“Hello Anna,” Lila said. “I am so glad to see that you made it back here safely. I know that you think I did not care for you in the other world. That was my job. I was there to watch over you and make sure that you were safe and that you had what you needed to survive. I was not to give you physical love and attention and I was to let you discover the other world on your own. You need to know that when you were in trouble, I was there for you. The day that you fell on the rocks, I was the one to carry you to the hospital.”
Anna stared at her and remembered that day. But the person who carried her to the hospital was a man.
“Yes,” Lila said knowing what Anna was thinking. “It was me disguised as a man. You see one of my gifts is to change my appearance so that I can better watch over my charges in the other world. It is a difficult task to be there, but to appear as if I do not care. But that was my life’s work; to protect the little ones during their time in the other world and help them to see the hardness of life so that they can appreciate the goodness when they are ready to go back.
“You were my most difficult case. You were so small and so sweet. For a long time you tried to crack my hard shell. How I wanted to take you in my arms and hold you each night so that you would sleep. When you did sleep, I would remind you of your family here and tell you the stories that your parent’s had told you. It was the only thing that I could do.
“I hope that you can understand my role in your childhood. I hope that we can become friends and spend time together here.”
As Anna listened to Lila’s story she could remember all the times that someone had been there for her when she most needed it. She knew that while Lila was teaching the school children, she was teaching her too. When she got lost one day there was a woman who helped her find her way home. She remembered dreaming about this place; the lake, the clearing where they ate, the little wooden house. She knew that everything that Lila said was true and that even though she never held her, or gave her much clothing, that she had loved and cared for her over the years.
Anna looked at Lila, she looked at Rembrandt and Alana and she could see that they were waiting for her to decide. It was her choice. She swam over to Lila and gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek.
“I’m sorry that you have had such a hard life,” Anna began. “I would like to be friends. You need to be loved now, too.”
There in the lake, Anna, Lila, Alana, and Rembrandt came together. Their skin glowed golden with joy and love. The butterflies flitted from flower to flower, the dragonflies and damsel flies flew around the lake and the birds joined together singing a beautiful tune.
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