To Tell a Tale (Season One)

Nash turned to Airianna. “My mother believed in psychics,” he said, making sure she could follow his every word.

He watched her watch him and wondered what was going on in her mind.

“Okay,” she whispered, her eyes focused on him.

Nash sighed. “She was a Scuba instructor, the best in her field.”

She nodded, and he could see her eyes follow his lips as he continued to talk.

“We were at a fair when it happened.”

“What happened?” Airianna whispered.

Nash took in a deep breath and let it out. “We saw the palm reader.”

Airianna’s left eyebrow raised. “Seriously? But most of them are fakes….”

“As I said. My mother was a firm believer in the supernatural, especially psychics.”

“I don’t know if I would call myself a supernatural.”

Nash grinned. No, she wouldn’t. “But the rest of the world does,” he told her.

She shrugged and motioned with her hand for him to continue with his story.

Nash closed his eyes. “She dragged me inside the tent with her. I guess she wanted to prove to me that magic is real.”

“Why was she such a firm believer?” she whispered.

Nash smiled and opened his eyes. “Supposedly, when she was a teenager, a woman warned her about a boy she had a crush on and told her that the man she was meant to be with would literally sweep her off her feet.”

Airianna blinked at him; Nash chuckled.

“My father met my mother at a bank robbery. He was undercover, and when the firing started, he picked her up into his arms and carried her to safety, then returned to the front and captured the robbers. He came back to her and helped her out of the bank. It was love at first sight.”

“He swept her off her feet in more ways than one.” Airianna smiled. “What was wrong with the other boy?”

He scowled at the question. “He beat the girl he started dating after my mother refused him, almost killed her.”

Airianna gasped. “That could have been your mother.”

He nodded and shrugged. “Anyway, my mother dragged me into the tent. The woman was outrageously dressed, and I wanted to drag my mother back out of the tent—but she wouldn’t have any of it.”

“I wouldn’t trust the ones who dress like nut barges either.”

He stared at her for a moment, then broke down into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.

“Are you laughing at me?” Airianna asked, eyeing him.

She couldn’t hear his laughter, but she knew when someone was laughing.

“I’m sorry,” he said slowly so she could read his lips through his laughter. “But… nut barges?”

Airianna smiled. She’d hoped he would get a kick out of that. Her mother used to call crazy people nut barges, and Airianna picked it up when she was six. She couldn’t get rid of it, no matter how many people laughed at her over it.

“What happened in the tent?” Airianna asked, wanting him to continue with his story.

Nash cleared his thought and tried not to chuckle as he continued his story.

“The so-called psychic told my mother that she would make her fortune at the bottom of the ocean. She even gave my mother coordinates—which sounded suspicious to me. But my mother said the universe was talking to her through the psychic.”

“That does sound suspicious,” Airianna whispered.

He looked into her eyes and smiled. “Thank you.”

Hearing Airianna—a seer—say something like that sounded suspicious made his heart warm even more to her. He wished he’d known her when his mother was still alive because then he’d be able to believe her easier, and his mother would have loved her… He shook his head and continued with his story.

“I told my father what the woman had said, and he told me to let my mother dream. But her dream killed her…” he stopped talking when a sob choked him and looked away from her.

Airianna sucked in a shocked breath. “What happened? Did she go to the coordinates? Did she find the treasure? Did she die at the bottom of the ocean? Please, Nash, tell me what happened.”

Nash turned his head back to her and smiled, then frowned. “She found treasure,” he whispered.

Airianna blinked. “She did?”

He nodded.

“How did she die?”

Nash took in a deep breath and let it out. “The psychic was a fake, just as I knew she was. She and her partner knew where that treasure was all along. They’d been searching for someone they could manipulate into finding it for them. My mother was the best Scuba diver in the area. When they discovered she believed in psychics and the unknown, they devised a plan to trick my mother into retrieving the treasure. Once my mother had the treasure in the boat, they struck.”

Airianna felt her blood turn cold. “What happened?” she whispered.

He looked into her eyes, and Airianna wanted to cry. He was so torn up about his mother’s death; no wonder he didn’t trust psychics…

“Please?” she whispered.

“They shot her in the back and left her on her boat to die. She didn’t die right away; she drifted for hours, no one around to help her….”

Airianna hugged him; she didn’t know what else to do. He was hurting, and she wanted to comfort him.

Nash froze when Airianna wrapped her arms around him. Slowly, his body softened to her touch, and he wrapped his arms around her. He let her comfort him.

“How old were you?” she whispered against his chest.

Nash opened his mouth to answer, then stopped. She couldn’t hear him like this. He moved to pull back from her, but she felt too good in his arms. He sighed and closed his eyes. A thought came to him, and he smiled. He tapped her on the shoulder sixteen times, letting her know he was sixteen when his mother died.

“Sixteen,” she whispered.

He chuckled, realizing he was learning how to communicate with her more and more every moment he was with her.

Airianna smiled. She’d felt him tap her shoulder and was going to ask him what he needed until she realized he was communicating with her. She stayed quiet and counted his taps. He’d lost his mother, too. She looked up at him, her eyes misty from trying not to cry.

“I am so sorry you went through that. No one should lose their mother, especially like that.”

He smiled down at her, understanding in his beautiful brown eyes. She noticed they were more alive than they had been when he’d first come to see her. She felt more alive than she had in the past month. Maybe Maribelle was correct, and fate had placed them in each other’s lives for a reason.

“You’re beautiful, you know that?”

She smiled up at him after reading his lips. “You’re not so bad yourself.”

Nash tipped his head back and laughed. She could feel the vibration of his laughter through her chest and started to chuckle with him. She could see the mist in his eyes when he looked at her. He cleared his throat.

“I am truly sorry for how I treated you last month.”

Airianna blinked as his words sank into her heart.

“Do you believe in me?” she asked, unsure if she wanted to know his answer.

He looked at her painting, then back at her. “I believe in you more than I had before. I watched you paint your dream. You didn’t seem to be there, and your eyes clouded over. But…”

“But?” Her heart skipped a beat.

“But I still have trouble completely believing in the unbelievable.”

“You know I would never lead you to your death, right?”

He smiled down at her, and she felt her body tingle.

“I know. But…”

“I understand.” She looked away from him.

She knew her voice was shaky; she was fighting back the tears threatening to take control of her.

He tilted her head, so she looked back up at him.

“I believe you, Airianna. But not every painting could be the future….”

“Some are the past,” she whispered.

“How do you tell the difference?” he asked.

She shrugged. “I just know.”

He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. He opened his eyes, looked at the painting, and then back at Airianna.

“If this painting comes to life, and we can save the woman, I will never doubt you again….”

“What if you don’t make it to her on time? That won’t be my fault,” she knew her voice was squeaking—she couldn’t help it.

Nash looked at the painting again; she was right. She had no control over time. Airianna painted what she saw, and if they didn’t make it in time, he couldn’t very well blame her.

He looked down at her. “Okay, if your painting comes to life, with or without the woman’s death, I will never doubt you again.”

She frowned.

Was that not good enough for her? What did she want from him? After the story he just told her about his mother, he’d thought she would…

“You saw me dream.”

He took in a deep breath and let it out. “Yes.” He nodded.

“Then you…”

“I believe you have dreams,” he said, placing both hands on either side of her face, holding her so he could look into her deep grey eyes. “I believe you believe they all come to life.”

She frowned, and his heart felt heavy.

“But you don’t believe.”

“I believe in you. That is all I can offer right now.”

She smiled, and his heart reached out to her. What was it about her that had him wanting to please her?

“I truly am sorry about what happened….”

“Shut up and kiss me,” she whispered.

Nash grunted and leaned forward, kissing her gently on the lips. They moaned as their lips touched. He pulled her closer, his hands still on her face. He feared that if he moved his hands, he would do something he could never take back.

Airianna’s body fluttered to life as Nash kissed her. She slid her hands up his chest and groaned when his muscled rippled beneath her touch.

“Airianna,” he whispered against her lips.

She moaned when her hearing aids caught his breathy words. He said her name over and over as he kissed her.

“You’re so sweet,” he said, moving his lips across her cheek and down her neck. “Like a ripe strawberry ready for plucking.”

Airianna groaned at his words. How is it that her hearing aids usually didn’t pick up much, but they were picking up this man’s raspy words as he made love to her lips and neck?

“Airianna? Is everything okay in there?”

Nash jumped back from Airianna just before her father walked into the room. She looked at him as if he’d killed her dog, which made him wish they were somewhere more private, where no one could interrupt them. He looked to the door, and she spun around, a startled look on her face when she saw her father standing there, watching them.

“Papa,” Airianna said, smiling at her father.

Nash watched Mr. Williams stare at his daughter’s flushed face and swollen lips, then turn to him with an angry look.

“How dare you take advantage of my daughter….” He moved toward Nash, and Airianna stepped between them.

“Papa, he did not take advantage of me. I told him to kiss me.” She folded her arms over her chest and turned her chin up.

Nash wanted to laugh but kept himself in check.

“You… you…” Mr. Williams had a hard time speaking.

Nash watched Airianna turn to him and smile, then look back at her father.

“Papa, is there something you need?”

“I… I was just checking on you.”

Airianna smiled and moved closer to Nash. “I am fine, Papa. Nash and I were just talking. He saw me dream.”

Jeremy Williams looked from his daughter and the detective to the new painting and sucked in a breath. She’s dreaming again. He looked at the couple and squinted his eyes at the young detective. Could it be? Has fate really brought this man into his daughter’s life?

“Everything is okay, Papa. I promise.” Airianna moved away from the detective and stopped in front of Jeremy. “Thank you for checking on me. But detective Jackman and I have a puzzle to solve.”

Before Jeremy could say anything, she leaned forward, kissed him, and motioned for the detective to follow her. Jeremy turned, watched the two leave the art room, and then slowly turned back to the painting.

“Mother,” he whispered, turning and rushing out of the room.

Jeremy called his mother and told her what he had walked in on. She laughed and told him that his little girl was growing up. He complained about what the man had done the month before.

“Son, that is what I was going to call you about tonight. I think he’s why her dreams had stopped and why they started again.”

“What do you mean? She painted just fine before he came into her life.”

“Yes, but there was never a gap between them because they hadn’t met yet.”

Jeremy grumbled as he sat down in a dining room chair. “I don’t understand.”

Mrs. Williams chuckled. “What do you think your father was to me and my gift?”

“I don’t know. You two were so in love….”

“Before that.” She sighed. “A seer is like a painter, Son.”

“I know that, Mother,” Jeremy grumbled.

“And all painters need a muse.”