Ending ELE (ELE Series)
Page 20
My heart plummets in my chest. I can’t leave her again—I just found her. I swallow back the tears that threaten to tumble down my face and turn back to my mother.
“Mom, I just want to let you know how much I love you and that everything is going to be okay.” I swallow hard and my mother gives me another hug.
When we pull away, I notice that Tony and Virginia are not in the room anymore. It’s just my mom and me.
“I got married today, Mom,” I say to her, still unsure if that’s too much information to divulge.
My mother puts her hand to her mouth in surprise.
“I can’t tell you who,” I say, knowing that is the question she wants to ask the most, “but I know that you’d approve. Dad certainly does,” I say.
I can see her eyes dance at the mention of my father—her husband.
“There’s so much more that I want to tell you but I can’t—or I’m not supposed to. It can apparently change the whole time-continuum and all.”
She nods her head in confused understanding and takes my hands in hers, the feeling so familiar yet so foreign. “He’s one lucky man. Just be sure he treats you well.” Her motherly advice, however simple, makes my heart soar. I had missed her so much in the preparations for the wedding. I am just so grateful that I can see her now, on my wedding night. This day is officially complete now.
I realize that our time is coming to an end. With the difficulty of walking through quick sand, I start to say my final goodbyes. “Mom, I just wanted to let you know how much I love you and how thankful I am that you’re my mother,” I say, careful not to reveal something I may regret. “I have to go now. Thanks for taking care of me.”
She smiles at me. “Always.” She still seems surprised by the whole visit, which makes sense since I’m lying in a bed in the same room. For me, I haven’t seen her in ages. For her, she hasn’t even left my bedside.
“Oh, and don’t tell my present self in the bed about this. I may—no, I will get freaked out and won’t be ready to hear it.”
She gives me a small laugh. “Not to worry, your secret is safe with me,”
“Thanks, Mom,” I say, and I believe her.
With a heavy heart, I let her hands go and say goodbye. I’ll see you again soon, I think to myself. In heaven, where I’ll never have to say goodbye. And with that, the vision dissipates and I’m back on the bench, but this time by myself. I look up to find tears in Virginia and Tony’s eyes.
“Thank you,” I say to them. It goes unmentioned that the thank you is for the few private minutes they allotted me with my mother. I dry off my tears and Tony helps me to my feet. I embrace Virginia in a hug and thank her profusely. I thank Erik the same and they go off to leave Tony and me alone.
“That had to be the best present anyone could have ever given me,” I say to him aloud.
He smiles and wipes another tear that escaped my eye. “You’re so beautiful,” he says to me in that deep, intimate voice of his.
I blush and my head drops. He never ceases to leave me speechless.
“Are you ready to go cut the cake?” he asks.
I smile back up at him. “Absolutely.”
***
Claire and Connor are waiting next to the cakes. The bridal cake is gorgeous with three tiers of red-velvet cake with buttercream icing. The groom’s cake is all chocolate and has the look of a white tux detailed in white chocolate on the top. They both look so pretty I kind of despise the thought of cutting into them. Then I come to my senses and grab the cake-cutting knife.
“Make sure you cut from the top,” Connor says before he snaps his two fingers. I look over to see Alec on the other side of the room, dimming the lights. I get confused as to why they had to do it but just go with it.
Everyone gathers around to watch us cut the cake. We make the first slice together and I wipe the icing from my finger on his nose. He laughs and wipes it off with a napkin. Both of us cut a piece of each of our cakes, the brides and grooms, and get a forkful.
Connor excitedly interjects, “Don’t forget the time honored tradition of feeding the other the first piece!”
I laugh at his energy and nod my head in understanding. I think he’s more excited about the cake than we are, I think to myself.
Turning my attention back to Tony, I pick up a bite for him and he does the same for me. We both open wide and accept the other’s morsel.
Mmmm, chocolate, I think. It’s so velvety and smooth. I could probably eat that entire cake in one sitting, so long as no one watched me.
Tony, on the other hand, has the most disgusted look on his face as he chews his cake. It doesn’t take him two seconds before he spits out what I gave him on the ground.
My face goes white at his brashness. What on earth…? But before I can form a thought, he pipes in in my head, “That’s not cake—that’s pickled beets!”
I put my hand over my mouth but bust out laughing anyway. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what just happened.
I look over to Connor, who is laughing hysterically. “I told you I’d get you back!” he yells.
Seeing the look on Tony’s face, Connor bolts in the opposite direction. Tony jumps over the entire table and takes off after him. Connor doesn’t get far with Tony’s speed to his advantage, before he’s tackled to the ground, getting a fistful of ‘cake’ shoved in his mouth.
Claire saunters over next to me.
“Did you know he was going to do that?” I asked her comically while watching the boys wrestle each other.
Claire just shakes her head. “Nope.”
We can’t suppress the laughter anymore. I give her a hug and we laugh in each other’s arms. “Thanks for being the best friend anyone could ever ask for, Claire Bear,” I tell her when I calm down enough to talk.
She squeezes me even harder. “Dido, super woman.”
~The End~
Eye Color List
Eye colors and the abilities they correlate to:
Dark Green- Ability to read minds and hear thoughts. (Willow’s first gift. Willow’s original eye color: brown. Willow also absorbs other people’s gifts when she is around them for a certain period of time. They still don’t know how this is possible but some believe it’s because she has a bit of Reaper in her. However, there is one major difference between Willow and a Reaper: Willow is still in touch with her humanity.)
Dark Blue- Ability to heal. (Alec’s gift. Alec’s original eye color: Emerald Green)
Hazel-yellow/green- Ability to compel people and make them do or believe what you tell them. (Zack’s gift. Zack’s original eye color: light brown)
Purple- Ability to turn invisible (Claire’s gift. Claire’s original eye color: icy blue)
Brown- Ability to change molecular structure and walk or pass through objects. (Connor’s gift. Connor’s original eye color- black)
Light Blue- Ability to see through people’s abilities or see when someone is using a gift. (Candy’s gift. Candy’s original eye color: light brown)
Neon Yellow- Ability to possess great strength, speed, agility and immunity. Rarely, if ever, does someone with this ability get sick. (Willow’s mom, whose name is Alice, Sebastian and Tony’s gift. As well as everyone else in the first compound. Alice and Sebastian’s original eye color: Baby Blue. Tony’s original eye color: Hazel Green.
Copper Orange- Ability to see visions of the near future. This is an ability that is new to everyone. Nobody knows how far in the future this ability will allow it’s possessor to see, but currently Willow’s dad has only been able to see a few minutes and no more than an hour ahead of time. In addition, with the knowledge of what lies ahead, they have been able to change the future outcome. For example, Willow didn’t die during the attack on the hotel like the dad foresaw. (Willow’s dad: Henry’s gift.)
Black- Ability to read other people’s emotions and intentions. In addition, this ability allows the possessor to control the emotions of others. (Erik’s gift.)
Re
d- Reapers steal other people’s abilities and drain their life from them. Not a lot is known about this power. Some believe that once a Reaper takes from someone that they only possess the ability for a limited period of time. This requires them to continually search for abilities to consume or in other words to help them power up. Because the process of reaping takes a lot of energy and a few minutes to completely drain a person, they don’t bother using their powers on the people with yellow eyes. After all, the Reapers currently possess this ability since it was their first gift before they took the red shot that was supposed to cause instant death. Instead, that shot caused the death of their humanity.
Gold- Telekinesis. Ability to move objects with one’s mind. (Marya and John’s gift.)
Grey/Silver- Ability to shield oneself from other gifts. Like a force field to other’s abilities. (Jennifer’s gift.)
White- Allows the person with the gift to see the entire life story of the other person with a single touch. It also causes them to go blind. In Morgan’s case, he had his wife, Audrey, help him see. (Morgan’s gift, Erik’s brother)
Sea Foam- Can travel into the past. (Virgina’s gift.)
Blue-Green- Magnetism, draws people to them. (Michael’s gift.)
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Rebecca and Courtney are downhome country girls powered by chocolate and other random late night cravings. Coined in southern twang they bring new meaning to the word y’all. BFI’s since the 6th grade, with a knack for getting into sticky situations, has resulted in countless ideas to write about for years to come.
Acknowledgements:
Wow, God has blessed us to be able to do something that before had only been a pipe dream. We had no idea when we started on this adventure that we would finish one book, let alone four books. We are extremely grateful for the success he has granted us and for his biggest blessing of all, our Lord Jesus. (Philippians 4:13)
We appreciate all of the support we have received from book blogs, our favorite Facebook pages, our family and friends and most of all from our fans. Your encouragement kept us writing. All of your Facebook posts, Goodreads comments and emails that told us that you loved our books, made our hearts soar and made us want to write even better for you. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to review our book and thank you to everyone who continues to read our work. A shout out to Cynthia Shepp for doing wonders for our story. You really do have a way with words!
To Marya Heiman with Strong Image Editing: Have we told you how much we love you today?!? Words cannot express our gratitude for all you do. We just can't thank you enough. Where would we be without you?
Last but not least: a giant thank you to our Awesome Sauce Street Team who are out there on the front lines helping us spread the word about our books. We love you all! Carly Bel-air, Claire Taylor, Lauren Harrington, Brenna Harden, Jamie Cross, Ashley Wiggins, Ashley Wood, Mia Melone, Veronica Morfi, Laura Martinez, Angela Stone, Terri Dion, Kim Culbertson, Shona Lawrence, Lauren Dootson, Dyan Brown, Cynthia Shepp, Kendall McCubbin, Lela Lawing, Kathleen Guardado, Tonya Bunch, Lisa Sasso, Natlie Idrogo, Heather Alexander, Brittany Willis, Marya Heiman, Melanie Newton, Alicia Hall, Amy Stogner, Colleen Reilly, Jovhanna Caltzontzi, Kristy Hamilton, Rebekah Ashworth, Heather Piantanida-pipes, Michele Skinner, Cassie Hoffman, Kristin Kim, Nikki Archer, Irayda Quezada, Karissa Stephens, Jamie Miller, Krystal Marlein, Pam Mandigo, Melanie Martin, Lori Fenn, Mayra Arellano, Cassie Chavez, Samantha Trusdale and Jamie Cross. These names are in no particular order. You are all amazing and we are so grateful to have you!