29. Fallon
29
FALLON
D arcy clambered off of me, her face drawn tight. It had not been difficult for me to hear most of what the warden had said.
“Your mother is here?” I asked, already missing Darcy’s weight upon me and her cunt around me, but resigning myself to getting up anyway. Once I got out of the bed, I found lightness in my steps. I was excited to meet the human woman who had produced my miracle of a wife.
But Darcy did not seem to share my excitement. She answered with a terse, “Apparently,” as she punched her fists into the sleeves of her robe.
“I’ll hurry through my morning chores so we can go and meet her. If we ride together on Kolt it will be faster than the wagon ride was. Should I wear my wedding suit?”
If ever there was an occasion for wearing my human formalwear outside of our wedding ceremony, meeting my wife’s mother seemed to qualify. And I would be glad to get another use out of it. Though it was hot to wear in the sun, I’d been pleased with the fit and effect of it all.
“Your wedding suit?” Darcy gaped at me. “God, no! Fallon, I don’t even plan on having you in the same room as that woman if I can help it. Literally, the only reason I’m going down there at this point is for the warden’s sake. My mother will make that poor man’s life living hell if she doesn’t get what she wants, which no doubt is a meeting with me.”
She blew out a breath between her lips and shook her head. “No. I’m going to tell her goodbye and good riddance and hopefully I will never have to see her again. I can’t believe she’s even come after everything she said to me.” Darcy shook her head once more, the motion smaller this time, disbelieving.
“So… this is not a happy reunion, then?”
As a very young child, I’d fantasized about my parents coming to reclaim me and bring me home. I’d pretend they wanted me and build a fake home with them in my head. Sometimes, I wondered if that was why I enjoyed sewing quilts for this place, or the reason I’d added on extra bedrooms to the original building of the ranch. I was trying to build a home I’d never really had.
Until now. Until her.
“Not a happy reunion.” She pinched her lips together and gave me a guarded look I could not quite read. “I have something to tell you, Fallon. But it’s kind of a long story and I know you have chores to get through if we’re going to leave anytime soon. So we can talk about it on the ride.”
“Alright,” I agreed, unable to deny her anything. I wanted to touch her, or maybe even try to do a kiss to her, but she had already left the room.
As promised, I moved quickly, milking, feeding, and caring for the various animals, all the while wondering about what Darcy had to tell me and why she did not seem happy at the prospect of seeing her mother.
After I was finished, I washed myself, knowing that it would do little good and that I’d be covered in dust by the time we reached the warden’s station, but wanting to make the effort anyway. If not for my wife’s mother’s sake, then for my wife’s. I did not want to embarrass Darcy. I combed my hair and tied it back so it would not get too tangled on the ride, replaced my hat, put on fresh trousers, and went looking for Darcy.
I found her with Sora, rubbing the hound’s ears and staring into her eyes. I stopped and watched them, just for a moment. I remembered when it had just been Sora and me. Both of us small, scrawny, and bruised. I wanted to go back in time and tell that kicked pup, that kicked boy, to wait. Just wait. Because your life will be good one day. Better than you ever could have imagined or deserved.
I started walking towards them. Heading right towards the centre point of everything that mattered. Darcy straightened up and turned towards me at the sound of my footfalls. Her hair was a darker pink than before, and very glossy. It made the green parts of her eyes shine even more brilliantly than before. She wore a simple, long-sleeved white blouse and a long skirt that reached nearly to her boots.
“You’ll need a hat,” I told her, my eyes sweeping tenderly over her face.
“Definitely. Can’t show up to a meeting with my mother with even more freckles,” she said, sending her eyes to the sky then back down again.
“Can you get more of them?” I asked in wonder, amazed that her skin could change in that way.
“In the sun, yeah.”
“That’s quite magical!” I said. “I am intrigued by this. But I do not want you to get a sunburn. So put on your hat while I fetch Kolt.”
She stared at me as I went for the shuldu stalls. When I returned for her, leading my black shuldu Kolt, she was indeed wearing her hat.
With her long legs, she didn’t struggle too much with the stirrup. I only had to boost her a little to get her settled before I got up behind her.
Despite her sour mood at the prospect of seeing her mother, Darcy let a small smile flicker over her face.
“I’ve never ridden a horse, or a shuldu, or anything like this before. Some of the farms near us on Terratribe II had horses, and I always thought they were beautiful. I thought riding on one would make you feel so free.”
“Would you like to learn to ride? I could teach you. Reesha is gentle and would be amenable to a new rider, I think.”
Darcy twisted in the saddle to look at me. I could not fathom why, but she looked entirely shocked by my offer.
“You would do that? Take time away from all your other duties to teach me? I can’t imagine I’ll be a quick study; I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing.”
“If it would please you, of course,” I told her. “I want you to be happy.”
She blinked, and her eyes suddenly looked more shiny than before. She turned around to face forward, staring out at the road between Kolt’s curving black horns.
“Let’s get moving,” she said, and she sounded tired. “We have a long way to go. And a lot to talk about.”