Alexis and Béatrice looked at Gabriella and collected Stephanie from Ben. They walked her back to the house.
“Who taught you to dance, Ben?” Gabriella asked gently.
“Mrs. Cosburn.”
“BEN!”
He looked up from his seated position on the grass at the frightened expressions of the women kneeling next to him.
“What happened?” he moaned as he held his head. He had a thumping headache.
“Does your head hurt?” Catherine asked.
“Yeah, a lot.”
“I think that’s enough excitement for tonight. Time for bed everyone,” Gabriella said. She and Catherine helped Ben to his feet and held his arms as they led him back into the building and up to his floor. They took him into his room and closed the door. He brushed his teeth, took off this clothes and climbed into bed while they watched. He was still a bit dazed. Gabriella leaned over him and gave him a kiss then Catherine did the same. He closed his eyes and seemed to drift off.
The two friends stepped out into the hall. Daniel was standing there. “I got the entire thing on film mom. Maybe his doctor should see it.”
“Good thinking! Can you send it to her somehow?” Gabriella asked.
“Yeah, I can render a smaller version then upload it to my cloud account and send her a link,” he said then grinned at his mother’s blank look. “Yes, if you give me her email address.”
“You could have started with that,” she scowled. “I’ll send you her address.” She looked at Catherine. “I think I’m going to give Hannah a call. She’s probably still at her office. Let’s go down to the living room to make the call.” Catherine nodded and the others went to their rooms to prepare for bed.
Alexis and Béatrice met them at the base of the stairs. “Is Ben ok?” Alexis asked with a worried expression.
“He should be fine in the morning. He has some repressed memories which surfaced a few months back and they seemed to submerge again after he was stabbed. They seem to be leaking out again. We’re going to call a friend of ours, another neighbor who is also the hospital administrator where Ben’s doctor works,” Gabriella said and they all walked into the living room.
Gabriella dialed the number and listened for Hannah to pick up.
“Hannah Cooper.”
“Hannah? It’s Gabriella. Can I put you on speaker?”
“Gabriella! Sure, wait! Aren’t you still on vacation? Has there been some trouble?” Hannah blurted.
Putting the phone on the coffee table Gabriella turned on the speaker phone. “Can you hear me clearly?”
“Yes, now what’s wrong? Is Ben ok?” Hannah insisted.
Alexis and Béatrice smiled hearing the concern in her voice and Catherine nodded.
“I have Catherine with me as well as my cousin Alexis and her wife Béatrice. Ben is fine but his repressed memories are beginning to resurface again,” Gabriella explained.
“Hello everyone! How did it happen this time?” Hannah asked.
“He was dancing. He dances beautifully but he couldn’t recall who taught him. Tonight he was dancing with my cousin Stephanie and his face went blank and he began to dance faster and faster and left the gazebo entirely to dance outside. We had to chase after them. When he surfaced from the trance he didn’t know how he’d gotten outside and when I asked him again who taught him he said Mrs. Cosburn and dropped to the ground like a stone. Scared the hell out of us. He surfaced immediately with a bad headache so we brought him inside and put him to bed. He went out like a light. I’ll get Daniel to send you and his doctor a link to the video he took of the event.”
“You got it on video? Excellent!” Hannah said. “Any chance you can bring him back early?”
“I seriously doubt Ben would agree to that. We still have a week to go but he’s going to stick close to the chateau for the next two days doing renovations and you know how therapeutic that is for him,” Gabriella said and Alexis looked pleased.
“Yes, that will do him a world of good,” Hannah agreed and Alexis’ smile just got bigger and Béatrice held her hand.
“Please let Ben know that Trish picked up Tina and Lucy at the airport yesterday and all are good. We all met them at Ben’s place last night. That’s when she told us the news about their baby and getting engaged. The ring is stunning! Shocked the hell out of Trish! I’ve never seen her so stunned. Tina had a talk with her and afterwards there was a lot of happy tears. Rochelle also seemed a little upset but Tina set her straight as well. For a submissive she certainly can be a force to reckon with!”
“She’s protecting Ben’s heart. No one is as fierce as Tina when it comes to protecting Ben,” Gabriella said with a smile.
“Listen, thanks for giving me a call. You know I was one of the people trying to get Ben to postpone the trip. I know he needs the distraction and relaxation but I’m still worried about his state of mind,” Hannah said.
“We’re keeping a close eye on him Hannah. We’ll keep you in the loop if there are any other changes,” Gabriella said and everyone said their goodbyes.
“I’m a little too wired to go to bed now,” Catherine said.
“How about a drink? I have a delightful red wine that serves well as a nightcap,” Béatrice suggested.
She got three smiles as her answer.
Rachel was tossing in her bed. She was worried about Ben. As amazing as he looked naked, and erect, all she could think about was how the guy was being tormented by his childhood memories. His doctor had some ideas of what they were and maybe Hannah knew but they hadn’t shared that with them so she felt powerless to help him.
She needed to talk to someone. She looked over at Megan who was snoring softly. Maybe Sophia was up. Rachel slipped out of bed and left her room, closing the door silently behind her. She padded down the hall and stopped when she heard something. Someone just cried out in fear. She moved forward and realized it came from Ben’s room. She opened the door and stepped inside. He was sitting up in bed wide eyed, gasping for breath and shaking. Her heart went out to him.
“You ok, Ben?” she said gently. His head turned in her direction but he didn’t say anything. She got closer to the bed and in the dim light saw his eyes were casting around like he was looking for the danger that awoke him. Then she noticed that he’d kicked his sheets down and he was naked again. Pulling her eyes away from that she moved closer and reached out to place her palm on his cheek. He immediately leaned against it and began to relax. Before she could move his arm swept out and pulled her onto the bed and tucked her up against the side of his body.
Rachel gasped as the heat of his body pressed against her. God he felt good! She looked up and his eyes were closed. She felt his trembling stop as his body relaxed.
She tried to extricate herself but his arm just tightened when she moved away. She glanced down and saw she’d left the door open. Hopefully her mom and Gabriella would be back soon and would look in on him. Then they could help her get loose.
She relaxed against him as she really had no other choice at the moment. He felt so good. She’d just rest her eyes until her mom found her. Sleep dragged her under quickly.