“The only reason I ask is because you had told me that you’d never loved Ben enough to… well, you know.”
“Sleep with him,” I interject.
“Yes. And I'm sorry, I can't help myself from entirely thinking about it as I lay with you here.” He clears his throat. “I am a guy,” he teases, now making light of the subject.
I roll my eyes.
“Are you suggesting that we sleep together?” I know that we won’t, but I can’t help but tease him just a little. “Right here, right now?”
“Close your eyes and we will be,” Liam purrs.
“Oh, boy.”
“Breckin,” he says suddenly serious. “I’ve been thinking about what we have to do.”
“Oh?” I instantly become cold again. I try to keep from shaking.
“I’m not sure it’s such a good idea, going to where it all took place. I know nothing of this Hollow Site business, but it sounds quite serious. It makes me nervous of what it might do to you.”
“I know,” I whisper. “I’m scared, too.” He doesn’t have to say the words for me to know that he’s more than nervous; he’s terrified. “But, Liam, I don’t want to always have to worry about whether or not Joseph may or may not appear. Living in constant fear… what kind of life is that? We need to be rid of him. And if this is the only way, then so be it. Sera would never put me in harm’s way. I trust her on that.”
“But what if… can he… what if you -”
“I have to do this.” I say to silence his fears. But I know what he’s thinking: What if you get hurt or worse.
He sighs and tightens his already firm hold on me. Liam, whether he liked to admit it or not, knows too, that it isn’t a choice about what I have to do – what we have to do. I take comfort though in the fact that Liam will be by my side for it all. But the more I consider the way I won’t be able to breathe, the way my head will feel as though it could rip itself apart from the inside out, and now knowing that I’ll be without sight, it makes me start to panic. But I have to keep it together. I have to. If Liam knows of the horror I’m feeling inside and just how terrified I really am, he’ll never let me go through with it.
My words sit in heavy finality as neither of us speak after that. My mind flies between different thoughts as I drift to sleep. I’m back to experiencing the same chaotic type of brain spasms I’d come so accustomed to when I’d been forced into living without Liam. I start thinking of one random thing and then before I can finish that thought, my brain already has shifted on to the next confusing and unfocused notion. That alone is exhausting due to the tenseness it causes – my body consistently jerks as my brain transfers focus. But as my body eventually lies limp in Liam’s arms with exhaustion, I’m pleased to find that I can relax and drift off to sleep.
I awoke to bright sunlight streaming in through my window. It sits differently in the sky than what I’m used to, telling me the time of day is off, and also that I’m somewhere else than home. I crawl out of bed and wander over to stand in the buttery warmth of the sun and see that Liam’s predictions hold true: An abundant amount of snow now covers the once brittle hills in the distance and each tree top glitters in shimmering radiance as the sunlight reflects and dances from their branches. I see in the far distance, a handful of horses trotting in the newly fallen snow. A few of them gallop and trot playfully as if enjoying their new winter wonderland. They have what looks to be like blankets draped over their backs and I think it must be cold if the horses are wearing coats.
I turn around toward the bed, remembering that Liam had been with me last night, but sure enough he’s gone. That’s when I see a folded piece of paper folded on top of his pillow. I stumble toward the bed, still thick and clumsy with sleep, to read it.
When you wake up, get dressed and
meet me in the stables. Dress warmly.
There was a promise neglected.
I love you. – L
I struggle to recall what promise Liam had pledged to me, but my mind comes up blank. I dress as instructed; jeans, long socks, long-sleeved shirt plus a hoodie, and my boots. I brush my teeth and run my brush through my tangled hair. When I don’t see my coat and other winter attire I wander downstairs to find all of it hanging on an oversized wooden bench – the kind with a high back and metal hooks mounted to the side – next to the front door. After putting it all on, I find my way to the kitchen to ask Marjorie how to get to the stables.
“Wouldn’t you like some brunch first, Miss Breckin?” she asks as I start toward the direction she’s pointed out.
“Brunch?” I ask confused. “What time is it?”
“Just after eleven, Miss.”
My eyes pop open in surprise. “Oh, I hope he hasn’t been waiting long.” I whisper mostly to myself.
“He wanted you to sleep,” Marjorie says quietly with a kind smile. “I offered to wake you, but he insisted.” I have a feeling she sees and hears quite a lot, just like a fly on the wall. Seen but not heard. Her expression – the small tilt to her mouth and twinkle in her eye – makes me think that maybe Marjorie knows about Liam sleeping in my room.
“Thank you. But I’m fine. I’ll just wait for lunch.”
Marjorie smiles sweetly this time, but regards me with her now sharp eyes and heads back toward the kitchen. I turn back to the direction I’ve been shown. She instructed me to go down a hallway I’ve never seen before. Upon entering, I see that it’s decorated in the same décor as the rest of the house. Wooden floors and walls, another long rug stretched out in front of me and every few feet rests a table with family pictures or of trophies for prize winning horses. A very large cabinet lays aside one wall with floor to ceiling glass doors. When I stop to gaze into it, I discover polished golden horse reigns and saddles complete with inscriptions and spotlights to show off their glory. They appear to be some kind of show trophies for horse competitions.
I continue to follow the long hallway but then stop at a photo resting all by itself on top of a small circular table. I see a baby faced toddler perched atop a large russet horse. The horse appears young; not yet full grown but not a pony either. The boy in the picture has light blonde hair and wears a face lit up with excitement, but what gives him away are his eyes – the color of the ocean rimmed in deep-blue – sparkling in the warm sunlight. I smile at the sight of seeing Liam as a child, so innocent and enthusiastic. I try to picture him in my head as a blonde now that he’s older, but come up short. I like the contrast of his brilliant eyes with his darker hair now.
When I walk out into the arctic air, I’m happy to see that I won’t have to travel far to get to the stables. I listen to the crunching of the snow underneath my boots and watch the air gusting out in little white puffs from my mouth in front of me. I cross my arms across my chest and duck my head as I walk, just trying to stay warm and to keep the wind out of my face. I hear the neighing of horses in the distance but I don’t dare take my eyes away from the path in front of me; there are many snow drifts to step over and fall into. When I enter the large elongated barn, I’m greeted by not one or even a few, but many large exquisite horses as they are lined in two rows of wooden stalls far beyond my eyes reach.
I look to my right and big brown eyes stare right back at me. A beautiful chestnut horse stands behind a gated stall with a large happy face and a long dark brown, almost black, mane. He has a single white spot in between his eyes with his wide forehead and wedge-shaped face. I take the few steps necessary to reach the stall so that I can run my hand over his shiny muzzle. When I hesitate a few inches from his face, the horse takes a step toward me and nudges my extended hand with his nose. His coat is velvety beneath my skin and I have unintentionally leaned in closer to the horse. I giggle when the friendly horse sniffs at my ear and playfully nibbles at the hair located at the nape of my neck.
“Now, now, Sebastian. You behave yourself,” Liam says from the distance.
I turn to look at him and notice that he’s jogging toward me and my newfound fr
iend.
“We were just introducing ourselves,” I laugh. “He’s very sociable.”
“He’s very curious,” Liam replies as he reaches us. He lifts his hand to vigorously rub Sebastian’s neck and shoulders, all-be-it affectionately. When he pats his back, Sebastian takes a few steps back away from the gate. “But as you said, he is very friendly, too. He’s a good boy.”
“He’s very pretty.” I note as Liam leans down to kiss my cheek.
“Yes, he is. As are most of the horses at our ranch. Here,” he says while holding his fisted hand out. I open my hand and he drops a couple of sugar cubes into my palm.
“Mid-morning snack?” I ask dryly.
“Not for you, goof. Sebastian. Put your hand through the gate, palm up.” I hesitate – what if he bites me? “Don’t worry, he’s extremely gentle.” Liam says as if reading my thoughts.
I tentatively place my hand through the wooden boards of Sebastian’s gate and open my hand. The large horse trots slowly over to my proffered hand, looks at me as if he’s trying to tell me he has no desire in my extremities, and then lowers his head to snatch the cubes from my palm. His teeth just barely graze against my skin and it tickles. I giggle as he rises his broad face from my hand, enjoying his snack. I giggle.
“C’mon.” Liam murmurs.
I turn to gaze at the beautiful horse for another minute so I can commit him to memory. I feel Sebastian is special for some reason, but, too, I like him.
“Come, I want to show you something,” Liam says then. I look at him curiously as he holds out his hand for me and then leads me down the long row of horses and stalls.
Some horses are chestnut in color like Sebastian. Others are gray with white tails, or white on white. A horse with a reddish-brown coat and black tail catches my eye as he lazily watches Liam and I pass. There are just a very few black horses. I’m happy to notice that it’s warmer in this vast building as we walk. I start to unzip my coat and notice that Liam isn’t wearing one at all. He’s dressed in dark jeans with leather work boots up to his knees – I know there’s a name for them; mucking boots? – and a long sleeved cotton-thermal shirt. When I look up to his face, I’m surprised to see that Liam isn’t clean shaven like I’m used to. I gaze over the stubble covering his hard jaw, very slightly indented chin, and lower cheeks, and have to admit that I like it. It gives him a different, almost menacing look, but he’s still the most gorgeous person I’ve ever laid eyes on. Liam gives me a sideways glance and notices my ogling.
“What?” he asks with a smirk.
“Nothing. I think you’re pretty, too,” I smile.
He laughs loudly and wraps his arm around my shoulder. We come around a corner and I feel my jaw drop when I see what’s in front of me. After taking it in, I smile hugely and stammer over to the most perfectly wonderful scene every created.
Behind two horses – one white and the other red – sits an old fashioned sleigh with seating for two. It isn’t big; just the right size for Liam and I. The frame is a shiny red while the running blades are black and dull from many uses I’d guess. Liam moves a large flannel blanket from the black vinyl seat and helps me up so that I can sit down. He climbs up next and I see that he has put on his coat and hat. He covers us with the oversized blanket and takes hold of the reigns with glove covered hands. Liam taps the leather straps against the horses and lets out a short whistle commanding them to venture forward.
“Where are we going?” I murmur. I’m too much in awe to speak any louder. I am beginning to wonder if anything at the Francis residence won’t leave me in a constant feeling of wonderment and breathlessness.
“I’m going to show you the farm and some of our land. We have over three-hundred acres and plenty of trails. Despite the cold it is a rather nice day, so it’s perfect for a sleigh ride, don’t you agree?”
“I’ve never been on a sleigh ride,” I admit.
“You’ll like it.”
“As long as I’m with you, I’m sure I’d like just about anything.”
He rolls his eyes. “You give me way too much credit sometimes.”
Liam guides the sleigh out into the bright sunshine. I have to admit, even though it’s freezing, having the heat of the sun feels nice against my skin. I close my eyes and tilt my face toward the warm buttery rays shining down upon us and imagine them baking away the cold.
“Do you feel better after sleeping?” Liam asks after allowing me to quietly soak up the warmth of the day.
“Oh, yes. I was surprised I slept that long. You could’ve woken me up – you should have woken me up.”
“Your body is still on US time, so really if you think about it, you didn’t sleep in at all. But I didn’t want to wake you up. You were exhausted.”
“What time did you slip out?” I ask, tilting my head to give him a sideways glance.
He smiles. “Around five-thirty. I fell asleep too, and even though I woke up early, it was the best night’s sleep I’ve ever had.”
“Really?” I ask in disbelief.
“Yeeeeees. Is that so hard to believe?” he says teasingly.
I shrug my shoulders. Then the light catches the charm on my bracelet and I remember my previous questions as to how in the world he knew to get it so soon after meeting me.
“Oh, Liam?” I smirk.
“Yes, dear?” he chuckles.
“I want to ask you something, and I want a flat no non-sense answer from you. Deal?”
“This must be serious business,” he jokes. I eye him seriously, but he still smiles. “Okay, ask away.”
“I want to know how you knew to get this charm for me.”
“What charm?” he teases.
“No non-sense,” I repeat sternly.
He shoots me a look telling me that he wishes I hadn’t brought it up, all humor gone. But I want to know.
“Have you been stalking me? Or my mom? Did you follow her to the jewelry store or something?” I’m being totally playful, but he doesn’t find the humor in it.
“Breckin, please,” he sighs.
“Is it so bad that you don’t want to tell me?”
“No.”
“Well then, what is it?”
Liam rounds his cheeks and blows out a gust of air. “Do you remember me saying something about my grandmother last night?”
“Yes.”
“And how I said that she is sort of in-touch with the spirit world and carries around crystals and all that?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Well, she also dabbles in other things, too. I wasn’t kidding when I said my family thinks she’s a little daft. You see, she has these dreams sometimes that she swears will come true. I don’t know how she depicts which ones will become factual or accurate, but she does. Just before I left for the States, she came rushing up to me, literally as I was getting into the car to head toward the airport, and handed me this box. A little black box that seemed unimportant at the time. She said to me, ‘Liam. You’re going to find her. Not right at first, but you’re going to find her and this is something that will be quite significant to you both. Keep your heart strong as it will hum with another, and you will find her.’ And the way she kept saying the word, her…. Of course at the time I had no idea what she was going on about and the last thing on my mind was finding anyone new to be in my life. All I was worried about was getting away. Away from here, away from them, away from life.
“I smiled to her and took the box without arguing. There is no fighting that woman once she’s set her mind to something. And I’ll admit that I took her words with a grain of salt. It’s not uncommon for her to blather on about topics that make not a lick of sense to any of us.
“I tucked it away when I arrived to the Dawson’s house and had totally forgotten about it until I saw you. After I’d realized that I had to have you in my life, I called Nan and told her about you. She was none-too surprised, obviously. And then after seeing your bracelet, I was both shocked and elated that she was right. She’s coming to
meet you in a few days. Our family always has a huge New Year party and the entire family will be here. They’re all very eager to meet you.”
“Wow.” I mouth.
Liam laughs. “Yes, and you were worried about me thinking you were mad before.”
“Well, how was I to know you had a kooky foreseeing grandma tucked away at home? You don’t say much about your family.”
“Good point,” he admits.
“So she even knew that our hearts would beat together? Like on the same rhythm? Do you think that’s why she said to keep your heart strong because it would hum with another?”
“No, that is a coincidence. Works out quite well though, don’t you agree?”
“Yes,” I smile. “It works out perfectly.”
The rest of the sleigh ride is spent with Liam pointing out different horses as he explains about the breed. Arabians are fantastic race horses; very fast. But also they’re good for endurance riding (whatever that is) because of their build. He lost me though when he started talking about bone structure and hoof walls. He explains that the reason I have only seen a few entirely black horses is because that it’s uncommon for Arabians to be that color. The more common colors are chestnut, like Sebastian, gray, bay – which is the reddish-brown horse with the black tail and mane I had noticed in the barn – and a color called roan. I raise an eyebrow to that one. Liam points to a very large, much larger horse than some of the others I have seen today, and I see that even though this horse is brown in color, there are white hairs evenly combed throughout his glossy coat. I’ve never seen anything like it.
We continue to ride along trails upon trails as Liam guide us through hills and flat terrain, through tree lines and fields. I keep quiet as he continues on with talking about the family business and how he’d learned to ride a horse at the age of three and how he used to beg his mother to skip chores and let him ride Sebastian. It turns out Sebastian is Liam’s horse and they’ve grown up together. The beautiful horse had been bred and born right here at Whispering Dreams Plantation – as I learn that is what the Francis family had named their business – and after almost losing Sebastian to colic, Liam vowed to never own another horse after him. He isn’t just a pet – if you consider a horse as a pet – he’s family. I smile to myself when my previous thoughts hold true; Sebastian is special.
Hollow Sight Page 52
