Destiny Dreams And Demons 16 Josh - 16

"I'm coming down now," she called back.

"Are you ready, Baby? Are you ready to get your socks knocked off?"

"You know it, Abby girl," I answered as I watched her come down the stairs in her short, black c.o.c.ktail dress. I felt a ping of pride as I looked her over from her straightened, long brown hair to her black stilettos. "How did I ever get such a beautiful bride of four years?"
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"Luck," she answered coyly, bringing one shoulder up to meet her chin.

"Happy Anniversary, Sweetheart," I whispered in her ear as I kissed her cheek. I took her arm and led her to the garage. I was finding it very hard to keep my eyes off of her. She was so beautiful that I just couldn't believe she was mine. I opened the car door for her and I closed it as soon as she was settled. I patted my pockets to a.s.sure myself that I didn't forget her gift as I walked around the rear of the car. I had planned for quite a while on what to get her. I finally came across a beautiful rose pink diamond ring. It was perfect for her and our anniversary.

I climbed into the car and leaned over to kiss her lips. She giggled when I pulled out of the garage and down the street. She brought up her hand to my lips and wiped away her lipstick. "I don't think s.h.i.+mmer pink is really your color, Sweetie."

"Ha, ha very funny," I remarked. I thought to myself what I should say or what I could possibly do to make this evening as good as possible. With all that had happened with Abby lately, all I wanted was to make this night memorable.

A few moments later after driving in silence, I asked how her day had been.

"Well," she began then hesitated. "Oh, nothing much happened. I talked to Veda about Mitch.e.l.l. You know, his birthday is coming up and I was thinking about getting him a new dragon."

"That does sound like a good gift for him. Though, are you sure he has room? I mean doesn't he have enough?" I laughed at the cold hard truth. I had known Mitch.e.l.l most of my life and for as long as I could remember, he had always loved dragons. He had collected so many over the years that he had to turn his den into a dragon room. I glanced over at her out of the corner of my eye as I added, "I mean, how many people have a separate room for their collection? But if Veda thinks that he could use another, then go tomorrow and get him one for us."

"Ok, Sweetie, I will," Abby replied with a smile. It wasn't very often that I told her to go spend money on anything so her smile was genuine and beautiful.

"Well, we're here, My Darling," I announced as we pulled up to the restaurant. I pulled up to the valet at the front door and stepped out motioning to the guy to let me open my wife's door. "I got it," I told him as I reached for the door.

We went in and told the hostess of our reservation and she led us to the far corner near the window. I pushed her seat in for her trying to be as much of a gentleman as I could muster for this special evening. I took my own seat and looked across the table at her. There were three small, white candles in the middle of the table and the flames cast a beautiful glow on Abby's face. "So, what would you like to eat, Sweetheart?"

"I don't know yet. I am just taking in the beauty of this place, right now. But I was thinking about Fettuccini. What about you?" Abby answered my question with admiration in her eyes.

"Lasagna," I answered.

Abby looked over at me and a smile crossed her face. She began to gaze into the fire of the candle and seemed to get lost in thought. She wasn't there at the table with me in this restaurant anymore. Her mind was someplace else and I could see her absence. "Abby, are you okay? What's on your mind?" I asked concerned, trying to get her mind back here with me.

"I was just thinking the usual, Baby. I'm sorry." She finally answered after a moment. She seemed to have been almost in a trance and it had taken a moment for her to realize what was going on. "It's just these dreams have never come so often. And they are getting more and more vivid and real. It's almost scary! I keep thinking or wondering, rather, if she really exists. Are these all just images of my imagination running ramped or is there is a reason for them? And if there is a reason, what is it? I just sometimes feel almost trapped by the dreams, because all I can ever think about is the dreams." She stopped suddenly, realizing the haunting look on my face and recognizing that she had rambled on about her dreams again.

She didn't know the true reason that I had been looking at her with such distress. I was worried about the dreams' effects on her but I had also seen the quick flashes of white in her chestnut brown hair. I thought to myself what it might mean. And why I kept seeing the flashes in her hair and even once in her eyes. I worried about her sometimes. These dreams sometimes messed with her thinking so badly, but I could never tell her to not let it. I could tell her to try not to worry but to tell her to stop thinking about it would never happen. It was part of her and I couldn't help but wonder how big of a part. I reached across the small table and took my wonderful wife's hands.

"I'm sorry, Baby. I don't mean to ruin our special night. I am so sorry," Abby said solemnly losing the battle against the tears that now trickled down her face.

I looked at her and brought up my hands to cradle her face and wipe her tears. "Ssh, Sweetheart, be still. It's alright. You aren't ruining anything. You know that I love hearing about Laylan and all of the others, so if you ever want to talk about them, just open your mouth and let it spill out. I'll try to keep up. But never apologize for talking about her, she is a part of you and I love every part of you, so I guess you could say that I love Laylan. But never as much as I love you of course," I whispered to her and finis.h.i.+ng with a smile.

She looked into my eyes and I think she realized that I spoke the truth from my heart. A small smile crept across her fair face and replied, "Alright, but I am warning you. You might not like the latest." She continued by telling me about the dream that she had had the night before. She explained how it had been Artimous' death that tipped the scales for the G.o.ds granting sanctuary for them all. She told me about how the humans had waged war on the elves and Greagan pleaded with the G.o.ds. How they all crossed through a waterfall to their new home. She spilled everything and when she was done she looked at me and I could tell that she was wondering if she had lost me. And to be honest, I was still trying to let it all sink in.

She had her breakdown only two weeks ago and now this. A few moments pa.s.sed before I could say anything, and even then the only thing I could say was, "Wow." I didn't know what else to say, I reached over and sipped at my water. We sat in silence looking at each other. A slight smile crossed her face and I forgot what I was trying to figure out.

"Are we ready to order?" The waiter asked as he approached our table. "Sorry about the delay. Could I interest either of you in a nice bottle of wine?"

He was a tall, young man with the look of a college boy trying to get by. His name tag read, Chad and I wondered how far from the truth I was. Chad held out an expensive bottle of red wine he slightly bent down toward the table to allow me the opportunity to read the label. He was a tall, thin boy with very light, short blond hair and shallow blue eyes.

I glanced over at Abby who was staring at Chad with a mesmerizing look. Just then she looked at me and I brought my attention back to the bottle and nodded in approval. A sly smile crept across her face as Chad put out gla.s.ses and opened the bottle.

I watched as he poured and listened to the specials for the evening. "No, thank you," I answered him as he placed the open bottle into a pail of ice. "I want lasagna and extra parmesan." Chad nodded then looked at Abby.

"For you, Ma'am?" he asked.

"Yes, I would like the shrimp Alfredo," Abby announced. Chad nodded again and informed us that it would be right out. He turned and left the table and hastily moved toward the back. I watched as Abby stared at him until he had disappeared from our view. She looked back at me and I gazed at her inquisitively. She bent down toward me, across the table and whispered, "His eyes," she paused, "his eyes were just like Luca.s.sius' eyes. That shallow piercing blue."

"Really?" I asked shocked. "I'll have to look next time he comes by." I chuckled, "I wasn't really checking him out or anything." I jokingly squinted at her.

"Oh, shut up. Neither was I!" she laughed. We laughed for a moment then silence fell on us.

"The frequency and realism of the dreams…" I took in a deep breath and released it in a sigh. "I don't know. I can't come up with an explanation for that. Though I have been asking myself the same questions," I finished with a disappointed tone. I had been asking myself those questions. Why so much? Why are they getting so real? What is the reason for all of this? And why do I keep seeing her hair flash? Not to mention her eyes?

I looked up at Abby who was now holding her wine gla.s.s and eyeing it almost hypnotically at the deep red colored wine. Her eyes squinted and a flash of white spread through her hair again. I noticed that her nails were turning white from the pressure of her hold on the gla.s.s. "Abby?" I spoke as calmly as I could, trying to steady my voice. I reached across the table and softly took her hand and squeezed it on my own. "Abby?" I called again. Finally, she blinked a few times, and then looked at me. I could see the line of tears in her eyes. "Baby, what's wrong? What happened?"

"I don't know what happened. The wine turned in my eyes and I saw blood. Deep, red blood was everywhere. It covered him." Her voice began to rise frantically, "It flowed like rivers out of his wounds. Blood was on the trees and the leaves and them." She paused, and then looked back at the wine. "Oh, them!" her voice sounded different to my ears. "Yes, they paid. They will pay dearly for what they did."

"Who?" I tried to ask Abby, but she didn't acknowledge my question. I squeezed her hand as I asked again. This time it worked, though.

"What?" She looked at me.

"Who are you talking about? What did they do? And who is bleeding from his wounds?" I asked and waited for an answer.

"Man," she paused, her voice angry yet satin. I looked into her eyes and could see that her left eye was dark emerald green and her right eye was a deep royal blue. She seemed to be gazing into my eyes yet seeing through me. "Man will suffer from running everything and everybody away with their greed. They killed Artimous. They stabbed him and cut him. Then they tried to saw off his horn. I know he had told me about it, but I never saw it myself. They were awful, evil men. And they will pay for what they did!" She stopped and closed her eyes. When she opened her eyes again, they were bright, electric blue. She snarled and I thought I had seen fangs as she growled, "They will burn for it!" Her face softened and she closed her eyes again and tears streamed down her face as her anger melted into sadness. She opened her eyes and looked at me and they had returned to her normal grey, blue eyes. I jumped from my chair and knelt down beside her and held her in my arms. "My G.o.d, I am losing my mind, Josh. I can't even have a romantic evening with you without something happening. I am so sorry, Baby! I really am!" She looked at me with tears still streaming down her face.

I wrapped an arm around her neck and held her tight against my shoulder. I could feel eyes on me as I consoled her and I glanced around to confirm it. I started feeling anger rage up inside of me at their impotence. Their sheer lack of respect for my wife's feelings p.i.s.sed me off; they were staring at us as if we were some circus freak show. I could hear Chad nearing the table looking troubled. "Is everything alright, Sir?" he asked slightly distressed.

"Yes, but we need the check and make our meals to go, please, if they are close to being ready," I remarked as professionally as I could. The anger inside of me was becoming stronger.

"Yes, Sir, I will go check," Chad said as he quickly walked, almost sprinting to the kitchen.

"I'm so sorry, Baby," Abby continued to say in her sobs.

"Don't be, Sweetie, it's not your fault," I tried to calmly tell her. But the words broke in my throat as my heart ached. I wished so badly to be able to calm her, to make her feel better. To make the dreams stop. But guiltily I wished that the dreams would finish their course, so I and the world could see the new world of dreams that my wife was and had experienced. I was torn with my need for knowledge of what was happening to my Abby and my want for her to stop dreaming. Or was it my want for knowledge of what was happening to my Abby and my need for her to stop dreaming. I wasn't even sure I knew the answer anymore.

I caught a glimpse of Chad out of the corner of my eye and noticed he was carrying a bag of boxed and on the other hand, a black portfolio with the bill. "Here you go, Sir." Chad set the bag on a nearby tray that stood by the table and handed the portfolio to me.

I stood and pulled out my wallet. I took the portfolio and glanced inside to see the amount. I reached into my wallet and pulled out enough money to pay the bill and a little extra for a tip. I put the money inside and handed it back to Chad with a motion to keep the change.

"Thank you, Sir. Can I help you and the lady out to your car? Is there anything else I can do for you?" Chad stammered, clearly baffled by the events that were occurring at one of his tables.

"No, thank you. I think we can manage."

"Then, thank you, Sir and Ma'am. And have a wonderful evening," Chad finished with a slight look of relief and hurried away.

I quickly glanced around the room and saw that most of the people here were still looking at us. The anger welled up inside so fast that I couldn't stop myself. "What?!" I shouted. "What the h.e.l.l, are you all looking at?!" I turned back to Abby and saw a look of shock on her face. I s.h.i.+fted my vocals and whispered, "Let's get the h.e.l.l outta here. Let's go home, where no one can gawk at us as we talk."

Abby didn't say a word. She nodded as she grabbed her purse and stood. Her knees seemed weak under her weight and I could see her unstable balance and braced her against me. We walked out into the lobby and the owner opened the door for us. He followed us out and silently stood as we waited for the valet to bring our car around.

When they pulled up, I quickly stepped forward to help Abby into the car. As I shut her door, the owner stepped up to me. We exchanged a few words that weren't good and I could feel my face get warm from my anger. I stormed around the car and nearly fell into the car and slammed the door. I put the car in gear and squealed the tires as we left the parking lot.

"What happened?" Abby asked curiously.

"Well, to make it short and to the point. We are not welcome there, again," I answered as nicely as I could.