Dragan's Redemption Book One of the Manor at Echo Lake Trilogy (10 page)

Touching the box one more time, she moved it to the side before nodding her head.

“Shall I pour
,
James?”

Unused
to
having someone service him
, h
e
hesitated
before nodding his head. 
Looking around him as
s
he poured
,
he thought the backyard was just an extension of the little cottage.  Rugs strew
n
around the stone patio
broke up the yard into little areas
.  In one section was a group
ing
of furniture
set to form
a cozy conversation area
,
while i
n another part of the yard was a statue of St. Francis
with tiny
animal figurines dancing around him.  Furthest away was a small
bench
beside
a water fountain.
 
The whole area was
peaceful and very serene.
  It was also an area not done by the groundskeeper.  This was all her.
 
“You have done wonders to this place
,
Miss Amira
.  It is
blossoming
under your touch I see
.”

“I love
Echo
Lake
.  I was very afraid that Dragan was going to tell me I could not stay when he came over
yester
day.  He seemed surprised that I was
even living
here.”  James’
s
eyebrows rose at the informal
ity of her speaking of his boss
,
but said nothing.

“You do not find this too
boring
?
  You are so young
,
my dear.
”

Amira laughed.  “I thought I might have many days of boredom here but am pleasantly surprised at how many visitors I have been getting lately.”

“Will you be with us for awhile
,
Miss Amira.”

“I will be here for as long as I am allowed, James.”

“I am sure that would not be a problem?”

Amira shrugged.  “
W
e are not in control of our destiny
,
are we?
”

“This is very true Miss.  That is where you are then?
Following your destiny?
”

Thoughtfully, Amira looked down at her tea.  “I believe that I am accepting a destiny that is inevitable
for me
.  With that acceptance, I am hoping that peace will come to me
,
James.
  What I know for sure is that
Echo
Lake
makes me happy.
”

James searched her face for a clue to her cryptic words.  The more she spoke
,
the more he realized
what an
old soul
she was
.  Whatever her reasons for renting this cottage, he did not believe that she was sent here by fate just for herself.  Indeed, he felt that she possibly was sent for all of them livi
ng on the property and without her knowing, had already changed him.

“I like your boss
,
James.”

“Indeed?”  James took a sip of his tea
hiding a smile
.
  “He is not an easy man to get to know.  You must tread carefully with him
my dear
.”

Amira laughed. 
“Oh, he doesn’t scare me.
I have pretty much told him that.”

James’
s
eyebrows rose at her comment.
“
A
nd how did he take that?
”

“Not so good at first.”  Grinning ear to ear
,
she poured more tea.  “I
think I
can wear him down though.”

James’
s
eyes twinkled as he smiled at her.  What a delight she was.

“I bet if anyone can do it
,
Miss Amira, it would be you.”

That is how
Dragan
found them - s
itting in her backyard in th
e shade, laughing and talking.
The realization that
he wanted to be the one sitting next to her
was unnerving
.  “Good morning.
  I hope I am not interrupting anything important.
”

“Dragan!”

Amira jumped from the
table to
run over to him
.  She shocked him by throwing
her arms around his waist, squeezing tightly
,
while
resting her head
briefly
on his chest
.  “I love my gift. Thank you so much.  You really shouldn’t have
,
but I am so glad you did.” 

James watched the stunned expression on his boss face
at the embrace before seeing the shock replaced by a softening
.  It was James
’
s
turn to look on in disbelief
before averting his eyes in respect
as Dragan wrapped his arms around her
.
  Closing his
eyes,
he laid his head on top of Amira’s.  “You are welcome.  I am glad you like
d
it.
”
 

James cleared his throat.  His skin flushed.
He felt like he had just witnessed an intimately private moment that was not for his eyes
,
as they both seemed to forget that he was even there. 
These were not strangers but acted as if they were lovers. 
He wasn’t sure what to do.

Shyly Amira stepped back
,
and
Dragan caressed her cheek with his hand before letting his
arms drop
back
to his side
.  H
e ached to hold her
longer
. 
Exuberantly she took
his hand,
pulling
him to the table.  “Please join us!  James and I were just getting started.”

“Good morning
,
sir.
I was not expecting…I am sorry, I will …”

Dragan raised his hand.  “Of course you will stay and enjoy your tea
, hopefully for you, it is not blackberry
.  I am sure that Amira is enjoying having company.
  I just stopped since I was passing
by
to speak with her briefly
.”

“
I cannot stay
,
Amira, maybe when I am off
work
next, you would
like
to come to the manor and have dinner
.
  This way you can charm my whole staff at once
and get it over with
and not
take them down one
at a
time
.”

Amira grinned.  “I would love that!  Thank
you
for asking
,
Dragan.”

“Great.  I will have James contact you with my schedule t
o see what works best for you.”

Turning to James his tone
bec
ame
all business.  “I will call you later in the day
,
James
,
to give you my schedule.”

Amira
watched
as
James nodded
affectionately at his boss before
Dragan
walked away.

Walking into the
cafeteria
,
Dragan’s
eyes roamed the room looking for his friend before
seeing
her
when
she popped up from behind the serving counter
,
her face molte
n
with color. 
Frowning
,
he realized that s
he was upset.

Striding over
quickly
,
he took in the young man speaking to her
in one of the most condescending
t
ones he had every heard.  The man’s tone rankled him, knowing it was directed solely at Daphne. 
“
Seriously, w
ould it really have been that hard to make it the way I wanted?  You do realize that I am expected to be in surgery
soon
.”

“There are many doctors here that need to be in surgery soon. I made it the way y
ou wanted.  Sorry it doesn’t meet
your standards.”

Dragan could tell that her response was not what
the young doctor
wanted or expected.  Daphne
cow tailed
to
no one
, and Dragan knew this was going to get ugly
quickly
.  Stepping closer
,
he was stunned to see that the plate was now on its way to strike her face.  With lightening speed, he intercepted it before it made contact
.

Both
Daphne
and the doctor
turned staring
at Dragan.

“Dr. Reynolds, please don’t!  It is really no big deal.” 
Daphne’s
voice was frantic
at
seeing the look on his face.

Dragan ignored her as he approached the
young
doctor.

“If you ever do anything like that again to her, you will be
a
ccountable to me.  Do you understand?”

“Are you threatening me?”

With eyes flashing, Dragan saw the man flinch
.

“Oh, you better believe I am Doctor.  Now please apologize to Mrs.  Rodrigue
z.”

Daphne could tell that the last thing the young doctor wanted to do was apologize
,
but looking twice at Dragan’s face, she heaved a sigh of relief
when she heard him mumble his apology before making a quick exit from the room.

“Feel better?”

Dragan grinned.  “I do
-
thank
you
for asking.  Now, do you want to tell me what that was all about?”

“Apparently
,
I
did not make his sandwich to his strict specifications – you saw the rest.”

Daphne looked up at Dragan
,
eyeing
him curiously
.

“Something is different about you?”

“It is called rest.”

“No it is not that, even though you do look much better than you did the other day.  Not
quite
as ugly as before.”

She laughed as his eyebrows rose at her comment.

“What’s going on?  You look….oh my God, dare I even say it?  Happy.”

“Oh don’t be ridiculous.”

“Ridiculous
,
huh?  Well I am going to figure it out.  You on the other hand need to get back to
work;
I can’t be chit chatting with you all day.”

Handing Dragan his coffee, she turned away
,
but when she knew he wasn’t looking turned
again
to watch him walk out the door.  Something was different with her friend.  She liked i
t, but it did make her wonder
what happened that caused this drastic change.   Smiling to herself, she figured it was time to give a call to her old friend James.  She
had not
spoken to him in a long time.  Humming
,
she went back to preparing lunch for the hospital patrons
.  She was
looking forward to her break
.

Stepping into the elevator heading to his office, Dragan smiled remembering the feelings that flowed through him as Amira’s arms wrapped around him this morning.  He was glad that she liked her gift.  As unexpected as her embrace was, the thought of him holding her again was overwhelming him.  
She was an
oxymoron.
Age wise
, he guessed that she was young, but she was far beyond her years in life experiences
, yet her kiss was sweet and inexperienced
.
  He was convinced that she hadn’t had many lovers in her short life
,
and he looked forward to getting to
know
her
better to find out where th
ose
life experiences came from.