Sweet Reckoning(48)

She smiled. “Yes, my sweet daughter. We finally meet.”

Her voice was the most tender sound in the universe. I felt a brief flashback to my days in the womb when I heard her singing. It was her human voice, but her angelic soul had been shadowed within it.

Words couldn’t express what it meant to have her there at that moment. I could see why Dad’s soul had been drawn to hers. She was like a sweet wind of comfort that beckoned and pulled, sweeping me closer.

“I keep watch over you when I can, Anna, though I’ve only been given permission to visit this special night. We have been celebrating your marriage.”

“You have?”

I must have looked stunned because she giggled. At least I think it was a giggle—it sounded like light, jingling chimes ringing, and it made me smile.

“Oh, yes. We rejoice when love endures. I believe you already know the truth of life, my dearest Anna. That love is the strongest force. The binding substance. The element worth existing for. That is what makes you pure of heart.”

I didn’t know what to say. I felt buoyant and light, lifted by peace. Because she was right. I did know the truth.

“Never doubt it,” she said, and her voice sounded like song in my ears.

A bright star flashed far out in the sky, making my heart jump. Mariantha noticed it, too.

“I cannot stay.” She circled me, again like she was dancing, and I turned to follow, together, spinning. Then she looked up toward the trees. “Your young man searches for you. He is frightened.”

Oh, no!

“Kai!” I called to the air. “It’s all right. I’m at the canyon.”

I pushed my hearing into the trees and heard him running down the path. I met him at the edge as he emerged barefoot, wearing only a pair of shorts. He looked around wildly, eyes landing on my mother.

“It’s okay,” I whispered. I went into his arms. He was short of breath as he stared at her. I took his hand and led him to the lookout point.

“Kaidan . . . this is my mother, Mariantha.”

His eyes got huge. He bowed his head and said, “It’s an honor to meet you.”

I couldn’t hear her, but she must have been talking to him, because he looked up at her shyly and thanked her. Then she spoke to us both.

“I must go. Guard your love, for it will lead you through the darkness.” She turned to me. “You are ever in my heart, Anna. I love you always.”

“And I love you,” I whispered to her as she drifted farther out above the canyon.

My fingers clutched the railing as she rose high with a magnificent flap of wings that took her out of view.

Kaidan and I grabbed hands and hurried back to the cabin so we weren’t in plain sight. When we got there, he grasped my face in both his hands and backed me into the wall.

“You scared me to death,” he said. “Don’t ever leave me like that again.”

“I’m so sorry. You were sound asleep, and I saw her. . . . I know it was dumb, but she was like . . .”

“A beacon to you?”

“Yes.” I reached up and held his wrists, feeling horrible that I’d scared him.

“Were they really celebrating us?” he asked. “Up there?”

I smiled. “They really were.”

His eyes glassed over, as if he couldn’t fathom anyone in heaven talking about something he’d done, much less celebrating him. His astonishment made me kiss him, wanting to capture his sensations and mingle them with mine. Kaidan responded, not holding back a single part of himself.

“Let’s not sleep tonight,” I said between kisses. We had to leave in a few hours. I didn’t want to waste a minute.

“I’m going to let you make all the rules in this marriage, Anna.”

“Good boy.”

He laughed, a delicious sound that turned his gorgeous face into that of the happy man I wanted to see. We spent the rest of our wedding night loving each other and trying to forget about the things we’d soon be facing. For those last few hours we wrapped ourselves in one another and forgot about the world.





CHAPTER SIXTEEN





ALL-AMERICAN BOY



Leaving Kaidan in the past had never been easy. Leaving him this time felt like I was ripping out some vital part of myself. We lingered at the airport too long, risking too much, waiting until the final calls for our flights and barely making them.