Waiting For Sunrise - The Books Of Beginning AU

24. Creating A Calendar

Rafe was at his desk, trying to finally get the clutter under control. Miss B had tried for years to instill her neat habits in him, but something had failed to click. So Rafe's desk was almost always covered in pencils and papers, a few of Violet's books and a pair of half-melted candles. He could hardly see the beaten wood surface beneath all the stuff accumulated, and he was hoping to remedy that. However, he was soon distracted by a knock on his door as he was midway through sorting a messy stack of papers.

"Come in!" Rafe called immediately. Most of the Savages were bad about knocking, no matter how often he reminded them to. So if someone was knocking on the door it was one of a select few kids, or it was Kate or Miss B. 

Proving his thoughts right, Kate came in to the small bedroom, the corners of her lips tugged upward in a small smile. Rafe was suddenly reminded of the first and only other time she had been in here with him, when they had fallen asleep together, wrapped in blankets, with Violet snuggled between them. The memory made him feel all warm inside.

"Hiya, Kate. What's goin' on?" He asked, trying his best to keep his voice even.

"I was hoping you could take a look at something, but if you're busy-"

"Nah," Rafe said. "Cleanin' up can wait. What have you got?"

Kate came closer so that she was standing just next to his chair. Their arms brushed against each other, and Rafe nearly gasped as her warm skin brushed against his. She held out a stack of papers - just a few, maybe three or four sheets - covered in her slanted handwriting. He grabbed them and took a look, and quickly realized that what he had was a list of names and dates. A registry of all the Savages and when they were born.

"Miss B finally helped you track the last of the records down, then?" Rafe asked.

Kate said, "Mostly. Some we had to guess about because the kids don't all know when they were born, but we managed to make it so everybody's got a birthday written down, even if it isn't technically the right one. I've filled in all the blanks except for two. Look at the bottom of the last page."

Rafe did so, and indeed found two names without dates attached to them, right underneath of Miss B (born November of 1850) and Scruggs (allegedly born January, sometime around 1839) - He found his own name, and Violet's as well.

"I didn't wanna go through any records Miss B had on you two," Kate admitted. "Even if it'd just be to find out your birthdays."

Rafe smiled ever so slightly. "Well, I'll just fill in the blanks myself, then."

He grabbed a worn down pencil from off the desk and began jotting down the two dates. In his messy handwriting (far more scraggly than Kate's sharp print) he put down the information needed. Rafe - May 11th, 1883. Violet - March 31st, 1892.

"Thanks," Kate said, looking over his shoulder. He dropped the pencil and turned to her. 

"No problem. Your siblings' birthdays on here too?" 

"They were the first two I wrote down."

And so they were, Rafe noted as he flipped back to the first page. Right there at the very top of the cheap stationary, he found; Michael - July 25th, 1886. Emma - June 29th, 1887.

"Good," Rafe said, more to himself than to her. Then he noticed something that had him shifting back through the papers and frowning. His brows furrowed deeply as he turned to look at Kate. "Where's your birthday?"

"Oh," Kate said, hand going to her forehead in a moment of sheepishness. "I must have been so focused on getting all the kids' birthdays right, I completely forgot to add my own."