“I know what he did was awful, killing those men. And he took my sister from me. But
there’s a part of me that feels nothing but sadness for him, and others just like him. He and I, our lives, at least our childhoods, were so similar.” She mused, carefully weighing her words.
“Neither one of us was wanted, neither one of us had a decent childhood, and yet mercifully, my upbringing didn’t tarnish my psyche in the same way it did Jaime’s.”
“No it didn’t. You’re a strong person, Maya. I know you don’t want to hear that, but it’s
true. You’ve dealt with adversity and overcome it. You didn’t allow it to become a part of who you are. To dictate who you’d become.”
“Thank you. I know you love me and you believe only the best about me. But Jaime
suffered from a mental illness that was brought on by his childhood traumas. I don’t suffer from some of his psychological issues, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have issues,” she admitted with a small laugh.
“I try not to wonder too deeply how I keep it together and enjoy life, I just do. And I
thank God I’m able to do so, without allowing the past to continually dictate my present; my future.” She thought of Jaime’s last words to her.
They were both momentarily silent, their thoughts on the man who brought them
together, who now lay dead from his own hand.
Wanting to alleviate the sadness that clung to her like a dismal cloak, he tilted her face
toward him. “You know as I recall before this last bout of insanity, you and I were having a very serious discussion,” he said around the small hand he was delivering soft kisses to.
The bright overhead light, caught the reflection of the new thick gold chain he wore
around his neck, and attached pendant, which matched the one he had placed around hers as soon as she’d gotten out of surgery.
A smile blossomed on her face. “Oh yes, I think I recall something about a baby?” She
squint her eyes, as though she couldn’t recall the exact topic.
“Yeah. A baby. But you know I think I jumped the gun a bit.”
“Oh? And how did you do that?” Her confusion quickly turned to surprise, and finally
joy, as he reached into his pocket to pull out a small black velvet box.
Going down on the proverbial one knee, he opened the box and took out a beautiful
princess cut flawless emerald and took her left hand in his.
“I know this is probably not the best of timing, but I’ve learned life is too short and too uncertain to wait,” he began. “Maya you are an amazing woman, so full of life and love and
compassion. I could not, nor would I want to, imagine my life without you. Would you do me the honor of being my wife?” Mark’s voice had grown rough with emotion, toward the end.
“Yes. Yes, of course I’ll marry you.” Maya hugged him as tightly as her restrictions
allowed.
She allowed the tears to run down her cheeks, as she marveled at the way life and
coincidence had brought the two of them together under the worst possible circumstances, and love had forged a bond between them that broken down all other barriers.
PART III
Jerked awake, sweat poured down his face as he picked up the ringing phone and
answered in a voice deepened further with sleep, “As-salamu-alaykum. Princess, did I wake you?”
Nicolai knew who was on the other end without hearing her voice, and therefore greeted
her in one of her languages. Even though she’d been the one to call him, he knew it was he, who’d called out to her in his distress as he’d dreamed, who had awakened her.
Her soft, trickling, laugh cascaded over him like a lover’s sweet caress, as she answered,
in her deceptively mild voice, “Alaykum s-salam. Now you know I do not really sleep, Chief.
Kayf haluk? The case is settled then,” she more stated then asked as she in turned asked him how he was.
“Shukran. Al-hamdu li-lah,” he gave the obligatory answer before continuing. “Yeah. It’s settled. It could have ended a lot differently ’Fina,” he told her as they both settled into their respective beds.
Dafina was one of the few people Nicolai allowed anywhere close to his heart. He had
never expressed his feelings to her verbally, and doubted he ever would. Nicolai trusted his teammates; yet it was Dafina he shared his deepest thoughts with. It was Dafina he showed some of his vulnerabilities.
“I missed easy clues ’Fina. I don’t know the last time I couldn’t tell a male from a female voice, even disguised. The headaches are getting worse; they’re interfering with my ability.
Thanks to you I could ‘hear’ more clearly. But it was nearly too late, and my mistake could have cost another innocent woman her life,” he said, anguish filling his gut as he remembered.
“We will find out how to ease these headaches. You know we have at our disposal the
best doctors money can buy,” she reminded him with a sardonic laugh.
“And besides you do not simply listen to the voice, you hear what they project. Jaime
projected as a female, and not as a male. In that persona, he connected too strongly with the feminine facet of his personality for you to pick up anything else. And as you know, the feminine is the true strength,” she subtly reminded him of her Amazon culture’s belief.
“Come back home, Chief, we are waiting for you. The twins are out of control. You are
the only one they will listen to.”
At her mention of the ‘twins,’ an involuntary chuckle escaped from Nicolai. She was
referring to
