Orion Colony Complete Series Boxed Set J.N. Chaney (books for new readers .txt) 📖

Who the heck lives here? I wondered. Why would someone own all of this stuff?

The double doors opened and little girl with brown hair pulled back into pigtails walked in. She wore a white dress and couldn’t have been more than three or four, but I was bad at guessing things like this. She looked at me shyly then giggled.

I didn’t know how I knew her, only that I did. She was familiar somehow, like I had known her all along.

I took a knee with a smile. I didn’t interact with kids, so the best I could do was give her a goofy grin and wave.

That was when I noticed I was dressed in slacks, a button-up shirt, and black dress shoes. The fabric felt soft and expensive. I hadn’t worn anything like this in a long time.

Something itched in the back of my mind. Something that told me I was in dream. It felt so real though, too real to be a figment of my imagination.

“You look nice dressed up,” the little girl told me with a sly grin of her own. “You’re beautiful. You have a beautiful face.”

The innocence with which she said the words made me smile then stop and think. I chuckled. “Thank you. You’re beautiful too.”

“Thank you, you’re so nice.” The little girl twirled around in her dress. She spun with all the grace of a child and none of the self-consciousness. She was determined in what she wanted to do and didn’t care what I might think.

“Mommy is going to come,” the little girl said, pointing at the doors. “She just wanted me to come in first and say hi. You’re exactly like she told me you would be.”

I opened my mouth then closed it again. Realization hit me like a gladiator never could. Tears sprang to my eyes, but I didn’t let them fall.

The double doors opened again. This time, a radiant white light showed a silhouette. The outline was of a woman. I knew who this was before I saw her. Natalie came into the room. She wore a plain dress like the little girl. A necklace with a medallion hung on her slender neck.

I rushed to her, unable to keep the tears at bay any longer, then scooped her up in my arms, understanding now this could only be part of a dream. A dream I wished I would never wake up from.

Natalie laughed and hugged me back. She buried her head into the side of my neck. I hugged her so tight, I thought I might hurt her.

“I’m dreaming,” I said, more tears streaking down my cheeks. “I’m dreaming.”

Natalie wiped my tears with her thumbs. “Sometimes dreams can save us. We don’t have long, but I wanted to tell you that we’re safe and we understand why this all had to happen.”

“We,” I repeated, understanding exactly who she meant.

Natalie broke away from my arms for a moment, motioning to the girl to come forward.

“Dean, I’d like to introduce you to your daughter, Jemma,” Natalie said. She went down to her own knee, beckoning the child forward. “Come on, Jemma, this is your father. The man I’ve told you stories about.”

I fell more than went to my knees. More tears came with the absence of actual sobs or crying. I just couldn’t stop them.

Jemma came forward with a smile and whispered in Natalie’s ear. Her whisper was loud enough I could hear. “Can I hug him?”

“I think he’d like that very much,” Natalie said, looking over to me.

All I could do was nod, too choked with emotion to speak.

Jemma came to me with a silly grin on her lips. Like her mother, she wiped the tears from my cheeks. Next, she swung her little arms around my neck.

I couldn’t describe what I felt. It was more than happiness; it was pure innocent joy, the likes of which I could never remember experiencing before. Love on the most primal, open level.

I wrapped my arms around my daughter. She felt so tiny, so very small in my embrace.

Get it together, I told myself. Get it together.

I’m not sure how long I held her. The only thing I was sure of was, when she let go of my neck, the moment came too soon. I gave her one little tiny squeeze, remembering how she felt in my arms, the clean sweet smell of her hair, then let her go.

“Jemma, can you go into the rest of the house and give us a moment?” Natalie asked our daughter. “I’ll be right in. We just need to talk.”

“Okay, Mommy,” Jemma said, giving me one final glance. “I’ll see you again one day soon, Daddy. I love you.”

“I love you too,” I managed to say.

She was gone, her bare little fleet slapping across the wood floor. I’d remember that sweet noise forever.

“I need for you to understand two things,” Natalie said, bringing me back to the present moment. “First, everything that’s happened has done so for a reason. These people you’re with need you. You’re going to save thousands of lives.”

“What?” I searched Natalie’s eyes for understanding. “What are you talking about? I’ve never been a leader.”

“Maybe they don’t need a leader.” Natalie stared back into my eyes. “Maybe they need a protector. Second, you have to let us go.”

I shook my head, not believing what I was hearing.

“You’ve mourned us long enough,” Natalie said, choking on her own words for a moment. Tears shone in her eyes. “You have to let us go and enjoy the life you have around you. Make the best of the time you have left knowing Jemma and I are cared for and we’ll see you again.”

“No, no, how can you ask me to forget you?” I asked, shaking my head in dismay.

“I never said forget,” Natalie said with an arched brow. Her eyes sparkled as the light caught the tears that lived there. “We will never