Get Me Through The Call
Zinnia’s POV
Morning came early on farms and communes. When I’d pulled up to Serenity last night, and I sincerely hoped this place lived up to its name because I could really use some, I ran across a couple of older men who gave me directions to Aggie’s. When she answered the door, she looked at me, looked around furtively, then with a surprisingly strong tug on my arm, pulled me inside
her home.
“Did anyone see you since you arrived?”
“Yes. Two very nice men gave me directions on how to get to your place.”
“Oh, hell. Then it’s already all over the community. Dammit.”
“I’m…sorry?” I asked, unsure about this reception.
“Oh, no,” she waved her hand. “Glad to have you. But my son’s mother–in–law, she’s into all the mystical shit and she told me yesterday the cards revealed to her that I’d be having a visitor within twenty–four hours. I hate it when she’s right, so I would have hidden you for a day or so just so she couldn’t nod sagely at me like she knew all along.”
“But she was right,” I said. “That’s kind of impressive.”
“If you make enough guesses while dancing around with crystals, you’re bound to get some right. You gotta be careful around her or she’ll load you up with her stones and pull you into her Mother Earth celebrations. Her daughter, Sunny – my daughter–in–law – is a bit out there, too, but she’s
more down to earth.”
Aggie’s sharp eyes looked me over. “You look tired, Zinnia. I’ll put you in our guest room tonight, and and then tomorrow, I’ll take you over to the solitude cottage where you can have some space
think.”
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The next morning, I wandered into the kitchen, still a bit dazed that I was here. I’d left my phone off after I’d sent Dash a two word text: I’m safe. I wasn’t ready to deal with anyone, especially my husband, and baby girl and I needed some sleep.
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If I was up early, Aggie was up even earlier.
“Want some tea?” she asked, carrying her plate to the sink. “All I have is herbal.”
“It’s all I drink,” I said, patting the baby bulge.
While she busied herself with the kettle, I asked her a question that I’d been thinking about since
I’d arrived.
“You haven’t asked why I’m here,” I said.
“No, I haven’t. I figure if you want to tell me, you will.”
So I explained because I felt that someone giving me shelter should know. Her face gave nothing away as she listened, nodding here and there.
“I have no idea why I felt I should come here, but I did.”
“Serenity calls to people. And that’s as woo–woo as I’ll get, but I’m not surprised you ended here. This place has a settling effect that allows you to think. It gives your heart space to beat.”
up
“I have a lot of thinking ahead of me.”
“Are you ready to think about it yet?”
That question was one I’d never considered before. I just assumed when a situation developed,
you had to think about it right then. But maybe thinking would be easier if you let the situation
simmer for a bit.
“Actually, no.”
“Fine. I’ll send my daughter–in–law over to you today. You can help her a bit – nothing strenuous at all. She’ll probably take you to her mother’s, but you’ll survive and may even benefit from it. Just don’t ever tell her I said that.”
“Your secret’s safe with me, Aggie.”
Not long after Aggie headed out to tend to her animals, there was a knock on the door. A beautiful woman stood there, dressed in flowy pants and a daisy T–shirt. Her long hair was braided into
three braids, which she’d braided together.
“Hello, Zinnia,” she said. “I’m Sunny.”
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It was the only name she could possibly have.
“Aggie said you wanted to help out a bit, but nothing difficult. I have just the job for you.”
“OK, I’m happy to help where I can.
“First, we need to stop by my hives and tell the bees.”
“Tell the bees?” Hadn’t Aggie said Sunny was not as woo–woo as her mother?
Sunny nodded. “Yes. Telling the bees is an old, old tradition where the apiarist – the beekeeper – tells the bees all the news of the community.”
I could see why Aggie thought Sunny was a little out there. “What kind of news?”
“Marriages, births, deaths, comings, goings, other life events. Bees have been revered in many cultures, but in Celtic mythology, bees were thought to carry messages between the dead and the living, so telling the bees was a way to honor their importance in the community. It also helps to maintain the human–bee connection to ensure they don’t abandon the hive.”
Um.
“So how do we do this?” I asked cheerfully, ready to throw myself into this.
“With great respect. We must tell each of the twenty hives your news. You can watch me tell the first couple, but before that, I want you to put on the protective gear so you’ll be safe because some of the hives aren’t as calm as others. They don’t know you yet and I won’t take any chances, especially since you’re expecting.”
After suiting up, I got into the golf cart with Sunny and she drove me to where the first of her hives were, all spaced about fifteen feet apart in either direction.
“We have twenty acres set aside and planted for the bees,” she explained. I put five hives every four acres, and of course they can travel a few miles away.”
Sunny walked up to the first hive, she knocked gently and then began speaking softly. She walked to the second one and repeated the same thing. She decided I was ready for the next one on my own. Feeling somewhat silly, I knocked gently on the third hive, Sunny standing back and watching me carefully.
“Hello,” I said respectfully in a quiet voice. “My name is Zinnia and I came to Serenity yesterday to…to escape for a few days. My husband upset me with what he called a joke, but it wasn’t. It
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ME
really wasn’t a joke because it hurt me so much.”
That might be too much information for the bees. Get to the point, Zinnia.
“Anyway, I’m pregnant with a little girl, and I wanted to share my news with you because maybe you all would be happy it’s a girl since you revolve around your queen. Um, thank you for listening. Have a good day.”
Then, because I’m a bit of a dork, I curtsied to the hive. Just a little. It seemed fitting since the hive housed a queen.
I glanced over at Sunny, and she smiled her soft smile at me and nodded. “Perfect.”
Perfect.
——
Not a word applied to me often — well, never, if I was being honest so I grabbed hold of it and
– an unexpected wouldn’t let go. I’d read somewhere that the universe sent little gifts to you word of affirmation, a smile from a stranger, a small kindness or deed someone does for you without expecting anything in return – and we should accept them when they were handed to us and let them feed our spirits and strengthen our hearts. It was nature’s way of reinforcing our worth along our journey, a way to remind all of us that whether we realize it or not, whether we believe it or not, we are important to this world.
Sunny had given me a gift and, given what had happened the previous day, I accepted it gratefully. I also began to see the tradition of telling the bees as a gift because with each re–telling of why I was here, I felt a little bit stronger, as if I was connecting to nature in a fundamental way.
I was right to have come here. That thought kept tapping me on the shoulder throughout the day. After telling the bees, Sunny and I stopped at her mother’s for lunch. Then we headed to Serenity’s wedding venue and set the tables along with six other women.
“I bless each place setting as I put them on the table,” Sunny said dreamily. “They journeyed to get to this point and now their journey continues in a different way.”
I held tight to the unakite rock her mother had given me, thinking I hadn’t been blessing the place settings but thinking maybe the bride and groom should rethink getting married. When we were finished, I went back to all of my place settings and said kind, positive words over them all. I attributed my ability to do that to the unakite.
“We use unakite to help support pregnancies because it helps tie the mother to the baby,” Moonbeam had said as she pressed a shiny green and pink rock into my hand. “It also brings calm
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and support and promotes healthy pregnancies. When you have your little girl, it will help you shift emotionally to being a mother.”
After I had dinner with Aggie and her husband, they took me over to a cottage and wished me a good night. The first thing I did was pull out my phone and turn it on, seeing text after text and too many missed calls to count.
No more hiding.
I needed to call Dash and tell him I was safe. I gripped the unakite, hoping the rock would get me through the call calmly.
It didn’t.
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Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.