There's Always Tomorrow (Immortal Series) (30 page)

“Tony?”

He stopped and
turned to look at Sophie, sitting prettily on a patch of green.
 
“Good luck, darling.
 
I hope you find what it is you’re
looking for.”

Tony could feel
his throat close.
 
His heart
swelled with the love he felt for his wife and child.
 
Whether he met with success today, or not, it really wasn’t
all that important, somehow.
 
He
was already blessed beyond his wildest expectations.

Before Tony
reached the entrance, he could feel the hairs on the back of his neck tingle.
 
The air was cooler by several degrees
and smelled of menthol.
 
It was
said that the cave at a sacred site, was entry into another world or
dimension—a world where the Healing Spirit resided.
 
It was an entrance into one’s own deep
consciousness.
 
Some said it was a
passageway to the underworld.
 
Tony
believed what he could see and feel, and he knew this was the portal to
somewhere he’d never traveled.

He paused and
took one last glance over his shoulder.
 
It was necessary for him to fill his eyes with the sight of Sophie,
before he stepped into the darkness.
 
It could be the last beautiful thing he’d ever see.
 
He closed his eyes and stepped through
the entrance and was immediately spellbound.

Tony felt as if
all his senses had suddenly turned hypersensitive and were being bombarded with
powerful stimuli.
 
Everything was
magnified.
 
The cavern was dark,
but he could see perfectly.
 
He
could hear the drip of the cave waters, somewhere back in the farthest
recesses.
 
He could smell the bat
guano and hear the slight flutter of their wings.
 
He felt pulled in one direction, toward the darkest
passage.
 
His freewill seemed to no
longer exist.
 
No matter what
trepidation he felt, he knew he needed to be obedient and see this through to
the end.

As Tony slowly
made his way to something he could not identify, his memory went back in
time.
 
Suddenly, he could see his
early life in England.

He was but a
boy, and he and his best friend, Thomas, were hiding from his father.
 
They often hid from
responsibilities.
 
It was much more
fun to torment their sisters and spy upon their older brothers.
 
Thomas was laughing, uproariously, and
thus, he gave away their hiding place.
 
Anthony’s father grabbed both the boys by their collars, and booted them
back toward the house.
 
They could
not see the merriment in the old man’s eyes.
 
True, his boy, Anthony, was a handful, but so much like he
used to be when he was a young lad.
 
It cheered his heart to see him so happy.

Tony wiped his
eyes.
 
What in the world made him
think of his father?
 
He shook his
head and looked around in the darkness.
 
Images seemed to form in front of him.
 
He could not see through them.

Thomas was
running toward him, his diploma in hand.
 
“We’ve done it!” he happily exclaimed.
 
“We’re free from this miserable institution.”

The two
young men had just graduated from university.
 
They believed from this day forward, their lives would be
their own.
 
They would not worry
about carrying on with family’s titles.
 
They would not be burdened down by arranged marriages and estate
taxes.
 
They would finally live
free from the restraints polite society placed upon the aristocracy.

Anthony was
out of breath, as he raced Thomas to the gates.
 
“I’ve got our tickets.
 
We leave in the morning.
 
Mother insists I have dinner with the family.
 
I’ll meet you at the docks, first thing.
 
Be there no later than six.”

Anthony was
so happy he thought his chest would burst.
 
He and Thomas had made all their plans.
 
They were to see the entire continent
and linger longer at some locations than at others.
 
Women were their main objective.
 
Thomas wanted to kiss a woman from every country.
 
Anthony wanted to make love to foreign
speaking women.
 
He wanted to
compare their differences with the women he’d been lucky enough to get to know,
in England.
 
He could already smell
the salty sea air.
 
He could feel
the tossing of the ship, under his feet, as it crossed the channel.
 
He heard the boisterous voices of the
men in the dark tavern, in Prague.

Tony stumbled,
and fell to the soft, damp earth.
 
What was happening to him, he wondered?
 
Was he just remembering his past or was he being forced to
face it?

Small shafts of
light permeated the rocky walls, striking the reflective properties in the
stone.
 
It created a magical
effect, resembling thousands of twinkling fireflies ascending into a black void

Tony’s head
began to throb.
 
He felt pain in
his chest, and his back had stiffened.
 
What was happening to him?
 
Was this what it felt like to age?
 
Had he made a mistake?
 
Would he exit the cave, an ancient and decrepit old man?

The sound of
water grew louder.
 
It seemed to
drip in a peculiar rhythm.
 
Where
had he heard that before, he wondered?
 
The closer he came to the sound, the faster the dripping.
 
Within moments, the water seemed to be
rushing through the rocks, falling into a dark abyss.

Tony sat and
cradled his aching head in his hands.
 
Suddenly, a loud explosion rattled the inside of the cave.
 
It was deafening.
 
Surely, a cave-in would follow.
 
Tony jumped to his feet.
 
A blinding light flashed before his
eyes, followed by an eerie silence.

Sitting in
front of him, were his friends.
 
Seven of his closest buddies sat huddled in the shallow trench, wet and
miserable.
 
They had a look of
horror plastered on their faces.
 
He followed their eyes toward the center of the area, and saw Thomas.

“No!” he
screamed.
 
“Oh, God, Thomas!” he
yelled.

Thomas was
moving, but Anthony knew he was beyond his feeble attempts to help.
 
Thomas rolled over, and looked up at
Tony.
 
He smiled.
 
“It is all good, dear friend.
 
I am well.
 
Cheer up.
 
We’ll
meet again.”

Tony was
sobbing.
 
He felt as if his heart
was breaking.
 
The loss of his
dearest friend had been more than he could face, and he had been trying to run
from the memory of it, for almost a century.

From his knees,
Tony looked up into darkness, and prayed.

“Divine God,
the Source of all life, hear my prayer.
 
I have come in search of the Healing Spirit.
 
I pray to reconnect with the universe.
 
I need to reconnect with my soul’s
origin.
 
I seek an end to this
immortality, this gift of everlasting life.
 
I seek only what mortal man has been given.
 
Take back this power, I beseech
you.
 
Cleanse from me, this life
eternal and replace it with a life of mortality.”

Tony collapsed
and closed his eyes.
 
He was
spent.
 
He soon felt a soothing
sensation surround his body.
 
The
pain in his temples began to lessen.
 
He felt exhausted and weak.

As he lay
there, he heard the drip.
 
One…Two
. . Three . Four!
 
Suddenly, all
the water the cave could hold, poured down on Tony.
 
He was engulfed in the mighty deluge.
 
Coughing and sputtering, he managed to
get to his feet.
 
Reaching out with
his hands, trying to feel anything familiar, he sought his way back.
 
Waving his arms around, he felt
nothing.
 
He started to run,
sightless in the dark.
 
It wasn’t
important to see where he was going, he figured.
 
As long as he got far enough away from the water, he
wouldn’t drown.

The cavern
floor was wet and slippery.
 
Tony
was having some difficulty standing upright.
 
It wasn’t long before he tripped.
 
Trying to stop his fall, he grabbed onto a root or a branch,
which only propelled him down a steep slide.
 
Farther down, he felt himself slip.
 
Tony prayed the slope was not
bottomless, as he felt the numerous injuries to his body, from the sharp rocks
along the wall.
 
Down, down he
slid.
 
It was impossible to
estimate how far he’d fallen, when finally, he saw a bit of light at the bottom
of the shaft.

“Thank you,
God,” he sighed.
 
Closer and closer
he came to the light.
 
It grew in
size.
 
The opening in the chute was
as large as a man.
 
He guessed he’d
come out on the other side of the mountain range.
 
How long would it take him to get back to the entrance and to
Sophie?

He had run out
of time to ponder his situation, as the slippery surface propelled him out of
the cave and high into the air.

“What the
fuck?” he yelled, as he tumbled through space.

“Tony?” Sophie
shrieked.
 
“What are you doing
jumping out of that hole?
 
You
could kill yourself!”
 
Then she
realized the ridiculousness of her statement.
 
“Sorry, Tony.” She apologized, quietly.

Tony
crash-landed about fifteen feet from his wife.
 
Fortunately, he fell into some soft sand, void of rocks and
cactus.
 
He sat there, shaking his
head.
 
“What the hell?” he
questioned.

Sophie ran up
to him and cradled his head against her breasts.
 
“Did you change your mind?
 
Was it too scary?”

“Huh?” Tony
couldn’t process what his wife was saying.

“How come you
didn’t go into the cave?
 
Did you
decide not to look for your mortality?
 
And, how did you get way up there?”
 
She pointed to the opening in the side of the ridge, above
her head.

Tony was
puzzled.
 
Nothing she said made any
sense.
 
She was acting strange,
even for Sophie.
 
“I went into the
cave, sweetheart.”

“No, you
didn’t.
 
I sat right here and
watched you disappear for maybe a minute.
 
Then, you came flying out of that hole.
 
How did you get up there, so fast?”

“Sophie, could
you have fallen asleep?
 
I’ve been
gone for a couple of hours, at least.
 
I went far back into the cave.
 
I prayed.
 
Hell, I practically
drowned.”

Sophie stood up
and dusted herself off.
 
“Well,
darling.
 
I think you bumped your
head flying out of that hole, and you don’t know what you’re saying, but I
don’t want to be disagreeable.
 
The
baby and I want to go back, now, if that’s all right with you.
 
My back hurts and I think I need to
spend some time in the hot tub.”
 
Her eyes sparkled with mischief.

Tony really
didn’t know how to explain what happened.
 
Maybe Sophie was right and he did hit his head.
 
He knew he felt mighty peculiar.
 
“Okay, sugar.
 
Hot tub it is.
 
Let’s go.”

Tony limped all
the way back to the car.
 
This had
been one hell of an excursion.
 
Maybe he was nuts.
 
At any
rate, his search had ended, and he would get on with his life, which included
adoring his wife and child.

Life, for
however long, was good.

Six months later

“Just look at him,” Tony gushed.
 
His eyes filled with unshed tears of
happiness as he held his newborn son in his arms.
 
“He’s amazing.”
 
His face was alight with pure joy.
 
Since meeting Sophie, his life had turned around completely.
 
Living forever, with her by his side,
would have been his dearest wish, but alas, no one lives forever.

Or does he?

Over the last
six months, Sophie had watched her husband let go of his torturous past.
 
At one time, the sadness in his eyes
held two hundred years of sorrow.
 
Now, his eyes were warm and held promise of the future.
 
He no longer suffered from his night
terrors.
 
More nights than not, she
could hear him chuckle in his sleep.
 
No doubt, he was recalling something she had said or done that he
thought humorous.
 
She took delight
in knowing she could lighten his mood.
 
Secretly, she wasn’t nearly as naïve or harebrained as he thought.
 
She had learned that
some
men
found it charming, and why change something that worked?

Tony had
experienced some subtle physical changes, since their sojourn into New
Mexico.
 
He tired more easily and
he noticed his vision was not quite as sharp as it had been over the past two
centuries.
 
Surprisingly, he was just
getting over his first cold…but he dared not hope.

The baby
started to fuss and instantly, Tony panicked.
 
“Sophie, what do I do?” he implored.
 
He held his son straight out in front
of him, looking very uncomfortable.

Sophie
giggled.
 
“Bring him over here,
darling.
 
Your son is simply
hungry.
 
I’ll take care of
that.”
 
She held out her hands.
 
Sophie loved holding and nuzzling her
son.
 
His sweet little baby smells
touched her very soul.

As the
beautiful little boy noisily nursed at his mother’s creamy breast, Tony could
feel his heart pounding in his chest.
 
This was the most incredible sight he had ever seen.
 
The two most important people in his
life were there, right in front of him.
 
He couldn’t stop himself from reaching out and stroking their cheeks,
ruffling their hair.
 
His son had
his mama’s blonde curls and his papa’s dark eyes.
 
They had made him.
 
He was a miracle.

“What are we
going to name him, Tony?
 
We can’t
just keep calling him,
the baby
, or,
son
.
 
I’d like a strong, normal name…nothing
silly or faddish.
 
I don’t want him
to grow up and be embarrassed by it.
 
You know, I once knew a girl whose mother named her,
Accidental.
 
Really!
 
Can you believe it?”
 
Sophie looked scandalized.
 
She glanced down at her small infant son and smiled, lovingly.
 
“It has to be perfect,” she decreed.

The baby
quieted, his belly was full and his mother held him lovingly in her arms.
 
His long dark lashes cast shadows on
his chubby cheeks.
 
He was a
beautiful boy.

Sophie glanced
over at her doting husband.
 
He
looked tired.
 
He’d been through so
much over the many years since his birth.
 
He’d seen and experienced the most revolutionary advances in history.
 
He witnessed the invention of the
automobile, the airplane, and man setting foot upon the moon.
 
Nations had warred against nations, and
had fallen.
 
Still, he looked
forward to the endless future, knowing he would ultimately see it alone.

They never
discussed the results of their experiences in Chaco Canyon.
 
Sophie could feel her husband’s fear,
but she was optimistic.
 
She’d
noticed the slight changes.
 
It was
time he faced the facts.
 
He may
very well, be mortal.

“Tony,” Sophie
said softly.
 
“What are you going
to do about those?”

Tony looked
completely puzzled.
 
What was his
wife referring to, now?
 
“What do
you mean?”

Sophie
smiled.
 
“Those gray hairs at your
temples,” she said, as a matter of fact.
 
“Some women find them sophisticated, but I think you’re too young.
 
What do you intend to do if you wake up
one morning, and you’re white headed?”
 
She knew that was a stretch, but it got his attention.

Tony’s eyes
grew huge with surprise.
 
“Gray
hair?
 
Are you sure, darling?”
 
He jumped from his chair and raced to
the mirror to see his reflection.
 
After some serious searching, he discovered the single gray strand.

“Oh, my God,
Sophie.
 
Look here!
 
Look here!”
 
Tony ran about the room, not stopping long enough for Sophie
to see anything.
 
He was
ecstatic.
 
For the first time, he
admitted that all the signs added up to something.
 
He had refused to put them all together, until just this
moment.
 
For too many years, he’d
been disappointed.
 
It was almost
too much to accept, even now.

Sophie saw the
tears run unabashedly down her husband’s handsome face.
 
“Darling, I think you should sit
down.
 
I have a few questions for
you.”
 

She waited for
him to sit in the chair beside her bed.
 
“Was it the trip to New Mexico?”

Tony shook his
head, slowly.
 
His fingers gently
traced the leather pouch handing around his neck.
 
Lately, it had caused a slight rash to develop and he found
it uncomfortable to wear.
 
He
reached up, grasped the rawhide cord, and snapped it off.

Sophie
gasped.
 
She was aware of how very
important the gift from the shaman had been to Tony.

Tony held up
his wrist for Sophie to see.

Again, she
gasped.
 
“What have you done?
 
Why did you change the tattoo Marie
Laveau gave you?”
 
Sophie couldn’t
believe what she was seeing.
 
Out
of instinct, she crossed herself.

“I didn’t do
anything,” Tony said flatly.
 
“I
noticed, as I was showering off the muck and sludge from the cave, that my
wrist was tingling.
 
The flesh felt
as if it were being pulled and twisted.
 
I assumed it was the result of the strong magnetic fields in the cave.
 
The next morning, the image had changed
to what you see now.”
 
He stroked
the inked flesh, lightly.

Sophie was
intrigued.
 
“It looks like a bird
of some kind.”

“It does
indeed,” Tony agreed.
 
“I believe
it’s a dove…a renewed promise to man.
 
Maybe it is a renewed promise for me.”
 
He thought about it for a while, and walked over to the window.
 
Staring out, he could see it all,
clearly.

“I believe the
chemo I received in France, shifted my body chemistry enough to be receptive to
the elements of Chaco Canyon.”

Sophie believed
this, too.
 
“I also think it is the
power of faith and prayer that aided you.”

After thinking
more on the subject, she practically whispered, “You know what this means,
don’t you?”

Tony
nodded.
 
“I’m mortal.
 
I’m like every other living man.”
 
His voice trembled as he said the
words.

“Tony,” Sophie
wept, “you’ve been given a death sentence.”

Tony returned
to his wife’s side and took her up, into his arms.
 
He was smiling.
 
His sparkling green eyes were dancing.
 
His lips found hers, as he covered them with kisses.

“Yes, darling.
I know what this means.
 
I’ve
surely been given a death sentence.
 
And now—I can finally start to live.”
 

“Thomas Grant
Barton,” Sophie mumbled.

Tony
smiled.
 
“I like that,
darling.
 
You’re so wise.”