Page 7 of Cooper
“No. I’m not picky at all. I like food,” she smiled. He nodded and walked to fill her tray. Two beautiful women walked toward her and she shifted uncomfortably.
“Bianca, my name is Bella. I’m Cooper’s grandmother. This is Lyra, his mother.”
“H-how is that possible?” she whispered to herself, or so she thought. The two women chuckled, smiling as they took their seats. Walking toward the table with two trays of food each, were Diego and Abe. “Let me guess. Grandfather and father?”
“That’s right,” smiled Diego.
“You could all be brothers. You look too young,” she said shaking her head.
“We’ll explain our secret later,” smiled Bella. “How are you feeling? Do you need anything right now?”
“She just needs food, grandma,” smiled Cooper setting the tray down in front of her.
“Well then, let’s feed her and get to know her,” smiled Bella.
“Oh, there’s not much to tell,” said Bianca. “My family was killed by that man, Rodriguez, the one that Cooper and his friends stopped. I owned a small store where I made handbags and served soft drinks and sweets, nothing big.”
“That’s right. Cooper brought one home for me,” smiled Lyra. “It’s beautiful. I love the design. Is it made from seatbelts?”
“Yes,” nodded Bianca. “There are a lot of old, run-down, abandoned cars in that area. Or there were. I would go in and cut out the seatbelts, wash them and treat them to ensure they’d last. The thing is seat belts never seem to wear out. What a great concept for a purse, right?”
“Genius,” nodded Lyra. “You could make a fortune here selling those bags. I’ll bet the boys at the shop have lots of seat belts they could give you. When you’re feeling better, you can make some bags and we’ll put them in the General Store for you.”
“Really? You would do that?” she asked in surprise.
“Yes, but only if you eat,” smirked Bella. Biance smiled, nodding at the two women, the men seemingly staring at her, but not staring at her. It was as if they were inspecting her but not openly. Lyra cleared her throat, nudging the two men.
“So, Cooper, are you home for good?” she asked.
“I don’t know yet, Mom. I’ve got some leave that I’m taking and time to think. I’m not sure I want to go back. The government really dragged their feet on taking down Rodriguez and that only created more trouble for everyone in the region. It was unnecessary and we kept telling them so.”
“Sounds like nothing has changed,” frowned Abe.
“Not a thing. The problem is we got Rodriguez and his operation, its gone but the government officials involved are still sitting down there with nothing to worry about. No one implicated them in any of it.”
“That sounds familiar,” nodded Diego. He looked at Bianca and noticed that her fork was half-way to her mouth, shaking violently. He followed her gaze and knew what was wrong.
“That man. That man is glowing.”
CHAPTER FOUR
“Hello, sweet child,” said Matthew. “I’m glad to see you’re doing well.”
“Wh-what are you?” she asked, crossing herself.
“I am nothing to fear,” he said calmly. “Think of me as a guardian angel for all those who live here.”
“B-but I didn’t live here. H-how could you possibly, how could you possibly have known what was happening to me?”
“Bianca, Belle Fleur is a magical place,” said Bella. “There are many strange secrets and things here that no one can explain. Matthew, and his wife Irene, are the wonderful people who built this safe space for all of us. They have, um, moved on but are still visible to us.”
“Y-you’re a ghost,” she whispered.
“It’s not a secret,” smirked Matthew. “Myself and many other look over this place. You can always be assured that we will protect you, help you, and warn the others if needed.”
“I can touch you?” she whispered. Matthew smiled, reaching out to stroke her cheek. He kissed her forehead, still cupping her sweet face.
“I carried you back here. I think that means you can touch me and I can touch you. You’ll meet Irene soon, she’s out with the animals.” He turned and left just as quickly as he’d arrived.
