And Around We Go by untapdtreasure

[Reviews - 0]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer

- Text Size +

Devon had been looking for Uly and had found True instead. She sat down beside her, watching their breaths steam out in front of them. Her cheeks had turned a rosy shade of pink that she was certain was from more than the cold. “So, True, did your Dad talk to you?”

True rolled her eyes a bit and let out a huff. “So you two are like together now? Like Alonzo and Julia?” She refused to look at Devon and played with a string that hung off her over-sized gloves.

Her frankness put Devon at ease. She’d never been one for sugarcoating. She gave a slight nod. “Yes, True. I care very much about John. And you.” She put her arm around the girl.

True shot up onto her feet and turned to glare at her. “You are not my mother so don’t go actin’ like you are. I don’t have to listen to you or mind you or anything. Got that?”

"True Eleanor Danziger, you watch your mouth, hear me?" John’s voice boomed around them.

Devon and True both jumped and turned to look at him. True then screwed up her face, almost as if she were about to cry and bolted toward the biodome.

When John started after her, Devon tugged at his elbow. “Give her some space. She’s handled a lot since we crashed here. Sharing her Dad isn’t something she’s used to, right?” She met his eyes when he finally turned to look at her. “And now she not only has to share you with me, but Uly, too. It’s got to be tough.”

John relaxed his stance, moving so he was facing her, but he didn’t reach out and touch her. “I thought she was okay when I let her leave me awhile ago. Guess I misread the signs.” He ran his fingers through his tangled blond curls and sighed. “How ‘bout Uly?”

She shook her head. “Can’t find him. Thought he was outside, but he must have went back inside…” Her eyes widened as she cut over to where the door of the biodome had opened and Uly stepped out. She took a deep breath. The look on his face was telling. True had told him at least her version of events. And he looked confused more than upset.

John watched the boy as he moved closer. He started to walk away, give the mother and son space to talk, but her hand gripped his elbow again. “Maybe we should have done it all together. Stay. Please?”

- -

Devon’s hands were clammy as Uly had finally returned outside to play. She and John had sat down with him, answering all his questions, and she was sure that he was at a good place with everything. She let out a soft breath and met John’s eyes as he sat across from her. “True’ll come around.”

He gave her a slight nod. He knew how stubborn his daughter could be. She got that quality from her mother, but he knew she didn’t hate Devon or Uly. She needed time and space to deal with her feelings. “I just have to help her see that she’s not losing anything. That she’s gaining a mother and a kid brother…”

She stood up, eyes still locked on him, and moved to where he sat. She touched his shoulder gently. “I want that. To be her mother or like a mother, but I want her to know more about her real mother, too. I think she would, too.”

John turned then, spreading his legs and pulling Devon between them. He held her hips as he guided her to sit on his lap. “There’s so much I can’t answer, Devon. We didn’t know each other. Not really. She didn’t even tell me ‘bout True herself. It took the accident for me to find out.”

She relaxed against him. Her hand moved gently through his untamed curls as she let out a soft sigh. Her eyes closed halfway and then she whispered, “She’s a good girl, John. And she loves you so much. I won’t force myself on her. I’ll take it slow. Right now, I can’t ask for more than her friendship. I just hope she wants it.”

He hugged her before tipping her chin back to meet her eyes. His mouth parted and fell upon hers in a soft, sensual kiss that warmed him all the way to his frozen toes. He pulled back, slightly breathless. “Sure we can both be patient.”

She answered by kissing him again. “I’m not going to let you go, so like it or not, she’s stuck with me. You both are.”

"Just what I want to hear."

- -

True waited until everyone was busy at camp before she began to sneak off from camp. She had food in her pouch and a container of drinking water. She didn’t want a new family. She wanted it to stay like it always was. Just her and her Dad. She kept glancing back, making sure she wasn’t followed.

Devon had caught sight of True’s familiar blue snow suit as she was leaving camp and had grabbed her gear and begun to follow her, remaining out of sight until she felt that True was testing the limits set out by her Dad.

True turned around just as Devon showed herself. Her whole body went rigid with sheer anger. She stamped her foot. “What are you doing? I don’t want you here. I don’t. Go back to camp. Go back and make a happy family with Uly and my Dad. That’s what you wanted all along, right? You want to take him from me.” Tears froze on her face as they fell from her eyes.

Devon shook her head. She insisted, “I do want that, True, but I want you as part of my family, too. I love your Dad and you so much. Uly, too. Can’t you see how much we all want you to be with us? I would miss you very much if you ran away.”

True shook her head. “No, you wouldn’t.” But before she could say anything more there was a rumble beneath where Devon stood and it looked like the earth swallowed her up. “Devon!” She raced forward, dropping to her knees at the edge of a cavern as it revealed Devon laying on the bottom with her leg twisted at the wrong angle. “Devon?! Please don’t be dead!” She felt the snow giving way, but she managed to get a hold before she fell into the cavern with her.

She was dangling above Devon with only the tips of her gloved fingers. She cried out as started to slip. She heard Devon groan beneath her. “Oh God! Help!” She heard her voice echoing out into the nothingness that surrounded them. They were surely going to die.

You must login (register) to review.