Second Nature (12 page)

“I’m sorry, Amelia.” Her voice was very
quiet, yet I didn’t have to strain to hear it. “I’m not apologizing
for worrying about you, because I’m
not
sorry about it. I’m
apologizing because I didn’t see how much you were hurting.”

“I didn’t really know. It wasn’t until it
lifted that I discovered how heavy a burden it was.”

“So do you still love him?” Xander asked in
a very tight voice.

“Yes,” I said without hesitation. Then I
stopped and considered my feelings for him—did I love him because
of the bond, or did we bond because I loved him? I shook the
questions off, knowing I could wander in pointless circles all day
without getting any closer to an answer. “But he isn’t the only guy
I can see, anymore.” I tried to coyly glance at Dylan from beneath
my lashes, but Sariah caught it and smiled.

“Well, why don’t you take Dylan home, and we
can talk when you get back.”

Xander opened his mouth to say something,
and Sariah stomped on his foot and gave him an evil look. I shook
my head and ushered Dylan out the door before the two of them got
going.

C

DYLAN COULD GET himself home, and he was
only letting me drive him to spend more time with me. That was okay
because I wanted to be alone with him too. Guilt ate at me. God
only knew what Nate was going through while I explored my strange
new freedom. But
he
walked away from
me
. I was tired
of letting him make me feel guilty.

“So now you know more about me than anyone,”
I said, smiling without taking my eyes off the road. “Tell me about
yourself.”

“I don’t know that there’s much left to
tell. Apparently, when I was two or three, the door to a police
station opened, and I toddled in. No one saw anyone who could have
opened the door, though there were people all around. I was taken
to a group home, where I lived on and off for several years.” He
picked at a spot on his jeans only he could see. “They kept finding
homes to place me, but somehow one of the other children who needed
it more always wound up going. After a few years, I suspected
somehow I was influencing that. Eventually, I was placed with a
nice family, but it wasn’t long before my foster mother was offered
her dream job in California, and I was back at the group home.” He
sighed, abandoning the spot on his jeans to gaze out the window
with a distant expression. “Every time, something similar happened.
Kids kept going to better homes meant for me. When I was placed in
a home, good fortune found the families I was placed with. Maybe
that’s why I had it so good, or maybe someone watched out for me
all those years.

“The convenience store happened when I was
fifteen, and then things started to make sense. All the good
fortune was because of what I was.” He seemed to come back to the
car, his gaze shifting to the front window. “I got myself put back
into the group home where I began to use my abilities more
purposefully—fixing the damaged ones when I could or finding them
good placement when I couldn’t. By the time I graduated high
school, I had helped over forty kids turn their lives around.” He
shrugged like it was no big deal.

“It was about then I discovered one of the
harsh things about the system. When you graduate high school, it’s
simply done with you. I had brought fortune to so many, but none of
them associated it with me because that would be crazy. So I was
eighteen years old, and for the first time, I was utterly alone. I
had no money, no job and nowhere to go.”

I couldn’t help myself, I turned to look at
him. His voice was so sad and the feeling echoed my own. I wanted
to hold him close.

A horn honked, snapping me back to reality.
I turned my head to discover I had crossed the centerline into
oncoming traffic and a box van hurtled alarmingly close. I didn’t
have time to react before Dylan placed his hand on the wheel and
wrenched it back towards our side of the road. But he was too late,
and the corner of my car met the edge of the truck. I waited for
the crunch of metal and the jar of the impact, but the van just
passed through my car as if it was insubstantial.

Once we were back on our own side of the
road, I pulled into the first parking lot and climbed out of the
car shaking. I couldn’t believe how close I had just come to
seriously hurting us. “I’m starting to think you might be my
guardian angel.” I tried to smile as Dylan jogged around the
car.

“No way would I sign on for that.” Dylan
returned my smile with ease. “That’s beyond a full time job.”

I barely had time to smile before he swept
me into his arms and hugged me tight. As he stepped back, I placed
my hand on the back of his head and pressed his lips to mine. There
was no guilt, only a strange silence as if we were the only two
people in the world. Dylan placed his hands around my waist and
moved closer, his surprise devoured in the passion of the kiss. I
buried my fingers in his hair as our lips molded. He pulled back,
and I could only sigh. “Heavenly.”

Dylan gently flicked the end of my nose with
an index finger, and I laughed feeling more alive than I had in a
very long time. His angel aura wrapped around me as surely as his
arms. I didn’t know what was happening, but I decided not to dwell
on it. Being with Dylan felt good, which was all I cared about at
the moment.

I wasn’t up to driving, and Dylan didn’t
know how—a fact I vowed to remedy. We found a nearby pancake house
and got a table in a corner of the nearly empty restaurant. It was
late enough that the all night partiers had cleared out, but still
early enough that the morning rush hadn’t started yet. We had the
place mostly to ourselves. I didn’t think there was anything on the
menu I could actually eat, but I didn’t want to spoil the mood so I
said nothing.

The waitress took our orders. Dylan ordered
a large stack of pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon and hash browns.
Shaking my head, I ordered the fresh fruit platter and a glass of
orange juice. Dylan raised his brows at me, and I shrugged. I
watched horror spread across his face as he realized my problem
with the menu. Suddenly, he was apologizing profusely, and I
flushed with embarrassment. It all would have been adorable if I
hadn’t been kicking myself for ruining the moment. Dylan got up and
talked to the waitress, handing her a folded bill, before he came
back and grabbed my hand. Pulling me to my feet, he headed out the
door. We walked holding hands for a block while I pestered him
about where we were going. Finally, he turned to me and smiled.

“You trust me, don’t you, Sprout?”

I smiled. I wasn’t sure when it had
happened, but I did trust him. I nodded and he folded me into his
arms. His light surrounded us, and the world went silent again.
Then the light began to intensify, and I looked up to see a ray of
light shining from above. It became very bright, to the point all I
could see was white, yet it never hurt my eyes.

When the whiteness cleared, I had a clear
view of the mountain meadow we stood in. Morning mist hung in the
hollows like a curtain. White flowers dotted the long grass,
bobbing their heads in a soft breeze. The power of the mountains
energized me, and the beauty of the view took my breath away.

“Where in Heaven’s name are we?” I turned in
full circles as awe rolled over me.

“Pun intended?” Dylan raised a brow at me
with a grin. “Vermont.” He inhaled deeply, and I mimicked him,
filling myself with the fresh mountain air.

I barely had time to exhale before Dylan
grabbed my hand and dragged me along a path nearly hidden from
view. It disappeared over a hill and down to a giant farmhouse
surrounded by a low stone wall. As he opened the gate, he reminded
me of a happy little boy showing off his toys. His excitement was
contagious, and I couldn’t help but laugh as we pounded up the
stairs to the front door.

“What in the world?” A woman’s voice drifted
out as the door swung open. “Sounds like a herd of elephants out
here—” She broke off as the door swung all the way open, and her
eyes landed on us. Her face lit up in a smile as a white light
silhouetted her. “Dylan!”

Before I knew it, we were swept into a
kitchen that looked like it was straight out of a Norman Rockwell
painting by the angel who answered the door. The table was square
and covered in a red and navy blue checked tablecloth. A single
black ladder-back chair with a wicker seat sat at each side. White
lace placemats sat in front of each chair with a neatly folded
cloth napkin held by a silver napkin ring, each featuring a
different angel.

Dylan offered me a chair before going to the
refrigerator and pulling out a glass pitcher of milk. He filled two
glasses and set one in front of me. I eyed it warily, and he gave
me a reassuring smile.

“You said you trusted me.”

Deciding to humor him, I took a tentative
sip. It tasted of rich milk fat, untainted by hormones or
chemicals. I flashed a grin at Dylan as the woman appeared with a
plate in each hand. Scrambled eggs, bacon, and pancakes with real
butter and maple syrup. It was the kind of breakfast I hadn’t
enjoyed since my mother’s death, and it brought tears to my eyes. I
sniffed it appreciatively and sighed in contentment.

“If you think they smell good, wait until
you taste it!” Dylan gushed.

I picked up my fork and dug in, savoring
each bite. I hadn’t tasted food this good since I had changed. Even
shopping organic, we lived in a mass production world where truly
fresh food was harder to come by than it seemed. I could hear the
clucking of chickens, and I imagined the woman had gathered the
eggs herself just before we arrived.

Suddenly I dropped my fork, appalled at my
lack of manors. I wiped my mouth with a napkin and sprang to my
feet. Dylan froze with a forkful of eggs halfway to his mouth,
unsure what was wrong.

“I apologize.” I turned to the woman, who
cocked her head at me. She wore a faded nightdress with a large
chambray shirt thrown over it and slipper socks. Her long grey hair
swept to the side in a loose braid, her deep blue eyes twinkled and
a kind smile lit up the room. “I swear Mom raised me better. I’m
Lia.” I held out my hand to shake.

The woman smiled and grabbed my hand, but
only to tug me into a hug. “Nice to meet you, Lia. You can call me
Aunt May—everyone does. Now hurry up and eat before it gets
cold.”

With a smile, I sat down and resumed eating.
Sighing and rolling my eyes in exaggerated enjoyment at each bite.
Aunt May smiled then turned and began fussing about the kitchen.
When my fork clattered onto my empty plate, and I sat back too
stuffed to think about food for a week, Aunt May turned to me with
a smile.

“It’s high compliments to watch a Gaia clean
a plate.” She smiled and gave me a wink.

I tried to help with the dishes, but she
wouldn’t hear of it. Instead, she shooed me out onto the back porch
where cane rockers lined the back of the house. The air smelled of
plants, animals and manure. It was heavenly. I didn’t know how much
the city tainted the earth until I stood on that porch, gazing at
the blue hazy mountains as a gentle breeze blew my copper hair. I
wrapped my white sweater around me and smiled, turning my face up
to the warm sun in pure contentment. I still had a lot of
questions, but for the moment, I allowed myself to just be here.
There would be time for questions later. I settled into one of the
rockers next to Dylan. He laced his fingers through mine, and we
sat in silence, rocking and watching the grass sway.

I THINK I could have happily sat on the
porch forever. Dylan and I bantered playfully, just two people
basking in the peace and quiet. We avoided anything emotional or
important. Soon May joined us, taking the rocker to my right with a
basket of yarn. Silence fell for a moment, interrupted only by the
clicking of her needles.