AllFreeNovel
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A place built just for him.
Everything he needed was in there. I made sure of that. From a new sleeping bag to the new weighted blanket I purchased. The brothers did a beautiful job building the treehouse. No matter where Solomon looked, he could see out into the forest surrounding the compound and when he laid down, he could look up at the stars through the skylight Hawk personally built.
It was all for him.
“You need sleep, Sunny.”
“I’ll sleep when he comes home.”
“Sypher and Ace secured the treehouse. We’ll know the second anyone enters. Phantom made sure the alert would go to everyone’s phone.”
“What if he doesn’t show up?”
“He will,” Logic said, taking a seat on the sofa next to me. “Solomon loves you and Soleil so much. When he looks at you, he sees his future. The one he always wanted. Right now, his mind is in chaos. He can’t stop until every threat to you is gone. He will come back to you when he knows it’s safe. You must believe that.”
I did.
But it didn’t stop the worry.
“So much has happened since we left Tennessee, Logic. I just worry it’s all too much for him. How does he come back from everything he did? How do I get the man I married back? Will he ever be the same?”
“The Sandman has always been inside Solomon. They are the same. The Sandman was there for him when no one else was. Protected him when no one did. You must trust that Sandman will protect Solomon.”
“You talk as if they are two different people.”
“Because they are,” Logic admitted. “Did I ever tell you what my job was while I was in the military?”
I shook my head.
“I’m a licensed psychotherapist, with specialties in several fields, and I am very good at what I do. My primary job is to listen, to watch, to give advice, and help. When I first met Solomon, he was a scared teenager who trusted no one. Not even himself. I took one look at him and knew he was a survivor. Solomon has survived many horrors that no child should ever have to survive, and the reason he survived was because of the Sandman. The darkness that dwells deep within him.”
“You’re talking about another personality. Solomon doesn’t have multiple personalities.”
“Clinically, no, he doesn’t. But what else would you call the Sandman?” Logic challenged. “Look at it this way. Take Soleil, for example. She is your daughter. You love her as if she were your own. How would you react if someone tried to take your daughter away from you?”
“I would fight them with everything inside me.”
“But you are not a fighter, Sunny. In fact, you are a very passive woman who rarely raises her voice. Would you kill for your daughter?”
I nodded. “Yes, I would.”
“But that’s not who you are.”
“But I would for her. I would for any child.”
“That feeling you have inside you right now, that is what Solomon has, only stronger. That is his Sandman. Everyone has darkness inside them, Sunny. Even the most devout pacifist. When put in the right position, anyone can become another person, and do whatever they need to survive. Solomon just feels his darkness more. Maybe it’s because of his autism. The medical community is still learning about the spectrum. No one has everything figured out yet. Logically, what Solomon endured as a child should have decimated him, and made him unfit to live in this world, but somehow, because of his fragmented mind, because he thinks differently than we do, he’s found a way to live with everything. In a way, he’s compartmentalized his life into sections and the Sandman is just one of those sections. So, trust me when I say this. He will come home to you.”
“I just worry about him.”
“That’s normal honey,” Logic grinned. “As a wife and mother, you are going to worry about everything and question every decision you make. It just means you have a firm grasp of your reality. You know what you want and until everyone you love is safe, your protective nature will ride you hard. Just like Solomon’s nature is riding him right now.”
Smirking, I whispered, “You are very good at this.”
“That’s why I make the big bucks.” He winked.
“Do you have your own practice?”
“Yes. But I’m very selective about clients. I prefer working with children, more so than adults.”
