Possession by Linda Mooney

Just talk to me, Sam.” A slow smile touched her lips. With her hair unbound and spread out around her face, she was a very beautiful woman. Between her looks and her bravery despite her handicap, plus her insistence in staying on the case, Sam could understand his brother’s feelings for the woman. And why Kiel was growing more fiercely protective of her. “Sam. Is that short for Samuel?”
    “Samson.”
    “Samson? How odd. Like the biblical Samson? Samson what?”
    “Samson Kyle.”
    J gave a little giggle. “Your mother must’ve liked the name Kyle.”
    “It was her father’s name. Except mine is spelled K-y-l-e, and Kiel’s is spelled K-i-e-l.”
    “Really? I didn’t know that. Why did she give him such an unusual spelling?”
    “Who knows why Mom did what she did?”
    “And Kiel’s middle name is?”
    “Michael, after Dad.” Scooting his chair closer to the bed, Sam sat down and got comfortable. “Laurent. That’s French, isn’t it?”
    “Uh-huh. My father was a foreign exchange student at the university. He met my mother in a class they had together. They were married almost eighteen years before they had me. By that time they’d given up having any children naturally and adopted Douggie.”
    “What happened to your family?”
    He watched as she took a deep breath and let it out slowly before answering. “They died in a car crash when I was six. I was in the car with them, but I survived. Grandmama raised me.”
    “In that big old house?”
    “Hey! I love that old house!”
    “Yeah, if your last name is Addams,” Sam teased. To his delight J laughed at the joke. Presently the room grew quiet again.
    J had closed her eyes, and he was beginning to think she’d fallen back asleep when she murmured, “I love Kiel.”
    “He told me you’d told him.”
    “You must think we’re nuts.”
    “Why?”
    Turning her head in his direction, she opened her eyes. “I can tell when you’re pulling my leg, Samson Kyle. You can’t hide the inflections in your voice.”
    “I’m not teasing you, J.”
    “I know you’re not. Not this time. But you’re afraid. God, it must be hard on you, wondering every day how much longer he’ll be around.”
    There was pity in her voice, besides concern. Normally he wouldn’t have been able to stand it, but coming from her it touched him. Sam realized he welcomed her opinion.
    “He’s changed,” he confided in her.
    “Changed? How?”
    “He’s more cautious. He’s not as headstrong as he used to be. Kiel used to be what people referred to as a ‘tough little bastard’. Extremely independent. Real gung-ho. That’s all gone now.”
    “Yeah, well, wait until you die, then see if you’re the same person you were,” she commented philosophically.
    “Ouch.”
    She started to giggle, but got ambushed by another yawn. Shifting to her side, J snuggled her face against her pillow.
    “J?”
    “Mmm?”
    “Thanks.”
    “For what?”
    “For giving my brother a reason to hold on.”
    He waited for her response, but when none came, he got up and peered over the bed to find her fast asleep. But he knew she had heard him because of the tender smile slowly fading from her lips.
       
     

 

     
     

Chapter 3
     

     

 

     
     

     
     
    Wednesday
     

 

     
     

     
     
    They came to take her vitals a little after six a.m. Groggy from the medication, J searched the room for either of the two auras she knew would be Sam or Kiel. The radiating sun at the far end of the room was the one she was hoping to see.
    Once the nurses left with a departing comment that the doctor would be in to see her soon to give her her walking papers, J sat up to face him and opened her arms. Her lower lip trembled from the feel of his arms going around her, and she buried her face in the hollow of his neck as lips pressed against her forehead.
    “Good morning, gorgeous.” His voice echoed in his chest.
    J giggled slightly. “I’m not gorgeous. My hair is a mess. I need a