by Nancy Adams
Feeling a mother’s fear hit her, Claire bounded forward and called the boy’s name out as he got to within a few meters of the edge. At the sound of her voice, he immediately stopped and looked over his shoulder at her.
“It’s okay,” he said to Claire, “I wasn’t gonna go over the edge. Papa will tell you; I’m careful.”
Jules smiled and nodded, stating on the boy’s behalf, “He is. I often take him to the parks around California. That boy’s safe anywhere. He’s a good climber for his age too.”
Claire and Sam both smiled. David turned away from them and back to the sight of the massive waterfall. As he stood there, a look of amazement on his face, Sam came silently up beside him and knelt down.
“It’s amazing to see it so close up, isn’t it?” Sam inquired softly of the boy. “There are many beautiful places in this reserve and we can visit them any time you like.”
Without turning from the waterfall, David replied, “Pa—I mean my other pa—always used to drive us to one of the parks on a Sunday. He also took me and Momma to a volcano in Mexico. It took us a real long time to get up there.”
“A real volcano?” Sam asked.
“Yeah. I’m not lying. It wasn’t active or anything. It was all grown over with jungle. We walked down into it until…Well, until Momma got bad and we had to calm her down. After that we had to take her back because…she’s real sick. She’s been sick for a while now.”
“I promise you that I’ll make sure your momma is looked after with the best care and that she’ll always be with you and your papa. We don’t want to take their place, we just want to look after you all now.”
“You promise you’ll never take me away from them?”
“I promise. I only want what’s best for you, your momma and your papa.”
This time, David turned to Sam and, without saying a word, he reached forward and hugged the man around the neck, to Sam’s surprise. He slowly raised his own hands and took ahold of the boy.
“You promise?” David repeated.
“On my life, David,” Sam replied as tears fell from his eyes. “On my life: I will always be your family’s protector.”
Claire moved forward and placed her own arms around the pair. At that moment, Jess, feeling somewhat left out, came forward and joined the mass embrace. Jules thought that he’d give them their moment and not get involved. Instead, he watched on from the outside, glad that David would receive love and support for the rest of his life with these people. For the first time since he and Juliette had taken the baby boy on all those years ago, Jules was free of a nagging feeling regarding his duty toward the boy, which he took just as seriously as he did his responsibilities to Juliette and as he had with his own natural son. These last few days on the run, he had increasingly questioned his ability to provide a steady, loving home for the boy. He had begun to chastise himself for what he saw as his failure as a father, even though he was clearly being too harsh on himself. Now, though, he felt able to relax on at least one front of his life.
And even on the other front—namely, Juliette—it seemed that the best that could have happened had been secured. Juliette would receive the type of care that a day or two ago had been but a wild dream that he would never have dared utter even in his own head.
For the first time that day, Jules was overwhelmed with pleasure that these people had entered his life at this dire moment when all seemed to be lost to him, and he began to laugh to himself with great joy.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Jenna awoke in bed wrapped in Alex’s arms. They were facing each other on the pillow and when Jenna opened her eyes, she smiled at the sight of his own eyes gazing peacefully back at her. He’d been awake for some time and had spent several minutes watching her dreamily from across the pillow. She’s so beautiful in her sleep, he had thought. Such serenity on her face, so strong that it had a calming effect on Alex. He found her so tranquil to be around, not just in her sleep either.
As a seasoned traveler, Alex had spent many months, even years, with a woman by his side. But many of these relationships had ended very quickly, and just as many had lingered on too long. A lot of these women, although he had loved the majority, had been rather too bound up in their whimsical ‘energies’ and capricious natures to allow him to find any settled life with them. Everything was all too ‘full power’ with them, and the day would depend on whichever way the swinging compass of their moods was facing.
In earlier years, he’d always been drawn to the more lively, strange type of girl; the fearless female traveler who walks barefoot through the dusty streets of a foreign, exotic city and feels no fear mixing with the locals. He had been a true romantic for this type of personality in a woman for many years, but he had always grown frustrated by them in the end, the fires in his heart dulling with every new catastrophe that they presented him with. And what he had loved in the beginning, he despaired by the end. For what goes up in these types of women must come down. And Alex had had to get used to the arbitrary nature of their moods, the constant up and down, their heads full of raging storms.
Of course the storm always broke him in the end. When these women were dancing up in the sunlight of happiness and joy, they could be the most magical of creatures and Alex would be dazzled. But when they’d come down from this and sink into the darkness, the smallest disaster bringing down the walls of their earlier delight, they would lie in bed for days, and Alex would be forced to share in their melancholia as he had in their joy.
“How long have you been lying there watching me?” Jenna asked.
“Long enough,” he replied, not taking his eyes off of her.
“Long enough, huh! Well, what do you see?”
His expression changed a little, giving Jenna the impression that he was musing.
“I see someone with a strong, singular will. Someone who was sure of things once, who lost that assuredness for a while, but has now got it back. That’s why you’re calm now. Not when I first saw you in the hotel room, but now a week later, you’re so calm. Especially since you started writing in that little notebook of yours.”
“It calms me,” she said. “I’m planning something. A book.”
“What’s it about?” he asked with genuine curiosity.
“I’m not exactly sure just yet, but I think it will be about the breakdown of a relationship in stages. I was thinking of doing it in seasons. I was going to have four parts to the book, beginning with summer, working through to spring. I was then going to have all the chapters see a year pass—ten chapters each part, denoting ten years of the relationship from beginning to end—and a summary of that year in each chapter. It was going to be a mystery with each part explaining one element of their relationship and then…” She stopped, because it was all just an idea currently, and now she was talking about it, it all sounded much more muddled than it did in her notes. “I don’t know, it sounds a bit funny out loud,” she added, as though in apology.
“Not at all,” Alex said grinning and stroking her face. “I take it that summer will represent their happy times together until the end?”
“Yeah,” she said with a smile. “They meet in summer and then the final summer shows how they’ve become so distant as they give it one last go on holiday.”
“So autumn it gets worse?”
“Yes. And in winter they break up.”
“Of course! Then that means that spring must represent some kind of rebirth?”
“Spring will be eleven chapters, the last chapter having them meeting again ten years later.”
“And do they fall back in love?” he inquired.
“I don't know yet. It’s just a plan. Maybe they never fell out of love. I don’t know! I have much more I want to put in it and much more to think about.”
Alex continued running his hand through her silky hair and gazing at her with a grin.
“You think it’s silly, don’t you?” she put to him after a while.
“Not at all,” he
let out, widening his eyes. “I think it’s a very good idea and I would like to help you in it. If I can offer you assistance, then I will. Having another writer alongside me will be extremely inspiring. We can discuss each other’s work, help edit each other’s.”
This made Jenna instantly happy. For once, someone was offering to help in her affairs; someone really wanted to become interacted with them. Of course, Sam had offered money, but this wasn’t the same as what Alex was offering. He was offering to work alongside her and help in her quest to become a writer once again. She instantly felt the torch of their bond illuminate to an even greater strength and sensed somehow that everything had been fated to work itself out this way. Her life once again burned brightly with purpose. And not since before Sam had she felt that.
Leaning forward and closing her eyes, Jenna kissed Alex on the lips, moving her hands over his muscular frame while she did. Feeling a spark ignite, he returned this sensual gesture and began softly petting her body. The two were quickly becoming one and neither of them were willing to slow it down, as both of them knew that this was right in every way.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
The day after the reunion, Jules and Juliette went for a walk with the doctor around the estate while the others awaited the arrival of Claire’s family along with Beth and Will, who were practically family anyway. Claire had gone to the helipad to fetch them, while Sam, David and Jess stood in the hallway, awaiting their entrance with curiosity. Soon Claire emerged with her friends, mother and brother, and introduced them to Sam and Jess first, before turning their attention to David.
“And this here,” Claire announced with obvious pride, “is David.”
June couldn’t contain her joy as she knelt down before the boy and beamed a giant smile at him.
“My name’s June and I’m your grandma,” she said in a soft tone.
A tender little smile emerged across David’s lips. He’d never had a grandparent before and had been pleased when Claire and Sam had told him about June that morning over breakfast.
“Hello, June,” the boy said holding out his little hand.
Turning back to her daughter, June remarked, “Isn’t he adorable,” before she took him in her arms and squeezed him tight, David giving a bewildered expression as he looked over his shoulder at the others.
Next Claire introduced Kyle to his nephew. He, of course, was still reeling from the death of his father and had only that morning found out about David when his mother had explained everything to him. His head was a little elsewhere, but Kyle did his best to put on a brave face.
“Hey, buddy,” Kyle let out. “I’m Kyle and I guess I’m your uncle.”
David smiled gently before offering him a hand, which Kyle took and gently shook.
Once David had met his family, Claire brought her best friend to meet him and Beth smiled wildly as she too shook the little boy’s hand. Afterwards, she had remarked to Claire that she had been impressed by how polite and gentle the boy was. When Will introduced himself, he made David laugh by making a funny face, doing his best to lighten everything up.
Once the introductions had been achieved, they all went out into the garden to sit at a large wooden table situated on the lawn at the edge of the cliff, overlooking the river and the forest below. As they sat there, several maids attended to them, bringing them cold drinks and snacks. As Beth, Will, Kyle, Sam and Claire sat at the table, June was off playing with David and Jess, holding both their hands as they guided her through the beautiful gardens, showing her different things, such as the ponds filled with colorful koi carp.
“It’s real beautiful out here, Sam,” Beth remarked nervously.
“It is,” he replied in agreement. “Real peaceful.”
“Keeps the mob at bay I suppose!” Will observed playfully, and Beth shot him a look as if to say ‘knock it off’.
Sam laughed and replied, “You’re right. That’s exactly why I chose this spot. However, it didn’t stop you and Claire from reaching the house.”
“No it didn’t,” Will said with a proud grin.
“I hope my boys weren't too rough with you?”
“Not at all. I got knocked down by a branch, so they probably stopped me from hurting myself any further! Plus when I got back to the station, I managed to win almost a hundred dollars off of them playing poker!”
“Ha!”
“And that brings me to another point,” Will added, turning his attention toward Claire. “I need you to confirm to those two knuckleheads that I reached the house.”
“But you didn’t,” Claire put back to him. “Only I reached the house; well, the garden anyway! If I recall rightly, you ended up in the forest somewhere.”
“Saving your ass!” Will retorted.
This made Claire laugh.
“Come on Claire,” Will went on. “They won’t pay up until they hear from you, and they say if they don’t hear by the end of the week, then I’ve lost the bet. Two hundred dollars I gotta give them. But if you make a little call to them, then I get four.”
“I don’t think I’d feel right,” Claire continued playfully.
“Obviously I was gonna give you half,” Will tried.
“Obviously!” Claire let out sarcastically.
“What’s this about a bet?” Sam asked the pair.
Smiling, Claire turned to him and stated the story of the bet that had come from the tale that Will had given the two hunters, as well as their subsequent desire to get involved themselves.
“You made a bet out of it?” Sam grinned.
“It was they who wanted in,” Will remarked. “I just made up a story on the spot, which they believed, and then I just went along with their wishes after that.”
“I say you take them for every penny,” Kyle said. “They got themselves involved.”
“Yes, but it’s cheating people out of money,” Claire responded.
“I’m not saying it’s right,” Sam chimed in, “but they did kind of cheat themselves out of the money.”
“That’s exactly it,” Will stated. “Thank you. It’s like my father always said: ‘A fool and his money are easily parted!’ ”
“But you never even made it to the house,” Beth commented to her husband. “So technically you lost the bet anyway. If Claire tells them that you did reach the house, then she would have lied. It will be nothing more than cheating them out of their money. It’s bad karma.” Then, rubbing her belly, which had gotten slightly larger in the last few days, she added, “And it’s not a good example for a new father to be setting his child.”
“But I was going to spend most of it on you, my darling,” Will explained in a sugary tone to Beth as he squeezed her hips and kissed her neck. “And then the rest on the baby.”
“I’m sure you were,” she let out sarcastically, shrugging him off as she did.
The rest of the table laughed, and at that moment, June returned with the children.
“Daddy,” Jess said when they reached the table, “is it okay if we use the pool?”
“Of course it is,” Sam replied with a smile. “Get one of the staff to organize it. You know where David’s swimming things are?”
“Of course. I took him swimming yesterday too.”
“Okay! Just making sure. And can you grab Maud to watch you?”
“We’ll be with June. She’ll take us swimming.”
“Okay,” he replied, grinning softly up at June who stood behind the children with a beaming smile on her face.
“Can we get all the inflatables out?” was Jess’s next question.
“Of course, but put them back. You know how the gardeners complain when you leave them all out on the lawn.”
“Okay, I promise to put them back.”
With that the two children were off and June followed behind them. Claire watched them go with a sad look. It had nothing to do with the children and everything to do with her mother.
She turned to her brother and inquired, “Kyle, how’s Mom
been?”
Kyle, who hadn’t been his usual talkative self since he’d gotten there, took a while, before saying, “Last night at the hospital she was okay. Quiet. Not really that responsive, but still listening to what I had to say. The only thing she really wanted to talk about was you and this kid…David…your son—which, by the way, I’m still trying to get my head around. At first, I thought that she was getting delirious. But she kept insisting, and then she told me the whole thing and it just—I don’t know—seemed to make sense. Like I knew she was telling the truth and it wasn’t just some fantasy. Then this morning when you called about taking us all out here, she just lit up at the news when I told her. I think it’s good for her to be here with you and the boy. Take her mind off of it all.”
“Did she talk about Dad?”
Kyle paused for a moment, the subject so utterly raw to him, before clearing his throat and simply saying, “Not a thing. I haven't pressed her on any of it.”
“Did you see the news?”
“Yeah. They say they found all sorts of crap on his computers and some kind of secret account at work that was used to…Well, anyway, my head’s still a bit…”
“You don’t have to say anything,” Will told him.
“Yeah,” Claire let out, placing a hand over her brother’s as he gazed ahead, forlorn.
Claire then asked Beth how her mother was.
“She’s good,” Beth replied. “Dad’s taking real good care of her. The hospital didn't even keep her in overnight and she’s eating. Just not saying much and she had trouble sleeping last night. But overall she’ll get better. It was a big shock.”
Kyle turned to Beth with sad eyes and said, “I’m so sorry, Beth. Your mom should have never had to see that.”
