Redemption (45 page)
Will’s chest tightened in anxiety. “What?”
“There’s a mark on me! It looks like a tree.”
Will laughed in disbelief. “Looks like you’re the temporary guardian of earth. Until the baby’s born.” He turned to Emma. “I know what we’re having. Do you want to know if it’s a boy or a girl or do you want it to be a surprise? Although I should warn you that both of these two know, so I’m not sure how long they’ll last before telling you.”
James swiped at his shoulder blade. “Temporary guardian? I do not accept!”
Emma smiled. “Tell me.”
“I hope you like pink.”
She wrapped her arm around his neck and pulled his mouth to hers. “I feel sorry for any boys she brings home.”
Will laughed.
James continued brushing at his shoulder. “No, Will. This isn’t funny. You asked me to get a damn necklace. I did not agree to become the element earth!”
Will stood and pulled Emma up with him. “None of us asked for this, James. It was forced on us. Welcome to the club.”
“I don’t want to be a member!”
Emma helped Jake into the plane. “Too late, James.”
“Don’t I get a say in anything?”
Will shook his head. “Get in the plane and fly, James.”
James swore under his breath as he climbed into the cockpit.
Jake sat in the seat next to Emma, his head on her lap. Her fingers played with his curly hair. She looked up at Will, love shining in her eyes.
“What happens now, Will? What do we do now?”
“Now we start the rest of our lives.”
She pulled his mouth to hers. “I like the sound of that.”
About the Mandorla
When
it became apparent that there would be four books in The Chosen series instead of three, I quickly realized I needed a new mark.
I went through multiple ideas, researching a lot of ancient runes. My original thought was to have two interconnected triangles. I’d studied Plato’s philosophy on the elements when I came up with the qualities of the elements. Plato assigned symbols to the elements: Fire is an upside down triangle. Water is an upright one. Since Will and Emma were joined, it made sense to use the connection of the triangles as the symbol.
But I dug deeper and came across the mandorla, which means “almond” in Italian. While it’s most associated with Christianity, it has deeper, more ancient roots.
The two circles represent opposites and the almond is the interconnection of the two, also called the
remain
. The almond typically represents the intersection of heaven and earth, life and death, but can also represent spiritual and self, masculine and feminine, the known and the unknown.
Shadow and light.
Jake joined the two worlds to save Emma. The question remains—was this a good thing or a bad thing?
Acknowledgements
When I started this book, I was terrified I would screw it up. This was the last book of an awesome series and I didn’t want to disappoint my readers. Thankfully, I had people behind me who believed in me more than I did. Many thanks to my critique partner, Trisha Leigh, who never questioned that I could write
Redemption
and do it justice. Also thanks to my developmental editor, Alison Dasho, who read the first draft and didn’t fire me as a client. She spotted the problem areas and gave me awesome ideas to make
Redemption
even better. Alison provided support and hilarious YouTube videos to encourage me as I spent three crazy weeks in August rewriting one fourth of the book as well as adding fifteen thousand more words.
Redemption
wouldn’t have the current ending without the feedback of my beta readers. They liked the first ending but thought it lacked something. Thank you to Brandy Underwood, Anne Childon, Rhonda Cowsert, Wendy Webb and Janelle Alexander for being honest with your feedback.
Many thanks to Branli Caidryn who is still my friend after I pestered him mercilessly, asking “how do you say this in Spanish?”
I also need to thank my children who sometimes have to put up with a cranky, stressed-out mommy but love me anyway. I tell them that it was pure coincidence that I wrote
Redemption
and tortured poor Jake without mercy while they were home for the summer driving me crazy. That’s what I tell them…
Thank you to my copy editor, Jim Thomsen. This is our seventh book together and he always takes my words and makes me look so much better.
To my proof readers Christine Wilmsen and Kristen Yard—thank you for making me look good.
And finally, thank you to my readers, who liked this series enough to stay with me to the end. What a ride.
About the Author
Denise Grover Swank lives in Lee’s Summit, Missouri. She writes urban fantasies without vampires and werewolves. She also writes romantic comedy mysteries set in the South. She has six children, three dogs, and an overactive imagination. She can be found dancing in her kitchen with her children, reading or writing her next book. You will rarely find her cleaning.
You can find out more about Denise and her other books at
www.denisegroverswank.com
or email her at
[email protected]
Friend her on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/deniseswank
Follow her on Twitter:
www.Twitter.com/DeniseMSwank
Other books by Denise Grover Swank:
Rose Gardner Mysteries
(Rom com southern mysteries)
TWENTY-EIGHT AND A HALF WISHES
TWENTY-NINE AND A HALF REASONS
THIRTY AND A HALF EXCUSES (May 2012)
The Chosen Series
(Paranormal thriller/romance/urban fantasy)
CHOSEN
HUNTED
SACRIFICE
REDEMPTION
The Chosen Shorts Series
(prequel short stories)
EMERGENCE (The Chosen Short #1) Emma’s story
MIDDLE GROUND (The Chosen Short #2) Will’s story
HOMECOMING (The Chosen Short #3) Reader’s Choice
On the Otherside Series
(Young adult science fiction/romance)
HERE
THERE (December 2012)
The Curse Keepers Series
(Urban fantasy)
THE CURSE KEEPERS (November 2013)
Many readers of CHOSEN have fallen in love with Amber Lynn Natusch’s CAGED series. Find out why.
Read the book that gave CHOSEN a run for its money in December,2011
LOVE IS DARKNESS
Check out the paranormal series by Amazon Top 100 bestselling Samantha Towle, author of
A MIGHTY STORM
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