Three Converts

Part 30

Griffin and I walked away quietly, leaving the little family to themselves. Why in the world they were in the middle of the mountains in her condition didn't matter anymore. Nothing mattered except their daughter being here, safe. We offered to send help, but they declined in a desperate tone that sounded familiar to me. Instead, they asked we deliver the news to Eliana's brother in Bellevale.

I left the robe, and felt something like grief about that. When I handed Griffin his knife back, he looked at me like I was crazy. "What? I wiped it off on my shirt!" He put it directly into the bag. We didn't talk for a very long time.

Finally, "How in the world did you know what to do back there?" he asked.

"I had no clue what I was doing. No clue. But it was the best thing I've ever done." Again, he looked at me like I was crazy.

"Huh. Well, you were very brave."

"Thanks."

"Do you want kids someday?"

"Gosh Griffin! What a thing to ask right now. I mean. Gosh! I don't know! Do you?" I asked like it was an insult.

"I thought I did, but that was really scary. You were... awesome."

I gave him a wry smile. We walked another mile until I couldn't ignore my exhaustion any longer. I wasn't as exhausted as Eliana, for sure, but still. My eyes were barely open and my bones felt the weariness of my brain. It was a satiated exhaustion though. Not like after the pillory. This was the happiest exhaustion I'd ever experienced. "Griff?"

"Yeah?"

"I need a nap."

"A nap?"

"Yes, a nap."

"Lucy," he stopped, so I stopped. Then he was in front of me and very very close to my face. "Can I kiss you?" The thought was so lovely. The thought of leaning into this boy. This man I loved so much, so quickly, so wholly.

"Well now I'm wide awake." I informed him.

He smiled. Waiting.

"If you didn't want to stop for a nap you could have just said so."

A raised eyebrow.

I planted my face into his chest. "Griff. We still have a long way to go."

"Hang on, I can't hear you." He turned my head to the side, so I wasn't speaking into his shirt.

I continued, "It's just that this isn't real life. I don't want to get back to real life and then you know- things are weird."

"Things won't be weird."

"They might be."

"Nah."

"You'll change your mind. You'll have regrets."

"No, I won't. Will you?"

"No."

"Just let me kiss you and then we can see what happens. We've dealt with weird before." We had.

"Let's recap the first several days of our friendship and count all the weird things." I stalled further.

"How about your forehead? Can I kiss your forehead?"

I nodded. Griffin set a gentle kiss on my forehead, then hugged me for a long time. One million times I tried telling him, "Yes! Kiss me! I love you!" But the words didn't come. When we broke apart, I couldn't look at him. I was just a girl who lived her whole life in a robe and who didn't know anything about anything and he was... Griffin. Smart, funny, kind. Gosh, so kind.

"I'll keep asking, okay? I'm not too proud tokeep asking," Griffin assured me. It was the best news I'd heard in days. I'dexpected him to be embarrassed at my rejection (although, no! I wasn'trejecting him!), or grouchy with me for being so lame, or... I don't know, readyto move on without me. Instead, he energized me (forget the nap!), playfully tookmy hand, and pulled me down the path.