Love Me For Me… (Chapter 1: The Help)
"Paul why don't you take a break? Come inside and sit with an old man for a minute" Billy Black wheezed from off his rickety front porch.
It had been years since most of the Cullen's up and left, going their separate ways, kids from the reservation going off to college and jobs far away from home. Billy's own son, Jacob, receiving a full scholarship to CSU for the universities football team, a little after high school. Dropping the ax to the moss-covered floor beneath, Paul wiped the sweat from his forehead with the bottom of his t-shirt. In the years following Renia's marriage to Jasper, Paul reached out to contact her once and while, sometimes receiving pictures of her children in the mail.
Billy had wheeled himself into the study, taking a seat by the window, where he watched the large Japanese maple tree that grew in his backyard. There was an old tire swing tied to one of its branches, where his children used to play when they were younger. When his wife Sarah was still living, she prided herself in caring and nurturing for the tree throughout the mostly rainy seasons, ikebana flowers growing around the massive tree. Two glasses of lemonade were sitting on the small table near the window, Paul sitting himself in one of the armchairs that took up a corner near the Victorian styled glass.
"You know that I'm dying Paul" Billy started. His hands shook greatly as he picked up the glass, bringing its rim to his trembling lips.
"Billy, don't say-"
"It's inevitable Paul. I've called to have a nurse brought to the reservation. It's getting harder to do many of the things I used to be able to do. And without Jacob here… I need the extra help Paul" A year after Jacob left the reservation; Billy Black contracted ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease. He could barely lift his arms past his chest anymore, and it became a strain to wheel himself around the one-story house.
Paul looked at the man he had come to see as a second father. Billy was dressed in an old CSU sweatshirt and brown corduroy pants, his once thick, black hair, now graying and thinning, tied back in a long braid. His face was beginning to sink in, the prominent bones of his cheeks, sticking out in an ungodly manner. His hands shook as they lay folded in his lap, and the once strong chief elder, now seemed small and withered beyond belief.
"What about Rachel and Rebecca?"
Billy scoffed, his eyes shifting back to the maple tree in the garden. "My girls have lives of their own to live. They don't need to be taking care of an old man like me. The same goes for Jacob. I lived my life Paul. Death is one of the many things people fear… I had a wife and kids and a community. What more could I ever ask for?" Paul didn't have an answer, the pregnant pause, interrupted by a small knock at the door. Paul rose to go answer it, Billy putting a hand on his arm to still him. "I got this" he murmured, wheeling himself towards the entrance.
Paul's face set into a grim line. The door opened and closed, the muffled sound of voices coming closer and closer to the study.
"Paul" the man rose as Billy wheeled himself into the study once again. A young woman trailed behind him, dressed in a red and white striped shirt that tied in the front, dark wash blue jeans, and an old set of knit design slip-on Toms. She was tiny, looking to be about 5"4 to 5"5 with light caramel colored hair that tumbled in loose curls down her back. She had striking gray blue eyes that were trained on Billy's hands as he wheeled to a complete stop in front of Paul.
"This is Claire Matthews. She's a registered nurse at Washington General Hospital, studying abroad for her nursing degree at St. Ann's hospital in London. Carlisle specifically mentioned that she is a great nurse and that she was the perfect candidate to take on the job."
Air escaped from Paul's lungs in a quick breath, as he took in the female before him fully. She smiled warmly at him, and Jacob's words to Bella began ringing throughout his subconscious
"It's not like love at first sight, really. It's more like... gravity moves... suddenly. It's not the earth holding you here anymore, she does... You become whatever she needs you to be, whether that's a protector, or a lover, or a friend."
"My thanks to Dr. Cullen" she said happily, "I brought a record of all my studies and jobs since I became a nurse, just in case you wanted to look over them. I graduated top of my class in high school as well as college, I have a 4.0 GPA, and I have no criminal record." She handed Billy a manila colored envelope, papers and transcripts spilling out to the brim, as he set it open on his lap.
"Paul why don't you entertain Ms. Matthews while I read this over?" Paul snapped out of his thoughts, blue-gray eyes blinking up at him owlishly. Scratching the back of his head with dirt covered fingers, he held out one hand to her. "I'm Paul Lahote. I do most of the dirty work and hard labor around here for Billy" her small hand grasped his in a firm shake, as she nodded her head in understanding. Those deep dimples took residence on both cheeks, her smile widening. "That's really sweet of you to do something like that" she whispered.
Dropping her hand, Paul led her to the kitchenette part of the house, grabbing a small, plastic bottle filled with water from the refrigerator. "Water?" Claire took the small bottle gratefully, sipping its contents till the bottle was half full.
"So what made you decide to want to become a nurse?"
Her eyes lit up with excitement as she set the bottle down. "Well taking care of people and making people comfortable and happy has always been a big thing for me. I come from a relatively big family and no matter where you were or who you were with you were always taken care of. Not everyone has that opportunity though. I started going to a Career, Science, and Technology school my junior year of high school, and at the end of that school year I went and got my Certified Nurse's Aide degree and I was able to shadow the local hospitals and nursing homes outside of school. Then during my senior year I went back and took another, more higher level class, and that earned me some of the credits I would need when I actually went to school to be a nurse. By then I was working part-time at the hospital as a nurse and I volunteered my time at the nursing home on the weekend. The summer after my senior year I received an invitation to go over to some parts of Africa to help them give aide to people who really needed it. I stayed there for six months, and then came back state-side, got my Registered Nursing Degree in London, and came back to Washington to work at the hospital up in Seattle."
"That so much heart could be stored into a woman so small amazes me. Add that to fact that she loves what she does." Paul was awe-struck at the amount of passion that laced her voice when she talked about her job. The way her eyes lit up and her smile deepened when she talked about helping people.
"Lord help me, if this girl hasn't affected me already…"
Billy came into the kitchen a few minutes afterward, Claire volunteering to make lunch for all of them. Conversing over a light lunch of chicken Caesar salad with raspberry vinaigrette dressing and lemonade, Paul learned that the bubbly young nurse was a Kansas Native and grew up with two other sisters and a brother. Her mother raised all four children by herself, and all of her siblings were either married or engaged to be married sometime soon. She talked about growing up in the country, and about her time in Africa and London, the young Lahote man hanging on to every word and storing it for memory.
Later on that evening, once Claire returned to her loft back in Seattle, Paul sat down in his small living room, dialing a once familiar number.
"Paul Lahote" the voice mused, "how's it been stranger?"
Author's Note: Howdy readers! Okay, since Paul didn't get love in The Better Eclipse (awe!) I'm writing this story so that Paul can have a happy ending too! In this story Paul is 30 (I went back and reviewed The Better Eclipse and in Please Help Me Pt.1 I said Renia was 25, so I calculated in my head and I'm saying Paul can be about 30 now, and Claire is going to be 26) (four year difference I know!). Anyways, if it gets confusing or you think it doesn't make sense then send me a little review or message and be all like "hey I don't get it!" or "this doesn't make sense!" and I'll be like "okie-dokie!" And try and fix it for you! Anyway I hope this story works out like I want it to, and as always I love you guys from an author to her readers, and…you know what I'm going to say right? REVIEW!
Love~ EatPrayDance