Page 62 of The Flame

“I was going to say he’s an enigma.” She gave a dry laugh, shaking her head. “But sure, let’s go with wonderful.”

She folded the letter and inserted it into the envelope. “I’ll get this delivered. I’ll let you know once it’s done, but you shouldn’t be walking around town, especially after this letter gets out. I’ll come to you. Cabin 39, right? Is that near the lake?”

“We could be so lucky,” I groaned. At least it was easy enough to get there. I directed her about all the left forks. “When you get to a rundown shack that looks totally uninhabitable, that’s us.”

19

When I returned to the cabin, an unwrapped parcel of beef jerky lay on the table and Daniel was dressed in blue denim and a sweatshirt that was definitely not mine.

My heart sank. “Has Roman come and gone already?”

“I don’t think so,” Daniel said, shaking his head. “I went home to get a few things.”

A shiver snapped my spine. “You went to see your parents? Are you sure there wasn’t a guard posted nearby?”

“Not that home. I went to Parklands. My mother keeps a spare backdoor key in her greenhouse.” He slumped into a chair at the table and nudged the paper parcel. “I was hoping to get more than this. Most of our personal stuff is gone. The kitchen was cleaned out.”

I sat across from him, my gaze running over his sweatshirt. “Not your clothes?”

“I guess Brenda wasn’t expecting me to come back.”

Or maybe she simply didn’t give a damn. I didn’t say that, though. I was in a mood to give her the benefit of the doubt.

“I saw Jessie. She’ll deliver the letters. She’ll let us know once it’s done. There was a guard hanging around in her street. Maybe it’s a coincidence, but I told Jessie we’re here. She’ll come to us.”

Daniel reached for a stick of jerky. “The Guard isn’t searching door to door?”

“She didn’t say so. Your escape hasn’t been made public. Yet.” He offered the stick to me and I took it. “Hey, I didn’t think about it before, but Jessie could take a letter from you to Brenda.”

“She won’t mind?”

Jessie or Brenda? I bit down on that retort. Maybe I was being too harsh.

“Jessie won’t mind,” I assured him. “She could take a letter for your parents as well, if you like? Brenda will know their address. They must be worried.”

Heat crawled up my cheeks. Did his parents still have the capacity to be concerned about their only son? “Sorry, that’s stupid. I just thought—”

“It’s not stupid.” His eyes filled with sadness. “You know, my mother is…well, she’s still my mother, just a little distant. They will be worried. I’ll write them a letter.”

I wanted to apologize again, but I swallowed it and tore off a piece of jerky with my teeth. I couldn’t have stopped what happened to Julian. Most of my guilt came from the bitter hate I’d felt towards the man.

That I’dfelt.

More and more, that emotion was being left behind in the past. Maybe because he’d been punished enough. His suffering would last a life time. But, more and more, I was wondering if Daniel was right, that his father had simply been a cog in a system that couldn’t be changed no matter how much he’d tried or wanted reform.

I brought Daniel pen and paper for his letters and gave him some privacy at the table.

Roman finally arrived with the sunset. He parked his truck deep into the trees and came walking up to the cabin witha bulging backpack slung over one shoulder and the portable heater tucked under one arm.

I’d been watching for him, and ran outside to meet him. “I wasn’t sure you’d be able to make it.”

“Nothing would keep me away.” A slow grin snaked across his jaw and baked his eyes beneath the sunset as his gaze washed over me, into me. “I missed you.”

I went up onto my toes to brush a kiss over his mouth. He wrapped his free arm around my waist, dragging me closer until my body was flush with his, and deepened the kiss, taking his time to show me just how much he’d missed me.

“How long can you stay?” I asked, fitting my hand into his as we walked up the porch steps.

“I’m staying the night,” he said. “There’s no reason for me to be in The Smoke when you’re here.”

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