Loving Ashlynn (#Wattys2016)

Chapter 38 - Line Drawn in the Sand (Kalenah POV)

Chapter 38 – Line Drawn in the Sand (Kalenah POV)

As a kid, growing up, my dad always enforced to my sisters and I that we should put one another first. We would have troubles, but we shouldn't just give up on the family.

When looking for my mate, I wanted someone with deep family roots. Someone that understood that family was important. If you couldn't treat family well, how on earth would you treat a stranger?

Then I met Ansel.

Handsome and dedicated to his family. Open hearted and shared my views as well. But as the older sibling, Ansel did more than care for his siblings. In my young eyes, he carried the weight of his siblings on his shoulders. He wanted to help them in any way he could.

Ansel openly wanted his brothers and sisters to seek him out when they were in trouble. It didn't matter what they had done, he wanted them to come to him.

"They need to know I will help them without judgment. If they believe they don't have that, they'll never come to me, turn to me for anything." He told me once.

In all our years together, I don't think I've ever once witnessed Ansel put up road blocks between him and his siblings. He's never once looked at any of them with the fire in his eyes that he did right now as he gazed at his little brother Danny.

With my father-in-law next to me, the intense gaze Ansel has now doesn't frighten me. In truth, he doesn't have a problem with Danny outside of going to see Faith while she was in the hospital getting treatment for her wrist.

But I think what's going to be settled now is something Danny was hoping he'd never hear coming from Ansel.

"I didn't go after the girl-"

"The girl has a name Danny," Ansel says still in that eerily calm voice, "Her name is Faith. The same Faith, that Andy spent almost a whole year asking for. The same girl that you told him not to mention anymore because it hurt Cynthia-"

Danny squints his eyes, narrowing at Ansel.

"How do we know she is who we say she is?"

Ansel barked out a laugh, "Because I tested her blood against Cynthia's... you think I'd make decisions about the family without getting proof, Danny?"

"Fine, I went there," Danny shrugged, "I went there and made sure that the girl," Ansel took a menacing toward his brother, causing Jonah to hiss under his breath. "I went to see Faith, I wanted her to know how tricky this situation was. I'm moving my family here and..." Danny huffed looking down. "We need some-"

Ansel took a step back, waving his hand. "Don't ask me for help, because it's not going to happen Danny. I'm not letting you stay in the town apartment, or on the property. I'm not helping you and Cynthia-"

"We're family," Danny says confused, "We need help – we were barely making ends meet-"

"Yet you and Cynthia had Genesis," Ansel says monotone. My eyes widen, and a frown grows on my face. "Ansel," I whisper softly. "You and Cynthia must think I'm stupid," my husband continues, shaking his head.

"You ask for a loan months before you even claimed to be expecting Genesis, but I turn you down. Three months later, Cynthia's pregnant. You ask for another loan, and I give you that. You send Cynthia with Genesis down to Bend, and she asks for another loan, a few hundred dollars. Stupid me... I think, oh a new baby, they need the extra money. And now, you're moving to Bend? Living in a hotel in Portland?" Ansel shakes his head.