Bastille

Valeria remained quiet about Barb’s preposition all morning despite Cassandra’s constant questioning over what was wrong with her unusually sullen sister. Valeria couldn’t even muster a smile. The curly headed woman was deep in thought as she washed dishes in the sink, her mother two steps over to dry them. They worked in silence for a long while until Lisa turned to her oldest daughter to catch the sight of tears in her eyes. Her arms came around her child which caused even more tears to slip from Valeria’s tired red eyes.

“Sweetheart, what is the matter?” Lisa cooed, reaching up to wipe the moisture from Valeria’s rosy cheeks. The younger shook her head sending curls flying over her flushed forehead, “If I tell you you’ll hate me.”

Lisa pushed her daughter’s shoulders back so she could look her directly in the eyes before whispering, “You’re my child, Valeria. I’ll love you until the day I’m dead and gone.”

Valeria bit her lower lip before letting out a deep sigh and closing her eyes, “Barb wants me to leave with her and Tim.”

She could tell the sentence startled her once calm mother. Lisa Olson was never startled by anything when it came to her children, but this was new. She had never been separated from Valeria in the twenty three years her daughter had been on this Earth. Not even for a single night. The thought alone was unbearable.

“Absolutely not.” Lisa stated bluntly, taking the dripping plate from Valeria’s hand to wipe a clean dish towel over the white surface. She put it with the other dishes in the metal rack wiping water from her own hands. She turned to her daughter who was still staring at her, the same sallow look to her face as before, “I mean it, Valeria. I will not have you risking your life for people we barely know. What happens when the baby comes? The cries alone from it will be a dinner bell for those things! What about finding diapers, formula, toys for him? It’s a death sentence. Do you really feel like it’s worth the risk?”

“Yes,” she whispered back to her mother defiantly which shocked them both for an awkward moment. They stood in silence just looking into each other’s faces, hazel eyes flashing unwanted emotion from mother to daughter. “Henry is worth every minute of risk. He is innocent. He has done nothing but exist, why should he be punished? He’s a baby, mother!”

“He’s a liability.” The older woman hissed. “A liability whom you have never met, held, or fed. A liability who is not your own flesh or blood. I understand you feel grateful for Barb, Valeria. You’ll thank me one day for saying no.”

“Like that is going to stop me.” Valeria scoffed. Her mother stopped in her departure and whipped around to look at her daughter in shock.
“Valeria Grace Olson,” Lia stampered, “Now you listen to me young lady,” she stopped short at the look on her daughter’s face. Hell flashed in her hazel eyes. She saw her daughter angry for the first time and it scared her. “Don’t do anything rash.”

“I won’t. I’ve been thinking about it all morning.” Valeria threw the sponge into the soapy water and wiped her hands before starting for the doorway away from her mother. She spoke back over her shoulder, “I’m leaving with Barb. There is nothing rash about it.”

She ignored the calls from her mother and stepped up to the loft where Barb was folding her clothing and settling big piles into the dresser across from her and Tim’s bed. She looked up when Valeria entered and offered a smile. Her smile didn’t quite reach her eyes like it usually did. Valeria knew she had heard the yelling match between herself and her mother. Valeria settled cross legged on the bed beside her newfound friend and folded a pair of tiny pants that were for Henry’s soon to be arrival.

“Did you hear all of that?” Valeria questioned softly. She instantly felt badly for the question as Barb’s naturally friendly face fell in exchange for one of sorrow. Her blue eyes swam with unshed tears as she sniffled into a hand. “I did. I understand where she is coming from. She’s definitely right, it is a risk that I’m not expecting you to want to take.”

“But I do want to,” Valeria said abrupting interrupting Barb’s speech, “I want to be there for you when Henry is born. I want to help.”

Barb smiled at the thoughtful words from her friend. She studied Valeria’s face for a long moment taking in the frown lines etched around her mouth, the tired look in her eye. Valeria was twenty three going on thirty two with all the stress around her, and Barb felt her pain. Growing a human being hadn’t been easy, but on the water life had been easier for the couple. The dead couldn’t, or wouldn’t, swim. They barely made it to the edge of the water most of the time before tumbling in unble to stay afloat. They sank to the bottom and peered up from the murky depths stuck 10 feet below the surface. In all the time that Barb and Tim had spent on the river they had never had a problem with the dead getting anywhere close to them. That is until they had ran out of gas, but Barb was glad for that. Meeting the Olson’s had been a god send. She loved each of the five members of their ecclectic family, even Lisa whom was only looking out for the interest of her child. Barb understood her pain for she feared every single day for her child. She wanted him to grow up to be tall and stong like Tim, sweet and kind like herself. She wanted him to grow up and have a future, but Barb knew the possibilites she herself had were long gone. Henry wouldn’t ever go to high school or graduate from college. He would be lucky to survive to be eighteen with how the world was currently.

“I’m scared of the future, Val.”

That was the last of their conversation for they spoke nothing more of the subject. The duo continued to fold clothing on the large bed in silence. Valeria yanked a hand through her stubborn curls debating on whether or not to beg her mother to chop off her growing hair. She turned to Barb and smiled brightly making the blonde raise an eyebrow, “So, can you cut hair?”

Valeria had always been particular about who cut her precious locks. She had a regular stylist, but in the mean time her mother had been the one to trim her curls and her bangs for her. Barb turned out to be a pretty decent hair stylist herself having done two years at an Aveda school before she got pregnant. She had just gotten certified when the outbreak occurred. Valeria thanked her lucky stars, shaking out her shortened mane. Barb had cut precious length from her friend’s hair leaving it in a shoulder length long bob of messy cork screw curls just long enough to pull up in a short ponytail. Barb was proud of the cut she had attempted with only a razor and a pair of unreliable, and a bit rusty, kitchen shears. She even brought the razor through her own hair fixing her overgrown bangs and long layers. She felt like a whole new woman when she shook her long blonde hair out, looking at the blonde fuzz collecting at her feet from the razoring. She put the razor and scissors down on the dresser and followed where Valeria had decended the stairs. She held her belly the entire way down smiling at the kicks that met her hands. She loved her son already. She frowned at the thought of what Lisa had said to Valeria. Henry wasn’t an inconvience, he was a gift. She knew deep down that Lisa hadn’t meant what she had said though, so Barb let the words roll down her back. She was pleased to see Tim when she exited the stairs.

“Hey, Tiny Tim.” She greeted, coming to his side and looking up at his scowling face. The smile dropped from her face, “What’s wrong?”

“David and Lisa had a talk with me about Valeria.”

Barb huffed and swept her freshly cut bangs to the side, “I figured they would. Valeria is an adult, she can make her own decisions.”

Tim’s eyes softened and he embraced his saddened wife. He hated seeing her upset for she so rarely was. Barb was so perky and upbeat, nothing upset her. Obviously Valeria’s presence was important to his wife which made Valeria important to him.

“I’ll talk to David, but I can’t make any promises. He is very dead set against her coming along.” Barb rolled her eyes at the words. She felt sad for her friend. When was Valeria going to get what Valeria wanted?

Valeria had been collecting her belongings when David had approached her. His hands had been in the pockets of the jeans as he walked forward towards his oldest daughter. He couldn’t even keep a stern expression as his eyes met hers, so much like her mother’s. He remembered her at a week old staring up at him with those expressive eyes. She had taken his heart the first moment he looked into them. In twenty three year those eyes had won many a battle with her father. Valeria knew it, too. She looked at her father as he sat down on a split log by the back of their car. Valeria was shoving clothes into her backpack when he spoke.

“I didn’t think you were serious about leaving.” He spoke softly as to not alert Wesley and Cassandra, who were sitting nearby with Tim fishing in the river, of the situation at hand. A beard had begun to grow on his strong jaw that jutted out in frustation at his stubborn child. Valeria just shrugged her shoulders, “As serious as I can be. Barb needs me for the baby.”

“Dammit, Val,” David snapped grabbing his daughter by the shoulder and shaking her as she turned to face him, “Can’t you see we need you? Your family needs you.”

“David.” Tim warned as he watched the older man shake Valeria, his bulging body growing taunt. He disliked watching men man handle women, even if this was a man with his child. He would never shake his own kid and as much as he respected the man in front of him he would jump in if the action got any more serious. David had let Valeria go by the time Tim had started towards the pair. He stood and watched the two interact for a second before going back to the younger Olson siblings who too were staring at two fifths of their family snap back and forth at each other.

“I bet she doesn’t even end up leaving. Val wouldn’t just give up on us. Would she?” Cassie was saying to Wesley who just shook his head unknowingly. He cast back out his line. He couldn’t say for sure whether his sister would leave or not. He listened to her words to their father with a grimace. She sounded serious. Never in his sixteen years had Wesley heard Valeria speak to their father the way she was currently.

“You have to let me go. I am twenty three years old, Dad!”

“Twenty three,” he spat at the girl running a hand through his greying hair that curled up around his ears the longer it got. He didn’t look like the mayor from back in Haven, Georgia. He didn’t quite feel like it either when he realized he was still gripping his daughter’s shoulder a little too harshly. He let go suddenly and took a step back, “You’re still my litle girl to me.”

He walked away without another word and Valeria threw down the last of her belongings putting a hand to her forehead trying to rub away the migraine she had from arguing and crying without end. She stuffed her backpack to the brim and zipped it closed before putting the strap over her shoulder. The SUV back door was slammed shut then she headed back for the house boat with hands in her jean shorts pockets. The wind whipped at her hair sending the curls in even more disarray. She smelled the water on her nose, the earthy smell of the Georgia clay around her, the grass, the moss that hung from the trees.

“Ready to hit the water, girl?” Tim asked softly watching her close her eyes to take in the nature around her. He often had moments like that himself just enjoying the peace in the moment. Valeria’s hazel eyes had landed on him. She had a smile on her face but she was slow to nod to the question.

“It’s okay to have second thoughts, Val.” He said quickly walking with the girl to the boat. They stopped close to the edge, “Barb loves you, so I love you. Those people right there, your family, they love you most. Most in the entire world. Just think about that.”

He got onto the boat and Val slowly followed letting his words sink in. Her family had gathered on the shore as Tim started pushing the boat off the land with a long two by four. He cranked the engine and it sputtered to life, already starting its trek down the wide, deep river bed. Valeria looked over to where Barb was standing by the waist high barrier that went around the entire boat. Her blue eyes were soon on her companion who was staring with sorrow at her family who lined the sandy covered beach. Cassie was crying from what she could tell, not actually expecting her sister to be leaving. Tim was not behind the wheel guiding the slow moving boat between the trees down stream. Valeria closed her eyes and cursed under her breath before turning fully to Barb taking her hands in hers, “Barb, I want to thank you for all you’ve done for us. You’ve been a great friend. I love you, Tim, and baby Henry, but I just cant go. I can’t leave them.”

Barb smiled her first bright smile of the day and pushed the girl towards the railing, “Start swimming girl. I’ll see you again one day. Henry, too!”

Valeria smiled at the blonde before she jumped over the railing and took a flying leap into the water submerging herself for a brief second before she awkwardly got back to shore. Her entire backpack was heavy with river water. She jumped into her mother’s arms and bawled, letting the woman who birthed her palm her wet cheeks. Soon the rest of her family had joined the embrace. The houseboat let out a brief honk from the horn that made Valeria laugh, tears coming to her eyes as she watched with great sadness as Barb and Tim slipped around the river bend. Gone, like the crashing waves.