A call from home...
Now, in Angel's Cloud.
For two days, Merette stays home, tending to her sick daughter. Apparently, Leisl was having a fever and that was the reason why she had been so cranky. Staying home with her daughter also gives Merette some time to calm her hyperaware neurons firing in her brain, thoughts tending to rise a mile a minute.
Also, she hasn't heard anything about Kaiser for the last two days. Not that she expected anything, but still there was no trace of him. He hasn't shown up to the tavern either when she asks about it to Rye.
Merette runs a hand over her face, toes digging into the tiled kitchen floor. A sigh slips past her pink lips, she kneads the back of her head before coming to press her face into her palms, elbow resting on the kitchen counter from where she sits at the kitchen island on a stool.
She doubts if Kaiser is still in the town or would he have already gone to Loch Fog? She doesn't know why he's here in the first place. Could he be living here for a while and she's only seeing him now?
Merette doesn't know.
The web of thoughts she's been sewing is broken off by the ringing of her phone. Her head snaps to the side, eyes searching for the source, she forgot where she put her phone last time.
Rising up from the stool, her feet pad down on the cool marble floor, she crosses the kitchen to find her phone on the refrigerator.
By the time she grabs the phone, the ringing has already stopped, though before she can check who it is, the device starts ringing again."
Her eyes latch on to the caller id which says "Merry❤️". A smile tugs on Merette's lips at the sight of her and her sister standing in the backyard of their grandparents' home in Loch Cliff in the breezy afternoon years and years before she fled that place, lighting up the phone screen.
She slid a finger on the screen surface, holding the device to her ear. "Hey…" She breathes, it's been a bit since she last heard from her sister.
"You remember us by any chance, kid?" It's the first thing that leaves Marianne's lips making a wince slip out of Merette's mouth.
She scratches the back of her neck, rapping her fingertips down on her nape. "God, don't be so dramatic. Of course, I remember you. I think about you guys all the time, Merry!"
Merriene huffs a laugh from the other side of the line. "Mmmhh. Of course, you would. And that's why you're calling every day, so I'm not surprised."
"I haven't called because I've been a little busy lately." Merette reasons, eyes on the beige wall.
There's a sigh of disappointment at the other end and a few moments of silence before Marrienne decides to speak up. "You are always busy." She says, and it's more of a whisper as if they have already had enough of these conversations.
"I'm not…" Merette heaves out a breath, tipping her head upward to face the ceiling. "Look, I know I haven't called at all last week. And I have my reasons, Merry—"
"Is there anything wrong, May? Is everything alright there?" Marianne's worried voice efficiently cut Merette off. The nervousness oozing out of her sister's voice gives her an itch to comfort her.
"No. There's no probs. It's just— uh, the shifts at the tavern have been a little too hectic lately." She consoles.
"You sure there's nothing more to it?"
"Umm, no. Why would there be? We are perfectly alright here save for the fever Leisl caught two days ago." She lets out a laugh, trying to lighten the mood.
"Oh… how is she right now? I'm guessing it's no biggie."
"Yeah, it ain't."
The line crackles and Marianne's groan trickles out of the noise. "Where's my little nephew?"
"Your little nephew is sleeping after wreaking havoc. You know how cranky she could get when she gets sick." A smile curls her lips as she talks about her daughter even though the image of the man who gave her the girl blinks in her mind.
She can not think about him right now.
"Lord, I miss her!" A laugh stumbles out of her mouth at the shriek Marienne lets out. But the smile that blooms on her face doesn't live long, it dies down the moment her mind zooms in on the next words she says. "When are you coming to see Nana and Papa? They have been asking about you a lot recently, Merette… They're… they're old." Merette's heart clenches inside her chest, she really wants to see them.
"They're always in my thoughts, too, Merry. I'm not sure if ever a day passes by in which I don't think about them." She whispers, hand sliding up to braze her hip.
"I know and they miss you too, May. They wish to see you. And if you are worried about…" She hesitates, but even before she says it, Merette knows what she's about to say. "About him, I found out through a friend of a friend that he's not here anymore, they said he moved somewhere, and when I asked where, she said she's not aware."
What?
He moved away? Away from the whole Loch? That's impossible, he loved that place with all his heart. Then why?
"I don't think I could ever leave the Loch, Merette. This is where I belong." Kaiser's young voice echoes through the walls of Merette's mind, tugging at her heartstrings from the memories the words flood into her mind's vision.
"May? Are you still there?" Marianne's voice slices through the haze and pulls Merette out of her recollections. She blinks, collecting herself.
"Yes. I'm here."
"I'm sorry if I—"
"No. It's fine." She mutters, her thoughts threatening to run off to him all over again.
"Can you come home? I'm tired of making excuses for you. They are not taking this well anymore, Merette. They think you don't want to see them anymore."
"They know about Leisl, Merry. They would understand…"
"They've been understanding for three years."
Merette heaves a sigh, "I'll try."
"You better, because you're losing too much time. You would think it's just three years, but it's not just that. They've missed all these years in Leisl's life. They want to see her too. And they only saw her two times, once when she was born and the second, her first birthday. Please try to visit a couple of times a year, May. Dad and Mom miss you, too. We all do."
"I know."
Marianne huffs, "I don't think you actually do."
"Merry."
"What?"
"I saw him here."