Crossover Crossroads (The Kell and Maille Story)

Absence Makes the Heart

048: Absence makes the heart

Megan had drawn the scene on the wall and now she was experimenting with mixed colors. Maille was eager to help her paint so she'd relegated her to base green meadow all around the room. A boom box blared from the living room. They both wore shorts and t-shirts which had already received splatters of paint. Both were barefoot.

They worked without talking much throughout the morning and then stopped for a break at noon.

Megan slid against the wall, drinking her ice water, which was all Maille sported. "So, you saw Kell this morning?" she asked.

Maille slid to the carpet also, and ran a hand through her hair and then took a long drink from her own water bottle. "Yeah."

"He came to see Myndee?"

"Sometime in the night." Maille replied, her eyes closed, they stung from constantly wiping the sly tears that escaped.

"And you saw him this morning?"

"I woke up to him. Actually, on him. I woke up lying on the hardest floor I've ever laid on, next to Myndee's hospital bed, with my head squashed against Kell's leg. Yeah. Very becoming." she laughed.

"You were there last night again?"

"They called and said she wanted me and wouldn't calm down. So I went to her, of course, what else would I do?" Maille shrugged and eyed her sister for signs of disapproval, but there were none. "They must have called him too."

"And you were asleep when he came in?"

Maille smiled. "Well, I fell asleep praying beside Myndee's bed."

Megan chuckled. "That's a bad habit," she said. "Falling asleep during prayers." she pointed a finger at herself. "I do it too."

Maille laughed. "Especially during Daddy's prayers." They both giggled irreverently.

"So you didn't wake up when he came in?"

''Nope." Maille shrugged. "I haven't been getting much sleep. I take it where it comes I guess."

"On the floor in Myndee's hospital room?" The first hint of disapproval. "Is that a bit overkill?"

Maille took another long swallow of water. She didn't answer. She felt suddenly as if her life was on a video screen for her sister to view. And as it had been the first day she'd ever seen Kell, she didn't want to share it all.

Megan looked around. "This is pretty convenient, Maille." she waved a hand at the little home. "Move out, get a house, live here all by yourself."

"What are you suggesting?" Maille's voice instantly held the frost of a glacier.

Megan shrugged and tipped her bottle. "Nice place to come home to the little woman, don't you think? The kid and the little lady."

Maille shook her head in disbelief. "Did this rudeness just occur to you? Or have you been harboring it all along?"

"Rudeness?" Megan said. "Oh, I guess that was uncalled for. It's just so strange to think that two weeks ago, you didn't know who Kell Stevak was, or Myndee. And now...." she paused and looked Maille straight in the eye. "Now you're out on your own, house, car, job, boyfriend, and daughter... or is it kid sister?"

"Myndee is a friend. She's actually a better listener than anyone in my family." Maille got up and threw her empty bottle into the kitchen where it hit the cupboard and clattered into the sink. "Bulls eye." she snapped and went into the other bedroom and slammed the door.

Megan shook her head, sipped her drink and then got up and went back into the castle room.

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