Chapter 4
“Hello?”
I strolled slowly down the shoreline, phone pressed tightly to my ear. “Hey, Kevin,” I murmured.
“Michelle! I’ve been trying to get ahold of you, what’s going on? Are you okay?” he pressed.
I hesitated.
“Michelle? I know something is off, I can feel it…” he trailed off.
“I’m… sorry, Kevin,” I whispered. My eyes began to water. As soon as I heard his voice, the barriers built around my heart began crashing down.
“Sorry? Sorry for what? Chelle, don’t do this to me, what’s going on? Is Logan okay?”
“Logan’s fine, Kevin. She’s perfect.”
He sighed deeply, audibly releasing a layer of tension. A small layer of tension. “Why are you sorry?” he asked, slightly more calm.
“I’m sorry for everything,” I took a deep breath. I needed to confess. If things went wrong, I’d never have another chance. “But most of all, I’m sorry for leaving you.”
“Michelle?”
“Let me finish,” I began to cry. “You are my soulmate, Kevin Keller. I knew it the moment I met you, I knew it the moment I married you, and I knew it the moment Logan was born. I even knew it the moment we finalized our divorce and I still know it this very second. I’m sorry I waited so long to tell you this, especially after you and I both found someone else, but I need you to know. You’ve meant everything to me, and I still love you as much as I ever have.”
Silence surged between us as I stopped walking. Letting the breeze gently dry my tears, I watched the last slice of twilight dip below the ocean horizon, waiting to hear if he still loved me too.
I heard Kevin inhale deeply. I pressed the phone impossibly closer to my face, desperately wishing he was beside me, that I had done this in person, not waited over a decade to say these things over the phone.
“I know,” he whispered softly. “I’ve always known, Chelle. But, I let you go. I had to. I knew, deep down, you needed this to be happy – I mean, come on, we’d been living the same life for over a century, but more importantly, I knew you needed to leave because you thought it would be best for Logan. You were right, she deserved a shot at the closest thing to a normal life, even if it would only be for a little while.”
I fell to my knees.
“I have and always will love you, Michelle. But, what’s going on? Why tell me tonight when I’ll be there in just a few weeks for Logan’s birthday?”
I took my first easy breath since the day’s events began to unfold. He loved me. After everything we’d been through, he still loved me.
Images rapidly flashed through my mind like an old film slideshow:
The day… I met Kevin. I was nineteen, he was twenty. Kevin’s family was in railroad development and my father was a banker so it was not entirely coincidental we met at a party downtown. Our fathers were flattering each other to forge a new business venture together. I could still see Kevin in the new suit his father made him wear. When we danced, it complimented my new pale-yellow dress as if we’d planned it beforehand. Our eyes met and we were inseparable for the summer as he courted me for marriage. He introduced me to his friends, including Wyatt Callahan, and I introduced him to mine, which included Emily Pinkerton. An inseparable foursome, we all planned our lives together with our families’ blessings.
The day… I married Kevin, July 9, 1865. It was the same day our best-friends, Wyatt and Emily, were married. The look Kevin gave me as I walked down the aisle was inexplicable joy, the look girls dream about.
The day… we struck silver. Our prayers had finally been answered. We purchased our first piece of land, built a home, and a barn – our lives truly seemed to be heading the right direction.
The day… we agreed to be cursed, forever held hostage by immortality. The thought still cools my bones, but even in that tragedy – through the loss of Lance, the many months of deep, dark depression, toxic sickness, and even brushing toward the edge of death, we found comfort in each other, knowing that together there was nothing we couldn’t endure.
The day… Logan was born. By God, what a day. She was a welcome surprise and absolutely everything I never knew I wanted. From nearly the moment we become immortal we knew it meant an eternal lifetime without children. At the time, the revelation of no children burned me worse than the pain of the transformation. A fire in my soul had been cruelly snubbed out. Over the years, I buried the pain deep and ignored my desire long enough that I could pretend it didn’t bother me. I remember our tears of joy when Dr. Hanson had flown in from Italy – Kevin was worried about my well-being – but instead of bad news, we discovered I was expecting our first, and likely only, child.
It was a story, no matter how the evening ended, I’d never get the chance to tell Logan. The slideshow in my mind came to a screeching halt.
“Michelle!?”
Tell him Michelle, he needs to know.
Kevin took a deep breath as if in anticipation.
“Xavier called me. He’s decided to come earlier. Tonight.”
“Why?”
“He said he’s coming to check-in but I think he’s getting nervous, worried we might betray him.” I paused, knowing Kevin wouldn’t like what came next. “He should be nervous. That’s why I called you, I can’t go through with this…”
“Michelle… NO!”
“I’m going to offer myself in exchange for Logan’s freedom. I’ll join his pack London. Logan can stay with you, Kathrine, and the Callahan boys. I’ll promise Xavier that Logan, once changed, will denounce her Alpha status and never lead a pack of her own – you’ll see to it. Over time, hopefully, she should lose any special powers she may have had like Xavier because she won’t be exercising them. And eventually, Xavier will no longer see her as a threat.”
“Michelle, are you out of your mind? He’ll kill you. I can’t let you do this.”
“You can’t stop me.”
“The hell I can’t! Stop and think for a moment!”
“I have thought about it! It’s a done deal, Kevin. Xavier will be here soon.”
“MICHELLE!” he roared, louder than I’d ever heard him yell in my life. The pure anguish in his voice made me pause and I wondered if I was doing the right thing. But only for a brief moment.
“It’s too late, Kevin, I’ve made up my mind. I knew the day Xavier laid eyes on Logan there was no chance she would be free unless one of us did something.”
“What makes you think he’ll ever take you over her?”
His point cast a shadow of doubt over my plans.
“I’m his insurance that you’ll convince Logan to denounce her status. If you don’t, you know what Xavier will do to me. It’s a risk I’m willing to take. I’m not afraid of Xavier, I’m not afraid of dying. But I am afraid of doing everything in my power to protect my daughter… and it not being enough.”
Kevin was silent.
“We made a deal with Xavier a long time ago, but before that, you and I made a vow to each other. The vow that we’d support each other through thick and thin… for better… or for worse…”
“And you broke those vows, Michelle, when you filed for divorce. Instead of working together like a couple, as a team, you made a decision without me. Then, proceeded to leave me and take my daughter from me. Sure, it may have been the right decision for Logan – to give her a life she deserved for a little while, but it wasn’t the right decision for our family. It wasn’t the right decision for us. Now you’re doing it again.”
“Don’t do this to me, Kevin.”
“You don’t do this to me, Michelle. I can’t believe you… I can’t believe you would do this to me… to us.”
“This isn’t about you, Kevin. Or me. This is about Logan. It has always been about Logan.”
“Exactly!” he growled, “How can you abandon her like this? You’re her mother – her best friend – and you’re just going to throw that away? I’ve already lost both of you once, don’
t do this again. I love her and I still love you.”
I sighed deeply – his words stinging my soul. “Love is not always about happy endings.”
“You’re delusional, Chelle! What do you expect me to tell her? That you ran away with Xavier? You think she won’t ever want to come for you, exactly to where you’re trying to keep her from?”
“I’m going to fake my own death.”
“Damnit, Michelle! I will have NO part in this. I refuse to tell our daughter another lie.”
“You have to.”
“I will not.”
I took a deep breath. This is starting to fall apart, I thought.
“I’m coming to get you and Logan. Where is she?”
“Kevin…”
The screen on my phone lit up, blinding my left eye momentarily as I pulled the device away from my face.
Dead battery.
That was the end. I wish it had concluded better but I knew the discussion wasn’t going anywhere but further and further south. He didn’t want me to go through with my plan; I was going through with it anyway. It was ironically nostalgic.
I walked confidently back toward the house, taking a moment to appreciate the perfectly cloudless, star-filled sky again. I was ready.
I knew the risks; I’d gone over every one in my mind but this would work. Xavier was relentless and if we ran, he’d kill us all. If we stayed, he’d take Logan.
I didn’t want to leave Logan, I didn’t want to fake my death, and I didn’t want to walk away from everything I’d ever known.
But what other choice did I have?
Andrea L Wells – The Midnight Hour