Forgotten Dawn (Forgotten Book 2)

Chapter 6

 Anna could still feel the warmth from his hands on her thighs. She was having a hard time remembering she was supposed to be mad at him. He had basically called her a slut earlier. His goody-two-shoes self had no idea the life she had lived. He knew nothing about her. She didn't dress for other people when she wasn't working. Her clothing choices were always things that made her feel good about herself.

Needing to break the awkward silence on the drive back and get her mind off the feel of his hands, Anna asked, "So, which of your family's love stories is your favorite?"

"Not including Chase and Tiffany, because I think they just about got everyone beat for a wild story?" he chuckled.

"That they do," she laughed.

"Probably my parents. I don't know if you know this, but my dad passed away when I was six."

Anna nodded, "Chelsea told me."

"I thought he hung the moon. I don't remember much from when he was alive except for one summer when we all had a picnic under the tree. It was Ma, Dad, Chase, me, and Chelsea the spring before he died. Chase was always obsessed with the initials carved into the tree, so he would beg for Dad to tell the stories that went with them. That day, he wanted to hear Ma and Dad's story."

Anna couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy. She couldn't remember her real parents, and she was either just a paycheck or burden for foster parent after foster parent. There was no history or cute family stories to reflect back on. Forcing herself to focus, she listened as Chad continued.

"Ma grew up on the farm next door. When dad was a kid, it was on the far northern edge of our property. It's ours now, but back then, it belonged to my mother's family. Her dad, Grandpa Miller, and Grandpa Crawford, my dad's father, were best friends. The Crawfords had two sons, Uncle Joe and Charlie, my dad who was a year younger than Joe. The Millers only had one living child, my mother, Patty. The Crawfords were a little better off than the Millers, so Grandpa would invite Ma's family over for dinner a couple times a week to make sure they were eating.

"So, the kids all grew up together. When Ma was about ten, Grandma Miller got sick and passed away. After the funeral, Ma and Dad slipped away and came out to the tree. She was understandably upset, but what she worried about the most was what she was going to do without a mother. Grandpa Miller had no idea how to take care of a little girl.

"Dad was about twelve at the time. He decided he had the best idea. If they got married, then his mom would become her mom. Ma agreed, so they made a plan. While everyone was busy visiting after the funeral, Ma slipped inside her house and retrieved a ring from Grandma Miller's jewelry box. Meanwhile, Dad went and found Uncle Joe and drug him out to the tree. He told Joe their plan and begged him to be the preacher and marry them.

"Joe agreed and helped Dad pick some flowers to make a bouquet for Ma. They had gone to a neighbor's wedding the month before, so they knew there had to be flowers, a ring, and a preacher. Since they had just come from the funeral, the boys were dressed in black suits.

"They just knew it was meant to be when Ma showed up in a white dress with daffodils, the exact flowers the boys had picked for her bouquet. Ma had Grandma Miller's ring, a gold band with a single square cut diamond. They had everything they needed for a wedding. Uncle Joe asked them if they promised to stay together forever, even if they got really mad at each other, and they both said, 'I do' before Dad placed Grandma Miller's ring on her finger."

Chad had pulled up at the gate to the pasture. "I got it," Anna volunteered, opening her door.

"It's okay," Chad replied, putting the truck into park.

"No, really. I don't mind. It'll take less time, because you won't have to get in and out so many times, but I expect the rest of the story in exchange, because there's no way, even back then, that it was legal for a ten and twelve year old to be married by a thirteen year old officiant."

Anna hopped out of the truck and opened the gate. After Chad had pulled the truck through, she closed it and scrambled back into the passenger seat. He backed the truck up near the rental company's trailer that was parked outside the barn.

"The rest of the story will have to wait. Let's get these chairs moved over," he said.

The next several minutes were spent with Anna in the back of the truck, passing the chairs down to Chad, who would then load them into the box trailer. She tried to keep from noticing how his white t-shirt, drenched in sweat, clung to the muscles on his chest and back. She also tried to not notice the V that dipped below the waistband of his jeans that she would occasionally get a glimpse of when he raised his arms to take the chairs from her.

Trying to distract herself, she tried remembering their argument from earlier and the mean things he had said. Instead, her traitorous thoughts would wander to the memory of how he had looked standing in nothing more than a towel. It wasn't often that Anna found a man attractive. She was used to most men she came into contact with being skeevy, assholes, or worse, skeevy assholes.