6. Resolution.
After a huge dinner of venison braised in red wine, baked potatoes and Dylan's mangled vegetables, they were far too full to think about anything more than just relaxing in front of the log fire, their feet stretched out towards the heat. Dylan snuggled up close to McQueen as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Cooper had made himself scarce, as requested quietly by McQueen shortly before dinner.
"So, Elf, tell me. Who was that who got you so upset earlier?" he asked softly, even though he already knew. He felt her body tense as he said it.
"It was my mother." She turned her head to face him, her eyes wide. "How much did you hear, Ty?"
"Enough."
"I'm sorry that you had to hear any of it. She's a mean spirited old troll, and if she wasn't my mother, I'd………… well, I'd………… oh! I don't know what I'd do…………! But it wouldn't be nice!"
He smiled at the sight of her small frame shaking with anger, anger in defence of him. He reached out to her, pulling her close again.
"Well, I can't help my name, but I love yours………… Dill!"
"No!" she squeaked. "Don't call me that, please. I hate it, I always have. It's so childish. But then, that's why she calls me it. She's my mother. She thinks she rules my life. She wants total control over everything I do."
"Well, I never had a mother, so I can't speak from experience. But isn't that what mothers do?" he asked with a grin.
"Not my mother. She's a total control freak. She hates to think I might actually have thoughts and opinions of my own. Do you know that when you and I first met, she'd simply told me I had to pack a bag because I was going on a trip?" She shook her head, remembering. "I'd never been away from here before, and she didn't even tell me where I was going. I'd never been so scared in all my life." She paused. "Well, except for the time I fell in the loch and Iona said she could see the monster coming to eat me!"
He laughed. "And you believed her?"
His laugh turned to a yelp as she hit him on the chest. "I was 8 years old… of course I believed her! You swine. I can't believe you think my terror was funny."
He smiled and leaned forward to kiss her briefly on the lips.
"You know, I gathered your mother was talking about me. I can't blame her for being protective, but it seemed rather more than that."
Dylan sighed, and snuggling herself as close to him as she could, said, "She thinks you are going to hurt me. She called you a tank. She says invitro's don't know how to love. That you don't feel things the way that natural borns do." She closed her eyes and whispered, "It's what my father did to her. She loved him, but he didn't know how to cope with it. He just up and left when she told him she was pregnant with me. She's never seen or heard from him since. I guess it's made her bitter. She thinks that's what you'll do to me."
He held her tightly, hearing the distress in her voice.
"And what do you think?" he asked softly.
"I don't know." she whispered. "All I know for certain is that I love you. Even though I was angry with you, I couldn't just stand there and listen to her spouting off all the bigoted things she said, especially about you. If you don't love me, well, that's life. But I still love you, and she can't change that, as much as she may want to."
She lifted her head from his chest and looked straight into his blue eyes.
"You do love me though, don't you? I know that you do."
At his gentle nod, and reassuring hug she continued.
"She actually said that if she'd known I had invited you to come and stay, she would have forbidden it! Can you believe that?" Seeing the laughter in his eyes, she grimaced at him. "Well, I'm glad you think it's funny, but I'm 25 years old for goodness sake! Not 5!" She shook her head at him. "Honestly, I don't know why I love you, you gawp, but I do."
He pulled her head down kissing her forehead.
"I'm glad you love me, even if I am a gawp… whatever that is. Because I do love you, despite what your mother might think. I have no intention of hurting you. In fact, I'd like you to do something for me." She looked up at him curiously. "I'd like you to come and live at Loxley." At her surprised look he said, "It's a lot easier for me to get to than this place. We might actually get to see each other more than once a year."
"But I can't just go and live there, Ty. I can't. She may be a mean spirited old bigot, but she's still my mother. This is my home."
"Even though she bullies you, you still want to stay here?" he asked, puzzled.
"Yes, even though she bullies me. But we're going to prove her wrong about you, aren't we?" she asked in a small voice.
"Yes, we are." He sighed. "If you want to stay living here, then fine. But it'll always cut into any liberty I get. The travelling I mean." he added at her questioning glance.
"Whatever I can do to keep my little elf happy, I'll do, because I love you. Don't you ever doubt it, and don't you listen when your mother tells you otherwise. I, Tyrus McQueen, love you, Dylan Mackenzie, and that's official."
She sighed, and together they snuggled in front of the fire, watching the logs burn themselves down into ash before he stood, and taking her hand, led her to bed.
Fin
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