Page 3 of Aaric
“Aaric,” I reply.I’m used to people mistaking me for Adam.We’re identical.Even at twenty-eight, we still look almost alike.The only difference is that Adam has some impressive tattoos, but if we’re both wearing a shirt, it’s pretty hard for the average person to tell us apart.Plus, Hannah hasn’t seen me in over ten years.
“Never could tell you apart,” she mumbles, her eyes drooping.“Do you know where my sister is?”
“I sure do.”I beam at her.“I’ll take you to her.She’s been worried about you, Hannah.We’ve all been looking for you.”I carry her toward the ATV, wondering if she’s going to have the strength to hold on to me.
When I reach the vehicle, I lower her to her feet.
She grabs the seat.The woman doesn’t have the strength to stand, let alone ride behind me.
I squat next to her and grab her waist.It’s now that I realize it’s not just layers of material under her skirt that’s filling out the dress.She’s pregnant.I lower my gaze to her belly.She’sreallypregnant.“Hannah?”
She grabs my shoulders and bites her lip as I tip my head back.New tears fall.“I know I’m going to Hell, but I don’t think God would blame an unborn child for anything their mother did.Do you?”Her words are soft and hopeful.
My chest tightens.Something inside me shifts as I stare into the eyes of this beautiful woman who thinks she deserves God’s wrath for some reason.No matter what she’s done, it can’t possibly warrant that.“No, sunshine.No one is going to Hell.I promise.”
I have no idea what possesses me to call hersunshine.She’s not mine.I don’t even know her.But suddenly I feel fiercely protective of Hannah.I want to strangle whoever filled her head with the idea she was in trouble with the Almighty.It probably started with her father.Richard Sharp was an asshole.But I suspect someone else has been feeding her lines of shit since then.
“I don’t care if I die, Aaric, but I know you’re a good person.Will you find a home for my baby?”
I swallow back the emotion welling up inside me.“You’re not going to die, sunshine.”I hope to God I’m right.I can’t possibly know what might be ailing Hannah.Maybe she’s in labor.I think that could cause a woman to think she’s dying.
Whose baby is this?Where is the father?I don’t think she needs me bombarding her with questions right now.
She swipes at her tears.
“Are you injured anywhere, Hannah?”
She shakes her head.“No.”
“Are you in labor?”
“No,” she whispers.
“Are you sick?”
“No.”
I keep one hand on her hip and use my thumb to swipe at her tear-stained cheek.Her face is dirty.I get the feeling she walked a long way to get here.“What makes you think you’re going to die, sunshine?”
“I’m a bad person.”
I flinch.Now Ireallywant to kill someone.
I pull her against my chest and hug her tight.“You’re not a bad person.I’m certain of it.”I lean her back.“Do you think you can sit in front of me on the ATV?I’ll hold on to you and take you to my cabin.You’ll feel much better once we get some fluids in you.I bet a bath and a good meal will help, too.”I smile at her, trying to give her some encouragement.
“I don’t want to be an imposition.I just thought I might be able to see Rebekah.I went to our childhood home.She left a note, telling me she was here.”
“She is, sunshine.You can reunite with her in just a few minutes.”
Hannah sniffles.“Thank you.Why do you keep calling me sunshine?I’m more like a dark cloud.”
I gasp dramatically.“Hannah, you could never be a dark cloud.I’ve always thought of you as a ray of sunshine.”I lift a lock of her limp blond hair.“It was your hair.Every time I saw you as a kid, your hair caught my attention.It would fly around like rays of sunshine.It still does.”Or it will after a good shampooing.
She almost smiles.“That’s sweet, Aaric.I didn’t know you noticed me.”
“Of course I noticed you.How could anyone not?”I certainly didn’t know Hannah as well as I knew her sister, Rebekah.Rebekah snuck over to our property a few times a week.She was more outgoing, but mostly, I think she came by hoping my mother would feed her, and my mom always made sure Rebekah had food to eat.
Hannah was shier as a child.She was also not as much of a tomboy as Rebekah.Traipsing through the woods to snoop around at the adjacent homestead wasn’t her style.
