inside you, it will become the weapon, the home, the permanent place of stillness that transcends everything.”
Marguerite gestured around them. “And that’s when you make the true leap. You’ll know you can rest in his arms, simply be, and it's all right. You are finally safe. No question, no act of yours or his, or anyone else’s, will change your awareness of it. Love has made sure you can never be imprisoned in that place of fear again. You have changed forever. Broken free.”
Her eyes came back to Daralyn’s. “It’s the hardest thing we have to learn. But we have the strength. It just takes time.”
The mask dropped fully, and now Daralyn saw more than just a grown woman like herself. They were two young girls who would never forget what it was to live in unimaginable darkness, would never lose their wonder that somehow they'd stumbled through the darkness to the light.
This time she didn’t have to ask. She reached out, closed her hand over Marguerite's, over the starburst scar. Marguerite's hand turned, and they gripped, held fast. Their gazes turned to the angel, to the gardens around him. “It's enough," Marguerite said softly. "Every moment like this is enough."
Daralyn’s mind was so full of those words, all the possibilities of them, she had nothing else to say. But it wasn’t needed. The energy changed, became easier, lighter, as did the look Marguerite turned her way. “Come see my tea house?” the woman asked.
“Yes, certainly.”
As they rose, Daralyn’s gaze fell on the necklace on Marguerite’s throat. Marguerite saw it, and closed her fingers over the heart bracelet on Daralyn’s arm. “Our Masters find ways to tell us they are with us, even when they aren’t. That’s a weapon, too.” A feline smile crossed her lips. “A weapon they will wield on our behalf, even if it’s to tear down the walls we build against them.”
“Did you do that with Tyler?” Daralyn ventured.
Marguerite’s gaze sparkled with unexpected humor. “Over and over again.”
Daralyn thought of the handsome, silver-haired man with a tiger’s eyes. He looked at Marguerite with a surfeit of emotions that all amounted to one thing.
She belonged to him, and he to her.
“But he didn’t give up.”
“No, he didn’t. Thank the Goddess. I didn’t make it easy. The greatest of understatements. But Tyler has told me in so many ways, mostly without words”—her gaze swept the tea house, the rock garden, angel and waterfall—“that none of that matters. Nothing could change how he felt about me. Everything I did only made his feelings grow stronger. Our bond was something that existed no matter what forces came against it. Like the peace of this glade.”
Her attention came back to Daralyn. “Having that knowledge inside me…it’s everything. It doesn’t solve all problems; it simply tells me I will never face them alone. Not ever again.”
Chapter Eighteen
Going to Florida had changed things, in a lot of good ways. It wasn’t just one thing, but the way they all mixed together. Traveling together. Spending time at the cabin relaxing, reading, watching Rory fish. The amazing things they’d seen and done together at Tyler’s party. Visiting Arnold Simms, the fixture vendor, on their last day in Florida, looking through his stock together, deciding what items would be most appealing to their customer base.
Looking back over the past few weeks, Daralyn thought she might be the most content she’d ever been in her life. Every day she could look forward to more. Learning more at school, helping more at the store, doing more in her garden, decorating her house.
Best of all was how much of that involved being with Rory. Their days were spent working side by side in the store, and their evenings…well, just thinking about some of the things they did could stop her in the middle of whatever she was doing to get lost in the memories. And the result? She’d emerge flushed and hungry for more.
One night they’d gone out for pizza with Marty and Amanda. Daralyn had the new experience of hanging out with friends…for fun. When Amanda and Marty had visited the juke box to choose some music, she’d tried Rory’s beer, made a face.
“I didn’t think you liked alcohol,” he said.
“I just wanted to put my lips on the glass where yours have been.”
Around him, her fear of saying things that didn’t really fit into normal conversation had all but disappeared. Probably because of reactions like what had happened next. He’d moved his arm from the back of