Destiny of Coins Read Online Free PDF

about how long it had been since I caressed my wife as her lover. “Yet, as Judas, it may mean some other time and place. I know you would find me again, my love…but what if it happens when Ali or Amy need your help the most? If this evil man you speak of gains the upper hand on you and your friend, Roderick, what then? I’ll be reduced to a widow cursed to mourn our boy and you—and the girl I’ve come to care for deeply—while this body continues to get younger. The devil himself couldn’t concoct a fate more hellish than that….”
    Tears forming in her eyes spilled over, forming two imperfect streams as they coursed down her face. I reached up and gently caressed her cheeks while catching her tears with the back of my forefinger. I offered her my most confident smile, all the while feeling my heart grow heavier to where it felt as if it would fall through my ribcage or simply burst from profound sorrow.
    If only I had the foresight of this moment when I first heard about my coin being held by the Andean Essenes, who descended from the very Judeans I once rubbed shoulders with while following Jesus, this situation would’ve been resolved centuries ago. Instead, the child and woman I loved above all else seemed on the verge of going from sharing an amazing future with me to having one filled with dark clouds again.
    Despite such dreadful musings, I forced my smile to widen for Beatrice. A painful smile for me, but one infused with every ounce of love I could call forth.
    “I won’t let anything happen to them, my love,” I said, setting my glass back down so I could gently lift her chin with my right hand while my left hand’s fingers continued to caress away her tears. “I will bring us all home safely. You’ll see…I will succeed in keeping the promise I made to you so long ago. An oath I can’t blame you for not believing, thinking for years I had failed to keep it. Yet, I tell you from the very core of my being this pledge has always been at the forefront of my heart, mind, and soul.”
    “Do you really mean it?”
    She looked up into my eyes with incredible longing. The healing of her mind and body was something truly magical. But the healing of her spirit, and the heart that had always loved me so deeply, wasn’t something the Tree of Life could take care of on its own.
    “Yes,” I told her, gently, and with confidence and warmth that needed no force. The Almighty knows I would endure the very fires of hell, if necessary, to restore her to the woman who so easily arrested my heart and enraptured my soul. “I will bring them back safe and sound, and spend the rest of my earthly days cherishing you and protecting your tender heart.”
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 4
     
     
    It was still dark Sunday morning when we boarded our chartered flight to La Paz. Roderick had advised me the previous evening there wasn’t enough time to wait for a first class ticket on a major airline, and when I checked the Internet myself, none were available to La Paz until the next evening or on Monday. At least not from Washington, D.C.
    Roderick assured me the accommodations he procured for us were beyond satisfactory. He was picking up the tab for the trip to La Paz, and I would tote the bill for our trip home. That’s the way we’ve always arranged things, many eons before the phrase ‘going Dutch” came into vogue.
    “How is Beatrice taking it?” he asked.
    The four of us had just picked our seats in the Cessna’s surprisingly spacious cabin. It turned out to be the easiest decision of the day, as Alistair and Amy immediately claimed two of the four seats, on the right. Since there were itinerary details to work out, I suggested to Roderick that he and I settle on the left side. It would give us a little more privacy, and if the youngsters had something pertinent to add to our discussion from across the way, so be it. But after last night, it wasn’t something I planned to encourage.
    “She’s worried,”