by Dinah McCall
His heart was full as he dropped his weapons and his clothes, dragged up another mat and stretched out. He pulled a cover up to his waist, and then pushed himself up on one elbow long enough to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.
Singing Bird opened her eyes.
“Is it over?” she whispered.
“It is over,” he said softly.
“Then it was all worth it,” she said, and went back to sleep.
Epilogue
Eight months later:
A cry broke the silence of the night, piercing in its clarity. It was a cry of dismay for having left the warmth and safety of a mother’s womb that was soon silenced with an offer of the mother’s breast.
Layla was exhausted from the labor of birth, and relieved to have her body back to herself. It would take time to recover, but she had that luxury. She was Cayetano’s woman and he was her heart.
She looked down at the baby cradled against her breast and sighed as the little mouth finally found her nipple to nurse. She would soon forget the pain of childbirth, but never would she forget this night. She had felt the earth shift the same moment the baby took her first breath. Change was in the wind.
She knew she had not imagined it when Cayetano, who had never left her side throughout the nine hours of labor, suddenly jumped as if in fright.
They looked at each other, and then down at the baby.
“It is beginning,” Cayetano whispered.
She nodded.
A short time later, Acat appeared at the doorway.
“The boys want to see her.”
“Let them come in,” Cayetano said.
The twins entered first.
In the past eight months they’d grown in height and in stature. Here, they were not only accepted, but loved and valued for more than their abilities. They knew what this baby meant to the future, and were prepared to devote the rest of their lives to making sure nothing went wrong.
They entered with smiles on their faces, each carrying a gift they had made.
Adam laid a small doll at Layla’s knee and then stroked the thatch of black hair on the tiny baby’s head.
“She’s so small,” he said, and then laughed when she tugged even harder at Layla’s breast.
Evan laid another doll beside the first.
“There are two of us. She should have twins as well.”
Cayetano grinned.
“Thank you,” Layla said. “When she is a little bigger, she will love them.”
And then she saw Yuma. He was still standing in the doorway and with a look of awe upon his face. Something dangling from his hand as he came forward and she recognized the necklace Bazat had cut from her neck. She thought it was gone and had grieved for the loss. She was glad to see it again.
But it was Yuma, above all, who had changed the most in the past eight months. Not only had he grown in height and breadth, but his hair was longer, his features less like the child he’d been – more like the man he would be. He moved with the assurance of knowing his worth and place in the world, and knelt at Layla’s feet.
“When she is old enough,” he said, and laid the necklace he had found and repaired near her knee.
Layla nodded. “I will save it for the time when she will wear it, rather than eat it.”
Again, everyone laughed.
“She is so beautiful,” Yuma said softly, and like Adam, laid a hand on the top of her hair.
At his touch, the baby stopped nursing. Her eyes opened, and it appeared to Layla as if she was trying to focus.
“Yuma, come stand behind me,” Layla said. “I think she wants to see you.”
Yuma knelt then peered over Layla’s shoulder, straight into the baby’s face.
“I am here,” Yuma said.
Layla watched the baby trying to follow the sound of his voice, and when her eyes suddenly opened wide, Layla smiled. “She sees you.”
“I see you, Tyhen. You will call me Yuma. I will protect you with my life, and you will love me.”
The End
THE DOVE
Book 2
The Prophecy Series
The prophecy continues to unfold as the Windwalker’s daughter becomes a woman, fulfilling the destiny for which she was born, and bringing truth to a young boy’s vow.
Coming in 2013
Table of Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Epilogue
