Page 103 of Stone
“Who told you that?” Stone was surprised.
“I did my research when I found out who you were.”
“When was that exactly?” My question forced Tyler to shrug.
“I dunno. A little over a week ago. Something like that.”
Stone and I looked at each other. Around the time I’d been kidnapped. That couldn’t be a coincidence.
“Yeah, I served for years. Loved it. Hated it. Wouldn’t change a thing.” Stone half laughed. “Well, a few things. Still, it was an honor to serve my country.”
“I was thinking about enlisting.”
Tyler’s comment brought surprise to Stone’s face. “You need to be fully committed before you make that decision. It’s hard work and very dangerous. While honorable, the military isn’t for everyone and there’s no shame in that. Do you go to school now?”
“Yeah, Virginia Commonwealth University.”
Oh, my God. To hear he’d gone to the same university was like another knife pricking at my heart.
“What are you studying?”
“I’m in the arts program. I like to draw including on the computer.”
I bit back a sob. Did karma hate us?
Stone and I looked at each other again. After the hospital I’d never thought I would get to feel the pride of a mother for her child. But I was.
“I’m an artist,” I told him.
“I heard that too, so I found your work online. You’re an amazing painter.” Tyler was more animated than the night before.
“Some days I question my talent. I’d love to see your work sometime.”
“I can do that.”
“Tell me about yourself,” Stone suggested. “What do you like to do? Do you have a girlfriend?”
As Tyler began to answer Stone’s questions, I studied the man I’d never stopped loving. He remained in quiet reverence, taking in the news and processing the time lost.
We were both in a strange limbo that couldn’t easily be controlled or contained. But as I watched the two interact, I wanted to believe that everything truly did happen for a reason. The one who’d stripped away twenty years wouldn’t be allowed to take any additional time away.
“When do you leave to return back home?” I asked when there was a lull.
“Tomorrow. I just took a quick break from school, but I have exams coming up.”
I glanced at Stone again. “Then why don’t we make a day of it?”
“What do you have in mind?” Stone asked.
“You do own a boat. Right?”
He laughed softly. “That I do. Do you get seasick, Tyler?”
“I won’t know until I’m on a boat.” Tyler was more relaxed. How strange it must be for the young man to be around us. How difficult it must be to understand why we’d given him up. And yet, he hadn’t asked.
I don’t know what that said about us if anything at all.
One thing I knew in my heart; I would never forget this moment, or the reason Tyler had been born into this cold, cruel world.
