The Haven: A Novel (22 page)

If they would even have us.

*   *   *

When I saw the house, I couldn’t quite move.

We waited on the corner as the sky turned a golden yellow from the sun and then that heartbreaking blue. A warm breeze blew from the east and I tucked my hands into my jeans pockets.

“I think you should go alone,” Gideon said.

His suggestion startled me.

“This is your moment. I had mine with Adam.” Gideon took my hand and pressed his lips to my knuckles. Maybe I could stand here with Gideon the rest of my life, letting him touch me. Touching him. “You go.”

I was silent.

Gideon’s arms slipped around my waist and he hugged me, bending over a little so his face was close to mine.

“I’m ready,” I said at last. The words were airless.

I crossed the street, looking once over my shoulder to Gideon, who lifted his hand.

“You’ll have to knock, Shiloh,” I reminded myself. And when I did, it seemed at first too soft, and then far too loud. Especially this early in the morning. From somewhere down the road, a dog barked.

It took forever before I heard the sound of footsteps. I knocked again. The door swung open enough for me to see only a part of her face, the male right behind her.

The woman in my dreams.

I’ve changed my mind.

“Shiloh?”

Don’t change your mind.

“Shiloh?”

The door shut and I turned to Gideon.

She didn’t want me.

I heard locks being released. The door opened.

“Oh, Shiloh,” Ann said. “You look just like I thought you would. Just like my Victoria.”

Ann’s real voice—not something twisted from my memory, not a video, but her real voice. Her.

The sun crested the horizon, splashing light on us all.

I closed my eyes and remembered Abigail calling my name. I could see her face, hear her talk about hope. About the Cause. I saw Daniel and Adam and Claudia and Elizabeth and Isaac. I saw Gideon.

“Shiloh,” Ann said. “Come in.”

She opened her arms to me.

HAVEN

HOSPITAL&HALLS

Where You Matter

Established 2020

Welcome to:

Daniel Smith—Faculty

Abigail Brown—Staff

HAVEN

HOSPITAL&HALLS

Where You Matter

Established 2020

Note to all Staff

Please make sure you are present for removals.

ALSO BY CAROL LYNCH WILLIAMS

MILES FROM ORDINARY

THE CHOSEN ONE

About the Author

CAROL LYNCH WILLIAMS, who lives in Provo, Utah, was awarded the prestigious PEN/Phyllis Naylor Working Writer Fellowship. Her novel
The Chosen One
won the Whitney and the Association of Mormon Letters Awards for the best YA novel of the year.
The Chosen One
and
Glimpse
were both named “Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers” by the ALA, which also named
Miles from Ordinary
among the “Best Fiction for Young Adults” in 2012.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

THE HAVEN.
Copyright © 2014 by Carol Lynch Williams. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.stmartins.com

Cover design by Kerri Resnick

Photograph of butterfly © Kesu/Shutterstock.com

The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

ISBN 978-0-312-69871-3 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-250-02253-0 (e-book)

e-ISBN 9781250022530

First Edition: March 2014