After
Cameron, Alexis and Kristina found the secret room and determined
the location of Shangri-La, they searched out their friends and
told them what they discovered.
Luke leaned his chair back from the kitchen table. "Mighty
twisty of the Ice Prince but damn if this hasn't been planned out
like a war campaign."
'Well, dealing with Helena one has to assume it is a war,"
Jerry remarked as he finished his beer.
"And Tash here is our secret weapon," Luke said eyeing
Alexis with approval.
Alexis groaned as she massaged her temples. She was exhausted and
felt as if she hadn't slept in a week. "He had a great deal
of confidence in me and if he was wrong whatever awaits us would
forever be lost."
Zander nodded. "Or eventually Helena would find it."
Alexis gritted her teeth. "Over my dead body even not knowing
what it is."
Cameron patted her hand. "Well that won't happen now that we
know where to look."
Luke frowned as he reached out to grab the last of Mrs. Lansbury's
super fudge chunk brownies. "So their romantic pied-à-terre
is in Northern Sweden, huh? Do we actually have a location? Cuz
that is a whole mess of country to cover without a hell of a lot
of Boy Scouts totin' compasses."
Cameron hadn't thought of it until Luke raised the subject. "Alexis?"
They were all breathlessly awaiting an answer and her shoulders
slumped realizing they were only halfway to their goal. "I
don't know… exactly."
Mrs. Lansbury spoke for the first time since they arrived in the
kitchen. "But, dear, if you went to the general area perhaps
you would remember more, the same way your mind has recalled things
just by your being here in this house, in this village."
Cameron agreed. "Mrs. Lansbury is quite right. Each memory
you recall is making it easier to recall the next one that follows."
Jerry nodded. "Yes but we must narrow down the general area
somehow. Sweden is a large country with all types of terrain and
weather so the farther up into the mountains we go the harsher the
weather will be even at this time of year."
"Do you think there may be another clue hidden here?"
Cameron asked. "Your father couldn't have left that small fact
to chance after setting up all of the clues so many years ago."
"Well the man wasn't perfect or he'd still be around, wouldn't
he?" Luke snarked as he licked brownie crumbs from his fingers.
Alexis yawned behind her hand, exhaustion finally catching up with
her. "I need to think. I also need a nap."
The old woman reached over a maternal hand and felt her brow. "You
look peaked, my dear. All of this has been a strain for you and
I daresay you could use a nap as well as the little miss."
Alexis leaned into the woman's hand and nodded gratefully, just
as she did when she was a terrified little girl in a house of strangers.
She stood up and put her arms out for Kristina but Zander pulled
her daughter into his arms and motioned for her to walk with him.
Cameron eyed his son as he kissed Alexis on the cheek. "You
go and rest. We'll bounce this location ball around and see where
it lands."
They walked upstairs to her Mother's room, Kristina struggling to
keep her eyes open. She'd napped here and there but not on a schedule
and Alexis was surprised she was keeping her good humor because
her mommy was definitely not doing as well in that area. She wanted
to find whatever it was her father was leading her toward and get
back to Port Charles and start living her life again. The last two
years have been an endless revolving treadmill with only rare moments
of stilled quiet but never peace.
Zander looked around wide-eyed as they entered the room. "Wow,
cool room. Kinda creepy how some of the rooms are whistle clean
and others look like something out of a Freddy Krueger movie."
"Freddy Krueger?" she frowned as she turned the comforter
back and plumped the pillows, the lingering scent of her Mother's
perfume clinging to the satin.
He bounced Kristina in his arms and dropped her with a giggle on
the bed. "A Nightmare on Elm Street… one of those slasher
flicks. The guy comes to people in their dreams."
Alexis snorted. "He'd surely run screaming from mine."
"But just weird… this room and the ballroom are so clean
you could eat off the floor. And that room with the antiques too…"
She yawned as she stretched and scrunched her head into her shoulder.
"What room?"
"The small room next to the dining room, lots of rolled up
scrolls and antiques and stuff."
She tried to recall that room and was confused. Most of the ancient
parchments and antiques were housed in a room off her Father's library.
It was specially built to house antiques that were susceptible to
heat and the elements. It was always locked except when he wanted
to show her a new acquisition.
"Zander, the room next to the dining room is just a storage
room for the china and silverware and linens. My father's collection
is in a room off his library. It was specially built to protect
his collection. You must be mistaken," she said, her eyes closing
even as she spoke.
He looked at her and decided to leave the matter rest until she
had awakened. In the meantime, it appeared a trip to the room next
to her Father's library was now penciled in on his agenda.
"You look wiped and Kristina is almost asleep. Get some rest.
I'll go and try to stay out of trouble."
She lay down next to Kristina and wrapped her arms around her. She
could feel herself drifting off even as she fought to keep her eyes
open. She looked over at Zander standing by the door and smiled
as her eyes stubbornly closed.
"It means everything to me and Kristina that you came with
us. I don't know what I would ever do without you."
He saw her eyelids flutter as her body went limp. She was the most
beautiful woman he'd ever seen with a heart and soul to match. He
tiptoed over to the bed, leaned over and kissed both of them on
the forehead softly whispering, "No worries… I'll always
be with you."
He walked away without looking back shutting the door with a soft
click.
From his hiding place on the terrace, the man saw the younger man
leave the room. His eyes again focused on the bed as he watched
and waited.
* * *
Cameron knocked lightly on Kristin's door. Hearing no response,
he quietly opened it to peek into the room. Alexis and Kristina
were sound asleep in each other's arms enveloped in the soft downy
cloud of her Mother's bed. He smiled happily at their peaceful faces
wanting never to see anything less, whether in slumber or in life.
They had come to play such a special role in his life he now could
never imagine them being absent from it. He had fallen completely
in love with two beautiful women and never wanted that feeling to
end.
He blew them a kiss and was about to leave when his eye caught movement
near the terrace. The curtains were moving but he could have sworn
he shut the doors earlier before he went down into the garden to
wait for Alexis and Kristina. Frowning, he tiptoed over and moved
aside the lace sheer finding the door slightly ajar. He stepped
quickly out onto the terrace, looked around and stepped back inside
latching the doors.
The latch must be worn, he thought with a shrug.
He walked back to the bedroom door and with one more longing glance
at his girls he gently closed it behind him. He walked casually
over to the main staircase and stood overlooking the reception hall.
They were so very close and yet the prize eluded them. He felt that
one more clue had to be hidden here, one more image that would call
forth the past from Alexis's mind to guide them on the last leg
of this road trip. He heard a door close downstairs and turned to
see his son exiting the main room and walking determinedly in the
direction of the west wing with what appeared to be a fireplace
poker.
Just what are you up to Alexander, his mind questioned even as his
feet propelled him down the staircase in pursuit of his son.
* * *
The man's eyes followed the tall bearded man as he locked the terrace
doors and left the bedroom. As soon as all was quiet, he stepped
from the closet and walked over to the bed to gaze at its two occupants,
an inscrutable look upon his face. He stood that way for a very
long time as if burning their faces into his mind's eye.
Even in the embrace of sleep Alexis sensed a presence close by and
the fluttering inside her mind made of it an unknown one. She slipped
the bonds of sleep and slowly struggled upward toward consciousness.
Her mind attempted to angle past dreams and memories only to be
pulled back in the undertow as her own exhaustion betrayed her and
held her down. Panicked, her mind sought her daughter and her heart
breathed as she sensed her within the circle of her arms. Her mind
quieted and retreated again into the sleep of dreams, a sleep now
filled with restless unease.
The man watched the struggle play across the woman's face as she
tried to awaken but ultimately gave in to defeat. He nodded as if
suddenly satisfied by something, turned on his heel with deceptive
quietness and walked to the terrace doors.
With one last look over his shoulder, he stepped out onto the terrace
and disappeared.
* * *
"Alexander, what are you doing?" Cameron asked as he stood
in the doorway watching his son attempt to pry open a door in what
appeared to be the library.
"Opening a door," he huffed as he leaned on the poker
putting weight behind his effort.
"Aren't keys usually employed for that purpose?" his father
retorted.
"In most houses… yeah… but this place is like the
funhouse at the carny."
Cameron frowned as he glanced around the room. This was obviously
Mikkos' library, a room filled with uncounted volumes of books from
floor to ceiling and dominated by a massive oak desk that sat majestically
before a bank of now boarded over windows. Oddly it was not one
of the mysteriously tidy rooms, its contents reeking of mildew and
covered by dust and cobwebs.
The door suddenly gave way with a shriek and Zander tumbled forward.
He cursed under his breath as he found another inner door, this
one thicker and though constructed of oak more reminiscent of a
vault.
Cameron pointed to the inner door his son was now attempting to
breach. "What exactly do you think you'll find in there?"
Zander gritted his teeth as he worked the door. "Don't know.
Alexis said that her Father's antiques and scrolls were in a room
off the library. But I found them in a storage room off the dining
room."
"Maybe he moved them," Cameron replied with a shrug.
"Alexis said that the collection was special and this room
was designed to protect it. Now if that's true, why would he move
them to a dusty old room next to the dining room? It doesn't make
sense, Dad."
Cameron always felt a pang when his son called him Dad. He lost
that privilege for a long time, he feared perhaps forever, until
Alexis made them each see what they were losing by allowing the
past to rule their lives. Just one more blessing she brought to
him.
He thought about it and nodded. "You have a good point, Alexander.
But what if that misplacement is also a clue?"
Zander's eyes lit up with excitement. "Maybe we can find the
last clue! Dad, she's done so much for me, I really want to help
her."
He looked at the anticipation on his son's face, that starry-eyed
look that he remembered from childhood and felt the tears well up
in his heart. He had turned into a good young man with the guidance
of a very special woman and despite his initial misgivings was quite
proud of the man he'd become.
"Me too," Cameron said as he squeezed Zander's shoulder
and winked. "So what say you and your old Dad here both put
some real muscle into this little breaking and entering project?"
Zander looked into his Father's eyes and smiled back, his own tears
threatening to escape his dark eyes. "After you Dad. You know
what they say…age before beauty."
The door was a marvel of modern architecture, sealed in such a way
that you could not remove the jamb pins so they instead concentrated
on using the fireplace poker as a wedge. Cameron located another
in the conservatory and working with both they finally heard a loud
pop and hiss as air escaped and the door moved an inch or two, at
least enough for them to get a better grip on their pokers. After
another 15 minutes of sweaty pushing and pulling, the door finally
gave way and they stepped inside the room. The air was fetid with
chemicals long captured but now free in the infusion of fresh air.
They found the room empty, the cases and shelves and tables barren
and all relatively free of dust due no doubt to the sealed environment.
Cameron was disappointed too. "I'm sorry, son. Maybe we'll
find a clue in that room you found next to the dining room."
"I really thought we'd find something in here," Zander
grumbled as he kicked a small table into one of the glass display
cases and the tempered glass shattered inward.
Cameron shook his head at his son's temper and walked over to pick
up a few pieces of glass that had dropped onto the floor. It is
doubtful anyone would venture in this room but the concerned physician
in him always worried about consequences. He stood up and that was
when he saw the slim book now covered by shards of glass.
Cameron carefully lifted it from the shattered case and gently brushed
away the broken glass. It was a child's book of fairytales embossed
with golden dancing bears. He opened the cover and found the name
Natasha Alexis Cassadine scrawled in a child's uneven script.
Zander looked over his shoulder. "What is it?"
Cameron turned the pages. "One of Alexis's books… fairytales.
It looks very old… some beautiful artwork in here, dragons
and castles and such."
"Why would it still be in here?"
Cameron smiled as he ruffled his son's hair. "Son, I think
we found your clue."
* * *
Alexis awoke from a bad dream. She wasn't certain what it was exactly
that made it bad but she had the uncanny feeling she was being watched.
She shook herself free of sleep and saw Kristina quietly playing
with her stuffed giraffe next to her as she waited patiently for
Mommy to wake up.
"Hello, my sweetpea! Did you have a good sleep?"
Kristina tucked her head into her shoulder shyly and grinned, a
nonverbal response her Mommy decided to interpret as 'you bet I
did'.
Alexis wished she could say as much as the uneasy feeling from her
dream refused to leave her. "What do you say we make ourselves
pretty and head downstairs?"
Kristina threw her arms around her Mother and kissed her nose.
"Oh, how I love you my sweet baby girl," Alexis sighed
as she kissed her nose in return.
There was a light tap at the door and at her reply the door opened
and Cameron popped his head around the corner.
"Hey, did you have a good rest?" he asked as he walked
over and sat on the bed.
She shrugged. "I guess overall yes but some weird dreams."
He was concerned. "Weird?"
She wrinkled her nose. "Nothing really terrible but I had the
feeling someone was watching me."
The unlocked terrace doors came to mind. "That someone was
in this room?"
She shrugged again. "I'm not sure. I just sensed…something."
Suddenly she smiled. "Maybe it just was Mama's portrait watching
over me."
Cameron looked over at Kristin's portrait and smiled at the thought.
He looked down from the painting to the floor and that was when
he noticed the muddy footprints. He got up from the bed and knelt
to touch them. He felt the wetness beneath the dried crust and his
breath caught in his throat. He walked quickly to the terrace doors
and noted that they were closed but he had locked them the second
time. Or had he?
Alexis stood up and frowned. "What's wrong, Cameron?"
He pursed his lips trying to decide whether telling her what she
dreamed was quite possibly true. Keeping secrets would be unfair
if not downright deadly so he turned and faced her.
"See these footprints? I think someone was here."
She paled as stared at them and glanced quickly at Kristina. "Helena?"
He shook his head. "Not unless she's traded in her Manolo Blahnik
stilettos for mountain boots in a size 13."
"I think we need to leave here as soon as possible, Cameron."
"And we will. I think my son with some help from dear old dad
located another clue," he said with pride as he handed her
the book.
She smiled wistfully as her fingertips touched the dancing bears,
her heart replaying images of sitting on her Father's lap as they
read together. "It is berättelse…my storybook. Where
did you find it?"
"In the room next to your Father's library. We had to break
the door down."
She chuckled out loud. "Mikkos would not be pleased. He paid
a pretty penny to construct that room for his special treasures
as he called them."
"The room was empty except for this book. We believe that everything
was moved to the room next to the dining room."
She recalled the fuzzy conversation with Zander before she fell
asleep. "So since I would expect that room to be filled with
artifacts and it was empty except for my book…"
He snapped his fingers and Kristina laughed as she reached out to
capture his hand. "Voila! A clue is born!"
She smiled as she turned the pages, her Father's deep voice resonating
in her mind as he read along with her stopping every so often to
voice elaborate sound effects. She loved those moments when they
were together just the two of them. She adored her Father and even
when she did not remember him and lived in the shadow of her dour
Uncle Mikkos' disdain, she found she never could rouse herself to
hate him, often feeling an odd pity for him. She never understood
her singular reaction to her Uncle until she recalled her past and
each passing year the love she buried for him deep inside since
her Mother died made sense.
She lovingly brushed the pages with her fingertips. "He used
to read with me and this was one of my favorite books."
He raised a skeptical eyebrow at that thought. "You enjoyed
fairytales? You're always so logical and fairytales historically
are not."
"Oh, I always wanted to be Cinderella and have a white knight
on horseback come and whisk me away. But the scarier stories were
actually my favorite."
He was surprised and yet not. "I saw some very ornate paintings
of dragons in there."
She laughed as she eagerly turned the yellowed pages. "I did
adore them… great warriors and very noble, not quite as evil
as children were led to believe. In fact…"
Her voice fell away as she turned the page to a colorful painting
of a dragon in battle, his rider struggling to hold onto the reins
as fire whipped around them. Memory flashed and she heard a creak
as a wooden sign flapped in the harsh wind. Her mind walked with
her around to the front of the sign and looked up. A dragon was
sleeping peacefully in front of a hearth above the words DRAK LYA.
She tilted her head and listened to the forgotten echoes of men
laughing as her Father told a story.
Cameron knew she had gone to another time and place, the book eliciting
exactly the response her Father had no doubt hoped. For all his
seeming madness the man was a genius.
"Alexis?"
She shook herself and reached for his hand. "Drak Lya…
Dragon's Lair… it is the name of the pub in the village near
our home."
Cameron hugged her to him and kissed her. "I think we need
to do a bit of Googling."
* * *
Jerry started the SUV and plugged in the laptop adapter as Luke
adjusted the miniature satellite dish on the roof. He keyed the
information into the search engine and pages of data popped up onscreen.
He groaned. "Hell of a lot of people using the name Dragon's
Lair. Let's see… advanced search… Sweden…Northern
Sweden… drinking establishment... Bingo! There's a Dragon's
Lair located in… how do you pronounce that?"
She leaned over his shoulder and squinted at the screen. "Såmmarjökka.
It is in the Padjelanta, the Swedish Lapland."
* * *
Alexis stood in the garden watching as Luke and Cameron replaced
the boards on the windows while Jerry exchanged the lock on the
front door for something a little more secure and less medieval.
Zander took Kristina to the lake to say farewell to the ducks she
now referred to as "siwwy kit-kits".
She felt a profound sadness seep into the very marrow of her bones
as her eyes hungrily drank in, perhaps for the last time, what was
once her happy home. The woman in her recoiled at the pain that
infected its walls just as the child the Vicar assured still lived
within her heart struggled to recapture the happiness and sense
of security that she had once known in this place. Rosewood reminded
her of Janus the Roman god of gates and doors who represented beginnings.
He was always depicted as having two faces, one looking forward
and one backward because doors look in two directions. But one must
emerge through a door before entering a new place and perhaps confronting
the remnants of her past here was necessary before she could find
the courage to enter her own new place.
She waved as Cameron looked over his shoulder and smiled into her
eyes. Yes, she thought, I am in a new place I never dreamed I would
ever reach in my life. A place with someone who loves her for who
she is and opened her to the possibilities of true happiness again
after so much had gone so very wrong.
An image of her father standing before the sundial flashed before
her, his hand grasping that of the child she once was as he explained
the concept of time. He always respected her intelligence and ability
to comprehend even as a young child. He left clues that unlocked
the rusting doors of her mind, hoping that the child he once knew
and loved and who was more like him than any other would have the
courage to walk through them to build a new beginning out of the
rubble of the past. She hoped she had the courage to fulfill his
belief in her.
She felt a comforting hand on her arm. "Don't fret, my dear.
You'll return here one day to bring this house alive again."
Alexis shivered as the image of her father faded away until only
the sundial remained before her. "Do you believe in ghosts,
Mrs. Lansbury?"
The old woman chuckled as she wrapped a sturdy arm around Alexis'
waist. "I've served this family since I was a teen and seen
many strange things over the course of my life. What do YOU think?"
Alexis was thoughtful as her eyes roamed the face of the house,
its own eyes now blinded by sheets of plywood and its heart protected
by a modern titanium lock, a heart that still held secrets hidden
from her and perhaps always will. But the doors of Rosewood had
edged open and allowed her to feast her eyes upon the past and she
found that facing one's ghosts was far easier than hiding them in
the shadows and allowing them to rule your life.
A lesson her Father would no doubt approve.
She sighed. "Cassadines live with ghosts every day we draw
breath, don't we? Why should these ghosts be any better or worse?"
Mrs. Lansbury nodded as they turned and walked through the gate
to stand beside the SUV.
"We must out of respect give them their due but then forever
put them to rest. Only then can we begin to truly live our lives,
my child."
Alexis hugged the old woman and nodded in silent agreement as she
looked for the last time upon the abandoned rose cuttings entwined
in the latticed arbor. Memories of her family standing beside the
red and white welcoming roses spilled from her heart and took her
breath away. She leaned into her mind and inhaled the scent of roses
at sunrise, a time when the dew casts their heady fragrance into
the air as the sun's rays hesitantly kiss their petals good morning.
Her heart heard music, her Mother humming as she clipped roses for
their breakfast table, the blooms tumbling into the white-woven
basket tied with blue grosgrain ribbon a young Natasha held up in
offering. Her Father stood close-by as always, his body swaying
as he rocked Kristina in his arms. It was a picture she quickly
captured, the four of them happy together, and burned upon her soul,
an image too long hidden away and now one she can gaze upon all
of the days that remained to her life and someday pass on to her
own daughter.
With tears in her eyes, she turned her mind toward the future…
to Shangri-La.
****
"I need to go up there myself. My Father would have wanted
it that way," Alexis said gritting her teeth.
Luke countered, "How do you know what the old coot would have
wanted? I doubt he'd want you to get your throat filleted like Mama
after all the trouble he went through to get you here. Take it from
me… a man who got as nasty as he did when his plans didn't
turn out wouldn't let a little thing like being a decomposing popsicle
stop him from putting the smackdown on his little Natasha for getting
herself killed."
It was mid-afternoon and they were sitting at a corner table in
the Dragon's Lair Pub arguing. It had been a rough flight to Sweden
from Kent, the weather as they closed in on the Swedish Lapland
more reminiscent of winter than spring. The turbulence was constant
and even Luke gave up trying to play cards as the plane rocked and
bounced, finally strapping himself in with a large bottle of brandy
and a sleep mask. They were all frustrated, tired and achy and it
showed. Their often fevered speech drew the attention of some of
the townsfolk as they eyed the strangers in their midst. The man
at the end of the bar tilted his head and listened as he drank his
beer, his eyes averted as he absorbed every testy word.
Alexis sighed. She hated arguing unless it was in a courtroom. "I'm
not certain what I'll find up there but, no offense to all of you,
it's my legacy. I'm a big girl. There is no reason I need an escort."
"What if Helena follows you or worse yet, what if she's waiting
for you up there?" Cameron pointed out, his hands brushing
his hair back in frustration at her pig-headed determination.
She shrugged dismissively. "Then I'll deal with her."
Mrs. Lansbury placed a soft hand on hers whispering, "But you'll
be alone up there."
Alexis placed a hand on hers. "You should know better than
anyone that the years of surviving my family have taught me how
to deal with Helena."
Luke leaned forward across the table and grabbed her other hand
pulling her forward until her face was directly in front of his.
"What if she pulls out her trusty Girl Scout knife and does
an encore performance of the night she attacked your Mother?"
She jerked back her hand but kept her face before his as she stared
into his eyes whispering with icy softness, "Did you forget
that I too am a murderer? That I killed a man two times my size
in cold blood."
Zander raised his voice. "In self defense!"
She glanced over at him and smiled at his loyalty. "Still,
aside from my brown eyes and stubbornness, I obviously inherited
my father's ability to wage battle. Allow me this, please. It is
very personal for me."
Cameron muttered angrily, "For me too if you end up dead. Not
to mention your daughter."
She caressed his cheek and sadly smiled. "The Fates have always
stalked my family, Cameron. Ask Mrs. Lansbury. I learned a harsh
lesson the night my Mother was attacked. Regardless of how much
you try to outrun Fate it will always catch you in the end. I've
lived that lesson… and the losses due to it… all my life."
"But you have Kristina now… and me," he whispered,
his voice trembling with anger and fear.
"I know and that is why I have every intention of coming back
alive. I must face whatever Fate has in store for me or be forever
haunted by ignorance. My father referred to whatever is waiting
there as my legacy. I am doing this as much for him and the memory
of my Mother and my baby sister as for myself and my daughter. I
need to put closure on my losses, Cameron. You of all people should
understand that need. You taught that lesson to me."
He sighed knowing this was one fight he would not win and perhaps
it was one he had yet to earn the right to win. Mikkos Cassadine
went through a great deal of time and trouble to lead his daughter
to her past. It was her right to face it on her terms, as unhappy
as he was with those terms.
He sighed and stood up. "I'll check with the proprietor if
the ATV is ready." He leaned down and kissed her full on the
mouth with more passion than he'd ever felt and more pain than he'd
ever known before he walked out into the whistling wind.
Jerry walked over holding a tray of beer steins and a glass of milk
for Kristina. "The bartender has a shortwave radio in the back
and said a storm is moving in and will be over the mountain by nightfall.
I don't think you should be heading up there Lex."
She looked at her wristhingych. "It is hours before nightfall.
The house is only five miles up into the mountain."
Jerry frowned. "But on terrain that is tricky even for people
who know the area."
"I'll be fine. The first four miles are on the trail and the
rest… well I'm counting on my memory recognizing landmarks."
Zander worried his lower lip. "But it's been years, Alexis.
I used to hunt with Dad and Pete…"
His voice trailed off. Luke felt his pain, cleared his throat and
continued for him. "And what happens is that time and the elements
change a landscape. What's it been 24 years or more? You could get
all turned around, Tash."
Alexis stood up and crossed her arms over her chest. "I'll
take my chances. There is daylight for five hours, I've driven ATVs
before and no I'm not changing my mind."
Luke saluted her as he picked up his beer. "Well, you have
guts bubbeleh. See ya on the flip side."
Kristina was sitting quietly on Mrs. Lansbury's lap playing with
a straw doll the proprietor's wife gave her. Alexis knelt down in
front of her and gently explained where she was going and why it
was necessary to leave her for a few hours. Ever since she regained
custody of her daughter, she only left her for very brief periods
and only when either Zander or Cameron or Big Alice was able to
stay with her. She never wanted Kristina, a child who had been through
what amounted to a year-long loss of her Mother, to ever feel insecure
again. She kissed her daughter, grabbed her gloves and goggles and
walked out of the pub.
Cameron stood beside her as she zipped up her ski suit and adjusted
her goggles. She moved to put on her gloves but he captured her
hands and held them to his heart. He felt as if his world had stopped
spinning and his heart would never beat again until he looked upon
her beautiful face safely returned to him.
"You are forever in my heart, Alexis. I love you. Come back
to me."
Tears pooled in her eyes as she gazed deeply into his. She loved
him and wanted to spend her life with him and her daughter but she
needed him to trust that the course she was taking was true to her
instincts. She needed to learn the secrets that awaited her high
up on this mountain and she needed to do it alone.
She took his hands and placed them gently over her own heart giving
voice to the only two words that would not bring forth a river of
tears. "Damn straight."
She reached up and kissed him softly, a kiss of such fragility that
he believed their hearts would shatter if they drew breath. So very
gently he increased the pressure as he tested the bond between their
hearts and infused it with all the strength he had in his soul.
It was a kiss that emboldened and promised her that whatever she
found up on the mountain, his love would walk the journey with her
and she would not face it alone.
She hopped aboard the ATV and with one last longing glance at the
man she loved roared away.
