Independence

by Shelly Crane

  I smiled and saw Maggie's nervous smile in return. I quirked a brow at her.

  Kids intimidate you?

  There's so many of them.

  There's only eight here tonight, babe.

  And they all look like they want to murder me for taking you away from them for so long.

  I shook my head at her. "Guys, this is Maggie. Now, I know I haven't been in for a while and I don't know what Mrs. Honey told you, but Maggie and I are…getting married."

  "Eeew!" the kids rang out.

  That made Maggie laugh. I laughed, too, and pulled her to me. "It's not eeew."

  "Does that mean you aren't going to be our teacher anymore?" Will asked.

  "Well…" I glanced at Maggie. It was time. "Actually, I'm not going anywhere."

  That got her attention. I waited for her disappointment or worry or….something. See, she knew I wanted to be a teacher, she knew I wanted to go to Arizona and start up the centers there, too, and she knew I didn't want to work with my father, but she never thought I was actually going to go against him. She didn't try to wonder about what we were going to do one day for jobs or houses. My family had so many traditions and I hated - really hated - to be the one who broke them, but if I was going to lead our people and be the Visionary's mate along with being myself, then I had to do this.

  I had to make my own choices and live my own life. And that didn't include working for Jacobson Buildings and Things.

  I'm sorry I didn't tell you before, but I just wanted to show you first. To let you see what this was all about. I looked at the kids as they waited. These kids…some of them have no one. No family that cares or can afford to keep them out of trouble. Some kids, this is all they've got. And some kids just have a hard time with math and I can help them with that. I want to-

  Are you kidding me?

  I stared at her. She was good at keeping her mind blank now. So good at keeping her every thought private from me.

  I'm sorry. I should have told you, but…

  You think I want you to work for your father?

  I jolted. Don't you?

  I want you to do what makes you happy.

  But with this job there's…traveling all over the state and maybe even the country if I have my way. There's no guarantee of steady incomes and schedules. It's seasonal, sometimes good, sometimes bad. It may fail all together. I…

  "Have y'all missed Caleb?" Maggie asked, never taking her eyes from me.

  "YES!" the kids said.

  "Do y'all want him to stop coming in and helping you?"

  "NO!"

  I will follow you to the ends of the earth, Caleb Jacobson. You have to know that by now.

  Woman, you are about to get kissed in front of all of these kids if you don't stop being so amazing.

  They love you. She smiled and picked up a painting from the table. "Who did this?"

  "Me!" Molly said and grinned. "You like it?"

  "Yeah, I do!" Maggie agreed through a laugh. She sat down at one of the tables and picked up a green marker. "And green in my favorite color, so the fact that you drew a green times-table is awesome."

  Molly and some of the others sat down with her and they loved her immediately. I stared at the back of her head as she interacted with my kids. I felt the weight lifted from me. I had been worried that she'd want me to be happy, obviously, but wanted me to not upset the family with not following the tradition. I thought she was going to try to talk me into doing both, but letting someone run the centers for me.

  But these were my kids and it was the only thing I ever wanted to do.

  I should have known my Maggie would understand.

  "So you leave for a few weeks and come back engaged to this girl?" Honey asked, her hands on her hips.

  "Now, Honey," I admonished. "Maggie is great."

  "So am I, but you ain't going to marry me, are you?"

  "I would if you'd say yes."

  She slapped my arm and glared at me as I laughed. "What do you know about being somebody's husband? You're just a baby, yourself!"

  "I know that I'll do anything I have to. I'm not that young, Honey. I love her, that's why I asked her to marry me. I can do this."

  She pursed her lips. "Does she have a bun in the oven?"

  I scoffed. "Absolutely not."

  "What does your mamma say about this?"

  "That she can't wait," I told her softly. "My dad, especially. They've all fallen in love with her."

  She sighed. "Well, you've made up your mind, now haven't you?"

  "Yes, ma'am."

  "Well, now. What are we gonna do now?" She gave me a pointed look. "Do I need to start looking for a new job?"

  "No, ma'am. You're safe. By the way, where is everyone?"

  "Just running a little late," she told me. "Sage and Violet are on tonight. They're going to do multiplication piñatas with the kids."

  I laughed. "I can only imagine what multiplication piñatas are."

  Violet and Sage came in minutes later with bags of supplies for the projects. Violet was the same age as me, and not only was her name colorful, but so was her hair. It was a different color every week or so. And Sage, her boyfriend, was just as colorful in personality. It was hard to keep track of all the kids and helpers, but this office was my main office. This was where I spent most of my time.

  I went and introduced Maggie to them and before we knew it, we'd been there for three hours. I hated to leave because Maggie was having so much fun, but Gran would skin me alive if she didn't get Maggie tonight.

  As I opened the door to let Maggie walk ahead of me, she lightly punched my gut as she walked down the stairs. "Jacobson, you are in so much trouble."

  "I figured," I joked and walked right up to her. I looked right down at her and watched her as she tried not to smile. "I take it you like my kids."

  "I love them," she said softly and toyed with the hem of my shirt."I know you're worried about telling Peter-"

  "That's my battle," I insisted and kissed the end of her nose. It was almost dark in the parking lot now and I found myself looking around for anything out of place.

  She pulled my face to look at her. "I can hear their mind if someone wants to mess with us."

  "We don’t know that," I insisted. "The Watsons may be human now, but what if your abilities don't work on them anymore. We have no idea what they're capable of yet."

  "I have a pretty good idea," she muttered and thought of Beck. "Being cowards."

  "No Watson talk tonight," I commanded softly. "We can only talk about things like…weddings." I grinned.

  She grinned, too. "We better go or Gran is going to kill you."

  "And Dad, too. This is my first meeting." I left off the part that mattered most. That it was the first meeting that I was the Champion for. And it was going to be my show, my deal, mine. It was just my family, but I was scared crapless.

  Maggie put her arms around my neck, reaching on her tiptoes as far as they'd go. "You'll be great." She kissed behind my ear. "Besides, what could go wrong, right?"

  I knew something was wrong the second we pulled up to Dad's. When I opened the door, Dad was there next to Bella, who wagged her tail and stared at me expectantly. Dad, however, did not wag his tail. In fact, he glared. "You're late."

  "I'm right on time," I corrected and re-checked my watch.

  "Pushing the limits doesn't make a good leader. Setting a good example does."

  "I was showing Maggie the center. I think that teaching kids is about a good as an example as I can set."

  "Maybe," he conceded. "We've been worried about you two. They've been talking about some things on the news today."

  "What kinds of…" Maggie trailed off as she read it in his mind. "Mom?"

  We both took off down the hall. I towed Maggie behind me because I still hadn't shown her how to maneuver the maze of halls. We reached the kitchen where Mom and Gran were watching the TV on the counter. We listened intently as they described the bus accident that happened
on the highway. Then listed the ones on the bus who'd been injured.

  My heart pumped painfully as I watched helpless-as-all-get-out as Maggie heard her mother's name as one of the ones taken to the hospital. For the second time in just days, we had to wonder if someone else Maggie cared about had been hurt by a Watson.

  Chapter 9

  Maggie

  "The hospital said she's fine," Dad assured me. "They called and said it was just a scratch on her arm. She got three stitches. It's not a big deal."

  I sighed. I may not like the woman much, but she was still my mother. "Good." I switched the phone to my other ear. "Are you OK?"

  "I'm fine," he answered. I heard Fiona asking him if he wanted something to drink in the background. He told her, "No, thank you," and then told me, "All right, well I heard you have a big night ahead of you." He cleared his throat. "So I'll guess I'll let you go…get to that."

  "Can we come for dinner?" I blurted out. "Caleb and me?"

  "Of course," he answered brightly. "I'll invite Bish and Jen, too."

  "Great. It's a date."

  He laughed. "Have fun tonight. I'm glad you've got a woman to help you with all the wedding stuff."

  "Help?" I scoffed. "Do you really think Gran is going to let me have the reins on anything, Dad?"

  He laughed again. "Well, you're probably right. Still."

  "Yeah. Still."

  "Love ya, baby girl. See you later."

  "Love you, too, Dad." I hung up and turned, bumping my nose right into Caleb's chest. I was glad that he was so close. I slipped my phone into my pocket and let him wrap me up. "She's fine."

  "I know. I heard," he said. "But are you fine?"

  "As a fiddle."

  He chuckled. "Fine as a fiddle?"

  "Yep," I sighed and gripped him tighter.

  "Baby," he said, his voice husky. "I've got to go, but now I don't want to leave you."

  "I'm fine," I said with certainty. "I promise."

  He paused and thought. He was thinking of a way to get out of going. I shook my head at him. "This is your first meeting as the leader of the Jacobsons." I felt my lips smile with pride. "You have to go. Show them who's boss."

  He laughed reluctantly. "That would be you, gorgeous. I thought we went over this?"

  "So I can come, too?" I remembered our friend that needed to be found and dealt with. "We need to figure out what to do about Marcus."

  "Next time, sure. I'll handle it, I promise. This time? Wedding stuff." He pointed to the floor. "And you're staying right here."

  "OK," I said easily. "Well, have fun."

  "Doubtful," he grumbled. "It'll all be formalities and tradition and…things like that. I won't be gone too long. We're taking it to Kyle's tonight since all the girls are here getting things ready."

  "Getting ready for this weekend, right?" I said, biting my lip to tamp down on my excitement.

  "Yep. Just a few days now." He cupped my cheek. "Then you'll be Mrs. Jacobson, and I'll be Mr. Visionary."

  I burst out laughing. He laughed, too, and kissed my smiling mouth. "I love you."

  "I love you," he insisted in a rumble.

  When he bent to kiss me again, I welcomed it, but Gran had other plans. "Stop that right now and get your butt outta this house!" We both looked at her, Caleb's hand still on my cheek. "I mean it! Get gone!"

  He sighed and gave me a sullen look. "I'll pick you up in a little bit."

  "I'll be here," I told him and managed to pull him down to kiss him right before he was dragged away.

  Gran swatted his butt and shooed him away out the door. "Now, we can get down to business." She rubbed her hands together like a villain. I felt my eyebrows rise.

  "Shouldn't we wait for Rachel?"

  "Oh, she's coming with Jen. They'll be here in a little bit." She smiled showing teeth. "Now, let me show you something."

  She took my hand. It was impossible not to notice the cool and wrinkled feel of them. We went upstairs to the bedroom where she slept. She looked back at me and then to the trunk at the end of the bed. She started to kneel down and I rushed to help her. While gripping her elbow, I went down with her to my knees. She gave me a smile that said what she was about to show me meant a lot to her. I waited with silent patience.

  "This," she started and pulled a box out of the chest, "was mine."

  The white top came off the box and she rummaged through the silver tissue paper to reveal a swath of red material. I knew immediately what it was.

  Her wedding dress.

  I pulled it from the box gently and held it up. It was a long dress with a small train, I assumed, because the fabric just kept going and going. "Gran, it's beautiful."

  "I know," she said and laughed. She touched the side of the dress, rubbing it in her fingers and I saw in her mind as she remembered wearing it and feeling as beautiful as a woman ever felt. Grandpa Ray watched her and his mouth fell open as she came to him. It was almost enough to giggle about, but Gran was so wrapped up in her memory. She smiled, though her eyes watered.

  I touched her arm. "You looked amazing in this dress, Gran."

  She nodded. "My grandmother made it for me. And now I want you to wear it."

  I felt my chin fall in shock, but before I could say anything I heard a gasp. I turned to look and saw Jen and Rachel in the doorway. Rachel was smiling and looking at me funny. I would have been worried had I not been able to read her mind, but she was thinking about how beautiful I was going to look in it. The funny look was because she was trying not to cry. I glanced back at Gran and saw a tear run down to her chin. When I looked back at Rachel, she wiped under her eyes. I flicked a look at Jen and saw her sniff.

  Oh, boy. This had to be stopped.

  "No crying allowed!" I said and laughed. "Come on, guys. You're going to make me cry." Rachel chuckled, but Gran gave me a hilariously snooty look. "Besides…" I braced myself. "I can't wear the dress, Gran."

  Her face fell. I rushed on so she didn't burst into tears. "Because Jen's going to wear it."

  Jen smiled in that way that says someone is being silly. "We can both wear it. You can wear it for your dedication and then I'll wear it to mine. It's no big deal. We can have it altered if we need to."

  "No, I mean I want you to wear this to my dedication." She frowned in confusion. "Because I want you and Bish, and Dad and Fiona, and Kyle and Lynne to get married with us." They all sat there very still. "I know that's not tradition."

  "It's never been done," Gran said. "Especially since Fiona is part of another clan."

  "I know," I said and took a deep breath as I spoke softly, "but all these rules and regulations and traditions…I mean, no offense, but that's what got your kind in so much trouble in the first place, right?"

  She sighed. "It's just hard to change things when you've done them a certain way for so long. And I'm human like you, and it's hard for me, so I can only imagine how hard this will be for Peter and the council."

  "The council isn't present at a wedding though, are they?"

  "No, but it has to be recorded through them." She pinched her chin and smiled. "Oh, well. The old coots can deal with it, I guess. Especially since it's coming from you."

  I bit my lip. "I'm not trying to cause problems," I assured her. "I just think we should make our own traditions now." I looked at the infinity symbol on my wrist. "This has to mean something. Us going to London and breaking the hold of the council has to mean something. Caleb finding me, me being human, and everything that has happened since that didn't make any sense…it all has to mean something."

  "It does, honey," Rachel insisted and gave me a half hug. "It means that you're right where you're supposed to be. I think it's a wonderful idea. A great way to show the council and the whole race that when you say you're going to change things that you mean business."

  "I hope so," I said softly. "So, Jen is wearing the dress. It's only right."

  I held it out to her and she smiled as she touched it. "Oh, gosh. You showed me t
his dress when I was a kid, Gran. I dreamed about wearing this dress." Her lip trembled.

  I never thought I'd get the chance to wear it.

  Rachel put her other arm around Jen. "No more dreaming now, baby."

  Jen put her arm around her mom's waist like a child would and tried to keep her tears in check. The room held a vibe that had a bittersweet happiness to it. It soaked the air with it making me want to cry with them. Jen was finally getting what was always promised her as a little girl. What she knew was going to be hers was taken and withheld. And then Maria happened and she took that little blessing with stride knowing she'd never have the chance to have a child otherwise. And now here she was, on the cusp of everything she ever wanted, and it was hitting her all at once…with this dress.

  She smiled and didn't try to wipe the tear as it fell. Her fingers reverently fingered a nonexistent pattern on the fabric and she wondered what Bish's face would look like as he watched her come to him while wearing it. She hoped it made her look beautiful enough to make up for all the drama and trouble she was bringing into his life with this family and her kind.

  "Bish is happier than I've ever seen him," I told her. "Jen, he's head over feet in love with you and everything that's attached to you. He has been ever since he first saw you. Don't worry about him. Bish isn't in the habit of letting inconsequential things bother him."

  "I guess," she said noncommittally and sniffed. "I just know how hard it's been for you to come into this life."

  "Well, I'm here to help him. And my situation was a little different," I said wryly and remembered the fuss everyone made over me for being the first human in a very long time, along with the first imprint.

  She laughed at my scowl. "Yeah…I guess it was a little different."

  "Just a little," I played along. I put the dress all the way into her arms because she had still not taken it from me. "It's your right to wear it. And I want to share my day with you, if you want to."

  "Of course I do," she said, like I was crazy for thinking otherwise. "I know you still don't really understand what exactly the dedication wedding is for. But I do, and for you to ask me to share that with you and my brother is… I'm honored."