Page 87 of The Soul Never Forgets

We face one another, placing our palms against each other’s, and I recite Augustina’s words to Dawsey. “There’s never been two people who were more perfect for each other. My heart can’t be whole without you in it.”

“And my heart can’t be whole without you in it,” he says. The exact words that Frank said when he replied to Augustina.

“Wow. Do you feel that?” My whole body is buzzing.

“I do, Cara. It’s déjà vu as I’ve never known before. It feels like something inside me is waking up.”

This is the first time Dawsey and I have ever been in a place where Frank and Augustina once were. Something special is happening.

“It’s intense.”

He lifts his arm and pushes up his sleeve. “Do you have a sensation like static electricity is floating on the surface of your skin?”

“I do. It’s like a soft vibration. The hairs on my arms and back of my neck are standing up.”

He rubs his palm over his forearm. “Mine too. It’s weird. I’ve never felt anything like it.”

I rise on my tiptoes and press a soft kiss to Dawsey’s lips. “Let’s go upstairs. I’m curious to see what it’ll feel like in the bedroom.”

Dawsey picks up our bag. “I’m right behind you, my love.”

Augustina’s bedroom is exactly as it was when I was here a year ago. An antique four-poster bed. White goose-down comforter. Four fluffy big feather pillows.

“How does this room feel to you?” I need to know that I’m not the only one experiencing this.

“It’s the same sensation I felt downstairs but stronger.”

“Same for me.”

“It’s like they’re here and ecstatic because we’re all together,” he says.

“That’s how it feels to me too.”

Dawsey goes to the closet and opens the door. “This is where they hid their wedding rings and marriage license. It was under a loose floor plank that Gussy had pulled up. She hid things there that she didn’t want her mother to find.”

“That’s right.”

“Frank broke into the house when it was vacant after the Lebeaus went back to New Orleans so he could retrieve their wedding rings and marriage license from this spot. He did it the night he sneaked to the cottage where Gussy was hiding.”

“Your ability to recall Frank’s life is incredible.”

“It’s as though I’m recalling something that happened to me last week.”

I cross the room to Dawsey and begin unfastening the buttons of his shirt. “I’m feeling nostalgic… and romantic.” Rising on my tiptoes, I nip his bottom lip. “And horny.”

“You are, eh?”

“Yes. Extremely.”

“As much as I hate to, I need you to hold off.”

“I don’t want to hold off.” I continue unfastening his shirt. “I want you right now. On top of me. All around me. Inside me.”

“We don’t have time. There’s somewhere we have to be, and we need to leave now.”

“We have an appointment?”

“In fifteen minutes. The drive to the destination is about ten minutes.”

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