It was late afternoon as Michael walked back to the hotel; his first meeting with Valerie had been a revelation.
The feelings Valerie elicited were disturbing and wonderful all at the same time. Michael knew that he needed to move on, that the feelings he had for Valerie were the real thing.
Sasha would want him to be happy, she would never want for him to be tormented by her memory, only to be comforted by it.
Understanding that what they had lives on in him, that his life was now an extension of hers. To waste any of it would be to minimize the gift she was while she was in his life.
Walking across the bridge over the Oxford canal he paused to watch a four-man scull slip gracefully over the gray water.
It was getting late; dusk was starting to fall over the city.
Michael wondered at the place, entranced by its energy, ancient soul and obvious place in a future that played out before him. Michael could not help to feel his attachments to this place growing faster than he thought possible.
The scull made the turn up the canal, disappearing from view and Michael continued his walk back to the hotel.
............
"I need to know what happened to Michael," Valerie spoke heatedly into the speakerphone.
Almost the instant Michael left her office Valerie was dialing up Aunt Millie's cell, she had to know the whole story.
"Valerie, calm down tell me what's going on," Millie said, surprised at Val's obvious agitation.
"Something or someone really hurt Michael and I need to know what it was, I know that you and Uncle Ian have been keeping tabs on Michael for years now please just tell me what happened," Valerie's voice was getting more frantic by the second.
"Valerie, please calm down, I will tell you everything that I can about Michael but you have to calm down and tell me what happened first," Millie said as she keyed the speaker on her cell so Ian, who was lying in bed next to her, could hear the conversation as well.
Catching her breath and reigning herself in Valerie retold an abridged version of her meeting with Michael, his rush from her office, collapse and eventual return. She did not go into detail about her feelings about the man, only that he seemed damaged in some way and she wanted to help him in any way that she could.
Millie could not hide the smile from Ian as he nodded for her to tell Valerie of Michael's loss.
Ian and Valerie had both been on the conference call when the field team had called in about the possible sniper, both had seen the flash emailed photos of Valerie cradling Michael's head in her lap.
"Michael lost his wife about two months ago," Millie began. "It was very traumatic for him, his wife, Sasha, was pregnant with their first child when she was in a car accident, Sasha and the baby were both killed. It destroyed Michael, its one of the reasons we asked you to offer him the visiting professorship, we hoped that by getting him out of Gainesville, away from all the memories it would help him to recover."
Covering the microphone she asked Ian "Should I tell her about us buying the company to make sure he would take the job?"
Ian thought for only a moment before answering. "Yes, let her know that we are very concerned for Michael and want to help him any way we can, we hope that she feels the same and wouldn't mind spending a little extra time with him if she thinks it would help," he smiled as Millie's eyes squinted, giving him the 'your up to something' look.
Ian had seen the same pictures Millie had, however he saw a great deal more in them than she.
The photo of Valerie holding Michaels head in her lap clearly showed how their aura's merged when they were in contact with each other, this was a rare bond that few of their kind shared.
It was also in every photo ever taken of Michael and Sasha; the coincidence was just too much for Ian to resolve.
He wanted to see what would develop between the two, for some reason he thought it might be very important that the two of them were together.
"Now Val, I'm going to tell you something but you have to promise it will never get back to Michael," Millie said.
Valerie paused; her emotions had immediately gone into overdrive at the thought of lying to Michael.
"Then don't tell me Millie, if he asks me about something I will not lie to him."
The conviction in her voice made Millie stifle a laugh, 'oh my' she thought 'poor Valerie has it bad,' Ian nodded, indicating she should continue anyway.
"One of Ian's holding companies bought out Michael's architectural company, it was our way of ensuring he would accept your offer," Millie said, pausing to see what reaction Val would have to this news.
Valerie was shocked by this admission. "Why, why was it so important that Michael come to Oxford?" Her question hung in the air, Millie looked to Ian and he just shrugged.
Starting slowly, Millie continued "As you know we have been watching Michael's progress for quite some time, he is...a distant relative of Ian's, being in America he was quite a bit farther a field than others in the extended family so Ian has always paid a bit more attention to him. After the tragedy that befell his family we wanted to try and help him get over it and move on, so..." Millie trailed off and Valerie considered this new information.
'Part of the family, Ian's family, there's never been any mention of family, extended or otherwise, why now and dam it why him,' Valerie thought. She was confused and upset, unsure of where all this was heading.
"Alright, thank you for telling me these things, I'm not sure what I think about all this, and I'm not sure I like the idea of being used. However if you can think of anything I can do to help Michael please tell me, there is something about him that...." Now it was Valerie's turn to trail off.
"I'm meeting Michael tomorrow morning to help him look for a place to stay, I'll see you both in the afternoon I should be there by four," Valerie finished as she hung up the phone.
Ian and Millie simply smiled at each other, both understanding that finally Valerie may have found the one she had been waiting so long to discover.
Valerie sat staring at the phone, wondering what the involvement was between Ian and Michael.
She shook out her hair, picked up her purse and left the office heading for home.
Her thoughts centered on Michael and the amazing feelings he pulled from her soul. ...............
The hairs on the back of Michael's neck stood on end as he rounded the corner, again, like so many times in the past his "sixth sense" was telling him that something was about to happen.
