She smiled and waved goodbye, then turned around and walked away from the lonely little grave she had dug out for her father almost a decade ago. As she walked, Abby felt a sense of freedom that she had not felt since she was a young girl: the freedom of a completely weightless soul. For years she had been dragging around the heavy baggage of everyone she’d ever lost, from her mother to Zach, and more than once it had almost pushed her into her own grave. As the years went by, she had slowly been coming to terms with it all, but bits and pieces of guilt still clutched at her, threatening always to consume her again.
But no longer. Abby had finally come face to face with her worst demon, and she had won. That scared teenage girl who wore guilt like a heavy coat had knelt down there, and there she would remain forever. The woman who rose up was a new Abby, one who had finally forgiven herself.
The power of forgiveness, Abby marveled.
Walking seemed to come easier now, and each breath felt like her lungs were being filled for the very first time. Abby looked to her right towards some trees, and almost instantly she spotted a small patch of red. It was a Northern Cardinal, sitting on a branch. She waved her fingers at the bird, and in response the bird chirped at her before flying away.
Abby laughed a clear and ringing laugh. The smile she wore took up half of her face, and she began to whistle the tune from ‘The Andy Griffith Show’ as she opened the passenger door of Hiamovi’s truck and climbed in.
Epilogue
Abby leaned against the truck, watching the meter on the gas pump as the numbers slowly ticked higher and higher. Hiamovi was inside getting some snacks for the road as they continued their journey west. They were currently in New Mexico, where the desert heat scorched the couple who’d grown accustomed to the cool and mild air of Virginia. As soon as the sun rose, Abby had ditched her T-shirt in favor of a black and pink striped bikini top to go with her cargo shorts. Her hair was up in a ponytail, poking out the back of a ragged old baseball cap.
She adjusted the sunglasses on her face as she looked down at herself. Time heals all wounds, they say. “Well what a load of crap,” Abby thought. Most of her smaller wounds and scars had faded away and were no longer visible, but Abby still carried more than a few large ones that would never leave her.
On her left thigh was the jagged laceration given to her by Edmund and a broken bottle. Her stomach bore a long and thin scar, but this one was much cleaner. It had come from Henry’s hunting knife, just above her belly button on her right side. An inch below that was the scarred skin tissue from where she had been shot with an armor-piercing rifle round by those soldiers in Utah. A cylindrical burn still marked her collarbone, and then there was her left ear, or what was left of it. Isaiah had taken off the soft cartilage at the bottom of her ear inside that abandoned car factory where Nate died.
So many people had touched her life and left their permanent marks. Wicked souls had harmed her, but kind and gentle folk, good people who had become family to Abby, had guided her and taught her much about life. Their names were many, and Abby would never forget them. Names like Zach, Emma, Amber, Jax, and so many others would forever bring her a sense of joy.
Abby smiled as the gas pump stopped with a loud clunk. She returned the pump and hose to its cradle and whispered, “What a life.”
“Here you go,” said Hiamovi, tossing Abby a glass bottle of root beer.
“Thanks,” Abby said. She twisted the bottle top off and took a long drink of the bubbly beverage.
They both clambered back into the truck, and Hiamovi got the engine started again. He looked over at Abby and shook his head. Abby caught this and smiled. “What?” she asked.
“I just still can’t believe a gorgeous girl like you sticks around with me,” he said. “I mean, look at you.”
Abby blushed a little at Hiamovi’s compliment and said, “Well, look all you want. When we stop tonight, you’ll get to do more than look, too.”
Now it was Hiamovi’s turn to blush as he smiled and put the truck into gear, slowly pulling away from the gas station and down the old two-lane road.
“So where to from here?” she asked Hiamovi, turning to look at him.
“Let’s just keep driving until we hit the ocean,” Hiamovi said, “and we can watch the sunset on the beach.”
Abby nodded her head and turned to look out of her window. Cactuses and sandblasted rocks rushed into and out of her view as they drove by. An empty and unforgiving environment filled with creatures both dangerous and innocent, and yet the desert was still as beautiful of a sight as Abby had ever seen.
“Drive until we hit the ocean,” she repeated.
And that’s exactly what they did.
The End
Thank you for reading ‘Their Names Were Many’!
I hope that you enjoyed the final book of this series and that you’ll carry Abby, Zach, and all the others in your heart.
If you liked this story, please leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads! It only needs to be a sentence or two, and it really helps your favorite indie authors reach a larger audience. Next to buying their books, that’s the best thing you can do to help them continue creating new worlds!
His Name Was Zach | Book 3 | Their Names Were Many Page 30