Genre: Romance
Rating: NC 17
Disclaimer : Standard disclaimers apply. The characters belong to Shalz R.
Chapter 14: Off In The Mornin'!
The alarm bell rang and Ian’s hand came up in the dark to silence it. A few minutes later he sat up in his bed, eyes closed, and then dropped back.
“Uh… Evan … I have to take Evan camping … got to help Sonya …” he mumbled, coaxing himself out of bed. He turned on his side, hugged a pillow, “Few minutes later!” and dozed off again.
Second alarm bell rang out, “Alright, alright, I’m getting up!” He turned and put on the night lamps. It was three-thirty in the morning. He closed his eyes, turned and looked out to the stream. The lovely starlit sky, and streaming moonlight falling on the water ripples made him want to go back to sleep. But he shook his head, got up, and walked out into the balcony in the hope to shoo the sleep fairy off in the cool breeze. But no! The lovely cool breeze joined hands with the sleep fairy and lulled him to sleep. In a final attempt, he sought help from cold water and went and stood under the shower, face up and his clothes still on. A few minutes later he stepped out, drenched and eyes red.
Twenty more minutes, and he was back in a jogging suit. He jogged up to the attic to get his bags and then down to get his minibus out. After piling the bags in the back, he went to wake up Tyler and Adrian. Lauren and Ashley were staying over. He knocked on the door incessantly until they answered affirmative, and moved on to the children’s room.
Very slowly he opened the door and crept in. Both the children were sleeping soundly. He felt bad about leaving Sera behind. He sat beside her and kissed her forehead lightly and whispered, “I love you very much. I’m very sorry about leaving you behind but I have to Evan out for camping. You are so little I can’t take you. I promise I’ll take you next time. I’ll be missing you. But you enjoy yourself and don’t miss me … okay miss me, but not much! I love you!” and kissed her hair and slowly moved to Evan’s bed. He stroked his hair and gently called out, “Evan, time to go camping!” he sang. Evan stirred a bit on hearing the magic word, ‘camping’. He opened his eyes slightly and saw his uncle calling him to go camping. A wide sleepy smile appeared on his face and he put his arms around Ian’s neck. Ian smiled and picked him up out of his bed with the blankets. He walked to the bathroom with a wrapped up Evan in his arms, left him there to get ready and went to wake up Kevin. He told Kevin to get Evan ready because he had to leave as early as possible to help Sonya with her bags and stuff. Evan came out of the bathroom to find his sleepy dad waiting for him.
Ian had told Sonya that he’d be there by four-thirty. It was already four-fifteen and in a hurry he jogged up to her house reaching in ten minutes. He was still quite a distance from the house, but he could see the lights on and knew that Sonya was awake.
* * *
Sonya too had been up long back. She had slept early and woke up at quarter to four. She had most of the stuff ready and it just needed packing, which Ian would do. Camping gear should be packed properly for comfort of carrying it around, he had told her. Since she was early and had lots of time on her hands, she decided to bake another cake for everyone to have, when they came at five.
She had just got the cake out of the oven when Ian’s voice rang out clearly in the dark.
“Sonya!” he called out. She looked out of the kitchen window and saw him standing outside the gate, and hurried out to open it.
“Good morning!”
“Good morning! All ready?”
“Yeah! Come in!”
They walked in. “Okay I hope you got the clothes and all out. Now all we need to do is to put them together and … is that the cake?”
She chuckled at his child-like delight for a cake. “Yes it is. Fresh baked. Actually I had baked one last night and this morning I had enough time and ingredients left for another one, so I thought until you came I would prepare one more for a slight snack before going off.”
“Great! Can I have some now?”
“Its just out of the oven! Wait for sometime!”
“Ok! Till then let’s pack your stuff.”
In the next few minutes Ian had expertly packed all her stuff into her backpack and was teaching her to carry it. He put the bag on her and adjusted the straps on her. “It may take some time getting the hang of carrying it about. Better walk around a while and get used to it.” He made her walk around the living room, until she was comfortably carrying the bulky bag.
“Fine, fine! That’s good. Now that this is done, let’s see if you have locked your house properly. You do get careless.”
“I’m not careless!” she retorted in her defense, “Everything is locked properly.”
“Let’s see. The cupboards and cabinets?”
“Yes.”
“The Study?”
“Yes.”
“The gas stoves, the oven?”
“Yes.”
“The electricity?”
“Yes. Except this room.” She answered getting exhilarated with each ‘Yes’.
“The garage?”
“… Nooo.” came a thoughtful reply with deflated excitement, expecting him to either get angry or tease her.
“Ok … I will do that.” He said calmly. Sonya was surprised that he didn’t get angry, he was expecting something to have been left for him to do! It was almost five and she proceeded to prepare the coffee for everyone. Ian went on to lock the garage and double-checked the entire house. He was still outside when the minibus pulled up, and Ian went to get them for the snack. Sonya too saw the car and poured out the coffee and cut the cake into slices.
“C’mon Ian! Where’s Sonya?” Adrian called out.
“Get out all of you, we’ll have a little snack before we move on.” Ian called back, and then noticed a second car pulling up, “Who’s there?” he asked Adrian.
“The family!” Adrian smiled. Ian was amazed to see his family, and he went out to meet them.
“We just came to see you off!” Mr. Maxwell said.
Mrs. And Mr. Maxwell, Dee and Kevin with Sera wrapped up in shawl in his arms got out of the second car. As soon as she saw him, Sera went to Ian’s arms. Everyone gathered in the front yard and Ian took them round to the living room door. Sonya was surprised to see the Maxwells in her living room. She greeted them and set to prepare some more coffee. Mrs. Maxwell liked her living room and everybody loved the cake and coffee. Sera was sitting cuddled up in Ian’s lap and was sleepily nibbling on a piece of cake he was giving her.
“Actually we all came because of Sera!” Mrs. Maxwell said.
“Sera? How?” he asked them, “What happened?” he said looking at Sera.
“Well she woke up in the hustle-bustle of getting Evan ready and asked where he was going.” Kevin explained, “I had to tell her that and then she asked about you. When I told her that you had left, she started to cry.” Ian hugged Sera, looking upset.
“So” Kevin continued, “I told her that we would go see him and say goodbye to him. When we were coming dad and mom said they’d come too. So here we are!”
“You cried for me? Why did you cry? Huh?”
“Unca, don’t go!” a tearful Sera pleaded, melting Ian’s heart.
“Oh!” he stood up and walked around the living room, hugging her, kissing her, trying to console the little girl. “Don’t cry, darling! Unca will be back soon. I’ll get you whatever you want! What do you want?” he asked, placing her on the kitchen counter.
Sera shook her head.
“Oh! Come here my little angel!” He picked her up again hugging her close and she clung to him tightly, “How will Unca go if you will cry? Don’t cry sweetheart! Unca will get you lots of toys.” He kissed her hair for the umpteenth time, “I love you so much!” he went on comforting the child.
The beautiful scene they were witnessing moved everyone in the room. Mrs. Maxwell happened to notice Sonya looking at Ian and what she saw on her face pleased her. The expression held in her eyes was not just of being touched or of admiration for Ian; it was something else, something more. She was smiling fondly and her eyes were somewhat moist. She elbowed her husband and they both shared the warm and happy feeling.
Ian finally managed to soothe his favorite child and soon everyone had finished the delicious snack. The little camping party climbed in the car and Ian handed Sera back to Kevin, “Don’t worry sugar! You promise me you won’t cry!” Sera nodded, “I’ll keep calling you ok! Kevin there’s a mobile kept in my room’s bookshelf. Give it to her, Ok. Sera you keep that phone with you and Unca will keep calling you, okay!” Sera nodded and finally smiled. Ian kissed her again.
“Goodbye, drive carefully and have a safe trip. Call me when you reach there!” Mrs. Maxwell said.
“Mom, you will be here only?”
“Yes, dear. We’ll be here until you come back.” She kissed his forehead, “Be careful. Take care of Evan.”
“Yes, Mom.”
“Ok, fine, now let them go, will you!” her husband said fondly, “You go Ian and all of you enjoy yourselves!” he called out to the party in the minibus. They said their goodbyes and the family drove off. Ian got into the minibus with the rest of them. It was half-past five and they finally pushed off.
Ian stood in the front; everyone else had taken their seats. Tyler was driving. Adrian was sitting, feet up on the last full seat, a small revolver tucked into his belt for any emergency. The food packets were piled up on the first seat, behind which Sonya sat with Evan. Ashley and Lauren cuddled up in a blanket behind them. The only empty place was a bench placed along the other side of the aisle. Ian claimed that place.
“Okay guys! It’s a five-hour drive and Tyler has volunteered to drive us there. It’s five-thirty now and we won’t be reaching until eleven or so. So make yourself comfortable and get as much rest as you can, coz’ once we are there, be ready for hard work. Okay first things first. There is lots of work to do and everyone must take responsibility for something. I’ll take care of the new enrollees with their first camping trip. Adrian?”
Adrian looked lazily at Ian and pointed to his gun.
“Security, as usual.” Ian shook his head, smiling. “Tyler?”
“I’ll be taking care of putting up tents n financial stuff.” He called out.
“Okay. Lauren?”
“I’ll help Tyler and take care of baggage?” she looked at Tyler who smiled back at her.
Ian too smiled smugly, “Yeah, yeah! Fine! Ashley you want to help Adrian with security?” he teased the girls.
“I’ll just take care of first aid and medicines.” She smiled.
“Yeah! Security one way or the other.” He teased her. “Sonya!”
Sonya had been looking around as all of them volunteered for something or the other. She seemed startled when Ian called out her name and waited for her options. She understood that she was expected to take up some responsibility. After thinking for a while, she said slowly, “I’ll cook.”
“Fine!” he said loudly, definitely pleased with the work she chose to volunteer for.
“Yeah!” everyone else echoed their agreement. They had just had a delicious sample of her cooking.
“Ok. This is settled then.” Ian continued, “Now you all can rest until we reach the site. At about eight, we may stop at a roadside inn for some breakfast, Tyler make sure it’s secluded one. Okay, all at ease!” he commanded.
Ian pulled a blanket on and Evan went and cuddled up with him and soon fell asleep; Ian got his book out. Adrian pulled his cap over his face and dozed off. Ashley, Lauren, and Sonya chatted for a while and then Lauren began to get drowsy and nodded off. Ashley followed suit. Only Ian, Tyler and Sonya were awake. Tyler was enjoying driving, some light music was on and he was humming, singing, or whistling in-between. Ian became immersed in his book, only occasionally looking up to pull the blanket over Evan who kept kicking it off in his sleep. Sonya became cozy in her own blanket.
She sat silent looking out of her window at the early morning scenes. The minibus had dark panes like all the other cars of Ian. They had been going for more than an hour now and were on the outskirts of the city and lovely landscapes were opening up on both the sides. Delighted with the view, Sonya looked around the bus, and found that all her companions were sleeping. Ashley and Lauren slept supporting each other; Adrian’s face was covered with his cap; Evan was sleeping on Ian’s chest. Ian’s book lay open in his hand and he too had drifted off, his head against the windowpane, his blanket falling off. It seemed such a pretty picture, uncle with his nephew. Even more beautiful was seeing Ian sleeping against scenic surroundings and the early morning sky. She slowly moved towards him, placed a cushion under his head, and pulled up his blanket tucking them in. Turning back to her place, she was wrapping the blanket around her smiling fondly at the cute pair of uncle and nephew, when she spotted Tyler watching her in the rear view mirror. She became self-conscious at once and Tyler smiled wide and winked at her. She gave an embarrassed smile and resumed surveying the scenes coming and going outside, and eventually closed her eyes in sleep.
* * *
Tyler stopped the minibus at a lone inn two hours later. He had to honk the horn repeatedly to awaken the sleeping party. All of them got down except Ian and ordered a breakfast. After looking around carefully, finally Adrian allowed an almost irritated Ian out of the minibus. Everyone had a good laugh to see Ian so irritated at being treated with such care and fuss. Even Evan was out, but Ian had to stay in until Adrian was satisfied with the inn. The inn owner was taken aback when he saw Ian descending from the bus. Immediately all his staff was on the alert and best behavior. The very few early customers were given a pleasant surprise.
Some of the cake made by Sonya was also eaten. The breakfast was finished, and as Tyler made the payment, the inn owner requested Ian to fill out their guest book. Ian obliged.
Soon the party was back in the bus and they were on the move. All the staff and the few customers were out seeing them off.
Ian found the cushion on his seat; he hadn’t taken notice of it when he got up because of Tyler honking the horn. He didn’t have it when he slept; he was slightly confused but didn’t bother much. Sonya noticed his confusion but kept quiet and hoped Tyler too would. Tyler did. This time nobody slept. Lauren got her guitar out and some songs were sung, some jokes were made and stories told.
About two more hours and they would be at the camping grounds.
* * *