JOAN'S FLASHFORWARD
Chapter 9
Things Seen and Not Seen
Helen woke up the next morning in her bed. Alone. Will had decided to spend the night in Luke's empty room. Things had gotten that awkward the previous evening – yet Helen could not think of how the situation could have been handled differently.
One thing was clear to her: she could not reveal Joan's secret, without her daughter agreeing to it. She had misunderstood Joan six years ago, even decided to send her to what Joan dubbed "Crazy Camp". Now she owed it to Joan not to give out a secret that might make her look crazy again.
It had also been clear to her that there was little way to minimize the situation. Will was not just being curious; he had a duty to investigate a disaster, and Helen seemed to have a possible key.
So she had stood and said "I dreamed that it would happen, Will."
"Dreamed it."
"Yes."
"I have bad dreams all the time, usually after I've investigated terrible crimes and can't get them out of my mind. I don't let them affect my waking life. And I've certainly never had a dream that was specific as to time of day. Why was this dream so convincing, that you invited me home and even had me sit down at the proper time?"
Helen had hesitated, unable to think of a convincing answer, and Lily had intervened. "Her dream was sent from God, Will."
"God?" He sounded partly frustrated and partly unbelieving.
"Yes – it's called a charism –"
"Helen has been a religious skeptic up until the past few years. You've served the church all of your life --- as a nun, and now as a layman. What would God send a dream to Helen instead of you?"
Lily looked flustered. Of course it was Joan and not Helen who got the original warning, but the original puzzle remained – why, five years ago, had God chosen a bumbling teenage girl instead of the ardent young nun to do his bidding? Lily had always been puzzled by that, and had eventually decided that it simply had to be accepted. "God works in mysterious ways, Will."
"That sort of argument might fly in medieval times, but not today. I need FACTS, Helen. Every lawman in the world is going to get involved in investigating the crisis, and I need to put you in the clear. Do you want Lucy Preston to get involved in this?"
"Oh, so you're playing good cop? Because Lucy makes a very good bad cop." She crossed her arms and tried not to fly off the handle. Lucy had caused enough problems in the past. Not only had she tried to subtly undermine Will's ethics, but she had frightened the normal unflappable Grace.
"I'm your loving husband, Helen! Please! I know you wouldn't be involved in anything evil, Helen. Who are you protecting?"
My daughter. But even saying so would expose her.
"She's telling the truth about God," Lily had insisted. "Think about your vision. Helen said something like 'there's Cute Boy God' and you ACCEPTED that. You're going to understand."
"I can't take my vision as proof of anything, because I don't understand what the vision was. For all I know, somebody may have faked my memories."
"If you love me, Will, you'll trust me," Helen had proclaimed. She was running out of arguments to make that wouldn't expose Joan.
That had ended the immediate conversation, but not the bad atmosphere. Sleeping in the same bed while angry with each other was out of the question, so Will had moved to the other room.
When Helen went down to fix breakfast the next day, Will was not there. He had left a note on the table.
"What does it say?" asked Lily, coming down behind her.
"'Gone to work early, lots to do.'"
"I expect I have a lot to do also," commented Lily. She might be trying to distract Helen from the rift between her and her husband, but if so, Helen was grateful. "Lots of people will want to talk things out, and I may even be needed at a shelter or a hospital to help out."
"At least have a good breakfast before you go, Lily. You'll be more helpful on a full stomach."
"Okay."
Helen walked into the kitchen and brought up the real reason she had wanted Lily to stay for a few minutes. "There's something we need to talk about."
"Oh?"
"It seems that you're remarrying six months from now."
"Don't start with me. You're criticizing me for something that hasn't happened yet, that I've scarcely been thinking about."
"I'm not criticizing you, Lily. The me in the future was happy for you. So I guess I should be happy now." She didn't feel very happy, but she wasn't going to tell Lily. "Yes, I'll always miss my son. But I can't expect you to put your life on hold forever, for Kevin's sake. It's not what he would want."
"Well – thank you." Lily seemed taken aback by Helen's answer.
"Lily, let's talk some girl talk. Don't think of me as the possessive mother-in-law. Do you like the idea of marrying Henry?"
"I don't know. It's like Will said, I feel like somebody is putting ideas in my head."
Helen poured coffee and tried to build the nerve to ask the next question. "What about dating?"
"I'd feel damned awkward, going out with a guy and coming home to my in-laws' house." The mild profanity gave away her frustration . "It's time I moved out."
"We don't need to talk about that now. But you would like to date him."
"Yeah," Lily muttered.
"And – do things?"
Lily went red and looked away. "Um… Well the subject came up, and we don't want to Do It. Yet." She slammed down the coffee cup, still half-full, and got up. "Helen, my personal life is trivial. We need to concentrate on other things." She started toward the front door. "I've got a lot of people who need my help. And you – I think you need to concentrate a lot on what you're going to tell Will."
Helen sat glumly. Lily was right; gossiping about her love life was really a way of getting her mind off another, far more dangerous problem.
Had she and Will hit an unbridgeable rift?
TO BE CONTINUED