Page 84 of Hale's Pawn
I kiss his hand again. “No, baby. They’re finally letting you in. They trust you and you’re our family now, so you should know their real identities. Meet Orion and Phoenix.”
“Wow…” Oran says. He doesn’t speak for a second and then he says it again, “Wow.”
After dinner,Markos says he has something to show us that he found while getting rid of my mom’s things. “I think this is worth keeping.” He smiles. “I was able to get it uploaded to the cloud.”
He casts it on the smart TV and it starts to play. I smile instantly when I spot myself in a hot pink suit with a tie too big for me.
“Ains… question time!” I hear ten-year-old Mikonos say. He still had an accent back then.
“Okay, shoot! What’s the question?” I say with the halo of curls all over my face.
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
“I want to be like papa.”
“You can’t do that! That’s a boy’s job!” ten-year-old Markos yells out and comes in the frame.
I fold my arms and pout. “Can too! Watch!”
I must’ve been 7 at the time. I remember that outfit but not this conversation. “What about when you gotta marry somebody?”
I scrunch up my face. “I don’t gotta married nobody.”
“Marry, not married,” Mikonos corrects me.
“I don’t care!” I give him a death glare.
“Who do you think Papa is going to pick for you?” Mikonos asks.
“I get to pick ‘cause I’m gonna be in charge,” I say with confidence.
Markos snickers. “She’s gonna pick Oran Hale,” he says it mockingly.
My little face turns red. Am I blushing? “No, I’m not!” I yell.
“You like Oran Hale?” Mikonos asks.
I breathe hard, trying not to cry. “No,” I whisper.
“She does! I saw her practicing in the mirror!” Markos yells loudly.
I shove him and we start fighting. “Take it back!” I yell at him as I pull his hair.
He subdues me and then he gets on top, holding me down. “I’ll let you go when you tell us the truth.”
Little me is frustrated and I break in less than a minute. “Fine. It’s true!”
“Uh...course it is!” Markos says.
Mikonos leaves the camera on the floor and you see Mikonos kick Markos off me. “Don’t be mean. She can like him.”
“Eww! He’s old!” Markos says.
“He’s fourteen! I can grow up and married him!” I scream out and then we hear my mother calling for me. The fear in my young eyes is so palpable, it almost ruins the moment, but then my eyes soften as I lay on the floor. “I’m gonna married Oran Hale when I’m older,” I say, clearly in love with the Founder’s kids grump.
Oran has a huge smile on his face when I look at him. “I knew you targeted me for a reason.”
I kick my foot out and kick his thigh. “Hush.”
