When She Speaks (Rewritting soon)

Chapter Two- (*)

      Chapter Two-  DINNER

 James has gracefully worked his way into my mother's heart. My mother gently squeezes his hand and whispers, "Thank you for taking care of my daughter, James. You will never realize how much it means to me." 

He seems shocked by her strong, poigant words. And I wait for him to run but he doesn't run. His eyes blaze with power.

"Oh, It was my pleasure." He says. 

His fiery blue eyes seem to darken and I can't bare to stare at him. His breath tickles my throat, "I'll be counting the hours until I can see you again." 

His voice holds so much promise and I'm suddenly scared.   My mother pulls a piece of paper out of her purse and writes our address down.  James gratefully takes it and thanks her. 

His eyes never leave my eyes. 

I tug on my mother's sleeve.

Can we please go?  

She reads my eyes almost instantly.  After I stopped speaking, we learned to communicate through body language and eye movements. Some days are easy and other days are hard. Some days, she looks at as if I'm a ghost trapped in her old daughter's body.  

"We need to leave but we will see you very soon, James." My mother promises. 

~*~ 

My mother spends the entire evening preparing a feast. She always cooks for an army.  She rolls out a sheet of dough with her small fingers. She cooks everything from scratch and even insists on making her own piecrusts. 

  "I'm making cherry pie. It use to be one of your favorites." She whispers. 

  It was one of dad's favorites, too. 

 My mother swallows hard. It's almost if she can read my thoughts. 

"You're father would have been so proud of you." She says.  Her eyes grow heavy with tears. 

He hated me, mom. And, I don't miss him nearly as much as you do. 

 She wipes the reminder of her tears on her sleeve.  "I won't upset you by taking about your father but I wanted to let you that I'm proud of you too.  And, James seems like a really special guy and he likes you, Star." She say.

Her words almost make me laugh. Almost. 

Guys like James are not interested in girls like me. 

The door bell rings and my thoughts are instantly forgotten. 

"Could you get the doorbell, sweetheart?" She asks. 

  I slowly walk to the front door.  Minutes tick by as I stare at the door nob.  My body is frozen in place and unable to move. 

Time seems to spin faster and faster. With shaking fingers, I yank the door open.  I feel a stap of dissapoinment when I see my brother on the front porch.

My brother, Thomas, doesn't look at me.  His lips frown in disapproval and he says, "You really shouldn't open the door for guests." 

It's nice to see you too, brother.

His eyes are empty and distant. He won't look at me. He hasn't looked at me in years.  He walks into the house and a young women follows him inside.  The young women seems afraid of my presence and I can only imagine the horror stories my brother has told her. I'm sure he's told her his own verison of the truth.