Neve managed to laugh and shook her head slowly. “If I had an answer, I wouldn’t be asking the question.” She sobered after a moment. “I wish I had an answer, Marin. I wish we had an answer.”
Marin sighed. “If I see something, I’ll tell you. I’m not—” She faltered. “I almost hope I don’t, Neve.”
That’s a surprising confession. Neve frowned slightly, then looked around. She drew Marin out into the fading light of day, away from the tents a little ways. “Why?” she asked in a soft voice.
Her friend swallowed hard, wringing her hands. “A lot of things,” Marin said after a long moment. “They’ve been strange lately. Some of them I can’t remember. So many…” Her gaze met Neve’s and she was surprised to see Marin’s gaze so haunted. “I keep seeing them, Neve. Our children. I keep seeing them, but we’re not there.” She covered her mouth with her hand. “I see them as teenagers, together, here and not here, and we’re not with them.”
Her stomach twisted. Be strong, Neve. You knew that someday they might be without you, without Cameron—without all of you—but they’ll be fine. You know that, too. “You told me yourself that it would be okay.”
Marin shut her eyes, tears glittering along her lashes. “I know,” she whispered. “Gods, I know that, Neve, I know what I said and I know what I saw but that doesn’t make it much easier, does it? And everything—and—Neve, nothing’s set in stone.”
“Some things are certain,” Neve said, then drew Marin into a tight hug, squeezing her tightly. “Some things are certain, Mar, you know that as well as I do, too. Everything’s going to be okay. We’ll get through—no matter what, we’ll get through.”
We don’t have any other choice.
Doesn’t Marin have a vision of her and David going off on a trip? I don’t understand why she’s surprised that she isn’t in her kid’s teenage visions.
It’s not that she’s surprised–she’s acknowledged the visions she’s had of she and Thom leaving–it’s that she’s DISTRESSED by the fact that they won’t be there. It’s upsetting to her.
That makes more sense. You might want to tweak the wording a bit here or in the next piece to make that more clear.
I might not have known enough to be confused if I hadn’t recently powered through your previous chapters.