To Part 18
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Peter walked in and stood just inside the doorway as Kacie opened her mouth to protest. Caine was sitting on the edge of the bed and raised one hand to stop her words. "Do NOT speak. You must rest your voice."
She made a face at him, before obediently chugging down a last half-cup of tea. After she finished, she handed him the cup with a frown, while she pretended to shudder at the taste.
He regarded her with an inscrutable stare and then chuckled. "You are feeling much better...if you can play tricks?...on an old man."
She smiled at him, and he held out his arms to her. She leaned into his embrace and cuddled against him.
Caine rocked her slowly, patting her back. "Yes, I love you, too." He continued to hold her, and spoke again. "When I found my son, after fifteen years of wandering, searching for his essence, I thought...there was no greater joy...I would ever know."
Kacie pulled back from his embrace, and regarded him solemnly. "And then, when you came into his life...and into mine...it helped me to once again see how small and finite...human knowledge can be. Every time..." Caine's voice grew thick with emotion. "Every time...I see the happiness you share with my son, I think of Laura, and the love that we shared together...and how very much she would have loved you."
Kacie's chin quivered and her eyes filled with tears. Caine tenderly wiped them away using fingertips with the touch of a butterfly's wings, and whispered, "Yes, I know that Laura would have liked you as much as she would have loved you." He pulled Kacie back into his arms and stroked her hair affectionately. "She would have loved you...as much as I."
Peter took in the scene and drew comfort from it. He knew that Kacie had not uttered a single syllable outloud, but his father had heard the words of her heart clearly. .
He coughed softly and stepped forward. When Kacie saw him, her face lit up with a light that could only be called luminescent, a special light that told him he was the most important thing in her world. His heart lifted at the sight of her looking so well, so near to normal.
Caine turned to look at Peter, then moved from the bed to relinquish his place with a smile and a small bow.
Peter sat close to Kacie and tenderly caressed her cheek with his fingertips before positioning his head carefully to kiss her lips. He reveled in the warmth and the love and the life he felt there. As he pulled her into his arms, he sighed in both relief and contentment. He ran gentle fingers through her hair and told her. "You should see our place, Kacie. Mom and the girls were over. They took care of everything. The only thing missing there is you."
"Doctor Dawson was here this afternoon." Caine spoke softly. "He feels certain that Kacie will be well enough to go home...tomorrow."
"Really?" Peter released Kacie to look in her eyes while she nodded happily. "Oh, Sweetheart. I am so glad. It's just not 'home' if you're not there with me."
She rubbed her cheek against his, pointed, and nodded approvingly as she smiled.
For a split second, he looked puzzled, and then he grinned. "Yes, I shaved. What, you don't think you'd like me in a beard?"
He laughed outloud as she made a face and pretended to gag herself with her finger. "OK, Sweetheart. Clean-shaven it is." She kissed him warmly and then nestled against his shoulder.
"I will...be going now." Caine put on his hat and slung his pouch over his shoulder. He smiled benevolently at the couple. "I doubt that my...absence...will be felt."
Peter got up and walked to the hallway with his father. They embraced one another in a bear hug, and then Peter rested his forehead against Caine's. "Thanks, Dad. So much. I -- we -- couldn't have made it through all this without you."
Caine stepped back and put a hand on Peter's shoulder. "I will always...be here for you, my son. I love you both. Good night."
"'Night, Pop."
Peter noticed an evaluating look on Kacie's face while she watched him reenter the room. "S'matter?" she croaked hoarsely.
He winced and frowned at her. "You're supposed to rest your voice. It makes my throat hurt to hear you sounding like that."
She patted the spot next to herself on the bed. "Here."
Peter obediently sat down, but she shook her head at him, and pounded the spot next to herself more forcefully. "HERE." She whispered hoarsely. "Hold me. Like home."
"Honey, are you sure it's OK?" He laughed at the exasperated glare she threw at him. "All right, all right, I'll take your word for it."
Easing himself into the bed, he slid his body next to hers and they lay back on the pillows together. She settled herself comfortably in his arms and patted his chest.
Kissing the top of her head, he held her tightly and whispered fiercely, "I love you, Katherine Christine McConnell Caine. Don't you ever leave me, because I would die."
"Wrong...Peter? Eyes...sad."
"I don't want to talk tonight, Kace, OK? I just want to lie here and hold you and pretend we're home." {And I want to pretend that this is all a bad dream, and that none of it ever happened.}