by Shelly Crane
I laughed. “You sound less than thrilled about that.” I leaned closer. “Why do you look like you smell bad sushi?”
He chuckled and squeezed me tighter, pulling my head onto his shoulder. “Gah, Ava. I know it’s supposed to happen this way, but…he’s taking you away from me.”
I pushed him back and gave him a stern look. Or what I could only assume was one. “Dad, that won’t happen—”
“It will.” He smiled sadly. “But it’s okay. I’ll get over it. And you’ll come visit me all the time,” he ordered.
“Of course we will, Daddy.”
“Knock, knock!” My heart got excited before the door slammed behind her and Ember came in with Maria in tow. “Hey, Aunt Mags.” She kissed her cheek and stole a bite of whatever Mom was making over there. I didn’t know and didn’t care. I was too sulky to notice. Daddy hugged me hard one last time and left me to go back to helping Mom.
“What are you girls up to?” he asked as he picked back up the knife.
“You don’t even want to know, Uncle Caleb,” Maria laughed and hugged him around his middle. “It involves boys,” she whispered conspiratorially. “Or at least I hope it does.”
Daddy laughed. “Oh, yeah? And what does Dawson have to say about that?”
The door opened again, causing my heart to erupt in gallops. I glared at Dawson, causing him to put his hands up in mock surrender as he sent me a small smile. “Dawson says she can have all the men she wants,” he laughed.
He came and hugged me, patting my back. I rolled my eyes and spoke low into my ear. “I’m guessing by that sympathy pat you’ve heard?”
He leaned back and grimaced. “You really think Aunt Mags is going to keep to herself the fact that her daughter found a significant? And that he’s a Watson?” He hissed like it was painful. “Sorry, cuz.” He kissed my forehead. “I got some news to cheer you up though.”
“What?” Dad barked and looked at Dawson and then at Maria over his shoulder. “You two better start talking.”
They grinned at each other before Dawson left me and went to her, cupping her cheek and giving her that smile that told her and anybody that was looking that she hung the frigging moon.
“Oh, my gosh,” I whispered, totally getting it.
Mom gasped next, but Dad and Rodney were clueless.
“M.” Dad turned all tense. “Come on now, you’re scaring me.”
“I’m pregnant, Uncle Caleb.”
He sighed, setting his knife down. He chuckled with another sigh and hugged her. “I bet your mom is over the moon.”
“She is.”
“Well, it took you two long enough.”
Dawson laughed and accepted Mom’s hug while we both rolled our eyes at each other over her shoulder.
They hadn’t gotten pregnant right away like most significants do. They wanted to wait until they got their traveling done. They both worked for Daddy. They did the architectural side of the business and went to set up the new centers, designing them, Daddy had even branched into international territory and they traveled all over putting up centers. Just like Mamma and Daddy had been the rebels who went against the family business, Maria had been the rebel who had waited to have kids.
Dawson was human. They met at college. The first person that Maria ran home to tell was Daddy. She and Daddy have always been close, even though she had Uncle Bish. Daddy and Maria had something different, special.
And Dawson was such a sweetheart. He had no family except a grandfather, Bill, who he took care of so it was like God picked him. And he loved Maria. And he loved our family. And we loved him.
Ember bumped arms with me as she leaned on the counter next to me. “You ready to be an aunt?”
“I’ve been ready,” she said loudly. Then softly she said, “Anything to distract myself from the fact that I haven’t found my significant.”
I twisted my mouth in sympathy and looped my arm in hers. “Trust me, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. It’s not all perfect like your parents or lovey-dovey like Mom and Dad’s.”
She squinted. “You want to spill? Or do I have to ply you with chocolate to get it out of you?”
I noticed that everyone had stopped and was listening. Dawson and Maria especially were glued to what I was going to say next. “Definitely chocolate.”
She sighed sadly. “Ave—”
But then the back door opened. I’d given up on letting my heart get fluttery, so I turned expecting Rodney or another cousin, but it wasn’t. It so wasn’t.
My lips parted and my chest dipped with a painful breath.
Everyone must have noticed my reaction because they all turned at the same time to look at him. Seth seemed a little blindsided to find so many Jacobsons staring him down, but he recovered quickly. His smile came out swinging as he closed the door gently.
“Sorry, I knocked on the front door, but no one heard.”
Mom grinned. “That’s okay. Come on in. We’re backdoor kind of folks anyway.” He walked over to my mother first to give her a small hug, which she returned with gusto. I was glad, fearful that she might make things weird for him.
“Mrs. Jacobson.”
“Call me Maggie, please,” she said and turned to go back to chopping, but not without sending me a big smile.
He. Came.
He shook Dad’s hand as Dad said gruffly, “You can call me Mr. Jacobson.” Seth’s eyes widened. I giggled unable to stop it just as Daddy grinned. “I’m just kidding. Caleb will do.” He patted him, maybe a little too roughly, on the back.
Everyone laughed as Ember chimed in. “Uncle Caleb is the Champion of our Clan. Though he’s probably the funniest one this clan has ever seen.”
“And the most magnanimous,” Mom said over-graciously and bowed dramatically, knife in one hand and cucumber in the other.
Everyone laughed loudly, Dad rolling his eyes and crossing his arms with a smile. Seth waved at everyone else slightly before coming to me. I watched his face the entire time. I knew an embarrassing, awkward moment was eminent. The dance—do we hug, do we half-hug, do we shake hands, do we kiss the cheek?
But he stunned me even further. He smiled so easily, like he was genuinely happy to see me.
“Hey,” he muttered low, right before he pulled me into his chest, letting his cheek connect with my forehead. We both sighed a little.
There was no awkward dance and I felt stupid for even thinking there would be. We hadn’t seen each other in hours. Of course he’d hug me. And Seth didn’t seem to be intimidated very easily so the fact that my family was there might be fazing him, but he wasn’t showing it.
I let my arms hang on his hips for a few seconds before pulling back.
“Hey,” I finally said, but couldn’t help but smile because I was so happy that he was there.
He swung around to my side and put his arm around my back, asking with his eyes if it was okay. I bit into my lip to stop my stupid grin, but remembered what he said about trying to stop my smile with my teeth. I smirked instead and shook my head.
He smirked in return, looking pleased.
I smiled wider.
“Uhum.”
I swung my head to look at Ember. “I know we practically don’t exist right now,” Dawson chuckled in the background as she continued, “but can you at least introduce us?”
I felt my neck blare past pink and go straight to fire engine. Seth rubbed my arm. My mouth opened for a full ten seconds before words came out. “I’m sorry. Uh…this is Seth. Sorry. Um, he’s my…”
“We got it.” Ember giggled and came forward to shake his hand. “Ember. Nice to meet you.”
When they touched hands, for a split second, I imagined him bonding with her instead and nightmares ensued. I sighed loudly. “And this is Dawson and Maria. Some of my cousins.”
“Nice to meet you,” he said politely and continued to rub my shoulder in a small back and forth pattern with his thumb.
“So what’s on the agenda tonight?” M
aria asked with a little smirk.
“You’re staying?” I asked and made sure to give her a little evil-eye where Seth couldn’t see.
“Are you kidding?” She grinned and looped her arm through Mom’s. “I’ve missed you guys. I wouldn’t miss dinner tonight if you paid me to leave.”
I shook my head and gave up, knowing her and Ember would never leave with the opportunity for swoonage and new significants within fifty yards. They lived for it.
Ember winked at me with a grin and went to stand next to her gossiping sister. Dawson came and leaned next to me on the counter. “As soon as your mom called and did her rounds with the family letting them know, it’s all I’ve heard—getting over here to see you.”
I smiled. “Your wife is a pain in the a—” I looked at Seth and he was smirking at me, daring me. “Butt,” I finished. He laughed so loudly and everyone looked to see what was so funny, but we both just stood there grinning. Even Dawson didn’t know what was that funny.
“Yeah,” Dawson kept moving along, “but she’s my pain in the butt.” His grin was adorable. “And she’s a beautiful pain in the butt. And she—”
“Oh, my gosh. I get it.”
He chuckled. “You opened that can.”
“I guess I did. So, you’re going to be a father,” I mused. “A good one.”
He looked down at the floor and shook his head. Dawson was one of those guys that grew up with no parents. His grandfather, Bill, raised him so he had old school principles and morals, thank God. More people should. He was polite, he held the door open for women and paid for dinner. Not because they were the lesser class or couldn’t do it themselves, but because it was the respectful thing to do, because women were precious, women were to be praised, women were to be shown that a woman with a good heart would be rewarded with a man with a respectful soul for her. Dawson had told me that once. That’s what his grandfather had taught him, brought him up to believe, and he was such a good man for it.
His grandfather passed the same year that Gran did. It was a hard time for our family. We loved his grandfather and had brought him into the family fold. Though he hadn’t known about our secrets, he had been part of our family nonetheless.
Now two of the greats were gone and people looked to Grandpa Peter and Nana to be the new greats. They were doing a pretty great job of it, too.
“Where did you go?”
I looked up. “What?”
Maria’s head was cocked. “Where did you go? You looked happy and sad at the same time.”
“I bet Seth knows where she went,” Ember needled.
Seth didn’t skip a beat. “She was thinking about an older man and woman.”
Ember’s jaw dropped. “Wait. I was kidding! You’re not supposed to be able to do that yet!”
I looked up at Seth and he pressed his lips in a tight line, sighing from his nose.
Damn.
We could play it off. His eyes popped wide. We could pretend that you were just trying to act like you knew.
I doubt that will work now.
Why?
Because one, they’re all staring at us. They know we’re talking right now. I looked and it was true. And two, you’re actually talking to me like this, so normally. He smiled. There’s no way I’m going to stop now.
“All right, lovebirds. Spill.”
I glared at Ember and mumbled, “You really know how to kill a moment.”
She laughed. “How the hell can you do that already?”
“It’s just like your mom and I.” Dad looked back at Mom. “Baby, will you just…” He waved his hand at the cucumbers.
She gave up with a sigh and dropped the knife in the air, but it didn’t fall. “I like to have some sense of normalcy sometimes.”
“I know, baby,” he soothed as the knife hovered in the air and starting slicing the cucumbers into perfect portions and then another knife came out of the knife block beside us and hovered across the room to the counter to start chopping the lettuce. Seth’s eyes followed it, wide as the plates we were about to eat on. I rubbed his chest and he jumped a little.
It’s okay.
Okay? That’s frigging amazing.
I smiled and loved the way his arm tugged me closer into his chest. I took some initiative and wrapped one of my arms around him, too. He was so tall that my arm sat on his hips. That seemed to bolster him. He put one of his hands on the back of my neck and let it rest there, just let our skin hum and be happy.
It was all I could do not to moan and close my eyes in the middle of our family.
Then I realized that I’d said ‘our family’ and I hadn’t gotten any ill feelings from him. He shrugged.
They are my family. They’re pretty awesome, too, from what I’ve seen so far.
Mom had gotten a glass of tea and then went into Daddy’s arms. He would always lean against the counter and she would come and lay on him, put herself in the ‘V’ his legs made. That was her spot. He would wrap his arms around her and then usually we’d had to look away many times during the convo because he’d be whispering or nibbling on her neck or ear or whatever. Tonight, I’m sure they’d be civil. Probably.
“Now,” Dad started, “your mom and I were like that. We could hear each other really quickly, too. Why didn’t you say anything?”
“We didn’t think it was a big deal,” I rushed to say.
“There’s a reason that you would be given those certain abilities this way,” Mom said and shivered. Dad squeezed her and rubbed his chin on her hair. “We needed it for the fight we had coming, for all the things we had to deal with. I pray that that’s not why it was given to you, too.”
“Well, this is getting heavy,” Maria muttered and winked at me. I smiled graciously. “Want to really freak out Seth, Aunt Mags? Break out your crystal ball.”
Seth looked at me with a cocked brow and everyone laughed. “No,” I said and shook my head.
He half-sighed, half-laughed.
Dawson picked Maria up and set her on the counter. “Take a load off, prego.” He started to rub her legs and calves. She groaned. “It’s not good for you to stand around anymore.”
“Dawson, baby, I’m pregnant not dying.” She kissed him and put her arms on his shoulders.
“Well, being the seventh wheel sucks,” Ember sulked, but I knew her. She wanted to find her significant so badly. I remembered those days, not too long ago. I looked up at Seth. But now those days were gone.
And then his phone dinged with a text.
His face morphed completely from happy to worried. Scared even.
Don’t look at it. Just don’t look at it.
Ava.
Did they know you were coming?
No. I haven’t spoken to anyone today.
But they had to know that you would be coming here every night, right? Obviously you’d be coming to your significant’s house every night.
He pulled it out and closed his eyes as soon as he read it.
Come home. Family meeting. Emergency.
“I’m sorry.”
“Me, too.”
“I’ve got to go. Family emergency, but it was nice to meet you all.” It wasn’t hard to see how upset he was, but I couldn’t feel bad for him. No…I wouldn’t. Nope. Nuhuh. He was choosing to leave, wasn’t he? He’d only been there for fifteen minutes and now he was leaving, again, because of his family. They always stopped us from seeing each other and he still wanted to find good in them.
“Nice to meet you, too,” Ember called. “Don’t be a stranger!”
He smiled and waved as he went out the door.
I didn’t want to walk him outside, I was angry, but it was the only way I was going to get a second of privacy.
“I’ll see you in a bit.” I squinted and he amended. “Tomorrow.”
“Yeah, tomorrow,” I muttered.
His sigh was so forlorn and downtrodden. “I am sorry, sweetheart. I wish—I wish your mother did have a crystal ball. I would give anything to use
it right now.”
“Well, there aren’t any crystal balls, Seth. You have to go with your gut, with what you believe in.” I could feel myself tearing up because I felt like he didn’t believe in me—in us—as much as them. “You have to trust in what you know is the right thing.” He closed his eyes and let a breath go. “I can’t tell you what that is. That’s something you have to figure out for yourself.”
I didn’t waste any more time. I did not want to burst into tears in front of him over his family. I went to him and grabbed his hand, hearing his hiss, loving it and hating it in that moment, too. I held on as long as I could and then turned to go.
“Ava,” he called, his voice told me how badly he was hurting, how he was being pulled in two.
I didn’t turn. “Yeah?”
“Don’t give up on me,” he begged. “I believe in us. I do. But if there’s even a sliver of something left of my family, I have to see if I can find it. I have to do this to protect you, to keep you safe.”
I could hold it in no longer and let the tears come. I went back to him, not because I needed comfort but because he did. I hugged him around his middle and his arms went around my shoulders. I understood this would probably be our norm since he was so tall. I moved to press my face to his neck to make sure we were touching, pushing his jacket collar haphazardly out of the way.
I’ll come drive you to school in the morning.
Okay.
Tomorrow night is my last free night. After that, I’m on at the fire station for forty-eight hours.
I sat up and looked at him.
He nodded. “Yeah. It’s going to suck for a while there, but we’ll figure it out. I just won’t sleep.” He chuckled.
I didn’t laugh. This relationship was starting to feel like nothing but touches to keep from being in withdrawal and that was never what I wanted. I wanted a real relationship with love and laughter and happiness and trust and…butterflies and goosebumps.
So far it was a failed kidnapping, distrust, a whole lot of touches before one of us had to leave, and sure, a few butterflies. My eyes hurt from holding the tears back. I looked up to find him so affected by my thoughts he looked like he’d throw up.