Stolen Moments (And Then Came Love Book 2) (23 page)

“Greta tells me there were some issues with your father today.”

“The way I see it, he abandoned me the same as my mother did. I realize there were extenuating circumstances and my mother was the key, but I was fifteen and he was a grown up. You figure there was something he could have done.”

“I would agree with you there. If any of my children were missing, I would find them no matter what. Except in your case, you have to remember your mother lied, convincing him you wanted nothing to do with him.”

“I don’t get it. If I got an email from Mina saying she never wanted to see me again then tracking her down would be the first thing I’d do.”

“Some people are different and your father was in a lot of pain. Greta said he told you about his military expedition to the desert, yah?”

Arianna nodded. “But it happened before I was born. He left for good when I was fifteen. There’s a lot of time in between there.”

“There is. A lot of time your mother kept him from. I would never make excuses for anyone. He did what he did and he is paying for that decision. Was he selfish? Absolutely. Can shellshock be extremely hard on someone, even fifteen years later? Yes. I suffer more than seventy years later.”

“I’m a doctor, I am trained enough in mental disorders to be able to understand, but does it mean I should forgive him for everything, because?”

“Nien. You forgive him in your own time. But time is a fickle thing. It always runs away from you faster when there are important things to be said or done.”

Arianna looked at him in confusion.

Kurt rubbed his palms on his pants legs and chuckled. “I truly am old. I ramble. What I mean to say is, the longer it takes you to forgive the more you are missing out on making up for lost time with your father, no?”

Arianna sighed. “I guess you’re right. I told Trevor the same thing.”

“He said much the same thing.” Kurt gave her a sad smile. “You need to work through things. You have a family, a rather large one to fall back on and talk to when you need them. That is something you’re not used too.”

“It is strange. Five new siblings, a step-mother, an Uncle and Aunt. Not to mention myriads of other relatives all in one day is a lot to take in.”

“Give yourself some time. Heal, but don’t shut him out. Give your daughter the opportunity to have a grandfather.”

“I think she’d like that.” Arianna leaned over to give Kurt a quick hug. “Thank you. I feel like I’m saying that a lot today, but I think I need to thank everyone.”

“You are a fine young lady, Arianna and you’re a wonderful addition to our family.” Kurt kissed the top of Arianna's head. “Go back and eat something blossom, or Asri will be quite put out.and none of us want that.”

*****

Trevor stood in the kitchen stirring his coffee. Arianna had gone upstairs to rest. He glanced over as the door opened. Leaning forward, he saw Mina peaking in the door. Her eyes were red and her cheeks were streaked with tears. He headed into the living room. “You okay?”

“Where’s Mom?”

“She’s upstairs, she’s had a rather rough day.”

“That makes two of us.” Mina sighed.

Trevor headed back in the kitchen to get his coffee. “Can I get you anything? Are you hungry? You didn’t eat dinner.”

Mina shrugged. “I’m fine.” She sat down and plucked at the napkins in the holder on the table.

He opened his mouth to say something.

She looked up at him, tears in her eyes. “If someone says no, it doesn’t mean they don’t like you right?”

“What?” His eyes widened.

“Hart said no, and I wonder if it means he doesn’t like me.” Tears ran down Mina’s face.

“Hart said no to what?” Trevor hoped she didn’t mean what he thought she meant.

“Sex,” she whispered.

Trevor swallowed hard and choked. “Don’t you think this is something you should be discussing with your mother?”

“She won’t understand though.” Mina rolled her eyes. “You’re a guy. You wouldn’t say no to a girl asking you, right?”

“I would.” He sat down at the table across from her. “Mina, sex isn’t something you rush into. That’s how you end up like Candace.”

“But it’s supposed to be special.”

“It’s supposed to be special, between two people who have a great deal of feelings for each other. More than can possibly be gleaned by knowing the person for less than two days.” Trevor let out a heavy breath. “You think your mother wanted to have a baby at your age? Do you think Candace is prepared to have a baby in a little over a month?”

“Not everyone who has sex gets pregnant.” Mina shook her head.

“But it doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen to you.” Trevor stood and paced across the floor. “Condoms break, sperm leaves the male body – before the man ejaculates—”

Mina covered her face and shook her head. “Ew, gross, stop.”

“Mina if you’re not prepared to hear what I have to say about what could happen with sex, then you’re not prepared to have it.” Trevor raked his hand through his hair. “Do you know how many people out there have sexually transmitted diseases, but show no symptoms? You could get herpagonasyphalitis.”

Mina’s eyes filled with tears again. “Please, Trevor, stop.”

Trevor looked at the doorway to see Arianna standing there. He opened his arms. “I didn’t know what else to say, she —”

Arianna held up her hand and walked across the room to him. She kissed his cheek. “You did wonderful.” She turned to her daughter. “He’s right. If you’re not prepared to deal with what could happen, then you’re not ready.”

“I thought—” Mina hung her head.

Arianna wrapped her arms around her daughter. “Honey, we all think that at some point in our life. And then we have to live with the decisions we make. I would have been a much better mother to you if you were born later. I was not prepared to be a mother at fifteen, thankfully, I had people around me to help me.”

“I don’t want to be a mother at fifteen.”

“Then don’t have sex yet.” Arianna sighed. “I’ll tell you this. Eventually, it’s a lot of fun, but the first time, hurts like hell and enjoying it is pretty much out of the question.”

“But it gets better, right?” She grimaced.

Arianna laughed. “It gets a lot better.” She looked back at Trevor. “And I wouldn’t give you up for the world, but if I could go back and do it all over again, I would have waited.”

Mina nodded. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Why don’t you go lie down for a bit? We’ll talk later.” Arianna patted her daughter on the back.

Mina hurried out of the room.

Arianna turned and smiled at Trevor. “Well done.”

“I should have been quicker with my escape plan.”

She laughed. “Funny. You did a pretty damn good job for doing it off the cuff.”

“I was freaking out a bit. My head kept telling me facts and figures. Then there was the voice in the back of my mind going, this is Arianna’s daughter, she’s going to kill you if you say the wrong thing.”

Arianna walked over to him and kissed him. “Thank you.”

“For what.”

“For having an extremely hard conversation with my daughter, when you didn’t have too.”

Trevor pulled her into his arms. “Do you think she listened?”

“I certainly hope. Remind me to give Hart a hug the next time I see him.” Arianna rested her hand against his chest. She glanced up at him. “By the way, what exactly is herpagonasyphalitis?”

“We had a case where one of the soldiers visited a rough red-light district. We combined all the STD’s to describe his problem and ended up using it as a scare tactic in training.” He shrugged.

“Whatever works, I guess.”

Arianna’s cell phone rang. “It’s Asri.” She looked over at Trevor and clicked on her phone. “Hello.”

“We could use a doctor over here, Kurt’s in an episode and our local doctor said he’d feel better if you’d handle it.”

“Kurt doesn’t seem like the pregnancy type.” Arianna chuckled. “We’ll be over there momentarily.”

Trevor raised an eyebrow. “Pregnancy and Kurt?”

Arianna clicked her phone off. “She said he’s having some kind blood pressure issue and they want me to come over there. Something about the local doctor being a pediatrician.”

“Sounds like a bit of a set up to me. Do you think they know about Mina and Hart?” Trevor looked toward the stairs.

“I don’t know.” Arianna walked over and yelled for Mina. “We have to go next door, hurry up.”

Arianna and Trevor headed over to the house, with Mina trudging behind.

“Do we have to go over there? I’m not sure I can face Hart.”

“It sounds like a medical issue to me.” Arianna knocked on the door.

Asri opened the door quickly and whisked them all inside.

Trevor looked around. Hart stood near his grandfather staring at the floor.

Kurt sat in a chair, breathing heavily with a man sitting in front of him trying to take his blood pressure.

The man looked up. There was something familiar about him.

“Arianna?”

She nodded.

He stood and walked over to her. “Dr. Marcus Halsey.”

She cocked her head to the side. “You’re my half-brother.”

Marcus nodded. “So I learned today. Nice to meet you. I’m a pediatrician and high blood pressure’s not something we see a lot in kids.”

Arianna shook his hand and then walked over to Kurt. “What’s going on?”

“I apologize for my grandson’s behavior this evening.” Kurt gasped.

“What?” Arianna looked from Kurt, to Hart, and then at Marcus.

Marcus shrugged and sighed in exasperation. “I think if someone would let the kid explain, we might learn something. Instead they’ve all been reading him the riot act for something without letting him get a word in.”

“This has to do with Hart and Mina?” Trevor walked over and took a seat on the couch.

Kurt nodded and motioned to the corner of the room. Sig stood, his imposing bulk looking even more as he drew himself up to his full height.

“Mina came running out of the woods, crying with Hart hot on her heels. She headed straight back home and ignored him when he called to her.” Sig shot daggers in Hart’s direction. “He said he made a mistake and things got a little carried away.”

Arianna smiled and looked over at Asri. “Has Kurt taken his blood pressure meds today?”

“No, he’s stubborn as a mule.” Asri huffed.

“They make me tired. I have far too much to do to sleep the day away.” Kurt countered.

“Kurt take your meds, otherwise, you’re going to continue to have blood pressure spikes.” Arianna stood and walked over to Hart. She lifted his chin and looked him in the eyes. “Thank you for saying no to my daughter for something she’s not ready for.”

“She looked at me like I shot her when I said it.”

Trevor could barely hear Hart’s comment his voice was low. “We had a long talk about this a little bit ago.”

Arianna turned to Mina, who looked as if she was trying to become one with the corner. “I believe you owe Hart’s family an explanation.”

Everyone in the room turned to look at Mina.

Tears welled in her eyes. She stared at Hart. “I didn’t mean to get you in trouble.”

“I didn’t want you in trouble. I figured it was easier to take the blame.”

Asri cleared her throat to get their attention. “Enough stalling. What happened?”

Mina took a deep breath. “Hart took me out to show me the pond. We wanted to spend some time alone together. He kissed me, I tried to take it farther, and he said no.”

“And what lead to you running out of the woods crying?” Sig crossed his arms over his chest.

“I was embarrassed. I thought because he said no he didn’t like me.” Mina stared at her feet.

Hart took a step toward her. “Not true. I like you a lot, but you’re fifteen and if I’m not ready, what makes me think you are?”

“Smart kid.” Trevor nodded. “It took a long conversation for her to figure out she wasn’t ready.”

“Please don’t start again, Trevor.” Mina closed her eyes.

Arianna stepped in front of Hart and gave him a big hug. “I think the two of you need to go out on the back porch and talk.”

Hart nodded. “If she’ll come with me.”

“I’ll talk to you.” Mina looked at her feet. “I’m sorry.”

Kurt took a deep breath before looking between Hart and Mina. “One thing I’ll never understand, adolescents. You’re not going to war, there’s no reason to marry before you’re sixteen.”

“I don’t think marriage was on her mind.” Trevor shook his head.

Mina blushed as she and Hart headed out to the back porch.

Arianna shot a glare in his direction. “Maybe we need to go out on the back porch and have a discussion.”

“Maybe.” Trevor winked.

Marcus cleared his throat. “Sorry to interrupt. It was nice to meet you Arianna. We’ll have to get together some time and talk.”