Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 81977 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81977 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 410(@200wpm)___ 328(@250wpm)___ 273(@300wpm)
"Where did you hear that?" Of course I knew it was a historical fact but I wanted to see where she was going with this knowledge and more importantly how she felt about it.
"I read about it before, I liked the way things were back then, it seemed...easier. Even though they didn't have all the things we have back then whenever I read about them it seems like they were happier somehow."
"Do you think those ladies were too young to have to do that?"
"No, I think it was natural, it had to do with a woman's development and what she'd been trained to do I think. I think they believed back then that a girl became a woman physically when she had...you know..." Her face blushed hot and I couldn't hold back my laughter.
"No, I don't know." I laughed harder as her face turned pinker.
She folded her tiny fist and landed one of her butterfly wing punches to my stomach.
"Be careful sweetheart. Okay, okay I'll stop laughing, you're just so cute." I had to steal a kiss after that but was sure to keep it short. My body didn't really understand that she was out of commission for a while yet and my boy was feeling lonely. Poor thing he’d gotten a taste of the best pussy he’d ever had only to be cut off without warning. For that alone I could kill the fucks.
"So you don't mind being pregnant this young?" She shook her head as she settled her hurt wrist in a better position on her pillow.
"Do you mind?" Smart girl my wife.
"A little I think. I'm afraid that you'll be throwing away your youth somehow."
"That's silly Gideon, did you know that historically it's believed that the Virgin Mary was fourteen when she gave birth to Jesus, now I don't know if it's true or not but I read it somewhere."
"Okay, what does that mean?" She could take me for a spin with her conversations how did we get on this?
"Duh, it's simple Gideon, if the mother of the savior of the known world was fourteen, chosen by God himself, why would I think it was wrong to have a baby at eighteen?" Her logic floored me.
"Do you believe in God Ashley?"
"Of course." She looked at me like I'd grown a third eye. "Don't you?" Shit..."Um...kinda sorta, I know He exists but I can't say that I've spent too much time thinking about Him. Can I ask you a question? How could you believe in Him after all the things that were done to you?"
She looked at me and it was as though a light went on in her eyes. "I always knew He'd send someone, sometimes I lost hope, but most of the time I believed he'd send someone...and He did."
Jesus...who was this girl? Who the hell could live through that shit and still hold onto that kind of hope?
I wanted to cry when the fullness of what she was saying penetrated. I was her hope, maybe an answer to a prayer. How did that shit work, what was I supposed to do with that?
I'd just seen a beautiful young girl whose beauty cut straight to the heart that first day, she'd seen hope.
Somehow it didn't feel like a burden, it felt like I was the strongest man alive, like I could move mountains. Damn, is this what love did to you? How could something make you feel weak in the knees and strong as a team of oxen at the same time?
She seemed to believe what she was saying to me, not like she was just repeating something she'd heard. That was some potent shit. Was I her knight in shining armor then, was I supposed to slay her dragons?
"You believe He sent me to you?"
"Uh huh, I know it's you, because you're the only person who's ever been really kind to me."
Fuck me, they're done, anyone who touched such innocence had to be pure evil. If I didn't believe it before, I believed it now.
Reaching over to the night table I got something out of the drawer and put it on the bed between us.
"What's that?"
"It's the police report from the night your mother died. It proves that you had nothing to do with your mom dying baby." She started to cry and rock her little body back and forth in my arms.
"Come here baby it's okay, I want you to know these things I don't want you carrying that guilt around anymore."
"What does it say?" She buried her face in my chest.
"Don't you want to read it?" She shook her head no as she cuddled closer. I cleared my throat as I started to repeat what I'd read in the report.
"When the accident first took place and your father was notified he told them she'd gone out to find an all night pharmacy to get you medicine, apparently you were sick..." She flinched and dug in closer.