, she tossed it on the white wrought iron table and leaned back in the chair, letting the sun warm her face as she thought of the time she had spent this week with the ghost of the man she loved.

Francois had been with her, in one form or another, three nights in a row. And though they communicated by touch, they knew each other’s thoughts. Rachel knew Francois’s heart and soul as she had never known another man.

She felt him watching over her, even now, as she sat on the terrace. He was worried about her, worried that Simone might harm her. So far, he had been able to keep the malicious spirit away.

She looked up to see Nicole approaching in the loose-fitting, wide-legged floral pants and white silk blouse she had worn to church. She was just back from returning Sean to the youth center.

“How did it go?” Rachel asked, wondering how difficult it would be for Sean, after being arrested, to fit in again with his friends.

Nicole sighed as she sat down at the table. “I’m not sure.” She picked up the pitcher of lemonade and filled one of the empty glasses for herself. “I think his friends are torn between condemning him and admiring him.”

Rachel nodded. “He committed a crime, but he also saved his family from being harmed.”

“Exactly.”

“Sean’s a smart boy. He’ll know how to handle the situation.”

“I hope so.” Nicole took a drink of lemonade. “It looks like Sean’s out of danger. What about you? How are things going at Belle Reve?”

Rachel toyed with her glass. “You mean with Francois?”

“Actually, I’m more worried about Simone. She doesn’t seem nearly as … friendly.”

“Simone hasn’t been here since that first night.”

“I guess that’s good. Hard to tell what’s good and bad when you’re dealing with a ghost.”

Rachel said nothing.

“Lucas talked to his grandmother this morning. We both thought it was better to wait until Sean was back in school before Gabrielle came out to the house. She’s free any night this week.”

Rachel rubbed her temple. “That’s kind of her, but I’m not feeling quite up to it right now.” Not exactly the truth, but she managed to smile. “You have a show in New Orleans this coming weekend, right?”

“That’s right. I’ve been painting all week, getting ready for it. I’m working on something … I don’t quite know how it’s going to turn out, but it should be finished very soon.”

“Why don’t we wait for Gabrielle’s visit until after the show? Perhaps I’ll be feeling a little stronger.” And it would give her more time with Francois.

Nicole eyed her with suspicion. “What if Simone comes back?”

Rachel just shrugged. “Maybe she’s gone for good.”

Nicole took a sip of lemonade. “I suppose that’s possible. Anything is possible. That’s what Lucas always says.”

This time, Rachel’s smile was sincere. “All right, it’s settled. We’ll plan to have Gabrielle out here after your show.”

Or at least they could discuss it again at that time. As far as Rachel was concerned, she was happy the way things were.

“I suppose that will work,” Nicole said. “I just hope nothing happens in the meantime.”

Rachel hoped so, too. For now, she had Francois and she was happy.

They made pleasant conversation as Nicole finished her lemonade; then her niece headed back to her studio.

Rachel stayed to enjoy the sunshine a few minutes more.

Lately she had been suffering the growing effects of her disease—weakness in her arms and shoulders that made lifting difficult, weakness in her legs that made it harder and harder to climb the stairs.

She hadn’t mentioned it. Nicole had enough problems of her own.

Thank God for Lucas. Rachel prayed her niece was smart enough to appreciate the gift that she had been given in a man who cared so much about her.