Page 98 of Beautifully Wild

“Sun man with a long leg.”

She bursts out laughing, and he frowns, not understanding why?

“Because you have a big dick?”

“No.” He shakes his head in exasperation. “Because of my fair hair, and I’m tall. You might have noticed the Ularans are smaller in height.”

She’s still giggling. “Yeah, let’s go with that. What about Kaikare?”

“Her name is a combination of tortoise and jaguar. She can be both.”

“I’m going to miss her,” Eden whispers. “She was like a mother to me.”

He holds her gaze, pushes wisps of hair from her eyes. “You’re a lot like her in some ways.” He wraps his arms around her, smiles leaving both of their faces when the tuk-tuk arrives at the airport.

They stand on the side of the pavement. Her suitcase divides them while she waits for her friends to arrive. Silence shrouds them, afraid of the words to come. He links his fingers with hers, fighting an overwhelming urge to ask her not to leave.

“I forgot to mention something,” she whispers. She waits until his gaze meets hers. “When I was under,dreaming, I saw butterflies. They spoke to me.” She hesitates when his expression changes, a combination of fear and concern. “It was euphoric. And I understood every word even though it sounded Ularan.”

“It’s not the Ularan language, Eden. It’s a universal language of the jungle known by all their ancestors across the Amazon.”

“Oh.”

“What did you hear?”

“It’s hard to explain, although one word was repeated over and over.Evol. At first, I thought it was evil until I felt this amazing connection with the jungle. Well, to everything, really.”

He takes her in his arms and holds her tight. “I wish you didn’t have to go. The jungle has embraced you. The spirit of the jungle has accepted you.” He kisses the top of her head before resting his nose in her hair. “Evolbackward islove. You’re as one. And now you’re leaving…” The words claw his tender heart apart. He wants to tighten his squeeze and never let her go.

“You promised you would come find me,” she whispers.

Samuel leans back and meets her gaze. “I did.”

“Well, one day I’ll come back to Ulara. It’smypromise to you.”

On tippy-toes, Eden kisses his lips, wraps her arms around his neck, and deepens the kiss as though it’s their last.

48

Eden

Adelaide, Australia

Two Weeks Later…

“Twenty-five percent of modern pharmaceutical ingredients are derived from sources in the Amazon rainforest today. But only one percent of its medicinal potential has been discovered.”

Iclosethenewspaperafter reading about illegal forest logging in the Amazon and how it affects the environment. I move the paper to the corner of my father’s desk, wipe my eyes to compose myself, and walk out of his office. The past two weeks he’s been on a business trip in Sydney, and since my homecoming, we’ve only spoken on the phone. I’ve teared up anticipating the questions he’ll ask face to face because the only thing he has said on the phone is, “Are you sure you’re okay?”

I don’t want to lie to him, and I don’t want to disappoint him either.

Since opening my eyes this morning, I’ve thought only of Samuel and how much I miss him. Maybe it was my dream about being back in the rainforest. Or that I keep reliving our last night together, the love and the longing for each other, and how we connect on a physical and spiritual level when we’re together.

How can the universe be so cruel in letting me find my soulmate and yet keeping us worlds apart?

Still, I’m grateful to have grown and discovered things about myself. Like the strength I knew was inside me and kept hidden in fear of hurting those around me.

“Thank God, it’s Friday. That’s all I can say.” Dana stacks her pens in a container and then closes down her computer.

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