Page 78 of Marlin's Faith

I closed my eyes and sighed, trying to think of how we would handle this come morning, whether or not we would speak on it, if I should bring it up, or if we should ignore it. I settled on asking her if she wanted to talk about it, because ignoring a problem never solved anything. With that decided, I fell into an uneasy sleep of my own.

42

Faith…

I woke before Marlin, and spent a good deal of time simply watching him sleep. He had deep circles under his eyes, telling me he’d likely fallen asleep long after me and I felt bad about that. I didn’t want him to think he’d done anything wrong, because he hadn’t. He really hadn’t. It was just thatphrase,those exactwords.He’d said them and I hadn’t heard his voice, I’d heard another and it was as if I’d gone back in time, and instead of his neat cabin on his boat I was back on that dirty mattress in one of their fucking livestock pens.

I trailed light fingertips down Marlin’s arm and his eyes flew open. He looked over at me and he reached out, but didn’t quite touch my face. I finished for him, turning my cheek into his fingertips and closing my eyes.

“Want to talk about it?” he asked, voice rough with sleep and I thought about it, finally I nodded and when I looked, he was listening, I meanreally listening,and so I spoke. I told him everything and he listened, asking a question here and there, and probing gently to figure out what would and would not work so we could avoid similar trouble in the future.

By the end, tears of gratitude slipped down my face and I was back, cuddled against him, some of the deep, fractured ache of my trauma sealing itself shut under his tenderness and love.

A soft knock at the door, and he made sure we were covered before calling out, “Yeah!”

Bobby poked his head in, “Hey, Johnny’s gone to get his kids, we heading to your parents?”

“The fuck? Is it Sunday?”

“Uh,yeah.”

“Shit, I lost track of the days,” Marlin stretched, and he smiled at me. I nodded and he nodded back.

“We’ll be right out,” he said and Bobby gave a nod and shut the door.

“You up for this?” he asked me, and I was surprised to find that,yes, yes I was. I felt phenomenally better after spending the time talking it out with Marlin. We got up, showered and dressed, although sadly the little shower on his boat was only good to fit one of us at a time. It was as if I felt a little more fragile today, and as a result, I craved his nearness, his strength.

When I got out of the shower and dressed, I found him in the little kitchen, a glass of water in one hand, a slightly worried look on his face, as if he wondered if I were about to be offended or not. I smiled, and held out my hand for the pills and relief crashed across his face, as fast as lightning into the sea. I took the two pills, one tablet, and one tiny anti-anxiety med and washed them down with copious amounts of water. The little one liked to melt before I could get it down and it tasted awful.

Marlin took the glass from me, and before I could protest the after taste of the medicine might get him, he kissed me, and I have to say, his taste was far better than that of the much needed drugs.

He pulled back and said, “Thank you,” like I’d done him an honor and I shook my head faintly.

“I’m so sorry,” I started but he placed a finger against my lips.

“Just a bad night, Baby Girl. One bad night. They’re gonna happen, this won’t be our last. We don’t have any control over when they crash the party, the control wedohave is in how we choose to deal with them.”

“We don’t let them slow us down,” I said softly, with sudden insight.

“No, we don’t,” he murmured, “One bad night, no bad days.”

“One bad night, no bad days,” I repeated and he smiled.

“You guys ready or what!?” Bobby yelled down.

“We’re ready!” I called, feeling lighter inside, and I knew it had nothing to do with the medicine, it didn’t workthatfast.

“Alright then let’s go! Church lets out in a few minutes and I wanna get there when they get home!”

“Why is Bobby so excited to seeyourparents?” I asked quizzically.

“Because his folks passed a while back, his dad from cancer and his mama from complications from her diabetes, although a lot of folks argue it was from a broken heart. She gave up after Ken passed.”

“Oh, that’s so sad,” I felt my brow furrow in empathy for poor Bobby. Marlin smiled a little sadly and stroked my forehead with a gentle touch, smoothing the frown away.

“No bad days, Baby Girl, especially not today.”

I smiled and agreed, “Okay.”

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