Set Fire to the Rain 2, Ch. 14 "Voices from the Past"

This fanfiction is intended for mature readers due to the vivid depiction of a consensual adult relationship.  The setting is First Season, post-The Preacher.  I am not a psychologist or an expert in family dynamics, therefore the information contained within may indeed be completely unreliable or entirely dangerous.

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Today I met the man I’m going to spend the rest of my life with.  He’s got the kindest, gentlest blue eyes I’ve ever seen and a tender heart to match.  He doesn’t care how I’ve had to make my living in the past--- what I’ve been forced to do to keep food in my mouth or clothes on my back.  He says he doesn’t care one whit that I’m what some men call a ‘soiled dove’ with a hateful sneer on their faces.  He says he understands.  He says it’s what’s inside a person that counts, and he thinks I’m the most beautiful girl he’s ever seen in all his born days, inside or out.  I think I need to hold on tight and never let this wonderful man go…

Kitty read the faded ink in her aunt Océane’s journal and suddenly glanced up at the man who was turning back the covers on her freshly made bed, busily fluffing her pillows.  Her mind whirled as she read the poignant, heartfelt words her mother’s sister had penned so many years before, still fresh, still meaningful to the niece she’d never even met.  Her heart swelled with love for this man who was doing his darndest to wrench her away from the same soul-eating business that’d had her aunt Océane in its clutches so many years before. 

“What’s the matter, Kitty?”

“Nothing…”  She hadn’t realized she’d been staring at Matt, a queer look on her face.  “It’s just…”

He finished plumping her pillows and came to stand beside her.  “What, honey?”

“I just love you so much, Matt.”  Her eyes burned with the sudden tears that threatened to spill over her lashes.  She reached for his hand as he blushed at her romantic sentiments expressed so openly in the bright light of day.  But when she gazed up and offered him her upturned lips, he eagerly leaned over for a kiss.  She saw him take a shallow, hesitant breath as his full, lush lips parted slightly…

A rap on the door caused them both to jump.

“Oh…” they said simultaneously, looking at each other in disappointment.

Matt sighed heavily and grudgingly released her hand, striding to unlock the door and open it.  “Come in, Doc.”

Doc’s hat was pushed back on his head and he wore a wide, cocky grin.  “Wellll,” he drawled.  “What have you two youngsters been up to?”

He perched on the edge of Kitty’s chaise and took her hand in his, his eyes busily taking in the salient changes that had taken place during his absence. 

“Look what Matt found, Doc…”  Kitty held up the leather-bound journal.  “It’s a journal written by my aunt.”

“Say!  That’s a find!  That young man of yours may turn out to be worth something after all…”  He glanced back at Matt, who looked at him sourly. 

Doc deftly held Kitty’s wrist as Matt started to protest.  “See here now, Doc…”

Doc held up a finger to signal for quiet.  After several moments he announced, “Young lady, your pulse is racing a bit…”  He looked accusingly at Matt again.  “What could’ve caused it to do that, eh?”

Matt irritably countered, “I don’t see that it’s any of your…”

Doc interrupted, “Oh, what put you in such a bad mood this afternoon?”  Doc gave Kitty a sly wink but then proposed soberly, “Maybe you’ll get to know your aunt a little by reading this, since you didn’t have that opportunity during her lifetime.” 

Kitty cast her eyes down at the worn book in her hands.

Doc swiped at his mustache and quickly offered, “I know this has been rather hard on you, Kitty.  Finding out you had family only after they were gone.”

She silently squeezed his hand.

He continued, “But maybe it’s all a blessing in disguise.  I think a lot of good could come from all of this…”  He looked up at Matt and reiterated, “Yep, I surely do…  A lotta good…”

Doc patted her hand one last time and rose, “Well, I’ve got some fish to clean.  While you two were fritterin’ away your time doin’…”  He waved his hands a bit.  “…whatever you were doin’, I was catchin’ us some supper!”

Matt grumbled, “It’s about time you started earnin’ your keep around here, you old codger.”

Doc fussed back, “You’re one to talk!” as he walked out the door hollering, “Isom!”

Matt shook his head and started to pick Kitty up to place her back in bed, but she stopped him with a hand.  “I want to stay here a while and read, Matt.  I’m so tired of lying in bed.”

“Okay, Kitty.  Guess I’ll go help clean those fish and get supper ready.  You think you could manage to eat some fried fish tonight?”

She smiled.  “I think so.  I’m not hungry, but maybe I will be by the time we eat.”

“You’ve gotta start eating more, Kitty.  So you can get well.”  He gave her a lopsided grin and scratched his ear.  “You told me you wished you were feeling better, remember?”

“Oh, I remember, Cowboy,” she sighed.  “Don’t worry, I won’t forget.  And I promise I’ll eat.  Just for you.”  Her lifted brow made him grin as he left her to read in peace.

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“Got another letter from Amélie today.”  Kitty’s heart stopped as she read that sentence.  “She and baby Kathleen are doing fine…”  Kitty never even knew she had an aunt.  And she certainly hadn’t known her mother had kept in contact with her sister over the years.  Why had her mother never mentioned her own sister to Kitty?  She continued reading, “…although Amélie says she fears each morning when she wakes, her husband will be gone never to return.  That is no way for a woman to live.”  Kitty’s head reeled and her heart ached, for she knew the unfortunate conclusion to this particular story.  Her father, Wayne Russell, would indeed desert Kitty and her mother, never to be seen again.  She herself had only been a baby, so she had never really even known him.  But, as a child, she would watch the sad, faraway look in her mother’s eyes sometimes, looking out the front window onto the busy streets of New Orleans, and she knew her mother was hoping to see her father return, even after all the years that had passed.  Amélie had never quite gotten over Wayne Russell’s leaving her. 

“My sister and I both escaped our unhappy childhood home, although by different means.  She, by marriage, and I, by running as far away as I could.  My life is so happy now.  I hate that her life is still full of discontent.”

Kitty’s hands were shaking as she read.  What kind of life could her mother and aunt have led in the Arcenaux household that would be so unhappy as to make them want to escape?  It was troubling to imagine.

tbc

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