Stay with Me by Awesomekristii (jenna bush book club .TXT) 📖

His words about his mother felt close to home, until the time my sister was born.

“And Zelena was their daughter. Five years younger than me. By the time I had settled with them, coming to terms that that was my new home, I had also found myself loving her as my little sister. A kind, and pure-hearted soul. I never thought I would get that much happiness and love from them. It made me almost forget all the losses I had.”

He glanced down and I saw him staring at the ink work on his forearm of the word.

‘Daze'

“I got this on my twenty-first birthday.” He smiled lightly, must be recalling his old times. “Da for Daisy and Ze for Zelena…” A sigh left his lips. “Two of the most important persons for me.”

“Damien…” I breathed, feeling guilty at myself for not even remembering him. I couldn’t recall anything from my childhood days, everything was such a blur.

He chuckled lightly, “Don’t think of me as a pedophile or something, I wasn’t lusting over you at that age.” I smiled at him, shaking my head.

“Life in that orphanage was never something good for me. My birth mother never liked my presence and the boys in there had always loved to keep me isolated, never engaging me in their groups or anything, and then it was only you, who would come up with all the dolls you have successfully gathered from somewhere, sometimes books, and once you brought a rubric cube too and since you couldn’t know how to solve, you gave that to me…” I laughed lightly at his words. My heart wishes to remember them all.

“I never really thought about my adoration for you.” I could already see his dimple as he smiled deeply. “You were a cute little girl, and maybe whatever affection I always held for you has always been brotherly.” A laugh escaped my lips at his words.

“Seriously, sister??” I saw his ears tips turning pink as he rub the back of his neck. “Gosh, I can never imagine you as a brother.”

“No, not please don’t even do that. I didn’t recognize you when I first saw you, your name is different and so is your look. You are grown up now, and not my imagination of the little girl I met years ago. “ I giggled at his words.

“You kiss your sister?” at the horrified look on his face, I wanted to laugh so hard.

“No, fucking no. I can’t imagine that and it makes me cringe to even think …” I felt him closer to me, his arms going around my shoulders, his thumb brushing over my exposed skin. “My fantasies with you are no innocent now…” his warmth wrapping me up, felt so cozy and good that I wanted nothing but to be closer to him.

“I wish I haven’t forgotten those days.”

He kissed my temple, “It doesn’t matter, I will keep on telling you all the tales…” I moved closer to him, wanting him to finish what he started.

“Six years ago, Zelena was found pregnant. She was in the first year of her college and the news shook her up. I could still see the nervousness, the fear she had when she broke the news to us… it was a few months after Dad's demise, but unlike what she anticipated, mom and I never for once wanted anything except for what brings her happiness… I wanted to be beside her to help when that bastard left her just like that, I wanted to be a brother she wouldn’t call just an adopted one but any less than any blood relation… Mom was happy, Grams visited us and was willing to stay as long as Zelena was pregnant. We had her daughter's nursery just beside her room, it was decorated beautifully.”

He gulped and I didn’t make any sound or respond to his words. He didn’t want that. “She gave birth to a beautiful girl.” He brought his hands closer gesturing the size, lips in a small smile, that made me smile in turn. He gonna be a great dad someday.

“And the entire house was vibing with her presence. I never saw that happiness radiating everywhere and the pain my mother was after my father’s death seemed to take a break. She was smiling more and so was I. She was so small and adorable but we couldn’t avert our eyes…”

But then his smile faltered and I saw something pass his eyes, raw and deep. “Emma died. It was the first outing we had after her birth, Zel has been fussing to have some refreshment outside. We went boating, the boat, I didn’t know how it wasn’t the best one… I talked with the caretaker and he was fine with it, saying maybe just it was a little older than the others… that made Zel change her boat to another one, she was willing to have one just her and Emma, while the other is me and mom…”

His eyes looked so red, it was burning with the tears on his eye rims, “I didn’t want to leave them alone, but Zel was asking and I couldn’t say no… one moment we were smiling and I was clicking the pictures of the sunset, and next moment I heard Zelena crying out. I turned to look at her and found her looking horrified at the water and Emma was missing. It didn’t take me to jump into the water, searching for her. Emma was asleep then, her cries couldn’t be heard and that made me take more time than necessary to find her. We rushed to the hospital, Zel was a crying mess, even mom too and I didn’t fucking know what to do…”

“Two hours later, the doc said she couldn’t save her. Her lungs were filled with too much water that she couldn’t survive. I saw my sister breaking down, and I couldn’t fucking do anything, Lilah… I was a mess, a loser, helpless… she was mourning her child's death for whom she even dropped out of college just to give her all the motherly love needed… if only I had been sooner in my search, if only I had brought her faster she would have lived that day, Lilah, she would have…” His voice broke at the end, heavy and laced with emotions that I couldn’t help myself from wrapping my arms around her.