by SM Olivier
I told Micah he could join the younger children in the living room to watch a movie. I could tell he was tired and wanted to join them. He had been robbed of a childhood, and I could see the longing in his gaze as we passed them. He eagerly accepted my offer, and the younger children welcomed him with open arms.
I settled the children in with blankets and drinks before joining the group once more. The moment I walked into the room, Remy pulled me into his lap and I went willingly. I had my cupcake in one hand and my coffee in the other as he began running his hands through my hair. I had to stifle my moan of pleasure. I had missed feeling his large hands through my hair, his fingers magically massaging my scalp and back of my neck.
“Something’s been bugging me about this whole situation,” I stated, silencing all the side conversations. “When time went back, our memories of the future should have been erased, in theory. However, I was able to remember from the moment I woke up at Collin’s.” We had already filled in Steven, Cora, and Beth of the other details of my ‘abduction.’ “Ella, Alex, and Micah had their memories intact as well. They remembered everything.”
Steven rubbed his chin with his hand. “We haven’t known of a time changer for over a century. Maybe the connections you made with some of the guys were enough to protect you from the time shift.”
Cora shook her head. “That wouldn’t explain the children. Maybe it’s something in their blood.”
“They already disapproved another one of our beliefs that a gifted person was restricted to the number of children they could bare,” Beth added.
“Rachel’s father was able to father more than two children,” Collin added. “Her memories were taken as well.”
We all sat in silence mulling over their words.
“Can I draw all of your blood? Maybe it’s time we started doing our research again,” Cora said hesitantly. She looked over at Beth and Steven. “With Nadia in school all day now, there’s not much for me to do anymore. I wouldn’t mind getting back into the lab.”
Will looked concerned as he ran a hair through his perfect salt and pepper hair. I rarely saw him disheveled. “I think it would be a great start, but I’m afraid of the doors that may open, or the possibility of our…experiments falling into the wrong hands.”
“You’re afraid to become the man you use to be,” Rachel said astutely.
Will gave her a fond but exasperated look. “It’s been some time since I kept company with a lie detector.”
“Or a seeker of truth,” Rachel teased.
Will turned and looked at me. “I’m leaving the decision in Blake and Rachel’s hands. Those two boys and that little girl is her blood, Blake’s family. Rachel is a minor, yes, but mature enough to make those decisions on her own.”
“I want to do it,” Rachel stated immediately. “There has to be a reason my family was murdered. Someone knows something. If Horatio has been conducting his own research for years, he’s already ahead of us. We have the cards. We should stack our own deck.”
I looked at all the guys. “It’s not up to me anymore,” I stated quietly. “Any decision I make effects my connections as well. It’s something we should decide together.”
“I say yes,” Noah stated immediately.
Drake, Jaxson, and Troy nodded their assent.
“Is it just one vial of blood you will need?” Remy asked hesitantly. “I don’t want them to become human pin cushions.”
“I think the children should be able to make a decision as well,” Jace added. “They’re young, but they are wise beyond their years. They’ve been through a lot.”
“Then we will ask them tomorrow and give you a decision by Monday,” I stated.
“Perfect.” Cora nodded in understanding. “That will give me time to get back into the lab and make sure I have everything I need. Can I bring other people onto my project?”
“They will have to be people we trust,” Will assented. “However, I only want you drawing their blood, and I don’t want any of their names on the labels. We can assign them numbers, letters, anything but their names.”
“It’s too bad we don’t know what he’s been working on.” Beth frowned as she took a sip of her coffee.
I don’t think too many people caught the look that passed between Steven and Will.
Chapter 16
I woke up early despite getting to bed so late. I felt somewhat anxious. The kids would have to be approached today about getting their blood drawn. They were also meeting the team that would be assigned to them. A special allowance was being made to allow them to come home every night. Their team would take them to school, stay with them during the school day, and then return them to us every night. Will was spending most of the day finding a tutor for Micah, so he could hopefully be ready to start real school by next fall.
I laid there for a while before I finally gave up any hopes of returning to sleep. I got up and put on some running gear. I was exiting my room and heading down the stairs when I ran into Collin.
“Hey,” he said as he awkwardly shifted from one foot to the other, grasping the back of his neck. “Can we talk?”
I scrutinized him for a moment, before I nodded. “I was going to go for a run, but I wanted to grab a banana.”
“Umm, how are you feeling?” he hedged.
“Can you just cut to the chase? What did you want to talk to me about?” I asked as I opened a banana and poured myself a glass of orange juice.
“I just wanted to tell you how very sorry I am that I was involved in separating you from your connections. After being here for less than 24 hours and the acceptance I’m receiving, and despite the circumstances I came here in, I could understand why you chose Will’s side,” he said.
I started to make coffee, knowing some of the others would be up soon. “I wasn’t picking a side,” I told him tartly. “Even if I hadn’t met Will first, I would have known Horatio wasn’t a man I would ever want to work with.”
He sighed. “I guess I was blinded by the money, I chose to turn a blind eye. I’m sorry, and I wish there was a way I could prove it to you.”
“Will isn’t paying you, so what’s your motivating factor now?” I said bluntly.
“I need to right my wrongs,” he said decisively. “I know it’s… too late for some of the situations I had a hand in, but if Will would allow me, I want to help in whatever way possible.”
“How can we trust you?” I asked him, even though I felt the sincerity in his words.
“I want to earn that trust,” Collin said passionately. “I know I don’t deserve it. I don’t deserve any of this, but I want to try.”
I scrutinized him for a moment, then shrugged. “It’s not just me you will have to win over. You hurt a lot of us with this deception, not to mention what you’ve been doing behind Drake’s back,” I said quietly.
Collins eyes grew wide, before he looked down at his feet. “We were at a party together one day, and we both got toasted. She came on to me, upset that Drake was talking about his connection again.” When I went to speak he held up his hand. “I’m not excusing our behavior. It wasn’t right. I should have told her if she wanted to continue to be with me, she needed to break up with him. I haven’t talked to her since all of this went down, but I know I need to call it quits.”
“You need to tell him,” Remy said resolutely as he came around the corner dressed in a pair of running shorts (despite the chilly weather outside) and a hooded sweatshirt.
“Did you?” Collin didn’t look like he was being confrontational, but he was calling Remy out.
Remy scrutinized him. “We tell him today,” he stated resolutely.
Collin looked down at his feet but nodded. “Yeah, okay.”
“She’s pregnant,” I pushed my thoughts onto Remy. “At least that’s what Ella told me once.”
His eyes widened for a moment as he turned to me. “Going for a run? Want to join me?”
I nodded, “That sounds great.”
We
left the house, and I fell into step with him. “Whose baby is it?” he asked as we got away from the house.
“Collin’s,” I stated. “At least that’s what Ella told me. Although, not all her predictions came true.”
He grunted. “Don’t they have those fetal DNA test? If she says she is, we can tell Drake we think she should get one taken.”
I sighed. “He might. I don’t know if the results would matter all that much. He has barely talked to me since I returned. I’m not sure if he’ll stop loving her. This time.”
“He will,” Remy said with conviction. “Maybe not right away, but you are our connected. He won’t be able to deny it for long, especially now all the connections have been made.”
“Does it feel…different?” I asked mystified.
He nodded. “I can definitely feel it now, and I’m sure all the other guys do too. I almost feel…invincible.”
When we got back, most of the house was up. Jaxson, Noah, Rachel, and Jemmy were known to sleep in on the weekends. The children were already up watching cartoons. Micah was in the middle of the ‘puppy’ pile up, and I knew he was happy to have found his family.
Drake was setting out the ingredients for breakfast, and I jumped in to help him, although I was in desperate need of a shower. “I think I need to go grocery shopping today,” he smiled wryly as he opened the refrigerator.
“Well, we kind of doubled in size,” I giggled. “Sorry about that.”
He looked at me with an inscrutable look. “There’s nothing that you need to be sorry about. I’m sorry if I’ve seemed…distant. I knew you would come one day. I had hoped, but now that reality is here, I’m trying to adjust.”
“Because of Rose,” I stated.
He nodded.
I didn’t know what to say, so I just continued to fry up the sausage and bacon while Drake began making eggs. He had already asked the children how they like their eggs, so he was beginning with theirs.
I was dishing out the bacon and sausage on the plate when a cool voice said from the doorway. “Well this looks cozy.”
I stiffened knowing that voice immediately. I turned and saw Rose leaning in the doorway to the garage. She was wearing one of her skin tight miniscule outfits. If she was pregnant I couldn’t imagine she was that far along, or maybe she just had good genes. I couldn’t see any signs of a baby bump.
I stiffened when I looked down at her hands. A gift bag was clutched in her hands. I eyed it, thinking it look suspiciously like one of those gift bags you gave an expectant mother at a baby shower. A sick feeling settled in the pit of my stomach.
Drake had a look of panic and guilt on his face as he turned around. “Hey,” Drake hedged. “What are you doing here?”
She glared at me. “The question should be, what is she doing here, and why are you making breakfast together?”
Drake sighed. “I think we need to talk.”
“I’ll finish here,” I informed him as I took over making the eggs.
I knew how everyone else took their eggs, so it wouldn’t take me long to make them. Drake gave me a grateful smile before he motioned for Rose to follow him.
It wasn’t long before I heard yelling from the other room. I dished out plates for the kids. I didn’t want them to hear anything that may be coming from the den.
“Time to eat,” I gently bade them.
They didn’t hesitate as they quickly got up and took their seats at the bar. From Alex’s haunted look, I could tell he was no stranger to yelling and it still made him uncomfortable. I turned off the stove, thinking the other eggs could wait to be cooked. I went back out into the living room. The staircase leading down into the living room and hallway to the den was now lined up with the inhabitants of the house. Remy, Troy, Collin, and Jace came up from the basement where they had been working on a new training program.
“What’s going on?” Jace asked.
“Rose and Drake are…talking,” I informed them.
Collin immediately looked uncomfortable and pale.
“Can she be any quieter? It’s too early for this,” Jemmy grumbled as Gavin wrapped his arms around her waist.
“It’s 8 o’clock,” I gently teased her.
“That’s early,” Jaxson grumbled as he stretched and yawn. I swear the boy hated shirts. His flannel pajama bottoms were riding low on his hips and his muscles rippled as he stretched. My mouth watered as I looked at him.
He stopped yawning and looked at me with a wink. I blushed, wondering how he knew I was lusting after him.
Jace slid up behind me and put his arms around my waist. “Since you made your last connection, your barriers have been down more often. We can feel your…arousal,” he gently growled.
I gulped. “Can I…fix that?”
He chuckled huskily. “I’ll help you work on it. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about,” he squeezed my shoulder. “Imagine a young teenage empath boy going through puberty.”
I turned and looked at him, my eyes wide. I couldn’t help the giggle that escaped my lips. I could only imagine him at 13, 14, 15 years old, having a crush or admiring a girl and projecting his feelings with his gift. That had to be embarrassing a time or two.
“Exactly,” he said with self-deprecating humor.
“Remember when he had that crush on Liz Rollins?” Troy started chuckling as he looked at Remy.
Remy shoulders shook with repressed laughter. “His thoughts definitely weren’t PG where she was concerned.”
Jace gave them an annoyed but joking look. “I was fourteen,” he explained in exasperation.
“She wouldn’t go near him or talk to him for months,” Troy nearly had tears rolling down his face.
Another scream from the den, silenced us all. Rachel grabbed Jemmy’s hand and they ran down the steps. Then they crept down the hallway. They placed their heads against the door, trying to eavesdrop.
It didn’t surprise me that they had clicked instantly again. I was still trying to find my niche with them again. I wasn’t uncomfortable around them. I just didn’t feel as close to them as I once had. I knew we would get there, I just hoped it was sooner than later.
They were only standing there for a few moments before both of their mouths dropped open and their eyes bugged out.
“Holy crap, she’s pregnant,” Jemmy blurted out.
Two things happened simultaneously. Collin cursed as he slapped his hands over his eyes, and Jemmy and Rachel screamed as they fell to the floor; the door that they had been leaning against was yanked open, causing them to tumble forward.
“Grow up, Jemmy,” I heard Rose screech as she took a step into the hall. “This is a private conversation. You all need to—" She stopped midsentence, her face flushed white. “Collin,” she said quietly. “What are you doing here?”
“Whose baby is it?” he asked with deadly quietness.
“It’s—” Drake came out of the room behind her. His eyes widened as he looked between Collin and Rose.
“I think all of you need to go talk,” I stated. “Maybe where the kids can’t hear you.”
“The music room is sound proof,” Jace suggested to them, his eyes narrowed on Collin and Rose.
Drake, Collin, and Rose still hadn’t emerged from the music room when we had finished eating, showering, and getting the kids ready. Micah, Alex, Chip, Jace, Jaxson, Gavin, and Noah left in the Land Rover, while Rachel, Jemmy, Ella, and I took the other Tahoe.
Jemmy was beyond excited at the idea of shopping, since Remy and Will had given us the credit cards with no limitations. She had every intention of buying herself some new clothes and shoes as well. Will had even insisted that I get some additional items.
I didn’t think I would be getting much. Maybe a new pair of sneakers since I abhorred my pink pair. Ella, like always, was beyond excited to go shopping. Sometimes I wondered if we were even related.
The boys told us to meet them at the food court at 1 pm so we can eat lunch and see if we had any other errands
to run.
“Can we call Nadia over today?” Ella asked from the back seat.
“Maybe,” I told her noncommittedly. “It’s a school night,” I explained to her. “Her parents might not like her to go out on a school night.”
“But I’m outnumbered,” Ella said sullenly.
“Have they been picking on you?” Rachel asked teasingly.
“No, but,” Ella stuttered. “They fart and are smelly.” She reasoned as only a 7-year-old could.
Jemmy giggled, “That would never change.”
“You fart,” I said with a teasing grin.
“Ugh!” Ella groaned in frustration.
Rachel reached over and squeezed her hand. “They’re family. I know what it’s like to be the only girl, but one day when or if they’re gone, you’re going to miss them.”
I could hear the pain in her voice as she looked at Ella pointedly.
“How would you know?” Ella scoffed.
“Well,” Rachel said hesitantly. “I lost my brothers, and as annoying and smelly as they were, I miss them every day.”
“But they’re not all gone,” Ella said mutinously.
“Ella,” I said with warning. “Rachel’s brothers were taken from her, and we have to be respectful of her loss.”
Ella rolled her eyes as if we were dense. “But they’re not gone. Not all of them.”
Rachel’s head snapped around. “What are you saying, Ella?” she said her voice filled with hope and despair.
“Herman is alive,” she shrugged nonchalantly. “Oh, and your dad.”
A pin dropping could have been heard in the vehicle. “Ella, did you see this. When does it happen?” Rachel asked eagerly.
Ella shrugged again, her little eyebrows knitting. “I don’t know.”
“Ella do you ever see the same visons twice?” I asked gently.
She nodded. “Sometimes. I saw Chip and you together all the time.” She grinned at me. “Now you guys are!”
“Ella, can you tell me next time you get that vision, if you get it again? Maybe you can remember more details if you tell me right away.” Rachel sounded almost dejected.