Dawn Redeemed

Confounded and at a total loss as to what to say, Erica blinked at her little girl. "Don't you have class?" Her fingers waggled in dismissal. It seemed everyone was on board with living together except for her. With two against one, what were her odds? Maybe she was hanging on to an old fashioned notion that people should be married first? Maybe, she was losing out on her only excuse left to keep a suitable distance from Torr? She wanted to marry him, soon. Maybe, she was the only one who needed a little time to get used to the idea? Fallon and Torr seemed to be in cahoots with each other. For a second, Erica considered that maybe, they really were. "Go, go learn something."

Fallon beamed, her mom was going to cave. The wheels were turning in her mom's head. Fallon knew the look well. Maybe Dad was right, soon they really would be together under the same roof as a family. "Ok." She flounced out of the room and slid her dad a sly smile as she made her way down the hall.

Torr returned Fallon's smile and gave her a thumbs up. Maybe it wasn't quite fair to use Fallon against Erica. But, if it would hurry things along, why not? Fallon wanted to move in. He wanted them to move in. Erica wanted it too. She was just too damned stubborn to admit it. Besides, wasn't all fair in love and war?

Chapter 122

Evan squashed his tears and buried his face in his pillow. His parents were probably deciding his punishment right this very minute. The brand new bike glittered in the sunlight filtering through his curtains. Reminding him of what could have been, if he'd only kept his mouth shut. He didn't care about any bike. And what fun were action figures if he was too sad to play with them. He was in very big trouble. Forcing his mom and dad together had been a last ditch effort to save his family from the utter destruction of divorce. Even though he was only seven. He was old enough to know what that word meant. It meant his mom and dad didn't love each other any more. And Evan knew they still did. If losing his bike stopped them from splitting up. It was worth it.

"Evan is just a little boy," Ruby pled the case for her son. Hanning had a list of punishments lined out for their son that were both mundane and miserable. The bike and all his presents were gone. She had to agree with that. Just as Hanning had conceded that Evan should be forced to make apologies, not only to them, but to each and every party guest who had attended. What they hadn't agreed on was for how long the punishment would remain into effect. Ruby was hoping for a brief sentencing while Hanning pushed for a longer one, much, much longer.

"He knows what he did was wrong," Hanning held his ground. "He has to face the consequences. You can't coddle him forever." The soft tearful look in Ruby's eyes was not going to change his mind, on anything.

"I know. Its just, did you see the look on his face when he saw us together? It was the first time I've seen him smile, really smile, in a long time. Things haven't been good between us for years. You know how intuitive Evan is. We've probably been making him miserable a lot longer than we could ever guess. Can't we simply move past this and give him benefit of the doubt. He just wants to be happy. He just wants to see us happy."

"Are you happy?" Hanning asked as he leaned back on the dresser and crossed his arms over his chest. Ruby sat crumpled like a used sheet on an unmade bed. The kiss had made him feel as uncomfortable as hell. His words condemned him. Where she was at in her mind. He had not a clue.

"No," Ruby answered with a deep sigh.

"That makes two of us. Come on, let's get this over with and have a long talk with our son."

"Hanning, wait...you're not going to be too hard on him. He was only doing what he thought might make things better. He doesn't understand what's happening between us." Ruby smoothed the indentation in the covers, anything to keep her hands occupied and her eyes from meeting Hanning's. His words were like gasoline on a dying flame. She didn't want that kind of hope, it too quickly burned out.

Hanning pinched the bridge of his nose and massaged the headache growing behind his eyes. "Sometimes, Ruby, I don't understand what's going on between us. How could we let our lives spiral so far out of control?"

"Did you mean it when you said you loved me?"

"Every word."

"Hanning...," her fingers stretched and brushed his bicep. What more could she say to make him understand how deeply she still loved him?

"Don't." Hanning shook his head and frowned. He was grappling with decisions that affected them all. The events of the last few days could not be allowed to influence him. What more could there be to say that hadn't already been said? "We need to talk to Evan."

Ruby bit her bottom lip and nodded, not saying another word. Hanning stood stoic, with stiff posture and his back ram rod straight. He wasn't going to give her a chance. Wherever his thoughts were. He was keeping them to himself and not letting her in. They stood with arms crossed, protecting their individual space, staring everywhere but at each other. They were at the fork in the road and neither one of them knew which path to take or where the other one was headed.

She did not look forward to disciplining her son. As a parent, sometimes, unpleasant things had to be done. "I guess, we'd better do this."

Hanning hated doling out discipline. When he did so, he reminded himself of his father. The one thing he always, always tried to do before he laid on the heavy, was to put himself in Evan's shoes and see things from a little boy's point of view. His father had never bothered to do that for him. Evan was so young, too young for the burden his parents had heaped upon his head. "After you," he said, nudging Ruby out of the bedroom.

Evan looked up at the sound of his bedroom door opening. "What are you going to do to me?," he asked with trepidation.

Hanning ushered Ruby through the door and closed it behind them. "So, you understand what you did was wrong and there have to be consequences?" Evan cowered on the bed and blinked back a tear as he nodded. The kid was breaking his heart. Yet, he knew wavering would not be in Evan's best interests. "You understand we have to punish you."

"I know." Evan suppressed a deep snivel and clung to his battered Spiderman doll.

"Honey, its not that we don't love you. We're doing this because we do, very, very much." Ruby sank down on the corner of Evan's tiny twin sized bed and grabbed his small fingers with her hand.

"I know, Mom. I only did it because I love you too." Evan's breath hitched and the first tear burned a hot trail down his cheek.

"We know Baby, we know. But, it was wrong to put us on the spot like that in front of everybody. Your father and I have a right to keep our private lives private. What you did violated that right. You really hurt our feelings today."

"My feelings are hurt too." Evan curled his knees up under his chin and clutched his Spiderman doll tightly in his arms.

"We didn't mean to hurt you. Evan, the last thing I ever wanted was for anybody to get hurt. If I could take it all back, I would." Ruby smoothed a hand down her son's tear dampened cheek, wishing erasing the pain was as easy as wiping away his tears.

"You can," Evan retorted, twisting his face away from his mom.

"No, I can't. What's done is done," Ruby dropped her fisted hand to the covers and closed her eyes. Her family was falling apart, barely held together by tattered stitches at the seams. It was all her fault. She'd stretched the fragile seams too far and as a result the fabric had an irreparable tear down the center. "Evan, I'm so sorry."

Hanning crouched beside the bed and turned Evan to meet his eyes. "What is going on between your mother and me is nobody else's business. You have to leave this alone and stop trying to interfere. There isn't anything you can do or say that is going to change what we decide to do with our lives."

"But, you love each other. I don't understand!," Evan wailed in frustration. "If you love each other, how come you don't want to be together? How am I supposed to choose between you? I love you both?"

"Evan, nobody is going to make you choose. You can still love us both no matter what happens between your mother and me." The guilt he felt at his words gave Hanning pause. His pride was tearing his family to shreds. "I'm not going to turn my back on you because you still love your mom."

"Nor will I, because you still love your father. No matter how this turns out. We will always be your parents. You'll still have us both." Ruby gave the ratty old Spiderman doll a gentle tug. Evan opened his arms and let her pull it away. He crawled onto her lap and buried his face in the curve of her neck. His cheeks were damp with tears. Gently, she rocked and patted his back and nuzzled his hair with the tip of her nose.

Evan was comforted by his mom's soft skin and sweet motherly smell. He needed more touch, more comfort. He stretched out his fingers, reaching for his dad.

Hanning scooted on his knees closer to Evan. Realizing how close his movement put him to Ruby. His son meant more than any distance he put between them. He wrapped an arm around Evan's tiny waist, buried his nose in Evan's hair, and rocked in time with Ruby's soothing motions. A lump of sadness and regret formed in the back of his throat. He stretched his free arm around Ruby's hips and inched her and Evan as close as he could get them. The floor was hard and unyielding against his knees, but he didn't notice it. The physical contact with Ruby didn't feel awkward. The touch went somewhere beyond the mere comfort of contact with another human being. It went far, far deeper.

Evan basked in his parents' affection. For the first time in a long, long time, he felt as if he had their full attention. None of the fighting or angry words existed in this moment. It was as if every ugly seen he'd witnessed between them had been nothing but a bad dream and at any moment he'd wake up and there they'd be side by side with him nestled snugly and safely in between them. He savored these fleeting brief snatches of time, when everything was quiet and calm and he could pretend that everything, absolutely everything was right with the world.

An hour later, Evan sat down at kid sized work desk and set about to begin his first task in a long string of punishments. He had to write thank you letters along with an apology to everyone who had come to his party. He gripped the crayon in his left fist, his hand cramping at the task. He was right, the bike was officially gone and would occupy a lonely corner of the garage for a month along with all his other toys, except for his Spiderman doll. He was confined to his room everyday except for school and meals for a week. He had a stack of kid books on manners to read in his spare time. And he wouldn't get TV, computer time, or any video game time for a whole two weeks. All in all, he'd imagined a fate far, far worse than what he actually got. As punishments went, he had gotten off easy. Instead of arguing and making things worse he accepted his parents' discipline without so much as a peep.

Hanning was all talked out. Emotionally exhausted, he left Ruby standing in the hallway alone and retreated to his bedroom. The door locked behind him with a hollow sounding snick. Space, he just needed some space with nothing and nobody but himself to fill the empty void. He had to get away from her before he got sucked in and couldn't think clearly enough to find his way back out.

Ruby slid down the wall and sat in the hallway, halfway between Evan and Hanning's bedroom doors. Hanning had put up a barrier between them that far surpassed the one that she had built. And she had handed him the materials to construct it brick by brick. Her knobby knees dug into the tender underside of her chin. Taxed beyond feeling, she couldn't muster the energy to cry out the tears that welled behind her eyes.

Chapter 123

Alexander triumphantly popped a chocolate in his mouth and savored its bittersweet creamy center. Imagine his surprise when he opened his front door and found a box of chocolates, expensive, luxury chocolates instead of a dead carcass. Torr had definitely gone up a few notches in his book. "You want one?," he asked with a full mouth as he begrudgingly passed the box to Leigh.

"You are going to ruin your supper," Leigh chastised as she reached for the dark chocolate heart shaped piece in the center of the box. She took a bite and her eyes widened in delight as the rich, chocolaty, decadent flavor melted on her tongue. Her fingers snatched onto another one before Alexander could jerk the box away. "Don't be such a baby."

"They're mine." Alexander quickly slammed the lid on the box and stuffed it into the back of the fridge.

"Get," Leigh said, shooing Alexander out of the kitchen with a dishtowel, "out of my kitchen. "Go make yourself look presentable. We're having company over for dinner."

"Who?" Alexander asked, sucking a blob of melted chocolate off the end of his finger.

"Torr. And I want you to be nice to that boy. I have a feeling about him." Leigh shook a stirring spoon at her husband in warning. Actually, stirring spoons could be quite fun, when utilized in the proper setting.

"Yeah, me too. It's called indigestion." Alexander grumbled under his breath as he shuffled into the bedroom to change out of his tattered, sweat stained work shirt. Ha! If Leigh had only seen what Torr wore for his Sunday best. She'd think his work clothes were high fashion.

Leigh peeked around the corner of the fridge, making sure Alexander was well out of sight before she opened the door and pulled out the box. She was doing her husband a favor by eating just one more of the delectable chocolates. He needed to watch the middle aged spread that held his waistline under siege these days. Doc Sterling would be proud of her.

Erica kicked off her sandals at the door and padded through the living room. "Something sure smells good," she said, following her nose into the kitchen. "Wow, what's the occasion?" Her aunt had been cooking like Chef Emeril. Instead of the usual spread of meat, potatoes, bread, and veggie, a virtual feast overflowed the table and spilled onto the countertops. There was a heap of fried chicken, a mountain of mashed potatoes, an ocean of gravy, and half a field of fresh roasted sweet corn. An apple pie, made of freshly picked apples no doubt, sat cooling on a rack. A pitcher of iced tea, with lemon, not lemon juice, real lemons, with half moon shaped ice cubes floating on top, sweated on the butcher block countertop. Her aunt had even dug out the good china instead of the usual chipped, mismatched, crazy glued, yard sale pieces she called vintage.

"We're having company for dinner," Leigh said casually, as if it were an ordinary, everyday occurrence.

"Who? The President?" Erica leaned over the sink and stared up into the cloudless, blue sky, "Should I be looking for Air Force One to land anytime soon?"

Fallon giggled at her mom and inched closer to the pie. She hadn't known that pies didn't come from a grocery store until she moved here. Crust, flaky, warm, fresh crust was her favorite. "Touch that pie and I'll break your fingers," her aunt warned, waving her spoon to chase her away from the counter.

"Who's coming to dinner, Aunt Leigh?" Fallon asked.

"Your father," Leigh answered, setting the table with her finest silverware. This set was for special company. None of the tines in the forks were bent and all the set even had those cute little spoons meant for dipping caviar onto crackers. She paused to polish a glass with the edge of a dishtowel and busily continued studying each place setting, adjusting here and there till it was perfect. No water spots on her dishes, no sireee.

"Torr? Tonight!," Erica gasped. "I just saw him at lunch and he didn't mention stopping by for supper."

"It was an impromptu thing, really. The butcher shop had a deal on frying chickens that I just absolutely could not pass up. I bought too much and didn't realize the freezer was stuffed full till I got it home."

"Yeah, right." Erica narrowed her eyes at her aunt. Obviously, the odds were now three against one, all in Torr's favor.

"We've got to do everything we can to support our local hometown shops. Do you know what the Super Center sells? Those poor little featherless, headless chickens, never seen a speck of daylight in their whole lives. They hatch, and eat, and eat, and eat, and are carted of by the thousands to the slaughterhouse. Mass production I tell you. No wonder ten year-olds look like twenty year-olds with all those growth hormones they put in the chickens."

Fallon's jaw dropped. Before moving to the country, she thought meat came from the grocery store too. Beef took on a whole new meaning when you actually got introduced to the cow. "Mommy, how do those chickens eat if they don't have any heads?"

"Your Great Aunt is exaggerating, Fallon. Why don't you go watch T.V. till your dad gets here," Erica said, pushing Fallon out of the kitchen.

"You'd better go put on your face, Dear. Torr will be here any minute. Alex and Chance said they might stop by after supper too."

Erica mumbled under her breath, "Great maybe they can eat Torr for dessert."

"What was that, Dear?"

"Nothing, Aunt Leigh. I guess I'll go get cleaned up before supper." Erica shuffled out of the kitchen with her hands stuffed in her pockets. Make that four against one, her aunt was definitely on Team Torr along with everyone else.

"Oh, Erica. Wear that cute, little, royal blue blouse with the V neckline. It makes your complexion look so pretty."

Torr was a little nervous about enlisting even more aid to his gentle cause to win the fairer sex. All Leigh needed was a little prompting and just like that, he had his dinner invitation. Tonight was his last ditch effort to push things along. He promised that he wouldn't push and he wasn't going to. He had enough people in his corner to give Erica all the pushing she needed. He patted down his pocket to make sure the box was still there and balled up his fist to knock on the screen door.

"Hi Dad," Fallon said from her side of the screen door. She gave the door a mighty tug with all her weight and pulled it open. "Mom's still getting dressed."

"Ok," Torr squinted in the dim light of the living room and took an open seat on the couch. The smell of supper made his mouth water. He'd never eaten country cooking till he came here. Before it was an endless buffet of gourmet cuisine or whatever he could pick up from the local fast food joints in whatever town he happened to be passing through. This smell, was one of home and hearth, he absolutely loved it. "Evening, Alexander."

Alexander stretched and kicked back his battered recliner. "Thanks for the chocolates. Enjoyed them. But, you shouldn't have." Alexander patted his jiggly girth. "Trying to keep in shape. Did you know I used to be running back for my college football team?"

"Really?" Torr did his best to keep any hint of amusement out of his voice. He had a bet that the only running Alexander did these days was to the fridge and back. "I'll bet you were pretty tough back in the day."

"Still tough enough to kick your ass," Alexander grumbled under his breath. He liked Torr, as a person. But, not as a possible suitor for his niece. He wasn't good enough for her, nobody ever would be.

Torr chuckled under his breath and turned as Erica walked in from the hallway. "Hi." He got up to give her a hug. The blouse looked amazing on her, the blue really brought out the red tones in her hair and gave her brown eyes depth. "Did you wear this for me?"

"Aunt Leigh made me," Erica retorted, selecting a seat on the far end of the couch. So much for giving her time to think. He was bowling her right over. She smoothed the white denim half skirt with her palm and pretended to feign interest in the ball game on TV.