Fate and Destiny (8 page)

Destiny spoke angrily, her
voice dropping as she recounted her harsh treatment.

“
About three months after
she died, my uncle decided it was his job to make a real woman out
of me. He pinned my arms with one of his and undid his belt and
zipper. When he bent over me, I turned my head and bit him on the
cheek as hard as I could. I could taste that bastard’s blood in my
mouth. I’m surprised it didn’t taste like Jack Daniels.

“
He punched me in the face
then dragged me to the bedroom and threw me on the bed. He sat on
me, punching me. I just wanted to get away. He ripped the pajama
shorts I was wearing and tore my T-shirt off. I don’t remember
grabbing the gun from the nightstand drawer.”

Shaking her head in
confusion, her eyes closed, emotions rolled across her graceful
features. Her state of mind was fragile.

“
I do remember someone
grabbing my hands and taking the gun away though. I was ready to
fight and I was confused, but I looked down on the floor. There he
was, lying in a pool of blood. There wasn’t much left to his face,
but you could see his cheek where I bit him. A policeman knelt next
to him and another one held the gun I took from the
drawer.

“
The police said I shot
him point blank in the face with the first shot. But I didn’t stop
shooting. I emptied the gun into him. Even after the police busted
in, I was still sitting up in the bed, pulling the trigger even
though the gun was empty. The judge ruled it self-defense. I
bounced around between foster parents, but I never stayed anywhere
very long. Self-defense or not, I was still a murderer. No one
wanted me around, and I had a lot of emotional problems. None of
them could get close to me. I wouldn’t let them.

“
When I was 18, I moved to
Vegas, got the job at the Diamonds Casino, and met Marcus. He
reminded me of my dad. He talked like my Dad and he laughed like
him. He actually cared about me. Worried about me. No one had done
that since my parents died. I just wanted to protect him, and he
died anyway.”

Helplessly, he could do
nothing but hold her closer.

“
Honey, none of that was
your fault. You couldn’t have known your parents would go looking
for you, and your uncle deserved what he got. If he were still
alive, I would hunt him down and shoot him myself. And as far as
Marcus goes, his son killed him, not you.”

Destiny began shaking her
head before Andrew finished talking.

“
Andrew, you don’t
understand. I should have shown him the financial figures at the
casino, where we have security that could have protected him. I
should have stayed in my bed or waited for my parents. I never
should have been at my Uncle’s.”

She let out a little
chuckle of half nervousness and half sadness.

“
I shouldn’t even be here.
What if you’re the next one to die?”

“
Neither one of us is
going to die. I promise.”

Andrew kissed her forehead
reassuringly and hugged her close, hoping he could keep that
promise.

8.

A strange sensation
flickered, awakening Destiny. Opening her eyes, she discovered
bright early morning golden rays of sunshine had been drilling
through her eyelids. The sun didn’t warm her. However it did hurt
her grainy eyes.

The cabin air was cool
since the neglected fire died down during the night. The rest of
her was very comfortable under the blankets with Andrew sleeping
next to her. Turning from the brightness invading the windows, she
snuggled against Andrew.

She thought she would feel
guilty for sleeping with a man she barely knew, but strangely, she
felt very content and happy. Even though he was still sleeping,
Andrew’s arms encircled her and drew her in closer to
him.

Andrew awoke to the cold
cabin and the sunlight streaming through the windows, dancing
across Destiny’s face and over her hair. She looked angelic
sleeping against him. He didn’t want to wake her, but her eyes
slowly opened on their own under his gaze. She smiled up at him and
he planted a soft kiss on her forehead. A shiver passed through
Destiny and Andrew chastised himself. The cold usually woke him
when the fire began to dwindle, but their body heat kept him warm
all night. His arms, still wrapped around her, pulled her
closer.

“
Good Morning.” He
whispered, not wanting to disturb the mood. “I just want you to
know that you were right.”

Confused, Destiny looked up
at him. “About what?”

“
The bed is much more
comfortable than the floor. I slept better last night than I did
for the two days I slept down there.”

“
That might have something
to do with sleeping on a mattress instead of wood.”

Chuckling,
Andrew lifted his head to view the sunlight filling the
room.
 
“Destiny, if the sun stays out for awhile, the snow might melt
enough to get snow plows through.”

Rolling over so her back
was against him, she dared to let the sunlight invade her eyes. It
felt like she’d been in the dark for a long time.

Andrew continued, “And if
the sun doesn’t stay out for long, it will melt the top layer of
snow only enough for it to quick freeze into thick ice. If that
happens we could be stuck here for quite awhile.”

Destiny thought a moment
before asking, “Would that be so bad?”

“
No, we have enough
supplies to keep us going for a few weeks if we have to. If we
never leave the bed, we’ll conserve firewood.”

She pondered the thought
for a moment. Feeling bold in the safe nest of his arms, she
couldn’t resist teasing him.

“
Yes, and if we shower
together, we can preserve water and propane.”

Andrew couldn’t see her
face, but he could hear the teasing in her voice. Refusing to think
of the implications, he took it one step farther.

 “
Better yet, we
could use the sponge in the kitchen sink and take sponge baths with
cold water.”

“
Well, why don’t we just
take off our clothes and roll around in the snow?” Destiny giggled.
“That way, we will save water, propane, and sponges!”

Andrew snuggled closer
against her, enjoying her warmth. “There’s a lake, we could hike
down there, cut a hole in the ice and bathe in there.”

Laughing aloud, Destiny
kept the game going.

“
That’s not a bad idea, as
warm as I am lying here with you, we would probably thaw the lake.
Hey! Then we could lie out to get tans.”

“
True,” Andrew stifled his
own laughter. ”But there’s a bad side to that idea.”

She glanced back over her
shoulder at his sudden serious tone. “What’s the bad
side?”

Pulling her closer against
his chest, Andrew replied. “We would have to get out of the warm
bed.”

Sighing, she settled into
the curve of his body. Her face beginning to warm as the suns heat
saturated the cabin. Despite the sense of ease after the
nightmares, the safety and security she currently enjoyed would be
fleeting. The comforts Andrew provided caused strange sensations
within Destiny. As if when she left, she would leave part of her
soul behind. Planning her getaway would be difficult now that she
was attached to him, but it also made her even more resolved to
leave. The longer she stayed, the more dangerous the situation
became.

The morning light dipped
behind clouds then peeked through the windows again, playing
shadows and highlights in Destiny’s hair. The silky strands twined
through his fingers, a few pieces slipping through to fall against
her shoulder. He could not imagine how he ever lived without her,
or if he could live without her in the future.

They remained in the warm
bed so long that Andrew began to believe they really could stay
there until the snow melted and they could leave. Maybe even stay
there until summer came and the heat drove them to the lake for a
refreshing swim. He had no objections.

Shadow however, had other
plans. He patiently sat near the door, eyeing the people in the
bed. He would never understand people. They didn’t sniff each
other, they didn’t roll around in the grass. They didn’t have tails
to chase and they couldn’t lick themselves. People life must be
boring. They did have interesting things though. That big box they
slept on was comfortable. The other big box held good stuff to eat.
They always left stuff around to chew on. People could not
understand how it was to be a dog. Always have to be prepared.
Protect the people, protect the people. That was his mantra. Sleep
with one eye open. Protect the people. Scout the area and mark it
so everyone knows that a dog is there. Protect the people. Learn to
bark and growl. Protect the people. And all people had to do was
feed the dog, let the dog outside, pet the dog. Too bad he hadn’t
been born as a people. Shadow’s patience wore out. He whined to let
Andrew know that if he didn’t get out the door soon, he wouldn’t be
responsible for the consequences.

Lifting his head to judge
how badly Shadow needed to go out, Andrew sighed. Just a few more
seconds of his head on the pillow next to Destiny’s and then he
open the door for Shadow. Another whine from the front door. Andrew
didn’t move. Nails ticked against the wood floor before Shadow
jumped on the bed. His sudden weight was like a ton of
bricks.

“
Take it easy Shadow! I’m
getting up!”

Ignoring Andrew’s protests,
Shadow nudged the occupants of the bed with his head and whined
again.

“
Okay, okay,
okay.”

Sitting up, Andrew threw
back the blankets, climbed from the bed, and opened the
door.

Grinning, Destiny watched
him shiver.

“
He’s insistent isn’t
he?”

“
Yeah he is. That’s okay,
you go ahead and laugh at me standing here cold and naked, but
guess what?”

An evil twinkle came to his
eye as he skittered across the floor, jumping on the
bed.

“
I’m putting this cold
body right back against you!”

He dove under the
blankets.

She gasped as he grabbed
her and held her against him.

“
It's incredible how cold
you got in that short amount of time!”

“
You go open that door and
tell me how I got so cold!”

His body temperature
quickly rose to normal as she willingly shared her warmth with him.
Too soon, Shadow was on the other side of the door, wanting back
in. They repeated the process of Andrew jumping from the bed, then
racing back to it and letting Destiny thaw him. Eventually, they
left their comfortable corner of the cabin to brave the cold and
test the theory of conservation by sharing the shower. Noon had
come and gone by the time they began to think of breakfast. Sitting
on the chair, Destiny combed out her damp hair in front of the
renewed fire.

From her vantage point, she
watched with interest as Andrew flipped over the area rug
designating the kitchen area. Reaching down, he grasped a handle
set into the floor and pulled open a trap door.

“
What’s that?”

“
The cellar. One of the
little luxuries I had put into the cabin. No matter what the
season, this space under the building stays as cold as a fridge. In
the winter, parts of it get cold enough to freeze.”

Intrigued, Destiny reached
for the walking stick Andrew provided as a cane, wanting to see the
room under her feet. Her ankle still ached but not nearly as bad as
before. She managed to move around the living space if she didn’t
put weight directly on the leg. As she rose from the chair, Andrew
appeared at her side. With his assistance, she limped to the
cellar. Supported against the counter, she leaned over, peering
into the darkness penetrated only by the weak light from the window
near the kitchen.

Steps led down to the
earthen floor. Boxes sat on either side of the stairs. Retrieving a
flashlight from a drawer, Andrew descended the stairs.

“
I have to bend over a
little to fit down here. I wanted it deeper, but the builders hit a
rock slab and they were going to charge me an arm and a leg to
blast through it. I decided it was deep enough.”

“
What do you keep down
there?”

“
Food that could attract
animals. The builder lined the walls to keep anything from
burrowing in. I store some things like clothes depending on the
weather. Household goods I don’t want to freeze in the shed in the
winter.”

Emerging with milk and
eggs, he switched off the flashlight and closed the door. His foot
prodded the rug back into place.

“
The air down there is
cold. Why isn’t it freezing in here?”

“
Ah good question. Another
feature of this cabin is that the walls, floor, and ceiling are all
heavily insulated.”

“
Is there anything you
didn’t think of?”

“
Only one, and I just
thought of it last night. I wish I had put in a queen size bed
instead of a twin.”

After situating Destiny
comfortably on the floor to stretch her legs out and lavish
attention on Shadow, Andrew returned to the kitchen. Food sizzled
on the stove. Turning on the portable radio, Andrew searched the
stations and adjusted the antenna, seeking a clear channel. A voice
droned a sports report from the speaker.