Smoke And Steel

• Thirty-Five - The Moon and The Stars •

Ebony

I fingered the letter in my hands, unsure of what I should say. This was too personal for me to be reading, and way too heartbreaking.

"You've read this before, right?" I asked, trying to stop the tears in my eyes from brimming over. I couldn't imagine ever having to read something like this and being able to tell no one.

He nodded, "not until I was thirteen, though. I brought the box over from England without ever opening it."

"Why didn't you open it?"

"I was angry at my mum for so many years, and I figured that not opening it was the last way to spite her. It was a dumb state of mind, though... I got no benefit or closure from holding out."

I could understand what he meant. His mom did wrong, but he got no gain from not opening the box. Kind of like how my mother cheated, but by not talking to her the only thing I was getting out of it was no mom. I had one and I was choosing to punish myself by pushing her away.

"So, uh, do you have anything to say?" He asked, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. "It's alright if you don't."

"I just want... I want to know how have you held it in for so long?" A tear escaped, spilling down my cheek. He is a stronger person  than I.

"Oh love, don't cry," he said pulling me into his arms under the light of the moon and the stars. "I didn't mean for it to upset you. It's my burden to bare, not yours."

"I'm sorry, I have no right to cry, I know, but I just feel your pain so easily, Ave. I can't not be sad about this."

"Be happy for me, Princess. I've finally told someone about it. Can't we be happy about that?"

"It is something to be happy about, but I want to know why you haven't told anyone about this before now."

He wiped the tears from under my eyes with the pad of his thumb, his hands as gentle as anything. "I haven't told anyone because I don't feel as though I connect to anyone like I do with you. I love Tate and Tash and everyone else, but with you... I don't know. It's different, almost magical. I have this insane trust in you and feel like you're the only person who'll truly understand. Maybe it's because you've felt pain too."

Call me love again, I almost said aloud. "I really need to stop crying in front of you, but hey, I trust you too. And why haven't you done anything about your dad - father - until now?"

"I don't know," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "I just guess that I was too scared to. Like I've told you before, I'm shit scared of him."

"Well, are you going to do anything with your mom's evidence now or..?"

He nodded reluctantly, "there's something else I haven't told you. I brought you here because I couldn't stomach coming alone, and I needed to come because the police told me that my father was probably going to get away with what he did."

"What, how?" I was shocked that Avery was going to get no justice.

"He's a white-collar business man. He has ways of doing things, but with these -" he held up the video tapes that were in the box "- we have documentation of his crimes. He will go away for sure with these tapes and emails."

"Okay," I agreed. "That's good then."

"It is. But I won't be able to do it without you."

"You don't have to do anything alone," I said, taking his hand.

"And for that I'm glad."

"So um, have you ever been to the address that your mom left you?"

When he shook his head I was surprised.