The Liberator (A Dante Walker Novel) (Entangled Teen) by Scott Victoria

Author:Scott, Victoria [Scott, Victoria]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: The Liberator, teen romance, The Collector, heaven and hell, demons, romance, Victoria Scott, romance series, Dante Walker
Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC
Published: 2013-08-26T22:00:00+00:00

22

Maybe I Should Believe, Too

I burst into Grams’s room, not even attempting to be quiet.

“Wake up,” I say. “Please.”

The blankets rustle, and I help her along, pulling them down toward her feet. She’s wearing a purple silk nightgown that makes it seem like she prepared for this moment. Like she said to herself, “I’m not going out underdressed. Bring me my finest robes.”

I’m shocked at how frail she’s become. She’s always been thin, far thinner than any woman over sixty should be, but now she’s a wisp.

“Grams, you have to wake up.” I give up trying to rouse her with my voice, and instead give her shoulders a firm shake. This is her soul we’re talking about, after all.

The movement does the trick, because before long, her eyelids drift open. “Man Child,” she says, her lips tugging upward.

I sit down into the chair. “Tell me what you meant earlier.”

“Hmm…?”

“When you said, ‘At least I know she’ll be taken care of,’ what did you mean?”

She doesn’t say anything, and I’m afraid she’s fallen back asleep. “Grams?”

“I meant you’ll be there for her,” she says, her eyes meeting mine. “You said so.”

My heart drops. “Is that all?”

She nods. “And the house, of course. She’ll have that, too.”

I grin. “Her inheritance. You have a will, and it leaves everything to her. Is that right?”

“It isn’t much,” she says. “The house, my car. A bit of money at First Peachville Bank. The rest will come from my life insurance.”

Charlie told me her Grams once did makeup for the stars. It must have netted her a good income for her to have paid off the house and car and still have enough for retirement.

“Grams, I need you to listen,” I say. “I’m going to ask you to do something that you may not want to do.”

She looks at me expectantly, her thin lips parted. “Where’s Charlie?”

I eye the medicine bottles near her bed again. “I know this is hard, but it’s really important that you try and focus. I don’t want to have to press when you’re not well, but…” I shake my head. “Have you ever thought about what will happen after…after this is over?”

She works her jaw.

“You may not think there’s an afterlife. But I do. In fact, I know there’s an afterlife. For you, for me—for all of us.” I fill my lungs and plunge forward. “I need you to believe what I’m telling you. I need you to believe it so much that you’re willing to prove it.”

She looks at me, her eyes narrowed. Finally, after I’ve convinced myself she won’t answer, she asks, “How would I prove it?”

I smile. I can’t help it. This may not work, but at least she’s not tossing me out. “You say you have a will, and that it leaves everything to Charlie.”

Grams nods, but I can tell she’s getting tired. Her eyelids droop, and her mouth falls open wider.

“Why did you leave everything to her?” I ask.

Grams closes her eyes. “Because she’s my Charlie.”

“Because you love her,” I say.

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