by Laurel Veil
“I’ll do it,” said Morris softly. He carefully wedged the edge of the shovel up under the lid and pushed down until the lid was high enough to slip his fingers under. Brit took the shovel and tossed it to the side and helped him raise the lid.
I held my breath and Ty’s hand as I shined a flashlight inside the coffin.
“Well?” asked Ty.
“This is definitely Sandra’s work,” said Brit. We all exhaled, and she immediately got busy trying to resuscitate Ty’s dad.
Brit worked without stopping, and at the first sign of life, we hoisted Ty’s dad up and out of his grave and filled it back in as quickly as we could.
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Ty’s mom gasped, and Ben cheered when Ty stepped through the door with his dad. They ran to each other and embraced. I couldn’t help but watch for a moment, before quietly closing the door behind me.
“Hey,” I said to Brit when I walked up to the fire she was sitting by out back.
She nodded and continued staring blankly into the flames.
“I just wanted to say thanks for what you did for Ty.” I paused nervously waiting for a snarky response. “And me,” I quickly added.
“Whatever,” she said.
“What you did for us isn’t nothing. It’s a big deal, Brit. We really owe you.”
“You don’t owe me anything,” she said sounding annoyed.
“OK, fine. So, you helped us out of the kindness of your heart.”
“Would you just stop!”
Her tone was harsh, even for her. But, instead of leaving, I took a seat on a log across from her and watched the fire in silence as well. What did I ever do to her to deserve the way she treated me? I tried to keep my mouth shut, but I just couldn’t let it go this time. “Did I say something—”
“Stop.”
“No. You’re not going to shut me up again. What did I do that makes you hate me? If it was Ty—”
“I said, stop.”
“Ty was mine first. You tried to steal him from me, not the other way around.”
Brit shook her head and sighed incredulously. “What I’m feeling isn’t about some stupid guy I barely know. I just did that to get at you.”
“But why?”
Realizing she’d said something she didn’t mean to, Brit instantly clammed up.
“Why, Brit? I’m not going to let this go this time until I finally get some answers. Why did you feel the need to get at me? To take Ty from me?”
The way she looked at me, I thought she was going to leap across the fire and attack me. “Because you took my mother!”
“What?”
“Sandra is my mother,” she said bitterly.
I stared at Brit for what felt like an eternity.
“I had no idea.”
“How could you? You were little and it’s not like she talked about me.”
“And, I didn’t take her.”
“I know that. You were a child. But, growing up, it felt that way, like she chose you over me.”
“You’ve been mad at me for something I didn’t do. If it makes you feel any better, she treated me like crap. She never wanted me.”
“I realize that now.” She was thoughtful for a moment. “When my mom came to me the other night, I was hoping she had come to ask me for forgiveness. Of course, I was wrong. That’s when she asked me to help her acquire the use of your mom’s body. It was then that I realized there was no hope for her. There’s nothing maternal about her. She didn’t choose you over me, she chose your father. She’s obsessed with him and will stop at nothing to have him.”
“I’m so sorry, Brit.”
“Don’t be. It turns out, you had it much worse than me having her around. At least I had my Aunt Ruby.”
“Ruby is your aunt?”
She nodded. “My dad’s sister. It was Aunt Ruby who put Sandra in that coma.”
“What? Why?”
“The first time my mom ever came back here, was after your dad was captured by Landon. I thought she was coming for me. I was an idiot. She’d come for your dad. She’d heard he’d been imprisoned. I warned her that everyone knew what she’d done. That she could be captured too or even killed.” Brit’s voice caught. “She didn’t care. She was willing to take the risk. I begged her to run away with me, but she refused.” Brit shook her head incredulously. “She was willing to face jail or death over me. I had never hated her more than at that moment. I wanted to punish her. To keep her from the one person she loved more than anyone. I devised a plan and Ruby helped me execute it. To your world we made it appear she’d had an automobile accident and was suffering from brain injuries. Ruby was hexing her the entire time.”
“That’s why Ruby had to return now and then, to keep her under the spell?” I said.
Brit nodded. “I knew it wouldn’t last forever—but, it was so good while it lasted. I thought I was killing two birds with one stone. I was keeping her from your dad and you from her. I hated you so much for so long.” She was quiet for a moment. “You know, I was planning to shoot you that night in the garden.”
I was speechless.
“The only reason you’re here, is because Dirk stopped me since Landon wanted you. When I realized shooting Ty hurt you worse than an arrow through your own chest, I didn’t fight Dirk anymore and let him have you.”
“Something inside of you stopped you from letting him die.”
“At first, maybe. But then I told myself, saving him would torture you more. You were already going to be forced to be with someone you didn’t want to be with. But then, to see Ty with someone else on top of it all—” Here voice drifted off. “I think that was when I first started to realize, I was as obsessed with you as my mom had been with your dad.” She sighed. “I went to your home that night, because I was curious to see where my mom had spent my childhood. It was pretty pathetic. That’s when I first began to realize too, that maybe life wasn’t so rosy for you after all.”
“That’s putting it mildly.”
“I had no idea how terrible she was to you.” She looked thoughtful for a long moment. “I—I’m sorry for having done that to you.”
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but…I guess I can understand why you felt the way you did. We were both victims of Sandra’s selfishness.” As I sat there, I thought about how I had Ty and my parents back. But Brit had just lost her mom all over again. “Are you going to be OK?”
“I’ll be fine. I’m Brit the huntress. Brit the warrior.”
“You’ve had to be strong to survive for sure. But, I think you are so much more than that.”
“Such as?”
“Are you kidding? You’re a healer, Brit.”
I could tell by the way her expression softened, the thought had never crossed her mind. She looked doubtful though.
“If you don’t believe me, just look what you did for Ty, his parents, Ben and my mother.” She didn’t affirm what I had said, but she didn’t deny it either, so I continued. “I have a secret.”
“Oh?” she seemed to perk up.
“Yeah, there’s something I’ve been planning to do when things settled down around here.”
“What’s that?”
“I want to go back to my foster home. There’s a girl named Cammy, and a boy named Connor who are staying there now. They're being mistreated. I want to bring them here. And, I was thinking, maybe you could help me.” When she didn’t say something sarcastic, I kept going. “There will always be strays and kids no one wants, maybe we could help them all.”
She rolled her eyes, like it was the stupidest thing she’d ever heard. I just had to push it. I felt like an idiot as I watched her go to her horse and hoist herself up. “We’ll see,” she said before popping the reigns and taking off into the night.
“So, you’re saying there’s a chance?” I called out after her, but she kept going. I sat quietly for a while replaying all that had recently transpired in my life. I was feeling grateful but there was still something miss
ing—someone. And, I knew what I needed to do.
27.
Though I was holding Ty’s hand, I was still very nervous as I stood before the Seers. Odessa spoke first, and she was looking at me. “We wondered, after you left last time, why you had come all
this way—”
“And, did not ask us then,” Diligence completed Odessa’s sentence.
I looked at Ty. “Go on,” he encouraged me.
I drew strength from his eyes and took a deep breathe.
“I had hoped that you could tell me how I might see someone once again. Someone,” my voice caught, “who is very dear to me.”
“A child,” said Joy.
“Yes,” I whispered in awe of their ability. They listened in silence as I went on to explain about Jackson, although I felt like it was unnecessary because they probably already knew. “And,” I concluded, “since he had the ability to time travel, I was hoping that maybe—”
Odessa spoke first, “Jackson may have had the ability to time travel, but—”
“You cannot see him,” said Sorrow.
I felt like Sorrow had just ripped my heart from my chest. My insides ached. Ty put a protective arm around me.
A gentle smile touched Grace’s lips. “He may have been able to time travel, but he could never be in two places at once.”
“I suppose not,” I said, not really understanding.
Ty looked down at me and pulled me snuggly to his side. His touch or even just his smile always made my heartbeat quicken. It was unbelievable to me how not so long ago, I didn’t even know who he was. Now, I couldn’t imagine my life without him. Just the thought made my insides shudder.
“He makes her heart race,” said Charity.
“But not just hers,” said Sorrow.
I felt myself bristle under Ty’s arm. Who else liked Ty? Was it Brit they were referring to? Or, was there someone else I had to be concerned about now?
Joy’s gasp startled me. “You are right, Sorrow. There are two heartbeats. It’s a baby!”
“Do you mean?” said Ty.
“Yes!” said Joy. “She is with child.”
I instinctively touched my stomach. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I looked at Ty. His eyes looked glassy. He leaned down and kissed my forehead.
“Now you know why you can not see him,” said Sorrow.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“He’s within you,” said Joy. “The child you’d wished to see.”
“But—I thought Jackson was Landon’s son.” Dumbfounded, I looked at Ty.
“There were little signs all along that Jackson could be our son,” he said.
He was right. Ty’s grandfather’s name was Jackson. Had we named Jackson after his great grandfather? Ty had also said that as a child he had the same speech impediment as Jackson. And Ben—Uncle Ben has an unusual gift like Jackson. He hears sounds and vibrations people give off and Jackson sees the colors they emit.
Odessa closed her eyes for the longest minute of my life. When she finally opened them, I held my breath. “No. He is not King Landon’s son, though that is what he and Jackson had believed. In an alternate future, the one which Jackson has traveled from, King Landon had once again forced you into marriage by threatening to kill your father. But, unbeknownst even to you, you were already with child. Years later, when Landon finally learned the truth, in a fit of rage, he took your life.”
“Jackson believed the king was his dad. You were uncertain Princess, but you said nothing at first to protect Jackson’ life. Jackson thought he was giving his life, to save yours,” said Charity.
My face was wet with tears.
“That’s right,” said Odessa. “Jackson had only known Ty, as your dear friend.”
Before leaving, I managed to stop crying long enough to thank them, and then Ty helped me outside.
“Ty,” I whispered. “Can you believe it? You’re going to be a dad.”
He held me tightly. “And, we’re going to get Jackson back.”
Five Years Later…
“Look at me, Mama!”
“Wow, Jackson, now that’s a lot of bubbles.” I laughed as I watched him splash about in the large tub. It seemed like only a bad dream when I thought back to the hunger and cold baths he had to endure at Ms. Alice’s. Now his belly was always full, and his baths were always warm and filled with bubbles. “You about ready, Jack? It’s getting late and everyone wants to tell you goodnight before they go to bed.” Instantly he jumped from the tub and threw on his pajamas.
“Do you think everyone is still up?” he asked as he made his way quickly down the stairs.
“Yes, so slow down, silly before you get hurt.”
Jackson raced to the family room of my parents’ castle. The castle was so large, that Ty’s family had their own private quarters as did Ty and me. It was the perfect living arrangement for two families that were desperate to make up for lost time. It was our nightly routine, and my favorite part of the day, when we’d all gather together and visit before bed.
“Grandma!” said Jackson as he ran to my mother and curled up in her lap. He held tightly to his blanket that she handed him. It was a gift from his Aunt Maggie. She’d made the blanket and given it to him the day he was born. The blue, silky ribbon that she’d carefully sewn around its edges was still his favorite part.
My dad smiled as he watched them cuddle. “Jackson,” he said as he held up my Rubik’s Cube, “I’m afraid you’re going to have to show me how to do this crazy thing again.”
“Oh, Grandpa.” Jackson giggled as he took it.
“How’s my sweet Felicity doing?” I asked Ty’s mom as she gently rocked my daughter.
“She fell asleep just before you walked in,” she said. “Uncle Ben wore her out playing Hide and Go Seek.”
I smiled at Ben who was looking sleepy himself as he lay in a comfy chair, warming himself by the fireplace.
“You better get to bed soon,” said Ty, “if you still plan on hunting with me and dad in the morning.”
“I can’t wait!” said Ben.
Suddenly, Jackson leapt from my mom’s lap. “Puppy!” he exclaimed as he ran across the room.
“Is he for me, Aunt Brit?” Jackson took the little brown puppy she was carrying and let it lick his face.
Brit looked at me and smiled. “If it’s OK with your mom,” she said.
I laughed. “It is. But, I think we’re up to about twenty-one now.”
“Twenty-three, actually.” She grinned mischievously. “Come in, guys.” Just then, Kammy and Connor, the two kids who used to live with Ms. Alice, peeked their heads around the door frame.
“Now, Mom?” asked Kammy.
“Yes,” said Brit as she waved them in.
“More puppies!” said Jackson.
“I get to keep this one,” said Connor as he snuggled the wiggly, black pup he was holding. “Right, Mom?”
“Definitely,” said Brit. “So, be thinking of a name.”
My heart was overflowing as I sat there watching my family. “Watcha thinking?” asked Ty as he sat down next to me.
“I’m just so happy.”
He put his arm around me and pulled me close. Then, he leaned down and whispered in my ear, “You wanna know what I’m thinking?”
“What?” I bit my lip.
“That Jackson and Felicity need a little brother or sister.”
“I think you’re right,” I said just before he kissed me.
The End
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If you enjoyed Inside the Hollow Tree, please let everyone know by leaving a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads.
Live, laugh, love and…read!
Laurel Veil
Other works by Laurel Veil:
Scarlett Rose
Strong Like Me
Water Town
Alyssa and Dalton
Psychomanteum
Chance of Rain
Fairy Godmothers Are for Wimps
&nb
sp; My 8th Grade Summer
Majestic Hollow
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