{"id":310,"date":"2022-03-06T23:06:32","date_gmt":"2022-03-07T04:06:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/fanworks\/?page_id=310"},"modified":"2024-03-24T11:17:13","modified_gmt":"2024-03-24T15:17:13","slug":"a-promise-kept","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/fanworks\/read-online\/a-promise-kept\/","title":{"rendered":"A Promise Kept"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>\r\n@media screen and (min-width: 768px) {\r\n  .su-tabs-nav {\r\n    display: flex;\r\n  }\r\n  .su-tabs-nav span {\r\n    flex-basis: 100%;\r\n    text-align: center;\r\n  }\r\n  .su-tabs-nav span:last-child {\r\n    margin-right: 0;\r\n  }\r\n}\r\n<\/style>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"su-tabs su-tabs-style-default su-tabs-mobile-scroll\" data-active=\"1\" data-scroll-offset=\"0\" data-anchor-in-url=\"yes\"><div class=\"su-tabs-nav\"><span class=\" tabmoji-cover\" data-anchor=\"cover\" data-url=\"\" data-target=\"blank\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\">&nbsp;&nbsp;Cover<\/span><span class=\" tabmoji-pubdata\" data-anchor=\"pubdata\" data-url=\"\" data-target=\"blank\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\">&nbsp;&nbsp;Publication Data<\/span><span class=\" tabmoji-story\" data-anchor=\"the-story\" data-url=\"\" data-target=\"blank\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\">&nbsp;&nbsp;The Story<\/span><\/div><div class=\"su-tabs-panes\"><div class=\"su-tabs-pane su-u-clearfix su-u-trim tabmoji-cover\" data-title=\"&nbsp;&nbsp;Cover\">\r\n<div style=\"margin-bottom:20px;\">\r\n<div class='content-column one_half'><span data-post-id=\"4127\" class=\"insert-page insert-page-4127 \"><p style=\"text-align: left; margin-bottom: 0;\">&nbsp;<\/p><\/span><\/div>\r\n<div class='content-column one_half last_column'><span data-post-id=\"4059\" class=\"insert-page insert-page-4059 \"><p style=\"text-align: right; margin-bottom: 0;\"><a href=\"#pubdata\">Publication Data \u00bb<\/a><\/p><\/span><\/div><div class='clear_column'><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\">\r\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/fanworks\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/A-Promise-Kept.png\" alt=\"Cover art for A Promise Kept by Ardath Rekha\" align=\"center\" style=\"width:100%\" customlink=\"false\" \/>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div style=\"margin-top: 20px;\">\r\n<div class='content-column one_half'><span data-post-id=\"4127\" class=\"insert-page insert-page-4127 \"><p style=\"text-align: left; margin-bottom: 0;\">&nbsp;<\/p><\/span><\/div>\r\n<div class='content-column one_half last_column'><span data-post-id=\"4059\" class=\"insert-page insert-page-4059 \"><p style=\"text-align: right; margin-bottom: 0;\"><a href=\"#pubdata\">Publication Data \u00bb<\/a><\/p><\/span><\/div><div class='clear_column'><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"su-tabs-pane su-u-clearfix su-u-trim tabmoji-pubdata\" data-title=\"&nbsp;&nbsp;Publication Data\">\r\n<div style=\"margin-bottom:20px;\">\r\n<div class='content-column one_half'><span data-post-id=\"3995\" class=\"insert-page insert-page-3995 \"><p style=\"text-align: left; margin-bottom: 0;\"><a href=\"#cover\">\u00ab Cover&nbsp;<\/a><\/p><\/span><\/div>\r\n<div class='content-column one_half last_column'><span data-post-id=\"4062\" class=\"insert-page insert-page-4062 \"><p style=\"text-align: right; margin-bottom: 0;\"><a href=\"#the-story\">The Story \u00bb<\/a><\/p><\/span><\/div><div class='clear_column'><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<span data-post-id=\"318\" class=\"insert-page insert-page-318 \">  <h2 style=\"text-align: center;\"><b><u>A Promise Kept<\/u><\/b><\/h2>\r\n\r\n  <h4 style=\"text-align: center; margin-bottom: 30px;\">By Ardath Rekha<\/h4>\r\n\r\n<span data-post-id=\"4470\" class=\"insert-page insert-page-4470 \"><p><b>Synopsis:<\/b> Dylan Johns made a promise to Elena Morales that went unkept\u2026 or did it?<\/p><\/span>\r\n\r\n<div class='content-column one_half last_column'><p><b>Fandom:<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/fanworks\/browse-by-fandom\/#misc\"><i>Poseidon<\/i> (2006)<\/a><\/div><div class='clear_column'><\/div>\r\n\r\n<div class='content-column one_half'><p><b>Series:<\/b> None<\/div>\r\n\r\n<div class='content-column one_half last_column'><p><b>Challenges:<\/b> None<\/div><div class='clear_column'><\/div>\r\n\r\n<div class='content-column one_half'><p><b>Rating:<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/fanworks\/browse-by-rating\/#rated-t\">T<\/a><\/div>\r\n\r\n<div class='content-column one_half last_column'><p><b>Orientation:<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/fanworks\/browse-by-orientation\/#gen\">Gen<\/a><\/div><div class='clear_column'><\/div>\r\n\r\n<div class='content-column one_half'><p><b>Pairings:<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/fanworks\/browse-by-pairing\/#no-pairings\">None<\/a><\/div>\r\n\r\n<div class='content-column one_half last_column'><p><b>Warning:<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/fanworks\/the-content-warning-system\/#adult-situations\">Adult Situations<\/a><\/div><div class='clear_column'><\/div>\r\n\r\n<div class='content-column one_half'><p><b>Number of Chapters:<\/b> 1 \r\n\r\n<p><b>Net Word Count:<\/b><span id=\"su_tooltip_6a32c6f45fc93_button\" class=\"su-tooltip-button su-tooltip-button-outline-yes\" aria-describedby=\"su_tooltip_6a32c6f45fc93\" data-settings='{\"position\":\"top\",\"behavior\":\"hover\",\"hideDelay\":0}' tabindex=\"0\"><sup><i class=\"fas fa-question-circle\" style=\"color:#243a68;\"><\/i><\/sup><\/span><span style=\"display:none;z-index:100\" id=\"su_tooltip_6a32c6f45fc93\" class=\"su-tooltip\" role=\"tooltip\"><span class=\"su-tooltip-inner su-tooltip-shadow-yes\" style=\"z-index:100;background:linear-gradient(to bottom, #4474BE 0%, #243a68 100%);color:#D9ECFB;font-size:16px;border-radius:5px;text-align:left;max-width:300px;line-height:1.25\"><span class=\"su-tooltip-title\"><\/span><span class=\"su-tooltip-content su-u-trim\">In the Read Online section, net word counts exclude cover pages, publication data pages, tables of contents, chapter titles, page links, original post date medatata, and \u2014 in the case of Lyric Wheel stories \u2014 song information and lyrics. In the case of articles, contextual notations are also omitted. Afterwords and chapter notes are treated as part of a text\u2019s overall body.<\/span><\/span><span id=\"su_tooltip_6a32c6f45fc93_arrow\" class=\"su-tooltip-arrow\" style=\"z-index:100;background:linear-gradient(to bottom, #4474BE 0%, #243a68 100%)\" data-popper-arrow><\/span><\/span> 1,590\r\n\r\n<p><b>Total Word Count:<\/b><span id=\"su_tooltip_6a32c6f460207_button\" class=\"su-tooltip-button su-tooltip-button-outline-yes\" aria-describedby=\"su_tooltip_6a32c6f460207\" data-settings='{\"position\":\"top\",\"behavior\":\"hover\",\"hideDelay\":0}' tabindex=\"0\"><sup><i class=\"fas fa-question-circle\" style=\"color:#243a68;\"><\/i><\/sup><\/span><span style=\"display:none;z-index:100\" id=\"su_tooltip_6a32c6f460207\" class=\"su-tooltip\" role=\"tooltip\"><span class=\"su-tooltip-inner su-tooltip-shadow-yes\" style=\"z-index:100;background:linear-gradient(to bottom, #4474BE 0%, #243a68 100%);color:#D9ECFB;font-size:16px;border-radius:5px;text-align:left;max-width:300px;line-height:1.25\"><span class=\"su-tooltip-title\"><\/span><span class=\"su-tooltip-content su-u-trim\">In the Read Online section, total word counts include all text present in the story tabs, excluding forward\/back page links and tooltips. This count tends to be slightly different from the eBook Total Word Count reported on the title page.<\/span><\/span><span id=\"su_tooltip_6a32c6f460207_arrow\" class=\"su-tooltip-arrow\" style=\"z-index:100;background:linear-gradient(to bottom, #4474BE 0%, #243a68 100%)\" data-popper-arrow><\/span><\/span> 1,847\r\n\r\n<p><b>Story Length:<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/fanworks\/browse-by-story-length\/#short-story\">Short Story<\/a><\/div>\r\n\r\n<div class='content-column one_half last_column'><p><b>First Posted:<\/b> May 23, 2006\r\n\r\n<p><b>Last Updated:<\/b> May 23, 2006\r\n\r\n<p><b>Status:<\/b> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/fanworks\/browse-by-status\/#complete\">Complete<\/a><\/div><div class='clear_column'><\/div>\r\n\r\n<span data-post-id=\"4423\" class=\"insert-page insert-page-4423 \"><p><small>The characters and events of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0409182\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Poseidon<\/i><\/a> are &copy; 2006 Warner Bros. Pictures, Virtual Studios, Irwin Allen Productions, Next Entertainment, Radiant Productions, and Synthesis Entertainment; Directed by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0000583\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Wolfgang Petersen<\/a>; Screenplay by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0698873\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mark Protosevich<\/a>; Based on <i><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Poseidon_Adventure_(novel)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Poseidon Adventure<\/a><\/i> by <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Paul_Gallico\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Paul Gallico<\/a>; Produced by Wolfgang Petersen, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0376416\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Duncan Henderson<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm1153907\/\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Mike Fleiss<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0326040\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Akiva Goldsman<\/a>. This work of fan fiction is a transformative work for entertainment purposes only, with no claims on, nor intent to infringe upon, the rights of the parties listed above. All additional characters and situations are the creation of, and remain the property of, Ardath Rekha. eBook design and cover art by <a href=\"https:\/\/laraklaber.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LaraRebooted<\/a>, derived from a <i>Poseidon<\/i> publicity still of actress <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/name\/nm0535502\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">M\u00eda Maestro<\/a>, the <a href=\"https:\/\/blogfonts.com\/maitree.font\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Maitree<\/a> font from <a href=\"https:\/\/blogfonts.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">BlogFonts<\/a>, and background graphics &copy; 1998 Noel Mollon, adapted and licensed via Teri Williams Carnright from the now-retired Fantasyland Graphics site (c. 2003). This eBook may not be sold or advertised for sale. If you are a copyright holder of any of the referenced works, and believe that part or all of this eBook exceeds fair use practices under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/contact-me\/\">please contact Ardath Rekha<\/a>.<\/small><\/p><p style=\"text-align: right; margin-bottom: 0;\"><small><i>Rev. 2022.10.09<\/i><\/small><\/p><\/span><\/span>\r\n<div style=\"margin-top: 20px;\">\r\n<div class='content-column one_half'><span data-post-id=\"3995\" class=\"insert-page insert-page-3995 \"><p style=\"text-align: left; margin-bottom: 0;\"><a href=\"#cover\">\u00ab Cover&nbsp;<\/a><\/p><\/span><\/div>\r\n<div class='content-column one_half last_column'><span data-post-id=\"4062\" class=\"insert-page insert-page-4062 \"><p style=\"text-align: right; margin-bottom: 0;\"><a href=\"#the-story\">The Story \u00bb<\/a><\/p><\/span><\/div><div class='clear_column'><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"su-tabs-pane su-u-clearfix su-u-trim tabmoji-story\" data-title=\"&nbsp;&nbsp;The Story\">\r\n<div style=\"margin-bottom:20px;\">\r\n<div class='content-column one_half'><span data-post-id=\"3996\" class=\"insert-page insert-page-3996 \"><p style=\"text-align: left; margin-bottom: 0;\"><a href=\"#pubdata\">\u00ab Publication Data<\/a><\/p><\/span><\/div>\r\n<div class='content-column one_half last_column'><span data-post-id=\"4127\" class=\"insert-page insert-page-4127 \"><p style=\"text-align: left; margin-bottom: 0;\">&nbsp;<\/p><\/span><\/div><div class='clear_column'><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<span data-post-id=\"323\" class=\"insert-page insert-page-323 \">  <h2 style=\"text-align: center; margin-bottom: 20px;\"><u><b>A Promise Kept<\/b><\/u><\/h2>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">The day was cold, wet, and windy as Dylan made his way towards the entrance of St. Luke\u2019s.  It was his last stop before he\u2019d have to give up.  He\u2019d checked every other hospital in New York City already, with absolutely no luck; if this one didn\u2019t pan out, he had nowhere else to go.<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">It would have been easier if Morales weren\u2019t such a common last name in the Spanish-speaking community; asking about a young man with that last name was like asking if anyone named \u201cJohnson\u201d happened to be staying in the hospital.  It would have been easier still if he had a <i>first<\/i> name to go with it, but Elena had never said it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">And of course, it would have been easier altogether if Elena Morales hadn\u2019t been a <i>stowaway.<\/i><\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">He pushed into the shelter of the hospital lobby and shrugged out of his coat.  He never felt comfortable in it.  Olympus Cruises, the owners of the <i>Poseidon,<\/i> had put him and the others up in a fancy Manhattan hotel, providing them with clothes and meals and <i>counseling<\/i> while everything got sorted out, but none of it was very comfortable for him.  He wasn\u2019t sure why, but it felt to him like his clothes wouldn\u2019t fit well, and food wouldn\u2019t taste right, until this was done.<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">Until he kept his promise to Elena, however he could.<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">Thinking about her was frequently painful.  She\u2019d been so innocent, and so afraid and  \u2013 as much as he\u2019d <i>had<\/i> to at the time  \u2013 he regretted shouting at her.  Claustrophobia was something he\u2019d never experienced, himself, not even after weeks at a time on a cramped submarine, but he knew how brave she\u2019d had to be, how brave she\u2019d <i>been.<\/i>  Among his many regrets was that he never got to tell her he knew that.<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\"><i>Just gave her one kiss,<\/i> he mused.  <i>And a promise that can never really be kept.<\/i><\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">He missed her.  He hadn\u2019t really gotten to know her well, but he missed her, and he wished he could have known her better.  She\u2019d intrigued him from the moment they met, from the moment he realized what she had to be.<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\"><i>\u201cI\u2019m not so much of a rules person,\u201d<\/i> she\u2019d said, even as he was noticing the comparatively shabby clothing she wore, completely unlike the things the privileged young women on the cruise would wear.  It had only taken a few questions to confirm his suspicions.  And she\u2019d intrigued him.<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">He\u2019d been moving from cruise to cruise, and ship to ship, for months, and actually <i>interesting<\/i> women were remarkably rare.  Meeting one who had an agenda <i>other<\/i> than making the ship her personal Love Boat was unusual enough that those were the only ones he even <i>noticed<\/i> anymore.  She\u2019d been a bit <i>young<\/i> for his tastes, and in fact he\u2019d swiftly come to think of her as a little sister, <nobr>but\u2026<\/nobr><\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">She\u2019d been a kindred outlaw spirit and he missed her.  He\u2019d <i>failed<\/i> her.<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">Sometimes at night he woke up, his heart pounding, her voice tearfully echoing in his ears.  <i>\u201cI\u2019m gonna <nobr>die\u2026<\/nobr> I\u2019m gonna <nobr>die\u2026\u201d<\/nobr><\/i>  He\u2019d reach up as though maybe, if he could somehow catch her before she vanished, grab hold of her, he could pull her back into the world of the living.  Then the last mists of sleep would clear away and he was left knowing that she was <nobr>gone\u2026<\/nobr> that she\u2019d died exactly the way she\u2019d feared she would.  Trapped, <nobr>enclosed\u2026<\/nobr> and alone.  He hadn\u2019t managed to bring himself to speak of it to the counselor.  Not of that, and definitely not of Valentin.  Some things couldn\u2019t be said; simply had to be borne, and borne to the grave.<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">Putting his expensive but strangely ill-fitting new coat over his arm, Dylan walked over to the main desk.  The woman on duty looked tired and annoyed; a definite minus given how many blanks she might have to fill in for him in order to get him any useful information.  He gave her his most charming smile.<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">\u201cYes, I was wondering if you could help me.  I\u2019m looking for a young man, last name Morales, who I think might be a patient here.  I know that\u2019s not a lot of <nobr>information\u2026<\/nobr> he\u2019s in his teens, or maybe his early twenties.  All I really know about him is that he\u2019s sick, he\u2019s in a New York City hospital, and he has an older sister named Elena <nobr>who\u2026<\/nobr> asked me to give him a message.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">The woman  \u2013 Ms. Stowe, according to her name-tag  \u2013 actually listened to his whole spiel without interrupting, but her brows slowly rose up.  \u201cAnd she never told you his name?\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">\u201cShe didn\u2019t have time.  <nobr>This\u2026\u201d<\/nobr>  He swallowed and took the plunge.  The headlines had been full of the tragedy for the last two weeks.  \u201cThis was on board the <i>Poseidon.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">Ms. Stowe stared at him.  \u201cI <i>thought<\/i> you looked familiar.  You were on the TV.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">There\u2019d been a time, when he was younger, when he\u2019d thought that being on TV, having people know his name and face, would be amazing.  Now the thought just left a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.  <nobr>\u201cYeah\u2026\u201d<\/nobr><\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">\u201cYou had that cute little boy.  Is that your son?\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">Now <i>there<\/i> was something that didn\u2019t make him feel ill.  Conor and Maggie had become his light.  He shook his head, but a hint of a <i>real<\/i> smile  \u2013 the first of the <i>day<\/i>  \u2013 crept over his lips.  \u201cIf I\u2019m lucky, he might be someday.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">Ms. Stowe began typing something into her computer.  \u201cWell, let\u2019s see what we have in here, okay?  Morales, right?  <nobr>Hmmmmm\u2026\u201d<\/nobr><\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">He waited, hoping.<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">\u201cNo, he\u2019s too <nobr>old\u2026<\/nobr> let\u2019s <nobr>see\u2026<\/nobr> still too old.  Maybe her brother\u2019s already checked out.  It\u2019s been two weeks, hasn\u2019t it?  Let\u2019s go back and <nobr>look\u2026\u201d<\/nobr><\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">Dylan felt a strange relief move through him.  It had taken lots of smooth-talking to get most of the other hospitals to look back at discharged patients for him.  <i>Maybe I should\u2019ve traded on the sinking\u2019s notoriety sooner,<\/i> he thought, and promptly felt a little queasy.<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">When she looked up with a sad expression, for a moment, he thought she hadn\u2019t found anything at all.<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">\u201cI\u2019m sorry, <nobr>Mr\u2026?\u201d<\/nobr><\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">\u201cJohns.\u201d  What the hell was he going to do now?  How could the kid have been in <i>none<\/i> of the New York City hospitals?<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">\u201cWe had a nineteen-year-old Manuel Morales here, from December sixteenth to the thirty-first, <nobr>but\u2026<\/nobr> <nobr>well\u2026\u201d<\/nobr>  Ms. Stowe swallowed.  \u201cHe was being treated for Non-Hodgkin\u2019s Lymphoma, <nobr>and\u2026<\/nobr> I\u2019m afraid he didn\u2019t make it.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">At first her words were just that: words, with little meaning.  Just information.  Then the full impact of what she was telling him struck him like the wave all over again.  He clutched hard at the counter, his knuckles turning white, as his legs threatened to buckle on him the way they had when he realized Elena was dead.<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">Her brother was dead, too.  Manuel <nobr>Morales\u2026<\/nobr><\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\"><i>\u201cHe was always so <nobr>small\u2026\u201d<\/nobr><\/i>  A voice he\u2019d never <i>really<\/i> hear again seemed to sob that in his ear one more time.<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">\u201cDid\u2026\u201d  His voice cracked on the words.  \u201cDid he have family?  Someone I can contact, maybe?\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">\u201cYes, his parents.\u201d  For a moment Ms. Stowe hesitated.  Then she picked up a pad and scribbled something down on it.  Tearing off the page, she folded it and handed it to him.  \u201cI never gave you this.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">Somehow that managed to make his mouth quirk into something almost like a smile.  \u201cNo, you never did.  Thank you for your help, though.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">\u201cYou\u2019re welcome, Mr. Johns.  I\u2019m sorry I couldn\u2019t give you better news.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">\u201cIt\u2019s okay.\u201d  He almost walked away at that point.  He was starting to, when he felt a jet of cold move through him and he turned around again.  \u201cDid you say he died on New Years <i>Eve?\u201d<\/i><\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">Ms. Stowe glanced at the screen again and nodded.  \u201cYes, that\u2019s right.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">His mouth was dry.  It wasn\u2019t possible, was it?  \u201cWhat <i>time?<\/i>  Does it say?\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">\u201cUm\u2026\u201d  She tapped several more keys.  \u201cEleven-thirty p.m.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\"><i>My God.<\/i><\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">\u201cThank you,\u201d he managed after a moment.  \u201cAgain.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">Dylan didn\u2019t even try to make it to the door.  He sat down in one of the lobby chairs, staring at the folded paper in his shaking hand, feeling an odd, superstitious dread move through him.  Fate played some cruel <nobr>games\u2026<\/nobr> and had a knife-sharp sense of humor sometimes.<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">Until it was cut short, the itinerary of the London-to-New York leg of the cruise had been a week long with a stop in San Sebasti\u00e1n, where Elena had probably come aboard.  Once the ship had headed into the transatlantic crossing they\u2019d begun to drop through time zones.  Every morning at two, the crew of the <i>Poseidon<\/i> had reset the ship clocks, dropping back another hour.  Ships\u2019 passengers suffered very little \u201cjet lag\u201d for that reason.  They\u2019d still been more than a day and a half away from New York City, and two time zones ahead, when the wave struck.<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">Manuel Morales had died at eleven-thirty, New York time, but it had been one-thirty on the ship.  Right when they\u2019d been crawling through the air vent.  Right when he\u2019d been making his promise to Elena, the promise that he thought had gone unkept, that she would see her little brother again.<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">But it <i>had<\/i> been kept; he just hadn\u2019t known it.  Half an hour later, she\u2019d <i>joined<\/i> him.<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">It was a cold, cruel comfort indeed.<\/p>\r\n\r\n  <p style=\"text-indent:.25in; margin-bottom: 0;\">As he pocketed the paper Ms. Stowe had given him, he hoped that  \u2013 in time  \u2013 it would be comfort enough.<\/p><\/span>\r\n<div style=\"margin-top: 20px;\">\r\n<div class='content-column one_half'><span data-post-id=\"3996\" class=\"insert-page insert-page-3996 \"><p style=\"text-align: left; margin-bottom: 0;\"><a href=\"#pubdata\">\u00ab Publication Data<\/a><\/p><\/span><\/div>\r\n<div class='content-column one_half last_column'><span data-post-id=\"4127\" class=\"insert-page insert-page-4127 \"><p style=\"text-align: left; margin-bottom: 0;\">&nbsp;<\/p><\/span><\/div><div class='clear_column'><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n<div align=\"center\" class=\"button\" style=\"margin-top: 10px;\">\r\n<a class=\"button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/fanworks\/fan-fiction\/a-promise-kept\/\">Return to the Title Page<\/a>\r\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Return to the Title Page","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":308,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"bgseo_title":"Read Online: \u201cA Promise Kept\u201d by Ardath Rekha","bgseo_description":"Dylan Johns made a promise to Elena Morales that went unkept\u2026 or did it?","bgseo_robots_index":"index","bgseo_robots_follow":"follow","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-310","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","no-wpautop"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/fanworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/fanworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/fanworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/fanworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/fanworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/fanworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4935,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/fanworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/310\/revisions\/4935"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/fanworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ardath-rekha.com\/fanworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}