Page 62 of Sleepless in Saunton
Careful to avoid the banks of the pond, Barclay ran the last forty feet to join her. His fear was assuaged, but his anxiety returned when he saw how her head was bent against her knees, her slender arms wrapped around her shins.
“Tatiana!”
Her head lifted to reveal a tear-streaked face. “Papa?”
Reaching down, he grasped her under her arms and raised her to his chest in a hard embrace. “Oh, little one, I was so worried about you.”
She lifted her reed-thin arms around his neck, lowering her face against his chest, to hug him tightly. “She did not come,” she whispered into his coat.
“Who did not come?”
“Jane did not come. I left her a note, but she did not come.” And, for the third time in as many days, Barclay held a sobbing female to his chest. He looked about, then walked over to a bench near the back of the cave to take a seat. Settling Tatiana on his knee, he pulled out a handkerchief to carefully wipe her cheeks and dry her eyes.
“I do not think that Jane received your note, little one.”
Big, blue eyes found his as she leaned her head back from his chest to look up at him. “How do you know that?”
“I asked her if she knew where you were, and she did not.”
“Oh.” Tatiana hung her head, her expression devastated. “I failed.”
“Failed at what? Why are you here?”
Tatiana turned her face away to stare at the cave wall sweeping around the bench. “You will not believe me. You did not believe me when I tried to tell you before.”
Barclay raked a hand through his hair while he tried to think. He was afraid he had not been on his best behavior these past few days. In an attempt to be responsible and do his duty, he had hurt Tatiana and Jane. He should have listened to his daughter—to his heart—and in not doing so, he had let both of them down.
“I will listen now. Tell me what this is all about, and I promise to pay attention.”
Tatiana bit her lip, evidently considering his words. Eventually, she turned her Baltic-blue eyes back to him. “Mama told me Jane was the one.”
Barclay blinked. “Mama?”
“She visited me. She came to visit me, and she told me it was time for her to leave and that Jane was to be my new mother.”
Barclay shook his head and tried to make sense of what she was saying. “Do you … mean that Mama came to you in your dreams?”
Tatiana shrugged, clearly disinterested in the distinction. “I tried to tell you that Jane was the one, but you did not listen. Mama said I must insist.”
He sighed. Tatiana had conjured her mother through her grief, as he had been doing these past two years. It was not the important part of what she said. He needed to listen and understand her needs. Then later hope there was still an opportunity to repair things with Jane and make all this right.
“Why are you here in the grotto?”
“Mama came last night, and she said it was very important that you and Jane come back to the grotto. She said I must arrange it so that she could leave because she had been here too long.”
Tatiana must have observed that he and Jane had forged a special connection and that the grotto had been a place that exemplified their relationship.
“I appreciate that, little one, but you really scared me. You could have fallen in the pond without adults here to assist you.”
“The pond?”
“Yes, see that green slime?”
“You mean thevodorosli?”
He straightened in surprise. “What did you say?”
“Mama told me that when I came to the grotto, I was to be very careful to stay away from thevodorosli.” A chill ran down Barclay’s spine. It was not possible that Natalya had truly visited her … was it?
