Guarding the Treasure (29 page)

He leaned in, touching her ear with his lips. “No babe, that's not true.” Kevin's eyes melted into hers, and his arms tightened around her waist. “I made that part up.”

Sophie laughed as her lips met his. The kiss was deep and seemed to go on as long as the Milky Way itself. She opened her eyes, searching the heart of the man who had so much to offer her. “Kevin, thank you.

He kissed the tip of her nose. “For what?

“For your ability to make me laugh, for saving me from whatever was going to happen to me at the Regal, for listening to Three.”

Kevin pulled gently on a long strand of her hair as he caressed her face with his eyes. “Sophie, the first time I saw you, I was behind the camera. It was my job to focus in, get the best shots of you I could. You didn't know it, but I knew even before you started talking—and, believe it or not, even after you got sick—that you were something special.” He let loose of the brown thread in his fingers and looked to the sky, trying to harness his feelings from among the stars. “Sophie, this is hard to explain. You were like a treasure I'd found, a treasure that needed to be protected. And then when I ran into you at the library, I knew I had to do more than just look.” He brought her hands to his lips and gently kissed them. “I knew I had to pursue, I had to get the treasure for myself and hide it away somewhere,” he said. “I'd give my body and soul for you.”

She looked away, batting the tears from her eyes. “Kevin—”

He leaned across her. “Sophie, I meant every word. I want you. I'm tired of living alone. I want you with me, and I want to marry you.”

Sophie sat up, leaning hard on her knees. Her mind reeled at his sudden proposal. She loved Kevin, but something was missing, something vital to her very being, something vital to her relationship with him.

“Remember the very end of Anya's diary?”

Kevin rubbed his eyes, knowing why she'd changed the conversation.

“Remember the close, right after her father had confronted Sean and demanded to know where she had been taken and why? Then Mr. O'Connell forced his way into Mr. Dubois' castle and took Anya back to their home estate?”

“The diary again? Come on, Sophie, I don't see what it has to do with anything we're talking about,” he said, hastily standing to his feet.

“Kevin, Anya said things would never be the same. She said she'd been through too much and had grown to depend on something much greater than human life.” Sophie joined him, gently slipping her arms around his waist. “Kevin, look at me.”

Kevin frantically searched her face for clues as to what her next words would be. He felt rejection coming, and he wasn't in the right mindset to deal with it in a good way.

“Anya didn't want to live under the power of men who elected to stay the same. She wanted more from life than what she had experienced in the past. She needed to rise above the status quo of her day. Can't you see that, Kevin?”

This was one side of Sophie he hadn't seen before. She was passionate and sounded convinced of her own words. He ran his hands through her brown locks then firmly planted them on her small shoulders. “Sophie, don't you know that I love you? Haven't I proven it?”

“Yes, you have, but I want—” She looked up, searching the stars. “No, I
need
someone who shares my desires, Kevin. I've changed, just like Anya did. I won't settle for the status quo, either.”

“Sophie.” His hands left her shoulders and locked behind his head. He turned, putting distance between them. “I want what you want. If you're talking about Three, you can believe whatever you want. I don't care.”

“That's just it,” she said. “Kevin, I want you to care. I want you to believe with me.”

“Now you sound like your ex-boyfriend.”

She took a firm step back from him. “Trey? He has nothing to do with this.”

“Oh, I think he does. You still have feelings for him, and now you have something else crowding me out, this spirit called Three. Sophie, you told me that Trey left you for his God. Now you're taking his lead and dumping me for your God?”

She shook her head. “I can't believe what I'm hearing. I'm not dumping you. Kevin, all I want is someone who'll share my passion for something bigger than the both of us.”

He sighed. “Listen to me, Sophie. I want to be that man for you, but this Three seems to be right in the middle of us. It's like I can't get to you without going through him, or it, or whatever it is. Don't you see that? Three isn't real. This Spirit was part of the whole diary experience. It was nothing more than a passing phenomenon.” Kevin moved in close. “Let's face it, even I was taken in for a while, listening to Theresa, even imagining I had a face-to-face with Three. But this Spirit was just conjured up. It was what kept Anya from losing her mind. It fit into her tragic life story like a hand in a glove. But there's something I find more heartbreaking than Anya's story. It's your story, Sophie.”

Her eyes widened. “What's that supposed to mean?”

“It's the fact that the diary and someone else's story is what pulled you into a life-threatening scheme. If this Three was real—a protector as he had claimed—that whole scenario wouldn't have been played out in your life.”

“Kevin, you're wrong. It's not like that at all.”

He pulled in a deep breath and put his fingers to her lips. “Sophie, this conversation is going nowhere. Can we drop it for the evening?” He pulled her back to where they had been sitting on the ground. “I have something to tell you. But before I do—” He pulled a small white hanky from his pocket.

Sophie recognized the hanky as one that had been in the diary.

“This faded piece of cloth was in your cottage. I found it near the diary Smith had made for you when we went to get your things. We now know it was an original, one of Anya's.”

He put it in her hand.

“There's something in it,” she said, allowing it to open in her hand. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. “It's a ring.”

“Yes, it is. In case you missed it a few minutes ago, I asked you to marry me.”

Her eyes swept to him and softened. “I didn't miss the ‘marry me' part, but I was thrown off by your unpolished delivery. You're usually so smooth, and I wondered—”

“It wasn't supposed to come out that way,” he said, slipping the ring onto her finger.

“I don't know what to say.”

“Don't say anything tonight. I want you to think about it.”

They sat wordless, Kevin circling the ring around her finger as emotions tugged at his senses.

“I'm going to be out of the country for a while.”

Sophie's eyes traveled from the ring to Kevin. A troubled look masked his face. The witty, in-control man she'd come to appreciate was miles away. “Where out of the country, Kevin?”

“You know I can't tell you that. It's for your protection. This is highly sensitive Sophie. As far as this case goes, you don't exist, and you've never been a part of my life.”

“Can you tell me how long you'll be gone?”

He leaned in and brushed her lips with his. “All I can tell you is that when I get back, I would like an answer from you. Marry me or not. Either way, I love you more than you'll ever know.”

“Kevin, I love you, too.” She brushed his face with the back of her hand. “I'll be here when you get back.”

His arms wrapped around her, but the chill surrounding his embrace flooded her mind, bringing more questions about their relationship than she had answers for.

She laced her fingers around his neck as he held her. “I'll have an answer for you.”

 

Sophie checked the calendar. More than three weeks had passed since she'd seen or heard from Kevin.
I hope he's back before classes start
, she thought. It was August, and most of her fall preparations were finished for the semester. Now it was a waiting game, waiting on two fronts.

Week five without any word from Kevin had come and gone when Sophie heard a knock on the front door.

“Kevin,” she smiled, wrapping her freshly washed hair in a towel. It had to be him. He was the only one who ever knocked. Everyone else used the doorbell. She ran, holding the towel on her head and not bothering to look before she flung the door open. “Kevin, I'm so glad to see—” she stopped. Her eyes widened as she stood looking at the man standing on her front porch.

“Hey Sophie,” he said, his lips flat.

His voice was soft and gentle, caressing her ears as he spoke. But then he's always had a beautiful voice. It matched his impeccable personality, among other attributes.

“It's been a long time.”

She felt a lump make its way down her throat. “Trey, what are you doing here?”

He looked around. “Sophie, may I come in?”

She stood there, a silent conversation going on in her mind between believing and not believing who was at her door. Finally, she stepped to the side.

“You look great,” he said, wringing his hands as he glanced around her front room.

She heard restlessness in his voice. It had been three years since she'd seen him. Maybe it was nerves. But not Trey—he was a professional, steady all the time.

“May I sit?” he asked, motioning to the couch.

“Yes, of course, sit.” Sophie remained standing, leaning on the back of a chair.

His eyes moved around the space quickly. She felt the wounds that had scabbed over start to reopen.

“Trey, why are you here? I thought you were flying around the world, saving people from their sins.”

He ignored the tone behind her words and carefully laid the small paper bag he held in his hands on the couch beside him. “I've been overseas a lot the past year—well, back and forth. I still fly for the airlines in the states as well as smaller flights for missions.”

Silence enveloped the air between them.

“Okay, but that doesn't tell me why you're sitting in my living room.”

“I don't see a ring on your finger, Sophie,” he said, changing the subject, a tactic he used when he wanted to stall for time. He'd learned that skill from his father, and he used it quite well. “That surprises me. I think you've gotten more beautiful since the last time I saw you. And something else has changed about you, too.”

A soft but reserved smile crossed her lips. Trey always knew what to say and just when to say it.

“Trey, I have an engagement ring.” She looked at his folded hands. “I don't see a ring on your finger, either, although if my memory serves me correctly, you've never been the jewelry type of guy.”

He looked down at his left hand. “I'm not married. Too busy, I guess,” he laughed.

She knew there was more to his visit than checking ring fingers. “Trey, you're stalling. What's up?”

“Sophie, would you sit with me? There is a specific reason I'm here. It's about Three.”

Her eyebrows lifted. “How do you know about him? Have you read Anya's diary?”

He held his hand up. “Hold on, let me explain.” He took her hand and moved to the edge of his seat. “I had just gotten back from Haiti. I sat down to fill out paperwork when I heard a voice. I thought it was outside, but when I checked it out and found no one, I went back to work. Then I heard it a second time and realized it was right in my ears. It was disturbing at first until I could understand the words that were being spoken.”

“What did he say to you?”

Trey sat for a moment. “He told me about a treasure, and he said that where my treasure could be found was where I would find my heart.” He picked up the brown bag, holding it tightly. He drew in a deep breath. “Shortly after that, the FBI contacted me.”

“Why did they want you? You're about as squeaky clean as they get, Trey.” Sophie giggled. “What in the world did you do to get a call from the government?”

Trey laid the bag aside and reached for Sophie's hands.

“You've got to let me finish,” he said, squeezing her fingers. The FBI called me because they found information about me in Kevin Gates' apartment along with dozens of pictures of the two of you together.”

“So why did the FBI contact you? And why were they in Kevin's apartment?” She stood and moved away from him.

“Sophie, Kevin was killed five days ago. His body has been flown back to New York for burial. They chose me to tell you because of this.” Trey handed her the brown paper bag.

Shock and indescribable anguish washed over Sophie. “You're lying!” she screamed. “You've been spying on me—that's how you know about Kevin.” She held the small bag in her shaking hands, tears streaming down her cheeks. “What is this?” she demanded her voice sharp and full of contempt.

“Come, sit with me,” he said, taking her by the arm.

She slowly slid the contents from the bag. “It's a journal.”

“Open it to the last entry, Sophie.”

She turned the book to the back, the binding giving a faint crack as it opened. She brushed the tears from her eyes and saw Kevin's handwriting. She closed her eyes, forming an image of him in her mind.

“Well, I did it. I asked Sophie to marry me. No answer yet and frankly not sure it's meant to be. I've come to realize that a relationship has two parts, mine and hers. I want this marriage in the worst way, but I'm not convinced about Sophie, the other part. Sophie is the best thing that ever happened to me. She's all I think about, such a beautiful treasure I found and want to guard for the rest of my life. But I think she's found a deeper love. I can tell by the way she talks about him, about the way she urges me to consider how he has helped her and Anya through their dark moments.

“Three has stolen her heart. And the hard truth is she needs a man who can share this Spirit, this thing with her. I'm not sure that I can. How could I fall for something that promises hope and protection, but does little to demonstrate that protection or give hope at all? I'm used to seeing things done within a reasonable amount of time. I guess I hate to wait.