A Lover's Wish Read Free Page B

finally stood again and leaned against the window frame. Staring out desperately, she

    inhaled deeply. She needed a salvation, a saving grace and she was praying that she would see it out the window. Instead, she was taken in by the beauty of the old mansion across the way.
    The vines attached to the outside of Dillon Hall had leaves of all colours—reds, oranges, yellows and browns. She tilted her head and marvelled at the way such simple things in life could take someone’s mind off the worse things in life. She allowed herself to be taken away, to a world where she was not in pain, a world where she wasn’t conflicted. She could hear the waves of an ocean crashing against rocks and from somewhere in the distance, a foghorn blared. Birds flew overhead, singing their beautiful songs. In this peaceful place that Kianna had managed to pull herself, she was laying beneath the eyes of heaven with the sun kissing her face. In this place, she was untouchable, invincible and loved.
    But sadly that peace was not to last as the door opened behind her and Jace called her name. Kianna didn’t turn away from the view before her. “Kianna, the guests are leaving,” Jace whispered. “I thought maybe you would like to
    come and thank them for coming?”
    “No,” Kianna spoke defiantly. “I am tired of them. Let them all leave.” There was a slight silence and Kianna thought that Jace had left.

    Turning around, she saw that Jace was still there, watching her, “What?”
    “After they leave, you and I need to sit down and have a little talk.”
    Kianna turned back to the window. She watched as one by one, her street cleared of her visitors’ cars. She could only imagine the mess they had left behind for her to clean up later. A frown creased her lips and that frown only got deeper when her door opened again and she heard her bed creak from Jace flopping down on it.
    “Alright, so let’s talk,” Jace breathed.
    Kianna stood at her window, her place of invincibility and thought about it. She thought of where to begin with what she was wanting, thinking, feeling. But no matter what she thought about or how she thought about it, it didn’t seem like a very appropriate place to start. “Where do I start?”
    “At the beginning,” Jace replied.
    “If I wanted Kung-Fu confusion, I would watch an episode of the Legend of Kung-Fu,” Kianna snapped.
    “Look, there’s no need to bite my head off! I’m just trying to help you put things into perspective. First of all, where’d you get twenty thousand dollars? Even though I thought he was ripping you off.”

    “Don’t start with the rip off thing again.” Kianna sighed and moved to sit down beside Jace on the bed. She didn’t meet her friend’s eyes because she felt as though she had done something horribly wrong.
    “I know. But ain’t no one paying that much money to bury two people.”
    “Jace…” Kianna’s exasperation was showing.
    “I know—I know! Anyway—wait a minute. Did you use your mortgage savings?” Jace flew into sitting position. “Kianna?”
    “No.”
    “Then where did you get twenty thousand—oh hell no! Tell me you didn’t.”
    Kianna got up again. Suddenly it was as though her bed was on fire and she couldn’t be anywhere near it. It scorched her.
    “Kiki?”
    “Jace, don’t make this harder, please,” Kianna pleaded. She wrapped her arms around herself as she felt tears welling up again. “I just…”
    “How could you do that though?”
    “It wasn’t like I had any other choice! They died and left nothing but the house. A house can’t pay for their funeral. The funeral home wanted their money—and they wanted it now. All those years they’ve been working, they didn’t save a penny! They hadn’t had a child to take care of for twelve years and they had nothing saved! I didn’t want

    them to have a pauper’s funeral—I couldn’t live with myself.”
    “It’s all gone?” Jace’s voice trembled.
    Kianna shrugged