He rubbed my arm as I finished the story, aware of what I had done.
“He would have done it again,” he finally said, quietly.
“I know. That’s why I stopped him. Truthfully, I only intended to scare him, but a part of me knew what could happen,” I replied, the weight of my choice heavy in my chest. He kissed my forehead, a gentle pressure that warmed the ice trying to form inside me. It felt like absolution.
“Go take a shower. You’ll feel better. I’ll scrounge up some food from the vending machine,” he told me, encouraging me to move.
The hot water cleansed me. Not just my body, but for the first time, from the sins I carried. The choices I had made over the years hadn’t always made me proud, and their weight had held me prisoner. I was lighter as I stepped from the shower and toweled off. Throwing on a pair of yoga pants and a t-shirt I had scrounged from the duffle bag Garvin packed, I walked back into the room, skidding to a stop at the sight in front of me.
“Serafin!” I cried, overjoyed to see her. I threw myself on the bed that she was curled up on, and she opened one eye at me, wondering why I disturbed her sleep. I ignored her disgruntlement and began stroking her. The purr that rumbled up from her told me I was forgiven, and I relaxed for the first time that day.
A few minutes later, Luke returned, his own hair wet from the shower he must have taken before raiding the vending machine. He stopped short at the sight of Serafin next to me, but shrugged and dumped the food on the other bed.
“I don’t think I have the energy to ask tonight,” he muttered, ripping open a pack of peanut butter crackers and offering one to me. I smiled and accepted it, too tired to try and explain her apparent ability to find me, no matter the distance.
Chapter Ten
The next morning, I woke up curled next to Luke, little spoon to his big spoon. I laughed quietly, remembering all of my internal debate over one room or two and we still wound up sleeping together. After eating our snack crackers, we had sat next to one another talking about what we might find in the morning. At some point, I must have fallen asleep against him.
As I laid there, feeling the gentle rise and fall of his chest, I tried to remember the last time I had felt as at peace as I did in his arms. No moments presented themselves to me, and I knew it was because I hadn’t been complete, until we had found one another. The idea that I needed him to feel complete terrified me only slightly, my terror soothed by his embrace. The incongruity of the two feelings didn’t escape me. Emotions I’d repressed for years kept trying to flare to life, demanding to be felt. He had opened a gate of some kind inside of me, one that only he apparently held the key to, because as hard as I tried, I couldn’t force it closed again.
I flipped over, anxious to see his face. His jaw was shadowed from the stubble he hadn’t had a chance to shave. I reached up, wanting to feel if it was soft or prickly. My fingers brushed against his face, the stubble on it tickling my hand. His soft lips curled upward at my touch, indicating to me that I had successfully woken him up.
His eyes cracked opened, their piercing dark blue hue a noticeable difference from my own neon blue color. His voice was husky from sleep as he said, “This is how I want to wake up every day for the rest of my life.” A brilliant smile lit my face at his words, and I leaned over to kiss him on the cheek. The soft bristle from his whiskers changed to the smooth softness of his lips as he turned his head to meet my kiss. He shifted on to his back, and I leaned over him, my hand planted firmly on the slab of muscle that was his abs.
We kissed slowly, softly, each gentle press of our mouths a discovery. One of his hands buried itself in my hair as the other one rested against my side. I felt his light exhale, as I bumped my nose against his cheek, rubbing against the coarseness of his beard. I curled my body tighter into him, nuzzling my way to his neck, where I breathed deeply, his musky scent more enticing to me than any cologne. He rumbled in pleasure when I pressed a kiss against the curve of his neck. He kept his hand tucked into my side, rolling to face me. My shirt had ridden up and his hand rested on my bare skin, the touch a hot brand, marking me.
He raised my head with his other hand, nudging my chin gently with his thumb. The look in his eyes caught me off guard as he said, “I’m not kidding. This is how I want to spend forever. With you in my arms.” There was a seriousness and a certainty reflecting from his eyes that eased my own butterflies. I wasn’t the only one that needed us to feel complete. The words I wanted to say swelled and became stuck in my throat, leaving me unable to do anything but nod. My expression must have been enough though, because the smile that lit his face made the sun look dim in comparison. He kissed me tenderly, his tongue asking for entrance, which I willingly gave. The deep slow strokes of his tongue turned into gentle nibbles as his hands caressed my skin. He pulled away from me slowly, both of us breathing heavily.
If a single kiss could bind two souls together, then we had bound ourselves for eternity.
“Forever,” I promised him.
After, for a few moments, we silently agreed nothing else physical would be happening, so we got up. We packed up our gear and headed to the last known address we had for the Maxwell family. The area was filled with modest ranch homes, a neighborhood designed for families. We cruised by the house, checking the numbers to see if we had found it. The grass was cut, a child’s playset visible in the yard. It was painted a soothing blue with white trim. I didn’t know why I stared at it so hard. I knew she hadn’t grown up here. I rolled the window down, feeling the dry heat hit me as I did.
“Do you want to knock on the door?” Luke asked me, shifting the car into park, but leaving it idling. There were no cars in the driveway, and we both knew no one was home, but he could see that I wanted to go up to the house. Before I could answer, Serafin jumped out of the window and darted across the street.
“Where did she go?” Luke asked, panicked at the thought of something happening to her. He turned the car off before hopping out to get her. I got out more slowly and saw her sitting on the steps of a house. With Serafin, nothing she did was random, so she must want me to find something here.
We walked up to the house, with Luke following behind me now. Something in my expression clued him in that we were here for a reason. Serafin looked at me, her tail twitching, as she blinked her wide green eyes. I turned from her and pressed the doorbell.
Chimes rang throughout the house, and Serafin ran back to the SUV, jumping in through the same window she’d jumped out of.
“Well, hell. This rabbit hole only gets deeper,” Luke muttered behind me, witnessing Serafin’s behavior. My lips twitched, but the door swung open before I smiled.
“Hi, can I help you?” A woman, mid-forties maybe, her dark hair cut in a bob, stood before me. She probably had kids my age, I thought, and I wondered if she knew the Maxwell’s.
“I hope so,” I answered her. “I’m looking for the Maxwell family. They used to live across the street.” I waved at the house we were parked in front of. “This is the last known address I have for them.”
“The Maxwell’s?” A soft smile crossed her face. “They’ve been gone for, goodness, fourteen years it’s been. I was good friends with Nancy and her husband, Frank. They adopted the most adorable little girl, right before they moved. What was her name?” She tapped her chin thoughtfully.
“Katie! Yes, that was it.”
“Do you know where they went?” I asked her, curiously, wondering if that was why Serafin led me to her.
A sad look came across her face at my question, and I knew the answer.
“No, I never spoke to her again. It was abrupt, their move.” She looked puzzled. “They were so excited to get little Katie, and then not even two weeks later they moved without a word. No forwarding address, just gone.” I nodded, they had taken the advice they were given, now it was just a matter of seeing if we could find them another way. She looked at me curiously. “Why are you looking for them?” she asked me.
“I b
elieve they adopted my sister, the little girl Katie.” I answered her honestly, not concerned about someone following us here. A look of understanding crossed her face and then a brilliant smile. She got excited and told us, “Wait here!”
We looked at one another, curious what she was about. A few minutes later, she returned holding something in her hand. She gave it to me, and I froze, staring at it.
It was a picture of the house across the street, a couple standing in front of it with a little girl in front of them. There was no mistaking those guinea curls. She was older, probably eight in the picture, but the same happy smile I remembered. “Kincaid,” I whispered, running my finger over her in the picture.
“That’s her, their little girl. I took that picture a couple of days before they left. I hadn’t even developed it, before they were gone.” She smiled wistfully. “I’ve always wondered what happened to them, but I had never seen two happier people than those two when they adopted her. She was their dream come true.”
I smiled at the thought, at her bright smile beaming back from me in the picture. I couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to her. By the age of sixteen something had gone wrong, but I was grateful she had those years before.
“Would you like to keep it?” I looked up at her, surprised, and she smiled. “It seems like it should be with you. A memento, until you can find her.” I nodded, tears choking my throat. I looked again at the picture, proof that she had been safe. A gentle hand touched my arm, drawing my attention. She looked at me with a painful smile. “If you find her, and Nancy, will you let her know I’ve thought about her many times over the years?” Again, I nodded, stronger now.
“I will, I promise.” She smiled at me and said, “I wish you luck.”
We were back in the SUV, Luke holding my hand, as I studied the picture again when one of our phones rang. The sound startled me, as it was the first time I had thought of the phones Garvin had given us. Luke reached out and snagged it, sliding to answer the phone before putting it on speaker.
“Hey,” I said, having to clear my throat to get any volume.
“Lord, girl, you could call. It’s a two-way street. When are you coming home? And, Roe, I done lost Serafin. Now don't shoot me! I got search parties looking in every bush. I will find that cat. Oh, and I got the woman that you wanted me to find. I stashed her at my momma’s.” He paused to take a breath, and I jumped in.
“I’ve got Serafin,” I told him, because I knew he probably did have search parties combing his property, with bowls of tuna in their hands, looking for my cat.
“How?” he asked, bewildered. “Oh, I don’t even want to know with that cat.”
Luke interrupted us then, with a serious voice asking, “You didn’t kidnap that woman did you?” I could hear the strain at the thought that Garvin had committed a felony at our behest.
“No,” Garvin replied indignantly. “Like I need to kidnap a woman. Please. I wasn’t named for Marvin Gaye without reason.”
Luke looked at me baffled and mouthed, “What reason?” I shrugged helplessly. That was a story I had avoided over the years, for fear I would be blinded by the telling.
“Anyway, back to me,” he piped in over the phone. “You’re a witch! And that cat is your familiar, which is why I was looking for it, but apparently that was unnecessary. Have you found your sister?”
“No, not yet.” I answered the obvious question first, trying to wrap my mind around the bomb Garvin had just dropped. A witch. The pieces slid into place then; the unexplainable things, the suspicions. They all began to make sense with that one little word.
“Well you should come home. The woman has something to say, but she only wants to talk to you,” Garvin told us, and I nodded.
“We’ll head back now,” Luke replied. “But is it safe?” he asked Garvin.
“Go to my momma’s house for now. I think whatever the woman tells you will make your decision,” Garvin answered enigmatically.
“I’ll see you soon,” I said, before hanging up the phone. Luke shifted the car into drive and pulled away from the curb. I gave a last glance at the house before looking at the picture in my hand.
“Thank you, Serafin,” I said, softly, to which she gave a loud meow before curling up on one of the duffel bags.
We took turns driving back, driving through the night to get home quicker. Neither of us mentioned what Garvin had told us. When we talked, it was about normal things, foods and music we liked, books we had read, anything but the reason why we were driving across the country. I was napping when we crossed the Tennessee line, only a couple of hours away from home, when I woke up and saw it—a sign with a big orange T on it.
My mind flashed back to the dream and little Kincaid answering our mother, ‘A big sign with an orange T on it and a man with black hair, black as a raven!’
I looked at Luke sitting next to me, his hair a chestnut brown, clearly not as black as a raven’s wing. He glanced at me, and I asked him, “What’s that sign for? The one with the orange T?”
He looked at me funny, but answered readily, “The Tennessee Volunteers.” He gave a laugh before saying, “You live in Tennessee but don’t recognize the college team?”
Excitement started to race through me. It couldn’t be that simple. She couldn’t possibly have wound up in the same state as me. It was too much of a coincidence. Our mother had scattered us across the country from one another. “College?”
He was puzzled by my excitement. That much was clear. “Yeah, the University of Tennessee. That’s the school’s emblem. A big orange T.”
I flopped back against the seat, sighing even as a huge smile crossed my face. She was close.
It was late again, when we pulled up to Garvin’s mother’s house. While Garvin lived in an old Southern plantation house, she lived in a condo in the center of town. It was large and luxurious, allowing her to maintain a separate home from Garvin without any of the maintenance she abhorred. She had moved out of the family estate a couple of years after I met Garvin, hoping he would settle down with a family when she did. I could only imagine her glee when Garvin dropped a woman on her doorstep.
“Be ready,” I warned Luke when we arrived. “Garvin didn’t get his dramatics from his father.” He nodded, looking at the massive building. “You weren’t kidding about the money.”
I shook my head, seeing the massive entrance inlaid with marble floors, the ever present doorman, and a security guard by the elevator to check our ID before allowing us up. She lived in the lap of luxury, and it was easy for me to forget, having known them so long. They seemed normal to me by this point, but this way of life was not the one I had known growing up, and from Luke’s expression, his either.
The butler answered the door, impeccably dressed even at ten thirty at night. “She has retired for the evening. She will see you in the morning. Allow me to escort you to your rooms,” he informed us before turning to walk down the hall. I glanced at Luke before following Jean Luc. “Jean Luc, what time is breakfast?” I knew that if we missed it, we were out of luck. She didn’t allow tardy attendance at meals.
“Nine, sharp,” he replied, stopping at a door. “This is your room. You, sir, follow me.” Luke gave me a wide eyed look to which I smiled encouragingly. Jean Luc was all bark and no bite, unlike Momma Garvin.
When I entered the room, I saw Serafin stretched out on my pillow and grimaced.
“Don’t let anyone catch you!” I hissed at her, knowing Momma Garvin’s aversion to pets, especially cats. She considered them Satan’s minions, and a black cat in her house would be enough for her to get the priest here to do an exorcism. Serafin only blinked at me before proceeding to groom herself.
I dropped my bag on the bed and headed for the shower. The bathroom was enormous, with heated floors and towel racks. The shower resembled an elegant car wash with its dozens of showerheads. I set the water temperature for the shower before stripping down. The paleness of my skin caught my eye, and I turned toward t
he mirror.
I studied myself, wondering if Luke thought I was beautiful. My eyes were easily my most dramatic feature, their blue color almost unnatural. My hair was shoulder length and dark brown with a waviness that drove me nuts. The rest of me could all be easily described as average. My face was symmetrical with a clear complexion, my skin pale, because tanning would only give me wrinkles, according to Garvin. My body was nothing to brag about, slender and strong, because I ran, but I didn’t have big breasts or a butt to speak of.
I rolled my eyes at myself, scooting under the hot spray of water. I was pretty sure he appreciated how I looked, based on some of the admiring glances I had caught, but there wasn’t much I could do otherwise. I snickered, because casting an illusion to change my appearance clearly wouldn’t work on him.
I slept dreamlessly, my memories leaving me in peace for once. Or perhaps it was just the incredibly comfortable mattress. I was woken up when a large body landed next to me on the bed.
“Rise and Shine!” an annoyingly cheerful voice caroled right next to my ear.
“Do you know what witches do to obnoxiously cheerful morning people?” I paused for effect. “They kill them, Garvin.”
“And who's a grumpy bear this morning?” Garvin asked, poking me in the side. I smiled into my pillow as he shrieked. “Turn it off. Oh Jesus. Roe!” Suddenly, Garvin was under the covers with me, hiding from the clown I’d created.
“Serves you right,” I muttered around a huge yawn. He frowned at me ferociously, but quickly abandoned it for more interesting topics.
“So how was he? He looks like he could go all night,” Garvin asked, causing me to drop my head into the pillow with a groan. “You can’t hold out on me! I tell you everything.”
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