Divine Mortals (40 page)

Julia took a moment longer to come back to reality, Sally had also seen Julias reaction and wore a small smirk of her own upon seeing it, Sally of all people knew exactly how Julia was feeling right now and it gave me a small sense of pride to realize that he had chosen me. Even now it still didn’t seem real, still hadn’t sunk in at moments like this.

Julia leaned towards me, her eyes still fixated over my shoulder.

“Gorgeous?” she spoke quietly so only I could hear, her tone mocking, “Gorgeous! I don’t think that’s the darn word for it!” she sat back up trying to look casual as Robert bounded up the stairs two at a time and came over to the table.

“Hey,” he spoke to the three locals first, giving them a small smile before turning his best dazzling grin on Julia, I almost felt sorry for her, I knew what those eyes were capable of.

“I’m Rob,” he grinned, holding out his hand,

“So I’ve heard,” She shook his hand quickly, I had to admire her, she almost managed to keep her cool, almost, the admiration was still clear in her eyes.

“I’m Julia,” she finished, her own smile huge.

“From Chicago.” he nodded.

“Oh so Ava does talk about me then?” she laughed.

“All the time,” he smiled and moved over to me, leaning in he kissed me on the cheek his lips brushing against my ear.

“Gorgeous?” his voice was questioning although I could hear his smile,

“You know it.” I spoke softly back, watching Julias eyes on us, scrutinizing our every move.

“It’s what I think when I look at you.” he murmured, before stepping away to pull a chair up next to mine.

“So,” Julia interrupted, “You work here on the Ranch?”

Robert flicked his eyes towards me, giving me a cheeky wink, before turning back to Julia where he started giving her the human version of his life story. He was the perfect gentleman giving my best friend any information she wanted so that she could come to her own decision as to whether she approved of him or not.

I wasn’t worried, I knew she would.

I was lying in bed a little later waiting for Robert to appear, the night had been a success, everyone had eaten and drunk until close to explosion. Robert had been more laid back and chatty then I had ever seen him, he had really started to let his guard down. Hopefully he realized now that he didn’t need to keep up the full time façade of indifference towards other people for him to be able to remain anonymous.

I was truly happy again, I still ached for my parents and when I thought of them I missed them more than I could put into words. But I had begun my new life here and it was better than anything I could have imagined. Through tragedy I had been bought great happiness in the form of Robert.

Will had told the truth at least once in the entire time I had known him. Robert
was
my soul mate and there was no way I could ever part from him now that I had found something that was as precious to me as my own life.

Thinking of Mom and Dad I couldn’t help but think about my trip to Denver and my meeting with Arthur Bannister. I was richer now than most people my age, I was eighteen the money was mine, however it didn’t seem important, if I had been given this much a year ago I would have gone shopping and bought an insanely expensive car. But everything had changed now, I was an orphan living on a ranch in small town Colorado and the money didn’t hold the same importance it might once have. I was a different person to the girl from Chicago.

I could just imagine what Julia would say if she knew about the money, she would think I was nuts.

Before I even knew what I was doing I climbed out of bed and crossed the room to my large chest of drawers.

I pulled the envelope from the top drawer where it had lived since I had received it in Denver.

It was still sealed, my Moms neat handwriting arching beautifully through three letters.

‘Ava.’

I sat back on my bed staring at the small white envelope that contained the last message I would ever receive from my parents. Carefully I ran my finger underneath the fold at the back lifting the seal without tearing it. For some strange reason I didn’t want to damage any part of this, I didn’t tear into it without abandon as I normally did with letters.

Inside was a single sheet of paper folded neatly in half and also a small silver key.

“Ava?” I hadn’t heard him come in, not that that was unusual, he moved so silently. There was a note of worry in his voice as his eyes took me in. I realized then my mouth was hanging open and I shut it slowly, moving my eyes from him back towards the page in my hand, checking to see if my mother had really written what I had first read.

She had, my hand wobbled a little.

“Ava,” his hand was on my shoulder now, his eyes searching mine, “Are you okay, what’s wrong?”

I passed the page to him, noticing as I did that my hand shook. He took the note, still looking at me, the worry turning to confusion.

His eyes darted quickly to the page before him and then his expression changed.

He dropped the page and I watched it fall slowly, like a feather gently swaying side to side as it fell, before landing smoothly on the ground by my feet, its message still facing me.

Roberts hands found mine, warm and reassuring as we both stared down at the message from my mother.

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Divine Mortals

Copyright © 2014 by J Allison

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