The Reborn (The Reborn trilogy book 1)

Chapter 12

Honeymoon period

Lola and I were having a movie night at my house. Sandra was out so it was just the two of us on the sofa. I was comfortably ensconced in her arms. Her hand slowly tracing up and down my arm. If she's not careful I'm going to be pouncing on her before the end of the movie. Not that I need much of an excuse.

Two and a half months had passed since that memorable anniversary night, a night that has been repeated countless times since. The area Lola took me to quickly becoming our spot. She was right, in all this time I haven't seen another person up there. Which makes it perfect for what we want to do.

We were rarely apart these days. Spending even more time over each other's, thankfully the parents were good with it. Lola's parents were lovely and Sandra already adored Lola so it was just Naomi to dampen the mood. I still couldn't get on with her. For Lola I tried, but as soon as she said something bossy to Lola my back would go up. Causing the mouth to respond before the brain engages. Not always the best concept.

That's why it's safer if we spend the night at my place. Like tonight where we just get to snuggle.

Her right hand is resting against her stomach next to me. I pull it into mine and take in her charm bracelet. She always has it on but it's normally tucked in her sleeve. Meaning this is the first time I get to have a proper look at it. I call it a charm bracelet but it's not like any bracelet I've seen before. For starters it's a leather cuff. A copy of the tattoo on her left wrist is engraved into the leather. The part that makes me call it a charm bracelet is that studded around the cuff is a series of what I can only assume is charms.

Taking them in now I can see that all the charms seem to be weapons. A knife, sword, crossbow and bolts, long bow and arrows, plus a few more items that I can't name. The detail on the tiny items is amazing, it almost seems like you could use them.

"How'd you choose your charms?" I ask, twisting her arm around to take in more of the charms.

"Charms? Oh, yeah, they're all items I've mastered using."

"I definitely want you on my team in a zombie apocalypse. I bet you look so badass wielding these."

She chuckles. "Well, I can show you how to use some of them at the dojo."

"As long as you're my instructor sign me up."

"You're so bad." She groans. It probably doesn't help that I swirl my finger over her belly.

A comfortable silence descends and I go back to watching the film.

"Can I ask you something?" Lola asks into the silence a little while later.

I swivel slightly to see her face. "Of course, anything."

"How did your parents die?" Lola asks. I tense up at the question. Mind going ten to the dozen trying to think of an answer. "Sorry, you don't have to answer."

"No, it's okay. My mom went first, then about a year later my dad. Mom was cancer and dad heart trouble. I think the both of them had just given up by the end. They'd gone through a lot of heart ache, ultimately I think that is what really killed them both." I say truthfully, heart ache that I caused. A weight I hold fully on my shoulders.

If it weren't for my disappearance, they may have had a few more years. From what I've gleaned over the years they never gave up on finding me. Something like that is bound to put stress on them, stress that eats up years of life.

"I'm sorry you lost them both so soon after each other."

I shrug. "It's been a few years now. I wish I had more time, spent more time with them but I've had time to grieve." Nearly thirty years to grieve. They've been gone longer than I had with them. It hurts to think that I'll never see them again, I don't even have a photo to remember them by. What gets me by is knowing that they knew I loved them too much to leave them by choice.