Chapter 2

• Wilder fell asleep in his favorite recliner in the den, one of his mother’s colorful quilts draped over his legs. It was too much trouble to get to his bedroom, and the recliner was where he slept most of the time, anyway. A pile of notebooks sat on the nearby side table next to a half empty bottle of bourbon and an empty glass.
• After the incident with the hallucination in the fairy garden, Wilder tried not to drink anything, but the pains in his legs, hips, and back became overwhelming. One glass became two, then a third to get a good night’s sleep.
• “Crap! Why am I naked?” A female voice shrieked from Wilder’s kitchen, making him jump. He blinked up at the darkness, gathering his bearings. It was just a dream. A very weird dream. He sighed and closed his eyes, hearing Rocky’s nails on the kitchen tile.
• Wilder’s eyes popped open again at the sound of more swearing and creaking coming from the kitchen. Someone was in his house? He reached for his crutch, scowling. Crippled or not, he was going to confront whoever it was and beat them with his crutch.
• With a groan, Wilder swung himself upright, getting his crutch tangled in the quilt. He fought it for a moment, taking his gaze off the door to the hall.
• “Do not turn around.” A woman growled at him, her voice coming from the doorway. “I’m going to pick up that quilt at your feet until I can find something suitable to wear.”
• “You need to get out of my house, not stand there giving orders,” snapped Wilder, glancing over his shoulder. He almost fell over as a very naked young woman rushed up to him and grabbed for the quilt at his feet.
• “I said, don’t turn around!” She jerked the quilt and pulled the crutch out from under Wilder. He crashed to the floor in an excruciating pile of pain, crying out as he hit the hard wood.
• “Oh, no.” The woman pulled the quilt around her body and leaned over Wilder. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to do that.”
• “But you did. Now kindly get out of my house before I beat you with my crutch!” Wilder snarled, jabbing at her with the crutch he still held in his hand. “Leave! Rocky!”
• The dog made a wuffing sound, sitting down next to the woman. She kneeled and laid a hand on Wilder’s leg.
• “Don’t touch me!” Wilder attempted to scoot away, swinging the crutch at her as hard as he could manage. She yelped as it hit her on the arm.
• “Knock it off! I will not hurt you. It’s me, Tiana.” She reached out again, holding her hand over Wilder’s leg. “Let me help you.”
• Wilder stared at her. His hallucinations were getting bigger. There was something wrong with his head. That was it. He was finally going crazy and if crazy was sending him a naked young woman, who was he to argue. Maybe this was one of those dreams. Wilder smiled slightly, if it was one of those dreams, this was going to be an amazing hallucination.
• “How are you going to help me?” Wilder asked through half-lidded eyes, his thoughts drifting in a less than pure direction. She wasn’t really there. This was all a dream.
• “First of all, don’t look at me like that,” snarled Tiana, reaching out to smack him lightly on the head with the heel of her hand. “What is wrong with you, Wilder Smith?”
• “You’re a dream. I’m dreaming.” He winced, falling back on the floor and relaxing. “I am dreaming.”
• “No, you’re not.” Tiana squeezed hard on Wilder’s leg just above the knee. His entire body spasmed uncontrollably with pain and he howled. “That’s terrible.”
• “No. Kidding.” Wilder trembled, trying to catch his breath. “Please, just leave me alone.” He wiped over his face, discreetly wiping away the tears. “Go away.”
• “Let me try this.” Tiana laid her hand up higher on his thigh. Wilder squirmed, not into whatever it was this dream wanted to do with him. She closed her eyes and her entire body took on a faint golden light. Wilder blinked and stared as warmth spread from her hand into his leg, easing the pain a little. “Ah, I know where it’s coming from. Try to roll over so I can get to your back.”
• Wilder sighed and shifted, the minor easing of his pain making him more willing to comply. Her warm hand left him, then he felt her lifting his shirt, pushing it up to expose his back. He winced, knowing what she would see.
• Tiana’s warm hand passed over the gnarled scarring that tore into his body from his hip to his lower back and around his waist. He closed his eyes, sighing, “Not pretty. I know. Not that it was nice looking to begin with.”
• “Your back was broken and the nerves were all messed up. That’s why you can’t walk without the crutch?” She pressed her fingers into the middle of his back, biting her lower lip. “It happened last winter, didn’t it? You were fine the previous Fall.”
• “Yeah.” Wilder looked at her over his shoulder for a moment, then laid his head down on his arm, resigned to letting the hallucination do whatever she wanted to. “I had a lot of complications. They told me I wouldn’t walk, but I proved them wrong,” he finished with a self-satisfied snort.
• “But you’re in a lot of pain.” Tiana pressed her fingers in harder and warmth flooded through Wilder, a very pleasant sensation that took away all of his pain and, for the first time in over a year, he felt normal. “I can only stop it for a short time, a few days.”
• Wilder’s eyes widened, and he rolled over, sitting up and marveling at his movement. He could move again and the first thing he did was cry out in glee and lunge at the angel kneeling near him. His arms wrapped around her tightly in a hug and he kissed her on the cheek, missing her mouth as she tried to squirm away. “Thank you!”
• He didn’t see the fist coming, catching him in the jaw so hard he saw stars and fell back. It wasn’t that kind of dream at all. Wilder groaned, rubbing his jaw and blinking at Tiana. She glared at him, her golden brown eyes smoldering at him in anger as she clutched the quilt back around her.
• “I’m sorry! You don’t understand!” Wilder lifted a hand toward her, realizing this wasn’t a dream more and more. Then he burst into tears, heaving at overwhelming relief and horror that he insulted her.
• “Look here, you do not touch me, Wilder Smith.” Tiana rose, glancing around the room. “Do you have anything I could wear?”
• “You’re not leaving?” Wilder stared at her, trying his hardest to stop the flow of unmanly tears. It had been a long, depressing year on top of a series of long, depressing decades. “I am really sorry. He pushed himself upright and got his feet under him. Wilder wobbled, then stood with a laugh. “I can stand upright!” He lifted his arms into the air, leaning back.
• “Don’t overdo it,” sighed Tiana. “I blocked the pain. It will last a few days. I want you to tell me if you start aching again and I’ll fix it. I am giving you one week of my time, Wilder Smith.”
• “Why?” Wilder lowered his arms and looked at her.
• “We’ll discuss that later. Now. Clothes?” Tiana kept the quilt pulled tight around her.
• “My room is down the hall on the right.” Wilder motioned. “Uh, if you’re staying, I would be more than happy to take you out in the morning to get something to wear.”
• “I would like that.” Tiana nodded with a slight smile, turning and leaving down the hall. Rocky bounced eagerly after her, leaving Wilder staring in wonder.
• The crutch was on the floor. Wilder squatted, stretching his legs. His knees both popped and there were other creaking noises. His physical therapists, before he quit going to them, insisted there was nothing wrong with his muscles. It was the nerves, just as Tiana said. Pain was his prison and now it was momentarily gone and there was a very beautiful woman in his house, in his room, putting on his clothes, who might or might not be a hallucination.
• Wilder fell back onto a nearby couch, staring at the door, waiting to see if Tiana would return or if it was just his dog.