by L M Lacee
“Oh dear.” Ocean scowled at the screen and then down at the baby. “She never said anything about you peeing. I wonder if you are meant to do that.”
The baby just blinked, then opened her small mouth and made mewing noises, the longer Ocean stood there doing nothing, the louder they got.
“Shoot…shoot...okay…okay, don’t cry baby?”
Ignoring the nurse on the screen. Ocean quickly dunked the baby’s bottom half back in the water and washed her again, this time she dried her real quick.
She had already placed the clothes like the nurse had advised on the bed, so diapering and dressing only took a minute or two. With a quick tutorial from her tablet on how to wrap a baby it took only three tries until Ocean got it right. And by this time the baby girl was starting to go from mewing noises to an almost cry.
Grabbing the bottle, testing it like the nurse showed and as the baby opened her mouth to cry again Ocean popped the nipple in. And the sucking commenced, to Ocean’s relief.
She fed the baby as the nurse instructed burping her half way through, then trying to get her to have more even though she had fallen asleep. When finally she and the baby gave up altogether, she placed the baby in the Moses basket.
It took only minutes to clean up her mess and even though the shower looked inviting Ocean ignored it and fell into bed fully dressed. One hand on the basket. Sleep swept her under in seconds.
CHAPTER FOUR:
O cean had been up for an hour, showered and packed her car. After two extra bottles for the baby throughout what had been left of the night and diaper changes. She felt she had a good handle on the whole baby feeding thing, helped a lot by the nurse on her tablet.
Now sitting in the diner at seven thirty in the morning with the place slowly filling up, and the sleeping baby in her pretty little Moses basket beside her. She sipped her third cup of coffee while making inroads on the huge breakfast she had ordered. And listened unashamedly to the whispered conversation from the booth in front of her.
“It’s not like that Kadee, we have to stay. You know it is too dangerous for us to go back.”
“It might not be as bad as you think Paige?”
“Yeah Kadee it is! You know it is. You heard Grandpa. He never lies. He told us what to do.”
“I know… I know it is just…”
Ocean could hear sniffling noises. One of the girls was crying and trying not to. The other girl was trying to be brave, but Ocean could hear and feel the fear and stunned bewilderment in her voice.
“Kadee, grandpa told us to come here. So that is what we did. Remember what else he said?”
The one named Kadee had blown her nose before she answered, her voice although still watery was stronger. “Yeah!” He said. “Go to this diner and wait for the lady with the purple hair and a baby. She will take you somewhere safe.”
Ocean groaned inwardly and looked up at the ceiling as though she could see the heavens. Seriously! She asked the universe. Ocean had been on the road for eight months. First she had traveled from Hawaii, where she had been living for the last year and half until her mother passed away from a heart attack.
Her mother had been forty when Ocean had made her surprise entrance into the famous Helena Walker’s reclusive life. Helena had managed in her way, giving as much attention as needed to her daughter, when she remembered she had one.
From the time Ocean had been old enough to understand. She had known she came second if not third to her mother’s art. By the time Ocean was five, she had started to care for herself. With the help from the internet, library and a few neighbors. When she left home at seventeen, she had decided what she wanted to do with her life, she was going to become a wild life photographer. Sadly she had not become a wild life photo journalist. She was what she termed herself a humanity photographer. Basically as she would tell people, she took photos of people, shifters, anyone of interest doing or not doing something interesting.
By twenty-four she was successful and her photos had graced the covers of several prestigious magazines. By twenty-seven she had three showings worldwide of her work, to acclaim.
She had been in the middle of her latest world photo shoot, when her mother was struck down with a stroke. Ocean and her mother had stayed in contact over the years but usually only when Ocean reached out. Although when her mother became ill, almost two years ago, Ocean at twenty-seven had stopped everything and gone back home to look after her.
In truth it had been an arduous and thankless time of her life, looking after a woman who resented her, and wishing it had been different for them both. Over the two years Ocean sadly watched her mother wither away.
Although Helena could talk she sadly never recovered her ability to paint, to lift a brush or pencil to sketch was heart-breaking for not only Helena but Ocean. Unfortunately, being the woman she was, Helena took the failure of her body out on Ocean. Her life was her painting and she made sure Ocean knew that without her art, there was nothing. Helena Walker could not abide the thought of never being able to create again. She willed her life to end on a daily basis almost as often as she begged Ocean to end her life.
When she refused, Helena would condemn Ocean to hours of verbal abuse. Screaming, cussing demanding she leave her alone screaming if she tried to care for her. Crying for release from her worldly burden. When she was not doing that, she would tell Ocean on an almost hourly basis that Ocean failed her miserably. That she would never be enough to hold her to the world. She made Ocean aware that her art was her only point to existing as if Ocean had never worked that out when she was young.
One night, almost two years after she had taken over the care of her mother. Ocean looked at the frail body of the woman who barely resembled the person she had grown up with. So tired and dispirited Ocean was unable to bare the bitter, angry woman her mother was. Ocean had dressed Helena in her favorite nightwear, kissed the wrinkled cheek stared into the bitter and angry eyes and told her to go.
“Mother leave. The afterlife may give you what you cannot get here. What I cannot give you, go… why linger, to torment me?” Helena snarled and lifted her lip at her daughter as Ocean shrugged while she smoothed the sheet. “Well consider me tormented. I know I am less than what you wanted staying to remind me hurts you far more than me.” She looked into the eyes filled with hate and smiled, whispering. “Because one day very soon I will walk out that door and leave for good and you will still be here consumed with hate and bitterness. So think on that!”
Helena said nothing as Ocean turned from her and walked from the room. Tears ran down her face as she left the only woman who she had known as mother, alone to decide if the life she had now was better than maybe the afterlife she always spoke of. And as she sat on the deck in a rocking chair of her mother’s home as she had done from the time she was little she hoped Helena Walker found peace somewhere other than here.
The next morning, two years to the day of her first stroke Helena Walker passed from this world. Never once telling her daughter she loved her or was proud of the person she had become.
Days after the large, well-attended funeral, while dealing with her mother’s possessions, Ocean found in amongst Helena’s correspondence a letter addressed to Ocean. It was dated several years in the past.
As she had turned it over, she saw it had been opened and resealed. Inside was an invitation to learn who she was and to find out about her parentage. It offered her a safe place to live, to work in freedom for all shifters and others not completely human, a place called Dragon’s Gap.
It had taken Ocean days to come to terms with her mother’s further betrayal and her anger and resentment of that betrayal. She had thrown her first and only temper tantrum it had lasted days.
Ocean had stormed around Helena’s home and let the tears of loss and anger flow as she ranted and raged at a dead woman. Finally accepting for the first time, that no matter what she had done with her life, she was never going to be loved by Helena Walker.
O
verwhelmed by her realizations and temper as well as the implications of the letter, Ocean cleaned her mother’s home from top to bottom. Anger drove her need until her body was unable to cope with the demands of her anger and hurt. Finally Ocean’s mind and body switched off, causing her to fall into a deep healing sleep.
She slept for days. When she finally woke she spent time working through her disappointment now the first flush of anger was gone. Over the following days she found some hard won balance and finished what she needed to do for a woman who she never really knew. And sadly loved deeply.
Then she had made plans to travel to this place that called to her soul. After she had finished wrapping up her mother’s life. She left Hawaii and decided to slowly travel across America, visiting as many of the places she had only ever read about or flown over.
She photographed people and places she had never realized were in her world. She enjoyed meeting and listening to people’s life stories. Some were better than hers, some worse. Every one of them their own and precious for it.
It was just as well she had obtained a gun. Which she was proficient in. As a photographer and a female, she had thought it would be safer if she learnt to shoot properly and unfortunately she had been forced to use her gun on occasion. Mostly in warning. Especially when someone thought she was easy pickings. Passing through small towns and driving along back highways not well traveled alone, was not always safe as she had found out on more than one occasion.
She had many hours to think on her journey and came to the realization she had never accepted she was different because her mother never accepted that part of her. It was never talked about or acknowledged that she was a shifter of some kind. Over the month she discovered it was not shameful to be proud of that fact or that she was the predator she always knew she was. She also acknowledged the deep well of anger that lived within her.
Now eight months later, after her decision to go to Dragon’s Gap, she knew she was close to her objective and it looked like she was to gain more than just a baby. Life was full of surprises or at least hers was. Coming back to the here and now, she looked first at the sleeping baby and then the two girls who had entered the diner not long ago and taken the booth directly in front of hers.
They both went silent except for the sound of their growling bellies. Ocean ate two more bites of her food before the one called Kadee spoke again.
She seemed resigned to their fate now. “Okay Paige. I know you are right. I just wish, you weren’t!”
“Like I don’t?” They both grinned at each other and then the one called Kadee looked up and noticed Ocean staring at her as she chewed her food. Shakily the girl asked. “Can I help you?”
Ocean realized the girl with her back to her was her sister when she turned around and was a little older. But not by much as she glared at her. Ocean smiled and raised an eyebrow. “Couldn’t help but overhear.”
“Because you have no manners. Listening to other people’s conversations is rude!” Said the glaring Paige with a slight snarl in her voice.
Ocean inwardly grinned, good, not coward, tough, or at least trying to be. She knew she was going to like these two. Ocean took another sip of her coffee, as she placed the cup down she shrugged her shoulders. “Just thought I could tell you of a place for our kind that is safe and guarded. But I see I was mistaken. Sorry didn’t mean to butt in!”
She placed another fork full of food in her mouth and while her eyes twinkled at them, she chewed. The two girls looked at each other and as sisters were want to do, they had a non-verbal conversation. By the time Ocean had chewed and swallowed her mouthful. They silently gathered their bags and stood, at a nod from Ocean; they slid into the seat opposite her and the baby. Now looking at them it was obvious that they were sisters. They both had the tanned, blonde Californian teenage look going on, with medium length golden hair tied in ponytails. They had the rounded faces of youth with clear skin and blue eyes that looked at her with suspicion.
Over the past months with help from various shifters who had taught her how to use some of her senses as a shifter would. She knew it was possible to learn what kind of shifter was in your vicinity just by smelling the air around them. For Ocean it was an exercise that was more miss than hit. But she tried now and was fairly sure the girls scented as lions. She thought perhaps they were not full bloods but for her it was hard to tell she was still not sure what markers she was meant to scent for.
While she had been looking them over, they had done a quick inventory of her and she saw them sniff and wrinkle their noses a little. They seemed as inexperienced as she was. They were probably trying to figure out what kind of shifter she was. Good luck! She thought, after all this time if I can’t figure out what I am. I doubt you can. She did not say anything, instead Ocean held out her hand. “Ocean Walker!”
She shook each hand that was offered. Paige, the older one, made the introductions. “I am Paige Corrin and this is my sister Kadee.”
Ocean asked. “You hungry?” At their nods she motioned the waitress over. “Order what you want.”
The younger one kept a frown on her face as she said. “Are you sure, we can eat a lot?”
“Aren’t you adorable? Yeah, I am sure, we metabolize food fast so order plenty. We have a long drive ahead of us.”
Both girls looked slightly puzzled as she spoke. Paige opened her mouth to ask a question, but Ocean made a negative move with her finger as the waitress rolled on up to their table.
She was a worn woman in her mid-fifties who concealed a good heart behind the gruff exterior she showed the world. Which, she proved when she eyed Ocean and the girls suspiciously and asked. “You girls alright?”
The older of the two girls answered for them both. “Yes, thank you, we were a little concerned when we first got here but not now.”
The waitress turned her hard eyes onto Ocean. “You know these girls?”
Ocean smiled. “Not really but they are going in the same direction as me and the least I can do is make sure they arrive at their destination safely.”
The waitress said nothing. Connie had seen many people, some good, and some bad roll on through the diner in her thirty years of being a waitress here at her brother’s place. She could spot a bad person as soon as they sat down. They had a sense about them. This one with the baby she was a good one, not a fool. If these girls were thinking to put one over on her, they would be in for a surprise. And if she said she was going to look after them, she meant it. She kept her thoughts to herself and pulled her pencil from behind her ear asking. “What are you having?”
The girls with one swift look at Ocean, who gave them a small nod ordered enough food to feed at least four teenaged boys. Ocean had to give it to the waitress she never batted an eyelash at the amount of food they asked for. She just asked Ocean if she wanted a refill on her coffee and stepped away.
The girls fell silent, hands gripped each other under the table. Kadee wasn’t sure if it was her or Paige who was shaking so much. She had been really afraid all night and this morning his morning after meeting this woman. She hoped she could do what she said but she was so small and round. She wasn’t old like grandpa. And he hadn’t been able to keep them safe. Well, that was what he had said. I can’t keep you safe girls. You must leave.
He had helped them pack a large backpack each, with clothes and shoes and as many momentous and photos as they could jam in. Then grandpa had driven them to the bus depot in the next town and told them to stay on the bus until morning. Until they would come to this small town called Paxton Point. They were to get off the bus and go into the diner at the motel.
Kadee was so tired, hungry and sad. She tried not to be but every time she closed her eyes, she saw her grandpa watching the bus leave with tears rolling down his face. She wanted to scream and cry. She couldn’t because Paige was being so brave, and she had to be as well, but it wasn’t fair. It just wasn’t fair!
Kadee looked into the calm lavender eyes of the woman
with the cool name Ocean and the even cooler hair. Who named their kid that, she wondered and why did she have that color hair. Was it natural?
Something inside her said that she and Paige were going to be okay. Paige wasn’t having the same thoughts even though she was older than Kadee, she was not brave. She was really scared, and she knew things Kadee didn’t about the reason they had to leave in the middle of the night. And every time she remembered her grandpa’s whispered words, she broke out in a sweat. Fear had eaten at her insides all through the long bus ride, ever since she had kissed him goodbye.
She knew she was never going to see him again. No matter what he told Kadee, their grandpa was gone and they were alone or were they? She looked over at the woman with the weird name and weirder hair.
She would not admit she liked either! Her eyes clashed with the woman’s. Paige knew Ocean read the suspicion and fear in her eyes. What she read in Oceans was calmness and acceptance. It baffled Paige, what did she have to accept?
As the silence went on Ocean was reluctant to break it in the diner, so while they waited for their food. Ocean finished her meal and sipped at the remaining coffee in her cup. Finally, Paige asked. “Should we tell you why we are here?”
Ocean shrugged. “You can if you like but I would rather you waited until we are in the car.”
She lent a little nearer. “Too many ears here.” With a look around the diner to emphasize her point, at least three people were taking covert looks at their table.
The girls looked where she did and sort of shimmied down in their seats. The scent of fear wafted across the table, making Ocean realize that they were younger than she had first thought.
She had assumed because they were by themselves, they were at least in their late teens but now as she went back over the conversation she had overheard she realized her mistake. Plus the fearful looks they kept throwing towards the men at the counter, who had being eyeing them since they had entered the diner sort of confirmed it.