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“We’re very happy to help, Nate. What with all you’ve done for the town and those that live in it. It’s nice to have a way to give you some help back.” Annabeth comes over to pat both my shoulder and Nova’s hand.
I can almost feel the weight of exhaustion pressing down on me. I realize it’s not my own, that it’s coming from Nova.
“I…think I should…head back to the inn. I’m tired and…”
“You’re not going back to the inn. You’re not going anywhere.”
She closes her eyes slowly, “Please, Nate. I don’t really feel like arguing. My head…”
She reaches up but I reach out for her hand before she can touch it. I tilt her chin up using my free hand so she has no choice but to look at me. “No argument. You are staying here.” I swipe my thumb over a spot on her cheek that has a small bruise on it because of her tumble. “I let you go once. I’m not doing it again.”
Our eyes meet and hold. There’s a lot being said right now between the two of us without a word passing between our lips.
“Uh, guys…I hate to interrupt whatever is going on here but I really need to get back out there and help patrol the woods again.” I finally take my eyes off Nova so I can bid farewell to Don.
“Brian, can you show everyone out?”
Don looks back once the two women have already wished Nova well and promise to come visit her soon. “Glad you woke up, ma’am.”
“Please call me Nova, Sheriff.”
Don gives her a small smile, “You can call me Don. Everyone on the island does.”
We wait until everyone clears the room before either one of us says anything. Once the door is shut, I can feel the change in energy. I can’t say I didn’t know this would be how it went.
“I can’t stay here with you.”
“You can, you will, argument over.” I cut her response off by scooping her up in my arms and walking towards the door.
“Where are we going?”
“When we got to the inn, I had all of your bags and suitcases brought here.” She waits for me to answer her question with a raised eyebrow, not at all persuaded to drop the issue. “They put them in my room which is where we’re going.”
Her eyes widen, “What? No, Nate. I can’t. I need to go back to the inn and…”
“The only place you are going is back to bed.” My bed.
I take one of the many staircases up to the third floor and walk down the hall to my room. The door is already open and the lights are on inside. This room has always been one of my favorites, even when I was a kid. There’s a warm feeling that sinks into your soul when you enter. I don’t know if that’s because we do a lot of work to make sure this room is our sanctuary or if it has more to do with this being Deliverance’s room and she’s the one not letting anything but positive come through these doors.
The room is round, set in one of the many turrets of the house. The bed is against one wall and takes up quite a bit of the room since it is massive. On the opposite side is a fireplace and two overstuffed chairs. All the windows in the room look out over the ocean below and all of them have window seats just waiting for someone to come curl up in them with a good book.
My contribution is the many plants hanging and placed throughout the room. With the stone etching behind the bed, the whole room feels more like a little cave than an actual room in a house. The bed in the middle takes on the shape of the room with a cushioned circular space to sit in front of it instead of a footboard. It’s the etching that catches Nova’s attention.
“Oh my gosh, that’s…that’s the same image on the baby crib I saw in the nursery. And the one on the front of Deliverance’s journal.”
“It’s the tree of life.” I sit her down on the edge of the bed so she can wiggle close enough to the stone to touch it, her fingers tracing over the branches and down the trunk to the roots beneath. “It is very important to my family. It represents above, with the branches reaching high and below, with the roots planted firmly in the ground. No one is truly lost to you if you believe in the tree of life. They’re simply on a higher branch. One day your limb will grow, and you will be with them again, but we are all connected to one another.”
I take her hand and show her by tracing the tree with her, “The past and the present and the future, the dead and the living and those yet to be. All together.”
“Oh wow!” She’s not looking at the tree any longer but at me. And then the world is tilting again, going out of my control, sweeping us up into the past, and dropping us where we are needed most.
Chapter Thirteen
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“Pretend you are one of us.”
That fine edge of fear that could cut at any moment hangs heavy over our heads like the sharp blade of an executioner’s axe. “I don’t know how. What…?”
