Chapter 24 #2
“Than you’ve inherited my cooking skills,” Dad said.
“I once scorched one of your mother’s pans attempting to seer the outside of the fish I wanted to cook for her.
She waddled into the kitchen and seared it herself, then ordered me back to my own forge to make a new pan.
I made her a whole set and never touched them again after I’d handed them to her. ”
“I bet she was grateful for that,” I said, giggling.
“I…remember that,” Upalo muttered as he carefully exchanged places with Odem.
Dad joined us in forming a triangle around the eggs, so we could see them and each other while he continued sharing beautiful memories with us.
“She took one look at you with black smoke swirling up from that pan and leaned against the table, sighing before she sent a burst of wind your way and sent the smoke curling out the window,” Upalo said.
“Then she nudged you aside, got out another pan, and banished you to your forge until you replaced the one you ruined.”
“She did say banished, didn’t she?” Dad mused.
“Yeah, she did,” Upalo said.
Now I know who I got my sassiness from.
“Our house was filled with plants,” Dad said.
“She loved them. There were two, sometimes three, hanging in front of every window, and I’d installed window boxes for her to fill with all the colorful flowers she loved.
She named those houseplants and never mixed them up.
I can’t tell you how many times I walked in on her telling a story to them.
She’d listen to books on tape and CDs, so the plants could hear the stories too, and boy did they grow.
Your nursery windows had flowers growing around them.
She wanted you to wake up to something beautiful every morning.
I told her you already did, because you woke up to her. ”
Love.
It was in every word he spoke about her.
After thinking of that vile Foley as my father for so long, and seeing the misery my mother endured, I’d never imagined that I’d been born of love.
Now I knew that Upalo and I had been treasured, and that the wonderful lives our parents had planned for us had been interrupted by cruelty and evil.
“She used to sing in the kitchen while she cooked, didn’t she?” Upalo asked.
“She was always singing,” Dad said. “She went about her day with a song on her lips, which always brightened mine. I never understood how she could memorize so many of them, but she only had to hear a song a few times before she could sing it.”
“I love to sing too,” I said.
“I’ve been offered money not to sing,” Upalo said. “But I do it anyway. Sometimes I just can’t help myself.”
“Then sing,” Dad said. “As long as it brings you joy don’t let anyone try to silence you.”
“I won’t,” Upalo said.
Hearing him say that, I knew I’d never have to worry about being myself around him.
It was a welcome change from everything I was used to before coming to Dragon City.
This place had become a haven and a sanctuary, not just for me, but for so many who’d been prohibited from being themselves and had their lives controlled by individuals who didn’t care anything about them.
All that they were after was how they could use us to their benefit until we had nothing left to give.
But the protectors would put an end to it. I knew they would.
“Son, I am dying to know how you met your mate,” Dad said. “I’m sure you already have stories of your own to tell your girls.”
Snickering, I thought back to those early moments with Odem and tried to decide what to share with Dad and what to keep to myself.
“By the time I can tell those stories, they won’t be little anymore,” I declared.
“They might not be ready to hear those until they are at least a hundred and six. Let’s just say that their Papa is a notorious flirt and I am not much better.
In fact, I may have been a bit of an instigator, which I’m sure he’ll remind me of anytime I tell the story of how we met. ”
“And how did you meet?” Dad asked.
“At the diner I was working at,” I said.
“He showed up with that grin of his, cracking jokes and being all…Odem, and I got distracted and accidentally poured ice water in a customer’s lap instead of in their glass.
Of course, turnabout was fair play, and I made sure to be quite distracting just when he was headed up to the counter to pay.
He walked right into a table and made a way bigger mess than the one I made of my customer. ”
Dad snorted, while Upalo sat there snickering with a hand pressed to his face.
“I’m going to guess that is the censored version of the story and leave it at that,” Dad said, chuckling now.
“Fair,” I replied, flushing a bit.
Busted.
Dare I hope that someday mom would be here to laugh with us and tell us stories about our dad, since I got the sense that he’d much rather sing her praises.
While I hated to wish for anything more after everything the Goddess had done for me, I couldn’t help but send up a tiny plea, in the hope that one day our family would be fully reunited.