by Shelly Crane
“It’s you,” he whispered and it made me smile at my own memory of this exact moment.
“It’s me,” she said through her happy tears and smiled.
Then he kissed her. I balked and looked at Caleb accusatorily.
You could have kissed me right then and instead you tortured me for days.
Kyle’s not a gentleman like I am. He said clearly enjoying the whole thing.
Caleb, I sighed and let him wrap me up in his healing arms. It’s actually happening. The imprints are coming back.
I know. And it’s all because of you.
And you.
He smiled as he kissed me but it didn’t last long. Kyle’s mom came in and gasped at the scene.
“Kyle! What-” In her mind she saw it all over their faces and knew what had happened. “Oh my…Thank you, God!” She ran to him and embraced him tightly, dragging Lynne in with him but she was willing. “Max! Peter! Max!” she yelled and everyone who was left ran in to see what happened, their minds flashing with thoughts of attacks and ambushes.
What they saw brought Uncle Max to tears.
“Dad,” Kyle croaked and Uncle Max stumbled to him and bawled in a way that only a grown man could, big and loud. “Dad, it’s ok.”
“I know, son. For the first time in a long time, it’s all going to be ok.” He hugged Lynne to him and they all just huddled for a bit. I notice that Kyle never let Lynne’s hand fall from his.
Gran was still there and came up behind Caleb and me, putting an arm around each of us.
“Now ain’t that a sight.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Caleb whispered.
“I wonder did you both look that goofy when you imprinted,” she said with a teasing glint in her eye.
“I’m sure we did,” Caleb said good-naturedly, “probably goofier.”
“And how are you doing with everything that’s been going on?” she asked me as she tossled the ends of my hair.
“Alright, I guess,” I answered. “I’m pretty sick of the bowing, for sure.”
“Well you better get used to it, Miss Priss. You’re the Visionary and those old coots on the council won’t stand for breaking tradition. Come the day after tomorrow, you’re gonna have three hundred people bowing to you.”
“Ugh. Well, I’m going to try to change that. We have a lot of changes coming our way.”
“I heard. I also heard you found my Raymond’s book.”
Without another word from her I ran and got it out of my bag in the car. When I came back, we sat at the counter together with Caleb and looked at it. The brand new imprint celebration was still going on on the other side of the kitchen but we gave them some privacy.
“Oh, look at us!” she exclaimed at she saw the picture he had pasted in the cover. “How young and handsome was he?”
“You were pretty smoking too, Gran,” Caleb joked and she slapped his hand gently.
“Now don’t go throwing your lies at me!”
She ran her finger over Grandpa Ray’s face and then turned the page and started to read. When we got to the last page she got up without a word. When she came back she had a long feather pen in an ink well.
She called attention to everyone.
“I think we have a few additions to make. Caleb,” she turned to him, “I nominate you as Jacobson family historian and record keeper. All in favor, say aye.”
“Aye,” a chorus rang out.
“Wait,” Caleb said. “What does that mean?”
“It means you keep our records for us; births, imprints, ascensions. And it seems you’ve got some catching up to do.” She took the long black and white feather in her hand and laid it across her palms. “This was the very first historian’s pen. This belonged to your Grandpa Ray as well. Everything in this book is written with this pen.” She gave it to him and he held it, as if testing the weight. “And now it’s yours. It’ll be your job to keep track of everything and your job to find a predecessor when you’re done with it all.”
“Thank you, I’m honored, Gran,” Caleb said and his thoughts flashed to a time when he saw Grandpa Ray writing in it once when he was little.
Maria bounded around the corner and hid behind Caleb, peeking around him for her mom in her cute pink pajamas.
“I’m sorry Grandpa’s not here to give it to me,” Caleb said to Gran as he hugged Maria to his side.
“Me too, sugar,” Gran said and I saw her rub her wrist tattoo absentmindedly.
“But Grandpa Ray is here, Gran, right here,” Maria said and pointed to Gran’s heart and her own.
Gran smiled brightly and hugged her.
“You are so right, sugar. What would I do without you?”
“Um…be bored?”
Everyone laughed.
“You don’t know how true that statement is.”
~ Twenty Six ~
Unfortunately, we didn’t get much time with Maria because by this time, it was after midnight. So Jen carted her off to bed but I knew I’d see plenty of her in the week to come because she’d be going with us to the reunification.
It was hard, I could tell, for Kyle’s parents to move away from the new significants. It was like if they stopped looking at them, it would go away and be a dream. Eventually, Kyle coaxed them enough to tell them he was taking his significant to his room. They were tired and ready for sleep.
It was kind of funny watching Kyle tow Lynne up the stairs. Everyone looked high like they were drugged.
“Sleep tight, you two,” Gran called to them.
“That’s not all they’re gonna be doing,” Caleb muttered behind me and laughed when I elbowed his gut.
“Caleb Maxwell Jacobson!” she reprimanded. “For shame.”
“Maxwell?” I asked. “How did I not know your middle name?”
“There are still a few things you don’t know about me,” he muttered low in my neck. “But I actually take the time to look for these things, Maggie Camille Masters.”
I gasped.
“Not fair,” I muttered.
“Alright you two, that’s enough of that.” But then she looked at us closely. “Have you been being careful? You remember what I told you before about Aces getting pregnant the-“
“Gran,” Caleb protested and held a hand up. “We talked about this.”
“I’m just saying.”
“Bye, Gran.”
He scooped me up fireman style over his shoulder and carried me up the stairs with Peter and Rachel chuckling and Gran sputtering, scandalized once again.
When we passed Kyle’s door, we could hear them murmuring in there and Caleb chuckled at being right.
“You’re cute when you’re smug,” I said once he put me on the bed.
“Then I’m cute all the time.”
I laughed and covered my mouth, then groaned when he laid on top of me gently and began to kiss my neck.
“You’re not tired?” I asked.
“Not after all that, no. Are you?”
“A little.”
His mouth moved to ear and all my breath left me.
“You don’t sound very tired to me,” he said in a tone that told me exactly what he had up his sleeve.
“Caleb, we’re in your uncle’s house,” I chastised.
“Yeah, in our room, nobody’s going to come in. I’m ready to do this, Maggie.”
“I am too,” I realized. I was ready to Mutualize with my significant. I bit my lip. “Do you know exactly…what to do?”
He smiled genuinely and caressed my cheek bone with his thumb.
“Oh, yeah,” he whispered.
Then he kissed my mouth and let his hands drift down to grab my arms. He pushed them to the bed over my head and held them down gently as he continued to kiss me ardently.
Then we heard a knock at the door.
“You have got to be kidding me,” Caleb muttered against my lips. “What?” he said in aggravation and leaned back, pulling me up to sit by him.
The door swung open to reveal li
ttle Maria.
“I’m sorry. I’m scared.”
He softened and patted his lap. She slowly came and let him pull her up.
“What’s the matter, M? Where’s you mom?”
“She’s talking to Nana,” she explained. Nana was Rachel. “She was crying about something. But I heard Uncle Max talking about you getting shot with a gun. And someone shot at Maggie too.”
“But we’re fine. See?”
“I’m scared. Can I sleep with you?”
How could you refuse a face like that?
“Alright,” Caleb sighed and stood throwing her on the bed making her laugh. “Hop under the covers.”
“Yay!” she squealed.
He turned to me and pulled me close to him.
“We are going to finish this if it’s the last thing I do,” he growled and I giggled.
“Agreed.”
“Alright, scoot over, Maria. You can sleep next to Maggie, ok?”
“Ok.”
Caleb spooned behind me and fell asleep pretty quick for someone who had claimed not to be tired. Maria snuggled into my chest facing me. I smiled at the feeling of being completely surrounded, literally, by the people I loved.
In the morning I woke first. I slid out from between them both and bumbled my way into the kitchen to find it empty which surprised me. Usually Rachel was up cooking something yummy and with this many people in the house, you’d think there’d be one person awake. The clock said it was 6:55. That probably explained it. I decided maybe I should contribute for once.
I pulled out a bag of grits and two packs of bacon. How hard could it be, right?
Fifteen minutes later, I had burned grits to the bottom of the pan and had a plate of undercooked bacon with a few black pieces thrown in on top. I felt like an utter failure.
That’s where Caleb found me.
“Something smells…oh.” He tried not to laugh, I’ll give him credit for that, but he didn’t last long. I gave him a sulky look. “Ahh, it’s ok. Cooking isn’t everyone’s forte.”
“I think boiling grits and making bacon is pretty basic,” I muttered.
He wrapped his arms around me from behind. His hair was still slightly wet and I figured he’d grabbed a shower.
“It’s fine. We’ll just grab something on the way to your dad’s.”
“But what kind of wife am I going to make if I can’t even make bacon.”
I felt him still behind me. I hadn’t even realized what I’d said. He turned me slowly in his arms and looked at my face closely.
“What are you saying, Maggie?” he asked with hope and eagerness lacing his voice.
I sighed and gave in with a little smile. I’d known what I was going to say when he asked me every since that day when he almost asked me on the beach.
“I’m saying yes.”
“Saying yes to what,” he said with a little grin.
“Well, you were going to ask me to marry you, weren’t you?”
He pulled me to him and lifted me from the floor, knocking the spatula and plate to the floor in the process. He laughed and squeezed me.
“Yes, I was. Oh my…Maggie, I love you.” He pulled back but didn’t put me down. “Really, you want to marry me?”
“More than anything,” I responded.
He kissed me and laughed at the same time. It was a feeling like nothing else to have put that smile on his face. They must have heard the plate fall because Rachel and Peter made their way in to see what was up.
“What happened?” Peter asked clearly confused about the situation as he looked at the mess on the floor.
“Maggie said yes,” Caleb explained through a massive grin but didn’t take his eyes off mine.
They knew exactly what he was talking about. They rushed us with grins that matched Caleb’s.
“Oh, Maggie,” Rachel squealed with tears on her cheeks. She cried more often than any other mother I’ve ever met. Then I thought of my own mother. She’d never see me married. I pushed that away and focused on the now. “Honey, I’m so happy for you.”
“Me too,” I said truthfully as I heard Peter congratulating Caleb. Then he turned to me and hugged me just like my own father would. I wondered how my dad would take the news.
“You proposed over a plate of burned bacon?” Rachel asked and looked around in laughter. “Caleb, honey, we need to work on your timing skills.”
Everyone laughed, neither Caleb nor I refuted her explanation. He’d actually proposed to me on the beach, even though he never finished the words. In my mind, that would always be how he asked me to marry him. Caleb nodded at my words and then sobered a bit.
“I’ve got something for you. Come on.”
I followed him to his suitcase in the room. He pulled a small box out and twirled it in his fingers.
“Our kind doesn’t do engagement rings. Rings are really sacred thing for us-“
“Your mom told me.”
“Oh. You talked to my mom about the rings?”
“And the wedding.”
“Oh.” He seemed to like that a lot. “I was going to tell you about it but you were so freaked out about the marriage thing I thought I’d just wait.” I nodded my head in agreement. “OK. Well, then, as I was saying, I don’t have a ring for you. I can get you one if you want but you don’t really seem like the big rock type to me.” I bit my lip to tell him he was right. “I bought this, a while back. I wanted to be ready for when I could finally ask you, so…”
I took the box he offered me. It was Tiffany blue and that alone made my heart spike. But he said it wasn’t a ring so I took a deep breath and lifted the lid.
It was a small black and silver hinged box.
It was made out of glazed obsidian and had the filigree markings on it just like on their fences and his tattoo in silver. The Jacobson crest was on it as well with our names filled in on both sides to make a whole. Just like our tattoos would be if I had one. It was beautiful. I said as much.
“It’s beautiful.” When I lifted the lid there was a note and key ring in there. The key ring matched the box in color and intricacy. I started to pull the note out but he stopped me.
“That’s my vows. You keep those until the night before the wedding,” he explained and I nodded but then picked up the key ring.
“But Caleb, I don’t even have a car let alone keys to put on it.”
He pulled me to the couch and knelt in front of me.
“Traditionally, the wedding present from the husband is a house or a piece of land somewhere. So, I figured I could give you something to put our very first key on.”
I sat stunned. Then I wrapped my arms around his neck.
“Caleb,” I breathed. “Thank you for being so you.”
He chuckled.
“Well, I’m not sure what that means.”
I pulled back to look at him.
“You always know exactly what I want.” I looked at the oval key ring in my hand. “And this is the sweetest thing I’ve ever gotten from anybody.”
He smiled in a way that made my heart skip.
“I’m glad you like it. I was a little worried that you’d think I was being presumptuous.”
“I said I’d marry you didn’t I?” I grinned. “I don’t expect us to keep living in Uncle’s Max’s guest room.”
He blew a sigh of grateful relief.
“Thank you for not making a fuss over me spending money on you.”
“Well…I guess things have changed a little bit lately. I guess maybe I’m a little more open to being spoiled,” I said and rolled my eyes and smiled.
“I am so in love with you, Maggie,” he sighed, repeating my words to him from the other day.
“Love you, too.”
I was surprised when he just kissed me on the nose and left it at that. Soon we were greeted with others who had heard the news and wanted to congratulate us. After several minutes of being petted and told all about what the dedication would be like and how fun it was to be surp
rised with a house of our husband’s choosing we told them we needed to leave.
