Engravings of Wraith

by Kiera Dellacroix

  “That’s it,” Piper said with a squeeze to Bailey’s hand.

  Bailey gave her a nervous smile as the car pulled up to the front of the house and stopped. She began to breath a little faster when she saw a man and woman she assumed to be Piper’s mother and father come out of the house and begin to walk down the steps.

  Piper knew she was afraid and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. “Trust me when I say this is going to be a lot harder on me than it is you,” she said with a sigh as she got out of the car and Bailey hesitantly stepped out herself.

  Piper’s father was a solid, strong looking man that was pushing sixty, with light red hair that had almost completely given over to gray and intelligent dark blue eyes. Her mother was a pretty woman that Bailey could see Piper physically favored. She was short and had an easy smile with thick brown hair and hazel eyes.

  “Mom, Dad,” Piper said coming around the car. “This is Bailey Cameron,” she said proudly, taking Bailey’s hand. “Bailey, these are my parents, Jack and Elizabeth.”

  “How do you do, young lady?” Jack said and shook her hand with a firm grip.

  “It’s nice to meet you both,” Bailey said nervously and quickly remembered. “Thank you for having me,” she added.

  “It’s our pleasure, dear,” Elizabeth said winningly with a French accent. “Just call me, Liz.”

  “Alright,” Bailey said.

  “You sure are a pretty thing and what a lovely accent,” Liz complimented shooing Piper away with a hand. “Go kiss your father, Piper.”

  Liz took Bailey by the hand and tugged her in the direction of the house. “Corey, quit gawking like an idiot and take their things up to Piper’s room,” she said pleasantly to her son.

  “You come along with me, I have a whole weekend of tormenting my daughter planned and I’m going to start by showing you all of her pictures from when she was a baby,” Liz said dragging Bailey up the stairs, who shot a beseeching look over her shoulder at Piper.

  “Mom,” Piper both whined and threatened.

  “Join us in the kitchen when you’re ready, Piper,” Liz said pleasantly, leading her captive into the house.

  As soon as the door closed, Piper turned a pleading look on her father but only got a powerless shrug in return. “I’m afraid you’re in for it,” he said hopelessly. “She’s a beautiful girl, Piper,” he added, embracing his daughter.

  “I know,” Piper said with a smile, returning the hug.

  “You better go to her rescue,” he said amused.

  “Okay,” Piper chuckled and kissed him on the cheek before following her mother and Bailey.

  Piper walked through the door and made tracks for the rear of the house. She could smell food cooking and smiled to herself as she approached the kitchen. Her mother’s voice wafted down the hallway and her pace increased.

  “Take off those sunglasses and let me see you,” Liz demanded in a friendly tone.

  Bailey sat totally at a loss before a table in the kitchen with several photo albums in front of her. She took her sunglasses off apprehensively and put them in her jacket.

  “What gorgeous eyes,” Liz said looking closely at Bailey’s face. “Try smiling a bit, dear. Those eyes of yours can be a little intimidating,” she added amiably.

  “Mother,” Piper said sharply from the doorway. “Don’t embarrass her,” she added entering the room.

  “Je pas embarassing la,” Liz spoke. “Je la complimentais.”

  “Aucun vous n’etiez pas,” Piper said. “Il doit bien me embarrasser, mais le prend facile sur elle, elle n’est pas utilise à lui.”

  Bailey listened curiously while they argued back and forth, reaching out to open one of the photo albums in front of her and smiling at what she found.

  “Est-ce que c’est vous, Piper?” Bailey said amused. “Quel bebe en graisse.”

  Both mother and daughter stopped arguing abruptly and turned to her with almost identical gaping expressions.

  “You speak French?” Piper asked with a blush.

  “Oui,” Bailey said with a little smile.

  “Well, how embarrassing,” Liz said with a blush of her own but smiled. “You’re right though, she was a fat baby.”

  Piper let out a long suffering sigh and sat down beside Bailey. “I wasn’t that fat,” she defended.

  Liz joined them at the table and smiled pleasantly. “Let me show you what she looked like with braces,” she said happily.

  “Okay,” Bailey said enthusiastically.

  Piper braced herself and closed her eyes.

  ———

  An hour and fifteen minutes later, Piper sat firmly entrenched in the throes of an impressive sulk as she listened to her mother gleefully tell childhood stories about her while Bailey continued to thumb through the photo albums. To make matters worse, Bailey even chuckled from time to time as she nibbled on the sandwich Liz had made her. Her own sandwich remained untouched in front of her because she couldn’t stop grinding her teeth long enough to enjoy it. She rejoiced when Jennifer entered the kitchen with her fussing niece.

  “There she is,” Piper said happily getting up from the table. “Oh, she’s so cute,” she cooed at the baby in Jennifer’s arms.

  “Devon Tate,” Jennifer said proudly. “Meet your Aunt Piper.”

  “Well, hello there,” Piper said in a baby voice tickling Devon’s chest.

  “Here,” Jennifer said handing the child to Piper. “Will you hold her while I make her a bottle?”

  “Of course,” Piper said taking the crying baby and sitting down next to Bailey.

  “Isn’t she adorable?” Piper said to Bailey who looked at the child uncomfortably.

  “Devon, this is Bailey,” Piper said formally to the child when Bailey didn’t immediately answer. “Bailey is your Aunt Piper’s girlfriend,” she added in a whisper.

  “Would you like to hold her?” Piper asked Bailey whose eyes widened.

  “Piper, I…uhm…I’ve never held a child before,” she said uneasily.

  “Then this’ll be a new experience for you,” Piper said unsympathetically and placed Devon in her arms. “Keep one arm under her for support,” she added rearranging Bailey’s limbs to accommodate the baby.

  Bailey tensed and cradled the child as if she were extremely fragile. “Piper, take her back,” she said hopefully.

  “Nope,” Piper said and took a bite of her sandwich.

  Bailey looked worriedly at the baby in her arms as Devon grabbed a fistful of her ponytail and immediately stopped crying.

  “Looks like she found a friend,” Liz said watching with interest from across the table.

  “Yep,” Piper and Jennifer said at almost the same time and laughed.

  Bailey looked at the child in wonder. “Hello,” she said rather stiffly and Piper chuckled.

  “She’s not going to stand up and shake your hand, goofy,” she teased.

  “Be quiet,” Bailey said and Liz chuckled.

  “I see she’s already learned to deal with you,” Liz said with an amused look at Piper, who scowled.

  “Would you like to feed her, Bailey?” Jennifer asked.

  “I… I don’t know how,” she said hesitantly.

  “All you have to do is hold the bottle,” Jennifer said offering it to Devon who instantly took it in her mouth.

  Bailey brought a hand up and very tentatively took the bottle from Jennifer’s hand.

  “Try to relax, sweetie,” Liz said pleasantly. “She’s not made of glass.”

  Bailey nodded and took a deep breath. “Okay,” she said quietly.

  Piper leaned over and rested her cheek on Bailey’s shoulder. “I think she likes your hair,” Piper said quietly, watching Devon happily pull on Bailey’s ponytail.

  “I guess so,” Bailey said watching the little hand wrap around the hair and pull on it.

  Liz got up from the table after a moment and began to putter around in preparation for dinner.

  “I’ll be back in a minute,”
Jennifer said with a smile and left Bailey and Piper at the table with Devon.

  Bailey quietly fed the baby and studied her carefully for a few minutes. “She kind of looks like you did when you were a baby,” she said to Piper who smiled. “Only not so fat though,” she added innocently a few seconds later and Liz chuckled from across the room.

  Piper’s smile vanished and she let out another long sigh. “I can see this is going to be a long weekend,” she predicted sadly.

  Liz shot her daughter a smile. “Piper, don’t be a spoilsport,” she chided as Jennifer walked back into the kitchen.

  “Is she done, Bailey?” Jennifer asked looking over Bailey’s shoulder.

  “I think so.”

  “Yep, here let me take her.” Jennifer said and Bailey held the baby out to her. “She likes you, Bailey,” she teased as she took possession of Devon who didn’t want to let go of Bailey’s hair.

  “Piper, if you’re done eating why don’t you show Bailey around,” Liz suggested. “Dinner will be a few hours.”

  “Okay,” Piper said getting up from her seat and tugging on Bailey’s arm. “Come, let me show you the spread.”

  Piper gave Bailey a tour of the house and was relieved to note that she seemed far more relaxed than she did when she arrived. She took her up to her room and her eyes narrowed when she entered but she didn’t say anything, not wanting to make Bailey more uncomfortable than she already was.

  “This is our room,” Piper said pulling her inside and jumping on the bed playfully, extending a hand in invitation. “What do you think so far?” she asked when Bailey sat down beside her.

  “I think you have a wonderful family,” Bailey said quietly.

  “I told you it would be alright,” Piper pointed out gently as she rose from the bed to get a brush from the dresser. She climbed over the bed and sat back down behind Bailey so she could brush her hair.

  “Where did your father and Corey go?” Bailey asked having not seen them since they arrived.

  “They’re out in the barn I’m sure,” Piper said dismissively, pulling the tie from Bailey’s ponytail and starting to run the brush through her hair.

  “What are they doing out there?” Bailey asked curiously. “Do you have farm animals?”

  “No,” Piper said. “There’ll be a crowd of relatives over tomorrow and we’ll eat Thanksgiving dinner out there.”

  “In the barn?”

  “Yeah, after dinner they’ll clear the tables so everyone can dance and goof off.”

  “Goof off?” Bailey asked shooting an uncomprehending look over her shoulder.

  “A lot of my relatives can play an instrument, so quite a few them will play music for everyone to dance to,” Piper explained giving the turned cheek a quick peck. “Dad and Corey are probably out there cleaning up and getting the place ready.”

  “Oh,” Bailey said quietly and yawned.

  “I didn’t know you could speak French,” Piper stated. “Can you speak any other languages?”

  “Arabic, Russian, Spanish, and Italian,” Bailey said distantly.

  “Wow,” Piper said impressed. “I’m embarrassed you caught me arguing with Mother.”

  “Thanks for coming to my rescue,” Bailey said with a smile. “Your mother is pretty… uhm…” she trailed off.

  “Overwhelming?” Piper supplied helpfully and Bailey nodded with a smile. “Yes, she is. She doesn’t mean any harm, although she’s taking far too much pleasure in tormenting me,” she added with narrowed eyes.

  Bailey yawned again and Piper put the brush down. “You tired?”

  “A little.”

  “You can take a nap if you want,” Piper said. “I know today has been kind of tough on you.”

  “Will you take one with me?”

  “I’d love to,” Piper said wrapping her arms around her waist and placing a kiss on the back of her neck.

  Bailey lay down on the bed and Piper cuddled up to her back. “You’re so beautiful,” she said into her hair as she felt her begin to drift off.

  III

  Look my eyes are just holograms.

  —T. Tikaram

  Liz glanced over her shoulder and did a double take when she saw Piper giving her the evil eye from the doorway.

  “Someone has a nasty look on their face,” she said pleasantly. “Where’s Bailey?”

  “She’s upstairs sleeping on the new queen-sized bed that someone thoughtfully replaced my old twin with,” Piper said dryly and Liz chuckled.

  “My that was thoughtful,” Liz agreed happily. “The two of you would’ve never had fit in that old twin.”

  “I think you’re enjoying yourself a tad too much at my expense,” Piper accused leaving her post in the doorway to enter the kitchen.

  “Perhaps,” Liz agreed with a smile. “But I’ve waited thirty long years for you to bring someone home and I’m going to make the most of it.”

  “I asked you to take it easy on her, she’s not used to being around people,” Piper said. “It took a huge effort on her part just to agree to come.”

  “Honey, she seems to be adjusting quite nicely,” Liz said. “Don’t be so protective. Sometimes the quickest way to adapt is to jump right in.”

  “Maybe,” Piper agreed reluctantly.

  “She certainly is a beauty,” Liz said. “Sweet girl too, although she’s terribly bashful for being as old as she is.”

  “Like I said, Mom,” Piper said. “She’s been alone most of her life. Today was harder on her than you think. That’s why she’s upstairs asleep, she didn’t even stir when I left her.”

  “Poor thing,” Liz said compassionately. “Maybe I was a little too boisterous. I’ll try to be a little more subtle.”

  “I’d appreciate it,” Piper said sincerely and enveloped her mother in a hug. “By the way, I cannot believe you showed her that horrible picture of me. I thought I threw that out years ago,” she said with aggravation as she released her mother.

  “You did, but I found the negatives,” Liz said amused. “Besides, you looked so cute.”

  “My face was covered with chicken pox and I hadn’t washed my hair in a week,” Piper said annoyed. “I looked like I slept face down in a pan of Crisco.”

  “Bailey thought it was funny,” Liz reminded helpfully.

  “I can forgive her though,” Piper said dryly.

  “Go get your girl and run outside to get Corey and your father,” Liz said with a slap on Piper’s rear. “Dinner will be ready in a bit.”

  “Okay,” Piper said with a ghost of a grin.

  She made her way back through the house and up the stairs to her bedroom to find Bailey still asleep on the new bed. She studied the sleeping form with interest, noting that she always slept in a fetal position as if something was hurting her. She considered that thought for some time as she gently lay down beside her and stroked her hair.

  “Bailey,” Piper said quietly and she stirred slightly. “Bailey,” she repeated and her eyes opened.

  “Hmmm?” Bailey murmured.

  “Time to get up, sweetie,” she said with a kiss to her cheek. “Dinner will be ready in a few.”

  “Okay,” Bailey said and sat up with a stretch.

  “Wanna go outside with me and get the guys?”

  “Okay, where’s the closest bathroom?”

  “Third door on your left,” Piper said with a smile as Bailey left without a backward glance.

  Piper rolled over on to her back until Bailey came back into the room and jumped playfully on the bed beside her making her giggle.

  “Feel better I take it?” Piper said amused.

  “Much,” Bailey said with a smile and placed a kiss on Piper’s mouth.

  “Wow,” Piper said when they parted. “That must have been some nap.”

  “Just glad to be with you,” Bailey said shyly.

  “I’m glad you’re here.” Piper said stealing another kiss. “Now put your sneakers back on so we can go.”

  “Okay,” Bailey s
aid agreeably and sat up to get her shoes. “Where did you put them?” she asked looking around.

  Piper got up to help her look but suddenly remembered. “Oh, I put them under the bed.”

  Bailey bent over on her hands and knees to get the shoes. “Did you take them off of me when I was sleeping?”

  Piper admired the bottom covered in faded blue jeans with a raised eyebrow. “Can I get you to stay like that for awhile?”

  “Huh?” Bailey said confusedly with a look behind her and blushed when she realized what Piper was talking about. “Be quiet,” she said standing up quickly.

  “You look good in jeans, I wish you’d wear them more often,” Piper said with a smile at Bailey’s still blushing face.

  “It’s all I packed,” Bailey said quietly as she seated herself in a chair to put her shoes back on.

  “That’s good news,” Piper said happily.

  “Don’t tease me,” Bailey said softly.

  “I’m not teasing you, I think you’re beautiful,” Piper said with a bright smile.

  “Thank you,” she said shyly. “But you’re still teasing me.”

  “Well, maybe a little,” Piper admitted. “You ready?” she asked when Bailey stood up and put on her jacket.

  “Yeah, lead the way,” she said with a grin. “Where’s your coat?”

  “Hanging by the door; I’ll grab it on the way out,” Piper said as they exited the room.

  Piper took her arm and cuddled up next to her when they exited the house but frowned as she paused when they reached the bottom of the steps to light a cigarette. Bailey tried to ignore the little scowl being directed at her but Piper relented with a surrendering sigh and led her toward the distant barn.

  “Sounds like Corey’s working on his hotrod,” Piper said as they approached and the sound of an engine trying to start became audible. “Do you think you can fix it?” she asked curiously.

  Bailey shrugged and stepped on her cigarette. “Dunno.”

  “You’d probably be his hero if you did,” Piper predicted.

  “I just want to be your hero,” Bailey said under her breath but Piper heard it and squeezed the arm in hers tightly.

  “You already are, goofy,” Piper said with a smile but was a little dismayed by the sad look in her eyes. “What’s wrong?” she asked worriedly.