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She looked up at him, confusion filling her face.
“I’ve thought of you over the last few years, Aurora. I’ve thought of the brave young woman who went to help others when it wasn’t advisable. I’ve thought of your big blue eyes and your tiny little body and I said a prayer that you would be safe, somewhere safe.”
She kneeled in the soft earth in front of him sobbing harder and harder.
“B-before you came, I knew there was no one that cared. But when you arrived,” she gasped for air, “when you arrived you immediately cared about me. Me!”
“Is that bad?” he asked.
“No. I’m just scared you’ll leave and I’ll have no one again. No one to care for me. No one to care about me.”
“Aurora, I’m not going anywhere. Eventually I won’t work the fire shifts, I’ll be back with my team. But I’m just going to be a few miles away. I’ll be here for you.”
“You can’t promise that,” she said shaking her head.
“You’re right.” She jerked her head upward in surprise and he nodded. “No one can promise tomorrow. But I can promise that I will do everything in my power to try and be here for you. In whatever way you need me to be.”
“You mean that?” she asked.
“I’m really bad at this aren’t I?” he smirked. “I’ve been trying to show my interest in you for several days now. The diner, sitting by you at dinner when I can. Striking up strange conversations. I wanted to work up the courage to ask you out. On a date.”
“B-but you know,” she whispered. “You know what they did to me.”
“I don’t know it all. And it doesn’t matter to me. If you want to tell me, I want to hear it. If you don’t then I’m okay with that too. I do think you should tell someone but if it’s not me, that’s okay.”
“Really?” she asked with puffy eyes, her lips swollen as well.
“Really,” he smiled. “So. Dinner with me? Like a real date.”
“Y-yes,” she nodded. “Yes. I’ll go to dinner with you.”
“Good,” he smiled. “Now, can we get off this ground. My knees are killing me.” She gave a soft laugh and nodded, standing with him as he held her hand.
“I’m sorry I slapped you,” she said.
“That’s okay. Bank it. I’m sure I’ll do something stupid again later that will make you want to slap me again.”
“I’m kind of surprised you don’t have a girlfriend,” she said walking slowly toward the picnic tables next to the fire station.
“Never really had time,” he said shrugging. “I’m a big boy. Lots of women are afraid of that. They think if you’re a big man, you hit. I never hit women. Never.”
“I can’t picture you ever doing that,” she said calmly. “My father. My father didn’t hit my mother but he abused her in other ways. At least in my opinion. He always had a few women on the side. My mother ignored it, saying it was fine. It was just sex. He loved her, he had sex with them. But the truth is she was just as abusive to him.”
“That’s not right,” frowned Jethro.
“That’s what I said. He would use her allowance, I hate that word, but that’s what they called it. Anyway, he would use her allowance to punish her. If she made a fuss about something, he would freeze her credit card so she couldn’t shop or travel. Then she would get back at him by using the cards to buy something outrageous.”
“You an only child?” he asked.
“Yep. Lucky me. What about your folks?”
“Best people in the world,” smiled Jethro. “My grandmother was black, grandfather white. My mother was white, my father mixed.”
“That explains your beautiful skin color and amazing black curly hair. I thought you might be Creole.”
“No,” he smiled. “But thank you for the compliment. They’re all gone now but they showed me what true love and courage was all about. Showed me that hard work will get you to where you need to be.”
“I wish I’d had that,” she whispered.
