How Deep The Roots Go ( Book One)

Chapter 38

He turned his head to her, his jaw a steady clinch. "I am just as human as you and Temperance are."

He left that one wide open, Temperance thought.

"I don't have my sight anymore," she sounded indignant now. "I've been having visions all my life until most recent. Now, I have only had two," Temperance shook her head solemnly. "I don't know where to begin looking."

"You don't follow directions very well, Temperance."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Pardon?"

"I know for a fact that you were given instruction by an angel. Why haven't you heeded her?"

"Are you referring to lineage?"

"Yes," he said dryly.

"Your last name is Augustine, just like the Saints," he sounded as a matter of fact, just as Hazel had.

"There are many with the same last name in the world, you know," she said quickly.

"You doubt all of this?" he asked, his voice level and calm, puzzlement in his eyes.

No she was not. Not after last night, and certainly not after this morning. Not after reflecting and seeing all that was coming to pass as of late. She couldn't find one reason not to believe that this was all linked and true.

"No," she said affirmatively. "Not anymore."

Roman nodded, a hint of satisfaction on his face. "That is good then."

"One thing I am still trying to wrap my head around is, why me? Why wait till the twenty first century to take something back?"

"Logical questions," he supplied, and then leaned back. "You're referring to the coal, I take it?"

Her eyebrows lifted. "Yep, that would be it."

"The angel didn't convey this to you?"

Temperance shook her head no.

He placed his palm on the table then, thinking for a moment before he spoke. "Because they had to wait for you and I both to be born."

Temperance tucked her tongue in her cheek, her eyes wide and full of life then. "Who was waiting?"

"The Heavens," he said quietly.

Temperance pushed her hair back and sighed out very heavily."Why?"

"Because you're the last link to the Saint, and you need protection that is true and faithful to the mission." His eyes never left her face. "That person — that protector, is me."

She paused her lips on her straw with that disclosure. She cleared her throat, recovering, playing with it now, moving the ice around in the glass.

"Okay, so that explains that portion. I'm still stuck on souls being trapped."

She picked up the spoon then, and began to play with her soup absently. Roman took note of her fidgeting, and it just made her the more desirable. He cleared his throat coarsely.

"The souls that have faith will always go to the light. The others will go where they belong." He stated it without any disapproval or grievance. "People that don't believe go to Hell, Temperance."

"So why the desperate need to find the coal then? If there is a Heaven and Hell, and the spirits are going where they're supposed to, why not just leave it be? Why even rock the boat, so to speak?" She pushed the soup away, and then sipped at her ginger ale, awaiting an answer. She was explained this in her first vision with the angel Temperance, but she needed clear human clarification now.