Hope (Book 2, Harvester of Light Trilogy; Young Adult Science Fiction) (30 page)

“Then I guess it’s
settled,” Michael said, standing from his chair.  “Show me where we need to go,
Skye, and I’ll make the arrangements.”

After I showed
Michael where the shield was located, I noticed older Ash give Rose and Simon a
hug, something the younger Ash was unable to do just yet.  I assumed that meant
Ash would be able to control his powers better in time.  When Rose and Simon
left to go back to their own timelines and make their goodbyes, older Ash
pulled Zoe off to the side.  I heard him tell her he needed to speak with her
about something but was unable to hear anything more after they left.

“We should be able
to have things ready by the morning,” Michael said, folding up the map from his
desk.  “Why don’t the two of you go on and try to take your minds off of things
unti1 then?”

I suddenly found
Jace grabbing my hand and pulling me after him out of the office with Ian
chuckling knowingly behind us.

“Well, I wonder
what he has on his mind?” I heard Michael say as we made our way out of the room.

“Where are you
taking me?” I asked Jace.

“No questions.” He
smiled mischievously back at me as we raced down the stairs of the building to
the outside.  “It’s a surprise.”

If I hadn’t been a
harvester, I’m not sure I would have been able to keep up with Jace’s quick
pace.  He acted like the devil himself was nipping at our heels.  We traveled
to the other side of the compound to a street lined with small houses.  I
assumed this was where the military families used to live when the station was
operational.

Jace stopped at
the door of one of the homes and lifted me into his arms.

“What on earth are
you doing?” I asked, unable to stop myself from laughing at his outrageous
behavior.

“Welcoming you
home,” he said before opening the door and stepping over the threshold.

We entered a small
living room with a brick fireplace on the far wall and a space off to the side
which seemed to be the designated dining area.  The walls were painted off
white and the furnishings were made of a homey brown suede.

We also found an
unexpected visitor waiting for us.  Standing in the middle of the living room
was older Ash.

“I’m sorry,” he
said.  “I know I’m intruding but I need to speak with you.”

Jace set me on my
feet and closed the door behind us.

“What do you need
to tell me?” I asked.

“I’m actually here
to speak with Jace,” Ash said.

As we walked over
to Ash, Jace said, “What about?”

“I wanted to ask
you to be my children’s father.”

“But the younger
version of you is still around,” Jace said.  “Won’t he get mad about that?”

“He will at first
until he realizes it’s the best thing for them.” Ash looked at me.  “Remember
me telling you that my time jumps were linked to my emotions?”

“Yes.”

“I won’t be able
to control them until I’m much older.  Even though I want to be with Rose and
Simon and help raise them, they’ll never know me as their father until later in
their lives.  If I’ve learned anything from our time at the breeding camp, it’s
that having two parents who love you more than anything and who will protect
you against everything is important to kids.  You and I know that all to well.”

I nodded my
agreement, too choked up with emotion to say anything.

Ash looked back at
Jace.  “You’re a good man and I already know what a great father you will be to
my kids, but I felt I should ask you in person to do me this favor.”

Jace held his hand
out to Ash.  Ash clasped it in between both of his hands.

“I would be
honored to stand in your place until you can,” Jace said.  “And know that I
will do my best to raise them with Skye the way you and Zoe would want.”

“You do,” Ash said
with a melancholy smile.  “You’ll both raise them well.”

Ash let go of
Jace’s hand and looked back at me.  “My younger counterpart may say some harsh
things to you,” he warned me.  “But just know he doesn’t mean them.  He’s just
jealous because he can’t have you for himself.  He’ll come to realize you were
never meant to be together.  Jace is the man you’re supposed to be with.”

“How long will it
take for him to realize that?” I asked.

“A while,” Ash
smiled chagrined.   “Just be patient with me, Skye.  I’ll come around to
understanding your choice eventually.  Remember that when I’m being a complete
ass to you though.”

“I’ll try,” I
said, now dreading the next time I saw the Ash from my present.

“Anyway, I should
be getting back to Zoe.  I never got to hold Simon and Rose when they were
babies.  This’ll be my only chance to be with all of them while they’re young.”

“Will I see you
again?” I asked.  “This version of you anyway.”

“No, you won’t see
me like this again after I put Zoe and the kids into stasis.  I have my own
life in the future to get back to.  One I don’t want to miss out on.”  Ash put
his hands on my and Jace’s shoulders.  “Take care of one another.  Stay strong
and win this war.”

Ash disappeared.

Jace and I sat
down on the couch together.  We were silent for a long time, both thinking
about what Ash had said to us.

“So not only do we
have to save the world,” Jace finally said.  “But we just became parents too.”
He sighed heavily.  “I think the parent thing scares me more.”

I looked at him
and saw the worry on his face.  I couldn’t stop myself from bursting out in laughter. 
He soon joined me.

After we settled
down, Jace gently lifted one of my hands and brought it to his lips.  I turned
into him and soon found myself enveloped in his warm embrace.  His lips met
mine tentatively as we slowly reminded each other of what the others lips
tasted like.

Before I knew it, Jace
laid me down on the couch with his body pressed in close to mine, deepening our
kiss to fully express all of his pent up yearnings.  I ran my fingers through
his hair to the back of his neck urging him even closer, needing to feel the
heat of him against me.  I ran my hands up the warm flat planes of his back
underneath his shirt and found the material too confining.  In one swift
movement, I tore the material straight down the middle exposing the muscular
expanse of his back for further exploration.  Jace moaned against my mouth and
quickly shed the rest of the shirt, allowing me free reign to run my hands over
his chest and abdomen.

Breathing heavily,
Jace pulled his lips away from mine and looked into my eyes.

“If you don’t want
to go any further,” he said.  “We should probably stop now.  Otherwise, I’m not
sure I’ll be able to.”

“I thought you
said you would remember,” I said, wrapping my legs around his hips feeling the
proof of his desire against me.

“Remember what?”
he asked, trembling slightly as I moved my hips against him slowly.

“I told you the
next time I offered myself to you not to think so much,” I gently scolded,
reminding him of my words not so long ago when we were in a similar situation.

Jace grinned and lifted
me up in one quick motion, my legs stilled wrapped around him.

I didn’t hear
anymore stupid questions for the rest of the night.

I woke up the next
morning with my legs tangled up in the white sheet on the bed.  Jace lay next
to me still sleeping and snoring softly.  I lay there with my head on the
pillow staring at his handsome profile and watching the gentle rise and fall of
his chest.  The night before had been perfect in everyway.  Jace had been
attentive and gentle in his love making, showing me without words how much he
treasured me.  If anyone had been the aggressor, it had been me.  Sometimes his
slow advances drove me insane and I had to take things into my own hands, as it
were.

I suppose all
girls fantasize about their first time making love, turning it into something
reality would be hard pressed to match up with.  I always thought Ash would be
the person who took my virginity, but now I couldn’t imagine anyone living up
to the high standard Jace had set.

Unable to stop
myself, I let my fingers trail lightly down Jace’s chest feeling the warmth of
his skin against the tips of my fingers, stopping just below his belly button
where the sheet lay across the lower half of his body.

“Don’t stop,” I
heard.

When I looked back
up at Jace’s face, I found him watching me with half closed eyes, closing them
fully as my hand ventured underneath the sheet.

Later, I lay wrapped
in his arms spent of energy.  What little sleep I had gotten the night before had
just been used up in a totally worth while way.

“We should
definitely start out our mornings like that from now on,” I said in complete
sincerity.

I heard the rumble
of Jace’s laughter inside his chest.

“Your wish is my
command,” he replied, kissing my forehead.

I leaned up and
kissed him on the lips not being satisfied with such a simple show of affection.

“Can I ask you
something?” He said, his tone turning serious.

“You can ask me
anything.”

“Was I your
first?”

“Yes,” I said. 
“Why would you think you weren’t?”

“Before you left
to be with the Queen…” he started but couldn’t seem to bring himself to finish.

“Oh, that,” I said
remembering what I had said to Jace about finding someone to satisfy my sexual
needs if he wouldn’t.  “No, I was never with someone while I was with her.  I
came close,” I admitted, not wanting to hide anything from him, “but that’s
when my future self came to visit me.  She told me she was stopping me from
doing something I would end up regretting.”

“I’m glad she did,
or you did I guess.  All this time traveling gets me confused sometimes.”

“You’re not the
only one,” I confessed.

Jace was silent
for a while and I could tell he wanted to ask me something else but didn’t seem
to know if he should or not.

“You might as well
ask me whatever it is your thinking,” I told him.  “I’m an open book to you. 
I’ll tell you the truth about anything.”

“Was I…did I…” he
put a hand to his forehead.  “Crap how do I ask you this without sounding like
a complete idiot?”

“Just ask,” I
said, kissing him in an attempt to ease his tension.

“You were my first
too,” he confessed.  “Was I good enough?  Was there anything that I didn’t do
that you would want me to do?”

I smiled.

“What?” He asked. 
“Why are you smiling like that?”

“I was just
thinking that for two virgins we did pretty well last night… and this morning…
and hopefully right now.”

Jace smiled and rolled
me over onto my back proving my hope was right.

Chapter 30

It was decided we
would travel to the Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky.  The plan was to
set up Zoe, Rose and Simon in one of the larger caverns and dynamite the
entrance to the cave so no one would inadvertently discover them, keeping them
safe.  The Queen would have no way of knowing about the existence of their
shield leaving us with the element of surprise.  She would still mistakenly
think she was safe when she would become the total opposite.

Jace and I rode in
the same helicopter with Zoe and the babies to the location.  I wanted to spend
as much time as I possibly could with her before she was lost to me forever.

“Promise me one
thing,” she said to me.

“I’ll promise you
anything.  You know that.”

“Don’t tell Simon
and Rose about me and Ash until they’re older.”

“Why?” I asked,
confused why she wouldn’t want her children to know what a brave woman their
mother was and the sacrifice she was making to save the world.

“I want them to
think of you and Jace as their mother and father,” she said to me, handing me a
white envelope.  “When the time is right, give them this note.  I don’t want
them to blame you for honoring my last request.”

“I’ll do what you
ask, but I don’t like it.  I don’t like to lie,” I said.  “And I will find a
way to stop your aging before you’re woken up.  I promise.  You’ll be able to
live out a normal life with Rose and Simon.”

“I know you will,”
Zoe said with a knowing smile.  “Ash told me what my future holds and I’m ready
for it.  I only wish you were going to be there when I wake up, like you were
the first time.”

I squeezed Zoe’s
hand silently wishing I could be there too.

Rose and Simon met
us at the entrance to the cave.  They were both dressed in white flowing gowns made
of a gauzy fabric and had a third one ready for Zoe to put on.

“Uncle Kirk and
Aunt Teegan made them for us,” Simon said by way of explanation.  “They said if
we were going to be stuck in a cave for God only knows how long, we should at
least look fashionable when we’re woken up.”

“Will I see Kirk
and Teegan soon?” I asked them.

“You know we can’t
answer that,” Rose said gently.

I shrugged.  “Had
to try.”

Once we all walked
to the large cavern which would be Zoe and her children’s home for a while.  Older
Ash appeared to play his part in the event. 

“So what’s the
future like?” I asked him.

“Bright,” he said
with a smile, one of the few I ever saw him give so readily.  “Don’t give up
hope, Skye.  My future will be your present soon enough.  There’s a lot more
you have to do to make that happen though, but I know you will.  You’re strong
and you’re brave.  You always have been.  You’ll be the one who saves us all in
the end.”

I hugged Zoe
goodbye for one last time determined not to cry as my heart was forced to let
her go but failing miserably.

“I love you,” she
said to me squeezing me tight.  “Don’t forget me.”

“I’ll never forget
the little pigtailed girl I found,” I said.