Rayne rolled his eyes with a laugh. “Okay, Dad. Just give me a minute to say goodnight, and then she’s all yours.”
“Sorry,” Rayne said as soon as his father was outside the door. “My parents can be a little old-fashioned.”
“No, don’t worry about it. I think they’re cute. Your entire family is really great. I had a lot of fun tonight.”
Rayne smiled. “I had fun too.” Then he reached for my hand. “So, I guess you’ll be sleeping over at my Grandma’s place tonight. Are you okay with that?”
“Sure,” I said lightly. At this point, it really didn’t matter where I slept. I was in too good of a mood. My mother was finally safe, I had never felt better physically with all the Healing Water circulating through the air around me, and Rayne would be sleeping right across the way, surrounded by the most beautiful orchard I’d ever laid eyes on, in probably the most beautiful land in the entire universe, or at least of the parts that I had seen of it.
“Well, try not to miss me too much,” Rayne teased. Then, he moved near me and whispered in my ear, “At least…not as much as I’m going to miss you.” His lips brushed against my cheek, reminding me of how his touch could both soothe me and excite me all at the same time. “I’ll see you in the morning,” he said, and then he escorted me out of the room to meet back with his father.
Rayne’s grandmother’s home was just as quaint as his parent’s, although smaller, with an even older cottage feel to it. At least, the style was old; the actual structure and belongings inside the rooms appeared surprisingly well maintained, like they’d been around for years but hadn’t aged a day. Andella had already gone to bed, so Rayne’s mother, Binnie, showed me to my room and gave me some of Violette’s pajamas to borrow, as well as some clean clothes for the next day.
When I was finally alone, I started getting dressed for bed, but stopped when I noticed something fall out of the pocket of my pants. It was the Water Briolette I’d been safeguarding all night long. I had almost forgotten it was there. You would think it would be almost impossible to forget something so invaluable and rare, but with a day like today, the priceless stone had a lot to compete with.
Of course, once I had it in my hand, I had to take a moment to hold the tear-shaped crystal up and just stare at it. The way the facets glimmered and danced around the light was almost mesmerizing. I knew that I had found something special, something I should protect carefully, but I wasn’t exactly sure how to do that. So, for now, I slid it down into the bottom of my sock. And then, I drifted off to sleep, with dreams of Lizzy trees and Water Briolettes and Rayne’s kisses dancing through my head.
5. RUDE AWAKENING
When I woke again, it took me a moment to remember where I was. Only a faint light showed from the window behind the floral curtains, and I rolled over to find the old wind-up alarm clock I had seen on the nightstand the night before. It was barely five o’clock in the morning. I heard noises from outside and realized this was the reason I woke in the first place. So, I rubbed my eyes and dragged my feet over to the window to see what was going on.
To my surprise, almost every member of Rayne’s family was either hurrying out to one of their cars, or hurrying back inside the house, looking all in a tizzy. I had no idea if this was normal around here, but it certainly didn’t feel normal to me. Andella’s house on the other hand, still felt quiet and still. I slid my shoes on without bothering to get dressed and tiptoed out to the front door, making sure not to wake her.
When I got outside, I walked down the path around the side of Rayne’s house, groggy and confused, trying to figure out what everyone was doing. No one seemed to even notice I was there until Violette finally moseyed out the front door, looking about as awake as I felt, and came up beside me.
“What’s going on?” I asked her. “Where’s everybody going?”
Violette shrugged, still looking dazed. “Ivy’s going into labor.”
“Oh my gosh, really?” I said, surprised by the news.
Violette turned to me with sleepy, amused eyes. “Sometimes you say the funniest things.”
I was confused by what she meant, so I just ignored the comment and said, “Do you think I should go help or something?”
“No,” Violette said with a shrug. “I overheard Rayne say that the two of you weren’t going to come, so I would just go back to bed if I were you.” Violette plopped down on the ground and started grumbling under her breath. “I wish I could go back to bed. Ivy is already a week overdue. I don’t know why she couldn’t just wait a few hours longer, so I could sleep in for once. Even at school they never let us sleep in.”
Just then, Violette’s mother came up behind her with Lark by her side. “Come on now, everyone,” Binnie said, “no more complaining. Ivy’s been carrying a human being around inside her that’s been soaking up half her Healing Water for the last eight months, so I’m sure she’s a lot more tired than any of you.”
Meanwhile, Lark began mimicking his mother playfully behind her back, as if he knew exactly what she was going to say. When Binnie continued by saying, “And don’t forget…around here, sleep isn’t a necessity, it’s a luxury,” Lark mouthed his mother’s words so perfectly in unison with her that both Violette and I had to fight to hide our laughter.
Several minutes later, I had seen everyone in the family come outside, including Flint as he assisted his poor, huge wife up into their truck, but I still hadn’t seen Rayne. When everyone was just about ready to go, I started to wonder if he was still sleeping. Violette did mention that he wasn’t planning to go to the hospital with the rest of them. For all he knew, I was still asleep over at his grandmother’s cottage as well.
But just when I had determined that I should let Rayne sleep and decided to head back to the other house, Rayne appeared through the front door, pulling a shirt over his head at the same time. He waved out at the caravan of cars as they pulled away from the driveway through the entrance of Lizzy Grove.
“I was hoping they wouldn’t wake you,” he said as he approached me at the edge of the yard.
“That’s okay. I’m glad I got a chance to say goodbye.”
“Well, since you’re up,” Rayne said, holding up his elbow cheerfully in my direction. “How about some pancakes?”
“Sounds good to me,” I said. I took Rayne’s outstretched arm and followed him back inside the house.
In the Kitchen, Rayne rummaged around the room collecting ingredients and baking utensils so he could make breakfast for me. He even put on an apron. It had to be one of the most adorable things I had ever seen.
When Rayne was playful and fun and doing thoughtful things for other people without even realizing it, that was when I knew he was truly being himself. But, as usual, it didn’t take long for him to feel the need to do his duty and get back to business; back to protecting me.
“I thought it would be best if we stayed behind,” he explained to me while flipping half-cooked circles of pancake batter over on the griddle. “We should think about heading into the city to see if we can get a hold of your father. Most likely, he’s the only person who can get you back through the Threshold border without any complications.”
“Okay,” I said. “I trust you; whatever you think is best.” Rayne glanced up from the griddle and smiled at me appreciatively for a brief moment, then went back to explaining.
“As you know,” he said, “your father is the Ambassador around here, so we can’t just walk up to him on the street and have a private conversation. But don’t worry; I have a way to contact him under the radar.”
“Okay,” I said again.
Then, out of nowhere, Rayne thrust his spatula under a pancake and flipped it into the air, making me jump in surprise as it landed right in front of me on my plate.
He grinned. “Breakfast is served.”
“Show-off,” I teased.
Rayne set a few more pancakes on my plate and kissed me on the cheek. “Honestly,” he said, “I’m just glad your food di
dn’t end up on the floor.” Then he plunked down in the chair next to me, successfully taking down a huge stack of pancakes like he hadn’t eaten in years.
After we finished eating, Rayne sent me back to his grandmother’s house to get showered and dressed. I was surprised when Andella greeted me from her armchair in the front room where she sipped a cup of tea.
“Good morning, child,” she said with a smile. It was the first thing she had said directly to me since I first arrived.
“Uh, morning,” I replied, trying not to show my surprise.
She seemed like a nice old lady, and I didn’t want to be rude, but Rayne had mentioned there was something he wanted to show me before we left for Banya, so I was kind of excited to hurry and get ready for the day.
“Um, is it okay if I take a shower?” I asked her.
Andella dropped her cup with a clank to the saucer in her hand. “You mean, you haven’t bathed yet, dear?” she said, sounding alarmed.
“Well…no…”
Suddenly, Andella rose to her feet and moved toward me. “Then, come along, child. You mustn’t dawdle or you’ll be late for school.”
My eyes shifted to the side, wondering if she was confusing me with somebody else. But, then again, Rayne warned me that the woman was losing some of her grasp on reality, and I really did want to get going with that shower, so I decided just to go with it.
“No, I don’t want to be late,” I agreed. “Can you show me where the towels are?”
Andella nudged me toward the hallway. “You know where the towels are, dear; same place they’ve always been. Now, hurry along.”
Luckily, it only took a minute to find a stack of towels folded neatly in the hall closet, but I did feel a little bad when I was all dressed and ready to leave and Andella handed me a basket full of food, saying she had taken the time to prepare a lunch for me to carry to school. I wasn’t sure if it would hurt her feelings if I refused the lovely meal, so I accepted it graciously and hurried out the door.
“Hungry already?” Rayne teased, noticing the basket when he met up with me outside.
I tried not to laugh. “Um, actually, your grandma packed a lunch for me to take to school today.”
“Poor old thing,” Rayne said with a chuckle. “Sometimes I think she can’t remember her own name.” Rayne took the basket from my hand. “But, that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy a nice picnic later, right? We wouldn’t want her hard work to go to waste.”
“No, we certainly wouldn’t want that,” I said.
Several yards away behind the house, Rayne guided me into a large barn and made his way over to one of the four-wheelers parked in the corner. After he loaded our picnic in a small storage box attached to the back, he motioned for me to join him. I jumped into the seat behind him, more than happy for an excuse to wrap my hands around him and hold on tight.
Rayne took me on a little romantic tour of the orchard, to the parts I hadn’t seen yet. After we circled around the property for a few minutes, enjoying the breeze on our faces and the pleasant scenery, Rayne stopped at one of the Lizzy fields where the trees were covered in bright pink fruits the size of cherries.
We hopped off the small vehicle and Rayne took a moment to explain that this field was in the young phase and wouldn’t be ripe and ready to pick for another month or so, all the while holding my hand and then pulling me in close to sneak one more kiss.
It was amazing how, even in the daylight, the trees and fruit, and even the grass, had this shimmery quality to them, like they had all been glazed over with liquid pearls and fairy dust. And just being here with Rayne, without having to hold anything back, was like a fairytale, too. There was no having to fight off our feelings for each other because we thought they weren’t real, like we did for a grueling five months before Rayne found out the truth about the bonding effect from the Healing Water. There was no monitoring of every word we said because we were being spied on by Ash Hastings or his terrible, escaped-convict of a father, Voss, either. We didn’t even have to bother with watches or wristbands to conceal our Watermarks.
It was just us; the real us. Sadie and Rayne…together, laughing, holding each other, talking, confirming the truth that we both were secretly hoping for all along…that we were meant to be together—and that we could survive anything as long as we were by each other’s side.
I held onto Rayne tighter and tighter with each passing moment as we continued our tour. After driving through another field—this one covered in deep red, fully-ripened fruit closer to the size of pears—and a quick explanation from Rayne of the growth cycle of Lizzy trees and how his grandparents had carefully timed out the planting in the beginning so there would always be at least one field ready to harvest at any given time throughout the year, Rayne drove just a few yards off past the far end of the property, and suddenly, we were out in a clearing of sand.
One minute we were engulfed in fruit trees and the next minute we were staring at a vast spread of ocean waves, breaking peacefully along a deserted beach.
As soon as Rayne turned off the engine, I sprang from the four-wheeler, kicked off my shoes, and let my toes sink into the fine, glistening white sand; a familiar, comforting sensation I had grown to love. All my life growing up in Southern California I had spent hundreds of free moments and special occasions and lazy afternoons with the beach and the ocean as my companions. I loved them; they were home.
But just when I thought this mystical, enchanting place couldn’t possibly get any better, any more astounding than it already was…it took my breath away.
“It’s purple,” I gasped.
I had been admiring the lovely violet sky all morning, but when I saw the deep, almost royal hue of the ocean, a swell of purple ripples undulating out toward the horizon, something stirred inside me.
For a moment, I wasn’t sure I could ever look away, but Rayne’s cheerful hand slid into mine and pulled me forward. “Come on,” he said eagerly. And then we were running down to the water’s edge, not stopping until we had the cool ocean waves beneath our feet.
Of course we started out splashing each other playfully as we held each other’s hands, but that quickly morphed into a full out water war, escalating until we were completely drenched and out of breath. Rayne swept his arms around my waist and spun me around with my toes skimming the sea as we laughed and fell down to the edge of the sand.
Rayne rolled toward me as I tried to catch my breath between giggles. A weakening wave reached for one last inch, making it just over my ankles before retreating back to the sea.
Rayne grew calm and his gaze centered on mine, searching me. He didn’t reach out to touch me or even for a kiss; he just looked at me—like he could see me from within. “I love you, Sadie James,” he said, “…my Sunshine.”
My eyes closed, soaking in his words, basking in them for the briefest second, and then they opened again and smiled softly back at him. “I love you back, Rayne Stevens…” And then, I just couldn’t resist as I fought back a giggle and said, “…my Human Healer.”
“Oh, you’re in trouble,” Rayne warned playfully, sweeping his torso up off the sand to torment me with tickling fingers, causing me to squeal out with sheer delight, with the oddest sensation of being completely and absolutely worry-free.
We made our way back up the sand where Rayne pulled out a small blanket and our basket of food, prepared lovingly and deliriously by Rayne’s grandmother earlier that day. We enjoyed a spread of old-fashioned sandwiches made from thick slices of homemade bread, slathered with butter and fresh slices of meats and cheese, accompanied of course by sweet and tangy bites of ripe Lizzy fruit.
By the time we were done, I was full and content and not at all ready to leave. But, I knew we had things we needed to do, and normal life was waiting for me on the other side of the Threshold—if it was even possible for life to ever feel normal again, after everything I had seen here.
Just as Rayne finished loading the remains of our picnic in the storage
box at the back of our little vehicle, I skipped up beside him with raised eyebrows and said, “Is it my turn to drive?”
“Well,” Rayne teased, “if you think you can handle it.”
“Oh, I can handle it,” I said coolly. I sauntered over to the driver’s seat, trying to act as smooth and confident as possible. My best friend Heather back in California had shown me how to drive her four-wheeler when I went camping with her family the summer before, but the truth was, I could barely even remember how to turn it on.
Rayne sat patiently behind me in the long black seat, waiting as I tried to figure out the buttons without his help. I knew it wasn’t very complicated, but I just couldn’t remember exactly what to press first.
Suddenly, I felt Rayne’s face lean over my shoulder near my cheek. He wrapped himself tighter around me and lifted both my hands in his, pressing my fingers slowly, tenderly, to the correct buttons and levers one at a time.
The engine roared to life, ready to move forward, but I couldn’t help myself; I lingered, stopping to feel his touch on my hands one more time, his breath on my neck. Rayne leaned down to brush his lips across my shoulder, and I twisted toward him, leaning back into his chest and running my hand behind his neck. I pulled him into me without another thought, wanting nothing but the touch of his lips on mine, wishing to hold him tighter, intoxicated by his scent and his taste, living through his breath rather than my own.
I heard a faint ring coming from somewhere behind me, and I hoped desperately that we could ignore it. But of course, despite my urge to hold on, Rayne pulled his face back from mine.
“I should check that,” he said gently.
“Oh man,” I pouted. “Couldn’t they just leave a message?”
He kissed me once in reply, and reached back to open the storage box. “It could be my family. Who knows, maybe they’re calling to tell me I’m a proud new uncle.”
Ambrosia Shore (The Water Keepers, Book 3) Page 4
