The rest of us started cleaning up the table and Caleb and I went to grab our coats from the hall. Before we left they joined us in the foyer. “Thanks again for having us,” Caleb told them. “Joanna, the food was delicious.”
Mr. Dunaway pulled him into a hug and told him, “You can call me ‘dad’.”
Caleb smiled against this shoulder and released him to embrace his new-found mother. “Be careful on the roads tonight, mi amore. There are a lot of people out drinking and I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Yes, mama,” he told her with a grin.
I chuckled, getting my coat out of the closet and met him in the doorway. Mercedes pointed at the rafters overhead. “Hey, you guys are underneath the mistletoe! That means you have to kiss!”
Everyone cheered and I rolled my eyes at her dismissively. “You do realize it's poisonous.”
Caleb grinned, looking down at me with a twinkle in his eye. “Does that mean you’re not going to kiss me?”
I grinned, reaching up high onto my tiptoes so I could kiss him properly. “I never said that.”
He met my kiss with tender resistance and smiled against my lips. All the Dunaway’s clapped and I felt my cheeks get hot. “Okay, now we really have to leave!” I laughed at them happily.
Pirro walked up to Caleb expectantly and asked, “Will you come back soon?”
Caleb knelt and gave him another hug goodbye. “Of course I will, bud. But tonight, I need to go back to Wynn’s so I can spend some time with her family too.”
“Okay. It’s nice to know there are angels watching over us.”
Caleb chuckled softly and said, “I’m just your big brother now.”
Pirro smiled and gave him a sloppy kiss on the cheek, then whispered, “They’re the same thing.”
My heart sang when I heard those words, and it became clear that maybe Pirro understood the meaning of family even better than the rest of us.
~ * ~
Nate’s anxiety put all of us on edge until Aunt Nadia arrived the next day. Most of the time he stayed locked up in his room, but the tea did a world of good. His intermittent sparks of electricity were almost manageable, but still alarming when they exploded from him without any warning. Caleb and I tried to keep him distracted with funny stories and even Zen meditation at some point, but nothing seemed to help. When the morning came that she was scheduled to arrive, we were all waiting anxiously by the window.
I saw her car turn smoothly into the driveway and went flying down to greet her. “Nadia, you came!”
“Of course, who would turn down the opportunity to spend the holiday with the Hendricks?”
Caleb smiled, “They’re all very glad to have you.”
“Caleb! It’s such a pleasure,” she greeted him with a smile. “I understand you and Wynn have gotten close.”
He smiled and looked down at me, looping his arm around my waist. “We most certainly have.”
“I was surprised when Wynn extended the invitation,” she told him cautiously. “You’re sure I’m not putting you out?”
Dad laughed and threw his arm around her in a hug. “Nadia, I haven’t had a full house like this since before your mother’s accident. I love having all this company. Don’t worry about it for a second.”
I stepped up to give her a welcoming hug and pulled down to whisper in her ear. “Nate just discovered he’s got Fae magic too. He’s freaking out upstairs and locked himself in his room. I told him you’d go see him as soon as you got here.”
She glanced over in Caleb’s direction and he gave her a gentle nod. When she and I pulled away with giant smiles on our faces it didn’t give away anything I’d just told her. “Will, do you mind giving me a hand with some of these bags? I’m a little tired after the drive and would like to sit down for a minute inside.”
Dad stepped to the back of her car apologetically and waved her off with a smile. “Oh, of course. Go ahead inside and Wynn and I can take care of these.”
I nodded vigorously in her direction and she quickly made her way towards the house. I had every reason to believe the moment she’d rounded the corner and was no longer visible to us outside that she ran all the way upstairs.
I breathed a sigh of relief as Dad and I stared unloading all her things, knowing she could take better care of him than I could.
~ * ~
I pulled the blankets high around my chin, and snuggled in against the cold when I woke up the next morning. The bed was so warm and inviting, I didn’t want to get up and brave the day but my stomach was grumbling and I needed to go get food.
Pouting slightly, I threw off the covers I’d been cuddling and braced for the November chill. Quickly as I could, I grabbed the robe that was hanging on my door and put on a pair of slippers. I knew Nate was passed out hard inside his room because I could hear him snoring down the hall. Nadia had spent most of the afternoon and evening talking with him in private, it seemed to do a world of good.
When I made it to the kitchen, Dad and Caleb were drinking coffee at the table and sharing the morning paper. They were both so happy and comfortable together I couldn’t help but smile at the sight of them and walk over to greet Caleb with a kiss. “Morning, babe.”
“Good morning,” he greeted with a smile.
“Morning, Dad. Do we have any plans for the day?”
He poked his nose over the edge of his paper and grunted in acknowledgment. “I’ll probably have to run to the store to get some last-minute food prep before tomorrow, but I didn’t have anything beyond that.”
I nodded and poured myself a steaming cup of coffee, waiting for Nadia to wake up. I was curious about what she had done to help Nathan so monumentally that I had been trying to do for days. She was a miracle worker.
Cleo walked across the kitchen towards us with her tail twitching in the air behind her. Looking up at me with her large, yellow eyes, she flopped down on the ground in front of me and exposed her underbelly.
“Aw. Are you needing pets?” I cooed at her. “That’s my good girl! What is it about cats that make them so adorable? Look at you batting away with your legs! You’re genetically programmed to eviscerate things. Yes, you are!”
“The Dunaway’s have invited me over this afternoon,” Caleb told me. “Would you like to come?”
Pursing my lips uncomfortably, I told him. “Isn’t this supposed to be some special time with your new family? You should go and let them get to know you personally.”
“You sure?”
“Absolutely.”
He pondered that for a moment before nodding, then said, “Thanks. I’ll give Lacey a call right now and see what time they’re expecting me.”
“M’kay.”
He set his mug down on the table and walked off towards the living room, pulling his phone out of his pocket.
“That’s a nice young man you’ve got there,” Dad mentioned to me as Caleb left. “He seems quite taken with you. I hope you’re being smart and thinking about the bigger picture….”
I quirked an eyebrow at him and said, “Well, how do you know when it’s right?”
He sighed and sat back deeper in his seat and told me, “Your mother and I haven’t had it easy, you know. I remind myself each and every day why I chose her. Its renewing that commitment to yourself. Anytime you feel like giving up, or calling it quits, you remind yourself of all the reasons that you chose them in the first place. That’s what love is.”
In the back of my mind I thought back to the faintly beating heart stone that I’d found in Mom’s things. Nadia was fairly certain that its origin was a love spell, the very same which had brought my parents together in the first place. The pulse inside it grew fainter every day without magic renewing the source of its power and it made me sad to think that love would someday run out. “I’m glad you and Mom have been so happy together,” I told him honestly. “When was the last time you visited her in the hospital?”
“It’s been a few weeks,” he confessed sheepishly. �
��Let me see … huh, I guess it has been a few weeks. Did you want to go this afternoon?”
“Go where this afternoon?” Nadia asked us from the stairwell.
I looked over at her and smiled. “We were talking about visiting Mom.”
“Oh, well that sounds lovely,” she mentioned encouragingly. “Do you mind if I tag along?”
~ * ~
Walking down the tile hallway towards her room was uncomfortably familiar.
We passed the nurses’ station and found her room in the same place it always had been. My chest felt tight as I looked in through the glass and saw her lying on the hospital bed. The lights were off and the only sounds came from the quiet beeping of her heart monitor.
Dad and Nate both stepped inside and took their seats, as I lingered in the doorway lost in thought. There were so many feeling that went along with seeing her, it got my insides all tangled up in knots. Nadia paused beside me and asked, “Are you coming inside, hon?”
I sighed at the subtle inquiry and nodded, carefully walking over to where she was. She lay on the bed before us liking Sleeping Beauty, her elegant long black hair plaited gracefully into braids. Time had not touched her beauty and pale, white skin that shone in the light like porcelain. All around her, she illuminated the ruby aura that I had learned was a trademark of a witch. The glittering crimson waves rolled over her like a protective blanket as I cleared my throat to speak.
“Hi, Mom,” I told her shyly. “I told you I’d come by. I’ve been out at school the last few months and wasn’t able to make it down.”
Leaning down, I kissed her swiftly on the forehead and went to take a seat in an empty chair. The boys knew I liked sitting by the window so they had left it open for me. Dad sighed and stood up from his chair, taking a step towards the door. “I'm going to step outside for a minute, be right back.”
Nate folded his arms stubbornly and sat back in his seat, pulling out his Nintendo. “At least you guys are here. It's even weirder with just the two of us. He used to make us go every week.”
I clicked my tongue and sighed. “It's important to him, we should try to be supportive.”
Just then, Caleb came breezing around the corner and gave us a winning smile. “Hey! Sorry, I’m late. Lunch at the Dunaway’s took longer than I expected.”
I smiled up at him and gestured to the seat beside me. “That’s okay, Dad just stepped out for a minute.”
He nodded to Nadia as he passed and sat in the chair I’d set out for him. “So, that’s her….” he murmured to the room in wonder.
I chuckled at his reaction and responded, “Yup.”
“It’s weird, I feel like I should introduce myself or something.”
“You can, though I’m not sure if it would do any good.”
“She can hear you, you know,” Nadia mentioned, pointing to the bed. “Her auras shifting.”
All three of us followed her eyes to Mom’s scarlet hues, dancing wildly like fire. Huh, I hadn’t noticed that before.
Caleb paled slightly and watched us nervously before clearing his throat and addressing our mother properly. “I’ve heard so much about you at this point, it seems rather odd to be here,” he confessed. “My name is Caleb, and I’m rather fond of both your children. Nate seems like a great kid and Wynn … well, she’s the love of my life. I just want you to know that I’m going to protect them as best I can.”
I blushed and tried to conceal my smile as he looked back at me. He was about to speak again when Dad came back in from outside.
“It’s nice having you visit here again, it’s been a long time. I know you were going through some stuff this spring and didn’t want to see her, but that’s all past us now.”
Nate and I looked at each other when I responded. “Right ... I just had some baggage I was dealing with.”
Nadia sat down quietly in her seat and raised an eyebrow quizzically. Dad leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and pressed me further, “Like what exactly? She's your mom, Wynn. One day you'll be a mother too. Maybe then you will understand wh—”
It took all of two seconds for the words to sink in and a sudden hideous thought occurred to me. “What did you say?”
He obviously didn't even think twice about what he was saying. To him it sounded as natural as breathing, the proper order in which things progress. Dad stopped and stared at me confused. “You ... what? Did I say something wrong?”
Out of my peripheral vision I saw Caleb's hand tighten.
“What did you just say?” I stuttered, feeling my heart pound harder in my chest.
“Just that when you have kids, someday you'll know what she went through.”
“I don't know about that, Dad. Being a mother might not be up my alley.”
His brow furrowed, “Sure you will, but I'm not going to argue with you. I was just curious.”
I winced. The logic was sound, but I had never thought about it until now, not that I had known for a very long time myself. What would my demonic nature do to my children, if I had any?
“It’s nothing,” I assured him. “I’m over it now, a ghost from her past just came by to visit me recently.”
He sat up instantly in his seat and was alarmed by this revelation. “Do you mind clarifying that for me?”
Aunt Nadia’s eyes were wide as she stared at me, shaking her head in the negative.
“It was this guy she knew in Paris.”
“You mean Aidan?” Dad verified instantly.
My jaw dropped as Nadia, Nathan and myself all stared at him in shock.
“You … know about Aidan?” Nate demanded.
He scoffed and relaxed back into his seat, “Of course, he was at our wedding. Nice man if I recall. He —?”
“How much do you know about him?”
He was clearly uncomfortable with all of us staring at him like that and shifted in his seat. “Not much, I assumed they went to school together….”
“Oh, Dad….” I buried my face in one of my hands, unable to look at him. “He was in love with her.”
After the words had escaped, I realized I’d revealed too much. When I turned back to our father he was crestfallen. “I … was not aware that had been the case.”
Nate shot daggers at me from across the room, furious I’d upset Dad once again. The rest of our visit was quiet and when we left, Dad didn’t give her his usual goodbye kiss.
~ * ~
Dad knocked on my bedroom door right as I finished packing and idled in the hall outside. “Are you almost ready?” he asked when I finished packing up.
“Caleb just sent me a text, he should be here any minute.”
He nodded, backing out into the hall as I came brushing past him with my luggage. Cleo was lying on the tile in the kitchen when we passed by and she chirped at me expectantly. “P-reow?”
I smiled and knelt down to scratch her gently on the belly before leaving out the garage. “Bye, Cleo. Stay out of the liquor cabinet,” I told her teasingly.
Her ears perked up at the sound of my voice and she cocked her head inquisitively.
“Don’t play innocent with me,” I scolded. “If you don’t get that under control we’re going to have to stage an intervention.”
Dad snorted with amusement at my teasing and said, “You hear her, Cleo. I’ve got my eyes on you.”
I laughed as we continued down the hall and Nate met us at the bottom of the stairs. “What are we talking about?”
“Whether or not we should put Cleo in a twelve-step program,” I told him flippantly.
Nathan grinned and wrapped his arms around me in a hug. “I'm going to miss you, Wynn.”
“You too, bud. Stay out of trouble, kay? You can call me anytime.”
He nodded as we released and Dad took his turn instead. “Thanks for coming down, sweetheart, and for bringing Caleb with you. He seems like a real nice boy.”
“He is,” I agreed. “I’m very lucky. This sucks though, cause I’m going to miss you.” I com
plained to them aloud.
Neither one of them bothered to argue, because we all felt the same about being separated. I reached down for the handle of my suitcase and Nate brushed it away affectionately. “It's the last thing I can do for you before you go.”
His sentiment was so sweet I couldn't help but smile and nod in agreement.
The three of us walked out onto the porch and waited for Caleb to arrive with his truck. “Good luck on your finals, hon. We'll see you back here in a couple of weeks.”
I nodded in agreement, just as the gray ford turned onto the stony drive. I could see Lacey in the back as Caleb drove up. He brought the car to a halt and jumped out to embrace me gently on the pavement. Nathan wheeled my suitcase around back and threw it in the bed of the truck.
Dad offered Caleb his hand one last time before we left and thanked him for coming down. I could see in his eyes that Dad was serious, and fostered some genuine affection on his behalf. That made me happy to see he'd been accepted. I didn't realize it before, but that stamp of approval actually meant something to me. I needed it.
Chapter Seventeen
Into the Dark
Caleb sighed contentedly beside me as I curled up next to him for warmth. He pulled the blanket up over my shoulders and rubbed my arm to help fend off the chill as we gazed at the starlit sky. We had cleared the area on his patio to lay out some blankets for the occasion. It was the best compromise we could come up with to function as a twist on “Date Night”. It reminded me of all the times he would come visit me when I’d set up camp on my parents’ roof, looking at the stars. It would always be one of the most nostalgic memories from my childhood and my favorite place to enjoy the view.
“It’s been a long time since we’ve done this,” I mentioned dreamily.
He nodded, kissing me on the forehead when I leaned against his shoulder. “Yes, it has.”
There were only a few more weeks left in the semester and I was beginning to feel the weight of it. I was thrilled to be finishing up my classes, but it also meant that much time had passed and my probation was almost over. Even so, I couldn’t think of a reason the Council would not be pleased. I’d done everything they’d asked of me and was finally grasping the full potential of my powers. “How many more nights do you think we’ll get to have like this before … before —”
The Devil's Due (The Earthwalker Trilogy Book 2) Page 26
