Stolen Moments (And Then Came Love Book 2) (11 page)

Mina sat on the floor surrounded by a litter of nine black puppies. She held one close and rubbed her hand down it’s back. She spoke to the puppy, “looks like you were abandoned too. Bet your mom misses you. My mom gets lonely. No one stays once they find out I’m in the picture.”

She nuzzled the pup, it licked her nose, and she giggled. “Trevor will leave too. It may not be right away, but he’ll leave.” She paused and looked at the other puppies around her. “And it will be because of me. I know it.”

Rose whispered to Trevor, “we heard a commotion outside while you were gone. George went out to find a burlap sack sitting outside. All of them were shoved inside.” She shook her head. “I’ve never charged a drop off fee in my life. Never. Everyone knows if they come in here when I’m working they won’t have to pay. Why do people do this?”

“I don’t know.” Trevor let out a sigh. He walked across the room and sat down next to Mina. “Cute little guys aren’t they?” He carefully lowered himself to the ground.

“Rose says they’re a Mastiff Labrador mix.”

Two of the puppies tried to crawl in Trevor’s lap.

He helped them up and petted them. “I had one of these when I was a kid.”

“A dog or a Mastiff Lab mix?”

“A Mastador as they call them. They get huge, but they tend to be pretty docile. They like to run around outside, for a bit, but they’d rather pretend they’re lap dogs.”

Mina held out the one she’d been holding. “I can’t believe this little girl is going to end up being huge.”

“She might not get as big as the rest. Between 80 to 100 pounds is average for them.”

“I can’t believe someone just abandoned them. Why would they do that? Why do people abandon things?” A tear pooled in the corner of her eye. She wiped at it, but another formed and rolled down her cheek.

He put one arm around her. “Because they don’t know how to care for them. Because they don’t have the finances to take care of them. They’re not meant to be mothers or fathers.” Trevor held out his hand to the puppy Mina was holding.

The pup licked his hand. There was a white star on her chest.

“Why’d you skip school today?”

Mina looked away and hugged the puppy closer. “I hate school. I miss my old school. I miss my old friends. I don’t know anyone here.”

“You’ve met Marissa’s kids and Keegan.”

“They’re all older than me. I don’t mind hanging out with older kids, but it’s not the same as having someone in your own grade to hang out with.”

“Candace?”

“Candace is my best friend, but everyone talks about her behind her back, because she’s pregnant. And it’s just not fair.”

“Why don’t you and your mother come to my parent’s house for dinner on Sunday night? The kids aren’t your age, but if you talk to them, they’ll introduce you to their cousins who are.”

“I thought you avoided going to your parent’s house on Sunday?”

“I do. But I guess I should introduce you and your mother.”

“You do like my Mom don’t you?”

“I’m in love with your mother, Mina.”

She scratched the puppy behind the ear. “So you’re going to be around for a while.”

Trevor nodded. “I certainly plan on it.”

“That means things will be changing a lot for me.”

Trevor grinned. “Such as what ... getting this little girl?”

“I can keep her?”

“How about I’m getting a puppy for now, then we’ll break it to your mother she’s yours after she falls in love with her.”

Mina giggled and threw her arms around him. “Thank you.”

Trevor stood and helped Mina to her feet. “Rose, we’re taking this one home.”

“No problem by me.” Rose smiled. “Did you figure out what the issue was with Miss Mina?”

Trevor nodded. “She’s just having a hard time at school.”

“I’m sure you will get that worked out.” Rose smiled at Mina. “So when are you coming back?”

“I can come back without being in trouble?”

“Anytime you want, young lady.” Rose patted her on the cheek.

“We’ll check with her mother, but I can see a couple times a week, maybe once on the weekend. Depending on homework.” Trevor nodded.

Mina cuddled the puppy close.

Trevor hugged Rose before they headed to the door. “What are you going to name her?”

“I was thinking Star because of the patch on her chest.”

Trevor nodded.

“What was yours named?”

“Frikka, it means peaceful.”

“I like that, but I think I’m going to stick with Star.” Mina smiled. She climbed into the truck cradling the puppy close.

Trevor started the truck.

Mina looked over at him. “I’m sorry, I was mean to you today.”

“I have issues with my father that I need to work through, so it’s understandable.” He pulled out of the parking lot and headed for Arianna’s house.

“Thank you for making me come here today. I think I needed it.”

“Sometimes we don’t know what we need until we get there.” Trevor patted her shoulder. “Let’s go break the news to your mother you have a puppy.”

Chapter Eleven

May 4th

Arianna grabbed Trevor’s arm as they walked toward the hiking trail. “I can’t believe you got Marissa to pick up the girls and keep them all night.”

“There wasn’t much arm pulling, she wanted us to have a night by ourselves.” Trevor grinned.

“You got her to take the puppy too. There had to be some arm pulling.”

Trevor shrugged. “I may have agreed to bring you and Mina to dinner at my parent’s house on Sunday evening.”

“I thought you’d already decided that?”

“She didn’t know.” Trevor laughed.

“Sneaky. I like it.” Arianna smiled. “How long is the trail?”

“It’s two-miles, you think you’re up for it?”

“The question is will your knee hold up for it?”

“I’m doing pretty good. They’re talking about releasing me for medical leave soon.” Trevor took her hand as they walked down the trail.

“So that means you’ll be going to work soon?”

“Within the next month or so. I’m looking forward to it. I miss working.”

They past a recently fallen tree. There was a hole where the soil was still attached to the roots. A large knobby growth came out of the side of the tree.

“What is that?” Arianna took a step closer.

Trevor pulled her back. “It looks like a bur, but sometimes they’re caused by insect damage. There was one in this park that always had hundreds of bees swarming around it.”

Arianna stepped closer to him. “I should have mentioned this before, but I’m slightly allergic to bees.”

“Epipen worthy, Benadryl, or somewhere in between?” Trevor turned her to face him.

“A lot of swelling, pain in the joints. Not epipen worthy, but still puts me out of commission for a day.”

“We’ll have to be careful then. Don’t want to put you out of commission, especially tonight.” Trevor pulled her into his arms. “It feels nice to have you alone.”

“Yes, it does, but can we get away from the possible bee’s nest?”

Trevor laughed. “Yes.” He took her hand again and they continued down the trail. “There’s a stream ahead in about half a mile, so be prepared to get your shoes wet.”

“They’ll dry.” Arianna scanned the forest around her. “I take it you’ve spent a lot of time here?”

“This was the park I grew up in. I don’t know how many times Gramps, Pops, and I walked these trails. We had a blast just spending time in the outdoors. We’d wander off the trails, identify different plants. Pops was notorious for sticking his head in holes we’d find.” Trevor laughed. “One time we stopped to check out a whole in a tree and a squirrel dropped an unripe walnut on his head from above him.”

“Ouch.”

“It was hilarious. He had a small knot on his head for about a week, but we always laughed about it. Gramps looked at him and said, ‘that’s what you get for invading their homes.’” Trevor shook his head. “It was great day.”

“Did you do a lot of camping as a kid?”

“Not so much as a whole family, but there were times I went camping with Gramps and Pops. Usually some of my brothers were with us.”

Arianna glanced at him. “You never talk about good memories with your Dad. Don’t you have any?”

“Blake was seven when he grew out of his asthma, I was eight, we’re only nine months apart.”

“Wow, that was close. She was pregnant almost immediately.”

“He was a month premature, so technically, we would have been ten months apart if he’d gone full term.”

“Right, still, that’s pretty quick.”

“Dad got that fixed after that one.” Trevor laughed. “Anyway, I remember Dad picked me up from school early one day and the two of us went to the movies. Then we had dinner and he took me to the park. It was one of the best memories I have of my Dad.”

“See your Dad loves you.”

“He does. The twins came back the next year. He got busy with work and the twins and just trying to do what he could be a father to ten kids. I think it overwhelmed him sometime.”

“Maybe that’s why he stayed at work longer than he should have? He was overwhelmed and didn’t know how to be a good father to ten kids.” Arianna sighed. “One child is overwhelming at times. I can’t imagine having ten.”

“I guess you’re right. I was selfish and wanted to have time with my parents by myself I guess and I wasn’t able to do that. It felt as if my other siblings had that, but I didn’t.”

“You also seemed to spend a lot of time with your grandparents and Pops. If you’re the parent of ten kids, I’m sure it would be a bit of a relief if one of your kids had another adult to look up too.”

“That makes sense now, as a kid it didn’t.” Trevor smiled.

Water rushed over rocks in the distance. “That sounds like a pretty big stream.”

“There’s a waterfall. It’s not big, but we’ve had a pretty wet winter. The stream is a little high, but nothing too terrible.”

“We’ll see about that.” She grasped his hand tighter. “You do know, I can be accident prone, right? My luck I’ll end up floating downstream to some unknown location.”

Trevor laughed. “I highly doubt that. I’ll do my best to catch you if you fall.”

She smiled. “I know.”

The stream was larger than she had imagined when he first mentioned it. It was about ten feet across and the water was fast moving, but she could see the bottom. She looked to her right to see the waterfall. It was only about three feet in the air, but it was still impressive to someone who had never seen a waterfall before.

She bumped his shoulder. “Well, you’ve shown me my first waterfall.”

“I figured you would have seen one as a kid. Your Dad was in the military, you had to move around some.”

Arianna stared at her feet. “We moved around a little, but not as much as Dad did. I don’t know if he was out in the field or if Mom just didn’t want to follow him or what. I think we only moved three times before Mom took me back to Omaha. Dad wasn’t around much after that.”

“Sounds like there were some problems with their marriage. Any chance they’re divorced?”

“After she kicked me out, I don’t know what happened. I could have a sibling somewhere and not even know it.”

“I’m doing some digging and I’m trying to find your father’s location.”

“Really?” Arianna grinned. “That’s wonderful. Do you have any leads on him?”

“The only thing I can tell you is that he’s not in the military anymore. Or at least not in the sense that the military will reveal. He could be in Special Forces and therefore out of communication or he could have retired. I’m not sure yet.”

Her mouth went slack. “Wow. To be able to see my father again. That would be amazing.”

“What if he and your mother did get divorced and he married again, would you still want to see him?”

She nodded. “I think so. I guess it depends on the circumstances.”

“Ready to brave the cross?”

“Yes.”

He walked ahead of her pointing out the easiest way to cross.

She ambled behind him.

A fast moving current hit her ankle. She slipped on moss and tumbled on the wet rocks and found herself in the water before she could make much of a sound. She let out a squeal.

Trevor turned around. “I should have walked behind you.” He caught her hand and pulled her up.

“I told you I was accident prone.” She looked down at her wet clothes. “At least the temperature is above freezing.”

“It’s in the mid-sixties. You’ll be all right, but we should head to the truck.”

“I’d rather go on ahead. Besides being wet, I’m having a good time.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re having a good time.” He nodded and led her out of the stream.

Arianna did her best to wring out her shirt as much as she could, but didn’t have much success.

“I can give you my shirt if you want it?”

“No, I think I’ll be all right. If I get too cold I may take you up on the offer, but you’re right we are in the mid-sixties.”

“Let’s forge ahead then.” Trevor motioned toward the trail ahead of them.

*****

They were a little over a mile into their journey when the wind kicked up and the sky darkened.

Arianna shivered as the temperature dropped a bit.

Trevor stopped her and shook his head as he unbuttoned his shirt. “It’s not going to help a lot, but at least put my shirt on.”

“You want me to change right in front of you?” She quirked her eyebrows, but a grin spread across her face.

“I’m not opposed to seeing you naked.”

“I’m not getting naked.” Arianna grabbed his shirt. “We should be back to the truck soon?

“We’re less than a mile from the truck, but I don’t want you to get hypothermia if the temperature drops much lower.”

Arianna stared at his well-sculpted chest. She took a step forward.

“Stop staring at me or we’re going to end up completely naked making love in a bed of moss.” Trevor winked.

She laughed. “I’m not necessarily opposed to that.”

Trevor growled. “Go woman.” He turned her around toward the trees. “Change behind those trees. Hopefully, it will be long enough to wear as a dress.”

“I doubt that.” She took the shirt and hurried into the woods.

She reemerged a few minutes later with her wet shirt and bra in her hand and her other arm across her chest. She still wore her pants, even though his shirt was long enough to cover her bottom.

Trevor shook his head. “You’d be smarter to take off the pants as well.”

“Listen, mister, I maybe in cold, but you’re not getting all my clothes off me.” She tried to shake her finger at him, but still cover her chest.

Trevor laughed. “Problem with my shirt?” He gestured to her arm placement.

“Well, it doesn’t cover everything as well as it should.” She folded her other arm across her chest trying to keep her wet shirt and bra from getting his shirt wet.

“I suppose the whole not covering everything has everything to do with the fact you’re cold and nothing to do with the fact I’m standing here shirtless?” He winked.

Arianna blushed as she turned away from him and headed up the trail. “You’re an ass?”

Trevor laughed as he joined her. “It tends to run in the family. Just ask my brothers.”

“I’d rather not.”

By the time they arrived at the truck, Arianna’s teeth chattered and she shivered uncontrollably. “There’s clothes in the backseat of my truck. Forget modesty, get in, and put them on.”

“But, I ...”

“Please don’t argue. The last thing I need is for you to develop a worse case of hypothermia than you already have. I’ll stay out here until you’re done changing.”

She nodded and then climbed into the truck, pulling the door shut behind her.

Trevor leaned up against the door of the truck and shook his head. He waited until she knocked on the window.

“What’s the plan for the rest of the afternoon?”

“Well, since you’re freezing, I figured I’d take you home and let you get a nice hot bath in before we went out for the evening.”

“Where are we going?”

Trevor shrugged. “We could do a nice dinner and a movie afterward or we could do the outdoorsy thing again and have a picnic.”

“What if we go to a movie and then have a picnic in the park? Nothing too fancy, but later at night, so we don’t run the chance of running into kids?”

“There’s a private park we could go too. Not much of a chance of running into kids and there’s the perfect spot for us to be alone.” Trevor flipped on the heat in the truck and turned it to full blast.

“I like that idea.” Arianna nodded. Her teeth still chattered, but she was warming up. “Movie or no?”

“It’s up to you, babe. I’m up for whatever you want to do.”

“It’s been a long time since I went to a movie.”

“Movie it is.” Trevor smiled. “I’ll have to run back to the apartment to get ready.”

“Why don’t we stop there on the way back to my place and you can grab the things you need and we’ll get ready together.”

“Because we may never leave your house if we do that.”

Arianna laughed. “Okay. But don’t take too long.”

“I promise.”