A white flare crossed her mind, bringing a brief, ghostly picture of the three of them together, making love in the grass outside their house, her belly rounded and swollen.
Her eyes flew open but before she could process the image, one last, hard climax split open as both men came at the same time, the three of them collapsing in a tangled heap of sweaty arms and legs.
Too tired and sated to think about what she saw, and knowing the future wasn’t written until it was the past, she decided not to tell the men about it.
The sound of Pers whining woke Mandaline out of a sound sleep. Prying her eyes open, she saw it was almost three o’clock in the morning.
“What’s wrong, puppy?” She crawled out of bed without waking the men up. She pulled her robe on and followed the dog down the stairs. He ran behind the counter, where he put his front paws up on it.
She stared. The little zen garden sat there undisturbed, freshly raked from earlier. “Nothing here, pup,” she softly said, her heart pounding. She scooped him up and took him to the back door. After a quick walk, she locked the door again and set the alarm. She headed for the stairs, but Pers whined.
When she set him down, he once again raced over to the zen garden.
Only now, the rake lay on the counter next to it.
A sense of serene calm slipped through her soul. Forcing her feet to move, she walked over to the counter and grabbed Pers again.
Written in the sand, as if drawn with a finger, was a smiley face and one word.
Believe.
She let out a breath and looked up, blowing a kiss toward the heavens. “I do believe, sister,” she whispered. “I won’t forget. Namaste.”
She couldn’t be sure, but as she walked toward the stairs she thought she heard a whispered, “Namaste,” in return.
THE END
WWW.TYMBERDALTON.COM