Chapter Fifty-Three.

Lying under the heavy quilt, Laura breathed in the warmth, and snuggling deeper into her cave made of soft linen, she waited for sleep to take her again. She didn't know what time it was, and she didn't care. She just wanted the aches and pains and memories from the day before to disappear, at least for a little while longer, and they would have if she hadn't heard a groan. Her eyes flew open. Squinting at the bright morning sun streaming through the windows, she tossed back the quilt and found the bed empty. Toni was gone.

Laura's thoughts returned to the old Toni, the damaged Toni, the Toni who had contemplated death when life had become too difficult, and with her heart pounding in her chest, Laura was about to call out when she saw the light under the bathroom door. Hearing yet another loud grunt of pain, she scrambled out of bed and ran to investigate. Pushing the door open, she rushed inside.

Sitting on the toilet, Toni jumped a few inches when the door flew open. Scrunching up her face at the aches the movement had caused, she yelled, "What the fuck, Laura!"

"Toni, what are you...what are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing," she answered in disgust.

"But I heard a...I heard a groan."

"That's because I got down okay, but when I tried to stand up, it hurt like a bugger."

Laura's first instinct was to laugh, but it was quickly replaced by sympathy for a woman who had gone through so much the day before. In years to come, she would joke about this moment, but now was not the time. "Do you want some help?"

Finally finding a bit of amusement in her situation, Toni grinned. "Please, if you don't mind. I'd hate to have you call emergency just to get me off the bloody toilet."

A few minutes later, with pajama bottoms no longer gathered around her ankles, Toni stood at the vanity while Laura used the facilities behind her.

"I can't believe how sore I am," Toni said as she washed her hands. "I feel like I've been hit by a lorry."

"Between your run and the fall in the water, I'm not surprised."

"Even my hair hurts."

Smiling to herself, Laura flushed the toilet and then went over and looked up at her confused partner. "That's because Stephen pulled you out of the water by your hair."

"What? He decided to go caveman?"

"It was the only way he could get you to shore. You were dead...dead...weight..." Laura's face scrunched up as her emotions rose to the surface. Tears filled her eyes, and placing her hand over her mouth, she began to weep.

"Hey. Hey, what's this?" Toni asked, cupping Laura's chin in her hand. "Darling, what's wrong?"

"You...you weren't breathing. Oh, Toni...you almost died."

Toni wrapped her arms around Laura and held her close. "Darling, it's okay," she whispered. "I'm alive, Laura. I'm bloody sore, but I'm alive. So please, please don't cry."

Sniffling, Laura took a deep breath and stepped back. Wiping a tear away, she said, "I love you so much. Do you know that?"

"Well, you did just lift me off the toilet, so I'm fairly certain that love was involved, unless you have a perversion I'm not aware of. Do you?"

"Actually, I do have one."

"Oh, yeah?" Toni said, leaning her head to the side.

"It seems I have a fetish called Toni Vaughn."

Toni's eyes creased at the corners, and for a second, all her aches and pains faded away. "I guess that means you won't have a problem helping your fetish get dressed then, huh?"

"You sure you don't want to stay in bed today?"

"No, I'm hungry, and I think the more I move about, the less sore I'll be."

Placing a quick kiss on Toni's lips, Laura said, "Okay. Let's go find you some clothes."

Following Laura into the bedroom, Toni sat on the edge of the bed while Laura got dressed.

"Be with you in a second," Laura said as she pulled on her jeans.

Seeing Laura's pained expression as she struggled into the tight denim, Toni asked, "Is your arm bothering you?"

"We've already discussed this. It's bruised, not broken," Laura said as she pulled up the zip. "And before you ask, because I know you will, the bruise on my cheek doesn't even hurt."

"I'm sorry he hit you."

"I know you are, sweetheart, but it's over. Let's just forget it. Okay?" Laura said, stepping into her boots. Opening the dresser, she pulled out a pair of red flannel pajamas. "How about these?"

"I'm not wearing those!"

"Why? I thought they were your favorite."

"Laura, I can't stay in my pajamas all day."

"Why not?"

"Because...because...because I'm not sick. That's why!"

"This coming from a woman who couldn't get off the toilet a few minutes ago."

"I'm sore, not sick."

"Fine," Laura said. Reaching into the drawer, she pulled out a sweater. "Put it on."

"I need a bra."

"Oh, even better," Laura said, opening another drawer to find one of Toni's white bras. Tossing it on the bed, Laura said, "There you go."

Totally forgetting that her body was one big ache, Toni reached for the brassiere and winced. "Fuck."

"You okay?"

"You did that on purpose."

"Yes, I did," Laura said, folding her arms across her chest. "Now, do you need another demonstration, or have I won this argument?"

"How old are you?"

Looking up from the cookbook she was reading, Toni answered, "Thirty-four. Why?"

"Just wondering," Bill said.

"How old are you?"

"Fifty-five, but today I feel like I'm a hundred."

"I know what you mean," Toni said, letting out a long breath as she settled back into the sofa. Resting the cookbook on her lap, she looked in his direction. With the help of ice packs, the swelling around his eyes had disappeared, but the bruises that had begun to form the night before had now blossomed into blue-black splotches that covered his cheeks and chin. "Do you feel as bad as you look?"

"Oh, thanks!"

"Sorry," Toni said with a laugh. "Didn't mean that the way it came out."

Smiling back at her, he said, "Actually I don't. I'm just stiff and sore...like I'm atrophying."

"Yeah, me, too," she said, stretching her arms above her head.

"I hope you don't mind me saying this, but after all that's happened, you seem to be coping rather well."

"Laura said the same thing to me last night."

"Can I ask what your answer was?"

Pausing for only a moment, Toni told Bill what she had confessed to Laura the night before. Her biggest fear was that murder lurked in her heart, but she had been wrong, and that knowledge in its own way, had set her free. For a few minutes, the words flowed easily as if she was telling a story, but when she looked up and saw his battered face, the memories of the night came rushing back.

In terror, she had run from the man she had known as Cameron. In anger, she had proven him evil, and with determination, she had managed to stand her ground when all around her were bleeding and injured. Through it all, she had never allowed one tear to fall...until now.

It was impossible to stop. Bowing her head, she turned as if to hide from him, but he had heard the emotion in her voice, and grunting at the pain in his muscles, Bill moved from chair to sofa. Wrapping an arm around her as she wept, when she turned and buried her head in his shoulder, he held her close and said not a word. None were needed.

"Here, drink this," he said, handing her a glass.

"What is it?"

"Ten-year-old single malt."

"Bill, it's eleven o'clock in the morning."

"So?"

Taking the glass from his hand, she said, "The last person who served me alcohol this early was my shrink."

"Now there's a doctor I want to meet," he said with a laugh as he gingerly sat back down.

"Sorry about earlier."

"Never apologize for being human, Toni. After all that you've been through in the past twenty-four hours, I think it definitely called for a good cry, or perhaps two."

Watching as Bill sipped his drink, Toni asked, "Should you be drinking that? I thought Eleanor said the doctors gave you something for pain."

"They did, but I much prefer numbing myself with alcohol rather than using drugs."

"Alcohol is a drug."

"True, but it's much tastier than those pills in the bedroom."

Taking a sip, Toni smiled at the sweet toffee flavor of the single malt. "This is good."

"I told you...much better than those nasty pills, and it has the same effect. I haven't met a Scotch yet that can't relax my muscles," Bill said, chuckling to himself.

"You should slow down or you're going to get pissed."

Bill's smile disappeared. "And that would be a problem why exactly?"

"Are you angry?"

"Maybe just a little."

"At me?"

"What? No, no, no, of course I'm not angry with you, Toni. Don't be absurd."

"Then with whom...or what?"

"Mortality."

"Sorry?"

"Mortality. Twenty years ago, I would have knocked that bastard through the walls of that bloody house, but last night I couldn't even hold my own for more than a few minutes. It's a hard lesson to learn when all of sudden you realize you're old."

"You're hardly old."

"Well, I'm hardly young."

Eyeing the man, Toni's eyes crinkled at the corners. "So, you wallow in self-pity often, do you?"

Bill opened his mouth to argue and then just as quickly it closed. Shaking his head, he said, "I was, wasn't I?"

"Just a bit, but it's quite understandable looking the way you do."

"Oi!"