Page 24 of Bound By Destiny

“Point taken. I’ll stop thinking of you as the most bumbling phoenix I ever met.”

To my dismay her face drops. “No. I’m pretty sure I deserve first place in that category.”

I wait a few moments, but her mood doesn’t pick up.

“What’s the other part?”

Her head whips up. For an instant I’m tantalized by the dark tendril that flies before her eye. “Hmm?”

“The reason why your parents worried,” I rasp, my throat painfully dry. “You mentioned it was more than concern for your safety.”

“Oh.” A frown crinkles the gap between her brows as she takes on a focused air. “Yeah. My mom and dad disapproved of anything that,” she air quotes, “‘distracted’ me.” Her mouth thins into a straight line. “Which basically involved anything that wasn’t raising sheep.”

I cock my head, studying the minute twitches in her features, the play of melancholy, aggravation and remorse.

“That’s oddly specific.”

“My family has been ‘oddly specific’ for generations. Same for the dozen neighbors surrounding our land.” She shrugs. “I come from a sheep farming community. That’s our trade. My dad would probably argue it’s written in our genes.”

I smile grimly. “But not in yours.”

“No,” she sighs, “not me. I was the only one among five siblings who wanted to travel out of state, let alone outside the country.”

“So you were the black sheep in your family,” I say, unsure where this urge to tease stems from. “No pun intended.”

At least I’m rewarded with the chiming of her laughter. “I guess you could say that. I was already an overthinker, while the others were happy with the way things were.” She shakes her head. “I admire that trait in them, actually. But at the time I think I was a bit big-headed.”

“You were just bright,” I argue in her defense.

Destiny probably doesn’t realize, but the fact that she grew up to be so different from her roots doesn’t make her vain or pretentious. It bears testimony to the fact that she’s truly special. It just makes me admire her all the more… and find her fact-ridden rants a little less annoying.

“Oh, I was plenty stupid,” she argues back. “Especially when I hit my teen years. That’s when I turned into a total screwball.”

“I doubt you were ever dull,” I counter, not liking the way Destiny puts herself down. “All kids go through a silly phase.”

“I had excellent grades, but that doesn’t mean I had a lick of common sense. And I…” her gaze falls to her feet, which she nervously twists every which way. “Well I had a problem.”

Before I can think twice about it, I lower my face until I catch her gaze. Her lilac depths, vivid and raw, take my breath away.

“What was it?” I whisper, as we’re only a snail’s breath apart.

Destiny’s eyes grow unfocused, until she shakes her head and draws away. “I couldn’t get my brain to stay quiet.”

I straighten as well, irritated that Destiny pulled back – and even more irritated at myself for being irritated. “Huh?”

She plays with her fingers, and I almost reach out to take them in my hand. “I’ve always liked to analyze things. To understand how they work, know all their secrets…” A pearly tooth delves into her lower lip, filling my mind with thoughts that couldn’t be less unwelcome. “Except the year I turned fifteen, that led me too far.”

“What happened?”

“I answered the phone,” she continues without missing a beat. “It was a man. He asked for my mom, but she was busy numbering the flock that day.”

I stay quiet, sensing where this story is heading and wishing Destiny hadn’t ended up in the middle of her parents’ issues. Though she hasn’t spoken an ill word against them, I get the gist they weren’t the most open-minded or supportive pair.

“I told my mom in the evening, and she said it was Uncle Jeremiah.” Destiny’s features turn hard, mouth straight and brows furrowed. “Maybe I hadn’t seen Uncle Jeremiah since I was eight, but I was pretty sure a man who grew up on a farm wouldn’t thinkcounting the sheepmeant she was sleeping.”

This time I give in. I reach for her hand and keep it safe within mine. “Was your mom having an affair? I’m so sorry you had to find out that way.”

“I didn’t exactly ‘find out’,” she remarks listlessly. “It was more of a conscious effort, bordering on an obsession. I spent the next few weeks analyzing her every word and move, until I discovered she was having a fling with a baker in Dolores.” Destiny shoots me a grim look. “Those stale bread rolls weren’t worth the fifty minute drive. That’s how I started to put two and two together.”

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