Kite In The Snow by Karla Lopez

 

I open my eyes slowly as I feel fingers running through my hair. Dark, chocolate eyes meet me when I fully open mine. I smile when I see Wyatt’s face. He watches me with this softness that is hard to explain.

“Good morning, baby,” he whispers as he leans into me to give me a soft kiss.

I sigh as I feel his warm lips brush against mine. It’s a good sigh, one that feels so much like relief when I think of being home with my two boys.

I see little feet kick up into the air and notice that Carter is between us, making my smile grow. I lean into him and tickle his belly. He gurgles and giggles.

Wyatt smiles so bright, it’s the most beautiful sight ever. I take a moment to watch him. His face looks peaceful, like when I first saw him, but there’s so much happiness in it as well. His shaggy hair is a little longer that now he uses bandanas, which is a hot sight, if I do say so myself.

His tattoos run all over his torso and arms. They all look poetic, just like him. He has an elephant on his forearm where his favorite quote by William Shakespeare is.

My eyes go lower, and I crave to touch him, to taste him, to feel him. When my eyes snap back up, I see Wyatt caught me staring at him. A smirk plays on his lips. I chuckle and he smiles.

His kite tattoo catches my attention again. “When did you get this?”

He stares at the tattoo for a moment before he answers. “After you left.”

“Why? What does it mean?” I ask as my eyes flutter from his fingers in my hair again.

“When you first came here, you used to sit outside my cafe on that bench in the freezing snow. I would watch you till you’d disappear and then reappear. I would count down the time till you came back.” His eyes stay on me as his fingers run slower and slower against my head.

“You reminded me of a kite. A kite reminds me of warm, summer days. That’s what you reminded me of, and you looked so odd sitting there in the middle of the snow. You were like a kite in the snow. The little girl is you, wearing winter clothes and flying a kite in the snow because no matter what comes your way, you’ll always feel warm like summer days.”

I’m at such loss for words that all I do is lean into him and kiss him till it hurts. Until it hurts so good. And that’s how we spend our day in bed, showing and telling each other how much we love each other. Carter in the middle, basking in our love and happiness.

 

 

OCTOBER

 

“Where are we going?” I say as I giggle against Wyatt.

He has me blindfold and he’s leading me and Carter to a special surprise.

“You’ll see,” he simply says.

After a few minutes of walking, we stop and I open my eyes to a circular, glass igloo shaped room. “What is it?”

Wyatt smiles with excitement. “Well, I’ve been waiting all summer long to take you here. This is an Igloo where you can see the northern lights and we are a few hours away from seeing them.”

I’m so excited, I hug him and Carter so tight that it causes Carter to giggle. He’s now nine months old and it’s insane how much he’s grown. Carter and Wyatt are two best friends. They do everything together, it’s honestly the cutest thing ever.

I explore the cozy, circular room. It has a white bed in the center with a couple of chairs on the side and a coffee table. It also has a breakfast bar. It’s something out of a Pinterest board. Half of the room is made of glass, and you can see the snow and the incredible view of the mountains up ahead.

I feel like I found my home once again. Living in Alaska isn’t easy, but you definitely get used to it, and it’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve been to. It also has the beautiful, tattooed coffee shop boy that I love with all that I am.

I walk over to Wyatt and kiss him after he puts Carter down. “What was that for?” he asks with his head tilt.

“For being amazing and doing things like this all the time. For loving us. For being you.”

He smiles and kisses my nose softly. “I am incomplete without you. I always felt like something was missing and now I know it was you and Carter. You think I saved you, but you saved me from living a life where I wasn’t fully content. I was just floating.”

“Like a kite.” I bite my lip and he chuckles.

“Guess, you’re the little girl who caught me.”

I laugh. “Well, lucky you.” I run my hands over his strong, tattooed arms until I rest them at his neck.

“Yes, lucky me.” He kisses my neck and walks out to go grab our stuff and the food we brought.

A few hours later, we’re lying in bed, watching the northern lights and I have no words for the breathtaking view I have. Rays of green and blue stars that are brighter than I’ve ever seen before fill the sky and make you feel like you’re on another planet.

Carter is sleeping on Wyatt’s chest while we watch the lights. I snuggle closer to him, and he kisses my head.

It’s crazy that we have this beauty in this world. God gave us so many gifts. It just takes a special kind of person to see them. This right here, is a moment I’ll never forget. A memory I wish to play again and again.

The lights shine against our faces, and I watch them in awe for so long that when I look over, I see Wyatt has fallen asleep too. I look back at the sky and see a shooting star.

I close my eyes and make a wish. I wish to always have what I have in this moment. Love, a family, freedom.

I think about the last few years of my life and how I had to grow up so fast. I’ve been going through this since I was sixteen. I’m nineteen now and I’ve gone through more than someone does in a lifetime.

But I survived. I am enough, and that’s why I am still here. I wish I could hug the girl I used to be and tell her that she made it out in the end. That she wouldn’t be sad forever.

After we left Texas, I told the detectives everything except for the part where he forced me to have sex with him. I didn’t want Carter to grow up and learn that about his dad. I didn’t want him to think he was unwanted for any reason. And as of now, his only dad is Wyatt.

Travis took a plea deal of ten years in prison for my abuse, and even after that, it didn’t feel like justice to me. I didn’t want to destroy Travis more than he already was. He needed help, not to be locked up and have the key thrown away, but that wasn’t my decision to make.

I pray that Travis heals and that he never hurts another girl the way he did me. I will never be the same, I have scars that run deeper than the skin. I will never be the same girl. The innocence I once had was robbed from me, by the person I trusted most.

My journey didn’t end when Travis went to prison. I still have bad days where I have nightmares of the abuse. The worst part is that Travis doesn’t remember any of it, just of the aftermath, when he came to. The broken me wishes it would haunt him, but I know that won’t help me heal.

I hope one day I can truly forgive him.

 

 

I wake up to soft skin against me and Mae’s beautiful face comes into view when I open my eyes. I memorize her skin every chance I get. Another small body catches my attention as he sleeps soundly against his mama.

My bean.

Yes, mine. The adoption was finalized a month ago, and it’s the best feeling knowing that they are truly mine. I want to ask Mae to marry me one day, but not anytime soon. I know she’ll need a while to get into a headspace where she feels safe again.

And when she does, I will make her my wife. I will fill her with my babies and make our family grow. Our little Alaskan family. I almost lost her once, Carter too, but that will never happen again.

My heart is in the form of two humans that lie next to me, and I spend my morning just staring at my whole worlds with so much happiness.