The Summer of Bells: The Essences Saga - Book #2

Summer: Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Silas stayed through lunch.  He fixed tuna salad for the both of them, even though Min exclaimed that she could make her own sandwich, but he swatted her hand away when she tried to help.  “Really, Silas.  I've been feeding myself for over two centuries.  I think I can manage to boil an egg.”

“And one would think you would be better at it,” he retorted with a grin.

“I'm not that bad at cooking.”

“No, but you should be better.  I've been feeding myself for only fifteen years, and I know that you have to turn on the burner to boil the egg.”  With that sentence, he pushed her aside and turned the dial on the stove.  “I'm surprised the girls haven't starved by now.”

She looked away so that he couldn't see her embarrassed grimace.  She busied herself with making a turkey sandwich for Nicole and disappeared up the stairs to give it to her.  Silas took the time to breathe in and out.

That woman will be the death of him.  His restraint was failing, and she took every opportunity to make it worse.  Her little episode in the living room, especially undoing her shirt enough that he could see a pale blue, lacy bra underneath nearly sent him over the edge.

I should have never hired her, he thought.  Not that she wasn’t the best person for these girls, but because he was just selfish enough to know that if she wasn’t here undertaking all the responsibility of being a moral fiber for teenagers, she could possibly be at home with him tangled in his sheets. 

But then again, if he had never hired her, she would have moved on and never fell in love with him.

It’s a tragedy, he groaned inwardly. 

Silas noticed her thoughtful gaze when she returned to the kitchen.  “What is it?”

“Nothing,” she shook her head, her long silky, brown hair flowing with the movement.  A damn tragedy.  “I just can't seem to get over Nicole having a baby.  She is a baby.  I just wonder how that happened.”

Silas gave her a look of absurdity.  Surely she can’t be that naïve.  Min did know where babies came from, right? 

She rolled her glorious eyes at him.  “I know how it happened.  That's not what I meant.  You've seen girls in her condition before, right?  Why do they allow themselves to go that far?”

  He picked up their plates and tea and walked into the living room again.  She snuggled up into his shoulder, biting into her sandwich.  After a moment of muting the music in his head, he answered her questions.

“Well, I hate to say it, but it's not always the girl's fault.  True, teenage girls these days are taught how to care for and protect their bodies, but having sex in the first place might not have been Nicole's choice.”

“You think she was raped?”

He sighed, and his shoulder rose quickly in a shrug.  “I don't know.  She didn't tell me anymore than you.”

Min chewed slowly, gazing down at her own stomach.  “Silas?”

“Hmm?”

“I can't have children.”

Her words were simply said.  She was stating a fact: she can’t have children.  This wasn't new to him, but he loved kids.  He wanted slews of them, trotting through his house, calling him, “Daddy,” and hugging Min around her neck, making her smile with joy and happiness.  She could never have children.