Coming Home to the Mountain: Complete Edition

6. Tallie

CHAPTER 6

Tallie

T he relentless kindness continues. There’s plenty of baby food for Lucy, lots of attention for her. But it’s not for the baby alone. I was asked my size and got some fresh clothes and nightgowns of my own, so I’m not strictly in hand-me-downs even though they were more than enough.

We ordered a pizza too. After taking care of ourselves, feeding Lucy, and putting her to bed, we’re sitting at the kitchen table alone.

It’s been a horrific day. Finding out that Julia is gone broke me. I am all alone, caring for a child that is family, but doesn’t belong to me.

Well, I guess she does now.

She is all I have left.

“They proposed after spending a night in a cave together of all things,” Graham is telling me. “That’s what people did back in the eighties. Seems kinda wild, doesn’t it?”

He’s regaling me with the tale of how his parents decided to get married. Apparently they’d known one another growing up, but didn’t realize they had feelings for each other until they were both out of high school. It was a warm, fuzzy, over-the-top story that I could never dream of happening to me.

“I envy my parents, you know,” he continues.

“How so?”

“They got the perfect marriage. They still love one another passionately after all this time. And I think they have the perfect family too. It’s traditional and kind of boring for a modern family, but hell, traditions live on because they’re a good thing.”

I laugh. “You’d describe your family as perfect?”

His cheeks color, becoming self-conscious in light of everything that’s happened the last few days. “Well, no. I want to punch Rye and Bart in the fucking face sometimes, and even Lemon and I have had our fair bit of sparring matches.”

“Still way more perfect than what I have, at least.”

He’s quick to correct me. “Lucy is a lovely child.”

I can’t lie anymore. “Lucy... Lucy is my niece, Graham.”

He’s quiet for a moment, and cocks an eyebrow. “Your niece? Not your daughter?”

“Lucy is Julia’s child. I moved in with her before the disaster. I was carrying Lucy when we were separated from Julia and wound up on the mountain. Lucy’s father’s a piece of work and I was scared of what would happen if Julia died, if he found out. I’m so sorry, I never meant to lie to you. Or your wonderful family.”

There’s a bit of silence. But he breaks it with a question, “Do you intend to treat her as your daughter going forward?”

“Of course! I’m all she has. She’s all I have. She’s my family and I’ll fight tooth and nail to keep her.”

I’d die before I surrendered Lucy to her pathetic excuse for a biological father.

“Then she’s your daughter, Tallie. I’m so sorry for what happened to her mom, your sister. But Lucy needs you now. Going forward, you’re her mother. You’ll be that to the world, and you’ll be that to her.”

I take a deep sigh, realizing the harsh reality of what he’s saying. It’s a heavy weight I realize I’ve been carrying since the mudslide. I love my sister, I love my niece. But two days ago I was just her babysitter and part-time caretaker. I wasn’t charged with providing for her, guiding her, being an actual parent.

Graham strokes his beard. “In some ways it’s more noble, even.”

“What do you mean?”

“There are those who would refuse such a responsibility, even if the child was family. A parent owes their child the world. No one else does. The way I see it, you’re willingly taking on a job that the world never intended for you, out of the goodness of your heart, and out of love for your family. You’re doing something no one expects of you, Tallie. That’s commendable.”

Now he’s hyping me up. It inspires something in me that I don’t expect. “You’re right... I’m a mother now. I’m... a... mother...” I stare off into the distance.

“You okay there, Tallie?”

“No. Not really.”

“Can you explain why you’re not okay?”

“I’m a mother. It’s a bit daunting. I didn’t plan to be a mother, at least not until I was damn good and ready for it. I didn’t want to end up like my own mother…. I didn’t even want to end up like Julia.”

He reaches across the table and caresses my hand. “Explain.”

“I didn’t want to raise a baby all on my own. With a useless baby daddy I can’t dream of respecting. It’s been a terrible cycle in our family, Graham. We’re not like you and your family. Julia and I came from a broken home.”

He sighs. “I understand.”

“We grew up dirt poor. Our mother was always struggling to take care of us both. We never knew our father, and our extended family didn’t seem to care about us. We’ve both been working hard to escape that life ever since we became adults. Julia thought she found love. I never liked Lucy’s father. And they never married, he didn’t want to commit. When she got pregnant with Lucy, Julia finally saw the light. She moved out, got her own apartment. Took me in. Marcus was harassing her, though. She was planning on leaving the state, the time zone, she’d have left the country if that was an option, and I would have stood by her. Then... well... you know. Everything changes because some rocks begin to tumble down a hill.”

“Marcus?” There was a bit of anger within Graham. “What did he do to your sister?”

I take a deep breath. “He hit her. He threatened Lucy to get control of her. Anything you expect a manipulative, narcissistic asshole to do, he did.”

His fists ball up. I look toward him, and am struck with the passion I felt earlier when I was in the arms, in the parking lot of the morgue.

It was hardly the most romantic of locations, but it made me see Graham for who he is.

A handsome man. A caring man. A provider, a protector, someone who understands emotion, someone who cares. Everything Marcus is not, he is.

I thought that my attraction to him was some weird adrenaline thing. Some lizard brain thing where in times of peril, you’re pushed to reproduce above all else, which means falling in love with the nearest dashing man.

The feeling has stayed strong though, long after the adrenaline went away. Outside going a little overboard with kindness, there haven’t been any red flags that make me feel like I need to run away from Graham. He seems like a genuine, sweet, caring person, not someone lying in wait to spring his dark side on me.

I almost did it before. So why not try again?

I push myself up from the table. “Hey, Graham?”

His eyes light up, his eyebrow cocking as I approach him.

He only gets more shocked when I go for it, and lay a kiss right on his lips. This time, he doesn’t stop me.