chapter ten

She found herself lying in bed and sat up. Seeing her familiar bags by the door of her room she realized she must have fallen asleep. When Jill was finally allowed to go home she waived the right in order to go see Oralia. She wanted more than anything to make sure she hadn’t lost her baby. No one was at the hospital that had any explanation for why she was missing. They wouldn’t say a word about her condition because she wasn’t a relative. Jill checked at her house but that was all but empty of belongings and people alike. For months after the incident Jill expected a call at work but none came. Years after she expected nothing but still she waited. It never came. Now that it had Jill didn’t entirely believe it. She still felt she was waiting. Maybe that perpetual tug would let her go when she saw Oralia once more.
When she heard a soft knock she remembered what had woken her. She stood up to open the door and unsurprisingly looked into the face of Oralia Rivas. She had changed dramatically even for five years. Her pixie lips smiled easily now and her eyes were alight with happiness when they looked into Jill’s. She was still just as small proportionally but seemed to have grown anyway just by the new and confident curve of her shoulders and tilt of her face. She had soft brown hair: monotonous in color, luxurious in texture, mousy to someone who most admires glamour. She wore black jeans and a peasant-style white blouse that contrasted attractively with her sienna complexion. Her hands still moved of their own volition when she spoke, revealing her emotions. They reminded Jill of when she’d gesticulated her ruined wrist unconsciously before until the pain of it shocked her into submission. The memory brought upon weariness.
“Jill…” she spoke and it glimmered something like awe. Then her hands took over and wrapped themselves around Jill’s neck. They stood hugging tightly for a good long minute or two before simultaneously releasing each other. They walked over to sit on the edge of the bed and Oralia clasped her hand. Sitting down they shared an easy conversation very much like the beginnings of their first one except without the tangible tension.
This was all fairly new territory for Jill. With all the hugging and female bonding she felt as though she were on shaky ground. She was trying her best to be polite and honest at the same time but sincerity was a habit harder to start than stop. And having Oralia look up at her so openly adoring wasn’t exactly making it simple yet it did provide solace.
“I’m just returning from a visit to a young man trying to make it on his own after emancipating himself from his horrible step-dad. He’s a wonderful boy but he’s got a bit of a crush on me. Not only am I unavailable but also it's unhealthy to start a dependent relationship right after the end of one so dysfunctional. Today will be my lastÿ[ r_ r_ w_ w a while. While we mean to be there for him the whole way and after we still must discourage attachments that could only end negatively.” Her eyes became misty. Imagine, tears from emotion, none from pain. Go figure. “Jill this is all because of you. I never thought myself capable of anything this constructive. The only reason I continued to pursue something my whole being was telling me would be impossible is because of what you told me that night before the police came. For the longest time I couldn’t understand how you could have come into that room looking so much like my personal raging angel if so recently you were a victim yourself. I mean, that you could grow up being sexually abused by your only guardian, someone you were meant to trust, and then turn around and save someone as sorry as me—incomprehensible. I just couldn’t for the life of me grasp it. The only thing I knew was that if you did it than it must be possible and so I would too. You gave me the life I have,” she finished vehemently.
Jill bowed her head slightly in embarrassment. Not enjoying the sensation she opted to cowardly change the subject to something that had been nagging at her for years. “Oralia? I’m sorry but I need to know: did you lose your baby?”
Oralia’s head wagged like a dog’s tail. Her eyes shone pride and her back arched ever so much. “Oh no. I had him and he was a very healthy boy, a little too healthy if you ask me; eight and a half pounds was harder to deliver then it was to carry for nine months!” She giggled abundantly. Oh he’s on his way to six now and I know most parents claim this but I’m serious: he’s brilliant! He’s the most beloved thing in my life. Almost now, I suppose, but it’s so strange having two people that mean this much to me. I thought I was beyond blessed just to have my Taylor but now Arthur… It’s practically too much! Oh but I love it. Just thinking about them, either of them, and I become downright giddy. It really seems like it should be a sin, like I should be punished somehow for being this happy, but I’ll just have to get over that and get over myself.”
She got up from the bed after giving Jill’s hand one last squeeze and rushed towards the door, wrenching it open and calling at the top of her voice the boy’s name. “I’m really glad you asked about him since I’ve been dying to introduce you two. He’s so bright and in every sense of the word.” Jill heard footsteps preceding his ascent and then he was there. It was the same boy she’d seen reading downstairs and still he held the book at his side. He appeared small for his age, like his mother, but his eyes were sharp and took in everything. He had dark, brooding, Hispanic eyes that also mirrored his mother’s and they seemed to take up more space on his face than they had been officially granted. His hair was shaved off to a stubble on his head and his eyes protruded more obviously from his head making him look adorable. Unfortunately “adorable” was most likely not the look he was going for so she said nothing and tried no to seem condescending in her inspection.
“Taylor I’d like you to meet Jillian Bennett. Jill, this is my Taylor Bennett Maddoc. Don’t look so surprised at your namesake, if it weren’t for you he may not have even been with us at all. Well we really ought to get down to supper. Everyone’s going to be simply spilling with questions and they’ve been so good at holding off thus far.”

Dinner ended up being a lot more social than Jill was comfortable with but she made it through as did she allow time to pass as it’s apt to do. With it came familiarity and most of the people turned out to have names and pasts all their own and most were more than willing to share them. She learned the little pleasures in recognizing quirks and moods of the people surrounding her and found she didn’t entirely mind when they were able to recognize hers either. There was Joey and the way he snapped when he was nervous or uncomfortable, and Alice who had a habit of licking her lips constantly. Then there was Gretal who proved to be quick to cry when she sensed the woman she was trying to comfort needed some sort of permission to do the same. And Cameron. Cameron who didn’t talk very often but listened profusely and on those rare occasions when he did speak up made observations so sharp and right on that it surprised them all every time and without fail. Or Ravyn and his unsurpassable patience and gentleness when it came to Taylor. Whenever everyone was perturbed or anxious Tal had this indescribable way of walking slowly among them all and setting the whole room at ease.
During this time Jill got to know Taylor better too. He was an extremely intelligent kid and his perceptive nature automatically put Jill on the defensive at times but with time comes trust and with trust comes appreciation. He was the one that tended the vegetable garden and said he found great beauty in things that could be put to great use. He found feeding all of ‘his’ people, giving them nourishment and satisfaction, to be equally fulfilling and he took great pride in the fertility of his plants. He absolutely loved to read and his favorite authors were those that were thrown into categories that could never come close to actually describing what they wrote. Up until Taylor Jill didn’t even think she liked kids but she found herself being drawn to his honest naivety more surely than anyone else she’d met. He was beautiful.