Minnie Martin
October 09, 2020 7:09 AM
I'll get to the bottom of it even if it's the last thing I do! by Minnie Martin
Minnie thought Josie had always been a quiet girl from the time they first met and even up until recently. The first time they met the little girl was withdrawn, pale and suspicious. Now she knew that the withdrawal and skin tone were natural and, in its own way, so was the suspicion. It was only natural that she be suspicious of a strange woman her father brought into their home as his new wife, the position her beloved mother had held so recently.Everyone knew that Owain had moved on rather quickly and that had been a point of contention for her, but love was love and finding each other at their age was a gift. She still thought that and she always would…but recently things were different and it all led back to Josie.
If Minnie had known that her step-daughter was bright and lively and a sweet, darling lover of books then maybe they could have found common ground sooner. It shamed her to admit that there had been a small part of her that had held back. Josie was the spitting image of her mother and it unnerved as much as frightened her. Could Owain truly have moved on when everything about his daughter should have reminded him of his dead wife? Pictures of Deidre still hung in Owain’s study and though Josie’s eyes came from the Clydes everything else was Deidre.
Irrational fears were real, silly, but real and hers had taken physical form in Josie. Their first few years together had been terribly awkward. Josie loved to bake with her mother, but Minnie disliked sweet things and it wasn’t as if either of them had been very open with each other from the start.
Last summer it had all changed. Sonora had been good for Josie that much was obvious, but even when she came home for the holidays she was still willing to be open at home. It was Minnie’s turn to be the open one. She spent as much time with Josie as she could. They went hiking, book shopping and even took up gardening at the end of the summer.
In so many ways Josie was everything Minnie had always wanted in a child. Josie gave her experiences she couldn’t have with her sons and in one summer they’d grown incredibly close. It had actually pained her a smidge to send her step-daughter back to Sonora for school. That was when she realized that she really had fallen in love with her step-daughter and all it had taken was her swallowing her foolish pride and insecurities. This summer had simply compounded on the previous summer’s positive growth and she wasn’t sure what was stranger: that she and Josie had become such good friends or that Owain seemed to be upset with the development.
Yes, they had found love at their age despite their respective murky pasts. Yes, he had bonded rather wonderfully with her sons. Yes, she was now close to Josie and she noticed that Samuel was treating her better now that Daniel had gone off to college. There were so many good things happening in their home, so why did that make Owain so skittish?
He was no longer the vibrant man she’d first met. Now he seemed plagued by worries that he refused to talk to her about. More than once she had caught him looking at Josie with an unreadable expression on his face. He’d even gently broached the topic with her once as they were getting ready for bed. Did she enjoy spending time with Josie? What did they do all the time together? What did they talk about? Did Josie ever talk about her mother or their old home or…? And he would pelt her with these bizarre questions that left a bit of a mark on her pride, but she could take all of it stride. That was…until he asked something that bothered her. When they were doing something together did Josie ever seem suddenly lost in thought?
What did it mean? Minnie had noticed that her step-daughter’s focus would drift a bit during gardening, but she had just assumed it was because gardening was a bit tedious. Then again, Josie loved watering the roses and actually enjoyed weeding. Her attention had only shifted when they were going over the small patch of magical herbs and their various uses and remedies. Her eyes had been terrifyingly blank and only after Minnie suggested a break did animation return to them. Perhaps she was overthinking things, but those frighteningly dull episodes and the return of Josie’s headaches pushed her into seriousness.
Was there something wrong with Josie that Owain didn’t want to tell her about?
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Minnie Martin
I'll get to the bottom of it even if it's the last thing I do!
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Minnie Martin
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