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Damien worked hard to make the boys appear good, and while he was doing so, Lena moved deeper into the building to find her favorite youngster and mother, Gwen. She saw many of the sisters in one of the nurseries for the younger kids after going down one of the hallways and stopping to say hello.
She had on a modest white cotton dress with half sleeves that came down to her knees. It fluttered about her as she practically ran into the room.
“Ah, there you guys are,” Lena said with a smile as she walked up to the crib. “Are you going to change his diaper today?”
Gwen smiled back at Lena with love. “All the sisters are busy right now. How are you doing, dear?”
Lena helped Gwen put a new diaper on Dave, who was gurgling and screaming when he saw her. “Very good. The doctor said I’m no longer in danger of dying, but I will need to have a session of radiotherapy after a while.”
“And then you’ll be completely better?”
“He said so,” Lena remarked with a smile, feeling better immediately at the notion of getting rid of her disease completely.
“Mother Gwen?…” Lena stopped talking. She took a deep breath and allowed the question to come out of her mouth. “When I get rid of the tumor completely, will I be able to start the process of adopting Dave again?”
“Of course you can,” Gwen said, and Lena let out a breath of relief. “I was going to talk to you about it after the party, in fact.”
Lena let the hope in her heart spread all over her and never stop. Her eyes shone with happiness at the thought of a dream that suddenly felt so real. It seemed like fate had gotten weary of clashing with her all the time. Things were going so well for her that she dared to hope for the best.
They sat in the front row of chairs that had been set out for them under the oak trees. Damien sat next to her, and then Lola sat next to him. Everyone watched, clapped, and cheered on the kids who had gathered on the makeshift stage to play. After Gwen spoke, she thanked the visitors for attending and asked them for whatever support they could give that would make the kids’ lives better and fill their days with pleasure.
It was hilarious to witness a volunteer Spider-Man jump around while the cool dudes performed the famous Spider-Man song. After that, a female sang “Let It Go,” much like Elsa did, with all the angst. One of the audience members got smacked in the face by the gloves she flung away. Lena knew him as the head of a well-known construction firm. The middle-aged guy, who was usually quite cranky, smiled for the first time in a long time. People nearby started laughing. Lena and Damien cheered loudly while Lola whistled like a crazy person. Dave pumped his small fists in the air and laughed like everyone else when Lena held him. Nancy, the four-year-old bundle of sweetness, and her group sang “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.” Even though they forgot their lines halfway through and made things up as they went along, it was a tremendous hit.
After the kids’ performances, which made each child a bit timid but proud and happy, all the visitors proceeded toward the long tables that were set up. There were a lot of different sorts of refreshments available in a buffet format, and everyone stood in line with plates to fill their hungry bellies.
Damien said, “Why don’t you get a second plate?” as he stood behind Lola and watched her load her dish to the top.
Lena put her lips together to keep from laughing. She was caressing Dave’s back, and the youngster was quite focused on attempting to grab her bandana. Maybe she was wondering why it was in her hair.
Selene turned her head to stare at Damien before moving away and mumbling.
Lena hit him on the shoulder and said, “She just likes to eat! What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing,” Damien said with a grimace. “It’s not fair that she doesn’t gain weight even though she eats a lot. Not everyone is that lucky.”
“Oh boy. Are you envious?”
“It’s a real fact!”
Lena smiled as she saw him frown and said, “Ah, you’re jealous.”
Damien handled both of their plates because she was already busy with Dave. They were going toward the checkered picnic mats that were put out on groomed grass next to the vegetable garden on the left side of the Oak trees. Lola was already sitting on one of the mats with her legs extended out in front of her and her mouth full of chocolate cupcakes.
She put Dave down in the middle of the mat. She sat down in front of him and cooed back to his babbling.
The sound of a guitar playing in the microphone came out of nowhere and filled the air around her.
Lena stopped right away, not because of how well the guitar player played or for any other reason. She simply knew who could play the guitar like that. It was more of a gut feeling than a scientific reality.
When her face swung to the side, and she saw Kellen from the side, her gut told her she was right.
What was he doing here? She was shocked and wondering.
He was on stage, sitting on a high stool and playing the song “Tale as Old as Time.”
“The holy beast has graced us with his missing presence. Wonderful!” Lola said, not impressed, as she chewed on a piece of cake.
Damien merely growled softly. Since he knew he had stopped Kellen from being hit by that huge vehicle, he had been very passive about her since yesterday.
Little Belle whirled around with Spider-Man in front of the stage. The incident was funny, but Lena couldn’t take her eyes off Kellen as he deftly moved his fingers across the strings. She still remembers all the nights they spent together while they were dating. She would sit on the balcony of his apartment and be entranced by his guitar playing. She had always felt that he would have been a great singer if he didn’t have to run his father’s business.
Kellen abruptly changed the direction of the song and spun it into a new one as it got closer to the conclusion. And as he looked up at her, she almost gasped because she knew which song it was.
You’re the light and the dark.
You are the hue of my blood.
You’re the medicine, and you’re the agony.
You are the only thing I want to touch.
I never realized it could mean so much, so much.
Lena quickly glanced aside, but it was too late; her thoughts had already gone back to the first time they had s*x. He sat on the ledge with a guitar and played the song while singing it softly in her ear.
Everything was just right. They were so perfect that they never had to take a test to discover if their love could survive the hardest things in life, like the licks of fire and the depths of the great ocean. And when the moment eventually arrived, and they had to face the ultimate test, it was over quickly; they had broken up.
What good would it do if he brought up the music and their days and nights together?
What good could it possibly do if he stared at her with such passion that she always melted into him?
Lena let out the heavy air that had been locked in her chest as the song came to an end, halfway through and like a foggy memory of a rainbow.
It hurt. It simply hurt.
She had been eating like a robot the whole time and just now noticed that her plate was empty. She could see Kellen talking to some folks from the side.
Damien discreetly pulled her plate away, and she could see he wasn’t staring at her on purpose. But his face was normal, somewhere between happy and welcoming to people who wanted to be with him. Lena, on the other hand, understood better; she could see the shadows. He had learned to read her, and she had learned to read him as well. Their friendship had grown stronger while they were both at their lowest points: she was sad, and he was under a lot of stress from establishing his business. They had learned to stand up for one another and had battled together. They were still battling.
Dave was whining like a baby, and Damien had put him on his lap and bounced him gently to quiet him down.
Lena’s lips turned up in a smile as she saw it. She could picture it so clearly: Damien in a rocking rocker with a child—maybe his child—his spectacles drooping low on his nose as he sang a lullaby.
She blinked and shook her head, then she rose up and brushed her clothing down.
“He needs to sleep,” she whispered quietly as she leaned down and opened her arms for Dave. Damien finally looked up at her and smiled softly. He gave her the baby.
She said, “I’m going to put him in his crib.”
He nodded without saying anything.
All of a sudden, it seemed weird. Damien looked at her for longer than he needed to, and she fidgeted, not knowing if she should say something or just turn around and leave. After a few more seconds, he eventually looked away and lowered his head to look at his open hands.
Lola was glancing back and forth. “Do you want my knife or what? To break the silence?” she eventually spoke, her expression emotionless. “It’s like, guys, this is boring. The universe needs some action.”