Loving Evelyn (Part 1)

3 - Far Far Away

"The best is yet to come."

~*~

Evelyn was going on another adventure, but this time there was no anticipation or excitement to explore.

The giant building before her was filled with strangers rushing to get to wherever they needed to. She'd never been in an airport before and the chaos of it all was overwhelming. Exploring the city shops around her mother's apartment building was one thing, but this caused anxiety to bubble in her tummy. It was too crowded and the people moving were too fast for her.

She clutched Daisy May closer to her chest. At least she had her best friend with her. The scary lady she met the day after waking up in the hospital was there too, but her presence brought the five year old little comfort. It wasn't that she was mean or anything. In fact, she did her best to make Evelyn feel at ease. But the image of her walking into the small hospital room where she was being poked and prodded by multiple doctors with a police officer by her side was still very fresh in her mind.

The thing Beatrice warned her about had happened and although she technically hadn't been taken away from her home, she was not allowed to go back. She spent nearly two weeks in the hospital being asked all kinds of questions by the woman sitting beside her currently in one of the many chairs in the middle of the airport lobby.

Her name was Samantha, but she told Evelyn to call her Sam. It took nearly an entire week until the little girl felt comfortable enough to talk with her. Sam truly wasn't that bad. She did her best to explain the situation and what was going to happen. It didn't matter that Evelyn was just five years old; the woman held nothing back.

They were waiting to board a plane that would take her far, far away to a man she was told was her father. She was unaware she even had a father. Beatrice told her as much when she was just three years old after mistakenly saying the word "dad" around one of her mother's many men. Evelyn shuttered at the thought of what her mother said to her that day. After she was done yelling at her, Beatrice sent the poor girl to her room. It was nearly three days before she was allowed out. At least her mother fed her twice a day. Sometimes.

"Is there anything you want to know about where we're going Evelyn?" asked Sam.

The little girl turned towards the older woman, the dark brown ringlets of her hair falling over her face as she did. There was a lot she wanted to know. Question after question fluttered through her brain making her head spin. The most prominent question, however, was the one she asked in a barely audible voice. "Is he nice?"

Samantha Gowen viewed her with an indescribable look on her face. "He seems a little rough around the edges at first but after talking with him a while longer, I can tell he already cares a great deal about you."

Cared. It was a word she knew and craved, yet the action of someone caring for her was foreign. Did her mother care about her? After all, she did make sure that the two of them always had a roof over their heads, even if it were a car or just a space in a closet. She was fed, probably not as regularly as other kids, but she never starved. When she got hurt really bad, her mother did take her to the hospital or to her doctor friend. 

So what did it mean for this stranger, her father, to care for her? She didn't know, but found herself slightly optimistic. 

"Where are we going again?"

Sam gave her a patient smile. "Texas, honey. Your father owns a very big ranch just outside of a small town."

Evelyn's eyes widened. A ranch? That was news to her. Ranches had cows and horses and chickens. She was suddenly filled with excitement. She has always wanted to see them up close, but only read about them and saw pictures of them in books or videos in school or from the library's computers. And if it was bog, that meant there was plenty to explore.