A/N: Kane/Gabby. Always a sweet couple :)
Aubrey: Glad you liked it!
Rebel: Elizabet is very sweet :) I think you're going to like her :)
Disclaimer: I'm not John Flanagan. And still not Australian.
Kane went back to his apartment to find Gabby in his armchair waiting for him. "Did Talia get settled?" she asked when she heard the door close.
"Yes," Kane answered. Gabby stood.
"Do you see my cane? I don't know where I left it."
Common enough occurrence. Everywhere else, including her home and the medical wing, she kept her cane with her at all times. In Kane's cozy apartment she was so comfortable she tended to forget to pick it up as she moved from place to place. Kane retrieved it from the kitchen and put it in her hand. He stroked her cheek as her other hand found his arm. "Thanks for whatever you did today," he whispered. "I don't know what happened but the guards told me you brought Talia back."
"You're welcome," Gabby replied. "It's getting late. You should probably take me home."
"Does your family get upset when I keep you all night?" he asked as he reached for her cloak.
"My parents don't like it but they put up with it. They don't like what I do but it's better than me sulking in a bedroom all day."
Kane walked with Gabby's hand around his arm to her parents' place. Her father was an accountant and her mother came from the family that owned one of the largest trading companies in all of Araluen. In all honesty, Gabby didn't have to work. Her parents had enough money to take care of her for the rest of her life. Being blind, that would be so easy for her to do but Gabby didn't like being a burden on others. She found a job and did well at it. Kane admired her determination.
Despite their money they had a modest house. Well, for a family with four children it was a modest house. The spacious three bedrooms home was much larger than the apartment Kane had grown up in. He opened the door, knowing that with Gabby it was alright to walk in. Her sixteen and thirteen year old cousins who were apprenticed to her father wrestled with each other in the floor while her ten year old sister played with a doll nearby. Her parents sat in comfortable chairs reading when they looked up to see Kane and Gabby. Her parents read all the time and required everyone in their household to read one book a week but nobody ever read aloud. Her parents thought it juvenile to read to their grown daughter. Her oldest brother read to her when he was around but he'd married and moved away a year ago. Her little sister didn't have interest in books. The mandatory 'quiet time' left Gabby alone in dark silence. She purposely tried to schedule work shifts around the 'quiet times' so that she didn't have to endure it.
"Gabby, you're home," her mother said as though their entrance required narration. She stood and joined the couple. Gabby's little sister, Lucy, ran over and tugged at Gabby's skirt.
"Gabby, come taste the cookies I made with Missy today."
Missy was the family's maid. She more or less raised Lucy since Gabby's mother kept a busy social schedule. According to Gabby she used to make time for her children and raise them herself but in recent years with booming business she shifted towards more 'grown-up' activities. "Can you lead me without making me hit something again?" Gabby asked her excited little sister.
"Yes and last time was accident," Lucy retorted. Gabby took her arm from Kane and searched for her sister. Lucy snatched it from the air and dragged Gabby towards the kitchen…right into a table. Gabby felt her away around it. "Oops that one doesn't count," Lucy insisted as she continued dragging her older sister. Gabby tapped her cane quickly trying to keep it from happening again. Lucy was decent at leading her sister but still had trouble remembering Gabby needed to hold her shoulder or upper arm to be led properly. When the child got excited she simply started dragging. Even as Lucy ran her into a coat rack, Gabby smiled. Lucy's enthusiasm was endearing.
"Thank you for walking her home," Gabby's mother told Kane.
"My pleasure," Kane replied. "She doesn't really need me to find her way here but my mother always told me it isn't proper to send a lady home without an escort."
Kane always made sure there was someone to lead Gabby home after dark if he couldn't do it himself. Other Royal Scouts looked out for her, as did a handful of watchmen and Kane's parents. William had led her home once and shocked her parents. Kane secretly wanted William to take her home again while he hid across the street, but Gabby told him that'd be too cruel.
"Especially a blind one," the woman said as she pushed Kane outside and closed the door behind her, as though that would stop Gabby's ears from picking up whatever the clueless woman was about to say. "Thank you for seeing past her disability and understanding what a great person she is. You've no idea what it means to us."
If only you could do the same, Kane thought. "I enjoy spending time with your daughter."
"Those nights she spends with you…I swear if she turns up…expecting…"
"You've nothing to worry about, Mistress. Sometimes we fall asleep when we're talking or reading is all."
Gabby's mother clicked her tongue.
"You read to her like a child? I'd appreciate it if you'd treat her like she's a grown woman and not some toddler going to bed."
Kane knew it was useless arguing. Her mother had a narrow view of what Gabby was. Sometimes rich people's children took up positions as nurses or medical maids as a 'civil service' rather than career. To Gabby's mother, that was all she did at the medical wing…civil service. She had no clue how much good Gabby truly did.
"Yes ma'am," Kane replied. He didn't understand how Gabby's mother could think her daughter's love for books was unnatural or childish. Gabby loved hearing the stories and learning what she could from them. Lots of people did. Some families gathered around a fire each night and listened intently as someone read a chapter or two each night not matter how old the children were. For Gabby's sake Kane vowed that, if they ever did marry, they'd do something like that.
Gabby's mother simply didn't understand her daughter. Not the reading or even the constant need to touch. It wasn't for lack of trying. Gabby's mother simply didn't know how to try the right way. She kept trying to fit Gabby into a category rather than accepting her daughter as she was. To her, Gabby needed to fit a mold. Parents often did that with their children, especially rich parents. Kane's own thought he needed to know how to fight, use a bow, stalk, ride a horse, and speak an extra language but in the end they let him make his own decisions. They let him grow up. He hoped that Gabby's would let her…mainly because she already had.