Read Raquel's Abel for Free Online

sheets.
    That scoundrel.
    This time I knew who had taken it. The laugh was on him, though. I remembered everything the nurse had told me.

    The alarm went off at five o’clock. They’d said it was imperative I be there at six sharp. The hospital was just a few miles away, so all I had to do was shower, get dressed, and drive over there. Owen was meeting me there and would wait for me during the surgery.
    I grabbed my purse and headed for the car. Funny, I wasn’t nervous at all. In fact, I was excited about making such a big change in my life. I reached for my keys. Wait. Where were they? I dug around in my bag some more. They weren’t here.
    I ran back in the house. The clock said five thirty. Don’t panic, I told myself. You have plenty of time to make it to the hospital. I dumped my purse out on top of the little table in the foyer—credit cards, lipstick, tissues, but no keys. I was already out of breath, but I ran back upstairs and looked under the bed, in the pockets of all the clothes I’d worn lately.
    I ran out into the hallway and all the way to Grandmother’s wing. I was huffing and puffing when I knocked on Maria Elena’s door. “Coming…. in…,” I called, feeling guilty at waking her up so early. I poked my head in. “Sorry to wake you up, but I can’t find my keys.”
    She turned a sleepy head toward me. “Today the surgery is, right?”
    I was still trying to catch my breath. “Thanks for remembering, but I can’t find my keys anywhere.”
    She threw the covers back. “I hope no is that ghost…”
    That’s it. It was him. I took some heavy steps out into the hallway. “Mr. Abel Rollins.” I put my hands on my hips. He couldn’t do this to me. “Don’t you hide from…”
    “You rang?” He materialized in front of me in my father’s smoking jacket.
    My lips trembled in anger. “Where are my keys?”
    “Probably where you last left them.”
    “ Hay , no, you talking to e l ghost,” Maria Elena plastered herself up against the wall.
    I took a step toward him. His pupils had little shards of caramel in them and his lips were thick and… “You know very well that isn’t true. You took them.”
    “If I did, I did it for your own good.” His eyebrows made a seductive arch over the hollows of his eyes and his skin was tanned, like he spent just the right amount of time in the sun.
    I decided not to listen to any more. I headed back to my room. Maybe it wasn’t too late. I’d call Regina. I picked up the phone. “What’s going on? There’s no dial tone,” I hollered.
    Maria Elena had followed me to my room and was standing in the doorway shaking and holding her hands at her mouth. “You making the ghost too mad.” She looked around the room as if he’d jump out from under the bed and attack her.
    I was scared too, but I wasn’t going to be foiled. I reached into my purse again and grabbed my cell phone. I dialed Regina’s house. Damn! No one answered. I left a message, knowing it was to no avail. Then I called her cell phone. It was turned off. She was at her new boyfriend’s house. Later on, she’d brag to me, “Of course I had my cell phone off. I didn’t want to be interrupted.” Then she’d give me a knowing wink.
    “Owen,” I said out loud. “He’s probably already on his way to the hospital. He can just come and pick me up.” I dialed his cell. He didn’t answer, either. If he were already at the hospital, they would have made him turn his cell phone off.
    The last time I’d called a taxi, it had taken an hour just to get here.
    “I know!” I’d call the hospital and see if they could delay my surgery.
    Soon I had the nurse on the line and explained the situation. “I’m very sorry but the doctor has back-to-back surgeries all day. You’ll have to reschedule the surgery.”
    “No, you can’t mean that. I mean it’s only 6:30. I was supposed to be there at 6:00. The surgeon only has to…”
    From her response, I realized there was no hope. I