Shattered Girl (Emmy)

With tears in my eyes, I thank the guys. Patrick steps forward, scooping me up in his arms. The other four crowded close, each taking my hand and kissing me. Then they all returned to the house, leaving Patrick and I alone on the porch. Still cradling me in his arms, Patrick walked around the corner of the house to a covered swing that faced the side yard, which held several different fruit trees and a vegetable gardenText property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Patrick sat with me on the swing, pushing it into motion with his long gs. I was content to sit quietly and was happy that Patrick was not the type of guy who wanted the constant conversation to fill the quiet after almost twenty minutes of enjoying the quiet sounds of the breeze rustling the leaves on the fruit trees and the birds singing. urned to look at Patrick. "Thank you for being understanding and not getting mad," I said quietly. Then, I wrapped my arms around his neck and rested my head against his shoulder.

* Love, I would never be mad at you for something you can't control, and don't think for a moment I wouldn't do everything in my power to make sure you had the help you needed. You have been through a lot of traumatic shit, and it's going to take time for you to heal and feel safe again. Patrick carefully wrapped his arms around me, and I tilled my head to kiss him again. "Are you starting to feel better?" He asked, brushing his fingers through my hair.

"I am; sitting outside with you makes me feel much better. Our day started rocky, but do you still want to do something?" I asked hopefully.

What did you have in mind, Mo Chuishle?" I sat up, looking at him curiously.

"What does Mo Chuishle? Mean? Is it Irish? I was always fascinated with foreign languages, and 1 loved learning new words..

Yes, it is trish; it's a term of endearment; the direct translation means my pulse, but when someone says it, they mean that you have their heart, Patrick explained.

"That is so sweet, I love it." I smiled, giving him another kiss, "So, what was your original plan for us today before my panic attack derailed everything?"

"Well, I had wanted to take you somewhere mellow; I was thinking of letting you pick between the zoo or aquarium. Have you been to either before?"

"I went to the zoo once when I was little. It was a school field trip, and we all had clipboards with questions to answer about the different animals. It was rushed and not a lot of fun. I have never been to the aquarium." Ladmitted.

"Well, we are going to have to fix that then. Neither place should be that busy today since it's a weekday, so which would you like to go

"I want to see both when we have the time, but let's go to the aquarium I want to see the fish." I smiled at him, happy with my choice.

All right then, let's get going." With that, Patrick stood up and, still in his arms, carried me to the car and buckled me into the passenger seat.

I-grinned at Patrick as he buckled his seatbelt and started the car. As we drove out of the gated community, he told me about a little deli The knew of that made amazing sandwiches, I agreed we would stop there for a fast lunch. Patrick was right; the sandwiches were excellent and enormous. I ordered the smallest size they had and still had enough left over for another meal. Everyone who worked there seemed to know Patrick, treating him with respect and coming up to greet him. When we were back in the car, I asked him about it, and he told me his dad, Michael, was a silent partner in the deli. This piqued my curiosity because I thought they all worked together with Conner as the head of the family. Patrick explained that while yes he and all his dads worked together, they wanted to get away from the illegal businesses and focus on the legal ones. Since Michael had experience with the food industry, and the owner of the deli was a friend of his. Michael offered to loan the deli money for upgrades to bring everything

up

to code. The owner was so happy he insisted on Michael being a silent partner, and Michael was now happily making legal money.

We were pulling into a parking space at the aquarium when Patrick finished his story about the deli. He hurried around the car to open my door, and we walked hand in hand up to the main entrance to buy tickets. With tickets in hand, we went inside; Patrick passed the tickets to an attendant, who stamped our hands, handed him a map, and pointed out the little painted fish on the floor, telling us to follow the fish.

Laughing, we followed the paintings on the floor into the first room. I gasped excitedly; the entire room held tanks of different types of Jellyfish. Patrick laughed as I excitedly approached the first tank, standing quietly and watching the little creatures that looked suspended mid-air. I walked around the circular tank, wanting to see the jellyfish from every angle. When I ran across an information card displaying facts about them, I excitedly read Patrick the most interesting ones. Patrick was content to follow me around the room as I checked out each tank. We started a silly game, picking out our favorite creature in each tank and then having to give each other clues as we tried to pick out the correct one. Patrick guessed correctly for mine, and we moved in the next room.

This room was dimly lit, with large floor-to-celling windows that looked into the enormous tank. I quickly found the information cards; these had pictures of all the different creatures living in the deeper parts of the ocean. I read them to Patrick and grabbed his hand; he followed me to each window while I searched for my favorite sea creature.