The Gifts of Faith - Seek and Ye Shall Find (Ch. 9)
It had been a week since Faith and Sarah sat down to create the T-sheet and still couldn’t make heads or tails of Nathaniel and his sudden re-appearance. They mutually agreed to abandon trying to make sense of it on paper. After all, logic had never played a part in Faith’s life. Sarah was a free spirit who accepted life as it happened, which is what drew her to Faith when they met in high school. She was relieved they’d abandoned the project.
Faith had always been one to accept things as they come and was comfortable with knowing there was a reason for whatever came her way.
Sarah was still grappling with the reasoning behind Hope’s soul joining with hers.
The girls had a lot on their shared plate.
The only thing they knew for certain was that it was imperative to get in touch with Nathaniel.
Pondering
It was now early Spring; the frost had melted, giving way to new blooms in the gardens on Faith’s property. The coming weekend would be spent surveying the beds, pulling weeds, adding compost and mulch to add warmth and protection to this season’s blooms. Faith prided herself on providing plants and flowers from her gardens to Bouquets and Rainbows. None of her stock was imported, which kept her operating costs down.
The latter part of the work week was spent re-arranging the shop to make room for the beautiful antique desk Daddy had brought when he came to dinner last week. Faith liked to change things up in the store from time to time and Daddy’s gift offered the perfect excuse to busy the girls with this project.
It also afforded them time to think.
They closed the shop early on Friday, had a light dinner and went to bed shortly after sundown.
Sarah hadn’t yet returned to her own home and both girls were thankful for the company. Sarah admitted to herself that she didn’t want to be alone until she figured out the Hope thing and Faith was glad for the company while she contemplated her next move with Nathaniel.
The girls arose before the sun dawned on Saturday morning. They worked together making a hearty breakfast of eggs over easy, sausage and multi-grain toast. They’d be out in the gardens for hours before time to break for lunch and needed a hearty breakfast to keep them going. The pair had tended to the gardens of flowers, indigenous plants and vegetables themselves for years. The time may come when they would need to hire some outside help, but for now this labor of love was shared with no one.
As the girls gathered tools, mulch and wheel barrows from the barn, Faith had a thought.
“You know Sarah, when I was little I could sense what was going to happen just by the way the earth and the air smelled. It’s just dawned on me that I haven’t been able to do that for a very long time. I wonder if it has anything to do with the years that went by without my seeing souls. Now the soul recognition is back, but if I could sense what was yet to come, I wouldn’t be having such a hard time figuring out how Nathaniel fits into all that has happened recently.”
“Perhaps you’re not supposed to foresee the future, Faith. At least not right now. I think maybe you and I both are to learn how to exercise and strengthen our souls. I feel that’s the key. Once we discover how and why the connections have shifted, maybe your clairvoyance – or whatever it was – will return. Then again, it may no longer serve a purpose. We’ll just have to see what happens as we get a handle on the recent turn of events.”
The girls ventured on to the gardens with Lily tagging close behind. She so loved the outdoors and relished the time she shared with Faith when she was home. Faith made a mental note to get a kitty companion for Lily to keep her company through the day.
The Find
Faith and Sarah worked all morning in silence, both lost in their own thoughts. After breaking for lunch, they returned to the task at hand while Lily curled up in one of the wheel barrows for her afternoon nap.
Faith worked the rows of Birdfoot Violets while Sarah concentrated on the Rue Anemone. They both realized that was just the tip of the iceberg. The gardens were vast with a multitude of varieties. Something to think about, for sure.
As Faith was loosening the soil between rows of the delicate purple flowers, she got a sudden case of the butterflies. This she kept to herself. After all, if she and Sarah were to strengthen their spiritual bond, words shouldn’t be necessary. The sensation was so strong, she was almost light-headed. Then her fingers felt something in the dirt. With a little digging, she found the source, pulled it up out of the soil and gasped. In her hand lay a small silver ring with an aquamarine birthstone adorning the top. It looked to be a child’s ring. Inside the band there was an inscription: to Julie, with Love.
She didn’t know how long she’d sat there staring at the ring. Time seemed to have stopped and nothing existed but that tiny circle with the gem on top. Sarah’s presence at her side brought her back to real time. What just happened?, Faith thought to herself.
“Faith! Faith! What is it? What’s wrong? I had the most unusual sensation tugging at me from across the garden. I felt your angst. And here I find you lost to the world. What’s happened?”
Faith opened her hand to reveal the ring. She didn’t yet trust herself to speak. This find had zapped her of all her energy. She looked into Sarah’s eyes and slowly began to feel her strength return. At the same time, the rainbow hues of Sarah’s soul brightened.
By this time it was nearing dusk; perfect timing on Mother Nature’s part. Sarah helped Faith up off her knees and the two stretched, reaching their faces to the sunset. The sun always fortified Faith and now Sarah felt it, too.
“Wow, that ‘bout knocked me for a loop!” Faith was still a little unsteady on her feet. Even meeting Hope’s soul for the first time hadn’t affected her this way.
Sarah took Faith by the arm and said, “Come on, let’s go have some dinner. It doesn’t look like it’s going to rain tonight so we can leave our stuff here. It’ll be fine. How ‘bout pizza? Sound good? I’ll buy.”
The trio headed for the house.
By the time they made it to the back door Faith felt stronger. “You go ahead and shower while I feed Lily. You can call in the order when I take my shower.”
“Sounds good. You sure you’re okay Sweetie?”
“I’m fine, Sarah. In fact, I feel pretty good. You go on now. I’ll see you in a few.”
That Evening
While Sarah was in the shower, Faith got out the phone book and turned to the listings in Oakwood. Sure enough, there it was: Baxter, N. 770-555-9368. She jotted the number down on the pad by the phone and headed for the shower when she heard the water turn off.
If This is Your First Time Here, You Need to Catch Up
Yanni Played in the Background While Faith Spoke
Refreshed by hot showers, the girls stretched their feet over the coffee table, comfy in their pj’s while they waited for the pizza delivery. They took turns looking at the ring Faith had found amongst the Birdfoot Violets. It was very small – fitting comfortably on Faith’s left pinkie finger. It was exquisite and looked to be very old. The girls had no doubt it once belonged to a little girl, but to whom? How had it gotten lost? They discussed the possibilities until they were interrupted by the doorbell.
Sarah paid the delivery boy, grabbed some paper plates, napkins and a bottle of white zinfandel while Faith put a Yanni CD into the Bose.
The bianca pizza was nearly finished before either one spoke. They hadn’t realized how hungry they were. Of course, it stood to reason; they’d worked hard all day and got zapped by Faith’s find to boot!
Faith spoke her thoughts. “This house was over a hundred years old when I bought it, but I never bothered to ask about its history. I’m sure this ring belonged to someone who once lived here. That’s the only plausible explanation for it being buried in the dirt on this property. Jeez, it seems the more we discover the more questions come about.”
“Well, there’s one mystery we can solve, Faith. Hand me the laptop. We can pull up the history of this property in no time.”
As Sarah opened the laptop, Faith slipped the ring with the aquamarine stone on her pinkie finger and thought to herself, seek and ye shall find.
Shauna L Bowling
Refining, Defining or Rhyming
All Rights Reserved
© 2014 Shauna L Bowling
