A Red Leaf & Ten Orchids Ch. 09

There is another flower, the most lovely of them all, and this is the only one that is not an addition, rather it is the one that you were born with. You believe that it is ugly, and I disagree strongly. It is the one that you said that I would not be so interested in if I could see it. Since you now know that I could see it well, I can tell you that last evening, as now, I disagree with you. I can also tell you that what I was able to do for you gave me an intense feeling of pride. I was very happy."

She took his left hand and held it tightly. He noticed that she had stopped crying.

"Given the light conditions at the time, I would probably say that there is a great amount of detail that I could not see. Any fool would be impressed with your body markings. If the quality is what I estimate it to be, I would consider it to be a piece of living art. Looking past the art, your body is simply stunning to me, absolutely exquisite, and I could admire it by itself for hours if I were given that honor. It does not require the markings to enhance it. The markings tend to compliment your body; they work with it, and do not detract from it in the least. I don't know the artist's intent, other that I can see his vision. In that, he accomplished his goal.

The fact that you feel shame about them makes me wish very much that I possessed the ability to remove them without harming the wonder of you, because you despise them for your own reasons. Whether you still love me and wish to continue to love me is irrelevant to this. If you want to fit into the community here, I'll help you as best I can to the degree that you desire my help, if you still desire it.

I have to say this; loving you last night was my sincere pleasure, and if today marks the end, I can accept and respect your wishes, though in my opinion, you are not so much running from your markings, as you want to deny your past. A past that I am sure Rosie has told you to forget about. I echo that sentiment. You're not running from the marks, you're running from yourself, and the effect is the same. It cannot be done. You're torturing yourself needlessly. Believe me, Kayla, if I can't be anything else; I sincerely want to be your friend. I don't have many. Losing you now would break my heart, but regardless, I only want the best for you."

He opened his eyes and took a swallow of her coffee. "That's what I saw," he said. "That's what I see."

Kayla sat quietly for a few minutes, just leaning against him. At last she said, "Joshua, I still love you. I think I've loved you from your first kiss once I understood it. Something like this has NEVER happened to me before. I hated myself for making you cry. I just couldn't believe that you would want me.

I don't want to end anything. I'm not an idiot. I just felt ashamed that you could see me when I felt safe in what I thought was almost pitch black. I meant what I did last night every bit as much as you did, and believe me; I feel the same way about it. I've never felt so much for someone before. I just didn't think that you could ever want me because of these things on me.

I've misjudged you again, I'm sorry. I love you to death, and I'm sorry that I was upset. You are the most amazing man that I've ever met. Where have you been all my life? Did you figure out all of that in the truck last night?"

Joshua smiled shyly at her. "I do love you, Kayla. I understand why you get upset. I really do understand. I'm not amazing; at least I don't see any brilliance. I'm usually doing dumb shit like every other guy, as far as I can tell."

He chuckled, "Where have I been? Wishing that I knew who and where you were. I used to think that you were stuck on a desert island in the Pacific. There's supposed to be someone for every person, you know? I'd love you if those were scars on your back. I'd feel privileged to accompany you anywhere that you might want to go with me, covered or not.

That whole long boring monologue was just simple observation over a few days. I notice things, that's all. I always have my whole life, plus I'm trained to do that. It's saved my ass more than once. I just notice details, or what's missing. My mind has a constant stream of observed crap running through it.

All of what I said is true, but I can't pick up your birthmark or the eyebrow scar in the dark. The knee scar I just barely caught when I turned you over, and then felt for its size."

He grinned at her, "I added some bullshit about your left breast being larger. As far as I can tell they're evenly matched, perfectly. But most people's left things are a little bigger to some degree than the right; hands, feet, boobs, etc. I just threw that in for a bit of color. The rest is true, and of course, I flavored it with my feeling and opinion." he said. "By the way, what are the flowers? I can see fairly well in the dark, but..."

Kayla sighed. "They're orchids. Black orchids. I'll tell you about it sometime. In the meantime, thanks for being you. You're really helping me. I don't feel ashamed very much all of a sudden. I think you're proud of me for some reason, and I don't want to blow that. I'll work it out if you'll be there, ok?"

He hugged her tightly. "I can't imagine any place I'd want to be but where you are. If you'd known me before, you'd see that this is a pretty big change for me."

She smiled and nudged him. "I imagine it must be. You're quite a catch yourself, you know? I was proud to be seen with you in town the other day. Uh, aren't you going to eat breakfast?"

"Well I'd like to, but Rosie is pretty much done making it, I'd guess," he said.

Rose came bustling out of the kitchen at that instant with a plate of breakfast that she'd been keeping warm. "Here you go, Joshua. Enjoy it, you silver-tongued devil! You seem to have talked your way out of certain death." she laughed as she sat down opposite them.

Kayla's mouth fell open. She looked at Josh, "Is it just me, or do you get the sense that about the only thing that Aunt Rose could be accused of is being a little too up on us, and what we do? It's like she'd been listening or something while you were praising my chest," she laughed.

Josh was stuffing his mouth. "Hey, she'd like my mom, plus she kept breakfast for me. I'm certainly not going to make that accusation even if it had crossed my mind, uh, which it most certainly has not, I might add. If you wish to voice the thought, I'll watch to see if you get nailed with the flyswatter. I can handle poisonous snakes, but I fear that thing!"

Rose ignored the jokes, "Alright, I'm going into town to get what I'll need to fix up the curtains that I have. Joshua, you take Kayla and Jillian, and get what you said you had to. We'll meet for lunch at the cantina at 12:30. We've already got a reservation.

Kayla, how much of that you might want to show is up to you, but I'd suggest a women's T-shirt, open neck. Josh, take her to a place for that, and buy her a bit of a low-key necklace to match if you can decide on one, as I don't think she has anything like that. Jillian is going to need new jeans. I'll fix the ones that she's got on tonight, but try to make her look presentable for lunch, Kayla.If you agree with the shirt, and feel that you can handle it, wear it out of the store. And change your shoes. Joshua, a shower, and clean clothes, please. Thank God you've shaved this morning.

We're going to lunch as a family today, since we're all so proud to be seen with each other. There'll be telephone lines humming all the way to the next county today, unless I miss my guess, so they can't be talking about your jeans with the ass ripped out of them. I'm leaving in about twenty minutes, so you guys get a move on."

Josh stared at Rose, and said, "Um...so those are the orders of the day?

Rose took a deep breath and replied, "Yep."