Summer Wind

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to review. This chapter takes place the same night as chapter 14. Please let me know what you think.

Summer Wind

Chapter 15 – Security Quilt

Warren could see that his mother’s car was in the driveway, so he tried his best to slip quietly in through the back door, though he knew that it was really a futile gesture. Even if his mother had been in the top most corner of the attic with ear muffs on, she could have heard a pin drop in the basement, one of her gifts.

Neither did she need her car for her true work. Despite having her heart broken by her husband, her former high school sweetheart, Amore Peace had never turned her back on what she had always felt was her true calling.

Amore was known as WindSwept to nearly the entire world. She spent the majority of her time calming the tsunamis, typhoons, and tidal waves that plagued most of Southeast Asia. For that reason, she spent a great deal of time away from home, and sadly, away from her son.

Amore really had not meant for her absences to grow longer and longer as Warren had grown older. She had told herself that she was leaving him by himself for more extended stretches of time because he was so mature for his age, and she had so many responsibilities to take care of. He could take care of himself, she would say, and this was showing confidence in his ability to take care of himself. It wasn’t because the older he grew, the more he looked like his father.

Warren’s long, straight black hair had been inherited from Amore, down to the red streaks that most people attributed to Warren’s pyrokenesis. But his face, his statue, his voice, all of that came from Barron Battle. As Warren had grown, every time that Amore looked at her son, she felt as though she was watching Barron all over again.

Amore had tried her best to hide the betrayal that she still felt at the hands of Barron Battle. As she and her husband had grown apart, she hadn’t realized that it wasn’t just their feelings for each other that were changing. Not until Barron’s first attempt at domination of one of the smaller Asian countries did Amore realize that ethically, they had nothing in common anymore.

Maybe it was because of all the destruction that Battle had caused in the coastal countries of Asia , that WindSwept spend so much time there, instead of at home. Maybe she was trying to atone for the sins of her husband by averting as many of the natural disasters as she possibly could. It seemed to Amore that those countries had already suffered enough man-made disasters without having to endure the decimating forces of nature. After being demolished by fire it seemed a cruel trick to then be destroyed by water and wind. Or maybe she didn’t want to be at home and let her feelings for Battle influence Warren’s perception of his father.

Despite her continuing love for Battle, Amore didn’t want Warren to confuse love, as approval of all of the mayhem that Battle had caused. She knew that she could have handled the situation better. Somewhere along the way, she knew that Warren had grown into an angry young man. She feared very much that what she had been trying to prevent for the last eighteen years, had occurred anyway. That perhaps Warren had begun to follow his father’s footsteps.

She had been watching the news reports of the fires when she heard Warren’s motorcycle pull into the driveway. Amore was waiting for him in the kitchen when the back door opened. What she had not expected was for Jameson to be with him.

Amore stood back to wait as Warren led Jamie into the kitchen. He seated her at the antique oak table and then followed his mother into the living room. She didn’t have to ask to speak to him alone or even say a word at all. He knew that she had seen the news reports. She would know who was responsible.

Warren didn’t want to reveal what had happened to Jamie without her consent, but he knew that his mother would want an explanation for the evening’s events. At any other time Warren would simply have taken the brunt of his mother’s s wrath, dealt with it and moved on.

However, over the past few months, he knew that Jamie had slowly become a part of his mother’s life also. Amore and Jamie would have tea together whenever Jamie dropped by to see Warren. Jamie had bought his mother a book of nature poems she had found at a yard sale one Saturday. Amore always asked what Jamie’s track standing was, and if she had heard anything new from the scholarship departments.

Also, Warren knew that his mother was grateful that Jamie was steering him in the direction of college. Despite everyone’s assumption that Warren would graduate than begin training as an apprentice under a fully qualified hero, no one had ever attempted to suggest what else he might do with his life. Jamie was the only person who had ever considered that Warren might have other interests and desires.

For these reasons, Warren decided to tell his mother about the last few days of Jamie’s life. His mother deserved the truth about Warren’s actions, and she should also know what Jamie was going through. Most importantly, Warren was hoping that his mother might be able to offer the words of comfort and wisdom that at this moment were escaping him.

Because, despite the satisfaction he had felt at the destruction at the galleria, Warren still did not feel that Keith and his friends had paid for their transgressions. He was still filled with the fury of wanting them to atone for their offenses. His rage was clouding his mind and his thinking, and at the moment, he knew that Jameson needed someone rational to talk to. He knew he couldn’t offer any words of comfort while he still wanted to go back and make Keith pay in flesh for what he had done. Jameson needed someone who could help her get past this. How could Warren do that when he was having difficulty with it himself?

But the woman standing in front of him knew all about forgiveness and moving on with your life. Despite Amore’s worries that her son may have perceived her long absences to be a result of a growing bitterness towards Warren and his father, Warren had always admired the way that she had never spoken unkindly of his father. She had only rebuked his actions and the effects that those exploits had had on other people. To Warren, his mother had been able to separate the person from the deed. She could condemn the action and still love the person. For this reason, Warren held her in the highest regard, and knew that this was the person that Jamie needed to talk to at the moment. Who better to help Jamie deal with feelings of betrayal and violation than the wife of Barron Battle?

Amore listened silently and when she headed back towards the kitchen, Warren stayed in the living room.

“You’re shivering. You need a cup of tea,” Amore said to Jamie, pulling tea bags, sugar, and cups from the cabinet.

Jamie watched the diminutive woman bustling quietly around the kitchen. Despite Amore’s size, Jamie had always felt that Warren’s mother overpowered any room she entered. Jamie towered over Amore by almost six inches, but Amore’s personality more than compensated for her lack of stature.

Jamie couldn’t really say exactly what it was about Amore that made her so imposing. She wasn’t loud, nor demanding. She didn’t boss Warren, nor nag. She didn’t pry into their affairs, nor criticize their relationship. But, Jamie knew Amore had high hopes for the two of them, and though it was unstated, Jamie knew Amore expected the best from both of them, and that she would support them in whatever they did with their lives.

As Amore put the kettle on to heat, Jamie’s gaze fell again. She wasn’t really sure now, how she could live up to such high expectations. Just a few weeks ago she had begun to feel that perhaps there was more to life than just running, the track team, this town and the peg hole that you were forced into in high school. She had thought for a short amount of time that maybe she could change where she was heading. But, then, she had screwed up so badly this weekend. She had disappointed everyone, including herself.

And she had dragged Warren into the middle of her disaster. How could she face Warren’s mother when she had involved Amore’s son so deeply in her problems?

Jamie thought of the fury that had been evident on Warren’s face as he had crossed the parking lot. Watching him in that moment, Jamie had truly feared for the lives of the boys involved. As much as she had wanted them to suffer, she knew that there was nothing that she could do to really hurt them. But with the power that Warren possessed, he could have very easily stepped over the line and caused them physical harm. It was that awareness that had brought Jamie to the realization that Warren wasn’t just another guy.

Oh, she had definitely been aware of that before now. In all aspects he was different. Physically, she desired him every day. She couldn’t get enough of him. Emotionally, he gave off the pretense of being unconcerned when he was in public, but he was more caring about his friends than he would ever admit. Intellectually, he was brilliant and talented beyond belief. And though the plans that they made about the future were really just musings, and conjectures, she didn’t want to imagine her life without him in it.

The whole hero aspect had always been just a sidebar to Jameson before. She had seen a sampling of what he could do. She knew that even at a school full of heroes, Warren’s powers outranked most of the other students’. But she had never stopped to think about what he could really do with that power. It could so easily be used for destruction, as it could be used for assistance. And this evening, Jameson had been instrumental in Warren using his powers for destruction. That was something she never wanted to happen again. Now matter where their relationship went from here, she wouldn’t be the reason that Warren didn’t live up to his true potential, or the reason that he disappointed his mother.

That was another reason that Jameson was having trouble facing Amore at the moment.

Amore set a steaming cup, of tea in front of Jamie then left the room. She returned in a few moments with a worn quilt which she wrapped around Jamie’s shoulders.

“This quilt is one that my mother brought with her when she journeyed here from Asia.” Amore said, sitting down across from Jamie. “She was alone, without anyone. She had been disinherited by her parents when she didn’t develop any powers. She knew no one in this country. But, she came here anyway. She started over. She told me the quilt made her feel safe on many nights when she was by herself.”

Amore sipped at her tea and watched Jamie. “She gave it to me when I developed my powers. I had no one to guide me and I felt very alone. She told me she had no words of advice on how to control my powers, but she knew what it felt like to be all by yourself in the world.” Amore reached out and touched Jamie’s shoulder. She ran her fingers down her arm, fingering the worn strips of material. “This is security. This is safe. This is knowing that you can make it. Right now you might feel like you’re all by yourself, but you’re not. This will remind you of that until you begin to feel it again yourself. There are all kinds of safe. This one is made of material. It’s just a reminder, but it’s still important.”

Amore looked up to see Warren standing in the doorway. “It’s time to see Jamie home. Take my car so she won’t get chilled again.”

Jamie moved to take the quilt from around her shoulders, but Amore stopped her. “You keep it for now. You’ll know when it’s time to return it.”

Jamie and Warren were silent on the way to her house, but it was a comfortable silence. When they arrived at Jamie’s house, instead of stopping on the street as usual, Warren pulled into the driveway, and shut the car off.

He walked Jamie to her front door, and when she realized she had forgotten her key, he waited as she rang the doorbell.

When Jamie’s father answered the door, Warren faced the man that he felt was just as instrumental in Jamie’s downward spiral as were the boys from the parking lot. “I wanted to make sure that Jamie was safe,” he said, meeting the harsh gaze of Jamie’s father.

“She’s safe now. She’s home.” Mr. Mills said, still blocking the doorway.

Warren matched Mr. Mills’ gaze until he moved out of the way. Escorting Jamie into the house, Warren replied, “There are all kinds of safe.”