by Sarah Wynde
Akira had stayed to translate for Dillon which meant he had a chance to say a full good-bye to everyone — all of his family members and friends. It was one last opportunity to talk until they met again, someday down the road.
It had been an amazing day, The best part had been seeing his parents holding hands as they promised each other forever. Or maybe the best part had been watching Grace sparkling with happy energy as she danced with Noah. Or... well, it had all been good.
“This is it, then?” Akira said to Dillon, as she set her keys down on the table by the door.
He nodded, chest swelling with certainty.
This was it.
From upstairs, the impassioned cry of an angry baby carried through the house. Akira glanced at the stairs and sighed. “She wants me. I should go rescue Zane.”
“Good luck with that,” Sophia said. “That baby has good lungs.”
Akira gave a wry smile. “Rose says Henry’s just mad about being so helpless. Apparently she’s starting to forget, though. She’s beginning to sleep more.”
“Will Rose be upstairs with her?” Dillon asked.
Akira shook her head and gestured toward the kitchen. “Not if the baby’s still crying. She’ll be out back. She doesn’t like it that she can’t comfort her.” Akira yawned widely, then covered her mouth, blinking. “Sorry.”
“You’re tired. You should go to bed,” Dillon said.
Akira nodded, but she didn’t move. Her eyes were on Dillon. She bit her lip.
“Thanks for everything,” he said. He opened his mouth, then closed it again. It felt like there was so much more to say, but a universe of words wouldn’t be enough to tell her how he felt, how grateful he was for everything she had done for him.
She ducked her head in an awkward nod. “You, too. I’m gonna miss you.”
Dillon grinned at her. “Never know, I might be back.” He tilted his chin up toward the sounds of the wailing baby. “I’ll try not to be quite so noisy if I make it back that way.”
She chuckled. For another long moment, they looked at one another, wordlessly saying all the things there were no words for, and then Akira exhaled, turned, and headed up the stairs.
Dillon headed toward the kitchen, Sophia trailing him, and through the back door. The yard was dark and shadowy, but the streetlights and moon provided enough light that the pool area was clearly visible.
Rose was sitting on the edge of the pool, feet dangling in the water, her back toward them.
The backyard boys were playing, the way they always did, running across the surface of the pool as if it weren’t there. They were faders, all the color gone, but their bodies still distinct enough that Dillon could see their shorts and wide collars and the suspenders over the shirt on one of them
He sat down next to Rose.
“Oh, hello,” she said, but she didn’t look at him. Her head was tilted to the side, her eyes on the boys. “How were the fireworks?”
“Good,” he replied.
“Really colorful,” Sophia said, sitting down next to him. “And really loud.”
“Mmm.” Rose gave a murmur of acknowledgement.
“Who are they?” Sophia asked, nodding toward the boys. It was the first time she’d ever been in Akira’s backyard. Noah had never had a reason to visit during the time he’d stayed in Tassamara, and Sophia had been traveling with him ever since he left.
“They’ve been here since before Rose,” Dillon answered.
But Rose pointed, first to the one in suspenders, then the other. “That’s Willie, that’s Charlie.”
“You know their names?” Dillon asked, surprised. The boys didn’t talk. If you listened hard, you could hear them laughing sometimes, but mostly they just ran, spending their eternity in a perpetual game of tag.
“Oh, sure.” Rose sighed, then turned to look at him. She smiled. “It’s time?”
“Yeah.” Dillon nodded.
He’d tried to think of ways to convince Rose to come with them, but none of the risks of being a spirit in the material world mattered to her. She wasn’t in danger if a vortex opened up and she knew how to manage her energy. He’d been worried about her fading, but ever since they’d saved Noah, she just seemed to get brighter and brighter. These days she almost glowed.
And if she stayed, she could keep an eye on Henry, and maybe help Kenzi. He understood why she wouldn’t come with them.
He still wished she would.
“All right, then.” She scrambled to her feet.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come?” Dillon said, following suit.
She wrinkled her nose. “Don’t be silly. Of course I’m coming. But not alone.”
Dillon blinked in surprise as Rose stepped out onto the water. Walking across the pool, she stopped in the middle of the boys’ game of tag and spread her arms wide. The boys kept running. Past her and through her and then back again, and with every time through, they grew more solid, until she grabbed their arms.
“Is she coming with us after all?” Sophia asked as she stood up.
“I think she might be,” Dillon said.
Colors flowed into the boys’ forms, their hair growing dark, skin turning brown, shorts deepening to blue, shirts to white and beige.
With a laughing protest, one of them said, “No fair, Rose. You’re not It!”
The other said, “Rose, Rose, are you going to play with us again?”
Smiling, Rose slid her hands down to hold hands with them and tugged them both toward the side of the pool where Dillon and Sophia stood waiting.
“Hello!” Willie, the younger of the boys, offered a gap-toothed smile to Dillon and Sophia. “Are you going to play, too?”
“Oh, jolly fun.” Charlie swung on Rose’s hand. “What are we playing?”
“Good question,” Rose said. “I think it’s time for a new game.”
She smiled at Dillon and if her smile was a little wry, her eyes a little sad, he understood.
Leaving was hard.
But he grinned at her as he grabbed the closest boy’s hand and said, “Let’s go be butterflies.”
It was time.
Acknowledgments
A Gift of Grace took me forever to write. Okay, not forever. But close to four years, and it sure felt like forever. Along the way, it went through innumerable versions, multiple plots, and even some major character changes. I’m not sure how I persisted, but I’m pretty sure I couldn’t have done so without the support of my writing buddies: Lynda Haviland, Angela Daniels, Joyce Bittle, and Tim Nutting. Thanks, guys!
I am also very grateful to my beta readers: Tim Nutting, Allison Hubble, Natalie Solomon, Barbara Gavin, Lynda Haviland and Carol Westover. Thank you for taking the time to point out errors, ask questions, and let me know what worked and didn’t work for you. Letting go isn’t easy, but your help made it possible. Thank you!
Thank you also to all the readers who’ve sent me nice emails over the years. When writing Grace became a marathon, your encouragement was the cool water and orange wedges that I desperately needed.
Finally, much thanks to my family. It’s been a long road, with plenty of self-doubt along the way, but your faith in me never wavered. Love you!
Author’s Note
For a free short story about Maggie’s arrival in town, plus news of new releases and giveaways, please sign up for my mailing list at www.sarahwynde.com.
And if your retailer allows e-book lending, please feel free to share this book with a friend.
Thanks for reading!
* * *
Find me online at:
www.sarahwynde.com
[email protected]
Books and Stories by Sarah Wynde
The Tassamara Series
A Gift of Ghosts
Akira has secrets. But so does the town of Tassamara.
Akira Malone believes in the scientific method, evolution, and Einstein’s theory of relativity. And ghosts.
All the logic and reason
in the world can’t protect her from the truth—she can see and communicate with spirits. But Akira is sure that her ability is just a genetic quirk and the ghosts she encounters simply leftover electromagnetic energy. Dangerous electromagnetic energy.
Zane Latimer believes in telepathy, precognition, auras, and that playing Halo with your employees is an excellent management technique. He also thinks that maybe, just maybe, Akira can help his family get in touch with their lost loved ones.
But will Akira ever be able to face her fears and accept her gift? Or will Zane’s relatives be trapped between life and death forever?
A Gift of Thought
Sylvie swore she’d never go back to Tassamara. She was wrong.
At seventeen, Sylvie Blair left her infant son with his grandparents while she went shopping. She never returned. Twenty years later, she’s devastated to learn of his early, untimely death. But although Dillon’s body is long since buried, his spirit lingers on.
And he’s not real happy.
He doesn’t like his mom’s job—too dangerous. He doesn’t like her apartment—too boring. And he definitely doesn’t like her love life—non-existent.
But when Dillon decides that his parents should be living happily ever after, he sets them on a path that leads deeper and deeper into danger. Can Sylvie let go of the past and embrace the future? And can Dillon survive the deadly energy he unwittingly unleashes?
The Spirits of Christmas: A Tassamara Short Story
Akira’s plans are simple: write wedding invitations, bake Christmas cookies, and eat red meat. (The last surprises her, too.) But when Rose, the ghost who haunts her house, asks for a favor, Akira can’t say no. Although she’s faced danger before, even death, a toddler who doesn’t like peanut-butter-and-jelly might be her worst nightmare.
A Gift of Time
She thought she could see everything. Time is proving her wrong.
Ten years ago, Natalya’s ability to remember the future cost her the life she wanted when her vision of her fiancé’s death tore them apart. Ever since, she’s considered her precognition more of a curse than a gift. How can she live in the present when the future looms so large?
But when the night she’s long dreaded finally arrives, Natalya’s vision and reality diverge. She and her ex, Colin, are drawn into a web of the unexplained, led by a mysterious little girl. Who is Kenzi? And where did she come from? The little girl might be the reason Fate has spared Colin’s life, but could she also bring Natalya and Colin together again?
With Colin, Kenzi, her family, the townspeople of Tassamara, and a set of circumstances that nobody could foresee, Natalya must solve the puzzle of a lifetime. Her discovery that her gift is not the only one at work will change the lives of everyone around her, as time becomes precious in a most unexpected way.
The Wedding Guests: A Tassamara Short Story
Meredith Mulcahey doesn’t have time for love but when unexpected guests attend Akira and Zane’s wedding, her life will change forever. Will it be for better or for worse?
For fans of the Tassamara series, this short story (16,000 words) takes place at the wedding of the main characters from A Gift of Ghosts, after the events of A Gift of Time. One reviewer calls it, "a super fun, sassy, and supernatural story you don’t want to miss!”
A Gift of Grace
The voices are driving him crazy. And he’s driving them crazy, too.
For Noah Blake, pretending to be normal is getting harder by the day. A brush with death in Iraq has left him suffering from chronic auditory hallucinations. Ignoring the voices he hears isn’t always easy, but Noah knows it’s better than the alternatives.
Yet when a mysterious redhead hands him a seemingly innocuous business card, a new voice — that of a teenage boy — becomes too insistent to deny. It wants him to go to Tassamara. It swears he’ll find help there.
It’s bad enough to have hallucinations, but doing what they say is bound to lead to disaster.
Isn’t it?
Also:
A Lonely Magic
Nothing is what it seems…
Fen, a street-smart, 21-year-old orphan with anxiety issues, thinks she has her life under control. Then a gorgeous stranger tries to kill her. WTF?
A mysterious boy, Luke, and his sexy older brother, Kaio, come to her rescue, whisking her off to a glamorous Caribbean island and supposed safety. But the island’s atmosphere simmers with unnerving undercurrents. The brothers have secrets and Fen has questions. Who are they? How did they know she was in trouble? And what aren’t they telling her?
When Luke takes her to a magical underwater city, she discovers answers more enchanting than she could have imagined. But the enchantment has dark edges. Fen finds herself caught in tides of romance, mystery, and political intrigue, with her life and the fate of all humanity on the line. If she hopes to stay afloat, she’ll have to find courage she never knew she had.
A Lonely Magic contains no explicit sexual scenes or graphic violence, but Fen’s not shy about swearing when she’s under stress – and she’s under plenty of stress.
36 Questions: A Very Short Story
Can answering thirty-six questions really make you fall in love?
Charlotte isn’t convinced that speed-dating using the New York Times’ “36 Questions for Intimacy” is going to be any better than any other form of modern dating. But she’s willing to give it a try.
Discover the unexpected results in this short story (2400 words) that one reader described as "feel good” and another called "seriously fun.”
Don't miss out!
Click the button below and you can sign up to receive emails whenever Sarah Wynde publishes a new book. There's no charge and no obligation.
https://books2read.com/r/B-A-UJO-QVDU
Connecting independent readers to independent writers.