Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 66642 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66642 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 333(@200wpm)___ 267(@250wpm)___ 222(@300wpm)
“We have no choice,” he answered, his voice firm. “We protect it at all costs.”
Jody silently slid out of bed, careful not to wake Sophie. Dressing quietly, he walked out of the bedroom to go into the other room, where he put on his shoes and a jacket before he opened the door to head out.
Striding familiarly in the direction he knew as well as the back of his hand, he made his way to the overlook where his family gathered to watch the stars. The death star was gone after destroying Chastity’s star.
Kneeling, he looked up to the heaven above. “Thank you, Mother, for sparing my soul mate and her loved ones …”
Jody stayed, giving homage to his queen until his muscles ached, only rising when he saw a shooting star racing across the sky.
Rising, he walked back to his trailer. He left the door unlocked and removed his clothes before sliding back in bed to pull Sophie into his arms.
He might be a lowly knight, but Mother had given him a king’s ransom by giving him Sophie as his soul mate. A soul mate he would work hard for each day to earn the honor of calling Sophie his. She had gone to sleep still thinking he had been joking about his family’s gifts; in the morning, he would have to show her the truth of his family’s abilities. She had a place in their family, and he wasn’t willing to keep any more secrets from her. Jody felt an overwhelming emotion as he held her in the darkness. He hadn’t felt it so long that at first, he didn’t recognize what the emotion was before it came to him…it was pure happiness.
Nervously, Jody shifted from one foot to the other, waiting for Sophie’s reaction after witnessing his brothers’ gifts.
She didn’t appear happy as she watched them walking away from the trailer to return to their own homes.
Jody cleared his throat.
“I know it’s a lot to accept at first.”
She stared at him balefully.
“I thought you were joking last night.”
“I wasn’t.”
“I saw that,” she said sarcastically. “You don’t think you could have told me before you asked me to marry you?”
“I wanted to wait until you fell in love with me. I didn’t want you to be afraid of them.”
Her expression gentled. “I could never be afraid of them.”
She would have run in terror if she had seen them last night after she had gone in the house. Jody wisely kept that thought to himself.
“Their gifts can be inherited by their children?”
“Yes.”
“Well,” she gave a long, suffering sigh. “At least all I have to worry about you is passing on your good looks, which combined with my looks, at least the female population will stand a fighting chance.”
Jody stared down at his nails. He needed to clip them.
“Jody?”
Should he go clip his nails now and avoid this conversation or wait…
“Jody!?”
He winced at her loud voice. “Baby…”
His attempt to sweet-talk her failed miserably.
“Do not baby me…is there something else you’re not telling me? I have to go to the apartment and let the delivery drivers inside for the furniture before checking on my mom at the hospital.”
“Did I tell you that Baylin moved in with her parents?”
“Yes, you did. Why are you avoiding answering my question?”
Looking up from his hands, he realized he couldn’t avoid the question forever.
“Don’t be mad, but I may have forgotten to mention my own gift.”
Sophie narrowed her eyes on him.
“May have?”
He simply shrugged his shoulders. “My gift isn’t as good as theirs, and you never get to see it. Whew, that’s a relief off my mind. We can go now.”
“Slow your roll for once, Jody!”
His shoulders slumped. “I just don’t want you to overreact when I tell you.”
“Do I need to go inside for me to sit down?”
“No! There are pillows in there. I prefer to talk to you out here…uh…” Realizing that he had stalled for as long as he could, he got on with it. “Have you seen the movie The Sixth Sense?”
Sophie moved to sit down on the trailer steps seemingly to know where this was going. “You mean the one where the kid sees dead people?”
Roughly, Jody swept a nervous hand through his hair. “Yes, well, I can see and talk to spirits who haven’t been rebirthed.”
“Rebirthed?”
“You might be more familiar with the term reincarnated.”
She grew pale as if she herself had seen a ghost. “Oh my …”
“Mother,” he correctly interjected. “Our higher power is a woman… Mother controls the universe.”
She just stared at him while Jody shifted his weight to his other foot.
“If you’re ready, we can go to the hospital now to check on your mom—”
“In a minute. I need to think!”
“About what?” he asked helpfully.
“Just be quiet a second.”
Jody snapped his mouth closed.
“How do you talk to them?”
This is the part he really didn’t want to tell her, yet he didn’t want to keep any more secrets from her.