Loving Evelyn (Part 1)

5 - Bedroom of Her Dreams

"The outside doesn't always reflect what's on the inside."

~*~

Accepting a half sister who had a different mother than his own was a lot harder than he projected on the outside. 

Wyatt was seven years old when his mother got sick. He remembered the time before then and hearing his parent's conversation about having another child. They wanted one more to complete their family, a baby girl.

They didn't know he knew, but he did. And he had been just as excited. But then she got sick and that dream was gone. 

When his father told him about Evelyn, he was conflicted. He got what he wanted, but was devastated that this child would not be part of his father and mother. She was just part of his father and some woman. A stranger Samuel had met after his mother's death and had another child with. 

Wyatt understood his father didn't mean for this to happen. It wasn't planned, but the thought of Samuel having a kid with someone else - sleeping with a woman after his mother died, it killed him inside and made the loss of her all too real. 

He'd always pictured what having a sister would be like; what she would look like. He imagined a little girl with his mother's blond hair and amber colored eyes. She would have their father's nose and ears, but the rest would all be from Cassandra's side. 

Now he had one who looked a lot like his father, but those startling blue eyes had been a harsh reminder that she wasn't his mother's child. But after seeing her run into his father's arms, he realized it didn't matter. This was just a little girl who had no control over who her parents were. He could see in the depths of those eyes that she witnessed a lot of bad things, maybe even had a lot of bad things done to her. She deserved someone like her father. She deserved to have someone cherish her just as he knew Samuel would. 

Wyatt would do the same. 

He watched the girl, a tiny thing that reached just below his knees, as she stood on the bottom rail of the metal fence that enclosed the horses ready for grooming. They were usually in their stalls, as they were their regular riding horses, but they let them out to run and graze for hours in a day. 

Evelyn looked absolutely star-struck and he couldn't help but smile. 

"Do you like horses?"

Startled, she looked back at him. The smile she was wearing dimmed and her eye cast down in timidity. 

Wyatt did not push and instead waited where he stood in encouraging silence. 

After a few moments, Evelyn found the courage to say "Yes. I've only ever seen them on TV."

Her oldest half-brother was again astonished by how clearly she spoke. She definitely didn't sound like a toddler. She still had that somewhat soft voice of a child, but was articulate enough in her pronunciations. 

He moved a little closer, but still left a bit of space between them to keep her comfortable. He too leaned on the fence and pointed out the names of the horses. 

"That all black one there is named Rebel. We got him as a young stallion and he was hard to train. He's a lot more tame now, but every now and again he'll find a chance to rebel by jumping the fence, knocking over his water pail, or just giving us a hard time when we groom him. He's Angel's horse, my- our, brother."

It was strange to hear that word. Brother. She'd never imagined she'd one day have a father, let alone siblings. Sometimes she'd find herself wondering what it would be like to have a brother or sister, but she always imagined someone younger than her, if not older by a year or two. Now she apparently had five.