The Mountain Lights

Chapter 9

Harlem movie nights were much awaited affairs, and were appropriate for all ages. And Ice Age was a firm favorite. But Dany felt bad for the poor squirrel thing that couldn’t get to his nut, so she decided to go play outside in the snow with Frost, River, Jax, Hadley and Jaiden under the magic of the aurora lights. Besides, she was never much one for T.V anyway. She liked to read, and Matt had brought her a whole stack of books. The laughs and shouts of children pummeling each other with snowballs were drowned out by the loud voice of Sid, and the chewing of popcorn.

Matt wasn’t one for movies either. He rested his arm on the armrest of the old red chair, and rested his cheek against his fist. And he watched Diego pull a smug look with a half-smile. Rose watched him while she chewed on buttery popcorn.

“Not your style?” she asked.

“Few of them are,” he answered.

“Yeah. Same. Popcorn’s good though. Want some?”

Before he could answer, she playfully stuffed two into his mouth. He chuckled at her forwardness.

“Well?”

He chewed. “Too much butter.”

She rolled her eyes, then scooted her chair closer so she could snuggle up next to his arm. “You’re so hard to please.”

The smell of her shampoo, or maybe her perfume, wafted up into his nose. And he was intensely aware of the place where their arms were touching. “I like my popcorn with icing sugar.”

“That so? Well then, I’ll be right back.” She got up and left. Matt frowned but then looked through the window to check on Dany.

Rose came back, sat down. Matt frowned. “Where’d you go? I thought you were going to get me popcorn.”

She beamed, and he thought right then that she looked arrestingly beautiful. “You said you didn’t want any. But I did get you some icing sugar.” She leaned closer and kissed him.

He felt the heat beneath her hand on his thigh as she supported herself, and felt the other hand rake through his hair. Hesitantly, he brought a hand to her waist. His heart drummed wildly, and he wasn’t sure if that was excitement or angst. Their lips very slightly stuck when she released him. He licked his lips, tasting the sugar. It was more instinct because he was a little too stunned to think.

“How was that? Was I as bad as you thought?” she joked.

He cleared his throat. “Nope. No, you were, ah, pretty good.”

She laughed. After the movie, they had some of the food that was laid out on the tables. Everyone talked and played games and the children ran around the hall, playing tag. Matt made sure that Dany ate. She chose to sit with her friends. Rose had managed to snag an empty corner at the back for her and Matt, and they sat side-by-side and ate fish tacos.

Matt told her about what happened with Dany’s mother. He’d discreetly gotten some details out of the girl without upsetting her, and what he deducted from them troubled him. Rose was just as disturbed. She could see he dreaded the day when she would come and take Dany away from him. But to her it didn’t seem like that was an issue. If the woman hadn’t cared about her daughter in eleven years, why would she start now? They talked about lighter topics then, like Matt’s writing. He told her a little about the story, and that he’d been making good progress with the book.

The night drew to a close, and everyone started heading in the direction of home. Before they separated, Matt took the plunge and gave Rose a warm, lingering goodnight kiss. Dany didn’t see the kiss, but she saw that he held onto Rose’s hand for just a little while longer than was normal before he released her and she went on her way. She smiled. They went home.

In the middle of the night, Dany woke up with terrible stomach cramps. She lay on her side and shut her eyes. She tried not to make a sound. She didn’t want to wake her uncle. She rolled on her stomach then, and still the cramps wouldn’t go away. Then she felt something between her legs, and at first she was embarrassed, thinking that she’d wet herself, but when she lifted the blankets, terror overwhelmed her and she started crying.

Matt was a light sleeper, so when he heard a shuffling by his door he was already drifting back to consciousness. He was fully awake when he became aware of the sniffling, sobbing sounds.

“Uncle Matt?”

He propped himself up on his elbow, rubbed his eyes. He saw Danae’s silhouette in the door in the dark. “What’s wrong, Dany?”

“I’m-I'm dying,” she sobbed ferociously.

“Huh?”

She was so distraught she couldn’t get another word out. Matt reached over to switch on the bedside lamp. His breath caught when he saw the growing bloodstain between her legs on the light green pajamas. Right. I knew I was forgetting something.

He blew out the breath through his mouth. He glanced at the clock. 01:43. And the convenience store was closed. What wonderful timing.

She shuddered as she sobbed. His heart squeezed. He assumed this was something else her mother neglected to mention. He got up and went to her, gathered her close. “It’s alright Dany. You’re okay. This is normal.”

“Did this happen to you too?” she shuddered out.

He smiled a little. “No. It just happens to girls. It’s going to happen every month from now on.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re growing up and you’re special.” He kissed her forehead and stroked her hair. Then he went to his closet and got out a blanket. He wrapped it around her, through her legs, told her to sit down on the chair. He quickly explained to her, in very direct yet soft terms, why this was happening to her. Then he took clothes and went to get dressed in the bathroom.

“Are we going to the hospital?” Dany asked, still whimpering.

“Nope.” Matt said calmly. When he came back out, he saw she was bent over, tears spilled down her cheeks. “Does your tummy hurt?” he asked.

She gave a little nod.

“I’ll make you a heat pad when we come back, okay?”

She sniffed. She was really scared before she came to him, but he seemed calm, so she began relaxing too. Matt stuffed down resentment at Helen and started gathering things.

Rose had fallen asleep on the couch in front of the fireplace and the television. An old black and white movie was on. She jolted when she heard a knock at the door.

“Rose, its Matt.” She heard him call. She frowned, looked at the clock on the wall. At first she thought the worst, but he didn’t sound drunk. She sat up, rubbed her eyes, and yawned.

She switched on the lights, and went to get the door.

When she opened, she saw him standing with Dany in his arms, wearing an awkward grin. “Hi.” He started, “I need your help.”

She glanced between the two of them. Dany’s eyes were all red and puffy, and her arms were tightly clasped around his neck. “Did something happen?”

He lifted the thick blanket, and she made an ‘o’ with her mouth. “This kind of slipped my mind, and I’m afraid I was unprepared…” he explained.

She smiled, gestured for him to come in. “And this,” Rose said, “Is what it takes to get the man in my house.”

He hung around her living room, admiring her trinkets, while she was busy with Dany in the bathroom. Then he heard water running into a tub. He’d anticipated it, and brought her clean clothes. It wasn’t long before he started hearing girly giggles in there and it made him smile.

Then Rose came out, and took Dany’s clothes to her.

“She’s having a soak for a little bit. The warm water will help.” Rose said, seeing his eyes. The smile around his mouth didn’t reach them. “You look a little…hm…”

“Pissed?”

She pouted, nodded. “Yup, that about sums it up.”

“She thought she was dying when she came to my bedroom. How do you think that happened?”

“Right. Good old mama.”

“She would have lost it if she was there right now. She was terrified a moment ago.”

Rose came to him, stroked her hands up his arms. “Don’t worry about that now.”

“I worry about that every day. About her showing up here and taking Dany back to wherever the hell she goes. The woman has no sense of responsibility.”

“I know. I worry about that too, after what you told me.”

She drew her hands up over his chest, stared at his lips, and he stared at hers. Then he drew her in for a long, slow kiss. Soon, he started kissing her harder and it curled her toes. His hands stroked, roamed up and down over every curve of her body, her hand glided into his hair, the other one around him, pulling him close.

The kiss deepened, and he penetrated her mouth with his tongue. He slid a rough hand into the nape of her neck, earned the tiniest, softest moan from her. Desire started clawing out of his bones, filling every crack and crevice of him. He kissed her both ravenously and tenderly, which she didn’t even realize was possible. He heard the water splash in the tub and it shocked them back. They both jolted, then laughed at each other.

“We’ll have to finish this sometime,” she murmured, her lips red and swollen.

He admired the flicker of the fire in the hearth against her now flushed skin. “Tomorrow is good…” His mouth spoke before his brain had a chance to object. He winced inwardly.

She giggled. Dany came out of the bathroom, snug and pampered. He kissed Rose goodnight, in front of Dany, and saw it made her very happy. They went back to the cabin. He changed her bedding and made her a heat pad. And she fell asleep with Frost behind her back. She'd gotten curtains in the meantime, but she rarely closed them, and still the spirits danced over her bedspread.