Broken by Willow Rose Read Free Book Online

said.
    I cruised down the Beach Boulevard and parked the car
at a park. We got out and the children ran towards the water. None of us had
brought any swimsuits or any beachwear but that didn't matter. I took William's
shirt off him and let him run around in his shorts and didn't mind if he got
wet. Heather wasn't there to complain about it anyway. Aiyana didn't seem to mind either, that Luyu ran in the
water and got her summer dress soaked. It was ninety degrees and the air felt
incredible. Even the water felt warm touching my toes as we kicked off our
shoes and carried them in our hands. Aiyana wore a
deep purple light summer dress that stopped at her knees. I had to roll up my
trousers so they wouldn't touch the water. The children ran, laughed, fell and
rolled in the sand holding on to one another like they had known each other
their entire lives.
    I inhaled the scent of ocean air and enjoyed this
moment walking barefoot along the beach with the only woman I had ever truly
been in love with. The woman who owned my dreams. All the while the ocean water
softly caressed our feet.
    "She is such a solitary child. It is good to see
her playful and smiling," Aiyana said looking at Luyu running while holding William's hand in hers.
Her hair was wet and filled with sand.
    "William doesn't have many friends either."
    "He has such a seriousness to him," Aiyana said. "A kind of melancholy."
    I felt her eyes on me. I turned my head and our eyes
met. I almost gasped
    . I thought I had remembered how astonishing beautiful
she really was, but my dreams was nothing compared to the real Aiyana . Her beauty was indescribable. Words simply didn't
suffice.
    "Like his father," she said.
    I chuckled lightly. No one knew me like Aiyana . No one saw me the way she did.
    "Probably from the absence of a mother," she
continued.
    I stopped walking and looked at her, startled.
"William has a mother," I said.
    "I know. I meant the emotional absence." She
kept walking and I caught up with her.
    I was shocked by her insight. Until this moment I
hadn't realized that William was growing up exactly like I had. With a mother
who wasn't there even if she was physically present like mine hadn't been, she
was never really there, she was never present. He
even had a dad a lot like mine. A dad who always worked and never took time out
of his busy schedule to just take a walk on the beach. I'd like to tell myself
that I was more there for my son than my own father had been for me, and I know
I was, but my job had always been my first priority. I had missed a lot of his
childhood already. I had missed too much. Even if I knew I couldn't change
Heather I could still change my way. I could still change my approach to my
job.
    "I always said you should have been named the wise one instead of your sister," I said laughing.
    She smiled lightly then continued walking in silence.
I fell a little behind and stared at her long thick beautiful brown hair
caressing her tanned shoulders. I was glad to see that her hair hadn't changed
either. It was still wild and unruly.
    "So you said something about me not
listening?" I asked. I wanted so badly to grab her hand and hold it in
mine. I wanted to touch her again, feel her skin and smell her scent. I had
missed her so badly. "What didn't I hear?"
    She turned to look at me. "I think you
know."
    "The visions? I saw you? That was you? While I
was trying to sleep and at the party? I knew they were too real to be
dreams!"
    She nodded with a smile. "But you refused to
listen," she said.
    "You talked to me didn't you? You talked to me in
my mind? You can do that now? You're not just listening in on my thoughts
anymore; you can also put messages in there?" I asked.
    She nodded with her lips slightly pressed together.
"It's still very new. I wasn't sure I could make it work with you. I
wasn't sure we still had the connection, that you were still open for this kind
of thing. Your thoughts have been so awfully quiet the last five