Changer's Blood (Balancer's Soul cycle) (91 page)

“Oh Father, don’t cry.” Sarah reached up and wiped his tears away with the back of her sleeve.

After she cleaned his other cheek he said “These tears are of happiness not pain
,
my dear
est
daughter.” He gestured to the fire. “Sit down and let’s have a pleasant discussion.”

As Jack and
Connor
walked over to
their
original seats Jillian spoke up in a half annoyed tone. “Forget it!” She put a loving and tender hand over her daughter’s
clothed
abdomen again. “You two go sit together while the girls sit over here.” And the fire in her eyes allowed no room
for either of them
to argue
.

Connor
looked over at Jack. The moment h
is blue eyes connected with his hazel they
both broke into a defeated grin.
Connor
glanced over to look at
his
mate. Her entire posture said that all the weight that she’s carried h
as finally been lifted. When their
eyes connected
he
felt her enter
his
mind.
“It will be alright. I want to sit with her as well.”

He
conceded and walked around the fire and sat to Jack’s
left.
Jillian took Sarah’s right hand and rubbed it with both of hers. Jack looked at
Connor as he
said “Don’t even think of holding my hand like that!”

Suddenly
Jack
smiled and started
laughing silently. “Don’t worry about that. I’m afraid you’d break my hand if I even tried.”

“So don’t try
,
Father
.” This coming from a playful Sarah.

For the next ten minutes or so
they
talked about naming
the
child or what kind of characteristics
she might get from the two of them
. Mostly it was Jillian doing the talking. Then Sarah finally was able to
retrieve
her hand
s
he
then
used it to pull her hair back behind her shoulder
s
. She turned her green eyes toward Jillian. “Mother, why do I feel so odd?”

Jillian looked from Jack to her daughter. She realized that her hands were suddenly empty and didn’t know what to do with them except put them together on her lap. “The reason you feel a little off is because the child is feeding off of your energy supply. Don’t worry because it is a natural part of our
pregnancies
. When you first felt off, it was the first reaction that your body made when the child connected into your energy network. Your body was
basically
saying ‘I’m sending energy to another
life now
’.” Jillian smiled and radiated joy. “When I was pregnant with Pearl I didn’t know what was happening with me
either
. Jack thought I might have been sick, just like Connor
apparently
assumed because they were once human
.
I felt off for about five or six months until I felt my stomach
growing
and knew
then
what the cause was.” Jillian’s golden eyes darkened a little. “My mother wasn’t there for me, but I will be here to guide you.”

Sarah gave her hand back to Jillian. “Thank you, Mother. I will need any advice you can give.”

Jack interrupted the girl
’
s conversation as he spoke. “Connor, speaking of parents.”
He
turned to look in his azure eyes. He spoke both calmly and innocently. “I’ve met your mother
Jenny
, but I’ve yet to meet your father. What’s he like?”

Connor
looked at S
arah as she
too looked intently back. S
o too did Jillian and her golden e
yes
studied
his reaction
. During the entire time
he’s
been with
his
mate she hasn’t
really
asked about
his
biological father.
He
looked back at
his
father-in-law and
realized
that he was waiting patiently. The flickering firelight
continued
reflecting off the walls
,
showing all sides to everyone inside the dome.

He
sighed and knew Sarah was still in
his mind as he
thought to
him
self.
I knew this was going to happen sooner or later.
Yet Sarah said nothi
ng or betrayed any emotion to his
personal thought. “
Your guess is as good as mine.
I don’t know who he is or what he’s like.”

“Really?” Jack asked cautiously.

Connor
nodded. “I’ve tried asking Mom about him. Her eyes
always go out of focus when I asked as a child. It was like she didn’t want me to know something
important
.

“
One time I was
actually
able to get her to say that Kara and I have two different
fathers. That’s why my eyes are
hazel and hers were chocolate brown. I also know now it’s a fact
that we have different fathers
since we’re
now
adults because of not only our
large
heig
ht difference, but also our facial structure
. My face is more squared where as hers is more heart shaped.
Our traits don’t match.
”
He brushed his
hair back because it was getting in
his
eyes
. “But it doesn’t matter who my father was because my Granddaddy stepped up and was all the father I have ever needed.”

Jillian asked empathically “Doesn’t it bother you about not knowing?”

“It used to, but I’ve come to grips with reality and decided that my life should be looking forward and not looking back at the past. Don’t get me wrong because I
still
glance back fro
m time to time.” He
said and Jillian gave
him
a pleased look
,
like
his
answer was satisfactory to her.

Sarah spoke in her ve
lvety voice that always makes his
heart beat just a little bit faster. “Well this is what you have to look forward to in your future
.” She touched the top of her left breast where her heart beats
just
under
the
flesh. And with her other now freed hand placed over her belly. “And this is
also your future.” She smiled his
favorite heart
warming smile.

He
entered her mind.
“Have I ever told you how much I love you?”

“All the time and I will never get tired of it. Plus our love came together to make this new
little
treasure.”
Her eyes dropped to her belly and
he
could see her smiling.

Connor
stood up. “How about we make some dinner?”

Sarah stood as well. “I’ll second the motion.” She smiled for only a moment. “Umm,
but first…
where’s the ladies room?”

“Oh, sorry.” he
walked over to the bags and pulled them off to the side.
Hidden beneath lay a
wooden latch that was in the solid stone floor.
He
turned to the three people staring at
him
. “Give me a moment
to light the torch.”
He
dropped down the small
,
pi
tch black shaft and landed on his
feet about ten feet from the surface of the dome.
He
didn’t need
to use the hand holds because he
knew
precisely
what
he
was doing.
After all
,
he constructed everything. He
could sense where everything
lay
even
without any light
. T
he sound of a water stream
came
off
from the
right and
he
knew that it was fresh water for
both drinking and sanitation. He
closed
his
eyes and
imagined a small flame above his hand. As he
released
the
energy the heat in the small room f
ocused just above the palm of his
hand
to the point of ignition
. When the flame came to life
he
used
his own
energy to fuel the fla
me. Taking three steps forward he
grabbed the torch and used
the flame to light the pitch. He
used a
fresh cut limb from an oak tree to use as the handle while
using
the resin from a pine tree as an accelerant. The moment t
he flame ignited the pine sap, he
placed the shaft end back into a hole in the rock.

With the room lit
,
everything
looked
the same. The room was just a few inches taller than
himself
and about ten feet wide
and long.
It wasn’t a large room, but for its purposes it remained adequate. The stream of fresh water cut
right down the middle of th
e
room and is about two feet wide and about shin deep.

With the room illuminated he
walked under the shaft and said “Princess, it
’
s safe to come down now!”

Suddenly
he
saw not one, but three heads looking down
into
the hole. Jillian asked “Are you sure?” Sarah pushed her mother out of the way as she sat down and threw her legs over the edge. Then she saw the hand holds and used them to ease her way down
to
the lower
level
. The moment she touched down Jack
began
his decent.

With everyone down here he
explained
what they saw
. “This place has a moderate
flowing
stream of fresh water cutting through the mountain. You can
clean
your
clothes, drink and even do your business. Plus the
water’s
sound muffles out any noise. I
chose this spot for all of these reasons.”

They decided to get a closer look for a moment.

Sarah touched the cold water. With her back turned she said “Everyone out. I can’t hold it in much longer.” The three of
them
climbed back up to allow her to do her thing.

While
he
started cooking a small dinner for the four of
them
, Sarah
returned
looking refreshed. Connor
had several hotdogs cooking over the fire while her parents took their turns in the
lower
room.

With everyone eating their own packages of hotdogs S
arah scooted over to sit with him
by the fire.
He
asked Sarah “Did you like your birthday?”

She swallowed the last of her meal
of apples
before she
spoke. “I can say this has been
the
happiest birthday in my life.”

“I
’ll
second that.” Jillian said playfully
, but for another reason all together
.

A few hours later
he
added a few sticks into the fire and
opened
their
sleeping bag and placed it just close enough to the fire to keep warm
, but not become a fire hazard
.
B
oth Jillian and Jack
fell
as
leep in their sleeping bag and Connor
had to smile because Jack snores almost like Sarah does.
Connor
took
Tool and
placed it about a foot above his
head
.
He
hopped into the bag first
after unzipping it
and Sarah quickly joined in.
T
he moment she was in Connor
th
rew the bag across the two of them
.
He brought a small pillow for his
head while Sarah used
his
left arm for her pillow.
When she fell asleep and began snoring softly Connor
looked at the roof of the do
me and slowly went to sleep as he
watched the flickering lights make the glass twinkle like the stars.