WBY - The Love of a Girl (part four)
Sam’s introduction to Elizabeth is anticlimactic. He nods to her, offers a warm smile and presents the salad and iced tea with a flourish. He brushes his hands down his jeans and shakes her hand somewhat formally. Adam can’t help but notice that Elizabeth’s small hand disappears completely in his brother’s bear paw. She looks like a child in the shadow of Sam’s looming presence.
Not really a child, Adam amends, a beautiful woman - just little. Of course, everyone looks little when compared to Sam.
Dinner is a lively affair. They gather around a beautifully made picnic table. The old wood that has been sanded to perfection and then given a high gloss, which seems at odds with the mismatched chairs that scatter around the back yard. The ribs that Adam had prepared earlier in the day are just as good as he said they would be, juicy, BBQy and eaten with great gusto. Dean’s steaks are good too. They are charred on the outside but the Texas beef in the middle is pink and tender and how he managed to do that on the flame-thrower he was using, Adam will never know. The salad is fresh and crisp and Sam has even put bacon on it to appease Dean.
Perfect.
Except for Jamie who, while he has donned a t-shirt for dinner, is hardly clean. Five miles of running have left a mark on him.
And on everyone else.
“Jesus, Jamie, stay upwind…you reek.” River says, “You’re smelling up the area like a fresh fart.”
Mandy laughs then, “Momma!” she giggles, “River said F-A-R-T.”
“Yes, he did,” Sam says solemnly, “And he will be doing the dishes for his poor dinner manners”
“Me? Jamie is the one who smells like…. well you know what he smells like.”
Jamie snickers, “No use in getting a shower, I’m going swimming after dinner.”
“Swimming! Momma, can I go swimming?” Mandy asks.
“We didn’t bring a suit Boo, and I’m not so sure-“
“She can go. River and I can watch her. She doesn’t really have to swim, she can play in the shallow part of the pond.” Jamie says. He glances at Mandy and his eyes soften. It’s uncanny, the way that Mandy just makes Winchesters turn into puddles of goo.
“I don’t know…” Elizabeth begins.
“Well, we can go down to the pond with the boys if you want. The water’s great and like Jamie said, you can just stick you toes in. Of course we could go skinny dippin.” Adam says with a twinkle in his eye.
Elizabeth glares menacingly at Adam and says with a mock momma voice, “No skinny dipping, young man, I’m not that kind of girl.”
“I’m that kinda girl Momma!” Mandy pipes in. “’Member we went skinny dipping on our camping trip!”
Elizabeth blushes just a bit, “Yes, honey, I do remember. But we were all alone, remember? Young ladies don’t go skinny dippin’ with boys.”
Mandy huffs, “Glad I’m a little girl then.” She says with the absolute assurance of the very young.
John literally guffaws, a loud roaring laugh that startles all of his boys. He wipes a quick tear from his eyes, “You, ma’am,” he nods in Elizabeth’s direction “have got your work cut out for you with this one!”
Elizabeth starts to say something but then nods in agreement, “That I do.” She smiles indulgently at Mandy then brushes a wayward strand of golden hair off her daughter’s face.
Adam watches the casual touch with a pang. He loves being a Winchester, loves his life here, his brothers, his nephews and his father, but he misses his mother’s touch. It shames him a bit, his brothers had even less time with their mom than he. Sam remembers nothing and Dean’s memories are that of a four year old. Jamie never knew his mom and River’s mother was a poor excuse for a mom in anyone’s mind.
No, he was lucky.
Still…
He brushes away the cobweb of memories. It’s a trap he doesn’t want or need to fall into. This is his life and it’s not a bad one.
“Well, it’s up to you Elizabeth. We can check it out and you can make your decision then,” Adam says.
Elizabeth nods, “Sounds like a great idea but you little lady,” Elizabeth narrows her eyes at Mandy. “No going in the water unless I say so and no swimming at all. You aren’t a strong swimmer and I need you to pay attention to me and Adam.”
“Okay Momma!” Mandy chirps.
They finish dinner and then John in a grandfatherly act of kindness, tells River he will do the dishes if he wants to join Jamie in swimming. All three of his sons and his two grandsons eyes turn on John to see if he has developed a sudden onset of dementia.
River was punished for mouth and Gramps is covering for him?
River recovers first, “Is that okay, Dad? I promise to tone down the cussing, I swear.”
Sam nods once then shoots a quick look at River, “Not tone down, stop it. We have ladies here and I don’t want to hear it. “
“Goes double for you, Jamie.” Dean says and both boys “Yes, sir,” in tandem.
Dean and Sam offer to stay and help their father and Adam gives them both a grin of gratitude.
Both younger boys scramble from the table and head off to the pond. Mandy bounds behind and runs in between them. She grabs a hand of each boy easily. They accept without comment and keep her amused on the walk to the pond by swinging her high in the air at almost every other step. She screams in feigned terror when she hits the pinnacle of the arc in every swing.
Elizabeth and Adam follow a little distance behind.
It takes just a moment for Adam’s hand to find Elizabeth’s and they settle together hand in hand. It is so easy, Adam thinks. Elizabeth’s hand slots perfectly into his, warm and inviting, soft with nails that are short and smooth. Nail polish, he figures, although he hadn’t noticed before. There is no gentle tangle of fingers as they try to find a comfortable mesh, no slightly awkward fumbling. It is as if his hand and hers were meant for each other.
“She likes the boys,” Elizabeth comments nodding ahead at a giggling Mandy.
“They are usually pretty likable,” Adam says and can’t help the slight swell of pride as he watches his nephews. From behind they make quite a pair. Jamie had lost his shirt again somewhere. The muscles in his back flex and bunch as he co-swings Mandy high in the air. Adam can see the delineation of this corded shoulders and arms, even from behind. His gait is easy and sure. The kid is almost six feet tall but he is just a scant shorter than River. River is wearing his shirt but Adam can see the ropy muscles on him as well, thanks to the sweat that has darkened his light cotton v-neck. River is a sweater, as if he is his own personal furnace. He always has been. It’s convenient when they are up North or in the mountains, but here at home he always has a perpetually damp back and underarms. River’s light blond hair curls wetly at the base of his neck. He wears it a little shorter than when he joined the Winchesters three years ago. He can still pull it into a short ponytail if he chooses, but he usually doesn’t. Typically, it isn’t as curly as Jamie’s but it is wavy and when it gets wet the curls come out much to his dismay. Jamie keeps his hair military short so despite it’s tendency to curl at will, no one would ever know it. They are more brothers than cousins and despite the obvious differences the likenesses seem to be more evident.
They are good kids.
They make it to the pond. There is a little beach that gently slopes into the pond. In the deeper middle, there is a raft with green indoor-outdoor carpeting on it. It’s old and weathered but built well. There is a bench under a small grouping of trees. It doesn’t offer much in the way of shade, but it is a favorite place to sit and watch the kids play. There are cattails and long marsh grasses on the opposite side of the pond and the sound of frogs bellowing doesn’t even hush with the approach of the Winchesters and the Martins.
Adam and Elizabeth stop at the bench and settle there, their hands no longer interlaced in the presence of the children. But they are hip to hip and Adam’s arm rests easily behind Elizabeth’s shoulders.
Mandy tears her hands from River and Jamie and dashes to the beach, careful not to let her bare feet into the water, “Look Momma! Fish! There are fish here!” She crouches at the water’s edge and pokes her finger into the water. Adam sees a school of minnows dart away from her tiny finger, seeking refuge from Mandy and heading to some of the grasses that grow near their “beach.”
“Be careful, honey,” Elizabeth says with a hint of worry in her voice. She turns to Adam and says quietly, “She loves to swim, she really does but we need to work on it more. She thinks she is swimming but most of the time I’m holding her or she is just playing in the shallow end. “
Adam nods understandingly but his expression turns solemn. “She needs to learn to swim though. It’s important.”
Elizabeth arches a brow at Adam, “In what way? I’m her mother, I watch out for her. Mandy is my responsibility and I would never let her drown. She’ll learn eventually, but it’s not a big deal.”
Adam shakes his head and turns away for a moment, glancing back at the house. He can’t really see it from the pond, but he knows its there. Knows his father and brothers are there.
“Just because you can’t see a danger or even anticipate it, that doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Or it isn’t real.” His voice is low and a laced with a hint of regret.
“Well, I’m quite sure I can see a pond or a lake or a swimming pool. If I can see it, then I can protect Mandy from it.”
Adam toes the sand, “It’s better that Mandy can protect Mandy,” he says softly but resolutely.
Elizabeth doesn’t look angry but her voice is just as resolute.
“She is just a little girl, barely six. She needs her mother to watch out for her. I have no intention of leaving her, or allowing her to run out into traffic, or play with broken glass or yes, even swim unless I am with her.”
Adam sighs, “All well and good, Elizabeth but the world is a scary place sometimes and sometimes moms aren’t around to watch out for their children.”
“Are you threatening my daughter?” Now Elizabeth does sound angry, a momma bear not to be trifled with.
Adam raises his hands in supplication, “No ma’am. Not even close. Never. Never would I hurt Mandy.”
She relaxes a bit, “Good…because I would hate to have to kill you.”
Now it’s Adam’s turn to arch his brow, “Kill me huh?”
“Anyone. And I mean anyone who hurts my daughter won’t make it to see the next day. Trust me on that, Adam.”
Adam looks over at the boys; they are hanging around Mandy, watching her as carefully as if she was their sister. Teague has found his way to them and is swimming circles around them barking and splashing. Mandy is in the water now, but just her toes and she is laughing at the dog. She looks up at Elizabeth and Adam, her smile as bright as the day.
Adam speaks almost to himself, “That’s what I’m counting on.”
Part Five http://wildblueyonder6.livejournal.com/54707.html