Chapter 15, enjoy!
Not mine, I know, I know...
Thank you for the reviews, someone asked me about the wedding, well, your answer is in the story!
Summer Of Love(pt 2)
The Odyssey of Heidi
Stephanie looked up to Heidi, watching the girl sit down at the kitchen table, grab the bowl of cereal and pour herself a bowl. Ranger gave Stephanie a look and said, "We have to tell her, we can't leave her in the dark for long."
"Leave me in the dark about what?" Heidi asked, looking up from her cereal, "Mommy, Daddy, what are you two talking about?"
Ranger grabbed Stephanie's hand and turned to Heidi. Stephanie smiled and said, "Well, Heidi, Ranger and I are getting married."
Heidi blinked, and said, "I thought you guys were already married?" Tilting her head to the side, "You seemed to be married, huh…I didn't know that," Heidi bent down and went back to eating her meal.
Ranger blinked his eyes and said, "Oh, I see, she thought were already married, was it something we did?"
"I mean, you two move together like a well-oiled machine, you know each others' moves, it's as if you two have esp!" Heidi said finishing her cereal, and getting up, "I'm just glad you two are getting married, so, when's the wedding?"
"We're working on it," Stephanie said with a smile, as Heidi washed her bowl, "So, Missy, feeling a lot better after that incident at the beach?"
"I am," Heidi chirped sitting back down at the table, "it also helps that my mystery guitar player serenaded me to sleep. He plays so wonderfully."
"How do you know it's a man…" Stephanie started, but watched as white leaves rained down through the walls, and fall through the floor of the kitchen, "I don't think I'll ever get use to that happening."
"Yes you will, Babe," Ranger said, leaning forward and kissing Stephanie's cheek, "I assure you, it's all a part of being a Guardian."
"Mew!" Ranger looked up and over to Heidi, who was looking around nervously, tapping her fingers on the table top, "Heidi, Quedria, did you bring the kitten?"
"No!" Heidi said, too quickly for Ranger's liking, "Why would I bring Mew with us to the beach, especially when you told me that I couldn't."
"Mew!" Ranger looked under the table to feel tiny teeth attack his bare feet. Ranger rose an eyebrow picked up the scraggly grey kitten and looked over to Heidi, who flushed and looked away. Stephanie giggled and said, "Looks like we have a stowaway, Heidi…"
"Well, I didn't want to bring him, but he gave me these big eyes, and so, I stowed him in my tote bag," Heidi said with a smile, "He didn't poop or anything, and I feed him all the fish off my plate, which was why when were were coming down, I asked for lots of fish, so Mew could eat it."
Ranger looked down at the tiny kitten in his hands and said, "Well, I could send you to the violin string factory, they're always looking for cat guts."
Mew seemed to pale at this idea, but Ranger chuckled and said, "I'm kidding, now we have to head into town, I saw a pet shop there, you need your kitty box, a bed and your food bowl, no more eating fish."
Mew seemed happy with what Ranger told him, because he reached up and licked the man's face with his rough tongue. Ranger groaned and said, "I already have problems with my badass image, not you too."
Stephanie smiled at Ranger and said, "We should get dressed and get ready to go, we could spend all day in town, if we want."
"That sounds like a lovely idea, I saw a used bookstore in town," Heidi said smiling, "I wonder if they have Yeats, I've been looking for that book."
"Ugh…" Stephanie said covering her eyes, "I have a nerd for a daughter, why?"
"Babe, she's not a nerd, she's just smart." Ranger laughed, as they got up from the table, "Let's go get dressed."
"Mew's coming with us!" Heidi yelped, before she ran up the stairs, ignoring the protest from Ranger.
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
"Oh, what a nice store!" Stephanie said looking over to the small clothing store, "They have such cute dresses, Heidi, we should go over there, and look at a few dresses."
"Oh, I hope they have purple dresses!" Heidi squealed, handing the kitten to Ranger, before she and Stephanie ran across the street to get to the dress store.
"It's just us men, I see," Ranger said looking down at the kitten in his hand, "Let's go to the pet store."
"Mew!"
The town was hardly a town at all, there was only a grocery store, post office, a small municipal building, four small retail stores, and three restaurants. The population of the town was less than 200 and most of the town people were over the age of 60. It wasn't a hot spot like many places in Key West, but that's why Ranger came to this town and bought the beach house. There were no clubs here, no hot spots, nothing but beaches and a few stores. Ranger had planned on them for staying maybe a week, but maybe, possibly, they could stay for the rest of May, all the way to the end of August, and if there was work that needed to be done at Rangerman, well, there was always Rangeman Miami.
He had a jet he could fly from Key West, to Miami in less than an hours' time.
This would be a nice vacation after all. Ranger smiled and ran his fingers over the kitten's tiny head, earning a soft purr.
"Come Along, Mew, let's go get your things."
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
Thy had lunch at the local seafood restaurant, enjoying what local fish the restaurant had to offer. After lunch, they packed the Cayenne with their shopping bags, and then Ranger gave Heidi some money, told her not to spend it all on books, and then let Heidi run off to the book store, the kitten tucked in her arms.
Stephanie shook her head and groaned, "She's a nerd! When I was 15, I was thinking about boys, clothes, and sex, she doesn't think about any of that."
"Babe, bit your tongue," Ranger said with a smile, "I'm glad she has her heads in the book, instead of in some boy's lap, now a days, teenagers are pressured to have se so hard, it's amazing that there are teenagers out there that wait until they're over the age of 18 before they have sex."
"You have a point," Stephanie said as she and Ranger walked hand in hand down the sidewalk, going to the public access point that led to the beach, "She has good influences around her though, Scarlet, Jeanne, you, Lester and Diesel, they're not influences I would want around."
"We can't help who she has company with, Babe," Ranger said, as Stephanie slipped her shoes off, "Babe, I was wondering, if you wouldn't mind if we stayed here all summer long."
Stephanie's face perked up and she said, "All summer?! But, what about Rangeman! you can't run from home all the time!"
"Babe, Rangeman Miami is just an hour away, if I take the jet, don't worry, if they need me, I can go there." Ranger said kissing Stephanie, "Besides, we can use this time to worry about the wedding."
"Oh….the wedding," Stephanie said slowly, looking over to Ranger, "Ranger, can it just be private thing,just me, you and Heidi, I want it to be a thing just for me and you and our child."
"Our child," Ranger said, his eyes darkening, "I like it when you say, 'our child,'" wrapping his arms around Stephanie and kissing her lips, "I also like the idea of our wedding being private, much more intimate."
"It will, once the child goes to sleep," Stephanie said with a soft giggle, as Ranger kissed her again, "Come on, let's go take a walk on the beach, before we go collect the child, I'm sure she would love to be a part of us planning our wedding."
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
Heidi entered the tiny store front, inhaling the scent of used books, she loved this smell. Heidi would have to thank her aunt for her love of books. She would never get bored of reading books, too many adventures to be had, and to be found.
Heidi set Mew down, and began to wander through the aisles of book, searching for news stories to read, and for stories she that she had read before, but couldn't get enough of. Her small fingers trailed on the spines of old books, amber eyes looking at the titles. Did she want fantasy? Mystery? Or a nice Science Fiction. Heidi didn't know which one to choose, so she just wandered aimlessly, until the sounds of guitar stopped her.
Heidi paused, turning to the sounds of someone strumming the musical instrument. She had heard that tune, last night, and the night before, who was playing that tune? Heidi walked to the direction of the tune, but faltered, hearing it stop abruptly, and a male voice say, "Hey now, this is not a toy to play with little one."
Heidi heard a soft meow, and walked down the end of the aisle to find Mew sitting on the knee of a young man, who was sitting down on the carpet floor, surrounded by books and holding a guitar. He couldn't have been no more than 16 with short shaggy auburn hair that curled at the ends, dusting the nape of his neck. He had olive tones skin that was covered in a white shirt and a pair of jeans. It was his eyes though, that had Heidi. They were those sea green eyes that had the splashes of blue in them. The same eyes that loomed over her, after she woke up from being rescued from the ocean.
The young man smiled at Heidi and asked in a husky voice that held a slight accent, "Is this your kitten?"
Heidi couldn't speak, all she could do was nod her head, and watch the young man pick up the kitten and put down his guitar. He stood up and walked over to Heidi, holding the kitten out, so Heidi could take him.
"He thought my guitar was a toy," The young man said with smile, petting Mew, "I think he likes to listen to me play."
"You play wonderfully," Heidi said with a soft smile, looking at the young man in front of her, "I can see why Mew came over to you."
Heidi walked up to the young man, who smiled at her and said, "You, you were the one who saved me, yesterday at the beach."
"I couldn't have let you drowned, it would have been really rude of me to do so," The young man said with a smile, "I'm an excellent swimmer, people say that I'm part fish."
"I can see why they say that, it must have been hard to swim and carry me back to the shore." Heidi said softly, cuddling Mew to her chest.
"You were light, I had no problems at all." The young man said softly, before he stuck his hand out and said, "My name is Odysseus, it's custom for a hero to give the maiden the saved their names."
"Odysseus, my name is Heidi," Heidi said shaking the man's hand, jerking her hand back as if she shocked herself.
"What's wrong, Heidi," Odysseus asked the girl, watching her face flush.
"I don't know, it felt like…electricity went through my hands.." Heidi said, her flush getting even deeper, at the way Odysseus said her name, "I've never felt it before."
"Oh,maybe it was static," Odysseus said with a soft smile, that made Heidi's insides squirm, for some odd reason, "You know this carpet is a good conductor for electricity, you should stop shuffling your shoes on the ground."
"Okay," Heidi said with a squeak, her face flushing again, "I uh…do you work here?"
"Oh no, I don't, I was just helping the owner out, and took a break to play my guitar," Odysseus said with a smile, motioning to his guitar, "But if you do need help finding a book, might I not suggest this one…."
Odysseus turned to the stack of books on the floor and picked up a green book that had 'Yeats,' on the front of it, "This is a really good story, and from the looks of it, from the inside of it, it's an original first edition copy, look at the fine craftsmanship of the spine, hand woven, you don't see-"
"You were the one who was playing the guitar last night, outside my window." Heidi blurted out, her face flushing even more, "And during the afternoon."
Odysseus, paused and said, "I'm sorry, did I disturb you, I must have been on the beach, I love to play the guitar on the beach."
"No, it was wonderful, though, my parents didn't hear you, I wonder why," Heidi said looking at Odysseus who smiled at her and leaned closer to her.
"Would you like to hear more?" Odysseus asked, earning a nod, "Okay, I'll come over tonight, and play for you on the beach, I think you'll like the songs I play."
Heidi nodded her head, taking the book from Odysseus and said, "I already do," just as the door to the book store opened and Heidi heard Stephanie say, "Heidi, are you in here?"
"Yes Mommy," Heidi said turning to where Stephanie's voice came from, "I'm just talking to…"
"Mew!" Heidi turned and frowned, Odysseus was gone, when did he have time to slip away from her? Heidi smiled, feeling her stomach flutter as she thought about Odysseus .
"There you are, silly," Stephanie said coming up behind Heidi in the narrow aisle, "I see you found a book, let's go pay for it, and then get some ice cream, okay?"
"Okay!" Heidi said with a smile, looking down at Mew, who perked up at the sound of ice cream, ""Maybe they have a fishy flavored ice cream, Mew!"
"Mew!"
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
"She's been awful quiet," Stephanie said to Ranger as they drove back to the beach house, her eyes on Heidi in the back of the Cayenne, "Is she alright?"
"I think so," Ranger said, looking back and seeing Heidi reading the book she bought, a small smile on her face, "Quedria, are you alright with us staying in Key West for the rest of the summer?"
"Oh yes!" Heidi said, looking up from her book, "I would love It! are you having the wedding down here too?"
"Well, we're going to talk about that when we get home," Stephanie said with a smile, "For now, we should plan what we're going to do, while we're here, Is there anything you really want to do this summer?"
"Nothing really much," Heidi said her smile small, as she ran her fingers down Mew's back, "I'm content with what's occurring now."
Stephanie and Ranger smiled at Heidi, as they pulled into the drive way of the beach house. Ranger turned to the Heidi and said, "Since there's nothing you want to do now, hwo about we grill something for dinner, you can be my wing woman."
"I would like that, Daddy," Heidi said sliding out the car with her buy, Mew perched on her shoulders.
"Let's get the pet supplies out, and put up Mew's bed," Heidi said petting the kitten, "I want his bed in my room, okay!"
Ranger opened the trunk to the Cayenne and said, "Yes Ma'am, and the kitty liter box?"
"In the garage, I'm sure Mew doesn't mind the trek, or else he'll be outside pooping in the sand." Heidi giggled, as Mew nuzzled her nose, "Come on, Mew, let's change into our bathing suits!"
"Sounds like a plan," Stephanie said, pinching Ranger's bottom, "We should try out the hot tub, after she goes to sleep."
"Babe, you're playing with fire," Ranger purred, before he carried the shopping bags into the beach house.
(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)
Dark Green eyes smiled watching the small family of three walk into the posh beach house. Aww how sweet, Gaia and her two newest guardians, playing house in a tropical paradise.
"It won't be such a paradise soon, if I have my way," The Queen of the night walkers murmured, from her spot, "Best to tell General Smith, hopefully the silly human won't do anything brash."
TBC….
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