Chapter Fifteen
River and Sera received the news of their friend Julianna's wedding to the man she loved since she was sixteen. They were ecstatic that finally she would be happily married to the one she loved. She invited them to her wedding in her hometown of Austin, Texas. They congratulated her and started making plans for going to Austin.
"Carol and Julianna are finally happy. Only we both are doomed. Are you happy to marry Rhett?" Asked River as they sat on the log in the courtyard, staring at the distant mountains. Zion was playing with a ball beside Sera while she kept an eye on him.
"I have no choice Riv. I want Zion to have a family. No one should call him an illegitimate child when he starts school," said Sera and River nodded.
"I still love Zach. It's only that he never cared about me and didn't once think of me after having his way with me. He discarded me like dirt," said Sera as a tear rolled down her cheek.
"He still calls and writes on my Facebook messenger asking about you. I don't answer him," said River, quietly.
Sera looked at her friend,"You never told me," she said.
"What's there to tell?" Said River. "If he wanted, he could have come down and pursued you."
"Has he married his fiancée?" Asked Sera.
"No, she eloped with a Greek tycoon just before the wedding," informed River and Sera stared at her with her mouth hanging open.
So Zachary wasn't engaged anymore yet he didn't even think much about her. He didn't forget her completely but wasn't interested much either. Else he would have pursued her. But the heart can't forget and neither does it leave that faint ray of hope that maybe one day Zachary would love her as much as she loved him.
River's condition was no better. Her heart still loved Tyler and she still couldn't move on. She didn't even want to. She was still stuck in those days when she used to goto Carmella's house and spend some time with Tyler. She was lost in her own world and most of the days, Sera didn't see her at all.
Two days before Julianna's wedding, they flew to Austin. It was Zion's first trip out of Montana. Rhett didn't want Sera and Zion to go alone, but since he had a huge workload, he reluctantly left them. River took her camera along and engaged herself in taking pictures.
Both River and Sera caught up with Carol and her husband Maxwell. She was two months pregnant. They bonded with Julianna's husband Vincent too. They took lots of photographs of baby Zion. After promising to meet up again, they left.
Life went on as usual. Sera got a very good job opportunity at one of the biggest transport companies in Great Falls. She took it up as the pay was excellent and there were a lot of perks too. The work at River's family business was monotonous and she couldn't ask for a salary. True they took care of her and Zion's every need, yet Sera didn't wish to impose upon them any more.
She took River's car to work which was a thirty minutes drive away from granddad's ranch. River's mom, granny and the other aunties looked after Zion and kept him happy while she was gone. Rhett too checked him in between work.
"How are you liking the new job?" Asked River, one night when she saw Sera sitting on the log and staring at the mountains under the bright moonlight.
She sat down beside Sera. Zion was asleep and Sera just sat down thinking of Zachary. She hadn't seen him in the last two years. She didn't find any photograph of him on social media. She wanted to know so much about him.
"Yes. It's very challenging and the pay is good," she answered.
"I wish I could go somewhere far away. I'm tired of this monotonous life here. That's why I had gone away to Huntsville when grandma called me. That time mom and dad were planning to get me engaged to their friend's son," she informed.
"Rhett seems aloof these days, have you noticed? He doesn't talk to us as much as he used to before," said River.
"Yeah, maybe he's repenting his decision to marry me," said Sera.
"Could be. I've heard that Adelaide cancelled her wedding, " informed River.
"Maybe she still loves him," said Sera.
"Yeah, I think so too," said River.
They talked some more. They discussed Zion's future, how to save some money for his education and his future. Their studies were over and while Sera was satisfied with her new job, River wasn't.
River wanted a more challenging job and grew more restless as the days passed by.
Sera fell into a routine with her new job and Zion. She saw less and less of Rhett as days went by. She didn't love Rhett and didn't mind at all. Although they were engaged, he didn't even hold her hand or try to kiss her and she was thankful.
He however was very close to Zion and still cared about him the same way as he used to. Zion called him "unca Let" and he was very happy to respond to him.
Sera was offered accommodation by her company and she contemplated shifting out of River's parents house to her new apartment. It was located midway between granddad's ranch and her workplace. So the driving time would be double. She would have to drop Zion and go to work and pick up Zion and return to her new home.
She thought about whether to take the step or not. Her wedding date wasn't fixed yet and Rhett didn't pursue the matter anymore. So she too left it at that and concentrated on making a stable career for herself.
However, when she went to check out the apartment one evening after work, she found that it was a huge residential complex with day care centres for the small children of working people as well as Montessori schools. It was a huge community in fact.
So she decided to speak to her family over the weekend and shift.
