Fire - Betrayal (5 page)

* * *

She slept soundly in my arms, but sleep did not find me.  I lay with my body snuggling into Cate’s, smelling her sweetness. Then I placed my right hand onto her forehead.  I wanted to read her emotional state, and see how her healing was progressing.

I
felt the warmth of my hand on her forehead as I closed my eyes and concentrated my energies into the emotional centre of her brain.  I felt the positive energy electrons as my mind searched to find and heal any negative deficits in her emotions.  I was elated to read that her emotional mind was 99% healed, but was perplexed about the other 1%.  This part I could not read, nor did I understand the messages that it was giving me.  I had thought that the mind training I had received in Une Autre Terre was complete.  But the fact that my mind was blocked from this small portion of Cate’s emotional mind was testimony that my training while in the parallel world was not fully developed.

I
relaxed my concentration into Cate’s head, and then released my hand from her.  I had put her into a very deep sleep cycle, for renewal of cells, healing of tissues and nerves, re-energizing and revitalizing.

Then I
rolled onto my back and was overcome with emotions, uncontrollable and unexpected.

I
carefully got off the bed and went to the window, placing my hands on the window sill leaning forward, trying to understand my feelings.  I had the strong urge to sob. So I ran out of the french doors and into the rain, standing in my nakedness.  I looked up to the heavens and then let my body succumb to my deep indescribable feelings of sadness.  I let out loud and long deep sobs, my body heaving with sadness, and relief.

Sadness because
I had become acutely aware of the depth of Cate’s suffering while I was in Une Autre Terre, and relief because I had seen the unbelievable healing that had occurred in her in a very short time.  In my mind I knew that I had saved her from certain death – this was evident as my mind had searched hers.

I
started to dwell on the 1% of Cate’s emotional mind that I could not read, nor did I have the knowledge to heal, and again I became overcome with emotion.  Then I realized that, perhaps, this part was not for me to heal.  Perhaps, this is what Cate needed to work on herself, to complete her journey back to being my beautiful, beautiful Cate.

As the last tears left
my eyes, and I felt my body rid of the pain and sadness, I fell to my knees and lifted my head to the Heavens. Then I breathed deeply and turned to go back into the beach house.

Finding
my towel on the timber floor of the bedroom, I thoroughly dried myself off, before I lowered myself back into bed beside my beautiful Cate.  Cate stirred, rolled over, and placed her head against my chest, her hand draped over my stomach.

When I was with her, I was complete. My heart beat as one with hers.

I kissed her head lightly and breathed in her presence, before finally falling into my own deep sleep.  The world was perfect again.

My beautiful, beautiful Cate
….

The Historic Stone Church

I awoke to the amazing view of the ocean from the bedroom windows. I rolled over to Ben to share my delight, but, he was not there.  Panicking, I sat up, my heart beating fast and hard in my chest.  Momentarily I was terrified I was in a dream, no, a nightmare.  If Ben was not here with me, it
was
a nightmare.

Then at that exact moment,
he entered the bedroom.

He was smiling exuberantly at
me, and then leaned against the door frame of the double doors that led to the large bedroom.

“Good morning my beautiful Sleeping Princess,”
he said with enthusiasm.

I smiled and fell back onto the bed, my hands over my heart, relieved. Ben walked over to me, found my hands and pulled me up off the bed and into his arms.

“Breakfast on the beach, 2 minutes,” he whispered into my ear, and then left.

I
quickly dressed in a beautiful white flowing sleeveless dress with blue floral designs over it, and headed down to the beach to meet my beau.  He was waiting on the picnic blanket for me, his eyes closed.

I touched his shoulder lightly with my hand, and he
looked up at me, his cerulean eyes majestic. I had to look away from him lest I fainted. I drew in a short sharp breath as I sat next to him.

“You are so good at looking after me Ben.  Sometimes I wonder if I deserve you….”
I said to him, suddenly doubting my worth to him.  Why should he be attracted to me? What have I got to offer him, except a wounded heart?

Ben looked at
me, frowning, his face serious.

“There are so many beautiful women out there who would kill for the chance to be with you
,” I said, and then I looked up at him and smiled.  He smiled back at me, unconvincingly.

Then h
e leaned over and kissed me lightly.

“It’s true Cate. There are many beautiful women out there, but they don’t make me feel alive as you do. 
You
are my soul mate.
You
are the reason that my heart beats. Our destiny is together, I know it.”    I stared into his eyes, wanting to believe his words.

I
hung my head slightly and smiled weakly, doubt lingering.

The beach breakfast was
wonderful, but the walk along the beach with Ben after we had finished eating was perfect.  His cerulean eyes were more captivating than I had remembered them.  Maybe, it was the light reflecting up off the sand illuminating them more.  No matter what the reason, each time that I looked up into his eyes, I had trouble keeping eye contact – such was their beauty.  It reminded me of Grandy’s memory when she first looked at the Terreans as an eleven year old.

I
looked to the sand as we walked, and recalled Grandy’s quote, “Ben is a gift to us.”  I breathed deeply, wondering if I had any control at all with my destiny.  Was my life plan already laid out before me, and no matter what I did, it was headed on a path that I could not alter?

I
looked out over the blue ocean. The question that I had just asked myself was too difficult, and I did not want to go into a deep conversation with anyone, even myself about philosophy, fate or other ponderings of life.  I had to change my introspection.  It was starting to depress me.

I gave
Ben a gentle shove, putting him off balance, and then took off running down the beach back towards the beach house.  He was startled, completely taken aback.

He ran after
me, easily finding his speed to catch up to me and tackled me to the ground, softly, ensuring that I would not be hurt.

And t
here I lay, on the soft white sand, laughing and giggling, Ben partially on top of me after the tackle. He put his arms around me and rolled me on top of him.  There I relaxed putting my head down on his chest.  I was so truly happy.

I
lifted my head to find Ben’s eyes closed. I admired his stunning looks, his perfect nose, his angular jaw line, his dark wavy hair that parted to the left because of his dominant cow’s lick.  He was beautiful.

Then he opened his cerulean eyes and looked at
me with intensity.  My breath was taken away, and my heart skipped a beat.

He placed his hands on either side of
my face and then brought my lips closer to his.  He kissed me slowly and tenderly, melting my heart, making me hungry for him. But I pulled away from the kiss, and rolled off  onto the sand.  I placed my hand over my heart and closed my eyes. I wanted to keep him – forever.

Then h
e left me on the beach, alone.

I
looked up into the perfect blue sky and smiled to myself, loving the feeling of being in love with the man of my dreams, and the way he made me feel – so loved and cherished. I breathed deeply, calming myself, then sat and looked out at the ocean.

Am I in love or infatuated?

I looked down at the sand, concerned with the revelation that had just weaseled its way into my head. Why must I analyze everything? I stood and turned on my heel to walk to the beach house, disappointed in my questioning of my happiness.

He
stood at the door, car keys in his hand watching me, casually leaning against the door frame, looking like some sort of a god.  I tried to lock away my somber mood, hiding my negative analysis from him. I didn’t want to give a detailed insight into my thoughts.

He took my hand in his and led me to the black four wheel drive.

The island was scenic after last night’s storm as we drove along the road to the resort. The car was far more comfortable than on the back of the Triumph Thunderbird Motorcycle I must admit.  I laughed at myself. I couldn’t believe that I had kept up the charade and went against my fear to be a passenger on the motorcycle.  Ben must have thought that I was nuts!

We arrived at
Michael’s beach house. I had decided that Ben’s Gran had played favourites, for Ben’s beach house was much larger, attractive, and had many more decorative elements adding to its uniqueness.

Michael and Rachel
greeted Ben as if he was the prodigal son.  The brothers talked non-stop as we sat outside on the decking of the terrace, to a very delicious spread of morning tea.

Then Michael turned to
me and said, “Cate, I never got to thank-you for keeping the family informed while Ben was away for two years in the top secret undisclosed location. Thank-you.  Our family is indebted to you.”

“You’re welcome Michael.  I knew that everyone would be concerned about Ben’s absence.  It was the best that I could do at the time, under the circumstances.”

I tried to hide my uncontrollable wince as I thought back to when Ben went to Une Autre Terre for two years. I had used up the last of my energy resources to put on a good cover up for his family, while I was in fact falling apart at the seams.  How on earth did I cope?

We left Michael’s house and headed for the shopping oasis, my mood again somber. I tried to lock my sadness away, hiding it from him. I didn’t want to go back into my past abyss.

But Ben could feel my change in mood, I knew it.  He kept looking over at me, making small talk.

I
was glad when we finally arrived at the shopping oasis of the island, something different to focus on. We desperately needed clothes, furniture and food – in that order.

And in that order we had success.
After a long and exhausting shopping day, we finally arrived home at the beach house, where I lay down and dozed off to sleep.

As I awoke, it was as if I was in an entirely different house altogether.
Ben proudly led me around each of the rooms that he had furnished, leaving our bedroom till last.

He covered my eyes with his hands as we entered the bedroom. As he removed his hands, I was greeted with the sight of a
bed with four large timber posts that rose closely to the ceiling, where they were connected by a canopy of matching timber.  Falling romantically from the timber canopy were white voile sheer drapes.

T
hen my eyes were drawn to the bedside tables.  Two magnificent bouquets of soft pink roses in clear bulbous glass vases stood, the fragrant perfume of the roses filled the room. I didn’t know whether to be happy or cry.  The emotional association with the roses was a two-edged sword. The connection of memories to Grandy, whom I loved so dearly and missed terribly each day, and the beautiful memories of when Ben and I first met on the 76
th
floor at the Masquerade Ball, and the extra large bouquet of soft pink roses that he had delivered to me the very next morning.

I
walked slowly over to the roses and bent down to smell the fragrance, then I turned, and walked to Ben, tears falling from my eyes.

I stopped in front of him,
wrapped my arms around him and held him tightly, melting into his body.

“Thank-you Ben,”
I whispered, “they are just like the roses that you sent to me after we first met at the Masquerade Ball…. beautiful!”   I kissed him tenderly, and pulled away, although I did not want to.  But I knew that it was the right thing to do.

His eyes were intense, full of emotion.  It was hard not to kiss him again.

For the first night of many, we slept together in our new romantic bed, our promise of purity unbroken, sacred.

* * *

I could never have predicted that my happiness would be taken away in an instant. It happened when we were driving to a surf beach to watch a board riding competition. I received a deadly jolt from something that I saw.

Driving past a
n inland yale coloured lake with snowcapped mountains in the distance, I saw, the exact same historic stone church that had appeared in my dreams a bounty of times until Ben had returned.  When I first saw it, I turned my face away from it, shocked, unable to cope with its reality.  This was the church of my marriage to Ben, only, when I got to the end of the aisle,
he
was not there.  I felt unnerved.  I wished I had never set eyes upon it.