“Yes.” The relief was evident on his face as the worry lines vanished from his brow and around his eyes.
“Due to the unusual circumstances, I will grant your request. You will both relinquish your betrothal rings immediately.” He held out his hand, palm up, and waited for them to comply.
It was more difficult than Jena imagined to remove the ring and know it meant she no longer had a planned future with Willian. She was free to make her own choices, and it scared her. She glanced over to her betrothed, realizing she no longer had any claim to that title with him anymore. She twisted and tugged until the ring came free of her finger and dropped it onto Willian’s ring with a metallic clang. The noise seemed to resonate in her head like the final note to a sad song. She was free. She was alone.
You’re not alone, Jena. You’re never alone as long as you have me, Juila’s mind link comforted her.
I’m so thankful. This would have been impossible without your support.
I’m just glad it’s finally done. Of course, I never would have imagined it would have come about like this, but I’m happy nonetheless.
“What does all of this mean?” Jon asked suddenly.
Daven cleared his throat and said, “It means the betrothal which was blessed by Jehoban between Jena and Willian is as if it had never happened. They will never be able to marry one another, and they are both free to pursue other relationships.”
“I’m not ready!” Valentina cried out as all of the eyes turned to her, including Willian’s.
“There’s no rush,” he assured her. “We have the rest of our lives to discover each other.”
Valentina was not encouraged by Willian’s words and felt even more like crying. Too much had happened in the last couple of weeks and she had never been good with change. All she wanted to do was be by herself and not worry about anyone or anything. Somehow, she believed this was never going to be an option ever again.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
DIANE HUGGED HER granddaughters close to her chest as she knelt on the ground. The social worker in charge of their case had made a special dispensation for them to be able to visit with the girls for a few hours since school had let out early and their foster-mother was still at work. This was going to be a bittersweet visit since they had not managed to finalize the paperwork to get the girls turned over to them which meant they would be telling them goodbye at the end of the visit.
“How are you doing?” Diane asked Emily, her voice slightly higher than usual in her eagerness to sound normal.
“Fine, Grandma. Have you seen Mommy?” she asked with a worried expression.
“I have, and she wanted me to give you a big hug and kiss for her. She really wanted to find out if you were both happy and having a good time on your sleep-over.”
“It’s not a sleep-over, Grandma. We aren’t allowed to go home.”
The matter-of-fact tone in Emily’s voice made Diane look sharply up at the social worker. She stood swiftly and whispered for only the woman to hear, “What have you been telling these girls?”
“I haven’t said anything, but I’ll make sure their foster family knows the limits of what they can say to the children.” She wrote on her tablet and dismissed Diane while she continued to make notations on the case.
Having to be content with the only answer she was going to receive, Diane sat down on the floor of the playroom and picked up a toy. She wiggled it close to April’s face and made silly noises to get her to giggle.
Amanda and Chris were mesmerized with Diane’s single-mindedness where the children were concerned. They both had reservations about how this visit was going to end, and they had already planned on making some sort of distraction to keep her from being too depressed. The only course of action seemed to be to make another visit over to the jailhouse to tell Carrie about the children’s welfare.
After their last visit three days before, they had no idea what type of reception they should expect to receive. None of them had anticipated Carrie’s almost hostile behavior, but they put it up to the fact that she had been transferred that same morning to the new facility. Of course, it did not excuse her actions, but it could at least explain it.
Amanda decided to get down on the floor to entertain April while Diane played house with Emily. She thought the two girls were very bright and seemed to be taking the changes in their world very well. She was certain it would have been much more difficult for herself at their ages, and it made her wonder if this were something they had become accustomed to. It made her sad to think these bright little girls were going to be kept away from their family even for a moment longer.
All too soon, the social worker announced the end of their visit. Diane tried to maintain a stoic expression as she said her farewells to the children and gave them both hugs and promises to see them again very soon. She did not promise to take them home since she had no idea if it were going to work out and she did not want to give them false hope. Even the lack of the promise filled her with grief that the system could be so cruel as to keep the children from their family all in the name of their welfare.
Chris came over to Diane and hugged her as she continued to wave to the children as they skipped and giggled beside the social worker. Their only consolation was that it seemed the woman took her job seriously and loved working with the children. “We should get something to eat and then we can go tell Carrie how the children are doing. I’m sure she’s desperate to know about them.”
“Right,” Diane agreed without enthusiasm. She wished the girls were coming to dinner with them and that they could be heading back home to Florida. She had to believe Shemalla would be able to pull some strings to make the wheels of justice turn a little faster. Every moment which slipped by without the children seemed to last an eternity and felt like a failure to Diane.
Dinner turned out to be a quick and quiet affair where everyone kept their own counsel, and they ate with little appetite. They felt like they were on autopilot as they went back out to the truck and drove to the jail. Several other families were waiting in the visiting room when they came to sit down at the same table they had used before.
Carrie was led out by a different guard. She did not seem any more enthusiastic about seeing her family than she had the first time. Amanda thought she looked tired and downtrodden, which was understandable given the circumstances.
“Why did you come back?” Carrie asked rudely.
Diane looked hurt by her oldest daughter’s tone, but she refused to acknowledge it. “We saw the girls today. They looked really good.”
Carrie simply raised her eyebrows at the news.
“We got to spend several hours with them under the supervision of the caseworker. I think she approves of us, but it’s hard to tell.” Diane hoped something she was saying would help melt the mask of unconcern her daughter wore a bit too well. She knew her daughter loved her children.
“I’m sure Shemalla will be able to move things along faster so we can get the children out of foster care,” Amanda added.
“Who’s Shemalla?” Carrie asked suddenly.
“She’s…an old friend of mine.” Amanda did not know how to really explain the circumstances of their acquaintance since it was all virtual experience and none of it from reality.
“Of course,” Carrie drawled and rolled her eyes. She wished Amanda had stayed out of all of this. In fact, if it had not been for Amanda’s existence, she would have been the favorite daughter, and maybe none of this nightmare would have happened. The way she saw it, Amanda was the cause of all of her problems.
Amanda could see so many emotions flit across her sister’s face and she wondered what she could possibly be thinking. They all wanted the same thing, to get the girls back with their family and to get the charges against Carrie dropped or reduced enough to allow her release. “What’s wrong with you, Carrie? Why aren’t you happy to hear about our plans for your children?”
“What’s wrong with me? Really? You have to as
k that of me while I’m sitting here in jail. Everything is wrong!” She stood up, her face reddening with unvented rage, started to speak, but then turned and began walking away.
“Carrie!” Amanda called after her sister. She was not going to let her treat them this way again. She jumped up and ran across the room, grabbed her sister’s arm to keep her from leaving and said, “You do not get to do this to Mom. Not again!”
“Oh? You mean after the stunt you pulled? After all of the years, you kept mom chained to your bedside while you were in a coma? I don’t get to matter for once? Is that what you’re saying? You know what I used to think? I thought fate had caught up to you when you were found almost dead. All those years when you should have been dead!”
“Carrie, you say the meanest things sometimes. What are you talking about?” Amanda was genuinely confused about her sister’s incoherent rambling.
Carrie threw her head back and laughed until tears rolled down her cheeks. She wiped them away with the backs of her hands and then sobered immediately. She looked straight into Amanda’s eyes and said, “You should have died the same day your twin sister did on the day you were born. But you didn’t! You escaped death again when you came out of your coma. You are the blessed child of the family, and the rest of us don’t matter. Go home, Amanda. Worry about your own life and stay out of mine! I don’t need you!”
Seeing her sister’s stricken expression, Carrie smiled and walked away. Finally, she had her revenge. Now she knew the truth their parents had always kept from her. She was only half of the person she should have been. They only loved her because she was their last tie to the daughter they had buried and mourned.
Amanda had no words for her sister’s revelation. She could not give credence to anything she had said since she was clearly not thinking straight. Maybe she was still able to find a way to take drugs even behind bars. It would go a long way toward excusing her abhorrent manners and her lack of concern for her own children’s welfare. She woodenly walked back toward her parents, not wanting even to repeat the lies Carrie had just spewed to her. “Let’s get out of here,” she said as she continued to lead the way back to the vehicle.
“What did she say, Amanda?” Chris asked as he caught up to her. He had seen the strange scene but had been unable to hear anything they had spoken to one another.
“Nothing important. I’m going to call Shemalla on the way back to the hotel and see what she’s been able to do to move things along. I want to go home to my husband.” She wanted nothing more than to have Riccan’s arms around her at that moment of uncertainty and torment.
Knowing how her own daughters felt about being twins themselves, she recalled the dozens of times growing up where she had wanted her own twin to share everything with. If what Carrie had said were true, then surely she would have known about it years before. Looking over at her father, she knew it had to be a lie because he would never have kept such a secret from her.
Chapter Thirty
DAVEN HAD NOT wanted to continue the discussion about the proposal of marriage with Vinia and Ozian since tensions were so high. He had made arrangements to return another day so the fallout from the dissolution of the betrothal could dissipate. Several days had gone by, and Juila noticed other duties had kept him close to the Residence.
On more than one occasion, Juila noted him watching Jena and seeing her change before his eyes, and it was apparent he worried for her. Where she had once been so confident and certain of her future, mostly because it had been planned already, now she seemed forlorn, almost lost. Juila was constantly by her side so Jena would not do anything stupid.
“I wish you wouldn’t shut me out of your thoughts, Jena. I really want to help,” Juila pled yet again. It was hard on her not to have the close connection she had known all of her life. At this point in Jena’s life, it was even more important to Juila to feel connected, not kept away.
“There are things I want to think about by myself. I wish you’d understand that and leave me be for a bit. I’m not going to do anything rash or try to hurt myself, Juila. That’s just plain ridiculous. You have no idea what it’s like to have your life planned only to discover you have no plan at all. It’s…I can’t even describe it, and it’s happening to me!”
“Are you really okay about Willian being with Val?”
“Surprisingly, yes! I know Val was really troubled about my reaction, and I totally get it, but I couldn’t deny what I felt when the two of them were touching. It really was extraordinary.”
“I felt it even when they weren’t in physical contact. I wonder what it feels like to them.”
“Probably something we wish we could have.” Jena looked down at her clasped hands and realized that was the part which bothered her the most. She wanted Willian to feel for her and look at her the way he did Valentina. It was what she had always dreamt of for the two of them, and now his interest was completely refocused on someone else as if she had never existed. How was she supposed to keep from feeling hurt and rejected with something so absolute?
“I think Jehoban had a plan for you which didn’t include Willian.”
“Then why would he have blessed the union to begin with? It just doesn’t make sense.”
Juila thought about it for some time before she snapped her fingers when she came to the obvious conclusion. “Willian never would have come to Earth to meet Val if it hadn’t been for you. Don’t you think Jehoban would know that?”
“I suppose.” She was still not convinced, yet she felt a glimmer of hope at the idea of being useful for Jehoban’s purposes. From their special upbringing on Acaim, she always wished there was some way to repay Jehoban for taking them in and teaching them so much.
Taking advantage of Jena’s uncertainty, she added more thoughts to her original idea. “Maybe you two being so ill-suited was part of the plan so it would be easier for you to let him go. Or maybe it was to help him learn to be better to Val. If you really wanted to discover the answer, you know you could ask Jehoban directly.”
“I know, but that makes it sound as if I doubted His plan and I don’t want to go there. Besides, we have no idea if this is even the real reason, we’re just guessing.”
“It seems like a pretty good guess to me, and we can both agree that my instincts are usually correct.”
Jena quirked her eyebrows at her sister’s self-confidence. She did not want to admit to anything at the moment; she really wanted to be able to see the scenario from every angle. Just as their grandfather had requested, she wanted to be impartial in her review, especially because she was involved. If she ever wanted to become an Elder, then this could become an important lesson.
Just as swiftly as she had the idea, she slapped her thigh and smiled, startling Juila into looking up at her sister in astonishment. Jena jumped up from where she had been sitting in the window seat and could no longer keep still.
“What happened?” Juila asked, excited to see a change in her sister.
“I just realized something really cool!”
“What?”
“As long as I was going to be married to Willian, I never could have become an Elder because that was his destiny. I no longer have his restriction on my life. I actually could become an Elder if Jehoban wants me for the role. I’m free to allow my dream to possibly become a reality!” This was the best thing to ever happen in her life, and she had no idea what to do with it.
Juila also rose from the cushioned bench and announced, “Let’s go share the great news with our grandparents!”
Jena’s expression sobered slightly, and she held out her hand to prevent her sister from leaving the room. “I’d like to keep this between us for a little bit if you don’t mind. If Grandpa were to tell me I didn’t have a chance at becoming an Elder, then I’d be crushed all over again. Promise me you won’t talk about it in front of them.” She tipped her head toward the bedroom door to emphasize who she was talking about.
“Sure, Jena. I’ll promise whatever I
have to if it means you’ll let me back into our link.” In the next instant, Jena’s innermost thoughts were in her own head again, and she sighed with relief when she saw the brightness of Jena’s soul.
Jena felt the same release as soon as she allowed the twin-link to resume its normal flow. At the time, it had felt important to have her own space, but now she realized their shared space was better for her emotionally. The warmth Juila projected on her was soothing and moving, more so than Willian had ever been for her.
“We need to make plans for our future.” Juila was suddenly overcome with the desire to strategize their options since they were both free for it now.
“I’m pretty sure your future includes Behn,” Jena replied drolly.
“If that’s true, then yours includes Luke,” Juila retorted instantly.
Clearly, that had been the last thing Jena planned on connecting with her life. She had been so consumed with the loss of Willian, she had found no other place for another relationship. Squinting her eyes a bit, she considered how her life would work with Luke in it rather than Willian, and she discovered it pleased her. “There’s only one problem with Luke, you know.”
“What?”
“He’s from Earth. At least Behn is from Tuala and knows about our powers and history. Behn is an obvious and easy choice for you to make. Luke…well…not so much.”
“Now you’re just making excuses. The difference in heritage hasn’t stopped anyone in the past. Our own parents aren’t from the same world, but they’ve managed to work it out.”
“Wow, that’s the biggest stretch yet, Juila. We know how strangely everything came about for them and we also know Jehoban had a big hand in their coming together.”
“What, you don’t think He’d do the same for you? We lived with Him for most of our lives, Jena!”
“You don’t have to tell me that, I was there, remember? Still, it would seem pretty petty for me to go asking the creator of the universe if He’d mind setting me up on a date. It sounds even worse saying it out loud!”
Ascension Vision- The Levels of Ascension Box Set Page 49