The Ripple Effect

I awoke in a cold sweat, shivering and crying and holding tightly to the fabric around me. Every damn night I had this dream! And every damn night I woke Rein, who crawled over and wrapped his tiny arms around me to try and coax me into sleeping again. But I didn’t want to sleep, not when I knew what monsters waited for me.

“Sophie, I’ve got you. It’s going to be alright,” his familiar voice murmured, and my body was suddenly engulfed in his. My chest heaved with dry sobs as I tried to stop bawling. “There you go. Sophie, just breathe for me. Can you do that? Breathe gently now… That’s it.”

When I finally calmed down, I realized just what had happened. I had just bawled my eyes out like a baby in front of Orion; obviously all interest in me would be gone now! My hands were on his chest, so I pushed against him and managed to uncurl from the protective ball he had encased himself around. His gaze was soft and full of worry, but I knew it would soon turn to pity.

“Sophie, that must have been some dream,” he murmured, just watching me as I crawled to the other side of his ridiculously large bed. “Rein said that you have a nightmare often, but he didn’t know what it’s about. He said to check on you for him. You raised a great kid, you know?”

I nodded, mute and unable to look at him.

“You… You kept fighting me, Sophie, when I was trying to calm you down. You were kicking at me, and begging me to stop. You slapped me, too, and kept moving around.”

My lower lip quivered. Why couldn’t he just stop? Why did he have to know everything about me? He was always digging!

“I know…that Rein is basically the same age as Jonathan. And Jonathan gave me your biography; you’re twenty-five. That means that you conceived your son when you were roughly…eighteen?” I turned my glare on him. Why couldn’t he stop? Just stop! “And you don’t speak with your parents because you had Rein. But you don’t strike me as the kind of woman who would have meaningless sex with someone and never see him again.”

“Stop,” I choked, biting down on my lip before it could shake more. “Just…stop.”

He shook his head. “You were dreaming about something awful, weren’t you? You were fighting me, like you thought I was in your dream. You were crying and trying to push me off and begging me to leave you alone. What was the man in your dream doing, Sophie?”

I released a shaky breath, my eyes having turned so weak it was pathetic. My lips parted to tell him that I was ready to leave now and that he need not bother showing up after school.

“I don’t pity you, Sophie. No one does or can.”

“What?”

He nodded, crawling toward me. “You were so mad yesterday; you said that I pitied you. But I don’t pity you. You’re an amazingly strong woman, so how on earth could I pity you?”

I glanced down at the hand that rested on mine.

“What Rein’s father did to you… It is inexcusable, and I would kill him myself if you just gave me a name. To plague you with these nightmares and to rip your family from you—I wish I could do something to fix the past seven years for you.” He looked down. “But I can’t. All I can say is that I will never pity you, Sophie, because you didn’t just lie there and die; you got up and made a life for you and your son. I admire you, so never say again that I ever found you pitiable.”

I stared at him, trying to catch everything that he had just said to me. His smile was soft, and his blue eyes were gentler than I had ever seen on even my Rein’s face.

“You… How did you even figure all of that out?” I whispered, gawking at him.

“I was taking a guess at it, but I had hoped I was wrong,” he sighed, biting his lip as he moved his hand and slipped his fingers between mine cautiously. “Sophie, I know that you don’t think it’d be a good—”

I ripped my hand from him, making his tongue stumble. He moved to apologize, but I was sick of him talking. I lunged at him, wrapping my arms tightly around him and burying my face in his shoulder. His arms slowly embraced me, and he held me firmly and securely to him. Sobs wracked my body, but I didn’t dare let go.

“Thank you,” I choked, blinking furiously as I stared at the wall behind him as my arms tightened around him. His heart was racing in his chest; I could feel it in every part of me.

“I…I guess that…I…” I smiled as he stumbled for his words, but then his heartbeat slowed to a normal pace. “So does this mean we’re still on for tonight? I’d really like if we were… I liked having this house full last night, with you and Rein and Jonathan.”

That reminded me! I pulled back, and he reluctantly let me go.

“Rein! He has school!”

I scrambled out of the bed, but Orion grabbed my wrist before I could go far.

“He’s been at school for two hours; I took care of it, I promise. I wanted you to sleep in, but…maybe I shouldn’t have.”

I ignored the last bit. “Oh…”

“I know that you also have…work,” he muttered, releasing me.

I nodded, heading out of the bedroom.

“Wait!”

I turned quickly, giving him a questioning stare as he held out a large pair of shorts.

“You’re only in my shirt, Sophie.”

My cheeks burned bright red before I snatched the article and pulled it on quickly. A quiet thanks slipped past my lips.

“I’ll walk you to the car,” he offered, his hand resting on the small of my back as he guided me through the front door.

Thank goodness he gave me bottoms, too! There were people out and about now, and they all stopped to watch us with these strange smiles on their faces. I tried to ignore them to my best ability, but I was still so aware of the fact that I wore clothes that were obviously not my own.

“Sorry,” Orion muttered, giving them all a ‘Really, guys?’ look before smiling to me. “They don’t see me with a woman very often…or at all. I guess I’m guilty of the just being a dad and worker thing, too.”

I smiled uneasily, thanking him regardless as he opened the car door for me and waited there awkwardly.

“Umm… Thanks for everything. And I guess I’ll see you tonight?”

He nodded fervently in that instant, and a corner of my lip tugged upward at his enthusiasm.

“But before you go…”

I turned back to him just in time for him to pull me into his arms once more, his heart racing yet again. The rhythm fascinated me so much that my own beats matched his. I returned his embrace slowly, as I could still feel all of the eyes on us.

Orion released me gently, bid me a safe drive, and then closed the door for me.

As I was driving away, I saw an older couple approaching him. The woman embraced him, and then her eyes moved to me. She wore a brilliant and warm smile.

His parents?

I blushed all shades of red before speeding off toward the road.