Adam drove through the company’s tall front gates and spun softly around the forecourt. He came to rest by a massive oak with the Mercedes’ snout pointed back toward the exit. The wind now carried rain mixed with snow and frozen pellets that bounced off the hood. Kayla scampered down the front steps, climbed into the rear seat, and demanded, “Tell me what happened.”
Peter nodded to Adam, who related the outcome of their meeting. When he finished, Kayla sat in silence. The motor purred. The heater sighed softly. The dashboard clock ticked off the moments. The rain fell.
Kayla said, “This application process and human trials could take months.”
“Years, more like.”
“But you’re certain this untested product will give Daddy the leverage he needs?”
“This isn’t about bringing the product to market,” Adam replied. “It’s the potential. All they need is a product with the potential to be a headline grabber. The lab company that was such a drain on our resources suddenly becomes a huge draw for major drug firms. They’ll be lining up to place bids.”
“You gave them Derek’s money?”
“It’s not Derek’s, it’s yours,” Adam quietly corrected. “We couldn’t have done this without your help.”
“He’s not exaggerating, my dear,” Peter confirmed. “What an extraordinary gesture you’ve made. In this dire hour, you’ve helped shape an answer to prayer. Both of you. I can’t thank you two enough.”
Peter opened his door. “I shall go inform Joshua and the board. Adam, perhaps it would be best if you stayed out here. No need to wave the red flag in his face.”
“I need to go tell Dr. Beachley what’s happened.”
“I’ll go with him,” Kayla said.
“Do tell her I shall be around directly to thank her personally.”
They watched Peter disappear into the company headquarters. Kayla slipped from the rear into the seat beside Adam. She studied his profile in the faded gray of a rain-swept day. What was it the professor had called him? “The wounded hero.” She saw the man’s strength, felt it in the warmth that encircled her hand. And saw his weaknesses as well.
Derek’s image came to mind then. No longer Geoffrey, the fable now firmly banished. Adam might still have the capacity to act the thief. But Kayla knew the true capacity to be a heart-less robber of dreams was no longer real. Derek had never been capable of admitting weakness. Any question that threatened him was deflected with a laugh, a joke, a false embrace. And it was false, all of it. Yet as she examined these facts, Kayla sensed a difference in herself. This time, in accepting that she had been blinded, she also admitted that she had wanted to be blind. It was not merely that Derek had lied to her. Kayla had helped him. The falsehood had been complete only because she had wanted it so.
She blinked, and in so doing washed away Derek’s image. Such a simple act. One moment there, the next gone, and this time without the aching void at the center of her being.
Kayla reached over and gripped Adam’s hand. She recalled that morning’s prayer. Help me to hope again. She wondered if the moment’s flavor was how forgiveness tasted.
Adam said softly, “I need to go back to America. I don’t care what Mom says or thinks or dreams. I need to be there for her.”
Kayla nodded agreement. Adam licked his lips. He tried to speak. To ask the impossible. But could not find the strength.
Kayla knew the words as clearly as though he had spoken them aloud. She felt herself falling into that gaze, so deep she could read the invitation and find the strength to ask, “Would you like me to come with you?”