Loving You (Remembrance Series, Book 2) (26 page)

Several hours passed before we said goodnight to Grandpa and promised to meet him at the airport in the morning. Anderson seemed to know when we were leaving and had pulled up with the door open for us.

When we arrived back at the Inn, we told him of our plans and about needing to be picked up by 10 in the morning. “Thank you, Anderson, for all you have done and helped us with. Goodnight.”

I turned around and glanced up at the window of our room and saw a red haze surrounding it. “I think we have trouble in our room, Gregory. There’s an evil aura eminating from it.”

We rushed inside and took the stairs as quietly as we could, but with purpose. The door was locked and we used our key to get inside and flipped on the overhead light. The illumination resulted in a horrific howling sound that pained my ears to the point I had to cover them. Gregory pulled me behind him, to protect me from whatever was inside.

As our eyes adjusted, we saw two floating shadows, most likely servants of the witch, draw back into whatever shadows they could find within the room. In the past, whenever we turned on a light, the shadows would abate. Like the glow of our former selves that appeared at the river, the shadows were driven into the dark corners. As quickly as we could, we began to turn on all the lights and aim them toward every dark corner, until the room was fully lit and the shadows dropped whatever they were holding into a small fire that they must have set in the fireplace, and left the room post haste.

I sent up a mental request to Ray.
Please hear our plea and place a band of security around the room we are staying in. We found two of the witch’s shadows in our room, searching through our things.
In my mind I heard I faint response of,
It will be done.

I closed the door, quickly locking it and hoping that Ray and his angel friends would keep them at arms length throughout the night.

Gregory went to the desk and went through the steps of unlocking it to check for the items that were hidden internally. The love letters from Hannah were still there, along with the box containing the earrings. When he reached for the drawer with the false bottom, he realized that had been compromised and the box was missing.

At the same time, I went to the fireplace to see what they had thrown in. As he told me about the box, I saw it sitting within the flames. I yelled for Gregory and he rushed over, but, upon further inspection, the box was not burning. He grabbed one of the fireplace tools, the one that looked like a large pair of barbecue tongs, and picked it out of the fire and placed it on the brick area in front of the hearth to let it cool.

We went ahead and took turns watching the box, as the other got ready for bed. By the time we were ready to turn in for the night, the temperature of the box was cool to the touch. I wanted to know what was so important that the shadows had tried to take it. Gregory picked up the box and sat it down beside me in bed. His brows furrowed and he kept turning the box over in his hands. “I think I, or rather Aaron, made this box for Hannah. If I recall correctly, I went into town looking for some sort of protective finish to put on this box and the guy who sold it to me…” he paused for a moment, before sucking in a deep breath, as if in shock. “Oh my God, Ray sold me some strange oil that I’d never heard of. Natura oil! He told me it would keep the box protected from all of the elements, including time. I thought it a strange description at the time, but purchased it and put it all over the interior and exterior of the box, liberally. That must be why it didn’t burn. He knew!”

I watched as he turned the box over in his hands and moved the bottom corner of one of the edges that looked to be affixed, out of position. I remembered the next move and reached over to the opposite corner and moved the piece on the top edge. He followed with a hidden button on the bottom of the box that looked like it had been branded into the wood and the box unsealed. He removed the top and we looked inside.

“These are my letters to you. You had mentioned wanting a special place to keep them so they would be private, only to you; so I made you this box. I asked my father’s wood crafter to show me how to make a box that required a combination to open.”

I reached inside and held the letters for the first time in centuries. My mind darted back to Hannah reading each letter, a proclomation of love and affection from her Aaron. I sifted through them, wanting to treasure each one, until I stumbled upon the one I had been fearing would be present.

I quickly handed the suspect letter to Gregory and he confirmed my fears, “We were definitely tricked to going to the river. You received a letter like mine. This is definitely not my handwriting, but a good likeness of it.”

The letter read much the same as the one Aaron had received:

When he handed it back to me to put in the pile, it felt warm and I focused on it more closely and began to see an aura of red surrounding it. I was starting to realize that black auras were given off by the witch. But red seemed to signal the dark spirits and a person being under a spell or possession.

I pulled out another letter that felt like hot coals heaped upon my skin. I dropped it to the floor and watched as a black aura surrounded it. Gregory opened it and held it out for me to read:

Gregory walked back over to the desk and grabbed his letters and the earring box, before sealing it back up. He placed them and the earrings inside the larger box, with the letters from Aaron and closed it, placing it on the nightstand beside him.

“We should probably get some sleep. It is approaching midnight and we have to fly out in the morning. Know that I’ll watch over you; however, I only want to dream about wonderful things like our wedding and how we will finally make it to the alter,” he insisted.

I couldn’t argue with his line of thinking. It had been a very trying day and I was more than ready to sleep and dream of an amazing future with him as my husband. “You won’t have any objections from me. I like the sound of your dreams.”

We finally laid down, leaving a couple of lights on for safety’s sake and peace of mind. I drifted quickly off to sleep, wrapped in the comfort of his arms and found myself on the edge of a dreamful plane, with him by my side.

Gregory gave me wonderful visions of taking our vows, dancing our first dance as husband and wife and, to my surprise, he envisioned me with a swollen belly, with his hands gently caressing over it as we looked into our newly decorated nursery. I kept trying to block that idea, not wanting to think too far ahead just to have the rug pulled out from under us. But, I couldn’t help imagining our wedding day and focused on steering him back to that, where we enjoyed the rest of our slumber and dreams.

Gregory and I brought our bags down with us to breakfast and had started to check out when Anderson arrived to collect everything for us. While I enjoyed the food and meeting new relatives, I was anxious for our journey back to Daytona Beach and looking forward to seeing my mother again, soon.

I was quiet on the ride over to the airport, trying to analyze everything and how I felt about it. I could tell Gregory was concerned because he was hovering. If he wasn’t asking how I was doing, he had his arms wrapped around me and had me leaning up against his chest. I imagined he was worried that I might isolate myself by pulling away from him again, like I did when we returned home from Virginia.

My nerves were still a bit shot from the events of the previous day, but, I wasn’t planning on distancing myself this time. I saw where my attempt to alter our path had been a mistake. Having my life flash before my eyes and being told by Ray that I was “technically” supposed to die in the auto accident, was enough to keep me close to Gregory. I just prayed that we
were
the destined ones the prophecy spoke of.

His brow furrowed with confusion when I smirked aloud. “Something wrong?” I just shook my head and waved off his concern.

Who could have imagined that we would be given an advertisement about a unique store where I would come across Aaron’s love letters to Hannah, contained within a hard to open, difficult to burn box? I was beginning to wonder if the person who sold it to me, Karma, was exactly that, destiny on my part, or a person of divine guidance. Everything seemed so coincidental, as though it were all lined up for us to see and experience. But, how could that be, when Ray said that he couldn’t show us everything, only help keep us on our destined path and make sure we didn’t stray?

Was Ray breaking his rules to give us the best chance of success? Or, did the events in Philly play out by sheer happenstance?

I gave mom a quick call from the car to let her know we were on our way to the airport and we’re headed in her direction. She was overly concerned about my health. I reassured her. “I’m fine, Mom. I actually feel better than I have in ages. Gregory’s taken excellent care of me. I’ll call you as soon as we land. Love you, too. Bye.”

We pulled up right alongside the plane. We noted the door to the plane was already open and another driver was pulling away “Grandpa and his associates must have beaten us here,” Gregory commented.

Anderson gave us his card, and told us to give him a call any time we needed further assistance. “I’ll make sure to request the area you are going to, so that I may be your driver. I’ve enjoyed getting to know both of you and helping you on your quest to trace your ancestry.” To my surprise, he gave both of us hugs and wished us well. His gentle embrace exuded peace and tranquility, which made me feel calm for the first time in days.

I didn’t know if Anderson was an angel or what his significance was in our journey. Just when I thought I had him figured out, he gives us a business card and throws me off course. How could an angel have a business card and be contacted like anyone else? I didn’t know, but now was not the time to try and figure it out.

The flight home was uneventful. I spent most of my time curled against Gregory’s neck and chest, both of us kissing tenderly, showing we were still in this together, but not wanting to overdo the PDA in front of the suits on board.

Grandpa had a car waiting to take us back to the condo, when we arrived. I called Mom, as soon as we were in the car.

“Hey, Mom. We’ve just landed and are going back to the condo to pick up the rest of our things before heading to your place.”

“That’s wonderful, Jordan. I’m glad to hear you made it back safely; but please don’t rush, dear. I’m not going anywhere. If you need an extra day over at the beach, I’ll be fine.” Her voice seemed a bit off and I could hear other voices in the background.

I tensed a bit and felt Gregory’s arm draw me closer to him. He looked at me with a confused look, probably a reflection of my own expression. “Is everything all right? You sound like you have company.”

“I’m doing wonderful, sweetie. I guess I have the television turned up a bit loud. I need to go, now, but I’ll see you soon. Bye for now.”

This definitely did not sound like my mom’s usual tone. “Bye. Love you.” Before I could even get the words out, she had already hung up. I was hurt that she didn’t want to talk more with me. Was this a sort of punishment for me spending time in Orlando? I know we talked two and three times a day; but it didn’t replace my being there in person. Once I was feeling better, I would rectify my absence and spend more time with her, even if it meant commuting to and from Deland to Orlando, until Gregory and I were married.