SPOONS

Somewhere near midnight, Edwin startled awake in their hotel room to unfamiliar warmth at his back. Before he gathered his wits enough to realize what was happening, the warm thing moved and he heard a little sigh. Nicolle was spooned tightly behind him, her little head butted hard against the back of his neck.

"Nicolle, what are you doing? You have your own bed."

Her body shuddered. "I had a dream." Words rushed out, "The big men found us and they did something horrible to you and dragged you away and I knew they were coming back for me but there was no place to hide and my legs wouldn't move and I couldn't scream and..." Her voice caught like a tiny hiccup. "Please can I stay?" She shook and Edwin thought she might be crying.

Regretting that he’d told her of his encounter with the three goons, he spoke to her softly and slowly, "Shhhh... it's all gone now, sweetie. Just a dream. Stay right beside me. We're here. We're together. No one knows. You're safe. With me. Family, remember? Breathe with me, honey. In. Wait. Oooout..." She matched his breaths for several minutes, then fell into a shallow, regular rhythm of her own.

Edwin remembered the terror of his own dream about losing her in the horrible vat and tried to imagine how frightened she must have been. He was accustomed to having terrible visions. She had never mentioned having had a nightmare before. Suddenly, emotions washed over him, unlike anything since his childhood. He fought for control over it. He held his breath, clenched his teeth. He imagined what it would be like if he let it go, and he told himself, "Be still, fool. You'll wake her and she's sleeping peacefully now."

At that thought, just as quickly, it subsided.

In the dark, breathing deeply, he marveled at what had just happened. Because it wasn't fear or hate or any of the things he'd sometimes felt as strongly. This had felt good. It felt like a heart-stopping joy for being here with a miraculous little creature who needed him, happy to be together, happy to belong to her..… "But I bought her, she belongs to me." he thought. Then he realized, that his heart did belong to her, and that he liked it that way. Before he slipped into a another dream of her, a tear of gratitude patted softly onto his pillow.

Next: Part 8 / 25, “Disaster”