Taken by J.C. Owens

Author:J.C. Owens [Owens, J.C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-03-08T00:20:02.723000+00:00

When Laura finally returned, Landon was shocked to learn that she had stayed away for three weeks, not two. That meant that a month and a half was already gone.

Only two to go.

That was truly frightening. Their frenetic schedule meant that he was seldom apart from Kirith, and that was producing a closeness he was reluctant to admit to or acknowledge in any way. Sometimes he thought Kirith felt the same way; they were both afraid of the results.

Kirith seemed to relax a little once Laura was back home; he smiled more often, as though a weight was off his shoulders, and his moods fluctuated less. From little things that Kirith had let slip during the girl’s absence, Landon realized that Kirith harbored a fear of losing his daughter, that perhaps she would not want to come back as she got older.

Landon could not understand why Kirith had not gone with her. He had fully expected that Kirith would come and go from the island fairly regularly, both to visit his brother and other relatives, and to support his architectural business. Yet he had not. Was it because of Landon? Did he not trust him here alone?

Still, Landon was happy that he had not left. He didn’t truly understand why he valued the time with the other man so much, when he had never really wanted any company before this. Perhaps it was because Kirith treated him with respect. He didn’t talk down to Landon as everyone always had; he didn’t seem to feel that Landon was stupid at all. If Landon didn’t understand something, Kirith explained it with patience and in a way that made sense, never with condemnation. He was an amazing teacher, with the ability to make a subject come alive, make the mundane so much more than Landon had ever imagined before.

Landon discovered a thirst for knowledge he had never suspected. Kirith encouraged this. If, during one of their many discussions, Landon would bring something up in curiosity, Kirith would take him to the office, teach him computer skills, and get him onto the Net, letting him research to his heart’s content.

Landon bloomed under this skillful and patient tutelage and un-abusive atmosphere. Never had he felt so free. It was hard to remember he was supposedly paying a debt, a price. It surely didn’t feel like one.

It felt like… He could not quite find a word for what it felt like, only that he laughed, when he had so rarely laughed in the past, actually enjoying things he had never considered before. It was like his whole life was opening up before him into realms of possibility he had never imagined.

And all because of one man.

What strange twist of fate had brought him here, when surely, it should have been an occurrence of pain and fear, and certainly had started out that way. How was it possible that it had turned out so very differently? He had the strong impression that Kirith wasn’t entirely sure how

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