Savage (Daughters of the Jaguar) (33 page)

"We will see each other again," she whispered. "I know we will. Our paths will cross again."

I smiled as I left her in the house and closed the door behind me and went into the pouring rain letting it soak me. Our paths will cross again, she had said. That was all I needed to know.

Chapter 39

I wrote an article telling people that the jaguar was dead. I wrote about the accident and how I had shot it and left it for dead in the swamps. I was hoping it would make people forget about it and especially Jim, but he called me afterwards and told me that he didn't believe it. He wanted to see it for himself and he would as soon as he had grown accustomed to his new leg.

I had put the letter from Aponi in my pocket and didn't find it until a couple of days later when I picked the pants up and emptied the pockets before I threw them in the hamper for Maria to wash. I unfolded the piece of paper and sat on my bed to read it. It seemed to be a rhyme of some sort. Its title was "We the first people."

I'm proud to belong to one of the original clans

Whose Ancestors occupied all of these lands

Before we were "found" by some wandering seaman

Who knew just where he was and we became "Indian"

Talk to me of our victories, and I will listen

Tell me about our history, a tear will glisten

Stories of how life used to be, bring a rueful smile

Drums and flutes will find me dreaming all the while

In order to "save" us, they killed us

Our peaceful cultures were "dangerous"

And they thought they could just ravage us

But by fighting back, we became “savages”

Call us lazy indeed - we're not driven by their greed

To gather "materials" about them

But my question is

How did we exist

For hundreds of centuries without them?

I read it five times out loud to myself and as I did something about it kind of grew in me. The rhyme soon turned into a song in my head. I rose from the bed and grabbed my neglected guitar. I put on a new set of strings and for hours and hours I sat at my bed and played my tunes and wrote the notes down on the paper. When I was done it had turned into the most beautiful song I had ever written. I sang it again and again whenever I had a moment alone over the next couple of days and revised it until it was completely perfect. Then the following Sunday, as Heather and her parents went to go visit some friends and left me at home because I told them I needed to catch up on my studies, I took the song and guitar in my hand as soon as I had heard the car leave the underground garage and stormed out in the yard. I climbed the fence into Aiyana's yard and ran towards the front door hoping that they would all be there to hear the song.

As I approached the stairs leading to the front door it opened and someone stepped out. I froze immediately. A young man in his twenties stepped out. He talked to Wyanet and Aiyana in the door for a while, thanking them and then he turned and left. While my heart was beating rapidly in my chest, he passed me with a friendly "hello" and I had time to study him closer. His eyes were light brown like Aiyana's and the hair dark brown in soft waves over his head. He was tall and had strong features with high cheekbones. I exhaled as I watched him walk past me. Then I looked up at Aiyana and Wyanet standing in the door waving at the man, and that was when I knew exactly who he was.

Neither Aiyana nor Wyanet saw me from where they stood so I froze and waited until they closed the door. Then I turned around and went home. In my room I threw the guitar on my bed and looked at it for a long time feeling tears piling up. It was true then. Aiyana was going to marry someone else. While I swallowed my tears and along with them my pride, I took out the case for the guitar and put it back in. Before I closed it, I also put my song in with it. Then I lifted it up and placed it on the top shelf in the closet where it would remain for many years to come.

I never knew when Aiyana actually got married, but I assumed it had happened since I never saw her in the yard again. Every now and then I would peek out my window and look at the sisters playing on the lawn but she wasn't there. I didn't go back to visit either but always remembered grandmother Aponi's words to me. You can love people even if you're not with them. And so I did for many years. I loved all of them so dearly from a distance while I moved on with my own life.

A couple of months after Aiyana was gone, I was called into Dr. Kirk's office. The doctor was very private about his office in the house so I had never been there and had to have Maria to take me to it. It was one of those old dark offices with walls of books and soft leather chairs that you would see in the movies. As I entered, Dr. Kirk was sitting behind his desk writing something on a piece of paper. He didn't even look up when he said: "Sit down."

I cleared my throat and did what he told me to feeling quite intimidated by the size of his desk and the magnitude of the room. After a minute or so he finally looked up from his paper. His look made me shrink.

"So Chris," he started. Then he paused and took off his glasses and folded them neatly and put them on the desk. "I can't seem to get you to keep your hands off my daughter, I hear."

I swallowed hard. It had been many months since Mrs. Kirk had caught us that morning in my room and since there had been no reaction from any of them I had assumed that they didn't want to do anything about it. Heather and I had continued seeing each other in secret ever since.

"Listen, sir ... I am so sor ..." I started but was interrupted. His voice was loud and penetrating. It caused me to crouch in the big chair.

"I don't want to hear your excuses, young man. I seem to remember that I told you specifically to keep your hands off her, didn't I?"

"Yes, sir. You did."

"And yet you defied me. Is that true?" Dr. Kirk got up from his chair now and started walking towards the window. He stared outside for a couple of seconds before he continued. "You know that the right thing to do now is to throw you back where you came from, right?"

I sighed deeply. I didn't want to go back now. I was doing so well in med school and I really wanted to finish my education here. Furthermore, I had grown to like Heather a lot and I wanted to try and see where it was going. "Yes sir. That would be the right thing to do."

Dr. Kirk nodded. "Good," he said. "Then we understand each other."

"Yes, sir. I'll go pack my things right away."

"Now hold on young man for one minute. I said it would be the right thing to do. I didn't say I was going to do it."

I opened my eyes widely and stared at the doctor. What was he saying?

The doctor paused and looked at me. I felt as tiny as a mouse. As insignificant as a moth. "I don't get it," he said.

"Excuse me, sir? I don't think I understand. What don't you get?"

"Why she likes you so much. Heather. She seems to be very taken with you. Among all the admirers she has had throughout the years, she chose you. I don't understand."

I felt my face flushing. "Well neither do I, sir."

"Nevertheless I have a huge soft spot for my daughter and she has convinced me that she wants you to stay and that she is madly in love with you, which I again find hard to believe. But you are the first man that has kept her interest for more than a couple of weeks, so I give her the benefit of the doubt. Plus, I owe you one for helping my wife when she needed it."

"Thank you, sir. I shall not forget your kindness."

"No you will not. And now we are even. My proposition to you is that you stay here and finish med-school, with good grades naturally, then I am suggesting that you specialize in ophthalmic surgery and become an eye surgeon like I am myself. Then maybe someday you would have the honor of marrying my daughter and take over the clinic. I have no son of my own so there is no one to ensure the future of the clinic. Heather, unfortunately, has no interest in medicine." The doctor paused. Then he opened a drawer and pulled out a wooden cigar case. He opened it, took one and then he offered one to me. "What do you say son?"

I smiled vaguely before I leaned over and picked one out.

Three years later I finished med school with honors. I took Heather to Paris on a trip her father paid for and asked her to marry me at the top of the Eiffel Tower. She said yes and later that same year we were married and spent our honeymoon in the Bahamas flying there in her father's private plane.

More than ten years would pass before Aiyana's prophecy would come true and our paths crossed again.

THE END

Want to know what happens next? Get the sequel Broken (Daughters of the Jaguar#2) here: 
http://www.amazon.com/Broken (Daughters Jaguar #2)

About the Author:

Willow Rose writes YA Paranormal Romance, suspense/horror and fantasy. Originally from Denmark she now lives on Florida’s Space Coast with her husband and two daughters. She is a huge fan of Anne Rice and Isabel Allende. When she is not writing or reading she enjoys watching the dolphins play in the waves of the Atlantic Ocean.

Other books by the author:

- One, Two ... He is coming for you (Rebekka Frank #1)
http://www.amazon.com/One, two ...

- The eye of the Crystal ball
http://www.amazon.com/The Eye of the Crystal Ball

- Beyond - Afterlife #1
http://www.amazon.com/Beyond

- Serenity - Afterlife #2 
http://www.amazon.com/Serenity

- Endurance - Afterlife #3  
http://www.amazon.com/Endurance

- Broken - Daughters of the Jaguar #2    
http://www.amazon.com/Broken

Currently Willow Rose is working on the suspense/horror novel: Three, Four ... better lock your door. It's the sequal in the series "Rebekka Frank". It is expected to be published fall 2012.

Connect with Willow online:

http://www.willow-rose.blogspot.com/

http://www.facebook.com/willowredrose

https://twitter.com/madamwillowrose