I rub over my chest, offering a small smile. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
“How did you know that?”
“I didn’t. Know about your mother, I mean.”
“Then…”
“I know about your daughter.”
He inhales sharply, and soft, brown eyes float into my mind.
“Papa?”
“Yes, Penelope dear.”
“When can we go back to the zoo?”
“We haven’t even left yet.” The man looks amused, the little girl clinging to his hand batting brown eyes his way. He smiles down at her, his gaze adoring. “Soon, I’m sure.”
“Promise?” she asks.
Lee’s eyes rise to mine, piercing and familiar all at once. “We promise. Isn’t that right, my love?”
I pull in a breath, my rib cage aching with the force ofit.
Lee is watching me with concern. “What was that? Did you have a…vision?”
“No,” I say, clearing my throat. “Just a memory of one.”
He blinks several times, his eyes searching mine. “Of me and…my daughter.”
I offer a shaky smile. “You’re taking this better than I expected.”
He scrubs a hand roughly over his jaw, rasping against dark stubble. “Yeah, well, you showing up five minutes before my heart was going to stop kind of makes it impossible not to believe you. I have a daughter. Really?”
“You will.”
He drops his face into his palms. “Jesus. This is…a lot.”
“But you believe me?” I ask, unable to keep the wobble from my voice.
Lee lets his hands fall, that warm brown gaze I’ve seen in so many different faces meeting mine. “It’s kind of hard not to.”
The relief I feel is staggering.
Lee must see it on my face because he holds his hand out across the table. A lifeline freely offered. “Hey. It’s all right.”
I accept his palm, his skin warm if not a little dry. It feels so normal, soright, and I grip him for all I’m worth.
No one has ever believed me before. My parents. My friends. And why would they, when the things I’ve seen are never about them? I couldn’t prove it. Even my doctors thought I was lying or in need of psychiatric care, at least the scant few I tried to explain it to before locking myself down tight. They labeled it as seizures. And maybe they are.
But they’re so much more than that.
Visions. Past. Future. Fate. Call them what you will. I know the truth.
Lee lets out a trembling exhale, and I realize he must be exhausted. Of course he is.
“I’m sorry,” I say quickly, his hand still in mine. “Do you need to rest?”
