A Vagabond's Tale [COMPLETED]

Chapter 3 - "Do you ever want to be more?"

"We're your family."

Gigi glanced about, noticing as eyes dropped from her's when they met. She wrapped her arms about her, frown deepening.

"He was my brother," Annaleigh said.

"He disowned you, like they did."

"You won't change my mind, Quinn. I need to go."

The flap to the tent swung open and Annaleigh strode out. At the sight of Gigi, she paused. Sadness lingered behind the soft hazel of her eyes.

"You heard?" Annaleigh said.

Gigi dropped her arms as she moved forward.

"Let me go with you."

"What?" both Huck and Annaleigh cried in unison.

Huck moved to stand beside her, but Gigi didn't look at him, her gaze glued to her mother's.

"Gigi, you can't go," Huck said.

She looked at him then, her face earnest. 

"I want to, Huck."

"Gigi, dearest." Gigi turned back to her mother, as Annaleigh pushed back a strand of her wild hair. "I can't let you go," she said.

"What's this?" Quinn said, appearing.

His face was calm, but Gigi could see the tempest that hid in his blue eyes. She looked to her mother once more.

"Mother, please. I want to go with you. This might be my only chance to meet my grandparents. Don't I deserve to meet them once?"

"They are not people you want to meet," Annaleigh said, her tone despondent.

Gigi stood a little straighter.

"I think I should have the choice to decide," she said.

"Gigi, you're not going," Quinn said. "That's final. Your mother is going because she feels the need to honor her brother. But I will not allow you to go."

Gigi's stiff posture vanished as she stepped closer.

"Why? I have a right to go as much as she."

"You're not going. That is my final say," Quinn said, his tone leaving no room for argument.

Gigi turned to her mother, her expression pleading.

"Mother."

"Gigi, your father has decided."

Gigi held their gazes for a long moment. Her shoulders sagged and she spun away. Her pace quickened as she broke from the camp and headed towards the forest. The temperature dropped as she moved beneath the canopy of branches. 

Uneven dirt gave way to soft, damp sand. Gigi sank down, wrapping her thin arms around her legs and resting her chin on her boney knees.  Brush strokes of color painted the sky with sunset. Waves crashed against each other before chasing each other up the beach, bubbles of white foam tickling her toes.

A twig snapped and Huck appeared. He fell down to the sand, stretching his legs out, and resting back on his hands. Gigi didn't look at him, her gaze fixed on the water. He lounged in silence, the salty sea breeze playing with his hair.

"Why do you want to go, Gigi?" he asked, his focus following the swoop of a bird.

Gigi didn't answer right away, the pause filling with the sound of seagulls calling to one another. She looked at him, and he met her gaze, his blue eyes quiet with puzzlement.