Her Viking 2

Chapter 6: Truths and Claims

"Mariana?"

"Hmm?"

"What are you making?"

"Papa rellena. It's a stuffed potato ball." She answers stuffing, rolling, and frying the food.

Rei nods and continues with her homework. Mariana is humming a song, focused on the food at hand. Rei is slowly losing concentration and is getting lost in her thoughts.

"Mariana... Are you and Uncle Kage still together?" Rei asks with her eyes downcast.

Mariana pauses and thinks. Rei's eyes water up and her bottom lip starts to quiver. Mariana sighs and doesn't answer in the end. Rei tries to hold back her sobs.

"I don't want you and Uncle Kage to break up. Please don't leave him. Please don't leave us," Rei begs through her hiccups.

"I... I won't leave you. I'll always be here for you and your family. It's just that right now me and your Uncle are not in a good place in our relationship."

"What happens if you two don't stay together? What about the baby?"

"Then we just won't be together is all. We will have to co-parent but if he doesn't want anything to do with it then I will raise the baby by myself. I don't need to depend on a man. I make enough where I can support my child and me."

"I wish I knew what was wrong with him," Rei cries out. "I don't want him to be in pain anymore. I don't want him to lose you."

"Rei, it's not always your job to fix other people's problems, especially ours."

"I just want a happy family," Rei bawls out.

"You do have one."

"No, I don't! It feels like mom and dad are a hundred miles apart. Sometimes I wonder if they still do love each other. Aunt Jean covers up her pain by laughing even though she wants to cry. Uncle Kage has been hurt for years and still is. I try to be strong for everyone and my siblings when I just want to give up. Everyone is hurting and I'm tired of it!" She screams out.

Mariana silently cries looking at the young girl before her. The girl that's been hiding her battle. Rei curls into herself and lets out everything weighing on her chest. Mariana shakily wipes her tears away.

"Why do people make it so hard to love one another? Can't they just love each other and be happy?" Rei's innocence shows.

"That's something you will understand better when you get older. Sometimes people fall out of love. Or they were never ready for it to begin with..." Mariana chokes out

"Uncle Kage was never ready, huh?" Rei questions softly.

Mariana lets out a sigh, not having a definite answer herself. She walks around to the other side of the peninsula counter and wraps Rei in her arms. Mariana gently wipes away any lingering tears. Both sit in silence lost in their thoughts for a moment.

"Rei, you need to talk to your parents." The girl immediately shakes her head. "It's important that you tell them. Whatever problems there are can be worked out."

"I guess you're right but, I don't want to be a burden."

"You won't be. That's your parents. You're supposed to tell them about how you feel. In the future, it'll hurt them more to know you couldn't come to them."

Rei nods and wipes her eyes. Mariana gently kisses the girl's forehead.

"I'm gonna finish up then take a shower," Mariana says and cooks the last few papa rellenas.

Rei finishes the last bit of her science homework as Mariana heads upstairs. She can faintly hear the shower on. A notification sounds when Rei begins her math homework. Her best friend sends a picture and she clicks on it. A photo of her Uncle in a business meeting pops up. A woman is sitting close to him. Suddenly, the house phone rings.