Meeting Destiny by Nancy Straight Read Free Book Online Page A

and figure out a way to feel the same for him.
     
    It would be pretty easy to float effortlessly through life with Seth. He was intelligent, with an enormous heart, and he would do anything for me. I couldn’t say that for anyone else I’d ever met. Anyone who could love me that much was someone I could learn to love. I was sure of it.
     
    Then reality set back in, and I reminded myself that I’d never felt any kind of passion for Seth. What was that crazy country song? “You can lead a heart to love but you can’t make it fall.” I never realized that I would feel the poetic irony of that song. Seth and I had always been so comfortable with one another, like we were a matched set. Why couldn’t I make myself want him? Our connection was much more than mere physical attraction. In my life I’d never wanted to be with anyone but Seth - - until now.
     
    My anger subsided a little. Why should I be upset about Max’s girlfriend? I wasn’t exactly unattached, and I wouldn’t hurt Seth for any amount of money. The only secret I had ever kept from him was my Destiny dream. Good riddance, Max, and I tossed his card with all his information into the trash, resolved that I would never go down that path again, no matter how tempting it might seem, or what crazy dream I had. I was thankful that I had not made a mistake that couldn’t be undone.
     
    I fell into a restless sleep. Had I been in my own bed, I would have tossed and turned for hours. As it was, with all these tubes and wires connecting me to more monitors than I thought possible, movement was restrictive. I lay silent, immobile and restlessly asleep. My dreams haunted me throughout the night, full of seafoam green eyes, handguns, and old Army jackets. I don’t remember what woke me up, whether it was a noise or I felt as though eyes were watching me. I startled awake to see Seth sitting silently in the chair. He was looking blankly at the wall, no sound other than his breathing.
     
    Seeing him sitting silently in my room made me smile; that was my Seth. I had no idea what time it was, but was sure it was way before breakfast. “Don’t you ever sleep?” My voice startled him for a second, and just like earlier in the day, he was up in one fluid motion at my side. I noticed that his eyes weren’t as swollen as the last time I saw him. There were dark circles under them, but the white surrounding his irises had lost most of the bright red that had been so evident earlier.
     
    He looked behind him and used his leg to scoot the chair he had been sitting in so it was flush with my bed. Seth had a hopeful look, “I have an idea I want to try, okay?”
     
    I had no idea what he was about to do. There really weren’t that many possibilities, so I didn’t protest. He pushed a button next to the nurse’s call button on the bed’s remote control, and the bed lowered. After a full minute, it looked like the bed was nearly all the way on the floor. He moved his chair so that it was flush against my bed - positioned so that we were facing each other, the chair only slightly lower than the bed. He lowered the bed rail so that it was completely out of the way. He sat in his chair then gently laid his head on me.
     
    Still angry with myself and the whole Max situation, I guiltily tried to make light of Seth’s affection. “I never knew I looked like such a big fluffy pillow lying here in bed.” He opened his eyes, his mood was somber, and he didn’t give me even a hint of a smile. He rotated his head so his face was firmly planted on my abdomen, I couldn’t see his eyes.
     
    I felt him press his face into my stomach. It felt like silent sobs erupting against my abdomen, but he said nothing and remained planted against me. I brought both my hands to his head, carefully running my fingers through his hair. Uncertain what to say, I murmured, “Really Seth, I’m fine…I’m going to be fine.” He stretched both arms around me and hugged me tight, tighter than