Page 28 of Fated
“Sure,” I said, giving her a smile. Her eyes dropped to the floor to avoid my direct gaze.
“Let’s go,” I instructed softly as I picked up the basket. I followed her out and we walked to the side of the property to a set of gates that opened up on the forest.
The guards at the gate opened them when Keri gave them a nod. In silence we walked about five minutes into the forest as I contemplated what we were going to talk about. If I wanted this all to work, I had to be careful not to offend or upset her. It wasn’t going to be easy.
We came to a stop by a small grassy spot under a few trees.
“This good for you?” I asked as I surveyed the spot.
Her eyes held mine for a moment before she gave me a nod. Geez, I wished she’d actually say something. It was going to be hard to have a conversation if I was the only one talking. The silence continued while I laid out a blanket I’d found in my room for us to sit on. She sat down and pulled her knees to her chest as she watched me set the picnic basket down.
I wanted to let out a frustrated laugh at how we were going to try and make small talk and pretend there wasn’t all this deceit and betrayal separating the two of us. Like I had predicated, she wasn’t very talkative and after eating a couple of sandwiches I finally gave up.
“This isn’t going to work if you don’t let me in,” I admitted to her as I ran an agitated hand through my hair.
She bit down on her lip as our eyes met. It was like physically she was here with me but her mind was somewhere else. She closed her eyes for a moment and then she opened them up again. “I need to show you something.”
My curiosity was piqued. Keri wasn’t the type to share, so my imagination was going into overdrive trying to figure out what she wanted to show me. Whatever it was must have been pretty serious, if her expression was anything to go by.
“Okay,” I said before I stood up and held my hand out to her. It was only when she refused to take it that I realized I’d momentarily forgotten about the whole mate thing.
“Sorry, I forgot,” I mumbled as I packed up the picnic and folded the blanket.
It had been an honest mistake but she’d probably taken it as an underhanded ploy to get her to touch me. I followed her back to the property, lost in my thoughts of how I was going to gain her trust. My eyebrows lifted in surprise when she headed to the medical center. I left the picnic basket outside beside the door and then I followed her inside.
I don’t know why I felt nervous as she came to a stop outside one of the rooms.
“Any questions you want to ask or anything you want to say, you wait till we leave the room,” she insisted tersely.
My forehead creased in confusion but I nodded my agreement. I had a feeling whatever she was going to show me was a way of her allowing me closer.
The moment Keri stepped through the doorway, she became another person. She smiled at the older lady who lay in the hospital bed.
I followed her in.
“Hi, Mom,” Keri said, greeting the patient, and I felt like the carpet had been pulled out from beneath my feet.
Mom. From the time I’d found out that Victor was Keri’s father I’d never once wondered what had happened to her mother. I think I’d just assumed she’d died. Standing there watching their interaction of love, I felt like I was intruding on a private moment between a mother and her daughter.
“How are you feeling?” Keri asked with concern as she touched a light kiss to her mom’s forehead.
I could see some resemblance between the two. They had the same blue eyes, and although her mom’s hair was going gray, I could see they had the same shade of blond hair.
“I’m good,” she whispered, but you could tell that she had a deathly color to her face and she looked like she was having trouble taking in and releasing each breath.
“Mom, this is my friend Blake,” she said, introducing me to her mom.
I wasn’t a friend, I was a fraud. Her mom’s eyes met mine and she smiled at me.
“It’s nice to meet you, Blake,” she whispered and I felt something—an uneasy feeling—stir in my stomach.
I had a feeling that what I was about to find out would change everything.
CHAPTER TEN
Blake
A bout of coughing racked her mother's body and I watched as Keri stood helplessly beside her.
