CHAPTER TWENTY

He mumbles out a flustered, “come in”, and I walk in to the strong smell of liquor, “that must be what’s in the canteen”, I think. I try my best to hide my disgust and disappointment and sit down in front of him, he is wearing his blue tunic and trousers with his belt but when he walked in this morning he was wearing his good close his purple dyed woolen tunic and trousers, my suspicion become deeper on his where about during the night, it is obvious he bathed and changed after breakfast, he usually bathes when he first awakens, “what is it you need, Annah”, he slurs slightly, “maybe now is not a good time”, I thought to myself, he is clearly not in his own mind to have a serious talk with. I clear my throat, it’s now or never, “I have something important to discuss with you and I would like you to listen”, I say in a serious tone, he give me a perplexed look but gives me the go ahead, I let out a sigh of encouragement, “mum has noticed your distancing and it is hurting her”, I say sternly, “please allow me to finish father”, I say, putting my hand up when he goes to interrupt, “I understand mum is dying and we are unclear of when, but you do not see Lisa nor I, having drunken affairs, drinking liquor all day or avoiding mum like she is cursed”, father sits back shocked and guilty by my words, completely speechless, “I do not care what you do with your life after mum dies but right now, what you need to do is be nothing but her loving and doting husband, no other woman, no liquor and no avoiding the inevitable”, I say in one breath, “I do not want mum dying with the belief that she wasted her life on the wrong man, so you have to get it together”, I point my finger at father as I finish, father sits there, looking down at his hands completely silent, an intense guilt encircling him, when I finished what I had to say, I promptly get up and calmly walked out of the room, leaving father to mull over my words. Once I was back in the hallway, I made my way back to the kitchen, to help Lisa clear up breakfast. I started with the dishes, packing them in a crate ready to take them out side, I hear Lisa clear her throat loudly and I look at her, she is looking at me with an expectant look, I raise my eyebrows at, feigning ignorance, she raises her arms in a ‘tell me what happened kind of way’, “Later”, I whisper before walking out of the kitchen and out to the backyard to where the trough was. As I was cleaning the dishes I hear a faint whisper, I have a quick look around me and at the tree line but see nothing, “probably the wind in the trees”, I think to myself, “hey”, the whisper is louder now, this time I stand up and carefully look around me, taking time while looking at the tree line, I see what appears to be a figure standing behind one of the trees, I squint my eyes a little and the figure steps out and waves at me, “John”, I whisper happily to myself, breathing out a breath I was holding and walk over to him, feeling my heartrate becoming faster. “Hello”, I greet with a smile, once I reach him, “should you not be at work”, I ask amusedly, he smirks at my question, “the boss sent me on lunch so I came to how you were”, he says, brushing a loose strand from my face, the butterflies start fluttering at his gentle touch, “I am feeling quite well today, thanks to you”, I say happily, “how far is you work site from here, did it take long”, I ask, “about a ten minute run that way”, he say turning his head and pointing into the forest, “oh, so you ran all the way here”, I question and he look back at me with a sheepish grin, “maybe I did, maybe I didn’t”, he says a bit red faced, scratching the back of his head. “He ran all the way here for me”, I thought as I gazed at his beautiful blue eyes, we enter another stare battle, “I wonder what they feel like”, he says as he glances at my lips, his eye go wide “I did not mean to say that out loud”, he says, a hand swiping down his face, I let a giggle slip, “I am sure you will find out soon”, I say and he looks back at me with and indiscribable intensity, I did not mean for my words to slips but I am glad they did, he wrapped his arms around me and pulls me to him, I gasp at the unexpected embrace but wrap my own arms around him, he buries his face in my hair and we hold each other, neither one of us wanting to let go, as I bury my face into his chest, inhaling his wonderful woodsy odor, “Annah”, we hear Lisa call and we begrudgingly let go, “I better get back to work” John says a hit of sadness in his tone as he look down at me, I nod frowning, not wanting him to leave, he give me a long gentle kiss on my forehead, “tell Lisa I said hello”, he says, “I will”, I reply “good bye my beautiful Annah” he says, “good bye my John”, I reply back, “when will I see you again”, I say, as he turns to leave, he turns his head back with a smirk, “I'm sure you will find me”, he says before running off in the direction I assume he came from. I stood watching as his figure disappeared into the forest, “what a you doing here”, Lisa asks, in a mock stern tone, making me jump, I turned to face her to see her wearing a sly smirk, "finally got you" she gloats, making me shake my headed in defeat, "John say hello", I say walking of to the trough, "John", Lisa quizzed, a little confused, I pause my walking and hum in affirmation, "he came to visit just now" I reply looking back at Lisa, who's look of confusion changes to one of awe, "how sweet, he came to see you", she said happily, I blush a little and nod, this visite will keep me calm for the rest of the day.

After chores were done and lunch was on the fire, Lisa and I sat down with a pot of tea, father had already left for work in silence, he owns a share of farming land twenty minutes away and will probably be away all day and possibly all night if he chose to not listen, I let out a long sigh, "so what did you say to father", Lisa asks, sipping her tea, I take a sip of mine before telling her everything, "this is why you are older", she says, "when you are fired up enough there is no stopping you", I smile at her comment and finish what was in my cup before pouring some more and offering more to Lisa, who held her cup across the table for me, "thank you" she said and we sat in blissfull silence for some moment sipping our tea. “what do you wish to do today”, Lisa asks, I hum and think for a moment, “we could go for a walk” I suggest, “that sounds nice”, she agrees, “we will see if mum would like some sun as-well”, she suggests and I nod in agreement. Once the pot wat finished we headed up stairs to ask mum out on an outing and she happily agreed. We went out to set up the wagon and connected it to Chester, we then half carried mum out to the wagon and walked the horse out of the yard and down the road.