My Path To Serenity

Chapter eight

I'm not going to say it didn't bother me when I heard him say he didn't want to raise a baby, because it did. It most definitely did. But I have to say, I see his side now. After his traumatic past of not knowing his birth mother and father, he wouldn't want to put another child through the same thing. However, if I was Jasper, I think I'd feel the exact opposite. I'd feel more inclined to raising a baby if it meant sheltering them from the cruelty and injustice from their birth parents. And if I'm being honest, a part of me still thought I could still convince him.
"Do you have all your things?" Jasper asked me with his suitcase by his side. I nodded as I took one last look around the now bare hotel room, that was once occupied with all of our belongings. "Yeah, I have everything. Jasper, I'm really going to miss this place." He placed his hand on my shoulder and kissed my cheek. "Don't worry, we'll be back." We walked out of our hotel room and went to check out at the front desk. Leaving Vegas was bittersweet to both Jasper and I. We knew we had to go back home to Oregon to go to work and take care of our dog, Pumpkin, but being here was a deep experience the two of us will never forget. As I was twirling the key around my finger, I told Jasper that I'm gonna return the key. The young, blonde haired, green eyed, clerk at the front desk greeted me with a warm smile. "I sure hope you enjoyed your stay here at Sunrise hotel!" I smiled as I handed over the key. "Oh, we sure did. We actually enjoyed it here so much we didn't want to leave. Thank you!" All of the sudden, a roar of thunder took over the evening sky, followed by a strike of lightning. "Ooh, that weather doesn't look too good.." the lady at the desk expressed a concerned look on her face. I brushed it off, "No it doesn't, but it'll blow over." "I'm gonna grab a snack from the vending machine, I'll be back." Jasper told me before he walked away. What was once mostly silence and peace now filled the room with a ringing alarm. The television in the lobby displayed a message across the screen: WARNING! SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS FOR CLARK COUNTY. Lightning struck again and again, but the third time, the power had struck out. "Come on! I was watching the news!" A man had shouted. "Now what am I supposed to do do?" Because of the chaotic atmosphere in the hotel, an infant started crying while the mother comforted the child. And with a swarm of people roaring  in anger, the toddler attached to her hip was now crying, too.

Jasper came back with a soda and bag of chips in his hand nonchalantly. "What's going on?" The lady at the desk spoke up loud enough for the entire lobby to hear. "The power should turn back on soon enough everyone! If everybody can please quiet down, I will address this situation accordingly." The stressed out, tired, mother swaddled her baby back and forth while gently shushing her other child. It startled me to think that's what Charlotte could have to deal with. It startled me to see the reality of what some mothers face. A tall, slender, man that looked like it could've been her husband, walked over to the mother and put his hands on her shoulders. He then picked up the toddler and tossed him over his shoulder, making the little boy laugh. Temporarily, the little boy forgot about the power outage, and the mother looked relieved. Wow, that family looked so worn out and tired. I hope my sister can find peace within herself after all she's been through one day.
"What are you staring at?" Jasper asked me confused. I snapped out of my daze and broke my focus from that family to Jasper's eyes. "It's nothing," I sighed. I turned back towards the clerk, "Well, we better get going. We have a flight to catch and a long night head ahead of us. It was a pleasure staying here. Thank you again!" We stood under the awning while waiting for our cab. It was eight o'clock now, and we had approximately one hour before our flight departed. The rain was coming down hard, and the streets were cleared of people. "Okay but really," Jasper spoke up. "I seen the concern on your face with that family back in the lobby. What was that all about?" I folded my arms and shrugged. "Seeing that woman's tired eyes with those fussy children made my heart sink." "Oh, I didn't see her," Jasper confessed. "She looked depressed, she looked angry, she looked broken! At least she had support from that man in there, Charlotte is so on and off with Tristian, it's hard to believe he'll be there for Charlotte and for his kids." Jasper wrapped his arms around me and whispered, "everything will be okay. You just have to trust that." "I know my sister more than anyone. She was young but she just wanted to be loved and cared for by somebody deep down!" "What was she doing looking for love while still in high school Allison? Besides, she is loved and cared for now, she got what she wanted! She has one, going on two, children that absolutely love and need her! She wanted love, and she has more than enough of that now. Charlotte is going to be okay, darling. Her mother and father have been helping raise that boy since the day he was born. It's not like she was  thrown on the streets forced to do this all alone."

  When we arrived to the airport, with not much else to do, we sat and patiently waited for our flight to be called while we watched the storm pour from outside the window. Jasper yawned, "I'm probably going to take a nap on the flight. I'm feeling exhausted, and not to mention I'm still a little hungover from last night." I was feeling tired myself. I rubbed my eyes and stretched my arms before nuzzling my head into his chest. "I'm going to try and get some rest, too. I have to be up and atom to teach my class tomorrow morning." He intertwined his fingers with mine and pecked my forehead. "We'll make it home in time. Don't you worry." The rain was coming down hard now, and the thunder was enough to wake anybody. I took in a deep breath as I closed my eyes. All of the sudden an announcement was made over the intercom. "Attention everybody! Frontier airlines departure for nine o'clock is currently canceled due to the drastic weather conditions! This also includes delta airlines, spirit airlines, and united airlines. This is not a delay, this is a cancellation. I repeat, this is not a delay, but a cancellation." I looked at Jasper and he looked at me. "Oh, nice!" he huffed. "Well, 'might as well let my boss know now I won't be coming in tomorrow morning." As he dialed his bosses number, I tilted my head back and stared at the tall, plain, white ceiling above me. I had to admit, this was all pretty unexpected, and now our whole night was shifting into a whole whirl of events. I knew the weather was out of our control of course, but I just couldn't afford to miss a day of work. Besides, my students had a presentation they were eager to share tomorrow morning, and I wanted to listen to it as much as they wanted to read it. I could hear the frustration in Jasper's voice as he explained to the other end of the phone he couldn't make it in. "I'm sorry Ms.Pennington, I just can't make it tomorrow, our flight is-" he then stopped talking, which to me sounded like he was interrupted. "Look, I-" he stopped talking again. Jasper clicked the END button as he scoffed, "My boss didn't sound too thrilled to hear that I couldn't make it." I put my hand on his shoulder. "She wasn't understanding that this is all out of your control?" He shook his head. "No, she uh.. she let me go."