Total pages in book: 41
Estimated words: 38048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 190(@200wpm)___ 152(@250wpm)___ 127(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38048 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 190(@200wpm)___ 152(@250wpm)___ 127(@300wpm)
“You are thinking of the vow you made,” a warm feminine voice spoke from somewhere above him.
Looking up, Klaus realized it was coming from the statue—its face had come to life and it was staring down at him!
“Goddess?” he croaked, barely able to get the word out.
“Yes, I am she—the Mother of All Life,” the statue said. It was almost too beautiful to look at, though Klaus knew he would never be able to describe it in a million years. The Goddess’s beauty was that of every woman that had ever lived—it defied description.
“Goddess,” he said again. “I…” But he couldn’t speak, couldn’t tell her what he needed to say.
“I see what is in your heart, Warrior,” the statue said to him. “I know when you made your vow to me it was made from sorrow and hate.”
“You took Miranda from me!” Klaus accused her, his voice raised in agony. “Of course I was angry—and yes, I hated you!”
The Goddess didn’t seem upset by his admission. The statue’s features remained beautiful and calm.
“I did not take your wife, Warrior—it was simply her time to go. Much that you cannot understand will be revealed when the veil is lifted. But for now, know that I grieved with you when she passed to the other side. I knew of your sorrow and I shared it.”
The statue’s eyes were suddenly filled with tears and Klaus watched in surprise as they dripped down the Goddess’s marble cheeks.
“I didn’t know,” he said hoarsely. “I…I hated you.”
“As you hated yourself. You vowed never to love again, and now that love has found you, you feel you must push it away and refuse it,” the Goddess said.
“Yes!” Klaus nodded. “Because I made the vow and I can never take it back!”
“Your vow was one of hatred…I release you from it and I command you to replace it with love.”
As the Goddess spoke, Klaus felt a change happening all around him. Though it had been freezing cold a moment ago, a warm wind started blowing. It swirled around him smelling of sunshine and blooming flowers—the scents of spring and life and new growth.
“Goddess,” he said hoarsely. “Do you mean it? Are you serious?”
“There is one who would love you, if only you will let her,” the Goddess said. “A woman I set aside, just for you. Go to her, Warrior. Beg her forgiveness.”
“I want to love again,” Klaus admitted. “But…I’m afraid, Goddess. What if…what if Kelli dies, too? What if she leaves me, like Miranda did?”
“If she will give you another chance, I swear to you Warrior, that both your lives will be long and happy,” the Goddess told him. “This is my gift to you, for the sorrow you bore these last ten years. Now go—make things right and remember to honor her always.”
Then, as suddenly as she had come, the Goddess was gone. Klaus stared at the statue’s face, but it was only marble again—still and unmoving. The Mother of All Life was no longer there with him in the Sacred Grove.
He blinked his eyes, feeling like a male waking from a dream. Had he imagined all that? Had some kind of vivid hallucination?
But no…the trees surrounding the statue were covered in flowers and they hadn’t been before. They were blooming as though it was spring—sending a delicate fragrance into the air from their hundreds of big, white blossoms.
Klaus stepped up to the trees and began gathering flowers.
He didn’t want to go see Kelli empty-handed. He just hoped that she would be willing to talk to him and let him explain.
24
KELLI
It was shaping up to be the saddest Christmas ever. Kelli didn’t like to admit it—she did her best to shake off the unpleasantness with Klaus and to have fun. She attended several Christmas parties, both aboard the Mother Ship and down on Earth in the week after she came back from the Christmas Village. But though she usually loved hanging out with family and friends, this time her heart just wasn’t in it.
She threw herself into volunteering too. She helped with two toy drives and a food giveaway…but nothing seemed to help. Though it warmed her heart to see people in need get food and toys for their kids’ Christmas, she simply couldn’t be her usual, cheerful self.
It didn’t help that this was her first Christmas aboard the Mother Ship and she had no family around. Usually she had a family get-together to look forward to, but this year her son was spending Christmas with his boyfriend’s family and her daughter was going on a skiing trip with her best friend. And of course, Mitch was off with his new, younger wife, no doubt disappointing her with his mushroom dick. So it was going to be a very lonely holiday, Kelli admitted to herself as she stirred the homemade eggnog she whipped up every year.