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The next day Amelia began the process of listing the house. She stopped in at the local Real Estate office and influenced the agent to do a walk-through and pictures all in the same day. By that afternoon the house was listed and on the market.
Considering what she paid, and what she still owed, she figured she would walk away with just over $13,000 after fees. As for the car, she decided to donate it when they left.
She hated that their one excursion to the mall had been a disaster, so she and Roan made another trip later in the week, when she was feeling more like herself. And this time she was able to tune out all the noise and the people rushing by. No more episodes so far.
They shopped and ate at some of the fancy restaurants Amelia had always wanted to try but lacked the necessary funds for. And yes, if you happened to have an extra hundred dollars or so to spare on lunch, it was worth it. According to Roan.
Walking through Market Street again, she had an idea. “When we ‘join’, what kind of things do you do? How do you know who’s joined and who isn’t?” She asked Roan.
“Well, the pack is so close we just know who’s together and who isn’t. How does it work here? How do you know who’s with who and who isn’t?” He asked.
“We wear rings on our left hand to show that we’re taken.” She explained as they continued to walk.
“That sounds nice.” He offered.
“Would you, do you think it would be ok if we did the same?” Amelia asked shyly.
“I don’t see why not. It could be our own tradition. Something new, a part of your culture and customs, and a part of mine. I think it’s a great idea!” He said smiling.
“In that case . . .” Amelia said excitedly as she took a hard left, pulling him into the jewelry store just across the street from the restaurant they had eaten at earlier.
The rows of glass cases stretched out. Jewelry of all different kinds sparkled with the lighting overhead. She grabbed Roan’s hand, looking through case after case until she found the section she was looking for.
A nice lady greeted them, asking when the big day was. “December, but it’s an informal ceremony, so we haven’t decided on an exact date,” Amelia told her.
“Anything I can show you?” She asked as Amelia continued to gaze at the extensive collection in front of them. She didn’t want anything too outrageous. That wasn’t her style.
“What about you?” She asked Roan, who looked thoroughly out of his element.
“Let me show you something I think you would love,” She said to Roan, pulling out a simple braided band with two small diamonds in the middle. “You wouldn’t happen to know your size, would you?” She asked.
Roan shook his head. “Just a second,” she said, excusing herself then returning will a metal loop filled with plain circles. “Size 10,” she said smiling, slipping the braided band onto his left hand.
“What do you think?” He asked Amelia.
“That’s entirely up to you. If you like it, then I like it.”
“Can I see that one?” Roan asked pointing to a dark gray band with a single diamond set deep into the middle.
“Absolutely,” She said pulling the ring for him to try.
“I love it,” Amelia said. It did look like him. Dark and mysterious. If only the clerk behind the counter had any idea.
“And what about you?” He asked.
“We have a similar design for women,” The clerk offered. “But my recommendation would be platinum for you. More feminine, and sophisticated.” She moved behind the counter further down to the next case, pulling out a classic design.
The band was dainty with a fairly demure diamond in the center. Square with smaller ones in the band itself.
She slipped it onto Amelia’s finger, who couldn’t deny the immediate sense of ownership. This was the perfect ring.
“What do you think?” She asked Roan.
“I think it’s perfect. But it’s up to you. You’re the one who has to wear it forever,” He smiled, pulling her closer.
Amelia leaned into him, not caring about anyone else in the store, as she stood on her toes and kissed him.
“Can you wrap these up for us?” She asked the clerk behind the counter, handing her the credit card.
“Yes, ma’am,” The clerk said as she took the rings to the back. Two beautiful blue boxes came back, along with the credit card slip. Amelia quickly signed it without looking at the price and placed the boxes in her purse.
Soon it was time for her to begin tying up the other things she’d been putting off. Her first day back at work was that coming Monday. She needed to draft her resignation letter, which she dreaded.
She debated between giving two weeks’ notice and immediately resigning. She didn’t have to worry about an employer review. The only thing was, she wanted to say a proper goodbye to her friends.
The other issue to consider is that from time to time, working in a doctor’s office, patients came in with all kinds of injuries including cuts. And after last week’s feeding binge, she didn’t completely trust herself around blood. Although it hadn’t happened again, she was still a little concerned and didn’t want to take the chance.
Roan was probably right, her anxiety and emotions were most likely the cause. Everything Garkain and Larougo was intensified at the same time being back home and around so many people. She’d have to be more aware in large crowds, that’s all.
But other than that, everything else was going well. She and Roan began to get a rhythm, and their daily routine began to take shape. The living situation was actually pretty nice. She wasn’t nearly tired of his company or his good-natured teasing.
Today they were having lunch again in town. Roan had decided one of the fancy steakhouses they’d seen. She was just finishing up her resignation letter when he politely knocked at the door to her office.
“Not to be whiner, but I’m starving. And toast for breakfast is not going to do it for me,” He said, pulling her attention from the computer.
“Okay, I guess I won’t let you starve. But I did warn you about my lack of cooking skills,” She teased.
“And you still haven’t explained how to make one of those frozen things yet, so I am at your mercy,” He returned her good-natured teasing with a polite bow. “How have you been feeling lately?” He asked with genuine concern.
“Fine. I think you were right. Just have to be careful around so many people, and in certain situations. I’ll try eating lunch with you, maybe that will help. I haven’t had any human food since I was Unbound. Maybe a nice rare steak will do the trick,” She said standing and grabbing her keys and her purse.
At the best steakhouse in town, they sat with the smells of delicious food all around. They ordered, taking time to enjoy their meal, not feeling rushed at all. The main thing she noticed was that her food tasted bland, flavorless, all except the rare steak which oozed with juices.
“Enjoying red meat, is that a Larougo thing?” She whispered across the table to Roan.
He nodded in a half-committed way. “I’m guessing the red juice all over your plate is hitting your Garkain taste buds, but Larougo have a meat-based diet, so probably a bit of both. Is it good?”
She returned his question with a shrug, “The meat’s the only thing I can taste. All the rest of it tastes like I have a cold. And the salad tastes like . . . shit,” She said grinning.
“That’s definitely a Larougo thing,” He said returning her grin.
Dining out became an everyday thing, as Roan grew more and more comfortable, more familiar around her hometown.
Her adoptive parents never even texted or called to see if she got back to the States okay. When she did finally call to tell them she’d be moving to Australia permanently, she sensed barely a hint of emotion besides a drip of curiosity. Sadly, she expected pretty much exactly that.
Those ties were easy to break, they were so loosely tied in the first place. The girls at work were another matter. For so many years they were her best friends, her sounding boards, and her therapists. The work-family she knew and loved, would be the hardest to say goodbye to.
She had decided to resign effective immediately. As soon as she dropped the news, the girls in the office couldn’t wait to get all the details about her trip, and the what and why behind her decision to move.
She remained intentionally vague, not telling them about Roan or even that much about connecting with her biological family. The story she maintained was simple and easy to remember. She visited and fell in love with the Country and the people there. She saw an opportunity to start a new life, and she took it. This version answered enough questions without allowing for much in the way of follow-up explanations.
She and Roan continued to go about the processes of selling off her things, purging herself of her former life and her former self. She removed herself from all social media, permanently deleting her accounts. It felt like, little by little, she was disappearing.
Two months after she put the house on the market, she received an acceptable offer, which she took. The remaining money in her savings account she and Roan used to tour the States, visiting all the places he put on his list.
For about a week after they returned to the States, her mother and sister called continuously, asking how things were going and when she was coming back. Telling her how they missed her. By the third week, she started letting the calls go to voicemail and answering with short quick texts instead.
There was still something off about the way they began acting toward her just after she Unbound, that she didn’t quite understand. Something different and controlling. It made her feel like she was being micromanaged, under a microscope.
Roan was always supportive, always there for her. Being on their own had strengthened them in ways Amelia couldn’t have predicted.
They grew closer through the months of their freedom together. Enjoying the simple things and exploring their relationship in intimate and tender ways. Amelia was happy, and she could feel that Roan was too.
After their whirlwind tour of the States, Roan spending two full days at the Smithsonian, and countless landmarks visited, it was time to return home. Her new home. Australia.
She had texted Ambrose a few times, asking about how the house in the outback was coming along. He was kind enough to send pictures, showing the progress they had already made. By the time she had booked their flight, it was still a work in progress, but it was nearly there. Huge, beautiful, and just like the picture she had sent.
Thinking more and more, Ambrose and Anatole were the ones she felt supported her most. And perhaps Roan was right. Her mother was having difficulties with the fact that Amelia achieved the life she had lost so long ago. If that were the case, she couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for her.
Amelia sat looking around the empty house she worked tirelessly to afford. The home she decorated with care and took such pride in. It looked almost like the house did in the beginning, except for the paint she chose shortly after moving in.
She would miss her friends and Texas. But the house was something else altogether. Bouncing from place to place, this house was supposed to be a permanent home for her, a place to land. A home to call her own for a long time. Now, she was saying goodbye all over again, moving all her things again. But at least this time it was her choice.
“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Roan pulled her from her thoughts, as she sat on the floor of the empty living room.
The first time she left the States she carried only one suitcase. Now, as she stood in the empty living room, she stared at box after box that still needed to be loaded into the International Pod outside in the driveway.
She nodded. Sad, but excited. “I’m ready, I’m just having mixed emotions,” She said as Roan patiently listened.
“Not that my life was so great, it was just familiar, predictable. From now on there’s nothing predictable and nothing familiar about our future.”
“I understand,” Roan said hugging her close. “I love you, Amelia. I’ve been wanting to tell you for a while now. And I’m not just saying it because we’re about to go on the craziest adventure of our long lives together. I mean it.”
“I know. I love you too,” She said kissing him on the lips and pulling away.
“Let’s get all these boxes loaded, and we’ll be ready to check-in at the hotel by the airport,” She said as happily as she could, taking one last long look around, then pulling the front door closed behind her, not even bothering to look back.
They dropped her car off at the women’s shelter. Donating it for a greater cause. She didn’t need the money. And if she needed a car, she could buy one once they landed.
Checking in, they took their luggage down the hall to their room and got ready for bed. Living together for three months had helped to solidify them as a couple. It was nice.
She dialed her mother, letting her know that she was at the hotel by the airport and that they’d be leaving out first thing in the morning. She also let her know she’d be ditching her American phone, and she’d call from her Australian phone once they landed.
Suddenly, for no reason at all Amelia burst into tears. “I’m sorry,” She said, apologizing to Roan. “I’m just really emotional right now. I don’t even know why,” She muttered.
“I know I made this choice, but now that it’s here. Now that it’s really happening. I don’t know, it’s like I’m on a runaway train with no way to stop it.”
“Are you having second thoughts?” He asked with a touch of fear.
“Not about us, not at all. But about the responsibilities and everything we agreed to. Three months seemed like a long time to put of the inevitable. And now it’s here, and I’m just overwhelmed, that’s all. Tell me it’s going to be okay,” She pleaded with her eyes.
“It’s all going to be okay. And I’ll be there the whole time. No matter what. I’m here.”
Roan pulled her onto the bed, curling up behind her and stroking her hair until she fell asleep.
Sometime in the night, Amelia woke up, unable to sleep. And starving. She’d been doing this for a few weeks now, starving hungry in the middle of the night for no reason. Being at home, there were few options for a midnight snack, but at the hotel . . . .
She opened the door to their room, slowly walking toward the front desk, taking her fill from the night manager in the office, then slipping back into bed as Roan continued to snore.
She laid there for a while. Listening to the sounds of the hotel around her. The ice machine down the hall, the planes landing and taking off just outside the building, and something else. Something faint.
She concentrated on the sounds in the room. Roans breathings, and hers. Their hearts beating slowly. And a new sound. Rapid. Frantic, pulsing so fast that it almost resembled background noise. But if she concentrated hard enough, she could make out the tiny heartbeats inside her.