Forgiven (Book 3, The Watchers Trilogy; Young Adult Paranormal Romance) (31 page)

When I broke down into tears, my mother got up from her seat and put her arms around me.

“I’m so sorry, sweetie.  I should have said all that to you a long time ago.”

When I finally got my emotions under control, I told her, “Well, there’s one thing you can do to make it up to me.”

“Anything.”

“Come to Disney World with us.”

My mother gave me the same odd look Will had.  “With everything you and Brand are having to deal with, you
two
decide we should all go on vacation?”

I shrugged.  “Well, you know, if the world is going to end and all, at least we’ll all have a smile on our faces.”

My mother shook her head and smiled.  “You are definitely your father’s daughter.”

“Why?  Why would you say that?”

“Because he was the only person I knew who would do something completely insane just to have fun.”

It wasn’t the way I thought an arch angel of
Heaven
would be described
,
but it oddly made me feel closer to him in a way.  I wasn’t sure if I would ever be able to meet him in person but was thankful my mother
was able to see
a small part of him inside me.

The next day we all phased to Disney World. Brand booked us rooms at the Disney Animal Kingdom Villas.  I felt like an honored guest when the manager of the hotel came to greet us personally.  He arranged to have everyone’s bags delivered to their rooms and told Brand that our special room was waiting for us.  All we needed to do was go outside the hotel to the awaiting limousine.

“We’re not staying here with everyone else?” I asked as Brand took my arm to escort me out of the hotel.

“No.”

And that was it.  That was all the explanation I got.

To say I was slightly disappointed I wouldn’t be able to wake
-up
and watch the African wildlife surrounding the hotel roam freely by our
bed
room window would have been an understatement.

Brand helped me into the back of the white stretch limousine waiting for us outside.  As we drove away, I watched the giraffes walking
around
in the fenced in area and sighed.

“I thought I would be able to pet a giraffe,” I said dramatically with a touch of a whine.

Brand laughed.  “Don’t look so disappointed.  I promise you will like where we are staying.”

I snuggled up to Brand and just enjoyed the ride with him by my side.
  We drove up to the
Magic
Kingdom
Theme Park
and
w
ere
met by a man dressed as Prince Charming.

“Welcome to Disney, Mr. and Mrs. Cole.  We’re delighted you
’
r
e
s
taying with us
.  Please take a seat in the cart
,
and I’ll take you to the castle.”

I looked at Brand. “Why are we going to the castle?”

“Patience,” Brand said,
apparently pleased
that I was absolutely c
lueless to his plans
.

Prince Charming drove us up to Cinderella’s castle.  We were escorted to a
secret
elevator which went up to the fourth floor of the castle.  When we disembarked,
we walked into a small foyer which was beautifully decorated with all things Cinderella.  There was a circular tiled mosaic of Cinderella’s carriage inlaid in the floor beneath our feet.  There was also a desk, grandfather clock, and a glass case on one of the walls housing Cinderella’s crown, scepter and
an
arrangement of glass blown pumpkins of varying colors.  The suite wasn’t very large but the space held a cozy homey feeling.  Two queen size canopy beds butted against the far wall while the inner wall was home to a fireplace.  Above the fireplace, hung a picture of Cinderella and we were told it
also doubled as a
flatscreen TV. 
The bathroom looked like something you would find in a medieval castle with a deep almost Grecian style tub and separate shower. Hanging over the toilet were draperies which made it look like a throne, which made me giggle.

Once Prince Charming left, I jumped my husband until he fell on one of the canopied beds and kissed him until he gave me what I wanted.  When we lay in each others arms afterwards, I said, “I didn’t even know this room existed.”

“Well know you do, my love.  Whenever you want to come her
e
we can stay in this suite.”

I looked up at Brand.  “How much does it cost to stay in a room like this?”

“Nothing for me.”

“And just what makes you so special?”

“Well, it’s true the room isn’t generally opened to the general public any more, but if you’re a major stock holder in the company, they pretty much
let you have anything you want
.”

“You have stock in Disney?”

Brand shrugged.  “I knew a good investment when I saw it.  And after I met Walt, I knew he would take the company in a good direction.  I was one of the very first investors.  Of course, people th
ink that
person was my great grandfather, not me.”

“Oh yeah,” I said, trailing my fingers over his chest, smiling.  “I forgot I was married to Methuselah.”

Brand rolled me over onto my back and held my arms above my head by the wrist.  “Are you calling me old, Mrs. Cole?”

“I believe I just did, Mr. Cole.  Though,” I lowered my eyelashes halfway, “you could always prove me wrong.”

And prove me wrong he did…for the next three hours… in each bed….

When we finally met up with the others,
Tara
forced me to ride
Space
Mountain
with her.  It was the first time I ever heard
Tara
call on the Lord so much.  After that we pretty much rode whatever we wanted whenever we wanted.  I felt a little bad skipping people who were waiting in line but Brand assured me it was protocol for someone like him who basically owned a large part of the company. 

Tara
was in
Heaven
when we went to Cinderella’s Royal Table Dinner.  We were greeted by Cinderella herself who also escorted us to our
private
table.  We were given a choice of appetizers, entrees and desserts.  I chose to eat the rock shrimp cocktail, grilled swordfish, and the chef’s dessert trio.

After we ate we watched the parade by the castle and invited everyone up to our room to watch the fireworks show.

Luckily, someone had already been
i
n the room and tidied up.  I realized everyone knew Brand and I had been privately busy during our three hours away from them
,
but I didn’t need them to have proof of our physical activity.
  I knew
Tara
would have brought it to the attention of everyone
,
and I wasn’t sure how I would ever live through the embarrassment.

W
hile we were
walking by the large bronze
statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse by the castle the following day,
Tara
grabbed my hand like her life depended on it.

“What’s wrong?” I asked her following her gaze to
the
statue.

Standing there like he was alive was the eight year old Will we had lost once upon a time.  He was smiling at us.  The Will we had lived with for the past eleven years walked up to his young counterpart and knelt down on one knee in front of him.  Tara and I walked over.

“Are you real?”
Tara
asked.

“With the veils so weak,” young Will said, “
i
t takes less energy for me to appear to you guys.”

I remembered the newscast I saw when Malcolm first told us about the weakening of the veils.

“Why haven’t you come before now?” I asked him.

Young Will shrugged his shoulders.  “I don’t know.  Wasn’t sure how you guys would react.
  I’m still a ghost you know.”

I held my hand out to young Will, testing to see just how real he was.  Will reached out and grabbed my hand letting him know he felt very real.

I knelt in front of him and pulled him into my arms, feeling
hot
tears roll down my cheeks.  I knew I shouldn’t be happy about the veils being so weak
,
but I couldn’t help feeling glad I was being given a chance to hold one of my dearest friends again.

Before I knew it, all three of us were giving young Will a giant group hug.

“Thank you,” older Will said
to him
.  “Thank you for letting me live your life.”

“You
’
r
e
welcome,” young Will said back.

The three musketeers were back together with the addition of our newest
/oldest
member.  We spent the day acting like we were eight years old again finally having a last chance to play with one
another
.  Young Will left us at the end of that day, but he didn’t say goodbye, just vanished.  I don’t think he said goodbye because he knew it wouldn’t be goodbye forever.  We would see him again one day when we all went to meet him instead.

For the next
t
wo
days we acted like we didn’t have a care in the world.  We went to every park and rode every ride there was to ride.
Malcolm would come to visit us and keep us up to date on things each evening
when we sat down to eat
.
  I could tell the strain of trying to find Lucifer’s power source was taking its toll on him.  I felt bad he was working so tirelessly when we were having so much fun.

“I’ll have fun when this is over, dearest,” Malcolm assured me.  “Don’t worry about me.  Just enjoy your time together.  We’re certain to figure things out before it’s too late.”

That night Brand and I stayed up most of the night not letting ourselves fall to sleep until the early morning hours.  When I finally
did go to
asleep, I had a
strange
dream.  I was floating in space above the Earth but the world I lived on looked odd to me.  I
t
looked like it had been wrapped in a clear plastic bubble which was pocked with holes in various places but the
largest hole seemed to be situated over
Antarctica
.
 
From the direction of the sun, I saw what looked like an invisible disturbance in space, only visible to me because of the optical illusion it presented of bending the star fields around it.  What looked like a shock wave of energy passed
over the Earth.  The next thing I knew I was sitting straight up in bed having a hard time catching my breath.

Brand was already up.  I heard the water of the shower
going in the bathroom and laid back down on the bed until my breathing returned to normal.  I reached for the TV remote to check on the weather for that day and flipped through the channels trying to find the local news.  When I turned the volume up, the newscaster on the screen had a picture of the sun with what looked like a large loop of fire streaming from its surface.

“Scientist say the solar
storm
is the largest in recorded history.  They are warning that
the resulting flare
might affect electrical power grids within the next two days.”

I sat there and watched the digitally produced reenactment of the geomagnetic storm which was to take place
,
finally understanding what my dream actually meant.

“Brand!” I yelled, finding my robe and hastily putting in on.  Brand came out of the bathroom completely naked and
glistening with the
wet
ness of his shower
.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, looking me up and down to make sure I was physically all right.

In any other circumstance, I would have drug him to bed and had my way with him
he looked so good
but
now wasn’t the time for such frivolity
.

“Call Malcolm.  I think I know what Lucifer intends to use as a power source.”

“It was literally staring us in the face all this time,” Malcolm said as he sat on the red settee in our suite’s sitting room. 

“I wouldn’t have put it together if I hadn’t just had the dream,” I told him
, knowing the subtle hint had probably come from God
.  “So you think that’s what Lucifer plans to use then?  I’m right?”