My Soul Laid Bare: Book 4 (The Soul Keeper Series)

by Solis, Melissa

  "I've missed you, my wife."

  I can barely utter a coherent word, but he can see the words written on my features. He knows. He's always known. Hasn't he? I will never be able to not love Elijah. I give in to him that night. Everything feels so right with him. I never want this feeling to end, I think just before I wake up, startled that I'm alone.

  The dream seemed so real that I expected to wake up in the bath tub chilled to the bone, but I'm fully dressed and in bed with my memory a little foggy about when I went down for the night. Okay, it’s official, no more wine sleep aids for me.

  I throw on my running gear and let the team know I'll be ready soon. The only one who can keep up with me is the former marine, Stephen, but just barely.

  I meet him on the back porch at five a.m. sharp. "Go easy on me today, Mrs. Montgomery. My son was born last night."

  "Stephen, congratulations! What's his name?"

  "He's named after his grandfather, Wesley Stephen Austin." Stephen shows me a picture on his phone as we run. Little Wesley is as adorable as babies come at that age. His skin looks as soft as the petal of a white rose.

  "He's perfect Stephen. Did your wife like the gift I sent over?"

  "Are you kidding? She couldn't stop gushing over the thing." I ordered the couple some fancy stroller that probably cost entirely more than it's worth, but I was told that it was the best. I have a tendency to go overboard on baby gifts. Many of my friends from college are having children these days. It seems like everyone but me.

  "That's good. I need to have you all over for dinner one night so that I can meet little Wesley."

  "I'm sure Meagan would like that. We both think it’s great all of the changes you've made since taking office."

  Ah, the compliment I hear a dozen or more times a day. Everyone is just thrilled to be on the fast track back to Mayberry. By the end of my term, Texas will resemble the nineteen fifty's small hometown in more ways than not. Golly gee, you mean they have rated R movies playing at the drive in this week? Well why on earth would anyone want to watch that filth?

  I think about the outsiders who will visit in a few years. "Dude, didn't you hear? Texas closed every strip club and adult XXX store. People stopped going. It was all over the news." I really don't see how I'm not going to get accused of tainting the water with a brainwashing agent because every step I initiate comes to fruition. Abraham Lincoln was quoted as saying, "If you want to test a man's character, give him power."

  Now I see why the evil ones wanted me dead. Evil is disappearing in the good state of Texas, being irradiated by the truckloads daily. The devil will find a way to counter the balance of good somehow, and that thought has me terrified.

  Elena meets me at the office, and we trudge through the day. Now I'm getting tons of request for speaking engagements. I would be totally booked for television interviews and radio. However, I have to deny all requests and come up with excuses because the Keepers have a strict time table all mapped out. They know the first day I will introduce my ideas to the rest of the general public. I'll be under scrutiny at first. Before long, my entire life will be on display for everyone to see.

  My past, as heartbreaking as it's been, was all part of the bigger picture. Not that they had anything to do with my father's death, but they will use his heroism in the face of the enemy as testament to how patriotic and loyal I am to my country. Like so many others, my father died fighting in a war he didn't understand, but he did it for me so I could live in a better world.

  Sam calls me in the chaos of it all, "Hey baby, how's your day going?"

  "I'm swamped with requests again. How about yours?"

  "Oh you know, saved about eighteen pairs of breast today."

  "Well at least someone's boobs are getting fondled today," I tease and he laughs softly.

  "I miss you and your boobs." My face gets red on cue as Elena raises her brow hearing every word.

  I sigh out a long overdue complaint, "How much longer?"

  "Thirteen weeks and four days until I can set my sights on your emerald eyes again."

  "I bet you have a widget for that."

  "Nope, not this time. I've just been counting down the days."

  Elena taps her non-existent watch, and I wrap up my phone call so we can head out for our trip. Springtime in Austin is glorious. Wild patches of bluebonnets hug the freeways all along the state. The honeysuckle around the house perfumes the air with its dulcet aroma, my favorite floral note. I take in the scent as I wait on the porch for Stephen to retrieve my luggage. We're driving to Dallas today to speak with Senator Burns and a few other delegates.

  I feel more like a trained monkey at the meeting, and everyone agreeing with me quickly gets old. I dip into their minds and learn the dark secrets each one harbors. Representative Lee is wearing hot pink panties under his suit. His wife doesn't mind having the leverage over his head. Burns has a thing for cocaine and hookers, shocking because he's at least seventy. Maya Benavidez, the distinguished Mayor of Dallas, is having an affair with her secretary, Rose.

  Every last one of them has a dirty secret in their closet, and I wonder how we're supposed to bring morality back to town if no one here has any. Not that I can throw any stones. I've been having lust filled dreams about Elijah almost every night for a week. At least he is my husband. I just wish I could see him again. Maybe the dreams are the only way I can see him. I also know if he appeared in this car with me right now, I'd forget all about Sam.

  I'd be the biggest scandal in the world. The headline would read: Princess of Moral Integrity, Boots Cancer Curing Doc to the Curb over Affair with Hunky Stranger.

  No, I've made a choice– one that I can never return from. I've given up the notion of ever being with Elijah for the sake of my own sanity. Like most arranged marriages, I've grown to love Sam and couldn't imagine my life without him in it.

  Stephan is showing off his offspring to Elena as we make our way to the next meeting. He is beaming with pride and would gush for hours if we'd let him, but he keeps that eagerness tucked inside to keep his professional demeanor rock solid. From his taut jawline to his steeled muscles hidden under his blue suit, Stephen is a rock not easily broken.

  I hate being driven everywhere. I constantly worry about demon bird road blocks flipping my ride on its trunk, but things have been fairly calm the last few years. The calm before the storm I like to think. With Malphas gone for good, will another snake rise in his place? Or is Elijah just working really hard at keeping all of the attacks far from my sight? Maybe it's time I find out. I shoot Elena a text inviting her to stay for dinner with promises of red velvet cheesecake which renders an immediate response, and I let a laugh puff through my nose.

  I shoot the chef a text to let him know to make extra. The sun is beginning to set as we finally roll into the hilly terrain of home. Shades of salmon and citrus are brushed over the sky. I miss my beach house. I never could bring myself to sell it. I'm still hoping once this whole destiny thing is played out, I can return there and live a quiet life by the sea. They haven’t been clear on how many terms I have to stay in either office. I'm hoping for one term each which would keep me under their command for eight years. If I can be done with this whole mess by the time I'm forty, I'd be eternally grateful.

  At home, Stephen is relieved by the night guards, Ian and Brody. Elena takes a seat in the dining room with me and pours herself a glass of wine. She comes to offer me a glass, and I decline.

  "You're going to make me drink alone?"

  "Yeah, well if you'd been waking up like I have, you'd be thinking twice about it."

  "Oh, what's been going on?" Just as she asks her question, the chef brings out dinner. A plate of grilled salmon, asparagus spears and spicy quinoa looks mouthwatering. Once he's taken care of us, I lean in to her.

  "I doubt you want to hear about my passion filled dreams, but each night I drink a bit of wine. I wake up not remembering even going to sleep. It's probably because I'm not used to drinking, but
I don't like feeling as if I'm going crazy."

  "Wait, go back to the passion filled dreams. Who's the naughty night terror star?"

  I take a bite of my salmon and savor the char from the grill combined with the bold flavors the chef used. Elena waits with her glass paused at her lip, gently smirking as if she already knows the answer.

  "Elijah, of course."

  She smiles before taking a long sip of white wine. "You two can't even stay away in your subconscious. How much longer are you going to keep this up?"

  "I miss him," I say sinking down in my chair feeling a new wave of despair just because I mentioned his name a moment ago.

  "He's your soul mate. Frankly, I don't see how you're still functioning without his touch daily."

  "I'm sure he touches me daily. I just can't feel it."

  "He's touching you right now." The sultry look in her eye makes me wonder exactly where he's touching me. It sets every nerve on fire just thinking about it. I imagine his warm hands running down the length of my arms. "You are blushing like a nun at the cucumber farm."

  "Stop it. Now I need a glass of wine, thank you very much." She laughs at my misfortune and pours me a glass.

  "Why do you keep up the barrier between you two?"

  "You know why."

  "I'd like to hear it in your words."

  "Because if I could see Elijah, hold him in my arms and be held by him, I'd give up Sam in a nanosecond."

  "You'd give up Sam, and then what?"

  "Then I'd be the governor that left her husband for another man. Then people would hate me."

  "You think?" She polishes off her glass and pours us both another. I roll my eyes at the full glass. "Because you just convinced millions of Texans to trade their trucks in for a Prius. That alone should warrant feelings of hate. Showing the world that you're as susceptible to the influence of love as they are, would elicit nothing but compassion."

  "So you, an angel, are telling me I should go and commit adultery."

  "You have two husbands. It's more like polygamy. Sam and Elijah could have their own show, called Brother Husbands. You know instead of Sister Wives," She snorts out laughing at her own joke. I give her a much deserved smack.

  "You’re a sick soul Elena Kennedy, you know that."

  "Indeed, now where's this cheesecake you promised?"

  “Let’s take dessert outback. It’s such a nice night.”

  We each polish off a generous slice under the gentle breeze blowing in from the north. The wind chimes jingle softly and relax me even further. "You know Stephen is going to have to run ten miles with me in the morning now? Poor guy! He’ll probably be up all night again too."

  "Once a marine, always a marine, he can handle a little sleep deprivation and physical rigor."

  "What about you and Jesson? Do you want children? I mean, I don't even know if that's allowed."

  "It's not allowed. It's gifted and only in very special circumstances. Only if He decides we were to conceive, would we be able to."

  She sways back and forth in the rocking chair with her knees pulled to her chest. "So, my mother was given special permission to have me. I'm half angel, what if that's why I can't get pregnant. Maybe God doesn't want any more half breeds like me running around. Maybe I changed my destiny when I freed Malphas only so he could murder my best friend. God is punishing me."

  "He's not a cruel God. Malphas was cruel, Brennen." She looks past my shoulders, to Elijah perhaps. "I think it's time we tell her the truth."

  "What, Elena?"

  Elena sighs a deep breath. She looks out into the dark lawn lit only by strategically placed up-lights which wash the hillside in a romantic softness. A rare cool breeze wafts across the porch setting the wind chimes off like small symphony. They've hidden something from me.

  "Maybe you should have some more wine."

  I bolt up from the chair and move in front of her as quick as I can. "I don't need to be plied with booze to hear the truth. Just say it."

  "At least sit down."

  "Elena, get on with it."

  "The night you were attacked by Sam, with Malphas possessing him, he did something. He hurt your chances of ever carrying a baby, Brennen. We tried to heal you completely, but we couldn't. I'm so sorry."

  I take off the back porch and start to run, tears blowing off my cheeks as I accelerate down the field. The agents charge after me in fast pursuit. Elena is the only one who can keep up with me. She runs by my side and orders the agents to stand down. She's got everything under control.

  "Why would you let me go five years trying to get pregnant and not ever tell me that I couldn't? Why?"

  "We wanted you to have a normal life Brennen, not have your attack looming over your marriage like a dagger waiting to drop."

  "That evil son of a bitch took everything from me. He took a perfect love and destroyed it until it's unrecognizable. He took my father, Grandma, Emily, and now I learn that he took the one thing away from me that would erase every pain I have ever suffered. I will never know the love of my own children and be able to love them in return." I break into uncontrollable sobs and fall to my knees. I cry out, "Why?"

  A clap of thunder shudders my ribs with its roar. The sky lights up with dozens of lightning strikes all around us. Whoa, that one was really close.

  "We have to go, now!" Elena pulls me to my feet and transports us near the back porch.

  "What? Did I anger Him? Well, I'm angry too! I've done everything you people have asked me to do without a fight, and this is how I'm rewarded? I gave you my life. I had faith. I believed."

  "That wasn't Him."

  "No, just a random coincidence then, that twelve bolts of lightning just decided to aim their death rays at me. I can't believe I'm not a briquette of charcoal right now."

  "Yeah, there were thirteen strikes, and Elijah covered your body and took the hit. I've got to go check on him. Stay with Ian." The thumping of my erratically beating heart floods my ears as I realize Elijah is hurt.

  "No, I'm coming with you." I start running back out the door.

  Elena flashes in front of me, blocking the door. "Brennen, no. It's too dangerous. I'll be back with him in just a second."

  I clench my jaw but let her go without me. I pace the floor of the kitchen for what seems like hours. The clock over the buffet table ticks the seconds away like a gong reverberating in my ear.

  "Brennen, I'm in here," Elena calls from the parlor. I fly out of the kitchen's swinging door and nail the chef right in the nose.

  "Shoot, I am so sorry Chef. Are you alright?" Blood gushes out of his nose like a faucet, and he looks a little disoriented.

  "Hang on." I help get him into a kitchen chair and quickly shove some ice into a towel and place it on the bridge of his nose. "Keep that there for a minute. I have to go."

  I find Elena in the parlor and see Elijah's unconscious body lying on the floor. His wings splayed out over the rug, nearly fill the room. Many of feathers are black, singed from the heat. His perfect face hasn't aged a day in ten years. I fall in a heap over him and pull him too me. The familiar weight of his arm nestles over me. I search for other injuries. The way his skin feels under my touch elicits memories that I’ve kept hidden for far too long. I note his thick lashes dusting his cheeks and how his full lips lay closed softly making him pout. I've missed all of him for so many years. The last time I saw him was before my wedding five years ago, and that was only briefly.

  "Come on. He needs to go to Amorous and be healed." She lifts his body from the floor as if he weighs as much as a child. I grab her arm, and she transports us to the faraway place. We arrive on the familiar lit up platform, and the crowd parts immediately when they see who Elena is carrying in her arms.

  The bright light accosts my eyes as soon as we exit. I throw my arm up over my face and grab Elena's shirt just in time. An unknown hand places a pair of sunglasses in my hand, and I stop for a second to put them on. My eyes are still seeing white for a moment, but as so
on as we get into the darkened infirmary, I spot Inara right away. Elena lays Elijah down on a bed, and the team goes to work on him. They let me hold his hand as they work around me.

  "Elena, who did this?"

  "There is only one other who can control the weather."

  "Lucifer," Elijah croaks out, his voice sounding like he swallowed a bag of razor blades for breakfast.

  "You’re back. Thank God, you're okay." He pulls my body up on to the bed and presses my head into his chest, hugging me for a long while. He plants a kiss on the top of my head and sniffs like he's been crying. I turn my head up so I can see his face. His eyes are glassy, and the tip of his nose is red.

  "I would have danced in every thunderstorm for the last thirteen years, if I'd known this was all it took to get you back in my arms." We all chuckle a little at his sense of humor at a time like this.

  "Ha ha funny man, Satan is after your wife. Now's not the time for jokes," Elena chastises.

  "Sam's gone. She can spend her nights here in Amorous where it's safe."

  "Only if that's okay with her. Up until five minutes ago, she couldn't bear to look at you."

  "Would ya'll quit talking about me as if I wasn't here?"

  "See she reverts to speaking in hick when she's stressed. She clearly needs more work."

  "Elena!" both Elijah and I shout out at her.

  The thought of spending five minutes alone with Elijah has me ready to take up his hand and haul him out of here already, so the mention of entire nights, for months on end, makes me need him out of here right now. God, how did I make it all these years without seeing him? Elijah's right. I probably would have danced the polka in a hurricane just to see him once again. The only difference is that I could have reversed the order at any time.

  "We both know she's perfect. Now, if you don't mind, I haven't seen my wife in a very long time."

  Hearing Elijah call me his wife so possessively cinches my heart shut. Elena goes to open her mouth, but she thinks twice and leaves us alone in the room.