Chapter 169: Grace
“What are we going to do today?” Sammy asked as we made the usual walk to the school. I was tired from being up late doing the movie night, and then from my special time with Rhys. Goddess, I loved that man. I never even dreamed that this life was possible. I felt in awe every day.
“Well, we’re on our way to school, aren’t we?” I asked.
“Yes, but it’s Friday. We should do something fun.”
“We did something fun yesterday,” I told her. “We had a movie night.”
Sammy rolled her eyes in exasperation. “That was yesterday, Aunt Grace. I’m talking about today!”
“Well, what do you like to do for fun?” I asked.
When I was a kid, all I did was chores. I had a single doll at one point, but I have no idea how it even came in my possession. I remember cuddling it at night, but not really playing with it. What did little girls even like? Did Sammy even know what she liked? I mean, how long had she been stuck in the program like the others? Maizie seemed to focus a lot on physical training, and the kids tended to stick to cards and physical games.
“I don’t know.” Sammy shrugged. “But last night was fun!”
“Well, unfortunately, I think you’ll have to make fun with the other kids tonight. I think Uncle Rhys and I have to work.”
“But you work every day!” She pouted.
“I know.” I told her gently. “But we have a lot to figure out. Being an adult isn’t always fun.”
“I never want to grow up!” She declared. “I want to be a kid forever and ever and ever.”
“Well, growing up isn’t a bad thing.” I told her. “But I want you to be a kid for as long as you can.”
“Do you ever wish you were a kid again?” She asked.
I thought about it for a moment. My immediate response was no... I hated being a child. I hated everything about my childhood. My now was so much better than I could have ever even dreamed as a kid. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized, I just didn’t want my childhood again. But to be a child? To be young and naive? To believe in a world that I didn’t yet realize didn’t believe in me? That might be nice... If I had grown up here and not there, I might have been a completely different person. And that too sounded nice. I think I would have liked it here.
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “I think my path led me to be exactly where I’m supposed to be.”
She took a moment to ponder my answer before nodding to herself accepting my answer and changing the subject. “Do we have to go to training today?”
“Why?” I asked, taken aback by the sudden topic change and the question combined.
“Because I don’t like training. It’s not fun.”
“Well, do you know why we go to training?” I asked, hoping to spark her own thoughts on the subject.
“No.” She answered, looking up at me with her sweet, dark eyes.
“We do it for your Daddy.” I said gently. “He ran into trouble trying to protect his people. We don’t want others to have his same fate, so we train everyone so if the bad guys come, you have a fighting chance.”
“Then we won’t miss training.” She replied seriously. “I’ll be ready the next time the bad guys come.”
“I’m sure you will be.” I smiled at her. “The grown-ups in your life don’t want you to have to face that, and that’s why me and Uncle Rhys work so hard, but if it comes down to it, we want you to be ready. Now, go put your stuff away, I’ll wait right here for you.”
She ran over to her little cubby and began to take off all her winter gear that seemed to be more necessary by the day. We had ordered a ton of stuff for the kids, but with a new season coming in, they were going to need thicker coats and stuff. I hoped some of them would have homes to help with that soon, but I added it to my mental list to ask Alana to help me with.
“You’re really good with her, no wonder she’s so taken to you. They’re all so taken to you.”
I turned to see Leon’s wife Heather standing just a few feet behind me and I wondered how much she had overheard. But that was quickly forgotten as I was surprised to see how frail she looked. She seemed like she had aged several years in the last few weeks, and she looked so worn I didn’t know how she was possibly even standing here, let alone how she had walked her kids to school.
“Oh.” I said, unsure of what I was supposed to say to that. “Uh thanks.”
“I mean it Grace, you don’t even know it, but you’re fundamentally changing this place.” She said tiredly. “You don’t understand how dark it was here before. Rhys has always been a kind and fair leader, but you make him better.”
“You’re giving her too much credit,” A familiar voice cut in, taking me completely off guard.
My heart started to pound. I hadn’t seen him since the day we had fought at his house over everything. Was he here to harass the kids and have the fight that he wanted with Maizie?
“She’s good, but Rhys has worked hard too.” He continued.
My mind raced through all the possibilities. He looked calm. Really, no different at all than the last time I saw him. He trimmed his hair a bit, and his beard had grown out a bit, but he still looked like himself. Rhys had discontinued his services, and I hadn’t seen him since. I only had one rational thought in all of the racing ones... What the hell was he doing here?