Chapter 6: Nightmares
I began to think about Annie Tatterton even after I'd long finished my lunch and was peacefully resting in my room. I'd just met her and she already intrigued me. She is an artist, I heard Malcolm's voice thinking. I hate dancers, artists, musicians! I shivered, then shook the thought away. No, I thought. She isn't evil. She seemed very nice...I wanted to get to know her better.
I was in the heated pool a day later, not swimming, but floating on my back, my eyes shut. I didn't hear what was going around me until I sleepily opened my eyes and saw Annie Tatterton. She was sitting on the edge of the porcelain, her legs swinging back and forth into the water. Her gaze was fixed on the wall, distracted. I wondered what she was thinking about. She sighed, her arms going around herself, as she seemed to be in deep thought.
This gave me the perfect time to examine her features more closely. Her hair was long and dark as a raven. I had the sudden urge to stroke her hair, kiss her. Her eyes were the most unique shade of blue, like a sky blue. Her lips were desirable for me, I wanted to kiss her so bad. And of course, my eyes couldn't help but gaze at the dark blue swimming suit she wore. It wasn't wet so I couldn't see her every curve, but what I saw wasn't bad. Not at all.
I shook my head, slightly disturbed at my feelings that I had. I didn't even know this woman, I just knew I was attracted to the way she had treated me and the way she looked. Not so much in physical looks, but the way her eyes fixed on something, or the way she bit on her lower lip while in deep thought. It was like she had someone else inside her as well. I thought I'd been the only one to feel that way.
She sighed and stood up. As she stood, she slipped on the wet surface and fell into the pool. Her arms began to thrash and I briefly she swim?! I swam over to her as fast as I could. I pulled her out of the water, my heart racing and my breathing a bit fast. She was choking on the water and trembling violently as I pulled her and myself out of the pool.
Water dripped from her skin, which was as pale as flour. She was trembling so hard that it slightly scared me.
"Annie...are you okay?" I asked. She looked up at me, surprised. I hoped she wasn't going into shock. She wrapped her arms around my bare waist and looked down, still trembling.
"I was always an awful swimmer..." she murmured. I saw how scared she was and it deeply touched me. She wasn't afraid to show her weaknesses. But they weren't really weaknesses, not like the kind Melodie possessed. Annie wasn't helpless, I could tell that.
I left her side to retrieve some towels. I wrapped one around her and she looked at me gratefully. Never had anyone looked at me like that. I watched her intently, making sure she wasn't going to zone out on me or go hysterical. She did neither, even though her trembling hadn't stopped.
"Come...I think you need something warm to drink," I said, putting my arm around her, helping her stand. She looked at me with wide eyes and I saw she was in a state of shock, but not a bad one.
We walked into the dining room, where I ordered the both of us hot chocolate. She was still trembling, but seemed to have recovered from the shock.
"You okay?" I asked with concern.
She looked distracted for a moment, then blinked rapidly. She nodded, though I saw shadows in her eyes. Something must be wrong, I thought. I didn't ask any further, in fear she would be angry at me. We remained quiet for a while. Then Annie was looking at me.
"I'm sorry I'm not very talkative right now," she softly said.
"I...I have a lot to think about," she said, swallowing.
"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked.
She bit her lip, shook her head.
"No...I'll be fine," she said, standing. She flashed a smile at me as she wrapped the towel I'd gave her even tighter around her.
"Thank you so much, Bart. If I hadn't met you… I might have drowned." My face was crimson.
"Um...well...um...it's fine," I said.
She nodded, started to hand me the towel, but I shook my head.
"No...you keep it. It's just a towel. If you want, you can return it to me later," I said. She nodded, standing.
"Thank you again...but I'm going to go rest," she said, and started towards the elevator. I watched her, still concerned. She was acting differently, being a bit more distant. She somehow reminded me of someone …. Myself. Little did I know that she already had my pulsing heart in her hands...
I was walking up to my room a bit later when I heard screams from Annie's room. I looked at her door, wondering what was happening. Was she hurt? Was someone in her room? Terrible images of someone hurting her made my head spin.
"No! Tony! Stop! No! I'm not Leigh!" she screamed, so loud it chilled my blood.
Without a second thought, I dashed to her door and yanked it open. I was expecting another person in the room, but it was just Annie, asleep in her bed. She tossed and turned furiously, screaming, trying to get away from something, or someone. I watched, my eyes widening. I'd never seen such a nightmare in progress before. I hated seeing the way she writhed and screamed.
Unable to stand it any longer, I went over to her and began to shake her.
"Annie! Annie, wake up, you're only dreaming!" I cried.
Her blue eyes popped open, startled, scared. A fear that was similar to the fear I had when I woke up from nightmares of my mother and the past.
"Bart? What..what are you doing here?" she gasped as she shivered. She wore a light blue nightgown that matched her eyes. Her dark hair was disheveled, in all directions. She was breathing heavily, her body twitching.
"I heard you screaming..."
She looked at me, her face going crimson. She looked away.
"It was nothing," she said.
My hand went to her bare arm. Even though the touch of her bare skin distracted me slightly, it did not stop me from my concerns for her.
"Annie..."
"No! Leave me alone!" she cried. I dropped her arm, my eyes blazing.
"I just wanted to help you, damn it! What is it with you women? Always screaming for help, then when us men try, you pull away!" I growled.
Annie looked at me, bowed her head in her hands.
I watched as she began to cry, and I shivered, wanting to take her into my arms, stroke her hair, tell her it would be all right. I shook my head. What was wrong with me? She was being weak, like Melodie. She was CRYING. Then again …. I cried too. Every once in a while. I still cried for my mother in my sleep and tried to forget how childish that was.
"Annie...please...stop crying," I pleaded, feeling a bit bad. I had barged into her room and the nightmare must have been very vivid. Maybe she had good reason to cry.
"I...I...I'm sorry," she said, wiping her tears away.
"I always have this nightmare..."
"Please Annie. Anything you tell me...I won't tell anyone. I want to help you," I said, as I slipped my arm around her, not caring what she thought. She looked at me, silent for a long moment, in debate.
"All right," she whispered.
"I grew up in the small town of Winnerow, West Virginia. With my mother and father, and my aunt lived nearby with my half brother, Luke Jr. My aunt had slept with my father, and thus, Luke Jr was born. We were born on the same day. My uncle Drake also lived with my parents and I. I was seventeen or eighteen when we went to my aunt's birthday party. Luke and I had always been close. His mother liked to flirt with young men and was embarrassed by her. She embarrassed my mother by getting my father drunk and wildly dancing with him. My mother was very upset.
"We drove home, and it began to rain. Then we hit an oncoming car, and my mother and father died. I was in the hospital, paralyzed from the waist down. A strange blond haired man had me transferred to a hospital in Boston. I learned he was the stepfather of my grandmother, the man my mother tried to avoid mentioning, even though Luke and I often imagined ourselves at his home, more like a castle, Farthingale Manor. He had me transferred to his home. At first I had an awful nurse, who was rough with me and one time she poisoned my food. After my grandmother's stepfather, Tony Tatterton, fired her, he began to assist me with baths and dressing. I was always so embarrassed."
"I let him convince me into dying my hair blond, and he grew insane. I left the bland room I was in one day and found an English maze outside the manor. I was lost and found a wonderful man, who wheeled me to his cottage. He urged me to walk, and I felt I could walk a few steps. Tony was furious when I returned, and took my chair and crutches from me, then put something in my food so I couldn't walk like I had, I was weaker. He came into my room...and....and..." Hot tears fell from Annie's eyes. I had been utterly silent, staring at her as her past story rushed through her lips.
"He was naked...and he crawled into my bed. He kept calling me Leigh, my grandmother's name...then he tried...he tried..." I gasped involuntary and drew my arm closer to press her against me. Oh my god. No wonder that had been one hell of a nightmare!
"Go on...it's okay… He didn't succeed, and the next day he pretended nothing had happened. Luke Jr came to get me, and my aunt Fanny, but Tony told them I was to have no visitors. I yelled out a window for them to come back, and saw the man from the cottage, who later told me he was Tony's younger brother, Troy Tatterton. When I woke up, Aunt Fanny and Luke were there. They helped me out of there, even though Tony tried to stop us. I then discovered the reason my mother hated him. He had tried to rape her too, and had raped my grandmother Leigh. He had really been my mother's father."
"I returned home, to live with Aunt Fanny and Luke. Luke admitted his feelings of love to me, and I did the same, as wrong as it was. Drake was furious at me leaving Farthy, on Tony's side. Tony died, and Luke and I went to the funeral. Troy then had us go to his cottage and told us a story of how him and my mother had once been lovers until they discovered Heaven was Tony's daughter, for he had raped Leigh and she had ran from him into he arms of a stranger. And that I was Troy's true daughter. So Luke and I were no longer related. We dated for a while, then I went off to Europe to study art. Luke found someone else, even though he had promised he wouldn't. So I came here, to get away from it all."
Her story touched me deeply, for she had lived a hard life, like me. She had been paralyzed, like Jory, and almost raped. I hugged her, my heart beginning to constrict tightly. I hated that she had to deal with all that. Then I wondered …. What was I doing? How could she make me feel this way? I felt her stiffen under my touch.
"It's okay..he's dead, gone, he can't hurt you," I soothed, stroking her hair back. God the feel of her hair made my insides quiver with excitement. She was so beautiful and so very strong. Even with her weaknesses, she had to be strong to have had faced all that. She had her weak moments, but I had my own, I just never let anyone know about them, for a Foxworth had to act perfect. But with Annie, I didn't act perfect. I was nervous, yes, but not arrogant as I usually was with other women. I wondered why I was being so different with her. Yet it wasn't an act. This was how I felt around her.
I felt Annie's soft breathing as she fell back asleep, enclosed within my arms. I laid back against the bed, keeping her in my arms, not wanting to let her go. Desire filled me as I looked at her, but I pushed it back. I kissed the top of her head. I couldn't do that. I couldn't use her like that, not when she'd had a nightmare about her awful grandfather. It was sickening.
"I will stay and watch over you," I huskily whispered, and I fell sound asleep, with her in my arms. I slept better than I usually ever did, even on vacation.