Chapter One:
It lay on the side table by the door all by itself. The light from the window reflected off the gold bands around the edge. Sarah Morgan could have wondered how an envelope ended up inside, on a table, when she was the only one home. But she didn’t.
Instead, she turned to look out into the forest that lined their property and smiled. It was possible that a light blinked in return.
She made a cup of coffee, enjoyed the sound of the heated water as it rushed through the Sumatra coffee pod and released the dark, smoky smell that always brought comfort.
With cup in hand, she stepped outside and waited. She knew what was in the envelope. It could only mean one thing, and she wanted the moment of anticipation to last as long as possible.
Clouds floated, birds sang, and flowers nodded before blooming. It was spring in Idaho. Still, even in late May, little mounds of snow rested in the dips and crevices, waiting for more warmth. In town, massive piles of snow sat by the lake waiting to melt as spring moved into summer.
Almost a year had passed since she and her husband, Leif, had last seen Evan Anders and Ava Evans. The coincidence that Ava’s last name was so much like Evan’s first name was not lost on Sarah. Everyone had seen the connection between them on that last day when they had all been together.
In that very living room, she mused as she glanced back into the house. Although a designer at heart, Sarah had changed nothing since that day. It was still too full of memories.
That day, Tom and Mira’s grandfather Earl Wieland had shown them what they all had begun to realize. They had been expected. They were a Circle. Just one of many, but a Circle, a Karass, and their circle members had finally made their way together to that day.
Earl showed them their history, but not their future—only a hint of what was to come. Sarah and Leif were asked to give up their beloved home on the lake and move to the house on the mountain. Gifted to them by Earl, and as they discovered, a meeting place for circles.
Craig Lester had returned home to his wife, Jo Ann, to open a healing center. Mira had joined Tom, her newly found twin brother, in his work. And Ava and Evan had—well, that was the question the envelope on the table was going to answer.
Finishing her coffee, rinsing the cup, and putting it in the dishwasher extended the pleasure of anticipation, but it was time.
The envelope was a thick vellum. It needed to be. It had important words inside. Addressed to Sarah and Leif Morgan, it had a return address in Pennsylvania. One question answered, Sarah thought.
With the malachite-handled letter opener, a treasured gift from years before, when Sarah was more visible in the world, she slit open the envelope and slowly lifted out a card that glowed with the beauty of the words.
Ava Evans and Evan Anders invited Sarah and Leif Morgan to their wedding.
Could there be any more joy than this? Sarah wondered as she sank to the floor by the table, holding the treasure of those words to her heart. They had not squandered the love that they saw that day; they had nourished it and were ready to live it and share it.
Could there be a greater joy?
***
I should be happy. No. Joy should fill my heart, Ava thought. Her wedding to the love of her life was only a few months away. They had sent the invitations. All their friends, new and old, would be there.
It was something she had dreamed about her entire life. She and Suzanne Laudry, her guardian and friend since her mother had passed away, had often talked about the moment she would realize that she was cherished.
Suzanne and her husband, Jerry, shared that kind of love. Even when Jerry passed into the next event of his life, they still knew each other. They still loved. They proved that love transcends time and space.
“Stand in love,” that’s what Suzanne used to tell her. Jerry and Suzanne lived the love that the Greeks called Pragma, the love that lasts through time; a true mature love.
She had doubted the possibility for herself. There were too many non-cherished moments in her life. Too many promises broken. Too many abandonments. Even the love of Suzanne and Suzanne’s father, Earl, had not healed Ava’s heart. She loved them, but the door to love without limits had never opened for her.
But they had promised her, so she kept the dream alive, buried behind mounds of self-doubt. Still, Ava trusted enough to leave her heart open a crack.
And then the moment arrived. The gathering of the newest circle at Earl’s home almost a year ago.
She was aware of Evan. She and Suzanne and Earl had expected him, along with the rest of their circle, on that day. Earl had promised her that there was more to the meeting than she thought, and she had been content to wait because she trusted Earl and his daughter to guide her to her destiny.
But it still stunned her into silence when she looked across the room and saw Evan. She knew him. He knew her. Promises made to each other in the past rose within and reminded her he was the one she had expected. And there he was, waiting.
They were building a life together. Evan never doubted her. He let her know she was cherished. Her heart had opened more, and she expected that over time it would continue to open as she learned to trust. Evan already trusted. Trusted her. As hard as that was for her to imagine, it was true.
Yes, joy should fill her heart. She was marrying her soul mate. She was trusted, loved, and cherished. What more could she want?
But joy wasn’t what she was feeling at all.
Instead, she was terrified. The letter she had just opened lay on the floor, daring her to look at it again. Perhaps she had read it wrong? No, because the picture that accompanied it said it all.
Her past, the one that no one—not even her mom—knew about, had come to the present. The past that was long buried, and long forgotten by her, was apparently still out there. Someone remembered it. And now, they threatened to destroy everything.
