She had no other choice, which was obviously a good thing for Ves and me.
“Asking doesn’t harm anyone. Worst thing he could tell us is no.”
Mama shrugged and got up to place the plates into the sink, and Vespyr got up to help her clean the table.
“I think he’ll say yes,” Ves said optimistically, and I smiled at her before getting up and putting the bottle of water back into the fridge.
“I think so too. Let’s go ask right now.”
I waited for her to pass me before looking at Mama and then following Vespyr into my bedroom where I grabbed my phone to dial Papa’s number.
“Do you think his phone’s on?” she asked, looking at the phone I was holding in my lap with the speaker on.
“He said he’d leave it on until we know what’s next.”
And sure enough, he picked up. “Hello?”
“Papa, it’s Vespyr and Fennec,” I said.
“Hey, you two doing okay?” he asked.
He sounded happy.
Camp was his home, and we invaded it and ruined his safe place for a short period of time.
I started to feel bad for him, and I often wondered if moving there after graduating was the right thing to do.
He could’ve said no, but I was only eighteen, and maybe he thought it would be a good idea to have me there with him.
“We’re good. Tomorrow’s our last time in therapy,” Vespyr said with a bright smile.
“That’s good. How’s your mother?”
“She’s fine. Papa, there’s something we need to ask you,” I said, looking at Vespyr and receiving an encouraging nod from her.
“Shoot.”
“We know you want to be alone up there, and we respect that decision, but we can’t stay here. We need to be alone too, and the only place we can be just that is up there in the forest.”
“We’re like you, Papa,” Vespyr added, her voice hopeful.
“I don’t want you at my camp again,” he stated, and as harsh as it sounded, it didn’t hurt us.
“We know. That’s why I had this other idea. You have so much land up there, and if you allow us to settle further away from your camp, we’d like to build our own up there somewhere. We can’t stay in this town, or anywhere else other than the forest.”
Papa didn’t respond, and the silence was making Ves and me nervous.
“Your Mama okay with that?” he then asked.
We didn’t need her consent to live out there on our own. “She’s gonna be happy we’re leaving this house, Papa,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, probably.” He sighed and we heard him walk across his wooden cabin floor. “Fine. It’s not like you’re gonna listen to what I have to say anyway.”
That wasn’t entirely true.
We learned a lot from him, but when it came to my relationship with Vespyr, there was no one telling us what to do.
“Thank you, Papa!” Vespyr said happily, clapping her hands before hugging me tightly.
He scoffed. “Yeah, just let me know when you’re ready to come up here.”
“Will do. Thanks, Papa,” I replied before saying goodbye and hanging up, then putting my arms around Vespyr to pull her close.
“We’ll be home again soon,” I whispered into the crook of her neck, holding her tight against my body.
“Just the two of us.” Her shaky voice was a sign of happiness, and I couldn’t stop myself from shedding happy-tears either.
Our life was up to us to decide where and how we’d end up, and living together without others around was where we were meant to be.
I leaned back to look at her beautiful face, and when I moved closer to kiss her, she placed both hands on each side of my head before straddling my lap.
My hands were on her lower back, feeling her heat against mine as we melted into the kiss.
A soft moan escaped her as I moved my hands to her ass, and just as our kiss got more intense, she pushed against my chest to look at me again.
“Not now,” she whispered, leaning her forehead on mine and closing her eyes.
I couldn’t keep my hands off her during the day, but whenever Mama was back from work, I had to try and keep them to myself until she was asleep.
Not that she didn’t know we were sleeping in the same bed every night and doing things she wasn’t okay with, but we respected her that much to not rub our love into her face.
It was the least we could do after what she had done for us.
“When we’re finally on our own, there will never be a ‘not now’,” I promised her, making her laugh and throw her head back with bliss all over her face.
Yeah…you’re the luckiest motherfucker on this planet for calling her your true love.
And for Vespyr to call me hers.
Epilogue
Alaskan Malamute puppies were the most affectionate and friendly things I’ve ever seen.
After moving up here, where Papa had allowed us to build on his land, Fennec and I never thought we’d be needing a third family member to keep us company.
When Jason’s dog Sitka passed away six months ago, he decided to get himself a new loyal companion, and to not drive alone to the next animal shelter, Fennec and I went with him to keep him company.
We hadn’t expected to fall in love with a sweet little fluff ball who couldn’t stop howling at us while Jason held its sister in his arms.
One look at Fennec, and I picked up the little guy to get to know him better.
We were goners just seconds later.
Balto came home with us that day, and his sister Silla was Jason’s new buddy.
I was sitting outside on the porch of the cabin we had built with Papa’s help, waiting on Fennec to come back from hunting.
Balto was chewing on the laces of my boot while I was finishing up his dog bed.
We started feeding Balto raw food as soon as we got home from the shelter, which Jason suggested we do because it was much healthier for dogs.
He liked it, and he knew that when Fennec came back after being gone for a while, he’d receive some nice lunch and dinner for the next few days.
I looked down at him still chewing at my laces, and when I put his bed next to me, he looked up with big brown eyes.
“Come here, Balto!”
He jumped and pushed himself up onto his two back paws, placing his two others on my knees.
I picked him up and cuddled him to my chest, and although he was growing so fast, he wasn’t too heavy yet.
I kissed his head and let him lick my cheek, and when he heard a noise, he turned his head and howled.
Barking wasn’t his strong suit, and for some reason, his vocal cords were only able to let out loud sounds when he howled.
We thought that was adorable, and it was enough to warn us whenever an animal was near.
I looked into the direction Balto was staring, and sure enough, Fennec appeared between the trees.
Two hares were hanging from his shoulders, and two squirrels were tied to his backpack.
Balto howled again, and I let him run to Fennec who was grinning brightly as our little buddy reached him.
“I got you a nice dinner,” he said, picking Balto up and carrying him back to me.
I got up and smiled, happy to see Fennec again after a long day of him hunting. “Good day today?” I asked, kissing him before taking Balto from him so he wouldn’t start chewing on the rabbits.