Starting out is always easy. Sustaining can be the hard part. Apologies, there isn't anything sexy in this one as I'm still in the setup which is by far the most important part. I may make that up in the next chapter. I may not. We'll see how it goes.
Thank you all for the words of encouragement.
In truth, for any one thing to happen, there are infinite pieces that must fit together in a precise pattern. When you see something, you see the end result. Look a little and you will see the lines of how that result started. Look deeper and you will find more. Keep looking and you get lost in the infinite sequences that followed a precise line. Call it fate. Call it destiny. Call it the hand of God at work. There was infinite uncertainty before that reached this certainty. This is what IS. This is what I have to work with. -- the Analyst
CH 2
Satiated for the moment, I looked around, beginning to asses my current situation.
I was laying buck naked on a concrete patio under the park shelter. My clothes lay strewn about, haphazardly tossed in the heat of the moment.
On the one side, I had an amazing brunette snuggled into my arm. Her hair was a disaster, clothes were half on, fully disheveled and somewhat damp. On top of that, she was struggling to catch her breath, sounding like she had run a sprint or a marathon.
Thoroughly fucked
were the words that came to mind, appropriately so.
On the other side, her
mother
lay propped up on one elbow smiling and obviously happy at the current state of affairs. She too was buck naked though seemingly having recovered slightly from her pleasurable experience.
"We should probably get going. We have lots to do and the day is waning." Her eyes glittered as she said the words.
I glanced over at her daughter, eyes closed, her breath slowly returning to normal.
"Let's give her a moment to recover," she suggested, handing me a folded shirt and gesturing to put it under Toni's head.
I took the hint and did as she suggested, kissing Toni on the cheek as I stood to get up. Whether or not we would become
family
was yet to be seen, but she definitely was endearing herself to me.
Anya had already started gathering and reapplying the hastily discarded vestments so I followed suit. I got my first real look at her. She stood at maybe 5'6" and couldn't have been more than 140 lbs. She had pale skin and a clear complexion, giving the impression of someone who appreciated the indoors. Her hands and lithe frame both told a story of long days of hard work while slight curves muted this story showing recent time in more comfortable circumstances. Anya's black hair was shiny and gave the appearance of being well kept, reaching down to her shoulder blades. As she turned, she looked at me. While Toni's eyes were that of sky blue, Anya's were a shade of gray, like the sea after a storm.
"So," I started, momentarily losing myself in their perfection. "I can quite see that you're more than slightly comfortable with me, but seriously, tell me more about you. I know we have a connection. I've seen and felt the traces that I think
I
left."
I'm not sure that the smile on her face could have become much brighter, but she gave an effort nonetheless.
"It's odd, I remember every detail of today." She said. "You made sure that we would. You wanted us to remember everything for today and give us enough recollection to let us know what was coming, though not nearly as clearly." She pulled me close into her arms, frowning slightly. "No memories can compare to today's perfect recollection. Everything else is like a poor reflection. And though I know that this is merely the start of our family, I have never been as fulfilled as I am right now." Her smile returned as she talked.
I smiled as I gently pushed her away. "Yes, I keep getting that
distinct
impression. But that answers absolutely none of my questions."
Her laugh rang throughout the shelter as she started cleaning.
"Well, a woman never tells her age, but I will tell you that I am just under a year younger than your 46." I hadn't told her my age, but I guess that didn't seem to matter. "I gave birth to Toni when I was 18, after I had married. When I was first married, my husband and I lived in the farms of the clans outside of Simferopol in Crimea. Life was simple. And simple was good. It was many years of peace and happiness. And then the droughts plagued our farms for years. This brought hard times that were followed by worse. We were happy and we made due as we could. When times got too bad, we made a bargain that I prayed we would never need repay. As it turns, we repaid more than what we had planned. It wasn't what we wanted, but life has brought us much more than we could have ever dreamed.
"Toni has told you of Sergio and his family. She has told you of the fire that claimed the life of my husband. That was so much to bear for a girl barely 17. I thought that she would surely break after that night and that she would hold herself responsible for what that awful family did. But she never did. She not only remained solid, she held me together as we gathered what little money we had and sold everything but the clothes on our backs.
"Fortunately for us both, my grief numbed me and let her lead. Her belief in what I thought were dreams was the only thing that kept us going. There were many times and many days, where I was sure that we were going to fail. But she kept leading us to the right person...the first time,
every time
.
"First, it was to the bank. She knew the answer to every question the banker asked. Secret numbers and phrases to my husband's secret savings. She knew things that I had never guessed were even possible.
"From there, she led us out to the gambler around the corner. I blindly followed as she dragged me along. She bet everything she had just pulled out on a game of chance stacked heavily in favor of the dealer. She won!! I could scarcely believe it.
"Then, she bet again. I could only watch as the dealer smiled, smugly sneaking in more tricks. Again, she doubled our money. I thought the dealer would fly into a rage, but he held it in and offered her double or nothing in an effort to win his money back.
"I tried to pull her away, begging her to take what we already had and go.
"Instead, she got a dreamy smile and told me she knew this would happen and what needed to be done.
"She changed the offer. He had an old car. She offered him all of the money she had just won with her virginity as a bonus on a single draw on cards. He greedily agreed and asked what she wanted if she won.
"'The old car, a full tank of fuel, and a small portion of the money, just enough for fuel and food on our trip.'
"He could see no downside to this deal as he would end with more money than he started with and he knew the car was ready to fall apart.
"The man pulled out a marked deck and shuffled till he saw the ace of hearts. He immediately grabbed it off and told here to pull from anywhere in the deck, quickly fanning the cards to hide their secret markings.
"He put his card down just as she pulled her selection from the deck, Toni smiling brightly as she reached in.
"Somehow, she pulled out the ace of spades. It was the only card that would beat his and she hadn't even hesitated.
"Dumfounded, he handed over the keys and bade us on our way.
"From there, Toni led us to the car and out of the city. She drove past the campsites, out along roads that she had never been on before. She drove us across the border, heading west. We crossed into one country, then another, only stopping for food and fuel. We crossed in places without border checkpoints, never being questioned.
