“I said,let go.”
Panic seized me. “I can’t do it. Just help me find the railing again.”
Silence.God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: Godshall help her.
I inhaled. He’d found me once in Seven Dials, and I hadn’t even been looking for him. He had a special love for me, it seemed, and he was always there. Simply there.
Even in the theater, Lord? Are you truly with me there too?
I struck the blank wall and careened back through the air. My hold tightened, but my hands ached. Moisture slicked mygrip. I braced myself to keep from whimpering up there suspended above who knew what. I looked down, tried to force my vision to clarify whether or not there was a net below. I didn’t see one. I looked up as my body collided again with the railing and lurched back into its downward arc.
My left hand slipped. I shifted my weight up to grip with my right, but that only made it slip further. I clung with naught but my fingers as pain knotted each knuckle.
Jack’s voice echoed. “I said ...let go.”
Fear thou not; for I am with thee.
I gulped.
Let go.
With a shiver, my throbbing fingers slipped further. When I could not hold on any longer, I let go. I hung in dark, musty air for an eternity, then a muscular arm clamped about my waist, hurtling me through the cool darkness. I held on to nothing, limbs flailing, as Jack Dorian swung us both from one side to the other with a speed that would have frightened a pair of racehorses.
Air whooshed in my ears, the line went slack as we reached the top, then we twirled, blindingly rapid spins in the air that left me fearfully, delightfully dizzy. A laugh of sheer relief bubbled up from somewhere inside my trembling body, echoing in the open room. We reached the other side and his boot connected with the wall with athudbefore we flew back the other way again, arcing around the entire room in one great circle, then spinning to the middle.
I heard the zip of rope against rope and we lowered to blessedly solid ground. He set me on my feet and disappeared again. All I heard was the whip of disturbed air as the trapeze took off. “That was rather a dangerous stunt. There wasn’t any net.”
“You were never in danger of falling.” His voice arced through the room. “I was beside you on a second trapeze.”
“I didn’t see you.”
His foot thunked against the balcony as he landed. “You were too busy looking for a way to land on your own.”
“Then why did you let me dangle for so long? I was slipping!”
“I wanted you to experience what it is to let go. There’s nothing like it.”
I stood in the center of that great expanse and looked up into the dusty rafters. Was he swinging somewhere up there? It was impossible to see clearly. “Unless there’s no mad trainer there to catch you.”
“If you believe in God as you say you do, there is always someone.”
The shuffle of my boots echoed through the hall as I turned in a slow circle, a smile tipping up one corner of my mouth. “You’ve such a way with words, Jack Dorian.” I stared up at the darkness, catching a flying glimpse of his boot above. “It’s no wonder you’ve charmed all the theater girls.”
Thethwipof a rope sounded somewhere above. “Not all of them.”
You’re closer than you think.“Are all those rumors true of you, Jack?” Suddenly I wished he’d say no, in the way one wishes for a happy ending to a novel already known to be a tragedy.
Another swish high above. “I can see your eyes from here. Have they always been so stunning, or is it merely the angle?”
“How many times have you used that gem?”
“Gems! Yes, they’re like gems.”
I crossed my arms, pinched my lips. “Has any woman yet believed such a line?”
“You’re lovely when you’re pleased. Stunning when you’re not. Like now.”
“I’m far too sensible for such nonsense.” I stood in the center of that great room, turning in a slow circle as my puny girlish voice bounced off the walls.
