Galen's Gemma - Dale Mayer Page 0,40
bread for the compound. She loved puttering in her garden and picking peas for dinner.
If there was one thing Gemma had come to learn in all those summers she had spent here, it was that some people wanted things for themselves that other people couldn’t understand, and it wasn’t for Gemma to judge. It wasn’t for her to think that they were wrong—unless they were harming themselves and/or others—and it should be all about understanding that each person had different needs and wishes for their own life.
Gemma had come to the crux of the matter right now and realized that she wanted something different for herself too.
When she heard a strangled cry from the bedroom, she jumped to her feet and raced into the little room. In there, she could see Becky tossing in the bedcovers. Gemma immediately sat down on the side of the bed and stroked her niece’s cheek, pushing the sweaty tendrils of hair off her face. “It’s all right, sweetie. Aunt Gemma’s here.”
Becky opened her eyes and stared up at her, then yawned and snuggled deeper into the pillow.
Gemma smiled and just kept stroking her niece’s head until the little girl calmed down again and drifted off to sleep without saying a word.
This is what I want, Gemma thought, a family. Children. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but somewhere along the line, she wanted to have a Becky of her own. Not for the reason that Rebecca had, but because Gemma wanted someone to love and to be loved by. This little girl had a special place in her heart. But it said something about Rebecca as a mother that she gave her baby exactly the same name she had herself. Typically things like that were reserved for middle names for females. But Rebecca had named her baby Rebecca. And not given her another name.
Gemma had found that self-serving at the time, but Rebecca had said Gemma was being ridiculous. Her daughter would be a perfect replica of her, so she needed to have her name too. It had been all Gemma could do to choke back the harsh words, but, when she thought about the number of parents who named their kids after grandparents, she wondered if it was wrong at all. It would just add confusion when they were both adult women, but, in the end, they called little Rebecca Becky all the time, so it didn’t seem to matter now. By then, Becky would be old enough to take things into her own hands and to make decisions for herself.
Who was she to argue? She was Gemma. She’d been called Gem by more than a few friends but was often just straight Gemma.
When the little girl was comfortable again, Gemma sank onto the couch, and, in spite of her wishes to stay awake, she could feel herself dozing off. She’d long since run out of hot drinks, and a trip to the outhouse was something she didn’t want to do while she was looking after the sleeping little girl. She should have gone when the sentry was here. But her bladder was getting extremely insistent. She frowned, wondering how long she could hold off. She looked at her phone for the umpteenth time, wondering when Galen would get in touch. If he was home, she’d make the trip, but she didn’t want to leave Becky alone.
Finally her bladder wouldn’t give her any option. She slipped to the rear door and took the twenty steps to the outhouse farther back. That was likely why Rebecca was totally against coming here. No indoor plumbing for the cabins. Not that Gemma herself cared, but Rebecca considered it offensive. The long house had indoor plumbing, and most likely for all the other cabins, but these two were just overflow cabins. She quickly took care of business and returned to the little cabin.
As she approached the bottom step, somebody grabbed her from behind and slapped a hand over her mouth. She shrieked, but no sound came out. She sent an elbow her attacker’s way a couple times, while also kicking him with her boot, and grabbed the hand holding her, digging in her nails, fighting, until she heard a voice whispering in her ear.
“Calm down. It’s me.”
She stopped fighting him the second she heard his voice. Realizing it was Galen, she sagged in place.
He slowly lifted his hand from her mouth. “We’re getting company, so I need you to stay quiet.”
And she froze.
*
Galen hadn’t wanted to scare