His lips purse as he stares vacantly out the window. “Wes said it would be hard to fight it. That it would feel as if I were swimming against a current. That I would feel relief if I went with the tide.”
“You’re not going to Hell, Gage. It was all a lie.” Logan nods over to him. “You can walk away from Demetri now. Your eternal standing in the heavenlies is safe. And it always has been.”
His eyes grow wide as he stares off to the blank wall over my shoulder.
“No.” He gently pushes me toward Logan. “I don’t know what bullshit he’s feeding you, but that’s—” He stops midflight. “Shit.” He closes his eyes a moment. “It’s Dudley.” His dimples dig in a moment. “I expected him to fight, and not just with Celestra. His eternity is in the bounds as well.” He gives a knowing nod. “That’s where you’re getting this. Tell him I said good try. It’s not working. Never will.”
“No,” I say. “Cooper said the book—”
“I know all about the damn book, Skyla.” The veins in his neck distend as he roars the words out. “Cooper stole the book from Wes. And he had Ezrina and Dudley help transcribe it. I don’t need a road map to know that Dudley peppered his translation to fit the narrative he wanted—the one he needed.” He pinches his eyes shut a moment. “Look, I get it, Dudley will do whatever he can to save his ass. I say join the damn club.” His somber expression, the underlying anger doesn’t waver. “I’m sorry the two of you had to discover this. And believe me, I’m even sorrier that Coop stuck his nose where it didn’t belong. But you can’t stop me from doing what I have to do.”
Logan takes a step toward him. “Look, you are putting on one hell of a show. But we’re not buying it anymore. Come back to us, Gage. Let’s talk to Coop together. He can show you the passages where—”
“I saidno,” he thunders twice as loud as before, and I could feel his voice rippling over my skin. “It’s not happening. Cooper is the one that’s being deceived, not me. I’m not letting up.” His lips quiver as he looks my way. “You do not get to come into my house and start filling my head with lies from the enemy, and that enemy isn’t who you think it is. You’re both wrong. Now get out.”
A searing wave of anger rips through me.
“This ismyhouse,” I roar back. “Bought withmymoney. Made to look this way throughmysweat and tears. I don’t need to leave. And you’re the one who’s wrong. Gage, you have to believe us. Demetri coaxed you to the dark side and then he fed you the biggest lie of them all. You love us too much to take that eternal threat lightly. It makes perfect sense.”
“Nothing makes sense,” he shouts the words right in my face, and Logan gives him a hard shove to the chest.
“Don’t you dare talk to her that way,” he barks. “She is the mother of your children. She is your entire heart, and you and I both know that. We know now why you’ve been putting up walls. We know that you wanted Skyla to fight. We get that. We do. But there is no need to act like some asshole when all we’re trying to do is show you the damn light.”
Gage inverts his lips as his chest bucks. “I’m sorry to break it to you. There is no damn light.” His eyes fall over mine as tears begin to pool in them. “I’m going to bed. Shut the door when you leave.” He heads upstairs with angry stalking footfalls.
I shake my head at how profoundly shitty that just went.
“If it were possible to push him farther away, I think we just did it,” I say in disbelief. “We’ll talk to Marshall. Maybe he can talk some sense into him.”
Logan shakes his head, his gaze still pinned on that darkened stairwell.
“I don’t think so, Skyla. Gage firmly believes that Marshall is fighting for his existence as well. And if I know Gage, this is only going to make him fight harder.”
“So what you’re saying is we should brace ourselves for a shitstorm.” I pull Logan in and we hold one another in this house that has seen so much horror already. “How bad do you think it could get?”
“I don’t know, Skyla. I’ve got a creaky feeling in my bones that we haven’t seen anything yet.”
Christmas Eve has always held a special place in my heart. For as far back as I can remember, my mother has decorated the house within an inch of its life, nothing polished and classy the way Emma likes to sanitize the holiday but kitschy and playful and very much down-to-earth.
But this Christmas—I can honestly say—is shaping up to be the best Christmas of my life. Logan and I are happily married. I have my boys, my body back, and I know that Gage Oliver is not the monster he’s parading around as. He is simply deceived.
And I think all of that good news is boding well for me physically as well. Out of the blue my skin has a healthy glow I have never seen before. My hair is glossy, my nails are strong and long, and aside from the occasional touch-and-go stomachache, I’ve been feeling more alive than I have ever before. It’s as if I’m supernaturally charged from the inside and deep down I can feel the natural order of things falling into place just where they should be. Change is afoot, I can feel it. And I know that Iknow, this time, it is bringing about very good things.
The Landon house is playing host to the Christmas event of the season tonight. I’ve dressed Nathan and Barron in matching red sweaters with tiny reindeer embroidered on the front and paired it with their tiny Levi’s, which still make me smile. The boys look so handsome and so grown up it hurts to know time is already flying by.
Baby Jaxson is wearing the exact same thing, except the most adorable miniature version, and my heart melts as I take pictures of the boys in our room before we head downstairs.
It’s true. We’re still at the Landon house, the house that for whatever reason I just can’t seem to leave. But the boys had colds and I was feeling under the weather myself—mostly from lack of sleep—and packing all of our things was the last thing I wanted to do. Logan said we could wait until after the holidays to move to Whitehorse, and I agreed. The boys are going to miss their cousins fiercely. I think it’s best we make this a slow transition.
I free Nathan and Barron from the room, and they quickly slide on their bottoms all the way down the stairs. Mia and Melissa leave their rooms at the same time, and Mia swipes Jaxson out of my arms.
“Tonight you’re my peanut.” She stamps a big red lip print on his cheek, and he gives a wild, husky laugh.
Melissa coos, “Skyla, have another kid so I can hold one, too.”
“I’ve got two others you can choose from.”
“No thanks.” She fluffs her dark hair in the tiny oval mirror hanging on the wall. “I want a freshy.”
