A desperate man brought a 90-year-old healer from a remote village to his fading wife, and as soon as she touched her belly, she RECOILED in shock and uttered words that made everyone freeze….

September garden of the Crawford mansion blazed with colors of early Indian summer. Laura sat on a bench under an old apple tree, holding Velimir, who curiously examined the world with his incredible eyes, gray-blue like Veleslava’s but with golden sparks like Laura’s herself. «I got permission for construction,» – John sat nearby, placing a hand on his wife’s shoulder.

«In a year we’ll have a new laboratory on the site of the old wing». Imagine the prospects? Study of psyche and physiology interconnection, influence of ancestral memory on genetic code, self-healing mechanisms. And all thanks to her.

Laura nodded toward the house, where Veleslava had lived in recent weeks, preparing to return to Greenvale. But when they returned to the house, the healer’s room was empty. On the neatly made bed lay a note with a single phrase «Time to return».

She didn’t even say goodbye, John shook his head. Didn’t give us a chance to thank her. She knew we’d go looking for her, – Laura smiled.

And didn’t want long farewells. A week later they indeed went to Greenvale, John, Laura, and little Velimir sweetly sleeping in the cradle. The path seemed familiar, as if they had traveled it many times.

But the cabin on the forest edge met them with a locked door and cooled hearth. Herbs in the garden were neatly tied, as if the hostess had only stepped out briefly, but something suggested – she won’t return. She comes only when needed and leaves having fulfilled her destiny, the old church caretaker told them, still sitting on the bench by the fence.

So it has always been. So it will be henceforth. But who is she? – John asked.

Where is she from? How old is she? The old man smirked with a toothless mouth. Here the boundary between worlds is thinner than anywhere, he repeated the phrase said at their first meeting. Some questions are better not asked, – Crawford.

In the evening, having put Velimir in the cradle brought from New York and set in the guest room of the rural house they rented for a few days, Laura noticed something strange. Under the baby’s pillow lay a small bundle. Unwrapping the linen cloth, she found a wooden amulet, skillfully carved figure resembling both a person and a tree.

On the reverse were carved the same symbols as on Laura’s bracelet, and in the center – a tiny recess filled with something dark like clotted blood. Attached to the amulet was a note written in elegant ancient handwriting. The circle has closed.

«Keep the gift of life!» Laura showed the find to John, and they sat long on the veranda of the rural house, listening to night forest sounds and their son’s quiet breathing, in which now flowed the blood of many Crawford generations, blood keeping the gift of life. «You know,» – Laura said thoughtfully, looking at the stars, incredibly bright away from city lights, «when I was. There, between worlds, I saw something.

Can’t describe in words, but felt as if something ancient and wise protected us. Something that existed long before us and will exist after». John hugged her, pressing close, warm, alive, real.

«Perhaps that’s immortality,» – he whispered. «Not eternal life of one person, but an endless chain of generations passing not only genes but memory, love, strength». And the gift, – Laura added, clutching the wooden amulet in her hand.

«The gift to see more, feel deeper, love stronger». From the cradle came Velimir’s quiet cooing, as if he agreed with his mother, already understanding what heritage he was to keep and pass on, through time, through trials, through doubts. The secret of immortality turned out simpler and more complex than one could imagine.

To live in the hearts of those who come after you, passing not just genes, but the gift. To see the invisible, believe in the impossible, and never surrender to death. The Crawford family story ended, but the echo of their choice continues to resonate.

In a world where rational and intuitive eternally struggle for our attention, John made a choice that many will find reckless – to believe in the impossible, to give up power and wealth for family, to go against the current for love.