Mistakes
Hey guys, thanks so so so much for all of your reviews on the last chapter, I am so sorry that I haven't been able to update in so long, but thankfully my exams and projects are all finished once more for now, so hopefully I'll manage to update more often, anyway, here's chapter 12, I hope that you like it and please review!
Chapter 12
The two women stared at each other for a period of time, neither feeling the rain that pounded down on their skin, or hearing the wind that howled all around them. The two pairs of eyes just holding each others gaze, Lilly-Ella's Redhawks hoodie now soaked through, her long curls flattened from the rain as she shivered violently, her Redhawks cap having been lost somewhere along her route.
The flash of lightening across the sky followed swiftly by the rumble of thunder startled both women into action as a nearby tree to Lilly-Ella suddenly started to creak, the old trunk unable to hold up the heavy branches anymore as it tumbled over to the side, heading straight for Lilly-Ella, who screamed and closed her eyes, horror painting itself on Gabriella's face, before she was startled into action, feeling an instinct that she had only felt for a fleeting instant with her little girl as she raced around the car, her heart thumping in her ears as she shoved Lilly-Ella to the ground, protectively covering her baby girl with her own body, out of the way of the tree, as it crashed to the ground at Gabriella's own feet.
Feeling her shaking daughter below her, Gabriella slowly started to sit up, pulling Lilly-Ella onto her lap as both of them cried tears of anguish, Lilly-Ella's small hands clutching tightly onto the material of Gabriella's hoodie, her head buried into the crook of her mother's neck, Gabriella peppering kisses to the top of her daughters head, before laying her head on top of the young girl's, gently rocking them from side to side as they continued to sob for what felt like hours.
Regardless of how long it felt to the two of them, a short while later, a beat up old truck pulled up beside them, an older couple looking on at the pair of them in worry, as they slowly opened the door to their truck and the woman stepped out, an umbrella surrounding her in a futile attempt to shield her from the cold wind and the furious rain, her husband following quickly with his jacket pulled up over his head as they took quick strides towards the two young women at the side of the road.
"Ma'am, Ma'am, are you alright?" The man asked in worry, creases appearing on his kind face as the rain battered against it, but his eyes never left Gabriella and Lilly-Ella, as the older of the pair glanced up at the old couple, obviously scanning them quickly to make sure that they were alright, while the younger only buried herself deeper into her mother's lap.
Shaking her head slowly, Gabriella looked up at the concerned pair, blinking against the heavy downpour as she pulled Lilly-Ella tighter towards her, "No, we were heading for Nebraska when our car broke down, and we realised that neither of us have our cell phones with us and that there aren't any payphones around here." Biting her lip, Gabriella felt Lilly-Ella nod into her neck, showing that she would go along with the recently concocted story of where they were supposed to be heading.
"Yeah, that was a pretty stupid question," The woman smiled softly, before turning to glare at her husband, who only shrugged slightly with a smile, turning back to the two women, a small smile fleeted across her face again, "Is there anything we can do, because I think that it is highly unlikely that any mechanic is going to come this far, this late at night, or in this weather."
Feeling her daughter shiver once more, Gabriella started to vigorously rub her hands up and down the young girls arms, trying anything to keep her even a little warm, "Yeah, umm, if you don't mind, could you give us a ride, I mean, only if you're heading north, I used to do this drive every other month or so with an old boyfriend, and there's an old inn about a half hour away in that direction."
"Sure, it's the least that we can do," the man smiled again softly, before turning and jogging back to the beat up truck, pulling the door wide open, and beckoning for Gabriella, Lilly-Ella and his wife to get in.
Running for the truck, Gabriella suddenly stopped, and headed for the trunk of her own car, turning only when she noticed that Lilly-Ella had stopped as well, "Go on Lilly-Ella, I just need to get something from my car, I'll be there in just a minute," Gabriella encouraged with a warm smile, despite the fact that she was shivering violently from the cold.
"You promise?" Lilly-Ella asked so timidly and shakily, that most people would have missed it, but Gabriella heard her daughter loud and clear, and stared straight back into the baby blue eyes that so much resembled those of the man she still loved.
"I promise baby girl," she whispered back, and taking one last look at each other, the two women took off in opposite directions, Lilly-Ella diving into the dry truck as soon as she reached it, and turning around just in time to see her mother heading back for the truck, a duffel bag clutched tightly in her hand as a small smile started to spread over the petite brunette's face, and her sapphire eyes started to dimly twinkle once more.
Reaching the fairly large inn within the half hour that Gabriella had predicted, a smile appeared on the three older occupants of the truck as the light from the inn windows flooded out over the road and the surrounding area, offering a little hope in the dark, gloomy night.
Looking down at her daughter, Gabriella smiled softly to see that she was asleep, her head resting comfortably on Gabriella's arm as her chest gently rose up and down with her light breathing, turning her head slightly, Gabriella placed a kiss to Lilly-Ella's forehead, and grinned as she saw the young girl's face scrunch up in her sleep.
"We can watch the little one while you go in and see if there are any rooms available if you like," The older woman whispered softly in the calmness of the truck, a complete contrast to the raging storm outside.
"Thanks Joyce," Gabriella smiled, slowly leaning Lilly-Ella back against the seat, "I'll hopefully be back in just a minute, I wouldn't have thought that they would have to many bookings at this time of year," Smiling once more at her daughter and the older couple, Gabriella flicked her hood over her already drenched hair, and made a quick run for the inn door.
"Hi, umm, I was wondering if you had two single rooms available, only for the one night?" Gabriella questioned a bored looking receptionist, as the woman typed something into her computer, only sparing Gabriella a small, disdainful look.
"Why are you getting two rooms?" A small voice behind Gabriella enquired, and Gabriella whipped around to see her daughter stood behind her, still looking sleepy, and pretty much drowned from the rain outside, "I don't wanna be by myself, not with weather like this," The young girl whispered timidly, her eyes wide with fright, as Gabriella held her arm out, and Lilly-Ella quickly ran for the safety of them.
"I'm sorry, can I change that to one twin room?" Gabriella asked sweetly, and Lilly-Ella covered her head to stop her laughter as the receptionist shot Gabriella an 'are you kidding me' look, before letting out an angry breath and retyping information into the computer.
Finally sorting out their room, Gabriella and Lilly-Ella bid a fond farewell to the older couple, making them promise to visit the next time they were in Albuquerque, before retreating to their room, where Lilly-Ella took a shower, and Gabriella made an important phone call
"How did you know that I was heading for Nebraska?" Lilly-Ella questioned as she came to sit beside Gabriella on the bed, now clad in Gabriella's grey sweats, and bright pink hoodie, a present from Sharpay, of course.
Gabriella sighed softly, placing the hotel room phone back onto its' stand, and sitting back against the headboard as she studied her daughter closely, noting how her nose scrunched up in confusion, just like her own when she didn't understand something, but also noticing how her mouth was curved into a funny sort of half smile, a gesture that her ex-boyfriend had normally done whenever he was confused, and observing for the first time just how much older than her sixteen years of life that her daughter actually looked.
Reaching out, Gabriella gently tucked the free flowing lock of her daughter's hair back behind her ear, smiling slightly as she brought her hand to cup Lilly-Ella's cheek, and the young girl leaned into it. "I had no idea that that was where you were heading, it was where I was going, but how did you get to that point, that was two and a half hours outside of Albuquerque, and I didn't see another car anywhere around?"
Blushing slightly, Lilly-Ella looked away, and mumbled something under her breath that immediately caused Gabriella's eyebrow to quirk up as she gazed curiously at Lilly-Ella.
"Can you repeat that please?" Gabriella asked calmly, hoping that the words that she had thought had just come out of her daughter's mouth were some sort of sick joke that her imagination was playing on her.
"Umm, I really don't want to," Lilly-Ella blushed harder, suddenly finding counting the number of floorboards a very interesting task.
"Lilly-Ella," Gabriella muttered sharply, "What did you do to get out here?"
"I hitchhiked with some trucker guys," The younger Latina mumbled, wincing as she saw her mother's face turn red as Gabriella leapt up from her seat on the edge of the bed.
"WHAT? Lilly-Ella, what the hell were you thinking? You could have been seriously hurt, you didn't even know who these people were did you?" Seeing Lilly-Ella shake her head slightly, Gabriella could feel her anger grow, "What do you think that we would have done without you, huh? What about your Dad or Matt and Sassy? Did you not even think of them? Or what about me? I haven't had the chance to get to know you before now Lilly-Ella, and if something had happened to you, I would never have gotten that chance!"
Lilly-Ella's head snapped up as she stood up to glare at Gabriella, "Yeah, and whose fault would that have been?" She roared in a voice that rivalled her mother's from only minutes earlier, "You were the one that passed me off to Dad because you didn't want me, and you were the one who didn't bother to look for us for the last sixteen years!"
Both women were breathing heavily as they stared at each other, both of their anger slowly ebbing as they realised how alike they both were. Gabriella was the first one to break the stare as she sighed and looked down, "Ok, I know that I deserved that one, and I am sorry Lilly-Ella, I am so sorry for everything that I've done in the past, and I know that that doesn't ever excuse what I did, and I did look for the pair of you, for the past fourteen years, but it's kind of difficult to find you when I didn't know your name and your Dad was using a fake one."
"Fair enough," Lilly-Ella breathed out, a small smile appearing on her face as she sunk back onto the bed, Gabriella sinking down beside her, "Although all debt would be forgiven if you bought me a Mercedes," she grinned cheekily at Gabriella.
Snorting slightly, Gabriella wrapped one arm around her daughter and started to twirl one of her curls around her finger, "Keep dreaming kiddo, I'm on a teachers salary here you know," The two women chuckled softly, and sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, until a confused look passed over Gabriella's face, "Lilly-Ella why were you heading for Nebraska?"
Sitting up so that she could look Gabriella in the eye once more, Lilly-Ella let out a deep sigh, "I was heading for Lexington, it's where my great Aunt Sophie lives, and I dunno, I've always felt really close to her for some reason."
Gabriella blinked slowly, "Your great Aunt Sophie, from Lexington, Nebraska?" Lilly-Ella nodded, and Gabriella let out a slightly frustrated laugh, "Did Troy tell you she was his aunt?" Once more the young girl nodded, and Gabriella shook her head slightly, "Nope, that's my Aunt Sophie, she was the only one who supported my pregnancy with you, she's really more of an older sister to me though," Gabriella mused almost silently, "She fell out with my Mom, your Grandmother, a long time ago over the matter of me getting pregnant at such an early age, and then she was the only one who new about my post natal depression as well, I can't believe that she knew where you were all this time, she even supposedly helped me to look for the pair of you," Gabriella blew out a mildly irritated breath, as a sharp laugh came from the girl sat beside her.
"Yeah, well I begged her to tell me about you, and she never would, said that she never really met you," Lilly-Ella snorted in an all too familiar way, before leaning back on the headboard again, "I can't believe she played us."
"I can't say that I'm really that surprised," Gabriella grinned, placing a small kiss to her daughter's forehead, "now get some sleep, we have a long hike back to the car and then a mechanic to wait for before we can head home in the morning." Laughing at a groaning Lilly-Ella, Gabriella reached of and turned off the light, plunging the room into darkness, apart from the occasional flash of lightening from outside.
"Hey Mom?" A little voice murmured into the darkness, and a smile broke out on Gabriella's face hearing that phrase directed at herself, but she didn't say anything, hearing a slight sigh, before she felt two arms wrap themselves tightly around her, "I love you."
Gabriella's smile grew even more as she pulled her daughter tighter to her, "I love you too Sunshine more than anything in this world."
Well guys, that was Chapter 12, I hope you liked it, and once again I'm sorry for not updating sooner, please review, and hopefully, I'll have chapter 13 out soon.