Scavenger Girl: Season of Toridia by Jennifer Arntson

Author:Jennifer Arntson [Arntson, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781949923056
Publisher: Sleepy Adam
Published: 2019-01-25T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 24

I tried for the rest of the day to forget about the mess I created and enjoyed being with the children. When Kash called me Mother Una, I was sure he meant it sarcastically. The words rolled off his tongue dripping with ridicule and insult. These children didn’t know how to refer to me and accepted his example as proper. When they started using the term, I felt uneasy. They had parents. I never intended to replace them. Still, deep down, I kind of liked it. So much of what I experienced on this side of the social spectrum made me uncomfortable. I didn’t feel like a ma’am or a Lady. All my life, outside my family, I wasn’t credited a name other than Scab or Girl. For some reason, Mother Una seemed like a regal title. I called Redena Mother, and she had to be the strongest, most honorable woman I’d ever known. Kash created a new title for me. A more fitting one. Whether he meant to or not, he changed me into something better, at least in speech.

For whatever reason, these children had no guardians, or if they did, they’d been abandoned as soon as the Woodsmen took them captive. I’d adopted them by the order of the Lord of the Woodsmen, or whatever he was referred to by. Like it or not, endorsed by the Authority or not, they were my responsibility, or they would have no one at all. With that thought in mind, what else would you call a woman responsible for the care, livelihood, and wellbeing of a child?

Having Calish home felt odd. His general presence under this roof seemed rare. I assumed his guilt kept him away more than his work. Letting Graken threaten me the way he did had to have been difficult to watch. It certainly was difficult to endure. The whole thing made me wonder what they did during the day. Did they grill people often? I know I promised Calish not to read him, but the way he stood there while Graken went at me…

Stop it. That is not who Calish is or ever will be.

Other than the three days of our Lover’s Discovery following our wedding, Calish hadn’t taken a single day to stay at home that I knew of. He worked from sunup to sundown, until today. How long had it been since I heard that laugh? When had he played so wildly, giving chase and rolling around pretending to be trapped? Had he ever been this joyful? Keeping his attention balanced between purpose and play, he not only kept the children entertained but also managed to keep Jeorge from beating himself silly with a heavy skillet.

No matter where I happened to be during the day, Calish found a way to keep me in sight. He’d deny it if I called him out on it, but I knew him well enough to know he needed time to process everything made permanent by my actions. Well

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.