The Redcastle Redemption (The Athena Effect)
Page 21
Words were spoken, and when the time came to exchange rings Calvin whistled for Poddy, stooping to remove two plain golden bands from the little dog’s collar.
The formalities finished, everyone returned to a clearing facing out over the deer pasture, where wicker baskets filled with Calvin and Jarod’s grandmother’s fried chicken and potato salad waited for the celebration to begin. Someone started strumming a guitar, and everyone picnicked in the warm sun, toasting the happy couple with champagne and sparkling cider.
Jesse gave a heartfelt and eloquent toast, reading aloud passages on marriage and love from his favorite books. Michael and Mina slipped away to wander the grounds, looking in on all of the different animals. They smiled and laughed lightheartedly, holding hands in a now familiar way.
Layla and Ramon were back in town for the happy event, excited to be visiting California after enduring a hard northern winter. They’d each completed FBI training at the top of their class, and thanks to a little help from Layla, they had also both been posted to work out of a central office in Washington DC. Happier than ever, the two of them were busy setting up their own home in the heart of the nation’s capitol.
Layla pulled Caledonia aside to give her directions to the room she’d procured for the couple when she discovered that they had made no honeymoon plans. “Honestly,” she scolded her cousin, “It’s like you aren’t even getting married at all!”
“This is how we wanted it,” Caledonia protested. “Simple.”
Layla had wanted to plan a lavish destination wedding on a tropical beach somewhere, but Caledonia insisted on a small ceremony on the land she loved so much, and Calvin wanted whatever made her happy. Cali wouldn’t hear of leaving her animals for a long honeymoon, but she finally relented to Layla’s pleading, agreeing to spend a few nights at a place of her choosing.
More heartfelt toasts were made, and by the time the cake was cut and served the party started to wind down. Calvin’s grandparents rested on a bench in the shade, keeping watchful eyes on their great-granddaughter Rebecca as she toddled in the lush grass and picked wildflowers with single-minded determination. She’d bring them a bloom, giggling with glee at their exaggerated delight before returning to her task with her rosebud lips pursed in concentration.
“I guess you were right about having it here,” Layla finally admitted. “It was a beautiful day.”
Layla looked through the fence at a lame deer peacefully grazing in the pasture, incongruously paired with a zebra that had found its way to the shelter after being rescued from a dilapidated circus. “I wonder what our grandmother would think about all of this,” she wondered.
“I hope she’d think we put her gold to good use,” Cali said. After a moment of silence she added, “I sure wish my parents were here to see it.”
“I think they are,” Layla said, looking all around them. “They are.”
The two girls embraced, overcome with emotion. “I’m so glad we found each other,” Cali said, her voice thick.
Layla swallowed the lump that rose in her throat. “Me too.”
“We’ve made it through a lot of terrible things.”
“Yes,” Layla replied firmly. “But I think everything had to happen the way it did, or we wouldn’t have ended up here.” Layla pulled back to wipe her eyes with her wrists. “Now you and Calvin need to get going or you’ll miss the sunset.”
Caledonia looked around. “I should really help clean up all of th–”
“It’s your wedding day. You are going to let me and Michael take care of it.” A stern look flashed from Layla’s green and brown eyes, and Cali smiled at her cousin’s newfound authority. She was certainly going to make a formidable FBI agent.
“Are you sure? What if something happens with one of the animals?”
“Ramon and I are here in case Jesse needs anything. Now scoot!”
~
The newlyweds loaded into their truck, heading out on the winding country lanes towards the coast. Back out on the road again, memories of their long summer on the run came flooding back to both of them, and they reached for each other’s hand simultaneously, sharing a perceptive smile.
Layla had managed to secure a charming bungalow right along the coast with almost no notice, and Caledonia didn’t even want to know how. Their room opened to a porch that faced out over the sea, and after they checked in they climbed down a weathered wooden staircase to take a walk along the sandy beach, kicking off their shoes and running in and out of the path of waves.
Caledonia stopped to pick up a shell. “Look at this!” she cried, studying the flat circular disc in her palm. She looked up at Calvin with wonder in her eyes. “It’s a sand dollar, right?”
“Yeah.” He came close to trace the pattern on it with his finger. “I found a one when I was a kid. My mom said it had a picture of a Christmas poinsettia on one side and an Easter lily on the other.”
She turned it over in her hand, looking up at him with clear eyes. “Phylum echinodermata,” she announced, “related to sea urchins and sea stars.”
He laughed. “Is there anything you don’t know?”
“I never knew about the flowers,” she said.
He took her hand and they walked a ways, stopping to watch the sun sink into the water, flattening out into a final blaze of light before slipping below the straight line of the horizon. Mackerel clouds spanned the sky, reflecting a dappled array of pinks and oranges, reds and golds.
“Is that what it looks like?” Calvin asked, scanning the heavens. “The colors?”
“Kind of,” she said with her head cocked to the side, “Only transparent … and coming from people instead of clouds.”
She looked back towards Calvin to see him regarding her, veiled in sunset colors of his very own. The vows they had taken that day were merely a formality, because they’d both made their decision a long time ago. Caledonia wiggled her toes in the sand with happiness.
“I love you,” she told him, the brilliant clouds reflected in her blue and green eyes.
He twined his fingers through hers, completely content.
“I know.”
~
THE END
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Other books by Derrolyn Anderson:
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“Between The Land and the Sea – Marina’s Tales #1”
“The Moon and the Tide – Marina’s Tales #2”
“The Fate of the Muse – Marina’s Tales #3 ”
“The Turning Tides – Marina’s Tale’s #4”
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“The Athena Effect – #1”
“The Mackenzie Legacy – The Athena Effect #2”
“The Caledonian Inheritance – The Athena Effect #3”
“The Redcastle Redemption – The Athena Effect #4”
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And coming out in late 2014 – “After Last Call”
www.derrolyn.com