Dena considered the vials as well and shook her head. “They’d have no reason to lie to me.” She remembered her conversation with one of the heartbreaking Acquisitions regarding the contents of the storage room her crew had uncovered.
“It was one of Shelanon’s...services. He wouldn’t have had every girl’s medical history before she got there. If there were problems with conception, that would have to be addressed and since he was so obsessed with fixing things…” Dena looked to her sister-in-law, facing her as they sat perched on the bed in hers and Carlos’ guestroom.
Nile brushed her fingertips across the vials filled with clear liquid. “Do you think it would fix us?” She asked, her voice still whisper soft.
The women had snuck away from all the merriment taking place outside the manor house. Dena had debated for months on whether to discuss what she’d taken from Medora. She and Nile had cheered as loudly as anyone when news was shared of all the new lives about to fill the families. She could no longer resist telling Nile. Her sister-in-law was the one person she could trust not to immediately assume she was diving off the deep end about being childless.
“I don’t know if it’ll fix us. I don’t even know why I took it. I don’t feel victim to those needs anymore, Nile. I mean, I’d still love to have a child if it’s meant for me and Carlos but I’m honestly good with it-with us.” She shook her head more reverently then. “I’ve never felt more blessed-I’ve come so close to never knowing this life so many times.”
Nile was already nodding her agreement. “I don’t know how he did it, but Taurus helped me see that I wasn’t defined by how many kids we did or didn’t have.” She laughed shortly, honestly. “Maybe he didn’t help me see that at all, but to see that I already knew it.”
Dena looked to the vials again. “Do you think taking it from that horrible place put us right back where we started?”
Nile couldn’t answer.
“Should I toss them?” Dena asked.
Nile bit her lip as though debating. She shook her head. “Let’s...let’s revisit it later. We’ve got time, yes?”
Dena was nodding, eager to set aside the conversation and the decision for another time. “Yes. We’ll revisit it. Much later.”
Nile joined in for more nodding as well. “I like that,” she said.
“Hey guys?! Dinner!” Someone called up from downstairs.
Satisfied, Nile and Dena clutched hands and then clutched each other in an affirming embrace before they set out. They left behind the vial filled with one among many concoctions that had determined the course of so many lives and in so many ways.
They were concoctions that had promised to fulfill the most innocent longings and to satisfy the most depraved desires.
They were concoctions whose creators and patrons had been; at long last, silenced.
With that silence, came the exorcising of
demons with the way being made for lives to flourish and for the
return of loves that had, at last, triumphed.
The End
Dear Reader,
So you’ve reached the end! Take a breath, check on your loved ones-chances are they’re feeling neglected by now if you’ve absorbed this story in one sitting.
Seriously now, I mean it when I say that I can’t thank you all enough for encouraging me to move forward with this story when it seemed that forces were working to prevent that. Seeing this story through to the end has been one of my best decisions.
This series has taken me places I didn’t know I could put myself in as an author. It forced me to become some pretty ugly people as I crafted many of these characters. Writing this series meant focusing on some pretty negative realities in the world as well. At the same time it made leaning on the beautiful realities a necessity-a welcomed oasis from the storms at work as this tale neared its end.
So much of the suspense here is tempered by the fierce love and unwavering devotion between the heroes and heroines of this story. Creating the dynamic between Hill and Persephone made for an even greater challenge this time around as the perversions hinted and speculated about over the course of this series are at last laid out in all their nauseating brutality.
Hill’s and Persephone’s story was about more than the hurt feelings and mixed signals prevalent in so many ‘second-chance’ at love stories. Hill and Persephone had to deal with some pretty heinous personal demons of their own- all while coming to grips with the fact that there are children at the heart of it all.
I think Hilliam Tesano and Persephone James may be the most intense couple I’ve written to date. I say intense, because there were times while writing this story that I literally had to step back and really look at the level of passion they brought into everything they did. I realized there was no other way they could be portrayed. Writing them; meant to completely embrace everything from their beauty and boldness to their flaws and demons.
These two were a fascinating couple to write
and I could’ve easily devoted many more chapters to them
exclusively. By now, it just seems redundant to keep waxing on
about how much I love writing about these people. This series
especially, embodies so much of what I love about the romantic
suspense genre. After all these years, I still write like a reader,
in search of another adventure to embark upon, another couple to
fall in love with. I hope to write this way for many years to come
and I hope you guys will continue to join me for the ride.
As always email me with your thoughts.
Love,
Al
altonya@lovealtonya.com
A Lover’s Return
Discussion Questions
1. Persephone’s protective instincts
are considerable. She has no problem with putting herself in the
line of fire to save another-her girls, her mother, Marcella even
Hill. Are these instincts more admirable, more reckless or a
balanced mixture of both?
2. The guys were pretty upset once all was
revealed about Persephone’s secret and their wives duplicity in
helping her to keep it. Do you believe the guys were justified in
their anger or were they just dealing with bruised egos over being
kept out of the loop?
3. Marcus Ramsey was desperate to be part of
the Black Island Organization and would have clearly done almost
anything to meet the admission requirements. Why do you believe he
passed on the chance to take Maeva? Do you believe that he was then
more concerned over not being labeled with a ‘defective’ child than
with joining BIO?
4. As Shannon succumbed to the effects of
the drugs injected into his system, do you believe his resonant
reading of the names was out of sorrow for what he’d done or
acceptance that he was about to die? Considering the fact that he
discovered many cures, do you believe there was any true interest
in helping others or were all his actions selfish?
5. Do you believe Nile and Dena will decide
to use the fertility serum or will the knowledge of its mere
existence and the possibility that it could work be enough for
them? Would you be willing to take a leap of faith on a miracle
drug?
6. Persephone wanted to see Hill in order to
tell him about the girls. That didn’t happen straightaway instead
she gave into her own desires first. Do you think that decision was
selfish since Hill had waited long enough to hear this news? If put
in that position would you…enjoy Hill Tesano first and deal with
the drama later?
7. Hill tells Persephone that he believes he
could forgive Brogue for putting his mother in a wheelchair because
Imani never held Brogue at fault. Would it be so easy for you to
forgive in the same manner?
8. Why do you think that Tammy never told
Evangela who Maeva really was to her? Do you think it would have
made a difference to Eva in her relationship with Tammy had she
known the whole story?
9. Do you believe Eva had any love for Mae or was she truly incapable of the emotion? Do you believe a child’s good or bad is inherited-or is that badness just who they are?
