“Sea Tiger.” A ghost of a smile danced on her mouth before she pressed her lips together and clasped her arms around her front. “What are you saying, Victor?”
“I’m saying that for some reason that I don’t understand, I no longer feel angry inside.” He paced faster. “How can I explain it?” With frantic fingers he fished out his wallet and pulled out the scrap of paper with Pearson, Jackney and Rivera’s names. “Here.”
She took it, a look of wonder on her face. “Why are you giving this to me?”
“Because finally I think I can let them go, because I’ve accepted that I’m not going to get the answer and even if I did, it wouldn’t change anything. I don’t understand it myself. Your faith, your trust that God is in charge, I don’t comprehend it or accept it, but I think…”
She reached out and took his offered hand in hers. “Tell me.”
“I think I’m open to listening.” He wasn’t sure he’d really managed to say the words until he saw her smile, a dazzling full-lipped grin that lifted his spirits and made him dizzy.
“I’m so glad,” she said.
He pulled her close. “Brooke, there’s something else.” His hands smoothed her copper hair, soaking in the satiny glide of it. Her eyes were so wide, so blue, he felt as though he’d dived into them. “I think…I’m falling in love with you.” It was more than a thought. Standing in front of him was the woman he would marry in time. He was dead certain.
She started, but he would not let her pull away.
His words tumbled on in a rush. “I haven’t known you long and this is probably scaring you because it scares me, but the fact is, I can’t get you out of my mind or my heart and nothing in my life will make any sense if you’re not in it.”
She reached out a hand and stroked his cheek. “Oh, Victor,” she breathed. “I can’t believe you’re saying this.”
“I can’t either, but if I don’t I know I’m going to regret it for the rest of my life.”
Her eyes clouded. “But if my father had been guilty…”
“If your father had been guilty, I would feel exactly the same about you. I knew it the moment I nearly lost you in the flood. I didn’t want to believe that it was love, especially not for you.”
She looked down and he reached a finger under her chin and gently brought her gaze to his.
“I’m not asking you to give up anything to fit me into your life. I just want to know that you might feel the same way someday. I have to know if there’s the possibility of a future with you.”
She began to cry.
“Please, Brooke,” he said, pressing kisses onto her tear-streaked face. “Please, tell me we can build a life together. Just try, that’s all I’m asking.”
“But I might…” She began to shudder.
“You might what?”
“I might…have the disease my father has.” It came out a whisper, and in it he heard the fear that she’d kept inside for so long.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“Yes, it does,” she said, pulling away and turning from him. “My mind could get jumbled like my father’s. It’s a genetic flaw. Maybe someday—” she began to cry in earnest “—maybe someday I won’t even know who you are.”
He could feel the pain radiating out of her and he clasped her hand as if he could siphon some of it away. “You’ll always know who I am.”
“How do you know that?”
He cocked his head. “Someone once told me that faith is believing when you can see all around you the reasons to doubt.”
She wiped her face with her sleeve. “That was some pretty smart stuff.”
“From a pretty smart lady.”
She looked away. “I’ve booked a flight.”
“Cancel it,” he said, grabbing her hand.
“I have to find a job.”
He would not let her pull away. “I’ll help.”
She shook her head. “The press will hound my family.”
“I’ll scare them off,” he said, drawing her closer until he pulled her to his chest, pressing his lips to her cheek, her forehead, her temples. “Tell me you could love me.”
She sighed, a deep ragged sound. “I’ll tell you the truth, Victor.”
He saw a sparkle of tears in her eyes and his heart pounded against his ribs.
“The truth is,” she said, blue eyes luminous, “I already do.”
Joy surged inside him at a level he’d never thought possible as he molded his mouth to hers. Her love traveled through his lips into his soul, lighting a flame there that he knew he would treasure until his dying day.
A sound from the window drew their attention.
Luca and Stephanie crowded into the open second-floor window, smiling.
“About time,” Luca said. “Big brother’s finally found his treasure.”
“Yes, he has,” Victor said with a laugh, pulling Brooke to him for another kiss.
* * * * *
Dear Reader,
I’ve been a treasure seeker all my life. When I was little, I was convinced that the bits of colored glass and feathers I collected were precious and I hoarded them in secret drawers and boxes. Later, I decided frogs were the thing, and I’ve amassed a collection of stone, porcelain, glass and wooden frogs. I even have one made out of sand! As I’ve gotten older and my little children are not so little anymore, my idea of treasure has changed. Now it’s the rickety handcrafted ornaments from kindergarten and the pictures drawn with chubby crayons that I value. Each captures a moment gone by, a love memory that is as intangible as it is profound.
There are surely a lot of worldly treasures to pursue, aren’t there? The new car. The bigger house, the better job, an amazing vacation. Funny how none of these treasures could replace one happy moment with my children or a fond memory of time spent with my husband, sisters or parents. Our treasures truly are the things of the heart, the people that God has blessed us with for a season, aren’t they? I hope and pray that I can truly value those kinds of treasures here on earth, which are surely just a small taste of the Heavenly wealth God has in store for each and every one of us.
I am so pleased that you spent time with this book, the first of the Treasure Seekers series. I would love to hear from you via my website at www.danamentink.com. There’s an address there if you prefer to correspond by letter. God bless.
Sincerely,
Dana Mentink
Questions for Discussion
ISBN: 9781459227910
Copyright © 2012 by Dana Mentink
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