Piracy: The Leah Chronicles (After it Happened Book 8)
Page 24
All of that pain, along with the frustration and the discomfort that came before it, vanished the moment they put her little girl in her arms and she felt her tiny, shaky movements as her fingers spread wide and her eyes screwed tightly shut. She sucked in a long breath, deafening her mother in an instant with a lip-wobbling cry which to this day was one of the greatest sounds Leah has ever heard.
She had grown to be a boisterous toddler and an inquisitive young girl, to become the sensitive and intuitive little lady who always wanted to learn something new.
“Come on,” Leah told her as she stood, seeing Ares spin on his back again to follow them with a sneeze that shook his whole head and made him stagger. “Let’s take a walk.”
Adalene bounded ahead of her mother, going up the spiral stone staircases like a mountain goat. Like Leah used to, before the physical stress of carrying her had left her pelvis feeling like she’d barely survived a helicopter crash. When they reached the ramparts and Adalene ran ahead, Leah looked down to see Ares looking up expectantly.
“Go on then,” she told him, laughing out loud as his bandy legs seemed to belong to a bigger dog and threatened to trip him up as he chased after the girl. She stopped in a patch of sun, looking out over the sea as she was still able to recall the menacing shape of that ship out there a decade ago. Then she glanced up to the watchtower, thinking of those under the earth there and hoping that she still made them proud of her.
Leah was proud of them. Proud of the people of the town and everywhere else. Those people were survivors, all of them. Not everyone could shoot a gun or climb an anchor chain, that much was obvious, but in their own way every single person under her influence and protection was a survivor. They deserved to be there. They deserved to be flourishing and forging new futures, and Leah hoped that one day they would do so under the protection of her own family.
There was a time, there were many times in fact, when Leah felt overwhelmed; when the pressures of life and the demands on her were too much for one person to satisfy. She persevered, just as those before her had shown her how and she hoped how those in the future would take their inspiration from her and how she acted.
Adalene raced back to her, the awkward dog having grown accustomed to his legs and running at a steady speed beside her, and Leah took them back down the steps to get some food.
The evening meal was as basic as it was tasty and full of fresh goodness. Leah sat at the central table among familiar faces, many of them much older than when they had first arrived, which included her own. They spoke, they laughed, they enjoyed life, until the door burst open and a red-faced member of the militia stood there, eyes wildly searching for someone.
Leah stood, knowing that someone would be her, and walked over to him with her hands up in a calming gesture.
“Not here,” she said softly in French, “not in front of everyone.” She turned him by the shoulder and walked him out of the room until they were alone in a corridor.
“The fort,” he said, “they say there are people coming.”
“Calm down,” she said, “what people?”
“They say it is a war party.”
Leah stopped, knowing that the defence of their way of life was something that would never end.
About the Author
Devon C Ford is from the UK and lives in the Midlands. His career in public services started in his teens and has provided a wealth of experiences, both good and some very bad, which form the basis of the books ideas that cause regular insomnia.
Facebook: @devoncfordofficial
Twitter: @DevonFordAuthor
Website: www.devoncford.com
Also by Devon C Ford:
Burning Skies: The Fall is book one of the innovative multi-author series following Cal as he finds himself in the middle of a domestic terror attack in New York.
ARC, book one of the brilliant New Earth series sees Earth on the brink of destruction, with one man charged with saving us all from extinction!