Delilah shook her head. She understood what he alluded to, but it didn’t matter. “There’ll never be closure. You said it yourself. My father doesn’t recognize me anymore. He doesn’t have any memories of what happened.”
“That’s not entirely true. He still has memories, they are just locked away.”
“Mr. Giles, I’m sorry that you’re wasting your time, but I can’t talk to my father anymore.”
“Please, hear me out. I can unlock his memories long enough to allow you to talk to him as if he was healthy again. It’ll give you the opportunity to say what you need to say to him.”
“That’s impossible.”
“It’s not. Some of us have special gifts. This is mine. I’m happy to use it for this purpose. But you’ll only have a few minutes, before his mind will cloud again, so use the time wisely. Just tell him.”
Delilah swallowed hard. The camera tilted away from Gabriel to a chair. She recognized her father instantly. His stare was blank, his shoulders slumped. Tears formed in her eyes, seeing him like this. Nothing would bring him back. She could never ask him for forgiveness.
Gabriel stepped behind her father and held his hands several inches above the old man’s head. Gabriel’s eyes closed. A few seconds later her father’s eyes suddenly took on life, and he looked straight at the camera.
“Delilah!” her father exclaimed. “Sweetheart, it’s so nice to see you.”
“Daddy?” Her voice broke. He’d recognized her. After so many years, he finally knew her again.
“What’s wrong sweetheart? Why are you crying? Did somebody hurt you?” His voice was full of concern.
“No, Daddy, I’m just happy to see you.”
“So am I, so am I.” He gave her a ravishing smile, reminding her of how he’d always looked at her when she was a young child. “It’s been a while. Your mother and I miss you. You’re working too much, you know that?”
Delilah blinked. He didn’t know that her mother was dead. He had no memory of it. It made sense. Her mother had died when he’d already been afflicted with Alzheimer’s. There was no need for her to bring it up now. She didn’t want to cause him any undue pain.
“I know, Daddy. I’ll come and visit you and Mom the next free weekend I get. How is that?” she lied, unable to bring herself to tell him the truth.
“That sounds like a plan.”
Delilah cleared her throat. She was at a loss of how to approach him. Too many years she’d carried her guilt with her, and now that she had the opportunity to talk to her father about it, she was at a loss for words. There was no right way to start this conversation.
“Do you sometimes still think of our time in France?”
He smiled. “Many times, sweetheart.”
“Me too. I think of it a lot.”
“You were such a young child then, I’m surprised you remember much.” His voice was soft, but also laced with pain.
“I remember all of it from back then.”
He raised his hand to stop her. “Many things are best forgotten.”
“But how can I forget?”
“Only think of the good things, don’t dwell on the bad.”
She shook her head, too choked up to speak.
“Have I ever told you what a joy you were to your mother and me? I can still hear your laughter when I would push you on the swing, and you would demand to go higher and higher. You were such an adventurous little girl. So brave. Always so brave.” He gave her a big smile.
“I’m not always that.”
“In my eyes, you are.”
“Oh, Daddy, I’m so sorry!” Tears started forming in her eyes.
He furrowed his brows. “Sorry for what? What’s wrong, sweetheart?”
“Peter,” she pressed out. “I should have done something. I …” A single tear rolled down her cheek, leaving a hot trail on her skin.
“Peter?” His voice sounded surprised. “But, sweetheart, you couldn’t have prevented his death, neither could your mother or I. Peter died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Even if we’d been there that night, we couldn’t have done anything. We always blamed ourselves for leaving you in charge of him. I’ll never forget the horror on your face that night. I wish we could have spared you this. You should have never seen him die. We were so worried for you.”
“But, Mom was so sad all the time. I thought you blamed me.”
“Blamed you? Oh God, Delilah, no.” He sat forward in his chair, wringing his hands. “We blamed ourselves. If we hadn’t had you, your mother and I would have never made it through this dark time. You were the only light we had. You were our only sunshine, but we felt so guilty that you had those nightmares, seeing him dead in his crib over and over again. We didn’t know what to do, so we never spoke about it. We always thought time would heal all wounds, and children forget. In hindsight, we should have gotten you professional help, but we just didn’t know what to do. I’m so sorry we failed you. Please forgive us.” Her father’s eyes filled with tears.
Delilah’s eyes finally released the tears she’d built up over all those years. “Oh, Daddy. There’s nothing to forgive. I love you.”
“I love you, too, my sweetheart, and so does your mother. Promise me something.”
“Anything,” she agreed without hesitation.
“Stop dwelling on the past, and think about the future. Your future.”
“I promise.”
“Goodbye, Delilah,” he said, and his eyes went blank again.
Delilah slumped in her chair and gave her sobs free reign. Her father loved her and didn’t blame her for Peter’s death. She was free, finally free of the guilt she’d carried for so long.
Strong arms lifted her up and carried her to the couch. She opened her tearstained eyes and looked at the man who carried her.
“Samson!”
“Don’t cry, sweetness,” he whispered and sat down on the couch, keeping her in his lap. He wore a long robe and looked as vibrant as ever.
“I’m so sorry, Samson; I put you in so much danger.” Her tears flowed freely.
“You saved my life.”
He brought her head close to his and lowered his lips to hers, kissing her softly.
“I thought I’d lost you,” she said.
Samson shook his head and chuckled. “I’m pretty hard to kill, even though this time it was close, too close. Without your blood—”
She put a finger on his lips. “Shh. I owed you.”
His face took on a stern look. “You felt obligated? That’s why you saved me?” His shoulders sagged, as if all energy had left his body.
“I couldn’t let you die. I put you in this situation. If I hadn’t run off, you would have never been injured.”
“I see.”
So she’d done it out of guilt? That was all she felt? Samson felt his heart contract painfully. She’d saved him, only to kill him by leaving him again. He felt her blood run through his veins, sensed the very essence of her, yet at the same time he listened to her words. Words he didn’t want to hear. She’d saved him because she owed him.
Abruptly he removed her from his lap and sat her on the couch while he rose.
“I’m sorry that you feel this way. You don’t owe me anything. I’ll ask Carl to make arrangements for you to return to New York.”
He’d barely pressed out the word when he stalked out of the room and ran up the stairs. Seconds later he slammed the door to his bedroom shut. Delilah didn’t love him. He’d completely misread her. She’d only given him her blood because she’d put him in danger in the first place, not because she couldn’t live without him.
How noble of her!
A bitter taste spread in his mouth. He had to get her out of his life now, before she ripped his heart out and fed it to the lions. Everything that reminded him of her would have to go. He yanked open his desk and pulled out his drawing pad.