Fearless The King Series Book One - By Tawdra Kandle Page 0,73
bought into Michael’s belief about the men in his family, I hoped that one day the Sawyers would be my family, too, and I felt they deserved to know the truth.
No, my parents wouldn’t like that. Of course, they didn’t realize that Michael knew, either. My mother questioned me frequently about how I was doing in maintaining my mental wall without making Michael suspicious. I hadn’t had to lie outright yet, and I didn’t think I would. I just hoped that by the time I had to confess, they knew Michael well enough to trust him to be discreet.
When Marly and Luke arrived at the cabin, tired from a long day with plants and people, Michael and I had dinner on the table. Marly greeted us with a grateful smile.
“Oh, aren’t you the best children any parents ever had!” she exclaimed, and I glowed at both the praise and the inclusion. “Just let us wash up and we’ll be ready to eat.”
Conversation around the table was as lively and varied as it always was. Marly was talking about Lela and her upcoming fall break when I suddenly made a connection.
“Oh!” I exclaimed. “Michael and Marly, Lela and Luke. Did you do that on purpose, give them your initials?”
Luke and Marly exchanged glances and Michael rolled his eyes. “Now you’ve done it. You’re going to get the name story.”
“There’s a story?” I asked eagerly. I had my own name story, and it occurred to me that I had never shared it with Michael, let alone with his parents.
“Yes, actually, there is,” Marly said. “We named Lela after my great-grandmother. When I was little, she told me that one day I would have a daughter, and she asked me to name my little girl after her. So we did.” She smiled. “Then there’s Michael’s story…”
“He told me he was named after an archangel, isn’t that right?”
“Well, yes, named after and quite possibly by an angel.”
“Mom!” Michael protested.
Marly was unfazed. “Michael, it’s true. Pipe down and let me tell her.” She turned to me. “When I was pregnant with him, I had a dream—well, at least I think it was a dream, but sometimes I’m still not sure…” She looked thoughtful, and then shook her head. “Anyway, I dreamed that I saw a huge, tall man. He looked like he was glowing. And he told me that I was going to have a son, and that we should name him Michael, after the archangel. And so when Michael came, we did.”
“It was a name we liked at any rate,” Luke put in. “We’d given Lela my first initial, so we were leaning toward M names. And an archangel seemed like a good idea, right?”
Michael was shaking his head. “Have you ever heard anything like that?” he asked me.
I shook my head. “No, but I can see you as an avenging angel.” Michael grinned and struck a noble pose.
“Your name is very unusual, Tasmyn,” Marly remarked. “Where did your parents find it?”
I hesitated only a moment. After all, they’d shared their stories; it seemed only right to tell them the truth about mine. “I usually just say my mom read it in a book, but actually, a fortune teller gave her the name.”
“Really?” Marly was intrigued. “Tell us about it.”
“It was before my mom knew she was pregnant with me. They went to a fair or something, and they ended up at the fortune teller’s tent. My parents are so completely not into that kind of thing… I can’t imagine why they did it. But when she read my mom, she told her that she was going to have a daughter named Tasmyn. Both of them liked the name, so they decided to give it to me.” I grimaced. “Of course, they don’t have to live with telling everyone how to spell it and teachers mispronouncing it at every new school.”
“Very interesting,” Luke remarked. “A story you can tell your kids someday—how mom and dad got their names. Wonder what their names will be?”
“Luke!” Marly exclaimed. “Good heavens, they’ve only been dating for a little over a month. Don’t rush them.” She rolled her eyes at us, but Luke just laughed.
“With my family history, I don’t think it’s too soon to talk about the future,” he observed confidently.
“Luke, really,” Marly laughed, but I could tell she wasn’t truly annoyed with him.