Something Blue

Chapter 14

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Hi! I'm back! I'm sorry for the long absence. I had a lot of fun, but it's good to be sleeping in a bed again and showering regularly and pooping in a toilet and all that 21st century stuff. 

For the time being, I'm going to stick with Sunday edits (mixing it up a little bit!) and we're also back to one a week until I regain a solid buffer. 

In other news, the world is trash and American politics is a dumpster fire. If you are 18 and an American citizen, you'd better fucking vote. If you're not registered, REGISTER. It's not just a right, it's a responsibility. If you're on this site, odds are that you're a girl. And listen, chickadee, our foremothers did not fight for our right to a voice just for you to shrug and wave it of because one vote doesn't count. One vote abso-fucking-lutely DOES count and you'd better cast it. Go to vote.gov like NOW. NOW. The future of the free world depends on it...

***

Katherine

"Coffee?" Melissa asked, stepping out onto the porch. Katherine looked back from where she stood with her elbows resting on the rail, trying to keep her weight off her back. Two months later and her ribs still ached when she stood upright for too long.

"Please!" She accepted the steaming mug her friend handed her, turning her attention back to the sweet scene playing out in the paddock across the yard.

Isobel sat atop a massive but painfully slow chestnut mare. The animal was so large, her daughter's tiny legs practically stuck out straight from the saddle, and she clung to the pommel for dear life. Even so, she was squealing with delight. On the other side of the enclosure, Rebecca sat atop a smaller, livelier horse as if she belonged there. Amelia hovered at her daughter's side, but the child looked as comfortable on horseback as her father.

For a long while, they didn't speak. Katherine sipped her coffee, watching her daughter and trying not to break beneath the weight of Isobel's stunning transformation. It was one thing to know that she raised her baby girl in a broken home. It was an entirely different thing to see the way that same child transformed in the presence of normality.

Both Isobel and Katherine had warmed quickly enough to Josh, but they both remained wary of the senior Tucker. Katherine didn't know how to express her gratitude that the older man had vacated his own home to give her and her child a safe place to stay. She also didn't know how to reconcile the kindly, grandfatherly man with the angry figure who used to nod vigorously along with her husband's sermons. Someday, she hoped, she would have both the words and the courage to face him.

Fortunately, Owen Tucker seemed to understand her misgivings because he left his home to his daughter's keeping. His son had been as understanding of their fear, if somewhat more present in their lives. After the first few days, with Katherine's grudging permission, he'd begun showing up around the small homestead. In carefully constructed little scenes, he'd first appeared at a distance-- exercising the horses, splitting wood, leading Rebecca's horse around while she rode in the saddle. After that, he'd gradually moved closer. He'd worked in the garden while she and Isobel sat on the porch. He'd sat in the kitchen and had coffee with his wife and sister while she and the girls had played in the living room. His presence made Katherine cringe. She knew in her mind he wouldn't hurt her, but knowing it was entirely different from believing it.

Nonetheless, eventually he'd edged his way into Isobel's life as well as Katherine's. Her clever, wary daughter had never quite given her heart to his keeping the way she'd given it to Gabe, but she at least no longer cowered in his presence. Perhaps she didn't trust him, but she at least trusted Rebecca and Amelia, and even to a child it was clear that Josh held his wife and daughter's utmost faith and love.