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“Yes, we tried to call it, praying you’d answer. When we heard it ringing in the grass I almost lost it. It was my last hope to find you,” Brent responded.
“I guess you found another way,” I smiled.
Brent gleamed at me. “Yes we did. We have a surprise for you. Are you done here?”
I was still hungry, but knew I couldn’t eat another bite with the anticipation of a surprise. He signed the bill and grabbed my hand, practically dragging me down the hall to the elevator. The short trip to the third floor seemed to take an eternity as both boys stood without speaking. Reese was rapping his fingers on the steel walls and Brent was tapping his foot. The combined noise was nerve-racking, and I was relieved when the doors finally opened.
We reached the door to our room and Brent kissed me softly on the cheek, whispering he loved me. My mind was running rampant with nervous thoughts about what the surprise could be. The anticipation was torture. What if they found Kace and it was time? I didn’t think I was ready for that.
You’re not.
With his arms around my waist, Brent looked into my eyes with that unbearable blue stare. “Relax, we haven’t found Kace. It’s nothing like that.” He always seemed to know what I was thinking, but this time he knew exactly. I was not surprised.
“Great, now you can read my thoughts?” I asked, with the slightest hint of irritation in my voice.
“If you’re upset, yes,” he responded, a rash of guilt heating his face. So, that was why I always felt he knew what I was thinking – because he did.
“Don’t worry. This is a surprise you’re going to love.”
Still annoyed my thoughts would no longer be private, I wanted to tell him to stay out of my head, but chose not to.
“Let’s not prolong this any longer, then,” I requested.
Brent swung the door open before I finished the sentence. I suddenly felt happiness like I never experienced before. It was the kind of joy you read about. The kind of rejoicing you witness on the news when they show reunions between military families. The stories that make you cry uncontrollably as you watch a young man in uniform sprint to his wife after a long deployment, holding his newborn baby daughter for the first time, having missed her birth, upholding his commitment to the rest of us. That was that kind of emotion cruising through my body right now and I rode the wave.
I ran to her, throwing my arms around her enthusiastically, refusing to let her go. The tear ducts opened and I cried tears of joy as my heart swelled with elation. When I finally released her, she wore a radiant smile on her sweet face, her dimples deeper than I had ever seen them.
“Maggie, I can’t believe it.”
She squeezed me again, harder this time.
“I can hardly believe it either, dear,” she whispered through her own joyous tears.
“How can this be? I saw you Maggie,” I questioned, struggling with the words through the confusion swirling in my head.
She wiped the droplets from her cheeks, “My purpose is yet to be fulfilled,” she said, fighting back more tears. Maggie explained that when she reached the Agents and realized her life had ended, she already accepted her death. Omni was there. Of course, Maggie already knew who he was. Omni told her she would be returned because her purpose was unfulfilled. She told us how she was conflicted about her return.
“It was difficult for me because I felt at peace and I wanted to be with my parents again,” she admitted, chewing on her bottom lip.
I felt for her, understanding the desire to be with her parents, to see them again, and tell them everything you always meant to when they were alive.
She continued. “Then I thought about all of the things that I still want to do. I’d like to skydive and travel the world.” She paused looking between me and Brent. Her gaze returned to me. “And fall in love,” she finished. I had often wondered if she wanted that, to love and be loved. I felt happy she would have another chance to find it.
Maggie was the one who had given Brent and Reese clues to find me. She had known about Logan’s family in Boston and the building his Uncle Jeff
had been restoring, turning into lofts.
The boys filled me in on how they had left Reese’s and went straight to Maggie’s. They knew Logan had me, and hoped that Omni might be able to give them some help in finding me.
When they got there, they found Maggie disoriented and confused. She had been furious with them for losing me, but they explained everything to her and she understood. Maggie told the boys she had been friends with Logan’s Uncle Jeff since childhood, and he had often tried to get Logan to move in with him.
Once, Maggie had even tried to talk to Logan about what was going on in his house, but he only got angrier with her. She assumed that probably fueled the hatred he felt for me.
Maggie knew Logan had probably taken me to Boston, but had not been sure exactly where his uncle’s building was. Maggie had phoned Logan’s Uncle Jeff but had to wait for him to return her call. They all looked so defeated, recalling the agony and feeling of being helpless waiting for that call.
“But then it all worked out. If you had reached Logan’s uncle right away and went to the lofts, I wouldn’t have been there. Logan held me at the mill the first day,” I informed them, hoping this helped ease their feelings. It seemed to as they smiled.
I continued to talk with Maggie while the boys started playing some heavily competitive video game, and I rolled my eyes, listening to the two of them razzing each other about who would be victorious. I felt pleased watching the two of them behaving in a natural way or as natural as they could, vowing to annihilate each other.
