First Vision of Destiny - Alicia Read Online Free

return.
    “It’s going to be perfect.”
    Her murmured words barely stirred the kitchen
air. Fumbling a little, she undid the clasp of her bracelet so it
wouldn’t trail in the dough while she mixed it. She held the
bracelet in her hand for an instant. The silver felt almost warm.
She ran her thumb over one of the enamel hearts, erasing a
fingerprint. For years, she had worn a bracelet on her left wrist
at all times, in part to hide the scars on the inside of her wrist,
and in part because every fleeting touch against those scars sent a
jolt through her, reminding her she was alive. At times, that
reminder had been much needed. Then she had met Ben, and the
touches had ceased to be important. The scars had healed, and when
Ben had offered her this bracelet as a wedding gift, she had worn
it as a reminder of his love. The scars had faded, slowly losing
their sensitivity. Until…
    Her hand shook a little as she set the
bracelet on the countertop. The silver clanked on the quartz-flaked
gray stone, almost like a small bell. Pushing away the memories
that cluttered her mind, Alicia started kneading the dough. The
smoothness of the flour on her fingers quickly gave way to the
sticky feel of butter. She let her tactile memory guide her in
kneading to the perfect consistency, then rolled the dough with a
wooden pin. When she had lined her pie pan with the crust and
filled it with diced apples, she molded the excess dough into a
small heart that she laid in the center of the pie. She remembered
having done the same, on that first dinner date with Ben, and he
had fed her that crunchy, golden heart from his fingertips. Part of
her couldn’t help hoping that, maybe, he would again.
    As she placed the pie in the warm oven, then
cleaned and set the table on the island, she wondered, for just an
instant, if this was the way to go. Could she reset their
relationship so easily? Years had passed since that date. Many
things had changed, including her and Ben. They had grown closer,
then grown apart. They had learned to love each other’s little
quirks, then learned to live with them. She still loved him as much
as she ever had and she hoped—oh, how she hoped!—that he did as
well. Would it help anything to cling to the past?
    She dismissed the thought with a shake of her
head. This was the right thing to do if she hoped to fix things
between her and Ben. She knew it with a certainty anchored so deep
within her that she couldn’t question it. It was almost as though
she had already been through this storm, had already walked this
path, and knew it would lead her and Ben to safety.
    While the pie cooked, she took a shower. It
calmed her nerves and, when she stepped out of the tub to finish
getting ready, she didn’t look anymore as though she had spent her
afternoon crying. She dressed in the same wide skirt and cotton
blouse she had worn that first night and stayed barefoot like she
had then. The only difference was that her left wrist remained
bare. She felt naked without the fine links of silver circling her
wrist, and a few times she caught herself stroking her skin with
her right hand. She wondered how long it would take Ben to
notice.
    At six, she put the finishing touches on her
preparations. She transferred the pie to the warming drawer of the
oven, then prepared the salad. She had just set it on the island,
along with the jars of olive oil and vinegar, when a car stopped at
the end of the driveway. Seconds later, the front door opened.
    “I’m home,” Ben called out. He sounded
tired.
    Alicia clenched her hands, then opened them
again. “Dinner is almost ready.”
    As she threw the vegetables and diced meat in
the heated stir-fry pan, she listened to his progress in the house,
through the living room and into their bedroom. She was glad
suddenly that she had thought of putting away her suitcase. That
would have brought questions she wasn’t ready to answer yet. She
absently stirred the food in the pan when it started