Authors: Maria Rachel Hooley

Surrogate (26 page)

He reached out and touched the baby's hand where it had eased loose of the swaddling. The tiny fingers reflexively curled around his, and Robbie was awestruck by the beauty of such a little being.

"What are you going to call her?" Shoshan asked softly, looking up at him.

Before Robbie could answer, he felt his body tighten. Although he knew he should have discussed names with Carrie before, she hadn't wanted to jinx the pregnancy. She thought that trying to come up with a name when the baby hadn't been born was a stupid idea. It was just better to have the baby first and find a name that fit. Now he wished he knew what she would have wanted.

Then again, perhaps that, too, was immaterial because he knew what he wanted. He looked up at the heavens and thought of his wife. "Carrie Jean."

Shoshan leaned against him, her head tucked just beneath his chin. "That's a good name."

"Thanks." He slid his arm around her and squeezed. At his touch, she stiffened slightly, and that made him nervous. "What is it?" he asked softly, giving her space.

"I will have to leave soon."

"I know." Robbie closed his eyes at that thought.

She looked at Dallas. "There is much turmoil within you." She lifted her hand and gently reached out, touching the place where his heart would be.

Dallas stiffened, expecting pain. How could he have expected otherwise when it was what he had given her? Yet there was none. There was nothing, except Shoshan standing there, her palm against his chest.

When she finished, she withdrew and looked at him. "I am sorry. I cannot heal you."

Dallas nodded slowly, his eyes full of tears. "No one can."

Shoshan glanced at her brothers. One of them nodded at her. She turned back. "This world brings you pain. It reminds you of things. I cannot change that. I can offer you passage to my world. It will not replace what you've lost, but it may offer something new. A chance to begin again, perhaps?"

Shaken, Dallas stood there, unsure of what he was being offered, but then, he finally nodded, accepting her gift. This world held nothing for him except pain.

The moment he decided, her brothers both reached for him, beckoning and he walked toward them.

Once they were alone, Shoshan looked up at him, and amid all the glow of her skin, he saw tears in her eyes. Large, luminous pools that overflowed, spilling down her face.

Robbie inhaled sharply yet tried to smile, but it came out as an awkward thing full of pain, not joy. Unsure what else to do, he reached up and gently brushed his thumb across her cheek. "Why can't you stay?"

"It isn't my world."

Robbie stepped closer. "We could be your world--me and Carrie Jean. Isn't that enough?"

"I came here because I believed in you. I didn't know what I would actually find, but I hoped. My people are ancient and slow to learn. They don't believe there are species around them who could teach us things...like love." She slowly handed Carrie back to him, nodding at the small bundle. "This was my gift to you, Robbie Williams, but you gave me so much more," she whispered. "You taught me what it was like to have two beings in one heart, and I will remember that always." She nodded toward Dallas. "But I don't think your world is ready for me. Your child would never be safe as long as I was with you, and I don't want that."

Green and blue lights leaped into the sky, carrying Dallas Stanton between them, leaving only the faintest lines where they had been. Robbie realized Shoshan's people were gone. He was still staring when she kissed his cheek. "As long as I live, so will Carrie. Part of you goes into the heavens with me, where I will tell others of my journey with you."

Robbie closed his eyes, feeling tears burning them. He tried not to cry but couldn't help it. "I love you," he said.

"As I love you."

She kissed him one last time then looked at Carrie as though memorizing her face before stepping back. The wind toyed with her hair as she levitated from the ground, her arms bent in in front of her, palms to the sky. The glow which had been a faint white before now blossomed into fire. For another scattering of seconds, she remained there, undefined by Carrie's form, then shot into the heavens, a beautiful arrow of light.

For Robbie, that would have to be enough.

Chapter Nineteen

"Can we go swimming, daddy!"

Robbie stared at his four-year-old daughter as she jumped up and down excitedly. Her long, brown hair waved in the air and bounced with each landing only to fly through the air again with each new hop.

"You do realize it's bedtime, right?" Robbie asked, giving her a stern frown that he really didn't feel.

"We can sleep later. C'mon daddy. It's a full moon!"

Robbie had to laugh at her infectious smile. "All right. We'll swim for twenty minutes. Then you'll get in the bath and get ready for bed. Got it!"

"Got it!" she said, beaming with the knowledge she'd won.

Moments later, Robbie and Carrie Jean were carefully heading down the rocky ledge toward the shore. At one time, he'd worried over every step his daughter made, but his child had somehow inherited Shoshan's grace. She almost seemed one with the landscape. And even as she moved, the fireflies flocked around her, lighting on her skin.

At night, Robbie noticed her faint glow. Sometimes, he thought perhaps he was seeing things. It was faint and beautiful, another piece of Shoshan. Sometimes, it took all of those reminders to make that part of his life seem real instead of some magical dream which he had no choice but to wake from.

"Come on, Daddy!" Carrie Jean called. She was almost at the base of the rocky incline, and he forced himself to hurry up. He finally made it to the beach as she raced toward the water. Any other parent would have been terrified for their four-year-old to swim alone, but the first time he'd put Carrie Jean in the water, she swam, almost as though she belonged with the sea.

"Be careful," he called out of habit and watched her rush into the water, the lightning bugs following her until she ducked under the water.

For a moment, he watched her playing and listened to her laughing, wishing that both Carrie and Shoshan could have been here to see. Then, a streak of white light darted across the heavens, and he knew Shoshan was never far away.

Complete bibliography of Maria Rachel Hooley’s works

Anathema(Sojourner Book 4)- young adult urban fantasy, paranormal romance

Covenant(Sojourner Book 2)-young adult urban fantasy, paranormal romance

Dreamwalker(Dreamwalker Book 1)-young adult urban fantasy, paranormal

romance

Dreamwalker: Reckoning– young adult urban fantasy, paranormal romance

Her Only Hope- romance

Leaving the Nest– humor, women’s fiction

Life in Debris– short stories, poetry

The Mach Band Region– women’s fiction, ghost story

New Life Incorporated-science fiction

October Breezes(October Breezes Book 1) -young adult, issues