Chapter 8
"Come on Trude, let's go and join the dinner." Ryan said as he broke our kiss off. I just looked at him. I didn't really want to join the others, at all. I knew we had to join sooner or later. Even though I didn't want to.
"There you are. Did you think you could really sneak off without being noticed?" a female voice asked and I looked over my shoulder. It was Amber.
"Yes. We are coming." I said as Ryan pulled me up to my feet. I just smiled at him and Amber. He placed his arm around my waist as we followed Amber down and out to the café.
As we entered the café we were met by cheers from our friends. It was nice to hear, and it brought a big smile to my face.
"Where did you two sneak off to?" Zandra asked me as she came into view. She was holding our daughter, Taryn. She looked so content with Zandra.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" I asked smirking, indicating that I had no intentions of telling her, or anyone else for that matter.
"Yea, but that's beside the point. Here's your daughter." Zandra said and handed me Taryn. I had a smile that went from ear to ear as I got her. I looked over at Ryan whom was also smiling.
"Wanna hold her?" I asked him and all I got for an answer was his goofy smile and a nod. I handed our daughter to him. Ryan held her as he went over to one of the tables, where there were two seats free, mine and Ryan's. He sat down and kept Taryn in his arms. I settled down next to him after a while.
The food we had was fresh vegetables, like tomatoes and potatoes. Carrots and other things, we also had a roasted pig, thanks to the boys. As we'd eaten and there was barely anything left, Jack came and surprised us. He'd managed to fix the battery re-charger, that had broken apparently, and now we had music. The mall was beautifully decorated and around the fountain they'd hung paper lights in different colors, and it was beautiful. I loved it. I was sitting on the fountain edge with Amber watching Ryan playing with our daughter.
"Aren't they cute?" I asked Amber as I watched Ryan with Taryn. She was gurgling, I could hear it, because I was the one who chose the volume of the music, so it was quite low. One reason for it was to keep the attention away from the mall, so nothing was heard out, but the second reason was that I wanted to be able to hear Taryn.
"Taryn is extremely cute, and I see that Ryan is happy with playing daddy." Amber said smiling and looked over at me. I smiled and nodded because I knew Ryan loved being a dad. I watched as Ryan danced around slowly with Taryn in his arms.
"I think I'm going to go dance with my man." I said and got up from the fountain. I walked over to Ryan.
"Want to dance?" I asked and smiled as I walked up to Ryan.
"Of course. Hey Zan, can you take Taryn?" Ryan asked and Zandra came over to us.
"Of course I can, I love your daughter Trude." Zandra said smiling brightly as she reached out for Taryn. Ryan handed Taryn to Zandra who pranced off as Ryan pulled me into a hug. I kissed him on the cheek as we started to dance to the music.
The next morning
I woke up early, it was dead quite, the only thing that I heard were foot steps. I got up from my bed and went out and looked down from the balcony. It was Bray returning, he'd been gone during the past few days. I didn't think much of it and went back into bed. Ryan was sound asleep, so was Taryn, in the stroller that Zandra had pushed in last night for us. I couldn't fall back asleep so I laid my head on Ryan's chest, he was lying on his back, and listened to his heartbeat. It was soothing. And the next thing I know was that Taryn was crying.
"It's okay sweetie," I cooed as I got out of the bed to go and pick her up. Taryn kept crying, I checked her diaper to start with, and changed it. Which didn't take me long at all, then I went about to feed her.
When I'd done this I headed out of the room I shared with Ryan, he was still sound asleep, which I found entertaining. I left the now sleeping Taryn in the stroller next to the bed. I headed for the café. I had every intentions of making breakfast, but when I reached the café I was ambushed by Zandra and Salene.
"Go back to bed, we've prepared your breakfast." Salene said smiling as she motioned for me to go back to bed. I did as she asked, and sulked on the way back to the bed. I was barefoot and in my brown dress. I crawled down next to Ryan and laid my head on his chest again, seeing as he'd just flipped over to his back. He was barely awake. I decided to wake him up in my own way. I snuggled up close to him and started kissing his chest moving up to his neck and up to his mouth. When I reached his mouth he was responding by kissing me back. It didn't take long until I heard the sound of a throat being cleared, I looked up with a sheepish smile on my face. I was also slightly embarrassed and I was sure Ryan was too. I got it confirmed when I looked back at him.
"Morning." I said brightly as Salene put the tray down on the bed next to me.
"Here you are." Zandra said as Salene came back to stand with her.
"Salene, would you take Taryn for the day?" I asked, but it was more of a statement than a question. Salene nodded and retrieved the stroller with Taryn in it, and she and Zandra left. I knew the two would most likely fight over whom was going to get time with her. I didn't mind much, I had Ryan, and I had some ideas of how we could spend the day. He looked marvelous, and smiled just as sheepishly as me.
"Good morning." was the words that woke me up the next morning. I was lying in Ryan's arms, and it had been quiet and peaceful, since Taryn had been with one of the other girls.
It was wonderful waking up in Ryan's arms. Yesterday Ryan and I had been talking for just a few minutes, the rest of the day we'd basically spent in bed, underneath the cover. It had been wonderful. I knew it was time to face the real world, of misery and drama.
Ryan was staying in the bed while I was getting dressed, I just rolled my eyes. I didn't care. I wanted to be back with my daughter. I found her in the café with Zandra, and I found Salene preparing breakfast. I smiled as I settled down next to Zandra.
"Thanks for taking care of Taryn yesterday." I said as I shuffled my dress some.
"No problem, she was an angel." I heard from Salene who poked her head out from behind the cupboard. Just then Bray entered the kitchen. I looked him over, he was covered in bruises. Zandra handed me Taryn and hurried over to him.
"Are you okay?" Zandra asked Bray as she led him over to a chair. I couldn't care less about him. I didn't like him. Something about him just rubbed me the wrong way. I didn't pay attention to the conversation since I was focusing on Taryn again. She was the cutest in the world, and I just loved her to bits. I caught the end of Zandra's conversation with Bray and it was only because Salene had called that it was breakfast.
"Did you just say there's a tribal gathering?" I asked and looked at Bray intently.
"Yes." Bray said as he looked at me, his face was guarded. It surprised me. Not that I let it show.
"Where?" was the first question I asked.
"Off the coast." Bray answered sluggishly. Still guarding his face and his voice too, at least that was what it seemed like.
"Why?" I asked and looked closely at Bray, he was obviously aware of me studying him, because his face was even more guarded now than before.
"Ebony thought it was a good idea to have tribal gathering, to try and get the tribes to get along, everyone's invited. It is all because Zoot has vanished." Bray said in a detached voice.
"How fun." I said with some sarcasm. I had settled down on a chair next to Zandra with Taryn in my lap. She was half asleep.
"I believe so, it's a step toward getting along with each other, meaning it will become safe to walk the streets again." Bray said and my response to it was a snort. I couldn't help it. As I sat there with Taryn in my lap Salene came out with breakfast. I put Taryn in the stroller that was standing in the café while Salene called for breakfast. It didn't take long before the whole tribe was sitting in the café. Bray of course to the time to explain about the tribal gathering, I didn't pay attention to it.
"Okay, it sounds like a good idea to check this out." Amber said and I looked over at her, not really caring much.
"However we need to decide this as a tribe, everyone for going to the gathering race their hand." Everyone sitting in the café except me and Patsy raised our hands.
"Seems like we are going, and Salene you will stay behind with Trudy to look after Taryn with Patsy." Amber said and Salene nodded. I didn't say anything, I was just bothered with the fact that they were bringing Ryan with them. But I knew I shouldn't protest, cause they wouldn't hear of it.
The gathering was apparently going to be in two days. During the two days before the gathering I kept a close eye on Bray, he didn't do anything out of the ordinary and he stayed in the mall. I was surprised that he'd learned of Zoot's disappearance, but then again, he'd had a run in with the Locos.
I was sitting by the phoenix fountain with Patsy to my right and Salene to my left, Salene had Taryn in her lap, and I didn't mind. It was nice to not having to hold my child all the time.
Ryan and the rest were about to head out with the wind turbine to have something to trade for, power without having to use slaves.
"I'll go and put Taryn down for a nap." Salene said and headed up the stairs with Taryn. I didn't say much, I watched as the tribe left. When they'd gone Patsy helped me get the grill back down. It didn't take us long to get both the grills down, and I felt a lot safer with the grill down.
After a few hours it was time for lunch. I was making the lunch for us three, me Salene and Patsy. Taryn wasn't on solid food yet.
While I was in the café, Patsy was playing with Bob in the back of the mall where all the storages were. Salene was sitting in the café with me. Taryn was in her stroller awake, I could hear her gurgling. It was nice to listen too.
"What do we have here?" a voice asked and I looked up. It was a group of people in robes.
"Get away." I said as I hurried over to Taryn and Salene. Patsy was still in the back of the mall, thankfully she stayed there.
"Oh, a feisty one." The guy in a blue robe closest to me said. And I shivered. I couldn't really fight since I'd picked up Taryn. One of the other robed people had bound Salene to the chair she was sitting on.
"We have what we came for." the same guy said again. It lead me to believe he was the one who was the leader over the rest of the bunch.
