by D. R. Mather
“Gabrijela!”
Then he hears another woman speaking another language.
“Anamarija!”
Kevin jumped up and came around the corner, straight to the reception desk, “Hello ladies.”
“Ah, Mr. Chase, the very person we are here to see. May we have a piece of your time?”
“You certainly may, please, this way.” He led them into the living room. All the guests were either outside having fun or in their rooms. “Please, won’t you sit?”
The two women sat but looked very uncomfortable as they perched on the edge of a sofa. Gabrijela’s mother said something in Croatian, then Gabrijela repeated it to Kevin.
“We have come to reclaim what belongs to our village.”
“I believe I’ve been expecting you.” Kevin reached into one pocket on his left and one on his right and took out the amulets. Gabrijela’s mother started to get louder and was pulling at her daughter to get her attention; she said something to Gabrijela, then Gabrijela turned and translated it to Kevin.
“This cannot be, each half must be given from the person to whom it was given. I believe it was Judy who received the other half?”
“Okay, right, stay here,” Kevin jumped up and looked for Judy. He couldn’t see her so he tried her cell.
“Yes honey pie?”
“Hi baby, can you come to the living room please, we have a guest.”
“Oh, sure, I’m right here in the kitchen, be right there.”
Half a minute later and she came jaunting out and across the entryway, into the living room.
“Here, take this, we have to give it back the same way we received it apparently.”
Judy took her half of the amulet and saw Gabrijela and her mother over on a sofa.
“Hi, I’m so glad you could make a return visit!” said Judy. She shook Gabrijela’s hand and then her mother’s. Anamarija took Judy’s hand and placed both of hers around it. She said a few sentences to Gabrijela, then let Judy’s hand go.
Judy looked to Gabrijela for a translation.
“My mother, she says you are with child, a female child.”
“Ahh…”
Kevin stepped up behind Judy and took her hand, “And tell me Gabrijela, did she say anything else?”
“Well, yes, she said that you know the name of this child and that she is a very important child.”
Judy snapped her head to Kevin, “How could you know the name of a baby that I’m just now being told I’m carrying?”
“Amm….because it was meant to be?”
“Oh and when was I supposed to be filled in on this, the day I delivered?”
“No, I didn’t know when, I only knew that it would happen.”
Kevin faced Judy and took her hand, pulling it down to her belly, “Judy, I want you to meet April Rose.”
“Oh…”
“Honey, I saw her, I saw her being created for us. It’s April, and she’s being reborn through us.”
“Ah….that was your secret, wasn’t it? You knew about April.”
“Yes, you see, she died while she was under the care of the ‘beings.’ They felt they owed her a second chance because they couldn’t stop her from dying. You and I, we are going to become her guardians, she’s meant for great things later on and we have the chance to set her on the path to that.”
“So the baby will look like April?”
“No honey, she will come out as a normal baby would, looking like any combination of her parents, but her soul, that’s pure ‘April’, through and through.”
Judy began to cry a bit but Gabrijela stood up and went to her, “Judy, do not weep for this, it is a most wonderful thing. You carry inside of you a very important part of the future, along with, I believe it is Tim and Anne?”
She turned to Kevin as if to confirm this.
“Well, you certainly are on the right grapevine, I’ll say that much Gabrijela.”
“As you would say, I believe we are Kevin. Now, shall we?”
“Oh, yeah, right.”
Both Judy and Kevin handed over the amulet to Anamarija.
“Good, then it is done.”
“Ammm…what will you do with it now?”
“It will be re-molded to the base again and buried in the sacred place until it is needed again.”
“Well what if it’s never needed again?”
“Oh Mr. Chase, do not think that you removed evil from this planet, you only held it back for a time. It may never really go away, you would be wise to remember this.”
Kevin smiled, “Yeah, maybe I should, maybe we all should remember that.”
“Come now momma, I want to enjoy the pool for a while,” Gabrijela and her mother left the room.
Kevin heard Judy from behind him.
“Honey?”
He turned to her, “Yes?”
“I’m….gonna…have….a BABY!!!!!!!!!” She jumped up and into him; he had to catch her in mid-air. “Take me to my servant’s nave,” she tossed her hair back and stuck her nose high in the air.
“Aha, I think I saw them out back.” Kevin walked through the ballroom, through the open glass doors and towards the pool area. Judy caught on WAY too late.
“No, no, no, no…”
SPLASH!!!!!!!!
“There ma’am, your servants await.” Kevin laughed his head off and left Judy floating near the side of the pool.
“I’m gonna get you for this Mr. Kevin Chase!”
She heard applause and turned to see everyone around the pool clapping at her and Kevin.
“Oh GOD!”
She held her breath and hid underwater.
The second surprise came in the late afternoon, when Cindy and Roland left the workers in charge and rounded up their friends over at the lodge. When everyone followed Cindy through the main entrance they saw a man in a collar standing in the center of the lounge area.
“I got them all reverend.”
Everyone was shocked to say the least.
“Your two witnesses Cindy?”
“Oh crap,” she spun around and grabbed Kevin and Judy, pulling them to the front and telling them where to stand.
“Okay, go for it reverend!”
Kevin looked around at Roland and Cindy, “Should I be holding a shotgun or something?”
Cindy looked past Roland, who was snickering, and said right into Kevin’s eyes, “You keep talking and I’ll be holding a shotgun later. Can’t you see there’s a wedding going on here?”
“Oppps…sorry!”
It was small, it was fairly quick, but it was all that Cindy wanted; to just be married to the man she loved.
There was the ‘pop’ of a champagne bottle and glasses were being filled. Roland handed Kevin one. “I’m sorry for the surprise; she just came up with it yesterday,” he explained.
“Roland, all the best to both of you,” Kevin raised his glass and stopped close to his mouth. In his head he said, ‘Ahh……?’
The ‘voice’ came to him: “Go ahead, that agreement is done, we trust you will not go back to the way you were when we found you. Enjoy your friend’s celebration.”
Then the ‘voice’ was gone. Kevin continued the glass’s trip and sipped.
Once again, before the group was awake, Gabrijela and Anamarija were gone. Once again, no one got a chance to say thank you or goodbye.
Chapter Forty-Four
The beginning of October was a slower time at the Inn; it was the ‘change over’ time. The summer guests had gone and the winter guests hadn’t arrived yet.
October 10th was the chosen day. Judy’s mom and dad were up from Florida, Cindy’s mom came up from Indiana and to Judy’s shock and amazement, Kevin’s mom and dad came in from New Hampshire. Poor Judy puzzled for days after Kevin mentioned inviting them.
‘How could we do so much together for this long, and never have his parents come up in conversation?’
He never said anything about having parents; she just never got around to askin
g. Once she had met them, she fell as much in love with them as they did with her.
A few of the people that Judy had actually talked with and hung around with in school were there. Kevin’s old work crew as well as Steve and everyone who had helped put the Inn and resort together every single day were there.
Kevin insisted on Barb’s parents coming as well; if he was family, then so were they.
It was easy to guess why everyone was assembled in the grand ballroom that day.
Kevin agreed to use Judy’s family reverend. He stood on an alter that Steve and some crew had built for this occasion. Kevin was on the right with Will at his side; Judy was on the left with Barb on her side. Judy’s little ‘bump’ didn’t really stick out that much and the beautiful gown hid it well. Behind the reverend was a beautiful bouquet of roses designed in a circle. To the left of this was a large picture of April, surrounded with gold colored roses. To the right was a same sized picture of Emma surrounded with red roses.
Some in attendance were quietly crying, namely Cindy, Roland, Alex and Beth. But they all had smiles as well. As the reverend pronounced them man and wife, a sudden blue, huge, brilliant flash spread out across the pool. Within a few seconds, millions of golden rose petals were gently falling from the sky.
Kevin, Judy and everyone else, all looked outside at the beautiful display. Kevin said two words very quietly:
“Thank you.”
He spun back to Judy, grabbed her and kissed her for all he was worth.
It took those in attendance a few seconds to even notice, but once they did, a huge CHEER went up in the room. Kevin took Judy’s hand and they faced the people, then stuck up their joined hands together to the sound of a second cheering from the crowd.
They honeymooned in the best place they thought they ever could, room ten of the Colburn Inn and Resort.
Chapter Forty-Five
Kevin saw to all of the winter activities himself throughout the winter; he knew everything had to run right and safe. Judy handled all the concession activities, not to mention the fact that she hosted the sled races that Will and Barb organized with three local towns.
At the beginning of February there was a huge birthday party for Tim and Anne. As Cindy said, they were both very close to getting their ‘sea legs’ and should be walking soon.
Near the end of February, Judy got surprised with a baby shower thrown by all the workers at the Inn.
However, a most memorable day was February 26th.
Kevin and Judy were on the sofa. Kevin looked around and saw that only his close friends were there, the guests were all in other places. Kevin tapped Judy’s knee to signal her. They both stood up.
“Ammm… if I could have your attention for a minute?”
Beth and Alex were at a small table playing a card game; Will and Barb were in their old seats; Cindy, Roland and the twins were playing on the floor; and Bill, Billy, Katie, Brandon and Michelle were watching TV.
The one thing most of them could see right away were the tears beginning to form in both Kevin and Judy’s eyes.
“Ahhhaamm…ahem…ahhh…”
Judy squeezed his hand to help him.
“Amm…Judy and I, that is myself and Judy, or whatever, we have come to the decision that it’s time for us to be moving on.”
Will bolted up, “Kevin, no!”
Barb stood up and grabbed Will’s arm. Everyone had an equal reaction, though Beth maybe more than most. Through heavy tears she tried to talk:
“Honey you can’t…leave…us?”
Judy was crying harder now. She walked over to Beth and they hugged hard. “We have to Beth, our time here is finished. Kevin did what he set out to do and I think even he got a little more than he bargained for. He made us a family; one big, happy, loving family.”
Neither one of them could talk anymore. Kevin looked at Cindy, who got off the floor and went to him, wrapping her arms around him and whispering in his ear, “I love you Kevin Chase, we all do.” She pushed back away and went back to her babies.
Kevin could speak again after a while, “Listen, all of you, we really aren’t going far, we’re moving into Judy’s parents’ home. It’s only forty minutes away.”
Billy shouted out, “Or fifteen in your Mustang.”
Kevin saw a shot at a joke, “Only if I have to stop at the store first.”
There was a laugh but the time was too sad for much more.
Judy pulled away from Beth, “Group hug?”
There was a massive group hug.
Chapter Forty-Six
March 1st was a very hard day.
After several trips, everything had been moved to the house that Kevin and Judy would now call home. Judy came out of the main doors to the Inn, paid her respects to April’s rose, and then everyone came outside the Inn to stand near the drop-off area.
They all heard the mighty roar of Kevin’s Mustang as he started it then backed it out of the garage for the last time. He drove it around so that it was facing out towards the road and got out, the car still running. Kevin walked to the drop-off area, reached for Judy’s hand in the crowd and brought her forward. As they stood and faced everyone, Kevin handed the keys to the truck to Will.
“It’s your baby now, enjoy it.”
Will took the keys, though he couldn’t see very well through the tears. He knew he couldn’t argue this with Kevin, he’d only lose again. After a lot of tears and a lot of hugs, Kevin brought Judy to the car and helped her in. She had to turn sideways to sit in the seat, and for a brief second all everyone saw was Judy’s legs and a Judy’s belly, then she disappeared from sight. Kevin walked around and opened his door. He was about to get in but then he stopped. He turned and faced them all, then did a deep bow.
“That, ladies and gentlemen, concludes our show.”
He turned and got in the car.
A minute later and they could hear as the car roared onto the main road. After a while, they couldn’t even hear that.
They all turned and walked back inside, closing the doors to the Colburn Inn and Resort behind them.
Epilogue
“OH Kevin, I love this song…”
♫ Now that she's back in the atmosphere
With drops of Jupiter in her hair, hey, hey
She acts like summer and walks like rain
Reminds me that there's time to change, hey, hey
Since the return from her stay on the moon
She listens like spring and she talks like June, hey, hey
Tell me did you sail across the sun?
Did you make it to the milky way to see the lights all faded
And that heaven is overrated?
Tell me, did you fall for a shooting star?
One without a permanent scar?
And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there?
Now that she's back from that soul vacation
Tracing her way through the constellation, hey, hey
She checks out Mozart while she does tae-bo
Reminds me that there's room to grow, hey, hey
Now that she's back in the atmosphere
I'm afraid that she might think of me as plain ol' Jane
Told a story about a man who is too afraid to fly so he never did land
Tell me did the wind sweep you off your feet?
Did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day?
And head back to the Milky Way?
And tell me, did Venus blow your mind?
Was it everything you wanted to find?
And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there?
Can you imagine no love, pride, deep-fried chicken?
Your best friend always sticking up for you - even when I know you're wrong
Can you imagine no first dance, freeze dried romance- five-hour phone
Conversation
The best soy latte that you ever had . . . and me
Tell me did the wind sweep you
off your feet?
Did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day?
And head back toward the Milky Way?
Tell me did you sail across the sun?
Did you make it to the milky way to see the lights all faded
And that heaven is overrated?
Tell me, did you fall for a shooting star?
One without a permanent scar?
And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there? ♫ (Train -Drops of Jupiter)
Kevin kept glancing over at Judy while he drove to their new life. She gently swayed to the sound of the song and her eyes were closed.
“That’s my girl, that’s my baby.” He smiled a warm smile.
Maybe you can get another chance at life.
THE END
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
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
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty- Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four