The Color of Heaven - 09 - The Color of Time Read Free Page A

wrapped my arms around his neck, felt his smooth skin and muscular shoulders beneath my hands, kissed him passionately on the mouth. We sank down together and kissed beneath the surface of the water until we couldn’t hold our breaths any longer. He dragged me up by the hand.
    “I love you so much!” I cried out, splashing around, desperate to tell him this one important thing before the dream ended.
    “I love you, too,” he replied , laughing at my exuberance. “ Forever . Come on, let’s go.” He began to swim away, back to the pebbly beach and the place where we’d left our towels.
    I remained where I was, however, treading water with some difficulty, bobbing up and down beneath the surface, catching brief, watery glimpses of him on the beach, drying off with the towel, pulling on a blue T-shirt.
    “Are you coming out?” he shouted.
    I wanted to. More than anything. All I wanted was to touch him again, to hold him and stay there with him forever at the lake where we’d loved each other so passionately.
    Suddenly my eyes flew open and I sat bolt upright in bed.
    I was back in my grandmother’s house. The dream was over. Everything was quiet. It was 2015 again.
    A quick glance at the clock told me it was 10:00 a.m. The sun was shining outside.
    Still wallowing in the vividness of the dream, my heart pounded with excitement, which was an odd feeling. Usually, thoughts of Ethan left me feeling empty and morose.
    I flopped back down onto the pillows as an unexpected wave of euphoria moved me to tears at the memory of that kiss in the water. Ethan! It was as if I’d actually touched him, heard his voice and tasted his lips—those lips I once knew so well. As I lay there in bed, his presence remained fresh in my mind. I could still hear him so clearly, calling to me from the shoreline…
    Then the memory of the dream began to fade from my mind, and though I fought to hold onto the feelings and sensations, the thrills and the euphoria, everything pulled away from me. I had to remind myself that it was just a dream. Nothing had changed. I was still thirty-three years old. Ethan was gone and I would never see him again. Not in this lifetime.
    Pressing a hand to my forehead, I closed my eyes and lay still for a long while, doing my best to steer clear of the familiar gloom.
    It was just a dream. Nothing but a dream.
    But wow, I thought to myself. It felt so real. How was that possible?

Chapter Six

    When I arrived at the hospital an hour later, Gram was sitting up in bed, watching television.
    “Morning,” I said warmly as I approached and kissed her on the cheek. “How are you feeling today?”
    Still weak and groggy from the pain meds, Gram regarded me with affection and squeezed my hand. “Much better, my darling angel. It’s so good to see you. When did you get here?”
    “I was here last night. Remember? I came straight from the airport, but you were pretty out of it after the surgery.”
    Her eyebrows lifted and she spoke with childlike innocence. “I don’t remember that at all.”
    I smiled. “I didn’t think you would, but it’s not important. What matters is that I’m here now and I’m so glad you’re okay. It must have been a really bad fall.”
    Gram waved a hand through the air. “Oh, it wasn’t that bad. I was hardly two feet off the ground when I slipped, and that could have happened to anyone.”
    I chuckled and rubbed her arm. “It’s lucky you didn’t slip when you were at the top with the hose in your hand.”
    “You’re right,” she replied. “And let that be a lesson to you. No matter how bad it is, it could always be worse.”
    “Very true,” I agreed with a laugh. “But really Gram, in the future, you need to ask for help for things like that.”
    “I don’t have much choice about it, now,” she replied grumpily. “The doctor says it’ll take a few months for me to get back on my feet. A few months! He says I’ll have to use a walker for a while and go to