Read Divided Souls (Captured Miracle #3) Online

Authors: Alannah Carbonneau

Tags: #Captured Miracle

Divided Souls (Captured Miracle #3) (19 page)

BOOK: Divided Souls (Captured Miracle #3)

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It takes Calix a second to realize my eyes have opened, before he’s standing over the bed. His hands capture my face as he laughs a strangled sound of relieved agony.

I’m confused.

“You’re awake.” He lowered his lips to mine, but I can’t register his action in time to respond to his kiss. “I was so afraid, love.”

I open my mouth as he pulls away, and as I try to speak, I realize I can’t. Coughing dryly, I eagerly accept the water and straw that my father hands me. It’s cooling - quenching.

As soon as I know I can speak, I ask the question I know has the power to kill me. “My baby?”

My father tenses, but he doesn’t reply as Calix smiled an assuring grin.

“He’s fine, love.” His hands smooth my hair back from my face lovingly. “He’s alive and well.”

“He?” Emotion so potent, I feel momentarily paralyzed, rushes through my body. Then the flooding of joyful tears pour from the corner of my eyes.

Calix nodded. “He. You were right, love. Our baby is a boy.”

The sound of my laughter is a foreign sound that I can’t halt even when my father’s brows plunge high into his hairline. When I finally gather myself, I turn my attention to my father. “You have a grandson, daddy.”

His face is tight as he nods. I know he is frustrated and at a loss, but I don’t care. It’s time we put all this crap behind us - because the mistakes of the past have negatively impacted enough lives - I’ll be damned if I allow the mistakes to have any impact, what-so-ever on my son.

I watched my father’s lips tighten before he spoke. “It would seem I do.”

“You have to stop this - both of you.” I croak just as the door opens and a woman wearing a blue scrub uniform with little yellow ducks printed into the fabric of her shirt smiles at me.

“You’re awake.” She beamed brightly. “How are you feeling?”

“I would like to see my baby, please?”

She flashed me another smile before speaking - her words were unrelated to my question and I immediately felt irritated. “I’ll page the doctor.”

“But,”

Calix laid his hand on mine, linking his fingers through mine. “Let’s allow the doctor check you over and then we’ll see him, okay?”

There was a soft authority to Calix’s voice that had me nodding in agreement.

I allowed the doctor to check me over, obediently answering his every question. I learned that I’d had an emergency C-section upon being brought into the hospital in Sitka Alaska - where our baby boy was brought into this world. I also learned that I’d had severe hypothermia and had been unconscious for nearly nine days.

None of that mattered, because I also learned my baby was healthy and strong - and his mommy’s vitals were finally stable. He would finally be in my arms.

***

The same nurse with the little yellow ducks decorating her scrub shirt was wheeling in the product of Calix’s and my love - and my heart was weeping with joy. My hands were tingling with the need to touch him and hold him and show him that his mommy is well and going nowhere.

I watched with a soaring heart as Calix moved from the side of the bed to lift our baby into his arms. My ears twitched at the sound of the small breaths our baby was taking - and I knew - no matter how many years I lived that I would never ever forget this sound. It was committed to memory, protected under lock and key. Cherished.

When Calix finally turned to lay our baby into my arms for the very first time - my world took pause. Nothing outside of this moment mattered as I looked down into the handsome face of my son. When he looked up into my eyes with the eyes of his father - I knew everything in the world that had been wrong, was suddenly, and unexplainably, made right.

Immediately, I knew our sons name. “Kellan Keith McKnight.”

Calix grinned an emotion filled grin as he kissed my forehead. When he spoke, his words trembled into the breathy silence of the room. “Strong name, love.”

“After your father, Calix.”

“I love you, Nova McKnight.”

“I know.” I smiled - because I had never been so happy as I was in this moment. “And I love you.”

***

Looking back a year from now, I never could have imagined in my wildest dreams that I would be where I am today. I have a beautiful life that has flourished under the most unexpected of situations.

I never could have anticipated that the man who had taken me so many months ago would be the man I would want to spend the rest of my life loving, building a family with, and striving for happiness beside - but he was. Calix McKnight was everything to me. He was the father of my child and the man of my dreams. He was the keeper of my soul.

Kellan Keith McKnight is three months old today. He is the sunshine to every shadow that has ever crossed over my life. Calix has taken time away from work, running everything from home, as his family settles into a new life in Alberta.

After leaving the hospital in Sitka, I returned with Calix and our son, to our home in the Rocky Mountains. My father and Calix had come to a truce of some unexplainable kind while sitting at my bedside in the hospital. To this day, I still don’t know what happened between the men - but they are no longer feuding. I can’t say that my father likes Calix, or that Calix is any way fond of my father, but they’re no longer trying to end each other’s lives. I must admit, that I am somewhat anticipating the eventfulness that will be our next Christmas.

My father has returned to work, although what he does is still unclear to me and probably will always remain unclear to me - I have been assured he is needed.

Since my return home to Alberta, I was surprised to find that my mother has also moved from Seattle to be closer to both her new grandson and myself. I can’t say that I’m unhappy to have her close, because I really am happy she’s here. I’ve always been a momma’s girl and the thought of living my life without having her to experience my happiest times with me, is a sad thought.

Jaylah and Officer Michael Andean have also moved to be closer to us, and surprise -
they’re engaged to be married
! Calix has decided to employ Michael Andean full time - although what it is he does exactly is also unclear.

Amy, my little sister, adores Calix. She’s probably the only member of my family who looks at him with trust in her eyes. She loves the land he’s purchased and the vacations he’s vowed to bring her on with us. To say that he’s dazzled her with his brilliant blue eyes is an understatement.

My mom and Amy spend a lot of time at the house visiting. My mother has grown quite close to Gabby, although sometimes I think she wonders how she’s found herself where she is - having a friendly relationship with the grandmother of the man who abducted her daughter.

I know it’s an odd situation - surreal really, but life is all about the unknown. If we knew where every bend in the road would lead us, our journeys wouldn’t be nearly as fulfilling.

As it is, I am in love with the journey that has led me to where I am. Looking back, there isn’t a single thing I would change. Because, every mistake has brought me here - to this place I love.

Warm hands circle around my waist and I know instinctively that Calix is behind me. Leaning my back into his chest, I stare ahead at the peaceful sleeping form of our son. His blue eyes are closed and his breathing - such a beautiful sound - is quiet and soothing. I am completely at peace.

“Are you ready for bed, love?” Calix whispers in my ear.

A smile tugs at the corner of my lips as I move my rear against his growing cock. “I’m always ready for bed with you, Calix.”

I don’t fight the pull as Calix leads me from the dimly lit nursery to our bedroom. Nor do I deny him as his hands slowly strip me of my clothing. Because the fact of the matter is that I’ve missed him. He’s always here - with me - surrounding me and inside me - but I’ve missed him regardless. My need for Calix has grown into something that I cannot explain. It is beautiful and dangerous in its consuming complexity.

I crave him.

Every minute of every day, when he is away from me or sitting beside me - I crave him. Everything will never be enough - and I don’t ever want the day to come - where I am fully sated. I live to crave this man. From the very beginning, he ignited a need I could never explain within my soul.

And now I know what it was.

The need within me was my soul recognizing its other half in Calix. Try as I might to fight him - I couldn’t. My body knew I belonged to him before my mind ever accepted the chilling reality. My unending craving for him is simply another thread weaving us tighter and tighter together - making us into the one we were always meant to be. We’ve lived our lives divided, but now, until the end of our days and into the promise of eternity, we will remain together. Connected.

Epilogue

Calix

The water is calm and the sun shimmering down over the Earth is warm. It’s late into the month of June and I can’t help but feel a building excitement inside at the thought of the summer we will be facing ahead. Nova has made it her mission to spend one month each summer here in Sitka, Alaska. She’s also been the force that has us travelling to this island every second year for Christmas.

The bench I’m sitting on creaks beneath my weight as I shift in place, watching my six year old son sailing his motorized boat over the waves of the brusque ocean water that once very nearly claimed both his and Nova’s life.

Although Nova isn’t sitting next to me - I know she’s near. I can feel her. I can always feel her. In spite of the years that have passed us by, the traumas we’ve survived, the impossibilities we’ve made possible, and the wrongs we’ve made right, Nova and I have made it through.

However, we’ve not made it unscathed.

I’ve always believed, that to every action there is a reaction. Consequence is nothing if not consequential. The very Earth rotates on the axis of consequence - because there is no action that goes without a reaction - hence the domino effect.

Every debt must be paid, and Nova and I are no exception.

We haven’t paid in money; the punishment so many fear. Instead, we’ve paid the ultimate price for our sins - our freedom.

Now, I’m not talking about imprisonment - at least not behind bars. My prison isn’t one from which I wish to be freed. Instead, it is the prison I’ve happily accepted my fate within - the prison of Nova.

You see, my actions, however deliberate, have had consequences.

When I stole Nova - I knew what I was doing. I knew I would break her down and build her back up into the woman who craved me with the same intensity that I craved her. In the beginning it had been about revenge - a vendetta sure to destroy us both - but that vendetta morphed into something much more powerful, much more consuming, much more dangerous. It morphed into a need so pure it became nearly tangible.

I’ve damaged my beautiful wife to a point of no return. I broke her - repeatedly, never even considering that with every time I shattered her bright soul, that I was also shaving away my own.

I’ve damaged, not only Nova, but myself. We’ve been through so much. Bad things happen all around us - towers falling like dominos in an earthquake - until everything surrounding us has been made trivial. Now, we are bared and exposed in a way that souls rarely find themselves. Now, we are one soul.

Since the birth of our son, Nova and I have spent no more than an hour apart. She’s always there - if not in the same room - she’s in the same building. I can feel her. In all that we’ve suffered together, somehow we’ve been sewn together.

Nova is my lover.

She is my mate.

She is my best friend and confidant.

She is the mother of my child and my consequence.

You see, Nova is my welcomed prison - my home - my heaven.

In her, I find my reason. She is the beating of my heart. I know with a certainty that thrives in my bones, that Nova is my life source.

When she goes, I will follow close behind because our souls were never meant to be two - divided. From the very beginning, the one we are was always what we were meant to be.

Authors Note

I want to say a huge thank you to all the friends I have met and bonded with over books! Honestly, anyone who knows me knows that I eat, sleep, and breathe books! Being able to write them and having others read (not only read - but LOVE) my books is such an amazing experience for me! So, I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to read Nova and Calix’s journey. I truly loved writing this book - Calix’s character was so complex and intriguing for me, so I want to thank you all for helping me bring him to life. Mostly, I want to thank the awesomeness that is my street team! These ladies are wicked lovely and so honest - and they always let me know when I’m not quite writing up to par! So, I want to thank them for helping me create this amazing story! I seriously heart you all!

-XXX-

Other Books By Alannah Carbonneau

Adult Romance

Enraptured

Enthralled

All Good Things

All Good Things Exposed

All Good Things Absolved

Broken Beginnings

Captured Miracle

Bleeding Heart (Captured Miracle Book Two)

Counting Stars (A Donnelley Brother Novel - Book One)