The Vengeance (24 page)

“So you knew when you visited before?”

“I did. Which is why I couldn’t wipe her memory.”

“How did she do what she did in there?”

Rose giggled, finding it all very funny.

“She believed she could win and she did. She wanted to save you and protect all of you. Her belief gave her strength.”

It was a lot to process. AJ looked again at Benjamin and wanted to plead for the suspense to be over.

“I know you came to strip my powers for what I did to Addie.”

“Actually, no. I came to check on Rose here and see if she’d discovered anything, which quite obviously she has.”

“But you said before that the rules are rules.”

“They are indeed. But you didn’t break any. You didn’t heal Addie.”

“Then who?” He stopped himself short and turned his attention to Rose. “You?”

“Me,” she smiled. “I told you all along she’d be okay. I just did what you did when you fix people. I put her hand in mine and I believed I could fix her and it worked, just like with the bird.”

“The bird? The bird with the broken wing? I thought that was me.”

“Nope. I just pictured the birdie flying again and then it did.”

“You’re just full of surprises,” AJ smiled. 

Turning back to Benjamin his tone became more serious.

“So what now?” he asked.

“That’s up to you, I believe,” Benjamin replied.

AJ looked down at Rose and then over to Addie. He took a few steps towards Addie and then his arms were around her, pulling her close. She smiled as he reached his hand up to the side of her still-trembling face and brought his lips to hers. He kissed her long and hard to make up for all of the moments over the last few months that he’d wanted
to and hadn’t been able to. Picking her up and pulling her back into him, he spoke loud enough for everyone to hear.

“I choose her.” He set her down as her smile ignited the entire room and turned to face Benjamin. “I understand what this means and I accept all consequences, but I choose her.”

“Rose, I leave you in good hands,” he said. He turned to face Addie and AJ.

“Wiping your mind would do me no good, Addie. I can see that no matter what, you’ll always remember your love for this man. I trust that with your ancestry known, you make the choice to keep it a secret for us. Your daughter is special and will need your guidance to become the woman she is meant to be.”

“I promise,” Addie replied.

“And AJ,” Benjamin said as he turned towards the Healer. “Sometimes rules are made to be broken, as long as no one is hurt in the process. You will never be able to heal Addie which is why I leave you with my blessing to be together. With Rose around, you’ll never have a need to. Her strength supersedes all others. Rose and the children like her are bound by a different set of laws than the rest of us. Max can help her learn. And since he never actually broke any of our laws, I see it only fair that I return his Healer status to him.”

Max’s body quivered as the warmth returned. He was whole again.

Benjamin turned and walked to the door.

“Don’t ever think that life is filled with happy endings. Today’s battle ended, but it is just the start of something greater and more evil to come.”

“Today, we remember a great man: a man of strength and integrity, one who served the world with dignity. A father and a friend, Robert is someone who will be missed greatly and forever loved by those that knew him.”

As the gentle music started playing, Rose let go of Gram’s hand and stepped forward to place a single red rose on the casket. She looked back at her mother and
great-grandmother, women who had seen more and knew more than most would in a lifetime. She stepped back into place as one by one, the others placed their roses on the casket to say their last goodbyes.

With one hand in Addie’s and another in AJ’s, she watched as they lowered her birth father into the ground. She hadn’t known him long but she knew she’d see him again one day. And more importantly, she would always carry his memory in her heart.

As the group began to disperse, Gram bent down to Rose’s level.

“How are you child?” she asked, as she swept her
great-granddaughter’s hands in her own.

“I’m okay,” Rose whispered back. She smiled at her
great-grandmother. “Daddy told me something that he said would help me understand someday.”

“And what’s that?”

“I’m not the only special child around here, am I?”

Rose smiled at her grandmother then flitted off to join Addie and AJ.

“Indeed you’re not,” Gram laughed.

Allison Rios, raised in Joliet, Illinois, has been writing as a hobby since childhood. An avid reader, she devours books from all genres and began creating her own short stories at a young age. A mother of two and a full-time worker, she spends her free time typing out her daydreams into stories and creating new worlds with her imagination – a trait she shares with her children. Writing has taken her through many different aspects in her career and she loves being able to bring characters to life in novels like
The Touch
and
The Vengeance
.

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