Page 38 of Unbroken Embrace
With a final, lingering look, Harry turned to Topeka. "Let's get you to that truck, then to the marina.”
“Are you sure?” Topeka asked, clearly sensing the shattering hearts surrounding her. “I don’t want you to put yourself in danger when this isn’t your problem.”
“That’s kind of his thing,” Rose said, sniffling back some tears. “He’s right though. This is nothing compared to what we’ve been through. He’ll be back in no time. And I’ll be waiting.”
“Hug Nathaniel for me,” Harry said, setting his jaw again to hold back the emotions welling inside him. “Tell Kenan I’ve got this and I’ll be in touch the first chance I get.”
“We’ll come back here one day,” Rose reminded him. “For a real vacation. A real love story.”
“That’s good because I do love you,” he said, kissing her lips gently. “I’ve loved you from the other side of a room. From beyond the grave. And now from wherever that boat takes me. I can love you from anywhere.”
Harry handed Rose the car keys and took a step back. Even that one step felt too far for her. But she knew in her heart this was right, even if it was hard.
PROLOGUE
Rose wiped at the chocolate smear on her son’s cheek and smiled. Now that it wasn’t under threat of being discovered, Verde Lago had changed completely in her eyes. It was a haven. Nathaniel had grown up in abject poverty and under tyrannical conditions. He’d learned to be quiet and small long before he learned how to have fun. That had changed.
Slowly but surely her son opened like a chick emerging from an egg. Every passing day a new piece of the shell would fall away. As he made a new friend, tried a new sport, even talked back with little sass, she felt herself come to life too. They were both born again.
Nathaniel was picking up Italian much quicker than she was. She bumbled through conversations with the kind guards. The best parts of her week were when she could go into town to visit the kind souls who had done all they could to keep the secrets of Verde Lago.
Gio had been brilliant at his role as a generational sentinel. His predecessors in his family would have been proud. It felt like life could not get better than this. It was a beautiful balloon filling up more each day. And then, she’d think of Harry and it would pop.
All he’d sacrificed. All he’d done for her and he didn’t get to sit out on this beautiful property and heal the way she was able to.
“Rose,” Kenan said gesturing for her to join him out on the grass. The children were playing gleefully after finishing some dessert and there was nothing more for her to do but watch. Now she wasn’t watching to ensure his safety but to drink in Nathaniel’s joy.
“Kenan, than you again for?—”
“We’re going to see each other enough,” he interjected. “And you can’t start every conversation we have with gratitude.”
“I can’t help it. I never thought I’d see him like this. He’s so wild and uninhibited. Maybe that’s how it should have been all along, but it wasn’t. You did this for us.”
“I am literally the smallest part of this organization,” Kenan replied modestly. “My family, the people we marry and bring into our lives, its what keeps this whole thing running. I just happened to be the one who could come out to Verde Lago when they needed someone. But this operation is a spider web.”
She grimaced at the image that conjured up.
“I know,” Kenan said, pumping his hands to slow down her judgement. “Spider webs have a bad connotation. But for us, it’s the interconnectivity of it all, that makes the comparison work. If there is a vibration on the other side of the world, we all feel it. We can get wherever we’re needed. Mobilize. Communicate. It’s remarkable but delicate. It requires us all to be vigilant but also to keep building. Some part of the web become vulnerable and something knew and stronger has to come along. Sometimes that comes in the way of people. Builders.”
“I understand,” Rose said, though she could follow the analogy, she couldn’t quite see where he was going with it.
“Are you and Nathaniel happy here? Or does it feel a little claustrophobic? Too small?”
“It feels perfect,” she gulped, afraid that maybe her time here was shorter than she hoped. She knew her job was done with the Kinross organization and they owed her nothing.
“Some people get here and they’re ready to move on rather quickly. Especially when they’re out of danger. They want to be on the first flight out.”
“I don’t want anything bigger.” She dropped her head down as though that was something to feel bad about. “Verde Lago is perfection. I only wish I could do more. I feel like I’m not pulling my weight. I’ve always worked, nearly worked myself to death actually. My body hasn’t adjusted fully to the calm yet. I like to be productive.”
“That’s good,” Kenan said with a thoughtful nod. “We were hoping you’d be interested in staying. After some of the recent commotion we realized that things here have grown. It’s not that we’re trying to make things bigger or better, but there has to be an evolution. And for that we’ve always found that new ideas come from new perspectives.”
“I’ll help any way I can.”
“Stay,” Kenan said simply. “Be part of the process of figuring out how a hidden place can stay hidden even this day in age. Or maybe it can’t and then what? We need someone to offer up new ideas and protect old policies. To make people feel safe and welcome when they arrive and ensure they’re ready to leave when it’s time. We had someone,” Kenan said, laughing to himself. “She started out much like you and then worked as an integral part of the team here for many years. Carmen is in many ways the lifeblood of what Kinross does and she did what I’m asking you to do for years. We’ve been without that for some time. A matriarch of Verde Lago. I think it’s more important than ever that we fill that position.”
“Carmen,” Rose breathed out in shock. “She’s so incredible. I hear all the phone calls with everyone. It’s like she’s an endless wealth of problem solving and strength. She was here.”
“Lived here,” Kenan corrected. “Ran for her life and ended up here. Then stayed. Staying isn’t for everyone. Like I said, it can be claustrophobic.”