Snowflakes In Autumn (A Novella)

Seventeen

When a knock sounded on the front door, Faith glanced up at the clock in the living room. It was fifteen minutes after Noah's lunch break started. Faith felt safer in a locked house, and when she opened the door for him, that reason became clear.

"I don't appreciate being forced to come back here, Faith," her mother told her as she shoved the door the rest of the way open and stepped inside. "You've had your fun and accomplished the rebellious attitude with flying colors, but now it's time to collect your things and leave."

Faith took several steps away from her mother until her back landed against a bookshelf. "I'm not leaving."

Her mother flipped her dyed brown hair over her shoulder and looked around the house with bored eyes. "Sweetheart, you've been here for a week now. I'm sure Noah enjoyed the visit, but he has a life to get back to. It's been years and he and the rest of us have moved on. It's time you do the same and stop this bullshit self-discovery trip you've been on. I understand you wanting to know more about your past, and if I knew you were ready to handle it, I would have told you whatever you wanted to know."

"He wants me here," Faith muttered, keeping her back against the bookshelf.

"Faith, you're a silly, immature girl and he's a serious, older man. I understand how much you adored him as a child, but you aren't a child anymore, and frankly Noah felt forced to be kind to you because he was close to your father. You exhausted and bothered him and staying as long as you have, you're doing the same thing all over again. The way you threw yourself at him was always so embarrassing. You don't want to keep embarrassing yourself, do you Faith?" Her mother asked before she sat on the couch and crossed her legs.

"Funny," she heard Noah say as he stepped into through the open doorway, "I thought I remembered you being the one who threw yourself at me."

Her mother stood when Noah entered the room. "I don't recall it happening quite like that, but regardless, that really isn't the point. I didn't come to rehash the past, I've just come for my daughter. It's time for her to come back home."

Noah nodded, then walked over to Faith's side, tossed the bag he was carrying onto the nearest table, and crossed his arms. "There's two issues with that, Rachel. The first is that you can't have her, and the second is that she is home. You were just the woman who gave birth to her, but I have always been and will always be her family. Now, I'll ask you kindly to get the fuck out of our house before I call the police."

Her mother shook her head while a forced smile appeared on her face. "Not as docile as you used to be, I see. I suppose you always were overly emotional when it came to her. I wonder if you're this protective because she's... what did you call her? Your little snowflake? Or if it's because you have a young piece of ass prancing around your house at your disposal?"

He stepped in front of her as if to shield her from the confrontation. "What bothers you more, Rachel? That I slept with Faith or that I didn't want to sleep with you?"

"Ah, I see," her mother said, her lips falling into a straight line. "In that case I would have to say what bothers me more is that you seduced one of my daughters, then let her die so you could seduce the other. If I'd given birth to a third daughter, you'd probably be throwing this one into traffic."

Noah lurched forward at her mother, and wrapped her hair around his hand, pulling her head and forcing her to stumble to her knees. "You are done fucking with Faith's head, you got that? She knows all about the divorce, and about how you tried to whore your way into my bed. She knows that her dad found someone who finally made him happy after years of your mental abuse.

"You've always been jealous of Faith because she's everything you had to fake. You're pissed because she's moved on from your bullshit, and now you have zero control over her. All these years you kept the truth from her because Faith was lost and you wanted to keep it that way, so she wouldn't be competition. You are a useless, bitter cunt who saw your daughter's pain and prolonged it out of jealousy. Try that shit again, and I promise you, Rachel, you will know what real pain feels like."

Noah released her mother's hair and took a step back. "I'm giving you one last chance to get the hell out. And if you say anything more than 'I'm sorry' to her, I can't be held responsible for what I do to you."

Faith closed her eyes, counting the seconds until she heard her mother's heels clack against the hardwood floor, flinching when the door slammed shut.

A huff of air filled the room, then silence took over for a full minute before Noah spoke again. "I scared you."

With her eyes still closed, Faith nodded her head, wrapping her shaking arms around herself. The anger they both kept within for all these years had escaped in this room. "Yes."

"Should I leave?"

His words forced Faith's eyes to open. Yes, he'd scared her. But Faith could never fear him. It hadn't only been built up anger that fueled the confrontation, but a fierce need to protect her. While the confrontation between he and her mother scared her, Faith had also never felt more safe.

She saw a trace of sweat on his brow and watched as his fists unclenched and fell to his side. Almost all the green in his eyes were gone, leaving only the gray, reminding her of an ominous sky.

When Noah took a step away from her and turned to leave the room, Faith found her voice. "You love me, don't you?"

His body paused, but he didn't turn around. "More than anything."

She knew the answer to the question he thought she was asking, but Faith was asking so much more. "No, I mean-"

"I know what you meant, little snowflake. My answer is still the same."

That's what it was. It was the fierce need to protect the woman he loved. Last night Noah made her promise to not break his heart, because he'd already loved her and had given her pieces of that heart throughout her life and throughout that last week. He was about to succumb to giving her the final remaining piece.

They'd had passionate sex then, opening her up to a world of possibilities. Now she was ready to experience the rest and give her heart to him. "Will you make love to me?"

Noah turned, and she saw the green return to his eyes like parting clouds, his jaw loosening from its clenched state. In a moment, his hands were on her face and his mouth own hers, kissing her with all the tenderness he had to give and washing away the darkness that had been cast in the room.