Page 11 of Dreaming of His Omega
Son – LaMarkus Vale, the town sheriff
My fingers flew as I described what he and his mother looked like. I typed up everything I could remember about the flower arrangement, the green house, the way Traviel set out a morning bowl of cereal for Elarian. This was incredible. I often read interviews with authors where they said their characters seemed to speak to them, and took on a life of their own. But I never experienced it before. Certainly not likethis. My dream was so incredibly vivid. I even dreamed up new characters and gave them names. This was amazing. All too soon, as I feared, the dream began to slip away. Nevertheless, I leaned back satisfied. Wow. That had never happened before.
Chapter Four
Elarian
My initial panic at Traviel’s disappearance was now just full-blown despair. Not to mention fear. What if he never came back? What if whatever force made us appear here in Vale Valley had taken him away again? What ifIdisappeared? What about the baby? Rosemary generously stayed with me. She puttered about my house as if she owned the place, even setting the table and making me tea.
I followed her to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, shocked to find that it was filled with takeout containers, labeled Sweet Bites and Bella’s Diner. I pulled out a particularly delicious looking assortment of cupcakes and set them on the table.
“How can I have these from Sweet Bites, if nobody there thinks I've ever been there?” I asked. “I don't even remember getting these.”
Rosemary shook her head. “I can't answer that,” she said softly.
I opened one of the Bella's Diner containers. Somehow, I knew the meal inside was Traviel’s, not mine. I didn't know what I ordered with it. I didn't even knowwhenwe ate it, but I knew I ate something else and Traviel had this.
I wandered the house, partly looking for travel and partly looking for some sign that we actuallyhadappeared in the night. Or maybe a sign that we hadn't. Something that would let me remember more than just waking up this morning. But there was nothing. The house was lived in; that was clear. Some items I could remember unpacking the day we moved in, other things I had no clear memory of. My memory itself was nothing but bits and pieces; snippets of my life with Traviel. I could remember very little before him. In fact – I set a picture of us back on the mantel – I didn't even know how we met. How could I forget something like that? I wandered back into the kitchen as I heard the tea kettle whistling and sat down heavily.
“Anything?” Rosemary asked me.
“No,” I said softly. I took a cupcake from the container and started eating it. It was delicious. “What if Traviel never comes back?” I finally choked.
“He will,” Rosemary said confidently.
“How can you be sure?”
“I told you, this place is for people looking for love. Their lover wouldn't just vanish forever.”
“What about you? What's your family like?”
She smiled. “I had a mate. I have my children. And I have grandchildren. And I have quite a substantial pack as well.”
“A pack?” I asked her.
She smiled with a twinkle in her eye. “I'm a werewolf.”
I nearly spat out my cupcake. “Oh, I didn't realize.” As I looked around, embarrassed, I spotted the clock and noticed that there was about half an hour to go before my appointment. “Oh!” I slowly stood, easing myself to my feet. “I need to…” I sat back down, defeated. “Never mind.”
“What is it?” she asked.
“Well…” I gestured to the clock. “I thought I had a doctor's appointment soon.” I put my hand over my belly. “For the baby. But apparently I don't.”
She shook her head. “That won’t do. How far along did you say you were?”
“Seven months.” I looked down nervously and rubbed my hand across my stomach. “I guess...”
She nodded. “Then you definitely need to go. I'll call them and arrange it. And I'll have someone bring you there.”
“Oh, you really don't have to trouble yourself.”
“Of course I do,” she said kindly. “And you’re in luck, another elf just blew into town.”
True to her word, after a couple of phone calls and a cup of tea, Falkanar arrived. Falkanar was a wandering elf, a not-too distant cousin of wood elves. More than a cousin, technically; a wood elf pissed off the King of the Fae once. Not the best idea. The King cursed him and his descendants to wander aimlessly, never able to settle in one place. Only being with their true mate could lift the curse.
Falkanar was a frequent visitor to Vale Valley, but always felt the itch to keep moving. Unfortunately, in spite of his worldly experience, he had never encountered anything like what was happening to me and Traviel.
As we drove, I had the unsettling feeling that I had never been here before. I was so convinced, deep down in my soul, that I had lived here for the last two months, and yet the street was unfamiliar. Surely, I would have recognized the way to the hospital. I looked out the window, just in time to see a little storefront I recognized. I turned my attention to it and realized that I recognized the store we were driving by. I had seen it before. From thisexactangle. We kept driving. And sure enough, one after another, I recognized some of the businesses. I couldn't say who worked there or who owned them, or even what they looked likeinside. But I knew beyond a shadow of the doubt I had seen them from the outside before. But I didn't know where they were in relation to each other; I couldn't have ever drawn them on a map. And as we came upon the hospital, I wouldn't even have recognized that. We drove by a little sign that saidVale Valley General Hospitaland the sign itself popped clearly into my head. But it was covered in a light layer of snow in my mind, not the bright flowers that surrounded it now. That didn't make any sense. Even back in March there had been no snow.
