“I did.” He began plucking leaves out of her hair and sighed. “What were you thinking, beautiful?” Kissing the top of her head, he couldn’t help but to laugh. “You really jumped out the window?”
“Yes.” Lydia replied meekly. “I’ll not be doing that again.”
“Smart girl.” Mr. Reynolds nodded. “Well, come on in. We should get you cleaned up and put something on that scratch. It looks nasty.”
“Yes, sir.” She whispered.
“And none of that either,” he added quickly. “You can call me Rupert.”
“Yes, sir—I mean Rupert. Thank you.”
“No need to thank me, honey. Now come on in. I’m sure my wife will be excited to meet you. It’s not often Callie brings home friends, let alone a pretty thing such as yourself.”
Callum noted the blush on her cheeks and squeezed her to his side, following his father into the house.
“Callie?” She asked softly, pressing a hand over her mouth.
“Uh huh.” He nodded, gazing at her from the corner of his eye. “But you can’t call me that, window jumper.”
—————
Lydia
“What were you thinking?” Callum, finally clothed and looking good enough to eat, asked again as he placed a clean bandage on her newest wound that would surely leave a scar.
Wrinkling her nose and feeling the heat creep up the back of her neck, Lydia gazed at him as innocently as she could and shrugged her shoulders.
She didn’t want to tell him the true reasoning behind it. It wasn’t because she was scared of his parents catching them in a questionable position; it was because she didn’t want them to find out about her past.
Maybe that’s a lost battle already. She thought as she nibbled at her lip, feeling terribly guilty for the frown of concern on her boyfriend’s face. He really cared about her—she really cared about him, too, but he could never possibly understand the irrational fears in her mind.
He didn’t have to hide who he used to be.
She always would.
“Lydia.” Her name fell from his lips so gently, so delicately, as he framed his hands around her face and leaned up to be at eye level with her.
She was seated on the toilet lid and he’d knelt in front of her, fixing up the deep cut—no thanks to the bushes—with such care. It made her heart melt.
“Talk to me, baby. Tell me what’s going through your mind right now.”
“It’s stupid,” she confessed. “My stupid brain...”
“Your brain is not stupid.” He sighed. “How many times do I have to tell you? Nothing about any part of you is stupid. You’re perfect and,”—he grinned—“I love you.”
I love you. She’d never get used to hearing it, but damn if those three words didn’t hit her right in the gut every single time. She curled her fingers around his hand and leaned into his touch.
“I love you, Callie.” She laughed. “But I can’t help what my brain thinks sometimes. It was an instinct for some reason; to get away before they could see me.”
“That is stupid.” He nodded, running his thumb over her knuckles. “I never want you to hide from anyone, Lydia. I’m proud of you and I want to show you off to my parents. My dad thinks you’re gorgeous.”
She blushed and ducked her head down, smiling brightly.
Her father had often told her she was beautiful. He was the only man she believed until Callum came into her life, so to know his father thought she was pretty, too, made her feel incredible.
Becoming a woman never meant being the prettiest, sexiest, or hottest—at least that had never mattered to her. Every woman was beautiful and special in her own way, and all Lydia had wanted was to be in the body she deserved.
Having a loving boyfriend who thought she was beautiful was just an added bonus now.
“He’s not bad looking himself.” She joked, leaning in to peck at his lips.
“Hey now. Do I need to be worried about this?” Callum asked, but before she had a chance to reply, he claimed her mouth in a searing, pulse-stopping kiss. His lips glided over hers, sweet and tender yet mind-blowingly lustful, and Lydia was grateful she was already sitting down.
The only thing that stopped her from ripping his clothes off right then and there was the knock on the door followed by Mrs. Reynolds’ voice.
“Everything okay in there? Do you need any help?”
Callum slowly pulled away from her, his eyes dark with need. He smirked and pushed some hair away from her face, glancing towards the door.
“Fine, Mom. Everything’s fine. We’ll be right out.”
“Okay, honey. Well, I’m finishing up breakfast so if you two are hungry, it’s waiting for you.”
Lydia hid her face behind her hands and laughed quietly. “She remade breakfast?”
“Yeah,” he nodded. “But it’s sort of my fault that it burnt in the first place. I shouldn’t have distracted you.”
“I didn’t mind the distraction.” She admitted, parting two fingers to peek at him. “I liked it.”
“I know.” He kissed at her knuckles and stood, offering a hand to her. “Come meet the folks.”
If she thought she was nervous about their first time, she was obviously mistaken. The thought of meeting his parents had her knees knocking and her pulse racing. Even her palms began to sweat as she gripped his hand and stood, sucking in a deep, anxious breath.
“Calm down. They’re going to love you—just like I do.”
She tried to calm down, she really did, but once she was in the kitchen, her nerves got the best of her. Feeling physically ill was never fun, but she put on the biggest smile she could and settled into a seat across from Mr. Reynolds, who was currently enamored with a fresh cup of hot coffee.
“Here you go, dear.” Mrs. Reynolds chimed, placing a cute mug before her. It was covered in hearts and flowers—surely a gesture of consideration. “Do you like sugar or cream with your coffee?”
“Both.” Lydia replied. “Thank you.”
“So polite.” Mrs. Reynolds observed, patting her shoulder. “I like her, Callie.”
“That’s good because I like her, too.” Callum said as he pulled a glass down from the cabinet. He threw another gorgeous smile in her direction and Lydia wanted to melt into a puddle in her seat. There was just something about a guy being able to flirt with a girl in front of his parents.
Once fresh, un-burnt bacon was placed on the table along with eggs, biscuits, gravy, and fried apples, Mrs. Reynolds joined her family and Lydia. She scooted her chair up with such elegance. It was intimidating.
Lydia couldn’t help but wonder what Callum’s mother did for a living. She seemed so refined, fancy.
“So, dear,” Mrs. Reynolds smiled. “How long have you been seeing this lovely girl? Why haven’t I heard about her before now?”
“Well, if you stayed home for longer than a day you might hear a lot of things.” Callum replied, taking a bite of food and glancing at her. He meant no harm in his words. In fact, his eyes sparkled as he gave his mother a grin and began chuckling.
“You know your father can’t stay in one place for too long. It’s how he’s wired.” Mrs. Reynolds replied. “You’ll have to forgive us for our bickering, Lydia,”—she said, turning to look at her—“It’s a common occurrence in our home. Callum feels the need to pick on me as often as possible.”
“It keeps her young.” Mr. Reynolds remarked, lifting his eyes from his cup of coffee. “See? Not a wrinkle on her face.”
It was true. Mrs. Reynolds didn’t look old enough to be Callum’s mother. While her husband sported gray hair and crow’s feet around his eyes, she only appeared to be in her forties—if that. Her long brown hair was pinned up in a neat bun with only a few strands left astray to frame her face.
She’s gorgeous. Lydia thought, admiring her. I bet they have good genes in their family.
And that thought alone depressed her. She knew she could never have children. Even with how advanced te
chnology and science had become, she had never put in a ‘deposit’ at the sperm bank before her change. There would be no future babies with her eyes or hair.
The only option she had was adoption and she had always been okay with that, but looking back on what had happened to Tula already, it didn’t give her much hope.
Why am I thinking about having kids with Callum anyway? Are things between us really that serious?
What kind of stupid question was that? She’d never told anyone she loved them before. He’d said it back, multiple times already. Love was a big deal.
Love is wonderful.
“So you’re Jeb’s cousin?” Mrs. Reynolds questioned, derailing Lydia’s train of thought. “That’s wonderful! I just adore him. He’s a good boy.”
“Yes, ma’am. He is.” Lydia agreed, feeling proud. Though she wanted to scream from the rooftops that Jeb was her baby brother, she knew she couldn’t risk anyone else in Prairie Town knowing the truth. The visiting cousin from Germany façade had to be believable or bad things would happen.
She wouldn’t risk it.
As if sensing her sadness over the matter, Callum reached for her hand beneath the table and laced their fingers together. She met his gaze, so kind and understanding, and smiled.
How did I get so lucky? She wondered. All I ever wanted in life was to be who I really am. How did I manage to find a wonderful man, who would accept me?
The question blurred her vision with tears and she quickly blinked them away, focusing on Mrs. Reynolds once more as she went on and on about how close Jeb and Callum were and how glad she was her son had such a good friend.
“And now that you’ve got yourself a girlfriend, we’ll have to arrange a dinner with your aunt and uncle, Lydia. It’s a shame I haven’t gotten better acquainted with Mr. and Mrs. McIntosh before now. I’m also very sorry about the loss of your grandmother, dear. Did our flowers make it to the funeral parlor?”
“Yes, I believe so.” Lydia nodded, not daring to recall that horrible day. She was still so angry with her mother for changing her gran’s dress at the last minute. It seemed so cruel and a desperate attempt to get back at her, but for what? For daring to be who she really was?
“Well, it’s been nice, Mom, but Lydia and I have things to do today.” Callum announced, pushing back from the table.
“We do?” Lydia blinked. “I should stay and help your mother with the dishes. It’s the least I can do.”
“Oh, she’s so wonderful.” Mrs. Reynolds clapped her hands together. “But it’s not necessary, sweetie. I thank you for the offer though.”
“It was very nice meeting both of you.” Lydia shook their hands a final time and allowed Callum to lead her out of the house. Once they were outside, she released an exaggerated sigh of relief.
“I told you they’d love you.” He grinned, stealing a quick kiss.
“Or maybe they were just pretending to because they felt bad about me hurting myself.”
“I still don’t get why you did that, babe. I mean, I get why, but...why?”
“Because I don’t think before I act?” She offered, scrunching her nose up and feeling quite silly for the entire thing. “I’m sorry for leaping out of your window, Callum. Can you ever find it in your heart to forgive me?”
“Now you’re just pulling my leg.” He held open the passenger’s side door for her and snickered softly. “Get your cute ass in here before I decide to take you into the garage and do dirty things to you.”
“But where are we going? What do we have to do today?”
“Nothing,” he shrugged his shoulders. “Absolutely nothing. I just wanted you all to myself, Miss McIntosh.”
She stepped up to him and tiptoed to kiss his cheek.
“You’ve already got me all to yourself, Mr. Reynolds.”
His gaze softened. Touching her cheek gently, Callum smiled. “Forever, you think?”
“Yeah,” Lydia replied without hesitation. “Forever sounds good to me.”
Chapter Eighteen
Jeb
December was upon them before anyone realized it. They had all been enjoying being a family and hadn’t paid a bit of attention to the calendar, even when Thanksgiving came and went—which was interesting in itself. While his mother definitely made her dissatisfaction known, she mostly behaved when it came to their dinner. She never said anything out of the way to Lydia, or if she did, he didn’t know about it, and they actually had a nice, memorable time together.
It was a little more difficult keeping tensions low when Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds showed up. His mother nearly blew a gasket when Callum’s mom wrapped Lydia up in a tight hug and kissed her cheek. He shouldn’t have felt so happy over seeing the hurt in her eyes—he knew it was wrong—but his mother really needed to learn to accept her own damn kid. If everyone else could, why couldn’t she?
Then again, they didn’t know the truth about Lydia. She was still the cousin visiting from Germany as far as everyone else in Prairie Town was concerned, but how long could she keep her secret?
It had to be miserable hiding like that. He felt terrible for her and wished he knew how to fix it, but it was getting way too close to the end of her six months and he wouldn’t risk scaring her away.
He wanted her to stay.
Hopefully he had gotten that message across.
The colder months always meant there wasn’t much he could do in terms of working at the ice company. Business was much slower, but he still got by with managing the machinery on the inside of the factory. That’s how he ended up thinking so much, especially about his sister.
Mr. Rose had written the incident at the bar off as ‘drunken stupidity’, and while Jeb knew it was so much more than that, he kept his mouth shut because he needed to keep his job.
Laney was fine and Lydia had moved on from it, so maybe that meant he needed to try to move on, too.
Being stuck inside the factory with Devin, however, would be a great test of his willpower and patience. If that boy didn’t watch his mouth, Jeb would end up punching it a few good times.
“Hey, man.” Callum greeted him as he exited the office, delivery orders in hand. “I’m getting off early today to help Lydia and Tula with their charity stuff. Are you working overtime?”
“I’m going to try.” Jeb replied, wiping the sweat from his brow. No matter how cold the inside of the factory was, he always seemed to burn up. “I really need some extra cash for Christmas. I want to get the girls something nice.”
“Awe,” Callum teased. “Isn’t that sweet?”
“Shut up. I’m serious. This is Lydia’s first Christmas at home and I want it to be special.”
“Yeah. Yeah, I know what you mean.” His friend nodded, smiling a smile that Jeb knew all too well. Callum was up to something, and knowing him it involved an expensive, thoughtful gift for his big sister.
Good. Lydia deserves to be spoiled.
“Well, if you get off in time, you should stop by and offer a hand. I know Lydia would appreciate it.”
“I’ll try.” Jeb nodded, but he wasn’t making any promises. He had a feeling that working with Devin meant he’d be worked to the bone before the day was out. He’d been waiting for the asshole to seek his revenge and there was just something in the air today...
“Later, buddy.” Callum patted him on the back and took off, leaving Jeb alone with one of the dirtiest, most crooked people in all of Prairie Town.
God help me not beat a man to death today.
The afternoon passed by without much happening aside from the occasional beeping of various machines, the loud hum of forklifts as they drove by, and a few curse words here or there when he’d accidentally smash his fingers between heavy blocks of ice.
There didn’t seem to be anything worse than prepping ice for delivery. He’d much rather be on the road, but today was Callum’s day and he could respect that. Hell, the guy was his best buddy. He’d rather Callum get the delivery routes than anyone else, even himself.
Just make your money and go home. You’re doing good.
And he was doing good until Devin finally emerged from the office, a smug grin on his stupid face.
Glancing up and then looking back down as quickly as possible, Jeb promised himself he would just ignore him. Whatever Devin had to say, it wouldn’t be worth getting a pink slip over.
“We need to make a quick delivery.” Devin said, holding up a freshly printed delivery receipt. “Mr. Miller from the country club is having a Christmas party tonight and he’s requested thirty bags. Get to it, McIntosh.”
Get to it, McIntosh. Jeb mocked silently, removing his gloves and tossing them onto the nearest table.
At least it meant he could finish out his day away from him.
After getting the bags loaded into the back of one of the trucks, he couldn’t help but to wonder why Devin hadn’t just called Callum back to deliver them, but glancing at his watch, he realized Callum was already gone for the day.
“Lucky bastard.” He muttered, shutting the double doors and rounding the truck to get in the cab.
Upon seeing Devin in the passenger’s seat, however, he stopped dead in his tracks and felt dread weigh on his chest.
This can’t be good.
Calmly, oh-so-calmly, he climbed into the cab and stuck the key into the ignition, forcing his eyes straight ahead as he heard Devin clear his throat.
“You know, if my dad didn’t see you as a valuable asset to our company, your ass would already be fired for that little stunt you pulled at the bar.”
Here we go.
“I don’t like you, McIntosh—never have. You always got in my way when I tried to teach your fairy brother a valuable life lesson. I don’t like it when people get in my way. And then you did it again when I tried to get to know your cousin. What was her name again? Lydia?”
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