Free Rising Tide: Dark Innocence (The Maura DeLuca Trilogy Book 1) by Claudette Melanson Page A

sting…
    “Mom!  I’m going to take a
shower, okay?”  I yelled down.
    “You’d better hurry because we
still need to discuss a few things, Maura!”  She still sounded angry, so
Ron must not have gotten to the part about my absolute humiliation.  I
wondered if she would grant me a small bit of absolution for suffering through that.
    The water was delicious.  So
warm, and a momentary escape from my mother’s wrath.  As it poured over my
face, it ran into my mouth and tasted delicious.  I must have been
dehydrated because I suddenly felt thirsty.  Cupping my hands together, I
caught the stream running over my face and drank deeply.  It just tasted
so good .  There was something about it I couldn’t quite place like
honey, copper honey was the image my mind threw at me...I opened my eyes to
look at it then, only to find my hands full of bloody water. 
    Of course!  The stream from
the shower was pouring over my wound, mixing with the blood caked there. 
To know I’d been enjoying the taste of my own blood made my stomach roll in
protest.  I barely managed to escape the shower and kneel in front of the
toilet before I was sick.  Maybe I’d done more damage to my head than I’d
realized…
     
    I went back downstairs, once I was
warmed and pajama-clad, tentatively, taking the stairs extra slow so I could
hear any bits of conversation taking place.  It was much quieter than I
would have expected.
    “I…still can’t believe anyone
would…”  I heard Caelyn’s voice catch with a sob.  She was
crying?  I hesitated now, one sleep-sock clad foot hanging in air, above
the next stair.
    “I know.”  Ron’s voice had
that same edge it’d held when I’d first woken in his arms a couple of hours
ago. 
    My foot came down, though I hadn’t
known I was taking the next step.  The stair creaked and it was abruptly
quiet.
    “Maura?” they both called at once.
    “Who else?” I joked, but no one
laughed.  I tiptoed the rest of the way down the stairs, making my
presence as unobtrusive as possible.  I peeked cautiously around the
corner, to find Ron and Caelyn sitting on the couch.  There was a cup on
the coffee table in front of him.  Shane now sat in the easy chair off to
the side, holding his cup up and drinking from it.  So both of them were
in the house…and Caelyn had made them some sort of hot, comforting
beverage.  I took both developments as sign things were at least a little
better.
    Ron caught sight of me then and
smiled warmly.  That definitely made me feel better.  Until
Shane’s eyes looked up, met mine and then took me in from top to bottom.
    He roared with laughter, “All you
need to go with those, Maura, is a big, fuzzy teddy bear.”
    My mouth fell open with shock, and
I was suddenly self-conscious of the bunny appliqué on the front of the blue
pajama top…and the same pattern covering the matching bottoms. Stupid…but I’d
never really thought of them as childish—until now.  It wasn’t like I’d
had much of a choice anyway; nearly all my sleepwear had some sort of animal,
star or heart-shaped pattern.  I’d have to ask Caelyn to let me buy my own
night clothes from now on…well, when she was on affable speaking terms with me
again.
    Ron defended my honor by hurling
one of the throw pillows at Shane, as soon as Caelyn got up to go in the
kitchen. 
    “Hey!” Shane complained as it
smacked into the side of his head.
    “You had it coming,” I said softly,
as I entered the room.  It was dangerous to be enjoying myself too much at
this point.  I opted for sticking my tongue out at him, rather than run
the risk of speaking anything else.
    I sat down lightly beside Ron, my
head brimming over with a hundred questions.  I just looked up into his mocha
eyes, instead of speaking any of them.  When Caelyn came back I jumped
lightly and moved a few inches away from him.  I could tell she didn’t
like my reaction.  But, she composed herself quickly, though her eyes