Chapter 22
Daniel sat next to the window on the Acela Express heading to Washington D.C. It was Friday evening and they had caught the last train out of Penn Station.
Echo and him were supposed to have left New Jersey that morning, but that hadn't happened. The couple was starting their summer tour and their first stop was in Washington D.C. Tomorrow they were to meet the President of the United States and afterwards they had been invited to play with the National Symphony Orchestra, as their guest performers, for a concert at eight o'clock that night.
Daniel had not been all that excited when their agent had told them about the meeting with the President.
"Just think of all the publicity that we can get for 'The Amazing Duo of McQuarrie and Spengler'," the agent told Daniel.
"Is the President that important?" Daniel questioned the agent back.
"He's the equivalent to your Queen of England," Echo replied.
Echo had been more excited to learn that she would be participating in "A Capital Fourth Concert" conducted by John Williams than in meeting with the President too. Echo had explained to Daniel that a 4th of July tradition, in the nation's capital, was a live concert by the National Symphony Orchestra on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capital Building. After the concert there was a spectacular display of fireworks over the Washington Monument.
"But why is Mr. Williams conducting the orchestra?" Daniel asked Echo, "Doesn't he compose music for movies?"
"Yes," Echo replied, "and he has also written many concert pieces, including a symphony. But my favorite is his cello concerto performed by Yo-Yo Ma and premiered at Tanglewood in 1994 by the Boston Symphony Orchestra."
"He's been asked to be the guest conductor for the orchestra, just like us."
Daniel felt Echo stir in her sleep and looked to his left. She had her head up against his left shoulder. He knew that she was exhausted and could only image how she felt right now. He hoped that tomorrow night she would feel better.
Daniel had a secret that he had shared with only Egon before the couple had left. Egon had been ecstatic and had gathered Daniel into the biggest 'bear hug' before releasing him. Egon had also given Daniel a very special gift.
Daniel reached up and ran his fingers over the object that hung on the end of a gold chain, around his neck, under his shirt. He didn't want to loose this gift from Egon. Turning his head away from Echo, Daniel watched as the scenery raced by outside his window.
Even though Daniel hated change he liked what he was going to do tomorrow. He only hoped that Echo would as well. Their vacation to see her grandfather had been a wise choice on Egon's part, even if it hadn't completely turned out the way that Egon had planned.
For Daniel it had made him realize the love he had for Echo all of these years. He just hoped that their lives were going to be better than the last four days had been.
Sunday they had come home from Wyoming thinking that they would go on with their lives as usual.
Egon had interviews to conduct. As Dean of the Psychology Department it was his responsibility to ensure that there was enough staff for the upcoming fall semester. Their department had lost Professor Robert E. Harrist last year and even though the other faculty members had covered his classes for that year, Columbia University really needed another person. It fell upon Egon to hire a new faculty member.
Echo was involved with her residency, making her class schedules up for the fall semester, two orchestras that she belonged to, singing for the "Met", her paramedic duties, and private lessons when she could. She was extremely busy, but would always find the time to practice alone and with Daniel, even if it was at one o'clock in the morning.
"That's when her practice mute comes in handy," Daniel thought to himself.
Daniel smiled to himself. He was just as busy with school in the mornings, teaching private lessons, and the same two orchestras that Echo was involved with in the evenings. Being in the same orchestras made things a little more bearable for the couple. "At least we get to play with each other every day," Daniel thought to himself.
Monday was when, as her Uncle Peter so nicely put it; "that the shit hit the fan".
First the Sistine Chapel had disappeared. Peter and Oscar had left on Wednesday night for Rome to investigate. Daniel had not been involved with the meeting that was held at the firehouse on Tuesday, even though Echo had invited him.
The "Ghostbusters" business had been Echo's father's work before she was born. When Echo was a young teenager she had accompanied the others on calls. That was until she graduated from Juilliard, then she had only gone out on an emergency type basis. Echo had not picked up and put on a "proton pack" since her coma. Peter had told Daniel that Echo had a little bit of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
"Not all people who experience a traumatizing event will develop PTSD," Peter told Daniel one day after Echo had been released from the hospital after her coma, "However women are more likely to develop PTSD than men, especially emergency service workers."
"And remember Echo was powerless to help her mother when she died in 9/11. We must be watchful of Echo from now on."
Peter had been right. Echo had needed careful monitoring. That was why when she had become irritable, with outbursts of anger, and had difficulties in falling asleep Egon had called the Parnell's for some much needed rest.
What had started out as a peaceful vacation had turned sour fast, when Echo had almost drown and then her grandmother had died unexpectantly. Egon and Daniel had seen Echo shut herself off from them, even though she didn't show it to others outside of the house. Daniel had wanted to cancel their tour on Thursday night, but Egon had told him not to.
"Echo needs a break," Egon told Daniel, "Let her relax through her music. It always helped her mother when she was alive."
Daniel knew that Echo needed sleep and felt her stir again. He looked away from the window and back towards her. This time she lifted her head up off of his shoulder and laid it in his lap, as she pulled her feet up and into her chair, laying on her right side.
"Tired," she muttered to Daniel.
"I know," Daniel replied back draping his left arm over her body.
Daniel knew that Echo had spent three hours in surgery with Iris on Tuesday afternoon. Echo had opted for a laparoscopic approach to remove the upper part of Iris' vagina, she had told him. This resulted in a smaller scar and a faster recovery time for Iris.
After the surgery was over Echo had pulled a midnight shift with the New Jersey Paramedics Squad in the town where she lived. Daniel remembered hearing her alarm going off at one in the morning and hearing her quickly come down the stairs, from her room, to run out the back door. Echo had returned, smelling of smoke, at six that morning when Egon and him had just gotten up. Daniel hadn't been able to fall back to sleep after Echo's alarm had gone off, but Egon had no problem.
"You get used to living with it after the first couple calls," Egon stated to Daniel the first time Echo's alarm had gone off, scaring him half to death. "I just tune it out after awhile."
But Daniel couldn't. That was the only disadvantage that he had of living with the Spengler's.
Daniel had only meant to stay a short period of time with them. On October 29th, 2012 Hurricane Sandy had hit the east coast. Mayor Michael Bloomberg had ordered a mandatory evacuation for Zone A on October 26th, where Daniel had lived at the time. Daniel needed to be out by 5 P.M. the next day.
Even though Daniel could have gone to one of the thirteen evacuation shelters that were open in the city for him, he had different ideas. Daniel had told Echo, over the phone, that he intended to stay in his basement apartment, on the corner of Fulton and Water Street, and ride it out.
Echo knew that not heeding an mandatory evacuation order was a violation of the law and could result in getting you fined or sent to jail. Daniel hadn't ever seen or been through a storm of this magnitude before, but she had. When Irene had hit Daniel had been in Scotland at the time. Only she had seen first hand the damage done by the storm.
That was why an hour after Daniel had talked to Echo, she had shown up at his place and packed what they could of his belongings into her car.
"I've spent too many hours in disaster drills to have to look for your dead body after all is said and done," Echo had told him when he protested.
"Besides," Echo said as she placed his violin into the front seat of the car, "if you don't evacuate you could die."
Echo's statement had made Daniel get into her car and leave that day. In the end he was glad that he had done so, as his basement apartment had been totally destroyed. It had filled up with water to the ceiling and had destroyed everything inside. The only possessions that he had left were what they had packed into Echo's car.
When Daniel's place had been remodeled a year later he hadn't returned. He had been allowed back inside, three weeks after the storm had passed, to see firsthand the destruction that had been done. He remembered standing there in shock, as Echo held onto his arm to comfort him. Egon carefully looked for anything that could be salvaged, but everything was ruined. Everything was gone. His furniture, books, clothes, pictures of his family; everything.
The East River had overflowed its banks, flooding large sections of Lower Manhattan. Battery Park had a water surge of 13.88 feet alone. Seven subway tunnels under the East River had been flooded. Over 10 billion gallons of raw and partially treated sewage had been released by the storm. In addition, a four story Chelsea building's façade had crumbled and collapsed, leaving the interior on full display. Thankfully, no one had been hurt by the falling masonry.
Daniel had let out a deep sigh and turned and walked away from it all. Egon and Echo had stayed to place all of his ruined, treasured belongings into large, black garbage bags to be placed on the curb for collection. He had sat in the car and watched them crying. He couldn't go back inside. Not ever again. If he had stayed he would have drowned. Echo had saved him by coming for him that day.
"At least you are alive," Egon told Daniel that night when they went home, "forty-eight people died as a result of the storm in NYC alone."
Daniel had made up his mind that day that he would stay with the Spengler's, if only because he got to see Echo all the time. They had welcomed him into their home a year ago and had made it permanent after that day. He was family now.
Closing his eyes Daniel thought back to Wednesday night. Echo had a shift in the Emergency Room that night, but she had come home to practice with him in the morning for a good two hours. Daniel knew that she was tired from being on duty all night and was sure that she would have played more, but when they took a break he had come back downstairs to see her slumped over her music, pencil in hand, cello at her feet, sound asleep.
Daniel had seen Echo sleep in all kinds of positions over the years that he had lived with the Spengler's. Egon had told him it comes from being a paramedic, but he had his doubts. He didn't doubt though that she could sleep standing up if it came to that.
"You really can sleep anywhere can't you?" Daniel questioned her softly as he studied her that day.
Echo had her legs pulled up in the chair and her head bowed, with her hair falling in her face. She had looked beautiful to him and Daniel loved it.
On Thursday morning Echo had gone to Columbia University to finish up finalizing her fall schedule. That afternoon he had meet her for lunch near the university. They were going to finalize the pieces that they were going to be playing together.
"Alright, Daniel, I have Chopin's Nocturne for piano and violin; Polonaise Brillante No. 1, in D Major, Op. 4 by Wieniawski; Meditation from Thais by Jules Massenet; and Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2," Echo stated looking over her handwritten list.
"Don't forget Paganini Caprice No. 24," Daniel said looking over his own list.
"That's for violin only," Echo replied looking up from her list, "I only want the piano and violin duets right now. I want to make sure that I have all the sheet music before we leave tomorrow morning."
Daniel opened his eyes as the train turned to its right, sending his head to bang into the side of the window. He remembered that during their conversation at lunch Echo's cell phone had rung, interrupting them.
"Hello," Echo said as she placed her papers into a pile next to her plate of half eaten fish.
The call had been from her Uncle Ray. Daniel looked down into Echo's face to see her finally at peace. He remembered Thursday had been tough for her and he looked out the window once again.
Ray had told Echo that Nokomis had come back, but something had been wrong with her. Echo had left money so that Daniel could pay for their lunches, as she went to see her uncle in the Bronx.
After Echo had gotten to her uncle's house she had been involved with the local police and Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the rest of the day. Echo had filled out an endless sea of papers as she collected and recorded data pertaining to Nokomis. Her fellow CDC workers and her were also busy trying to locate a Type C, known as a contagious facility, hospital nearby.
Jacobi Medical Center on Pelham Parkway South in the Bronx had taken Nokomis and Ray in the end. During all of this, Professor Tseng had called Raymond to let him know that his wife had fainted at work and she had been taken to Lenox Hill Hospital on 77th Street in the city.
Ray had been torn between his daughter and his wife, but Echo had sent him with Nokomis to the hospital.
"You have to be quarantined with Nokomis until we can find your vaccination records Uncle Ray," Echo told him as the paramedics loaded his daughter into the back of the ambulance.
"What about you?" Ray questioned her as he climbed in beside Nokomis.
"I carry mine with my paramedic identification," Echo replied showing Ray her cards. "I'll go see what happened to Melody and then call you."
"Once the CDC has been certain that you have had your Variola Vera vaccination they will let you go too."
Daniel looked down and saw Echo stir once again. She had been lucky that she was one of the few first responder paramedics to have been vaccinated for Variola Major when she turned eighteen and started working part time for the paramedics. If she hadn't been vaccinated they wouldn't be on this train right now Daniel knew.
When Echo had come back home, after midnight, she had told Daniel and her father what had happened to Nokomis. Daniel had tried to follow along with the medical terms that Egon and her were using, but had given up in the end.
"Excuse me Echo," Daniel said as he interrupted the conversation she was having with her father, "just what is Variola Major?"
"Variola Major is the Latin name for smallpox," Echo told him.
"Smallpox?" Daniel questioned being taken back by the name. "Isn't that an ancient disease?"
"Yes," Egon replied, "smallpox is believed to have emerged in human populations about 10,000 B.C. The earliest physical evidence of it is the pustular rash on the mummified body of Ramses V, Pharaoh of Egypt."
"Smallpox is one of two infectious diseases to have been eradicated," Echo stated.
"So, Echo, you're sure that Nokomis has this eradicated disease?" Daniel questioned sitting next to Egon at the kitchen table.
"Yes," Echo replied as she set her cup of peppermint tea down on the table in front of her, "Nokomis' rash is on her extremities. A given sign of smallpox, not chickenpox, as I was explaining to my father before you asked your question Daniel."
"And I will repeat my original question," Egon said pointing a finger at her, "How does one go about contacting a so-called 'dead' disease? The last known case was in 1977."
"That's just it," Echo replied, "I don't know. When I talked to Professor Tseng about it at Lenox Hill Hospital, when I went to see what happened to Melody, she told me that accounts of inoculation against smallpox in China could be found as early as the late 10th century. And that the procedure was widely practiced during the Ming Dynasty."
"Nokomis was talking Mandarin to me and Ray when I first got there, but she was so dehydrated and smelt of smoke, that in the end all she was talking was gibberish."
"I have a question," Daniel said, "How does one get smallpox if it doesn't exist anymore?"
"You don't," Echo replied, "Transmission occurs through inhalation of airborne variola virus, usually droplets expressed from the oral, nasal, or pharyngeal mucosa of an infected person."
Egon could see that Daniel didn't understand what Echo was telling him and took over the conversation.
"Daniel," Egon said, "smallpox is transmitted from one person to another primarily through prolonged face-to-face contact with an infected person, usually within a distance of six feet, but it can also be spread through direct contact with infected bodily fluids or contaminated objects such as bedding or clothing."
"But Nokomis didn't have any clothing on just her underwear," Daniel pointed out, "at least that's what you told me Echo."
"Yes," Echo replied, "it's true. Nokomis had on her regular underwear, albeit a little dirty, and she had her breasts bound up in a long strip of cloth. But I'm more concerned about the virus crossing the placenta."
"But the incidence of congenital smallpox is relatively low," Egon stated before he realized what his daughter was saying.
"Wait? What did you say?" Egon questioned Echo, "Is Nokomis gravida?"
"Gravida?" Daniel asked.
"Gravida is Latin for pregnant," Echo told Daniel, "and no, Father, Nokomis isn't with child. Melody is."
"That explains why Melody fainted at work," Egon stated.
"Yes, her iron count was low and she was slightly dehydrated," Echo replied.
"Oh that's wonderful news," Daniel said, "Nokomis is going to have a baby brother or sister soon."
"If she lives," Echo said softly.
"I don't understand," Daniel said turning to face Egon, "Isn't there a vaccine for the disease. Echo had one."
"The smallpox vaccination has to occur within the first three days of exposure to prevent or significantly lessen the severity of the symptoms in the vast majority of people," Egon stated to Daniel.
Egon knew what lie ahead for Nokomis, but Daniel did not. Looking across the table he could see Echo's face buried in her cup of tea. He thought he saw a tear in her eye and knew that she was worried about her cousin.
"Daniel, Echo doesn't know when Nokomis came into contact with the smallpox virus," Egon said quietly looking into Daniel's face, "that's why she can't give Nokomis the vaccine."
"Other than vaccination, treatment of smallpox is primarily supportive care, such as wound care, infection control, fluid therapy, and possible…," Egon trailed off looking again to his daughter.
"Possible ventilator assistance," Egon finished when he saw that Echo wasn't going to say anything.
"That bad?" Daniel questioned Echo, "There must be something that you can do? Anything. She's your cousin."
"I know that Daniel," Echo said softly, "I have talked to her father about this already. No drug is currently approved for the treatment of smallpox, however, studies suggest that the antiviral drug cidofovir might be useful as a therapeutic agent."
"Then give it to her!" Daniel shouted at Echo.
"Daniel," Egon said taking the man's left arm in his right hand to calm him down, "Echo can't. The drug may cause serious kidney toxicity. Ray doesn't want Nokomis to have it. He is her father. He does have a say in his daughter's upbringing, whether we agree with him or not."
"When Echo got her injection for smallpox both of us understood the risks associated with the vaccine. Most people just had an allergic reaction at the site of the vaccine, while 1 or 2 people in 1 million died as a result of the vaccine. That is why routine childhood vaccination for smallpox was discontinued in the United States in 1972 and routine vaccination of health care workers was discontinued in 1976."
"I didn't want Echo to get the vaccine, but she convinced me it would be okay. It was recommended for her to get the vaccine because she would be at risk for occupational exposure."
Daniel looked out the window as the train started slowing down. Soon they would be at Union Station in Washington D.C. He would have to find a taxicab once they got there, as the car rental place said that they closed at 9:45 P.M. Daniel looked at his watch. It was now one in the morning. He would have to get their rental car tomorrow.
Their agent had booked a set of rooms for them at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capital Hill. Daniel had called the hotel before they had left New York City to let them know that they would have a late check in. The hotel was four blocks away from the Capitol which made things easy for the pair to get to, but he didn't know how far from the train station the hotel was. That was why he wanted to try and get a taxi this late at night.
As the train pulled to a stop Daniel gently shook Echo awake.
"We're here Echo," Daniel said as she opened her eyes.
Stretching Echo lifted her head up off of Daniel's lap and slowly got out of her seat. Opening up the overhead luggage bin Echo handed Daniel his red Samsonite carry-on bag and went back to grab her blue backpack.
Daniel watched as she put an arm through one of the straps and swung the backpack onto her shoulder. Stepping backwards she allowed Daniel to go first down the aisleway to the front of the train. Waiting for them was an attendant.
"Did you have a pleasant trip?" he asked as Daniel and Echo approached.
"Yes," replied Daniel as he stopped before the man.
"Good," the man said as he started to remove the couple's luggage and instruments from the baggage area, "It looks like you have packed for a month."
"Actually, it's for two months," Daniel said as he took one of his two violins that the man offered to him, "We are on tour."
"You need your own bus," the man grunted as he tried to dislodge Echo's cello case from inside the baggage area.
Daniel could see Echo becoming angry at how her instrument was being treated and handed his violin to her. Taking Echo's cello case, he carefully untangled it from the luggage bags.
"We're not that famous yet," Daniel said as he placed Echo's cello case upright next to her and reached back for her second cello.
"Well you should be," the man said as he pulled two large suitcases out and handed one of them to another attendant who was standing outside the train.
Daniel followed the man off of the train and then turned to help Echo down with her cellos. Daniel could see that their belongings were already packed up on two trolleys.
"No not a trolley," Daniel silently told himself as he placed his carry-on bag on top of the pile, "they call them luggage carts here."
Daniel followed the attendants as they led the way to the front of the train station. The man that they had been talking to on the train told Daniel that he would take them to where Echo and him could hail a taxicab. Daniel turned his head to the rear to see Echo slowly limping after him.
Daniel stopped walking to let her catch up with him. He surmised that her right leg must have fallen asleep. That was part of the reason why she was limping. The other part was probably the titanium rod in her lower leg.
Daniel knew that having a limb fall asleep was definitely a strange sensation. His foot would fall asleep sometimes during a concert. Echo had explained to him that it was because he put too much pressure on that foot and he was cutting off communications from his brain to parts of his foot.
"The pressure squeezes nerve pathways so that the nerves can't transmit electrochemical impulses properly," Echo told him after a concert when he had complained to her about his foot.
"Nerve impulses carry sensation information from nerve endings in the body to the brain, as well as instructions from the brain to the parts of the body. When you interfere with this transfer by squeezing the nerve pathways, you don't have full feeling in that body part, and your brain has trouble telling the body part what to do."
Daniel had only understood half of what Echo had told him that day. What he did understand was that he didn't regain feeling in his foot right away, which only intensified the tingling sensation he had been feeling. After the tingling sensation Daniel went through an uncomfortable burning sensation before his foot returned to normal.
"That's because the fibers that transmit pain and temperature information are relatively thin, so you feel the tingling situations pretty quickly," Echo explained as they walked slowly towards the subway to go home that day.
"Motor control fibers are thinner than the ones carrying touch information, so you can move the body part before you've regained complete feeling in it. Eventually, all the nerve fibers return to normal and you regain full use of the "sleeping" body part."
Echo finally caught up with Daniel and he slipped his arm through her right one. Helping her along Daniel started walking again. He knew that Echo's titanium rod did act up every now and again. She had told him that the rod seemed to reseat itself slightly during unusual positions and would irritate adjacent nerves. This caused a phantom pain for her. After awhile the rod would settle itself back into place. He knew that she had seen Doctor Strauss about it. Radiographs had been done which showed that the rod was securely inside her tibia. The only thing that Doctor Strauss could do for her was to suggest that she take a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug. For Echo this was always ibuprofen. Daniel knew that she carried some in her 'med' kit that she always had with her.
Daniel just shook his head as he watched Egon and Echo load up the car that evening, with all their luggage, so that Egon could drive them to the train station.
"Better safe than sorry," Egon had told him as he closed the trunk of the car.
Inside the car were two large suitcases, two garment bags, a large briefcase full of music, two cellos, two violins, two clarinets, two wooden cases that held at least four bows each, Daniel's carry-on, Echo's backpack, her 'med' kit, two fold up music stands, and a bag of emergency supplies for the violins, cellos, and clarinets.
Daniel stopped walking and stood on the sidewalk watching the traffic drive by outside the train station. He felt Echo lean her head onto his right shoulder and glanced over at her. She was sound asleep.
"You really can sleep standing on your feet can't you lassie?" he said out loud.
"Sorry Daniel," Echo muttered, "what was that?"
"Never mind lassie," Daniel said kissing the top of her head, "we'll be at the hotel soon enough."
When the minivan cab came Daniel helped Echo inside and went back to help the driver load their luggage and instruments into the back. Daniel found out that the hotel was only three blocks away on the ride there. He was glad that they had taken the taxi, because of all their belongings, but he wasn't happy about the price.
"Five-fifty to go three blocks!" Daniel complained but paid the driver as he saw Echo trip as she got out of the van.
A pair of hotel porters met them outside and helped Daniel transfer their belongings once again onto two luggage carts.
Daniel followed the porters holding onto Echo as they entered the beautiful atrium lobby of the hotel at street level. He and Echo took the escalator down to the lower lobby floor as the porters took the elevator down with their baggage. Daniel let Echo check them into the hotel as he explored the spacious lobby with its windowed ceiling. The lobby was busy even for the early hour and he chalked it up to being the holiday weekend.
Daniel saw Echo glance over her shoulder at him and then turn back. He saw the hotel reservation person slide two plastic white cards her way. Last year when they had been on tour they had adjoining rooms. He hoped that this hotel did too. Daniel watched as she told the porters something. Possibly where their rooms were before giving them one of the room key cards and some money. Having finished Echo turned and walked towards Daniel.
"Buy you a drink?" she asked as she took his arm into hers and started walking towards the bar.
"You don't drink Echo," Daniel pointed out.
"I know," she said as they approached the bar.
"It's late," Daniel replied stopping outside the door to the bar.
Daniel could see through the window that it was crowded inside the bar and turned back to look into Echo's pain ridden face. Something was bothering her.
"I know," she said and let her face fall to the ground.
Daniel released her arm and turned Echo so that she was facing him. Taking her chin into his right hand he gently lifted her face up.
"Echo what's wrong?" he quietly asked.
Echo just shook her head and turned away from Daniel.
"Come," he said gently taking her arm and leading her towards the bank of elevators, "forget about the drink. We'll talk in your room."
Daniel pressed the button to call the elevator down. Echo followed him into the elevator and when they got out on the tenth floor he could see that she was almost in tears.
Quickly opening the door to the hotel room Echo rushed past Daniel and rounded the corner. He could hear her crying and shut the door behind him. "What was wrong?" he thought as he walked down the short hallway he could see the bathroom was off to his right and beyond that the opened closet where both of their large suitcases sat. Daniel figured that the porters didn't know which suitcase belonged in which room and so they had left them here instead.
It wasn't until Daniel rounded the corner and stopped dead in his tracks. Now he knew why Echo was crying.
The guestroom featured modern caramel and gold-toned décor, with dark wood furnishings. There was an oversized work desk that sat next to Echo's two cellos on his left. Next to this was a long chest of drawers. His violins sat there, one on either side of a television which sat in the middle. In the right-hand corner by the end table sat a plush yellow colored lounge chair. Daniel didn't see a door connecting this room to another and he didn't see two double beds either.
What Daniel saw was Echo sprawled across a king sized bed her head buried into the plush pillows. He had no doubt that Echo hadn't wanted to tell him about the room until he had a drink or two inside of him. Daniel loved his brandy, but even if he had had a drink this was way too much.
There was no way that he was going to sleep in the same bed with her tonight. Daniel knew that if he did, he would be making love to Echo until the sun rose.
After Daniel had confessed to Echo that he loved her, he had to discipline himself very strictly. When they were alone and he had kissed Echo, he had found himself wanting more.
Daniel found one night, when they were still in Wyoming, that after holding Echo's hand and kissing her, he wanted to try something else. Echo had returned his advances on her and he had found himself, within a short period of time, passionately making out with Echo as they sat outside the house, on the grass, watching the sun set.
As Daniel french kissed Echo in the dark he reached under her tank top to grab her breast. When his hand found her bra he went to place his hand underneath it, when all of a sudden he realized what he was doing.
Daniel had quickly released her and withdrew his hand from under her top. He had almost been intimate with her. He looked at her beautiful face, with her hair sprayed out under her head, as she lay on her back in the grass. He knew that she would have let him too.
"I'm so sorry," Daniel told her before he got up and fled like Joseph before Potiphar's wife.
When Daniel had gone inside the house that night the only two people who were still up were Egon and Kane. He had made a bee-line for the chair by the fireplace and had sat down into its depths hoping to hide what had happened. Echo had come inside shortly thereafter and had given him a quizzical look before she went upstairs. Egon had followed his daughter after looking at both Daniel and her. Only Kane was left in the room.
"Well," Kane had asked after what seemed like an eternity of silence.
"I couldn't do it," Daniel cried to the older man.
"The passion; the longing was there. My carnal desire was to take Echo tonight. To make long passionate love to that woman out there," Daniel said pointing to the back door.
Dropping his hand back down Daniel wrapped his arms around his body. What had he almost done?
"Kane," Daniel finally said, "my heart told me yes, but my mind and soul said no. In the end they won out."
"I'm going to have to change aren't I?" Daniel asked Kane, "I'm going to have to make love to her even though we aren't married. That's what she wants. That's what the world expects of me. Right?"
"Not at the price of what you have been taught to believe in since you were young," Kane answered back.
"Being chaste in your thoughts, words, and actions is hard to do. Physical intimacy between a husband and wife is beautiful and sacred," Kane pointed out as he sat opposite Daniel, "In the world today many people have been led to believe that sexual intimacy outside of marriage is acceptable."
"I consider it wrong just as you have been brought up to believe that it is wrong. Trying to convince yourself that having sexual relations outside of marriage is acceptable, because you both love each other, is only going to cause fear, guilt, and shame in the end. Trust me on this one Daniel."
"No matter how strong the temptations seem you can withstand them if you choose to be chaste and make that decision right now. Then when the temptations come again you can be firm in the fact that you will not give in to those desires."
Daniel nodded his head as he slowly approached Echo on the bed. As much as he wanted her he could wait.
"Remember my son," Daniel's father had told him on his sixteenth birthday, "relationships built on sexual immorality sour quickly. Bitterness, jealousy, and hatred soon replace any positive feelings that once existed if you travel down that road."
Daniel sat down carefully next to Echo on the bed and placed a hand on the back of her head.
"I'm sorry Daniel," she sobbed into the pillow, "I told them that we needed two rooms, but this was the only one left because we were so late checking in. They don't even have a rollaway left. It's all my fault."
"Don't cry Echo," Daniel said stroking the back of her head, "It's not your fault. I should have said something when I called them this afternoon. Thank you for being honest with me."
"How are we going to sleep now?" Echo cried, "You don't want me. You pulled away from me at Grandpa's place."
"Echo," Daniel said as he rolled her over to look into her tear stained face.
Removing her glasses Daniel spoke quietly to her, "Echo on the contrary I want you very much. However, I don't want to arouse the powerful emotions that I felt that night. They must be expressed only in marriage. That's why I left you. Trust me Echo I will never do anything to hurt you and if we find ourselves married I will be completely true to you. It's late. Sleep in the bed tonight. I'll take the chair."
Daniel saw that Echo was going to protest and silenced her by kissing her gently on the lips. He took a pillow and blanket and settled himself into the chair as he watched Echo get ready for bed. Soon she was fast asleep, under the covers, as Daniel watched her softly breathing.
Reaching under his shirt Daniel pulled out the gold chain to look at the two rings that hung from the end. The engagement ring had a round diamond set above it with four pink roses, two on either side of the diamond. Vines were intertwined among the roses. The wedding band was of the same design minus the diamond. Four pink roses, intertwined with vines, ran around the length of the band.
"In a few more hours," Daniel told himself placing the chain back under his shirt.
Daniel closed his eyes trying to sleep. Only a few more hours to go and Echo would be his officially.
"We'll have a traditional Scottish wedding on the Island of Mull in February of next year," Daniel muttered to himself as sleep finally overtook him.