Fifth Vision of Destiny - Brett

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Copyright © 2010 Kallysten

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the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First Published July 2010

First Edition

All characters in this publication are purely
fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is
purely coincidental.

Edited by Mary S.

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Fifth Vision of Destiny –
Brett

When Daisy first met Sam Woods, she had
believed he was a charlatan who preyed on lonely people by
pretending he could show them the love of their life. Later, she
started to wonder if maybe he was genuine, but offered meaningless
visions to his clients. However, after watching four of her friends
go to him, she couldn’t doubt anymore. They had seen something, all
of them, something that had touched them, excited them, maybe even
scared them a little. Something that would change their lives.

What bothered Daisy now was that, with each
new vision, the spark in Woods’ eyes seemed to dull a little more.
He had never seen his own future, he had said. He had showed
hundreds, thousands of people who they were destined to be with,
but he had never seen his own future partner. How could he bear to
continue doing this, watching others find happiness when he
remained alone?

Still troubled by what Woods had just told
her, Daisy left the balcony. Shaking her head, she returned to the
dining room where her friends waited. Two of them had gone to Woods
already, in addition to her friends who had already left, and four
more remained. Nothing forced Woods to go through with this, and if
he wanted to torture himself, who was Daisy to stop him?

“So who’s next?” she asked, her gaze sweeping
over her friends and stopping on Cathleen. “You said you wanted to
go?”

Before Daisy had left the dining room to
check on Mike, Cathleen had been anxious to take her turn, and she
had been commenting on how long it was taking Mike to get his
vision. Now though, Cathleen’s lips curled in a teasing smile as
she looked at Brett. “I do, but Brett wants to go first.”

Daisy’s eyebrows rose in surprise as she
turned to Brett. “Oh. You do?”

Brett all but gritted his teeth. Moments
earlier, Cathleen had been on edge while Brett was very relaxed,
serving wine to all of them and making jokes. Now, he seemed
annoyed, almost upset, and he answered in a clipped tone that did
not resemble his usual easy-going nature. “I do.”

Laughs and chuckles erupted through the
circle of friends. Daisy considered them all, amused. “I have a
feeling I missed something again.”

Gesturing toward Mike with his empty
glass, Brett threw a nasty look at him. “That
idiot
came in here claiming he and I end up
together.”

Mike looked absolutely unabashed. “Well, we
might,” he said with a wide smile that gave away he was teasing. “I
told you ages ago that I had a crush on you. Maybe you’ll finally
see the light some day.”

Brett snorted. “Asshole,” he muttered, but
there was more swagger than real heat to the word.

“See?” Mike said, tongue in cheek. “You’re
already starting to see things my way!”

They all laughed, even Brett, although he
cast a warning glance toward Mike before leaving the room and
heading to the balcony. “If you lied, I am so kicking your
ass.”

Pointing at Brett with a finger that shook
with suppressed laughter, Mike looked at the others as though
taking them as witnesses. His grin could hardly have been any
wider. “You heard it, too, right? He just said he hopes I didn’t
lie, didn’t he?”

Grinning at Mike’s antics, Daisy followed
after Brett. When she joined him, he was standing in front of the
closed French windows, looking out onto the balcony. Woods had his
back to them, and if he was aware of their presence, he did not
show it.

Brett’s hand closed on the doorknob, but he
didn’t pull the window open. Observing him closely, Daisy tried to
figure out why he was hesitating. She wasn’t used to seeing him
unsure of himself. “If you don’t want to go…” she said, leaving the
rest of it unvoiced.

“I do,” Brett said, then snorted quietly,
glancing back toward the dining room. “I’d have gone even if Mike
wasn’t playing with my head.”

He didn’t really believe what Mike had said,
Daisy realized. She doubted any of them did; it had taken Mike a
long time to come out to them, but he now felt comfortable enough
to joke about it.

“So why are you still on this side of the
glass?” she prodded.

Hands in his pockets, Brett half turned
toward her. She had rarely seen him wear such a serious expression.
“Have you ever been in love, Daisy?” he asked quietly. “Really in
love? With someone you could see yourself spending the rest of your
life with?”

Daisy’s first
instinct was to reply that she had. Of course she had, like she was
sure every single one of her friends had been in love before,
without needing the help of a seer to guide them toward the right
person. She couldn’t say it, though, not without lying. If her
friends had been so sure, they wouldn’t have been here tonight. As
for her, it had been a while since she had had anyone in her life,
and even then she had known it wouldn’t last.

She gave a small shake of her head. Brett
didn’t look or sound surprised in the least.

“Me neither.” He looked back toward Woods on
the other side of the window, and dropped his voice just a little
more. “What if he doesn’t have a vision to show me?”

He sounded really distraught at the thought,
and Daisy rested her hand on his shoulder to try to reassure him.
“Of course he’ll have something to show you,” she said, pushing a
smile to her lips. “He said everyone he ever read had their happy
ending.”

“Everyone?” Brett repeated, still clearly
unconvinced. He glanced at her, then drew the window open. “I guess
I should go and find out, then, huh?”

He squared his shoulders before stepping
outside. Daisy pushed the window closed again, although not
completely. She felt a little uneasy, and it wasn’t long before she
understood why. Even without meaning to, she had lied to Brett.
According to Woods, every person he had given a vision to had found
their happy ending, except for Woods himself.

Crossing her arms, she watched Brett offer
his hand to Woods, the jerkiness of his gesture when they shook
hand betraying his nervousness. His fists were closed as tightly as
his eyes when he leaned forward for the kiss that would start the
vision, and only after Woods had gently guided him to sit down in a
chair did his nervousness finally fade away. Daisy wondered what,
in his vision, could be making him smile so widely already.

* * * *

When Brett entered Daisy’s antique store, the
bell attached to the top of the door seemed to laugh, the sound as
clear as a child’s giggle. It would have made Brett smile even more
brightly if he hadn’t already been grinning.

The sales clerk started to approach him, but
before he could take more than a step toward Brett, Daisy’s voice
rose from the back of the room.

“It’s all right, Steven. I’ve got it.”

Nodding to the clerk, Brett walked deeper
into the store to meet Daisy, walking past beautifully restored
furniture and displays of precious china. He couldn’t help but
tease her as she approached slowly, hands on her hips. “You’re
waddling. It’s kinda cute.”

Her smile
turned into a scowl and she reached over to bat at his arm. “You’ve
always been such a charmer,” she said deadpan. “Here I am, coming
in to work just for you, and this is how you treat me? Ha. See if I
give you a discount now.”

Laughing softly, Brett bent forward to hug
her without squishing her belly. “All right, let me try again.
You’re absolutely glowing. Any better?”

She returned the hug and was smiling again
when she pulled away. “Much better. And thank you.”

Taking his arm, she led him to the back of
the store, where the jewelry pieces were displayed inside a glass
case. “And how have you been since last month?” she asked. “I was
beginning to wonder if you had changed your mind.”

“No, I didn’t,” Brett said, smiling to
himself. “I’ve just been too busy to take a day off and drive back
up here. What about you? I thought you’d be a mom again by
now.”

Daisy sighed. At the other end of the store,
Steven laughed quietly.

“Go ahead, keep laughing,” she called out to
him. “We’ll see how much you laugh when I extend my maternity leave
and let you deal with the Christmas sales by yourself.”

Steven made some sputtering excuses, claiming
he had been thinking of something else, but was thankfully saved
from further trouble when another customer walked in. Daisy slipped
behind the jewelry case and pulled a set of keys from the pocket of
her cardigan.

“I’m due next week,” she said as she unlocked
the cabinet and pulled out two rings. They were both tagged with a
small yellow sticker that bore the word, ‘Sold.’ “I’m glad I could
be here to give these to you, though.”

As she set the two ring boxes on top of the
case, she looked up at Brett, and her eyes were a little misty.

“Don’t you dare start crying now,” he said. A
lump was already forming in his throat.

Daisy fanned her face and laughed. “Sorry.
Hormones. Yesterday I burst into tears when I saw a picture of a
kitten. Of course I’m going to cry when my friend’s getting
married.”

“Not married,” he reminded her as he picked
one of the boxes. The ring in this one was plain, the platinum
gleaming softly. “Vampires can’t—”

“Marry humans,” she finished for him, and
made a dismissive gesture with her hand. “Who cares what the law
says. If you guys say it’s a marriage, then that’s what it is. You
never do things half way, do you? And I still say you should have a
party or something so we can all shower you with gifts. ”

Brett snickered. “So you can drink on the
house, you mean. Not that you could, in your state.”

“
In my
state
?”
Daisy huffed. “Never mind the discount. I just remembered the price
of platinum went up last week. You don’t mind paying extra, do
you?”

Shaking his head, Brett picked up the second
ring to examine it as well. Smaller and thinner than the first one,
it was made of the same material, with five diamonds set inside the
band. Understated and elegant, it seemed to have been made for
Lisa.

“She’s going to love it,” Daisy said, echoing
his thoughts, and when Brett looked at her, he realized she was
tearing up again. “So, you’re really doing this, then?”

Brett considered the two rings in front of
him, thought back on everything that had happened in the past few
years and everything he hoped was yet to happen. He smiled.