It was her job, thought Ruth, to keep the kids out of trouble. She’d managed it all these years, and truth to tell, sometimes she forgot that they were all grown now. Force of habit, she supposed.
“Where’s Kayo?” She asked Gordon. The aquanaut looked up from his half-empty plate of warmed-over spaghetti and fixed her with a weary gaze.
“Um, she went to bed.”
“No, she’s not in her room.”
“Oh.” Gordon shoveled in a forkful of noodles. “I dunno, she just said she was going to bed.”
Ruth glanced around, noticing that there was one other absent face. “Where’s Virgil?”
Gordon chased a mouthful of garlic cheese bread with a long swallow of iced tea. “Same. Bed.”
Experience told her the two coincidences were related, so she marched herself up to her middle grandsons’ room, intent on her duty as a grandmother.
She listened for a moment at the door (no use embarrassing them) before pushing it open, her indignation at their behavior locked and loaded. When she was in the room, however, the words died away, and she stood looking down at her two young charges.
Yes, they were sleeping. Yes, they were sleeping together. Yes, they were not wearing enough clothes to suit her, but–
Virgil’s arm curled about Kayo’s slender waist, holding her securely against his side. Kayo’s hand was resting on the back of his neck, her fingers twined in his still-damp hair. Their haunted eyes were closed and their wan, grey faces were slowly regaining their color, features relaxed in slumber.
They were too young, she argued. Too young to be together like this. Too young to deal with the consequences.
And then she looked again at how they lay together, protecting and reassuring one another, even in sleep.
Sometimes she woke in the middle of the night, sure that she’d felt Grant touch her hand. His voice had woken her from a sound sleep only to find she’d been dreaming.
She stood in the doorway a moment more, then stepped back and closed it softly.
How did I miss this???
So gorgeous ::hugs it to me::
