"Hi," Reyona said as she wondered how the girl must be feeling after having to share something she had thought she couldn't share with anyone.
Probably embarrassed. Reyona thought as she tried to picture what she might have felt if she had to explain such a thing to anyone.
Though Reyona had seen what was on the sheet now, she asked "What do you have there?"
Silence.
Then the girl said "Puzzles. He wanted to come ride his horse while we waited for you, so I…" She completed her statement with a shrug.
Reyona wanted to tell her that she didn't have to justify things she did to anyone, but then she thought it was better that the girl was saying something at all than her usual clamming up.
"Do you want help with that?" she asked when the girl scrunched up her face and tried to trace a pattern with her finger.
Allysyn finally looked up at her as she shook her head and said "No, I will figure it out. I like to do this." She closed the sheet as she spoke.
"What else do you like to do? Maybe we can get to do one of those these days?" Reyona asked, just to get the girl talking.
The girl gave her a considering look and said "I…think you don't like to do things with us. Maxwell does, but you are busy most of the time. I think you just don't want to do things with us."
What a misunderstanding. Reyona mused.
How can she explain to the girl that they were not the ones she was avoiding spending too much time with?
"No, that is not the reason. You see, I… well, it shouldn't be an excuse really, but I was truly busy all those times. I don't want you to think it has anything to do with you."
Allysyn just stared at her, then she looked towards the guys where Maxwell was busy explaining the history behind the cowboy looks to Junior.
They were both seated on the floor and seemed to be enjoying themselves.
Allysyn turned back to Reyona and lowered her voice as she said "I know that you and Dad were married. Mum gave birth to us while you were married, so that means we are the reason why you are no longer married to our dad. I understand if you don't like us, but …." she reduced her voice again and leaned towards Reyona as she said in a conspiratorial whisper "Please, don't let Junior know. He likes you, and he will cry if he knows."
Reyona's heart swelled with anger and sadness.
Just as she couldn't help but feel admiration for this small girl with an adult mind.
The anger was firmly directed at the bastard who put them all in this situation.
She leaned closer and kissed the girl on her forehead.
Allysyn's hand half-rose towards her head as she looked at Reyona in confusion.
Still leaning close to her, Reyona said "Now listen to me. I know you are a very intelligent girl, so I won't try to fool you. I need you to believe what I am about to say now because it is the truth, okay?"
"'Kay" the girl nodded.
"You are right, but only about the fact that your dad was married to me while he had you with your mother. But that is not your fault. That is the fault of a two-timing man. I want you to know that I will not project the feelings I have about your father onto you. If I wanted to act according to that, I wouldn't even be anywhere near you. I like your brother and you, and everything you see me doing now is because I just want to help the children that I like." she paused and asked, "Do you understand that?"
Though questions were still in her eyes, Allysyn nodded slowly.
Reyona continued, "I am sorry that I have been absent from most of your activities. I want you to believe that it has nothing to do with any dislike towards the two of you. Not at all."
"You are not really married to him, are you?" Allysyn asked matter-of-factly.
Reyona wondered briefly if she did not prefer the silent Allysyn after all.
Yet, she knew she had to deal with the girl with honesty. It was the least she could do in this case.
"We are legally married, yes, but it is an arrangement made because we don't want the government to take you away again. It is only a temporary arrangement. Just long enough for Miss Macaulay to stop coming. Once your uncle has your custody without further visitations, it will come to an end. I am telling you this now because I wouldn't want you to think that I left because of you and your brother. Do you understand me now?"
"When?" Allysyn simply asked.
"In three weeks," Reyona answered as she ignored a hollow feeling in her heart.
"So, we will never see you again?" Allysyn asked with a thread of anxiety in her voice.
That made Reyona pause to assess what she was about to say. She didn't want to upset the girl nor did she want to lie to her.
So she said "I guess we can still see each other from time to time, but it won't be as often as it was these past months. Also, your parents…"
"They might be back soon, and then you wouldn't want to see us at all," Allysyn said.
Reyona guessed there was no point denying it. So, she said "I just want you to know that nothing that happens will be because I don't like the two of you. You and your brother are both precious to me. I wouldn't trade our time together for anything else."
Allysyn looked at her for a while and said almost reluctantly "I think I like you."
To stop the sudden moisture she felt at the back of her eyes, she smiled and said "You think? You are not sure?"
Allysyn shrugged with a small smile.
Reyona wrinkled her nose at her and said "I think I like you too. No, scratch that. I know that I like you. You are a very brave young girl, Allysyn. Never forget that. A brave young girl who loves her brother so much."
"Uggh," she said in denial of the last statement.
Reyona laughed out loud at the expression on her face.
"I see you ladies are having a good time over there, but if you don't mind, we men need to eat, right, Junior?"
"Yes," Junior said as he thumped his chest with pride. "Maxwell said I am a man and a man doesn't disturb two ladies when they are having… a…a…"
"Chit chat" Maxwell supplied.
"Chit-chat!" Junior said excitedly. "It is a lady's thing." Then the affected adult mien dissolved as he said "Can we go now?! I want to eat chicken meatballs!
Reyona laughed again and even Allysyn smiled.
"Yes, we can go now. We, the ladies, are done with our chit-chat, thanks for being a man about it." Reyona said.
"Yay! Let me go tell Jane we are leaving" he said as he bounced out of the door.
Maxwell looked at the two females who were standing close to each other and said "I will go change too. I need to see if I can find something as hot-looking as our cowboy here. I can't afford to lose my hottie status."
With that, he left.
"I need to go change as well. See you downstairs?"
Allysyn nodded, "Yes, see you downstairs."
She was almost out of the guestroom turned playroom before she heard "Reyona?"
She looked back as the name felt strange coming from the girl.
She realised that was the first time the girl had ever used her name as she turned around and answered "Yes?"
Allysyn firmed her lips and asked, "Did they say I was lying?"
Reyona instantly knew what she was talking about.
Her mood soured, and she said "Promise me something, okay?"
"What?" Allysyn asked anxiously.
"That you would not think about that for the rest of the day. I will tell you about it later."
"Promise?"
"Promise," Reyona answered.
"Okay," the girl said.
"Good" Reyona answered with a smile before she left the room.
She had no idea how she expected the girl not to think about what would probably be the most prominent thought on her mind.
But if she had anything to do about it, she was going to provide a hell of a distraction.
And the culprits would pay!
Oh, they would!