Monster Slayers MC-Book 1

MSMC Bk 1-Chapter 12

Chapter 12-Tattoos

Marley's POV

Sunday had been an incredibly boring and frustrating day because I couldn't wait for Monday morning. We helped Mama Mae clean the downstairs room after we had prayer time and then took the children out to play in the yard after lunch until they wore themselves out and it was dinner time. The normal routines for bath's and story time and it was finally time for bed. I had never been so glad to see them all finally sleep in their beds before I got a minute to myself. I made sure my clothes were ready for the next day and then crawled in bed and dreamt of Hunter and what I hoped our future would be like soon!

Monday morning, I was up at sunrise. I took a shower, rewashing my hair and scrubbing my body with strawberry soap again. I love the smell of this stuff and apparently Hunter does too. I had noticed that everytime he held me the other day, he seemed to take deeper breaths and buried his face in my hair often.

I pulled on my black skinny jeans and found a white peasant blouse with a large ruffle on the neckline. I wore my black sneakers and then combed out my hair. When Charlie got up, I was hoping she would help me braid it. But it was still kind of early for her to be up so I went downstairs to see if Mama Mae needed help with breakfast.

I found Mama Mae and Aunt Chris sitting at the table and Papa Joe was pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"Good morning everyone!" I said cheerfully.

"Good morning! Goodness, someone is really cheerful this morning." Mama Mae teased.

"It's going to be a beautiful day! I don't want to dull it with a sour mood." I said, knowing that they were going to tease me about Hunter but I was in such a good mood that I didn't care.

"I think that there's not much that could pull you down off of that cloud right now, is there?" Papa Joe smiled at me. I know that they were all glad to see me so happy and everyone here knew exactly what had me in such a good mood. "Hunter seems like a good man and I'm glad that you two have found each other." He told me.

Totally out of character, I threw my arms around him, kissed his cheek and said "Thanks, Papa Joe. I am so happy I could bust!"

Everyone was surprised at my reaction since I had never initiated physical touch, especially with Papa Joe before so my actions shocked them.

"We are going to look at land to build a house on today and I'm going to meet Hunter's friend who runs the tattoo shop in town about covering my scars." I told them.

"Wow. We've been waiting for you to come out of your shell for years with very slow results and you meet a certain man twice and all of a sudden you not only popped your head out, you've shed the entire shell. I'm so happy for you, Marley." Aunt Chris said in her blunt, honest way.

"Well, I don't know about shedding it entirely but I'm refusing to pull my head back in anymore. I can't keep hiding and for Hunter, I want to be there with him all the time. Having to leave him Saturday was really hard. You all know that ever since I got here, I've had night terrors and have a really hard time sleeping. But since I met Hunter, I've had nothing but good dreams. I not only fall asleep right away, I'm sleeping all the way through the night." I told them.

"We're happy for you, baby girl." Mama Mae said with a big smile on her face but there was worry in her eyes.

"Mama Mae, please don't worry about me and I will always stay in touch with you but I have to leave the safe nest you've made for me here some day. I love you guys like you were always my parents and while I won't be around everyday anymore, I'll keep in touch with you and we'll see each other often, I hope. Besides, I won't be going right away but just be ready because I think I'm finally ready and it's all thanks to not only Hunter but because of the help you have given me." I told them and went around and hugged them all.