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Freeborn: Chapter 31

The Decks and the Road
book 1- Freeborn


The Final Chapters- Chapter 31


Erilyn- The last few years were good.  Nathan and I were good.  I wasn’t sure if he could see it, but being a husband had added many layers to him, and had also made him lighter on his feet.  Along with his feet, he’d taken a leap in his heart.  He didn’t seem so worried anymore about what everyone thought, or had to say.  I never knew how much he listened to me; how much he cared.  It was the moment he asked me—his apology and the sense of uncertainty I read behind his eyes that let me know that I wasn’t a compromise.  We didn’t make a big fuss of it and kept it in our backyard, but it was huge in each of our hearts and minds.  I think we’re still newlyweds.  At least it feels like it.  Everything’s still pointing towards our future, and that seems to keep things fresh.  Well, just about everything.  First, there’s a funeral I must attend.  It’s one thing I will never understand in life—it’s how you can go years without hearing about or seeing someone, but the moment they die, someone comes along and informs you.  The news was rough, but the thought of having part of my past resurface in anyway, and at this time, was also rough.  I’d thought of my wedding day as a definite line in the sand.  I told myself that I’d keep looking forward, but there’s a respect I believe we should pay to the dead.  Anyway, it would only be for a few hours—my return to the past.  I just keep hoping that it won’t take me too deep, and I can easily find my way back to bliss. 

Angelo had left Tampa and was living in Jacksonville.  An old girlfriend of his had innocently filled me in on nearly his whole life.  We all knew each other—all the girls that came to visit the guys who worked at the shop.  I wasn’t sure how much she knew, but I took her openness as I sign of her ignorance.  He’d gotten married, and had a daughter.  I didn’t have to travel.  The family was bringing him back. 

I had just gotten my confidence fully wrapped around the thought of being a Shepherd.  All of the whispering hadn’t stop, but they’d gotten quieter—not quiet enough though for me to go carefree, and I decided to buy a wig.  It wasn’t the most flattering—the girl at the store tried to talk me out of it, but I didn’t want my presence to incite any curiosity.  When I got there, the crowd was mixed.  It made it easy to blend.  I stood at the center of all the bodies that formed the half-moon shaped crowd.  I’d checked the faces directly around me.  I couldn’t recall or recognize any of them, and that brought me security.  When his daughter stepped forward to speak, I made my way closer to the frontline.  I again thought to check my surrounding, and this time they did not leave me secure.  It was the kind of thing you might dream, but not live—and I’d lived.  Somehow, I found myself standing between the most beloved persons in my life.  It didn’t matter that her hair was blue or aqua—she was my daughter.  I didn’t know why she’d come, or why she was standing were she was.  I hadn’t said anything to anyone about me and Angelo.  She’d been my and Nathan’s little girl since the beginning.  There was never any controversy—any drama.  Now with her to my far left, and Nathan standing to my far right, I didn’t know what to think.  I also couldn’t deny the way his daughter—Radiance was her name—resembled Natalie.  I thought to leave, but it was not the right time.  I thought about how I’d spotted Natalie, and how certain I was that it was her, and I knew that my wig was not enough to hide me.  I stood still.—partly paralyzed by my predicament and partly mesmerized by Radiance’s voice.  I tried to understand her strength along with the strength of her voice.  They both stunned me.  I used the moments after she’d sung and everyone was commenting on her power, and moving in to comfort her, to make my way back to the car.  I left with great urgency.  I needed to get back home and start on dinner.  I needed to forget what I knew, and solidify the use of my time.  On the way it hit me that there was no line I could draw to protect me from my secrets.  I stopped to ditch the wig, and with it I hoped I could ditch my mistakes, but they involved people—and as with people, they all had arms and legs.  



Freeborn, a novel
Freeborn

© Grace Call Communications, LLC

Copyright © 2017 by Natisha Renee Williams
All Rights Reserved
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