Break of Day

6) The Changing Tides

The sliver of light shimmering through the open window settled across my face as a gentle breeze ghosted through the room. Confusion curling through me as I felt the blankets strewn across me, the thinnest one, made to help me feel safe even in the heat of Texas nights, was wrapped around me. I scanned the room, focusing on my sister's sleeping form, hair across her face. The last thing I could remember was leaning against Carlton's shoulder as he spoke about his grandfather's time in the trenches of World War I.

Untangling myself from the blankets, I sat at the edge of my bed, smoothing my hair away from my face. After I had helped Mare through the window, it had taken us an hour to calm Maria enough to get her to stop screaming at Carlton and claiming he was trying to unroot her and steal us. She had found a takeout box from the dinner he had ordered for us when she was out all night drinking with Donna and Katherine. Carlton sent me from the room after we convinced her that he was not trying to undermine her or lie to her, so that he could finish calming her. He had a way to do so that I could never, nor would ever want to.

Rising to my feet, unsteady at first as my legs adjusted, I moved to my dresser to change.

With my hand in Mare's and my head on her shoulder, we watched the stars as we waited. A warm breeze whispered through the trees Carlton planted and the soft grass, curling through our hair as we watched the tapestry of stars painted above. We had spent countless nights this way, hidden outside our window as we waited for Carlton to lull our mother to sleep. Mare had spent many more sitting her alone as I tried to calm her, keeping my sister out of harm's way and giving her the chance to run to Lex's house the second Maria grew too out of control. That had happened seven times and each time, the police came and she was put in rehab.

When Carlton slid through our window, he sat between us. Each of us resting our heads on his shoulder and our knees curled to our chest as silence sat with us for many moments.

I can't remember how he started or what led us there, but eventually his voice formed into a lullaby as he spoke of his grandfather. But, I can remember the way his voice glowed as he watched the distant lights suspended in the vastness of space, telling of the man who sat against a trench wall the day the war ended, sitting next to the French soldier whose life he had saved when he first arrived and who had saved his life several times over the next many months. How he had listened to the Frenchman tell his stories of the constellations, despite not understanding any French other than, "oui", "non', "Allemands!", "gaz", and "descendre". Carlton laughed softly as he spoke of the note the soldier had left with him as they parted and how his grandfather spent the next six months determined to become fluent in French to understand the note, thinking it would have been a hard to understand phrase. When he learned it simply said, "If you ever learn French, come visit" with his address and name attached, Adélard Moreau, his grandfather always had to take a break from talking due to his laughter.

My eyes had begun to burn and I struggled to keep them open as he continued. His grandfather had booked a flight to France as soon as he saved enough money, his brother thought him insane. He had paced for several moments before knocking on the door, being greeted by a lovely brunette with the warmest of eyes, yet her face was harsh with lines of healing from hunger. He had been uncertain as he mumbled the name, "Adélard Moreau" in his heavily accented French, having been taught most of what he knew from a soldier who had bothered to learn somethings while in the trenches, the rest learned by books.

She laughed, her smile like the first breath after removing a gas mask, as she opened the door wider, calling into the apartment, "Addie, your American is here."

I could remember the silence as he searched the sky, tracing the graceful swoop of the Big Dipper, the delicate beauty of Cassiopeia with his eyes. "He would always tell that story as the moment he knew he loved her. I wouldn't believe in love at first sight if it wasn't for them. The American soldier and the French baker."