"Yes." He meant it. Nothing would pull him away from his family again.
She opened the box, and her sharp intake of breath made him smile. The silver antique-style band dotted with diamonds would look beautiful on her hand. She didn't need to know where he'd gotten the money to pay for it.
"Thank you." She pulled off a silver necklace and strung the ring on it, then reattached the clasp. He hated that she didn't wear it on her finger, but maybe it had been too much to hope that she'd forgive him so quickly.
The wind blew a fresh wave of cold rain onto the porch, and they both shivered. Drake looked behind him, then into the house, and noticed the man standing behind Sam, frowning at him. "May I come in?"
She moved aside and gestured to the hall. "Yes, of course. I'm sorry, you must be freezing."
"There's one more thing. Wait here." He ran to the car, fetched Toby, ran back to Sam, and briefly explained how he'd acquired his wannabe sidekick.
"Toby, introduce yourself."
The kid smiled, offering his hand as he introduced himself, just as Drake had taught him.
Sam raised an eyebrow, but smiled warmly. "Nice to meet you. I'm Sam. Come in."
Toby turned to Drake as they walked into the mansion. "Yo, now I see why you want to marry her. That chick is fine."
***
Sam made Drake a bed on the couch in the game room, while Bernard found Toby a room with another boy his age. Toby wandered over to a shelf of video games. Drake thought about the boy and his new roommate, and could only imagine how two kids from such different worlds would get along. Still, Toby needed to acclimate, and sharing a room was the best way to do it.
Sam looked from his bags to the couch. "If you're staying, we'll find something more permanent tomorrow. You'll have to share with another guy. We don’t have enough rooms yet for people to have their own."
Ouch. He'd assumed they'd share her room. Then again, he really thought she'd be more excited to see him. I'm such a fool.
"Have you guys had dinner?"
Toby shook his head.
"Let's go to the kitchen, and I'll make something for you." She led Toby out, leaving Drake to follow if he wanted.
He chose to find Father Patrick instead. He'd never needed his old mentor more. If anyone could help him figure out how to fix things with Sam, it was the old priest.
Father Patrick hadn't been sleeping, despite the late hour. A leather-bound book lay face down on his desk, and his reading glasses perched on his head. "At my age, you barely sleep at all," he said as he brought them both a cup of tea. "I missed you, my boy."
"I missed you too. It's good to see you again. How have things been going?"
They sat at Father Patrick's desk. Hundreds of books lined the walls of the room, which served more as an office than a bedroom, and made the twin bed tucked in the corner seem out of place.
The old man sipped a bit of tea and smiled. "Life here is going well. I've been helping Bernard establish a curriculum for the kids, and we're looking at options for expanding our quarters, since this place is getting too cozy for comfort. But let's save the chitchat for later. What's troubling you?"
"I screwed up royally. I should've never left. Sam's never going to forgive me, and I've lost everything I ever cared about."
"Don't be too harsh on yourself, boy. We all make mistakes. That's how we learn. Let's look at this more closely. First of all, why did you leave?"
Drake blew on his tea and took another sip to give himself a chance to think. "I thought we were done. We'd been having arguments about my powers, about mind control specifically. She didn't want to use it on anyone, not even to protect herself. I disagreed."
"Do you still feel that way?"
The aromatic blend of herbs from the tea filled the air, and he took a deep breath. "Yes. Like you said, my powers aren't inherently good or evil. I used them to protect us, and it felt right."
Father Patrick nodded.
Drake waited another moment, hoping for some validation, but when none came, he continued. "Right before I left, I think Sam would have agreed with me. She realized mind control could be used for good."
"Then your argument was over. So what drove you away?"
The truth, the real truth. Could he admit to his shallowness? "She took my powers, even after everything I'd done for her."
The priest steepled his fingers, nonplussed by this revelation. "How did you feel?"
"Angry. I didn't understand why she'd betrayed me, but now I realize she'd stopped me from making a huge mistake." From killing Mary. "But at the time, I just couldn't see it."
"And so you left, feeling betrayed by the person you love most of all. It's no easy thing. Did you remain angry after you left?"