REDEMPTION (Ongoing)

96. POCKETFUL OF TIME

Death is in the air. 

Sinking its cold, dark claws all around me, stifling the life out of me. I look ahead absently, at the smooth beige wall of Celia's posh mansion of a house. A blanket of solemnity is shrouded all around, as she sits to my left, not looking me in the eye. 

Aiden beside her, has his fists joined, his elbows resting on his knees as he looks at the floor. To my right, Lily has a pale face, Trevor's palms pressing on his face. 

"This is crazy." I blow out through my mouth and stand up. 

"Oh you should try being a father wanting to spend a Top Gun marathon with her favorite kid and she tells him she wants to get married to... this. Then you'll know crazy." 

Ethan Young grumbles, sitting on the best side of the cushioned couch right by the fireplace and he gestures a hand to Hardin sitting directly across him in his cable knit sweater and jeans, mirroring Aiden's stance, except the downcast eyes. 

Lily bursts out in laughter, Trevor holding in his own and I pace off to the kitchen. 

"Dad." I call him out, walking towards it. "What do you mean favorite kid?"  Celia bubbles up out of nowhere. 

"You did not hear it from me." His placating voice booms in the living room. I don't even know which one of us he was talking to. 

Fetching a glass of the cabinet, I pour myself a glass of water, sighing in the wake of the testosterone highs my father was bent on creating. Like Celia's reaction was not dramatic enough. 

I'd say a minute long paralysis, asking me if I was pregnant and trying to set me up with a therapist again, pretty much was. 

Taking small sips, I lean one arm over the counter by the elbow and shift my weight to my right foot. Then I turn to the party raging, focusing lazily to make out their words. 

Hardin's eyes travel through the distance, landing on me--- and they are full of mirth and enjoyment. That bastard. I shake my head, smiling warily at him. A slow, curve hints at the corner of his lips and he sends out a wink at me. 

My smile involuntarily widens. 

"I told you this was not something you miss over a stupid meeting." Lily chirps, a long, wailing exhale after her laugh. 

Trevor gives her a long, delirious look. "What diet have you been on? Seriously." 

"You're encouraging it?" Dad questions Lily, his eyebrows raising. 

She pauses, startled and blank faced for a beat. "If it makes it any better, we both prevented this from happening five years back." 

Hardin closes his eyes in tired vexation at her slip. Why did I open the door for her, at all?

Dad's body jerking back is all I catch since I can't see his face from here, though I could bet it was priceless. "Five years back? When she was what, sixteen?" 

"Twenty one, Dad." I correct him dully. 

"Is that true, were you going to?" He ignores me completely and turns to Hardin. 

"Yes I was, when I decided it was not the correct time." Hardin answers him back immediately and without a moment of thought. 

"And you think now is?" Dad cocks an eyebrows at him challengingly. 

My smile pulls in, a heavy expression misting my eyes as I look at the sudden silence descending over the room. This time, Hardin stays silent--- taking a moment to look at Dad with so much gravity. He is a picture of stillness, so unmoving that he could be a sculpture I had stolen from cathedrals and chapels to remind myself of the amount of art and beauty that was still left in the world.