Epilogue
Twenty years later.
She heard him approach from behind even before he put his arms around her waist. She wasn't surprised he knew where to look for her. This was a place that would always call to her. And now that they were leaving, maybe for a very long time, he'd know that she'd want to say good-bye.
"You almost ready?" he asked softly. Kissing the top of her hair. There was no impatience or censure in his voice. He was just trying to distract her from the pain he knew she felt whenever she visited this place. Because, for all it's being her favorite spot, it was still a site that caused her pain.
She nodded her head then reached to the top of the tombstone to place the two stones she held in her hand. Kissing her fingertips, she touched them lightly to the names engraved in the marble.
ZARIFA AND RICHARD FARMER
BELOVED PARENTS
DEVOTED FRIENDS
BELIEVERS IN REDEMPTION
Imam and Audrey had insisted on adding the last line. It wasn't until many months later that Zarabeth knew why.
It had been over a year since their deaths. And if there was acceptance and happiness in her heart that they'd had both found peace in death together, there was also a gnawing pain that she suspected would lighten, but never entirely disappear.
How could there be when the memories of her life before their death had been so happy while of their demise was something she would never remember without a deep stab in her heart? Both killed instantly when in a freak accident, their transport had flipped in a storm on the way back from town. The family had found them the next day when the morning had come and their bed found to be empty. Imam had been sure they had stayed the night in town due to the storm. But Zarabeth had known there was something wrong. The empty spot in heart becoming a chasm at the first sight of the wreckage.
She'd broken down when she saw the bodies. Lost to black, heavy, oily pain on knowing that her beautiful mother and strong father would never be a part of her life ever again. At least they had been together at the end.
She hadn't been the only one affected. Imam, who before was a young seventy-two, had aged into an old man overnight. Walking with a stooped shuffle and dead eyes when previously he'd been a strong-backed farm worker and faithful holy man. Aunt Audrey had been devastated. Crying so hard she had made herself retch. Hill had been forced to sedate her. And Hill...Hill had been stoically quiet. All his emotions had been shoved down deep. He'd tried to emulate the man he'd most admired. Richard Farmer would've never cried or broken when unbearable pain was unleashed. He could only pay homage to the man who'd been his hero by doing the same. Concentrating his energy into taking care of his daughter and the rest of the family.
Before the accident, he'd been something of a slacker. He, and the woman he'd always thought of as his mother, Audrey, had moved into town just a year before for Audrey's short lived marriage to his now dead step-father. He'd reveled in the lack of hard work, only having to worry about his job a bartender and partier.
Overnight he'd become a man. Making arrangements for the burial, taking over the day-to-day running of the farm, taking care of Zarabeth and the others...it hadn't come easy. But he realized that there was no one else to do it.
One good thing had come out of the tragedy. His eyes had been opened where Zarabeth was concerned. Where before he'd always seen her as either a pesky little brat, then as an unsophisticated farm girl, he now started to see her as a woman. A woman who needed him. A woman who made him feel like being a man like her father. A strong man, a dependable man. A man who loved his woman with all his heart.
They had married two months ago. He hoped Zar and Richard would've approved and had silently asked for their blessing on his wedding night as he held their sleeping daughter in his arms. He promised them that he wold always be there for her, even unto death. Zarabeth had snuggled closer and smiled in her sleep. He took it as a sign that her parents were okay with it.
They probably would've stayed on the farm forever if Zarabeth hadn't received a vid-letter addressed to her mother from someone on Jessup 2. It seemed a man, on his death bed, had demanded his son find a Zarifa Cholena-Arnett. His father had helped her flee the farm after some sort of deadly incident at her and her husbands place. Part of their very valuable land belonged to her. His father had been keeping it in trust for her for over twenty years. Hoping she would come back one day. As he lay dying, he made his son promise to find her or her heirs. His son, being a religious man, had agreed and was glad his father went to his death with peace of mind.
It had taken a lot of money and over seven years to find her, but he finally did.
Zarabeth had been stunned. Neither her mother nor her father talked about their pasts. Period. Aunt Audrey and Uncle Imam had made vague references occasionally, but nothing concrete.
The time for secrecy was past. Both were dead and could not be hurt by the truth coming out.
She asked for the truth from Audrey. Audrey, understanding the young woman's need for clarity, had given it her. No holds barred. Only holding back Hill's true origins. Knowing he wasn't ready to hear the complete truth yet.
Zarabeth had sat dazed after Audrey finished. Trying to reconcile the man she new as the most loving and devoted father and husband in the world with the still notorious psychopath Richard B. Riddick. She couldn't get the Audrey had described to equal the man she knew. She remembered how gently and respectfully he had treated her mother and herself. But know she was supposed to believe he'd been a rapist and murderer?!
Even worse was her mother's early history of victimization by violent men and mercenaries. How she had been forced to kill to protect Richard, much he had killed to protect her. And how Zarabeth had been used as an instrument in her torture and temporary, but horrifying, separation from Richard.
No wonder Uncle Imam had always preached that people can change for the better. He had seen first hand how one of the most dangerous and vilified men in the known galaxy had become a loving husband and father.
When she finally got her breath and composure back, she felt very proud of both her parents. Of what they had made of themselves and for what they had made for her and the rest of the family.
She and Hill had talked about it and decided to go see the property on Jessup 2. She wanted to see the place where the sequence of events had started her mother's course to intersect with her father's.
Audrey and Imam would look out after the farm and each other while Hill and Zarabeth were gone. Help from town would just be a call away to some of Hill's school buddies.
Today was the day. She was afraid of what else she would learn. Of where she was really from. But something was pushing her to go. She knew her parents would understand.
"We're going to miss the shuttle if we don't get going, love."
Hill rested his chin on her shoulder. His chest was a solid strength against her back, his arms secure around her waist. He rocked her gently as a mother would rock it's upset child. She was so lucky to have him. Her knight in shining armor. A dark haired, dark eyed, tall, lean man with a wide smile you saw little of. But when he did...oh my! He was her one constant in a world turned upside down.
Tears ran softly down her face as she nodded.
"Bye, Mama. Bye, Daddy. I know you're together and watching over all of us. Keep an eye on Aunt Audrey and Uncle Imam for me.
Wish us luck."
