Devotion (Central Cities #1)

Chapter 23

23

The drive takes most of the day. Gabriel obviously knows the way. He explains that until this year, he went to visit his family three or four times each year, so he’s made this trip many times.

The roads outside Saint Louis are all in good condition because the government there maintains them, but after an hour or so, their condition significantly deteriorates. Eventually the pavement is so crumbled and rocky that he pulls off the roadway completely and drives on the scraggly grass alongside it.

We stop midmorning to stretch our legs, go to the bathroom, and eat a snack from the provisions Gabriel packed for the trip. Then we get back in the vehicle and start driving again.

As we travel, we talk. He tells me about his hometown—his father was the mayor until Gabriel was ten. Then his dad resigned for an easier position supervising perimeter guards. His younger sister is married with three children. She must have married young because her eldest daughter got married last year. The wedding was the last time Gabriel visited them before he moved to the Capital.

The region is safe enough, he explains, that it’s not necessary to live behind walls. His parents moved to a lake cottage near their town ten years ago, declaring themselves retired.

His mother is in her early sixties, his father in his early seventies. There are very few people as old as seventy in the Central Cities—my grandfather has always been one of the oldest people I know—but Gabriel says his father is still in good health and that age isn’t so unusual in their region.

He asks if I’d rather stay with his parents when we get there or ask for a room in the town’s guesthouse. Either would be fine, he tells me gravely. He wants me to choose what would make me most comfortable.

I have no idea why we’d stay anywhere except with his family, and I say that. If things are awkward for some reason, we can reconsider at a later point.

Gabriel agrees. He says his parents are going to love me.

And it’s then—only then—that I start to get nervous.

Because it’s suddenly become real to me. In a few hours, I’m going to meet Gabriel’s parents. He didn’t spring out of the ground fully formed. He was a baby. A little boy. A supersmart and likely opinionated teenager. These people have known and loved him all forty years of his life.

My claim on him is next to nothing compared to that.

What if they don’t like me? What if they don’t understand or respect the job I used to have? What if they’re ashamed of the lifestyle I led Gabriel into? What if they judge me for the choices I’ve made?

I do my best to hide it because Gabriel has been so happy all day, relaxed and warm and laughing and talkative and affectionate.

Happy.

I don’t want to bring him down with my silly, nonsensical insecurities.

There’s a lot of wide-open land for two-thirds of the journey, the hills and pastures broken by the occasional farming community. But eventually we reach an area that’s clearly been more developed. There are a number of towns in sight of our route. Most of them are walled like all the cities I’m familiar with, but they’re much smaller and have sprawling neighborhoods and farms outside the walls.

As the afternoon passes, the settlements get closer together. There are far more people in this area than I would have imagined. It’s not a city. Nothing close to a city. All the communities are small, and the individual houses have a lot of space around them.

But it’s not the wilderness like I’ve been told all my life.

This isn’t a wilderness at all.

It’s a thriving rural area with a good-sized population who all appear safe, secure, and content.

It’s surreal. Like something out of a dream. Or out of a pre-Fall novel. It’s hard to even wrap my mind around the fact that this is real.

“What do you think?” Gabriel asks after we’ve driven for thirty minutes in silence.

“About what?”

“About all this.” He gestures toward the outside. There’s a large farm in the distance, surrounded by a fortified wall. We’re close enough for me to see a sign with the name near the front gate.

NEW HAVEN FARM .

Gabriel opens his window and waves at the guards posted at the gate as he drives past without slowing. Then he gives me a quick, close look. “Do you think you could ever feel at home in an area like this? Is it too rural for you?”

“No! It’s not too rural. I mean, it’s really different, but in a good way. I like the looks of it so far.”

His face relaxes, and I realize he was genuinely worried I would hate it here. That I couldn’t be happy so far from the cities.

Touched that he’s so concerned, I reach over to squeeze his thigh. “I’m sure I’ll love it. I just hope they’ll love me.”

He shoots me a quick look. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know,” I mumble with a shrug. “Just maybe they’re not going to like me.”

I was trying to keep my nerves to myself, but I’ve never been able to do that around Gabriel.

His tone shifts as he asks, “What’s wrong?” When I don’t respond immediately, he adds, “Tell me right now.”

“I’m just nervous,” I admit. “I didn’t realize I’d feel this way, but all of a sudden I got anxious about it.”

“About what? My family?”

“Yes. What if… what if they don’t like me? What if they think I’m a bad… a bad choice for you?”

“Oh my God, baby,” he mutters. “Are you serious?”

“Yes, I’m serious.”

“They’re going to love you. Everyone loves you. You have a way about you that… that warms people. I’ve never met a single person who didn’t love you.”

I clear my throat and twist my hands together, feeling pleasure at the compliment but not enough to smother the fear.

“Why do you think I was constantly bombarded by administrators wanting to swap partners with me?”

I giggle at the dryness in his voice since that’s what he’s going for. But I sober as I say, “This is different though. These are your parents. They’re not looking at me like people at the palace did. They’re looking at me as a companion for their beloved son.”

“You’re amazing, Jess. I’m not merely saying that because I’m crazy about you. You’re smart and sweet and beautiful and generous and genuinely, astonishingly warmhearted. There’s no way they’re not going to love you. The possibility has never even crossed my mind, that’s how impossible it is.”

I melt at his words, but there’s still a flicker of lingering fear. “But are they going to know… Are you going to tell them about how we started? I’m not ashamed of anything, but if they’re rural people, they might not understand. Palace culture, I mean. You didn’t understand what it was all about at first, so they might… I don’t want them to think I’m…” My voice stops working.

He doesn’t reply immediately. He takes a long breath and releases it. “They’re not like that. They’re not what you’re worried about. They’re not going to think any less of you for making a better life for yourself and your family or for doing your job to the best of your ability and with all your heart. A job you believed contributed to the good of the world. And if they do, they’re not the people I’ve always believed them to be, and I’ll react accordingly.”

My inhale is noticeably shaky. “So you’ll be on my side?”

He makes a throaty sound at my breathless question and reaches over to cover both my twisting hands with one of his big ones. “Yes, baby. I’ll always, forever be on your side.”

An hour later, we turn down a well-maintained gravel road that leads to a cabin built on a wooded lot beside a sunny lake.

It’s beautiful. Peaceful. Dappled by sunlight and filled with natural beauty and wildlife.

I had no idea a place like this could exist in this world. Not any longer.

The closest to nature I’ve ever gotten before was on the paved paths through the manicured gardens in the palace complex.

“This is it,” Gabriel says, putting the vehicle in park and squaring his shoulders. “What do you think?”

“It’s the most gorgeous place I’ve ever seen!” I reply with round eyes and a slightly dropped jaw.

“Okay. Good.”

He’s about to get out when a man appears on the front porch of the cabin with a large gun at the ready. He’s got steel-gray hair and has a similar height and frame as Gabriel.

He peers at us for only a couple of seconds before he sets down the gun and takes the porch steps two at a time before he strides toward us in a grinning rush.

Gabriel has barely gotten out of the car before the man I assume is his father grabs him in an exuberant hug. I get out and stand by my passenger door, smiling at the warm greeting.

“Was that someone driving up?” a female voice sounds from behind me.

I turn to see a tall woman approaching from the side of the house. She must have been swimming because her long, braided hair is wet and she’s wearing a swimsuit underneath a light cover-up.

“Who on earth is— Gabe!” Her walk turns into a run as she hurries toward her son to hug him too.

Gabriel is smiling when he finally retrieves himself from his parents’ embrace. I’m still waiting nervously next to the vehicle. He comes around quickly and takes my hand to guide me over to stand in front of his parents.

Despite their gray hair and weathered faces, they’re both still fit and strong and attractive. They’re beaming in a surprised, joyful, laughing way. It’s obvious they both love Gabriel more than anything and had no idea he’d show up here today.

“This is Jess,” Gabriel says, speaking the words as if they’re significant. As if I’m significant. “And these are my parents. My mom is Olivia. And everyone calls my dad Grant.”

“It’s really nice to meet you both,” I say, nervous but managing the best smile I’m capable of. “I hope you don’t mind my tagging along with Gabriel.”

“Mind? I was afraid he’d never find someone to love!” Olivia has scanned me from top to bottom and doesn’t appear to find anything lacking.

“Mom, please,” Gabriel says.

“What? You’re not going to pretend that you don’t love her, are you?”

“Of course I love her,” he mutters, slanting me a look of amused resignation.

“That’s what I thought. I’m just saying it took you long enough.”

“Princess, at least let the boy get in the door before you embarrass him in front of his girl that way.” Grant’s drawl is punctuated by an appealingly clever smile.

“That’s not helping, Dad.” Gabriel slides an arm around me. “I’m sorry about them. Your parents were so kind and courteous. Mine can’t behave themselves to save their life.”

His tone is teasing despite his words, and his expression is filled with real affection.

I laugh, and so do they.

I really, really hope they’re not going to change their tune when they find out who I’ve been for the past year.

“Jess was my partner at the palace.” Gabriel is calmly, casually exploding the looming bomb. For me. So I don’t keep worrying about it. “We fell in love there. Now we’re together for the rest of our lives.”

Because I’m watching her, I see the flicker of recognition on Olivia’s face. She knows what a palace partner is. She knows everything it means.

Her eyebrows pull together as she looks from me to her son. “Did you think we’d have a problem with that? Surely you know us better.” She holds my gaze. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Gabe look so happy. Not since he was a little boy.” She reaches over to pull me into a hug. “I’m so pleased to have you in the family. I hope you both are planning to stay here for a long time.”