Chapter Sixteen
I transferred my weight to my other foot, uncomfortable with the significant awareness of destiny I had felt. I closed my eyes, then felt Ben rest his forehead against mine. Silence surrounded me as I tried to discern what it all meant. None of it made sense. It was just a ring.
I opened my eyes, stepped away from Ben and examined the ring that fitted too perfectly onto my finger.
I think … I had expected something out of the ordinary to happen. But it hadn’t. And why would it anyway? It was just a ring, not a time machine or a magician. I had to admit though, I was disappointed.
I turned and looked at Ben. ‘There. Done. And nothing has changed.’ Nothing obvious … but something subtle that I couldn’t quite pinpoint.
He held a look of bewilderment on his face. ‘This isn’t finished, Cate.’ His words cut through me to the core of my being. He was angry with me. I shook my right hand and turned around with an abruptness.
Was he right about it not being finished?
Where was the fulfilling of a wish?
And how could wearing a ring be the final wish that Gran wanted? She could have just left it to me in her will!
I squeezed my eyes shut and fisted my hands before I bowed my head as a sadness fell upon me. Ben reached out to me and gently pulled me towards him. I was safe in his arms. I relaxed my closed eyes and melted into him until a vision of the bizarre rock on the coffee table entered my mind.
I tensed, turned my head and looked at it.
The rock was strange, ugly even. The glittery solid form was in a rough oval shape with purple bits that jutted out. It had made me feel uncomfortable from the first moment I saw it sitting in the middle of the coffee table, right where Gran always had her vase of light pink roses.
Goose bumps prickled over my arms. I moved closer to the rock to examine it, curious as to its presence in the drawing room. It was hard to believe Gran would choose something so ugly as a centrepiece on the table.
I reached out to it with my right hand. The muscles in my arm tensed and I became alerted by a strong magnetic pull. I sucked in a large breath of air in urgency. The ring warmed and sent fear scattering throughout me. I tried to pull my hand away from the rock, but I couldn’t.
Blackness started to splatter my vision and I desperately looked up at Ben.
I stretched out my left hand towards him, willing for him to grab my hand and pull me away.
I felt his fingers wrap around my hand and I fell to the floor.
‘Ben!’ I gasped.
‘Cate, what happened?’ he asked, wrapping his arms around me.
‘It felt like I was getting sucked into it. It grabbed my hand. I couldn’t pull it away. It started to do something to my mind!’ My lips trembled. I shook my head and raised my shaking right hand, turning it over and over looking for something wrong with it.
Ben stared at me, speechless.
I closed my eyes and tried to shut out the terror that had entered me when I touched the rock. When I opened my eyes again, Ben had Gran’s letter. He read it out loud.
‘Dear Cate,
You will be greatly rewarded in your journey to fulfill my final wish. You must know though, you will learn of things not seen on Earth.
You will learn of my past, which led to the discovery of my secret place, and hence, the secret in the drawing room.
You will find answers to questions that you have about me that have been unanswered. And your life will become enriched.
To fulfill my final wish you will intuitively know what to do as you complete parts of the journey. You will need to use some of the items you discovered in the drawing room.
You won’t make any mistakes, so don’t be afraid. You will be guided again by who has helped you through the journey to this point in time, Ben. He is a gift to all of us.
I cannot find the words to tell you how deeply I appreciate what you are doing for me, Cate. You are truly a reflection of myself. I love you, my sweet, sweet grand-daughter.
Till we meet again,
All my love,
Gran
x x x x x x x
P.S. Once you have fulfilled my final wish, you will know what to do with the ring.’
The only parts that reverberated in my mind was where it said I would be greatly rewarded, and my life would be enriched. So why would this rock and its effect be so terrifying for me?
‘Cate, if it’s any consolation to you, when I pulled you away, there was absolutely no resistance. It was quite effortless on my part.’
I frowned. I was baffled. It did not feel that way to me at all. ‘Did you feel any of the pulling sensation?’
Ben looked up to the ceiling for a moment, then shook his head and looked into my eyes. ‘I felt nothing out of the ordinary. I reacted to the look of terror on your face and your hand reaching out to me,’ he explained and frowned.
I looked at him in disbelief. ‘Did … did it look like my hand and arm was starting to disappear into the rock?’
‘No,’ he replied, and shook his head.
I ran from the drawing room. This incident had rattled me to the core of my being and exposed my emotional nakedness. I needed time to think the situation through. And I needed time to decide what to do next. I hurried to the swing of the Magnificent Tree—my thinking tree.
I heard Ben’s footsteps as he walked out into the backyard and towards me. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him lie on the grass and look up at the now perfect blue sky.
‘Ben?’ I whispered, ‘push me on the swing.’
His eyes met with mine and he raised his eyebrows. Was it because I had never asked him to push me on the swing before? No matter—he did as I requested. He was quiet and gentle as he pushed me like I was a child. The rhythmic motion of the to and fro was relaxing—if not hypnotizing.
And then, without warning, I jumped off the swing midflight and fell to the ground. I clutched at my knee and squeezed my eyes shut.
Ben ran over to me. ‘Cate—Cate ... are you—’
I burst out laughing at him. I wasn’t hurt. I was acting.
Ben stilled and looked at me with anger in his eyes. ‘That’s not fair!’ he said in a low agitated voice.
‘I just wanted you to run over to rescue me, like a damsel in distress,’ I said, but then regretted the words I had used.
‘That is, so not funny!’ He jogged off, through the kitchen, through the sitting room, past the drawing room and out the front door of the house.
I ran after him.
He sat on the front porch with his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes narrowed. He was furious.
‘I’m sorry. You are right. That was not funny. I won’t do it again.’
I tried to look into his eyes but he avoided my eye contact. I reached over to touch his arm but he pulled away. This was not like him.
‘I’m sorry,’ I whispered this time. I sat next to him in silence, filled with remorse. Hurting him was the last thing I wanted to do, again.
As the sun started to set I decided to go inside the grand old house and leave Ben to himself so his anger could cool down. Trying to make amends, I prepared dinner, and set the table in my special Cate way, and then went out to invite Ben to come in and eat.
I walked out the front door and onto the porch—but, he was gone.
Perhaps, I thought, this part of fulfilling Gran’s final wish was to be done without him. He had already been more than I could ever have wished for him to be.
Perhaps, he was feeling burdened by me?
Perhaps … I needed to set him free?
The thought weighed heavily upon my heart. He was the one I had waited for my entire life. He was my knight in shining armour. He was my prince. My sun. The source of life to my lavender rose heart.
I stood motionless as I considered the reality to come. A single tear rolled down my cheek when I realised that Ben had decided the destiny of the remaining journey for me, or was it f
ate?
I would continue to fulfill Gran’s final wish—on my own.
A cool breeze blew on my face, bringing with it the fragrance of fruity roses. In that instant, I decided to start the journey on my own, tomorrow. Delaying it would give me time to prepare my strategies ... to visualise different scenarios and how to cope with them. It would give me time to prepare my mind and my rose-less heart for the scenario where possibly I would never see Ben again, or my family; for that was my biggest fear, irrational as it was.
The power of the rock was unchartered territory. I had no idea what was going to happen. I had to be prepared for anything, and everything. I had committed to granting Gran’s last wish.
Then I wondered where I would gather the strength to go on. This was the most difficult thing I had ever had to do in my life.
I took a deep breath and turned to go back into the house … alone.