“You’ll never have to live without me. I’m going to outlive you by a thousand years!”
“Yeah? How do you figure that?”
“I don’t know. I guess I just feel like, with Cassi’s blood running through my veins, it’s possible. Though, I hope not. I don’t want to spend a day without you, either.”
“Well, I guess we shouldn’t be so morbid. We just got engaged, and we are already contemplating our death. There are probably a lot of married couples that would find some irony in that.”
Kara laughed and nodded in agreement, signaling the server to bring them another beer as another couple stopped by to congratulate them.
“Shall we get back to our cabin and finish up?” he asked.
“That, we shall!”
Chapter 16
“Look at this, Kara,” Thomas remarked as he worked on a section of the wall within the cottage the following day.
“What is it?” she asked, venturing over to see what it was he was talking about.
“It’s some sort of hidden space behind this block,” he told her.
Together, they slowly worked the block from its space. Perhaps it was just loose, but it appeared to have been worked free of its confines on purpose and then put back, but not quite seated as it should have been.
“I can’t believe we’ve never noticed it before,” she told him.
“I can. There has been so much needed to fix in this old place that it didn’t really stand out until a lot of other things were in place as they should be.”
They continued to gently ease the block forward from its nest, each looking curiously behind it as they did so, eager to see if there was anything worthwhile back there or if it was just loose, after all. It wasn’t uncommon for places like this to have hidden spaces to secure belongings the owner didn’t want pillaged by passing soldiers or thieves. Considering the age of the cottage, it wouldn’t be a surprise to find just about anything back there.
That is, anything other than what they actually did find. As the heavy block slipped free of the wall, they struggled not to drop it. There was definitely something behind it: a long, thin box that seemed to have been built specifically to reside in that place. The wood around it was carved in an ornate fashion, and something was inscribed on the top.
“Oh, my God,” Thomas breathed.
“What? What is it?” Kara asked, eying the box he had just pulled from the wall.
He held the box toward her as she struggled to make out the words inscribed there. Her hand reached out to touch the surface of the age darkened wood, brushing away the dust that coated it to get a better look, and then she looked at him as if to ask if she was really seeing what she thought. She touched the box again to make sure it was real, letting her fingers caress the hand-carved pictures in the center. One was of a dragon and the other, a tiger. In the center of them, smaller, but looking up at the mother was a tiger with wings that spread toward the sky, but what had caught her attention were the words below that.
“For my mother, the dragon,” she read aloud, her eyes suddenly flooded with tears.
“I wonder why he left it rather than taking it to her, rather than giving her something he obviously created for her,” Thomas said.
“Let’s open it,” Kara said.
Sitting the box on top of a nearby work table, they very carefully broke the wax seal that had been put into place to keep anything from getting inside. Thomas was guessing that Advik had not wanted bugs and such to get into whatever was in the interior. When they opened it, they found only several sheets of parchment paper. It was hard to read the old handwritten scroll, but they managed slowly as they stood there marveling at what they were holding.
“I’m glad she never saw this. It would have only broken her heart more,” Kara said softly, wiping away tears from her eyes as they read the letter from Advik to his mother, a letter he had hoped she would come and find if he was unsuccessful in locating her once he had gone north to the village to look for her.
“Yes. I’m sure the journals were bad enough. So much love in them, but also, so much suffering.”
They put the contents of the box away and carried it with them when they returned to the village later that night, tucked safely into the small carry bag beneath one wing. It sat on their kitchen table for days, neither able to decide what to do with it, but finally, they decided what must be done.
Chapter 17
On a day filled with sun beaming down upon the gorgeous meadow that sat to one side of the dragon clan village, Thomas and Kara were wed. It was late June, and the birds were lofty in the sky as a crowd of onlookers surrounded them. Thomas could see the faces of Owen and Amy McCord; Connor and Emily McCord; and, finally, Josh and Barb Higgins, standing at the front of the masses in their places as the maid of honor and best man. Aaron and Kate stood nearby at the front of the crowd, waiting as he made his way down the rose-strewn grass.
He wore a simple pair of tan trousers and a white button down shirt as he took his place by the minister to wait for his bride. His breath caught in his throat as he saw her approach from behind the crowd, standing at the other end of the opening through which he had just passed. She was stunning, the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on and most likely ever would. His eyes never left her as the bagpipes began to play a wedding march, and she made her way closer, ever closer, soon to be completely his.
Her dress was made of simple white cotton, her hair pinned up in the wistful tendrils for which she had grown it out. His heart was full as she approached him – his love, his destiny. How he had ever gotten so lucky as to find her, he would never know. As she arrived, he took her hand, squeezing it tightly as they turned to face the minister, waiting for the sacred vows that would bind them together for the rest of their lives.
This had been Kara’s idea. The wedding was designed to be simple, much as she had imagined it had been for Cassi and Khalil on the day they married, but with the exception that they weren’t alone in it. They were surrounded by the people that loved them, rather than hundreds of miles away with only each other and their unborn son. Thomas barely registered the words that the minister was saying, too overwhelmed by Kara and just being there with her.
When the ceremony was over, they turned and jumped over the small broom, a tradition that had been handed down in the Higgins family for generations. The crowd cheered wildly, throwing bird seeds at them as they ran through the aisle and toward the edge of the nearby cliffs where a grand buffet had been set up by Cassi’s diner, which was now run by a cast of family and friends in honor of its previous owner. Though Thomas and Kara oversaw it, it was the hard work of many of the villagers that kept it open every day of the week, with Cassi’s recipes still on the menu.
“Ladies and gentleman, before we get started, Thomas and I would like to take a moment to honor the woman who brought us together. Let’s all raise a glass to Cassi Baker! May she live long in our hearts and minds!” Thomas shouted.
There was a huge cheer, followed by clapping, until Thomas raised his hand to quiet everyone again. Handing over the microphone he had retrieved for his toast, he turned to Kara, who stood holding several pieces of paper in her hands. She smiled at everyone, looking as radiant as he had ever seen her before she began to speak.
“As you all know by now, Cassi carried with her a secret. While many people couldn’t understand what she had done, there is no doubt that it was because of love that she left the man and son she loved behind. She did so to protect them and, though it pained him, her love, Khalil, understood it without knowing the entire truth. He never believed she didn’t love him, and he always made sure that their son knew it, too,” she said, looking over the faces of the crowd, now solemn as they listened.
“I don’t want this to be a day of sorrow for any of us. It is a day to rejoice. We are able to celebrate my union with Thomas today because of Cassi and because of her son, Advik. They brought life to my family, and they gave us all the grea
test gift: a gift of unity between those of us who are different in some way. With the help of Aaron, we have broken tradition and allowed marriages to come about that could not have taken place in Cassi’s day,” she told them, pausing to take a sip of water before she continued.
“And so, I want to read these words to you, the words of Advik Kandahar, a young man who came to this village as Tiogar Sheaver and began a new life with the mother he had never known. A man whose love for her never wavered, despite the years without her, and the years he spent watching her without revealing himself to anyone. As I read these words to you, right here in the spot where we once said our final goodbyes to Cassi, I hope that she will finally be able to hear them, too.”
Kara took a breath, struggling a bit with the weight of the words she was about to read for what must be the hundredth time. Thomas had found her reading them again on many occasions and always, they seemed to bring tears to her eyes with their longing, with the need for the love of a mother far away. He reached for her free hand and grasped it in his as she exhaled and began to read.
My dearest mother, the dragon,
You do not know me, for I was very small when you went away. I do not know you, but I want to change that. I have sat here for many days now, in this lonely place. My father dying by my side with nothing I could do to make it better. He speaks of you always, remembers the way your hair shimmered in the sunlight and how you laughed when you were nervous. He has told me these things time and time again, as if holding on to the memories somehow keeps you with him.
He says that he knows you would not have left us without reason, and that when he is gone, I should find you and stay with you. He grows worse by the day, and I fear we don’t have much longer together. I will honor his wishes, and I will set out upon his demise to be with you in whatever way is possible. It is a long journey from here, and I don’t know if I will make it. My father says that if I leave something behind for you, maybe you will return here one day to find it. He says you’ll know where to look for it.
So, I leave you this letter, and I leave you one more thing. You will find it secured in the small compartment within this box. It is yours. I have kept it for you, just as my father kept it for you in hopes you would one day return for it and take your place by our side. I fear to bring it with me, lest I perish or it be taken from me. If I make it, we will return together to retrieve it.
I love you, my mother, the dragon. I will see you soon.
Your tiogar, Advik.
There was barely a dry eye in the crowd as she finished reading and lay the letter aside, looking back over the crowd for a moment as she regained her own composure and finished her speech.
“Advik never told his mother who he was. His journals show that he was afraid, for her and for himself of revealing his true nature. For centuries, the men of the Sheaver family have had to hide their abilities to transform into tigers, but today, that changes. Today, Thomas and I have exchanged our vows using the wedding rings once shared by Khalil and Cassi Baker Kandahar, binding together two great shifter clans. Today, we are all one, and we celebrate not only our wedding day, but a new day given to all shifters and all humans where we can live as we see fit and love who we choose!”
The crowd roared with approval, even those that would previously have not been pleased with such a speech and, much to their astonishment, a half dozen tigers appeared from behind where Kara stood, walking around her and sitting by her feet for a few moments before being ushered back out by one that appeared a bit older, Kara’s great grand-father. Thomas retrieved the microphone from Kara and turned to address the crowd one last time.
“Now that we’ve made everyone cry, food and drinks are on us!” he called out, bringing cheers from everyone as they began to make their way toward the large tables laden with food, wine and other spirits.
“Mrs. Higgins, would you care for a dance?” he asked Kara as they walked toward an area marked off by small stones, and the band began to play their song.
“Absolutely, but I must do one thing first,” she replied.
Thomas looked over at the small crowd of women that had gathered nearby, waiting for Kara to finish speaking and step down. Turning her back to them, Kara tossed the small bouquet of fresh wild flowers she had carried down the aisle toward them. Squeals reverberated through the meadow and off the cliff walls nearby as a victor came up laughing and disheveled from losing her balance as she caught the bouquet.
“Barb!” Kara laughed.
“Oh, boy,” Thomas said, looking through the crowed for his brother, Josh, and spotting him nearby. “Hey, Josh, guess who’s next?”
Josh looked at him, confused for a moment, but then caught a glimpse of Barb wielding the bouquet above her head as a small girl pulled at her dress from below. She leaned down and handed the girl the flowers, watching as she ran toward Aaron and Kate with them.
“Here, these are for Liam,” she told Kate, who was holding their son in her arms.
“Oh, thank you, Dawn. I don’t think Liam can have flowers. He likes to eat things that he shouldn’t,” she laughed.
“Then you can keep them until he isn’t such a silly boy,” the almost two-year-old Dawn told her.
“I will do that then,” Kate replied, “but why do you think he should have them?”
“I’m just giving them to him to keep for me. I’ll need them back when we get married.”
Kate was speechless for a moment, looking down at the smiling child and then back up toward Amy who had just arrived to see what her darling daughter was up to and retrieve her before she wandered too far.
“Before who gets married, Dawn?” she asked.
“Me and Liam,” Dawn said without hesitation.
“Oh, honey. I think you’re a bit too young to be getting married anytime soon or choosing who the groom will be,” Amy laughed.
Dawn smiled and shrugged at her, taking off toward where she saw someone blowing bubbles, in a fit of giggles.
“Kids,” Amy laughed. “Tomorrow, she’ll be planning space travel to the moon in a Lego spaceship she’s made for me to step on.”
Kate joined her in laughing and handed the flowers back to Barb who was just arriving to join the two of them.
“What did I miss?” she asked.
“We aren’t sure. I think we might have all missed something, but Dawn seems to have a handle on things,” Amy quipped.
“Dahn,” baby Liam babbled happily, causing all three of the women to look at him.
“Did he just say Dawn?” Barb marveled.
“I don’t think so. He’s been saying little snippets of words lately, mostly Da and Ma, so it was probably just that,” Kate replied, though she didn’t seem convinced.
“Dawn,” Liam said again, this time much more clearly, leaving the three women to stare at him in disbelief as he happily recited it for them a few more times. “Dawn, Dawn, Dawn!”
***THE END***
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