Crossing the Barrier (42 page)

“Who is it?” she asked.

“Delivery,” the man answered.

Sensing no malign intent, Lily unlocked the door and opened it.

Lily had recovered the full usage of her power the previous week when she and Malakai had taken the next step in their relationship. It had been a beautiful and significant moment, long overdue, and Malakai now spent most of his time with her.

Things were definitely looking up for them. Malakai had signed his National Letter of Intent with the University of South Texas the previous Wednesday. It had been quite an awesome moment, and even Malakai’s dad had attended the school ceremony. It had also been an enormous relief to Malakai, who had stressed about it due to his injury. Lily had been so proud to see him shake the hand of the college offensive line coach.

To make matters even better, the charges against Charlie had been dropped the previous Thursday, and the investigation had now turned to Beatrice. Lily had been so relieved.

That morning, Malakai had gone to the grocery store so he could make her dinner. She had wanted to go with him but he had insisted it was a surprise and wanted to go alone. Lily had wondered why Malakai felt so nervous as he left but didn’t pry. She would ask him over dinner if the nervousness didn't go away by then.

“You Lily?” the guy asked.

“Yes,” she answered, her eyes fixed on the huge fruit and chocolate basket he was holding.

“This for you,” the guy said, giving it to her.

“Thank you.”

She took it and closed the door with her foot. The basket was heavier than she had anticipated, and contained strawberries, kiwis, nectarines, and grapes, all arranged in flowery shapes, and lots of them dipped in chocolate. Lily went to the kitchen and put the basket on the counter, a grin on her face. Then she searched for the card and retrieved it, bouncing on her feet. She quickly opened it and, holding it with both hands, read it.

I’m a little early, but I didn’t want to wait for next week…Happy Valentine’s Day! With all my love, Malakai.

With a giggle, Lily put the card down and looked at the basket some more. All the fruits were her favorites, and as much as she wanted to dig in, she didn’t want to break the masterpiece just yet. She grabbed her phone, snapped a picture, and quickly put it on her social media page. Then she looked at the basket some more, the grin never leaving her face. It looked so inviting.

She had just filled a small plate with some of the flowers and popped a grape into her mouth when she felt Malakai a moment before she heard another knock at the door.

She frowned.

Malakai had a key. Why would he knock?

In the next instant, she felt how nervous he was and that puzzled her even more. She walked to the door and threw it open.

He was standing there, a grin on his face, scratching the back of his neck.

“I loved it!” she said.

Then, when his nervousness wouldn’t go away, she tilted her head to the side. “Where are the groceries?”

Malakai didn’t answer, and Lily shifted on her feet, her heartbeat picking up. The only thing that reassured her was the grin on his face. Then her eyes meeting his.

Slowly, he took a step in the apartment and closed the door. Then he kneeled on the floor and fumbled with his pocket for a moment before removing a small red box from it. He was so nervous Lily just wanted to scream at him to tell her what was wrong.

He glanced up at her again, then slowly opened the box.

Lily’s hands flew to her mouth, all thoughts of asking him anything gone from her mind.

On the white fabric lay the most beautiful ring she had ever seen. It was simple, silver with a row of small diamonds.

Then it all hit her: Malakai nervous, on his knees, holding a ring in his hand, presenting it to her, and she brought her right hand to cover her heart.

“Lily Morgan, I love you with everything I am, everything I have, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Would you marry me?”

He was so nervous Lily would have laughed if the moment was not so absolutely perfect and magical. She had not seen this one coming.

“Yes!” she cried. “Yes! Yes! Yes!” she said again, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him deeply. He tasted of the hot chocolate he had drunk with her this morning, and it was all the more delicious now that she was engaged to him.

She kneeled on the floor in front of him, the smile on her face so wide her cheeks hurt, and presented him with her small hand. He removed the ring from the box, put the box on the floor next to him, then took her hand in his. Slowly, he slid the ring on her finger with a slightly shaking hand.

The ring was a perfect fit.

“I couldn’t wait. I was afraid you would find out now that you can see in my heart,” he said, looking at her, holding both of her hands in his.

“I was wondering why you were so nervous,” she said, looking at the ring on her finger.

“I love you,” he said sincerely, raising her head with a hand on her cheek.

“And I love you.”

Lily knew from this moment on, she would always have a home.

Chapter Eighty

LILY

The following morning
, Lily was as nervous as Malakai, if not more. They had just arrived at an apartment complex on the north side of town and were walking toward Malakai’s mother’s apartment. Malakai was holding on to her hand so hard it was painful.

“Malakai,” she said, gently grabbing hold of his forearm. “Can you release my hand a little? It’s about to turn into goo.”

“Oh! Sorry,” he said, bringing her hand to his mouth and kissing her fingers gently. “I’m a little nervous, I think,” he added with a grin.

“You think?!” Lily said, grinning also. “You’re so nervous you’re making
me
want to run all the way to Austin to hide in the hills!”

Malakai laughed and it released some of the tension they were both feeling.

“Did I tell you how much I love you today?”

“Mmm! Let me think,” she said, bringing a finger to her mouth and looking up in the air. “Yeah!” she answered, laughing. “But I never get tired of hearing you say it.”

“I love you,” he said, stopping to take her in his arms. “I love you! I love you!”

Laughing, Lily kissed him.

“Are you guys going to stay out here all day?” a woman called from an open door a few feet away.

Smiling, Malakai looked at the woman Lily recognized from the picture and the vision she had seen.

“Come,” he said, looking at Lily and taking her hand in his.

They made their way to the door and stopped in front of Malakai’s mom. The moment she looked at Lily, Lily could have sworn she felt a flash of recognition as if the woman remembered her as someone who was long lost and had finally been found. In the next moment, the woman did something that took Lily completely by surprise: Her emotions disappeared. She went totally blank.

Lily, being the girl Beatrice had raised, kept the appearance that everything was fine, and she smiled.

“Mum, this is Lily. Lily, this is my mum, Rebecca,” he introduced.

“How do you do?” Rebecca asked, offering her hand for Lily to shake.

Lily took it in hers and perceived Rebecca’s curiosity. Direct contact still allowed Lily to feel something from her, but it was faint, like when Lily put up the strongest shields she had.

“Come on in,” she invited.

Later on, when Rebecca hugged Lily good-bye, Lily felt her emotions again. She was relieved to feel the approval behind the smile.

Epilogue

As Rebecca watched
her son and his girlfriend drive away, she wondered about the circumstances that had brought Malakai and this girl together, this girl she had been searching for so long. All this time, she had been right there, under her nose, and Rebecca hadn’t realized it until she saw those gray eyes.

That’s how she knew.

The gray eyes were a telltale of her identity as an empath, one of the six…

Rebecca didn’t know whether she should be happy for her son or afraid for him. The girl was sweet and nice, and made him happy, but what she was…

She wondered if he knew.

Rebecca had just closed the door and was making her way to the living room to clean up the dirty cups when her phone rang. She picked it up and looked at the screen.

Unknown number.

It meant only one person.

“Hello.”

“It’s me.”

Rebecca recognized the voice.

Clarissa.

She was about to reveal her findings when the old woman spoke again.

“I found another one.”

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

A lot of people made this book possible.

First there were my numerous beta readers, Sara, Annie, Kelly and Megan. Their comments were invaluable to improve the story.

Then there was my legal reviewer, Jennifer Wiers Severino who made sure my legal facts were right. I don’t know what I would have done without her direction.

I need to also thank my editor, Erin Liles, and my proofreader, Ron Lewis. They made my book so much better.

I want to also thank two very special people to me: Damen and Lexi. They are the two teens who posed for my very awesome cover. Thank you to my photographer, John E. Faught, and my makeup artist, Andrea Shutter Riebeling. Talking about my cover, I would like to thank Mayhem Covers Design for an excellent job.

Finally, I need to thank my friends and my family, especially my sister. She always believed I should publish my stories and she has always been my biggest supporter.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Martine Lewis is a forty something who was born and raised in the French speaking province of Quebec, Canada. She spent her childhood looking forward to her summer vacations at the farm, which were a nice escape from the suburbs where she lived.

Her first written endeavor was a 200-page handwritten Duran Duran bandfiction which she wrote when she was eleven years old. Of all her written work, this is the only one she no longer has.

All throughout high school, Martine wrote more bandfictions and some original work, then she went to write fanfictions in the Star Wars, Buffy and Harry Potter universes. Her fanficiton in the Potterverse are mostly centered on characters of her own creation and can be found on fanfiction.net.

Following her viewing of Roswell on Netflix in 2012, Martine wrote book two and three of the Gray Eyes Series, then went on to create the Gray Eyes Series universe in which she has been playing ever since. She writes contemporary coming-of-age romance fiction (young adult/new adult) with a twist.

Martine is an avid reader and rollerskater. She loves sushi, hot chocolate on a cold day, and the beach. But what she loves above all else is to curl on her chair with her computer and write more stories for her readers.

Martine currently lives in Houston TX with her two cats.

The Gray Eyes Series

Crossing the Barrier (Book One) – Available March 22, 2016

Untitled (Book Two) – Available September 20, 2016

Untitled (Book Three) – Available March 21, 2017

Untitled (Book Four) – Available Fall 2017

Untitled (Book Five) – Available Spring 2018

Untitled (Book Six) – Available Fall 2018

For news, short stories, deleted scenes, and other extra,

visit Martine Lewis website at:

www.martinelewisauthor.com

and join the newsletter.

The Gray Eyes Series

Book Two

Available September 20, 2016