There was a heavy silence around the table. I felt my eyes get wet and I reached and took one of Niki’s hands as I saw Debbie take her other hand. “Forget all that nonsense about being given a chance, as far as we’re concerned Cutie, you already are family. I’ve got too many boys, I’ve needed some girls to balance out the numbers and now I’ve been blessed with two of you.”
“Yeah. Well, really it is just the two of you. Addie doesn’t actually even count as being a girl.” Josh said and was promptly hit in the head by a dinner roll thrown by his sister.
Jeremy snorted “When food starts flying, it’s definitely time to start eating. Dig in all.”
-------------------------
Caleb
“Are you bringing playdates to our weekly visits now, you hussy?” Trudy asked with an eyebrow raised as we walked into her room.
“Well, I thought it would liven things up, you hag. I also figured all the old girls round here would appreciate the eye candy.” Liya said smacking my ass.
I froze, surprised and unsure what to make of their little exchange. What is happening?
“Uh. Nice to meet you ma’am. I’m Caleb Jameson, Liya’s boyfriend.” I said with a nod.
Trudy looked me up and down unnervingly and smirked “Well, I’m guessing you took my advice Malinda. Good to see you have some common sense after all. I’m also assuming from the smile on your face you were right about his performance between the sheets?”
“I was indeed. It was toe curling good.” she gave Trudy a thumbs up.
Seriously. What the fuck is happening?
“I… don’t understand what’s going on right now.” I said confused looking between them.
“I thought you said he was smart? Well, the pretty ones rarely are.” Trudy said running her eyes over my body again.
Liya leaned into me “He has his moments. But just look at that face, how could I resist?” she said taking my chin into her hands and squeezing it.
“Looks fade.” Trudy said plainly.
“I would care about that, if he weren’t so damned talented with his mouth.” Liya retorted quickly.
“Ladies. I’m not sure how I feel about being objectified like this.” I said hesitantly.
“Aw, you poor thing. Shut your handsome little mouth and go get me a drink from the vending machine, Blue Eyes.” Trudy said with a dismissive wave of an arthritic hand.
Startled, I moved to the door before Liya pulled me back with a laugh. “She’s joking, Cal. My grandaunt is an acquired taste, but you’ll get used to her. Just don’t let her give you any shit.”
I’m beginning to regret tagging along on this little visit to the insane asylum.
At a loss for what to do, I handed Trudy the bouquet of flowers I held in my hand.
“You brought me flowers? Why? What am I going to do with a bunch of soon to be dead weeds? Why does no one smoke anymore? Now, a pack of Marlboro lights, that’s a gift I could appreciate.”
“Haven’t you heard? They found out smoking kills.” Liya said with grin.
“I’m dying already anyway, what’s the harm in speeding up the process a little?” Trudy said rolling her eyes.
“But if you died, who would I have these delightful little visits with on my days off?” Liya said unaffected.
“Paulina Rubens, across the hall. She’s loaded and always desperate for some company. She may even leave you a precious heirloom or two.”
“Hmm… Rubens, you say? Perhaps I should take her a piece of Niki’s pumpkin pie and make friends.” Liya said tapping a finger on her chin, looking thoughtful.
I took a deep breath and mentally prepared myself for what I assumed would be a very long couple of hours.
--------------------------------
“Are you cheating, Blue Eyes?” Trudy asked suspiciously.
“I would never Ms. Trudy. Being awesome at Go Fish just happens to be one of the many talents I possess.”
“Would you really take money from a sweet old woman?” she asked cocking her head to the side.
“No. But I would from you.” I said with a grin in her direction as I collected my winnings, Liya snickered in her chair and I saw a twinkle in Trudy’s eyes.
“Well, now that you’ve taken my life savings, I think you had better get out of here before I end up re-mortgaging the house to pay for my debts.” Trudy said using her cane to get out of her seat.
Liya stood and stretched, “I’m just going to go ask Nurse Ratched about your blood pressure pills and then we’ll go.” she said leaving the room.
I helped Trudy from the table to her a padded armchair and sat on the stool in front of her.
“I remember when your family moved here. Your uncle and aunt seem like good people.” she said surprising me.
“They are.”
“If they’re good people, then I assume they’ve raised you to be good people too. You look after my grandniece Caleb Jameson. She may act tough as nails, but she’s a softy. She may be hard work at times, but she’ll be worth it in the end. Don’t you give up on her.” Trudy said, her piercing grey stare fixed firmly on me.
“I have no intention of giving up what we’ve started, ma’am. I care about her too much to let her go. We both have our demons, but it’s nothing we can’t work through together.”
“Those girls, they have each other, but they’re lonely. They need a family, you up for providing them with that?”
“They’re both already a part of my family, Ma’am. I will always be there for her. Always. Even if she ever decides she doesn’t want me anymore. I promise you, they won’t be alone.”
“Well, alright then. Your word is good enough for me, son. But just remember, I’m old. When I die, I will come back and haunt your ass if you hurt her.”
“That may be the most terrifying thing I’ve ever heard in my life, Ms Trudy.”
Chapter 24
Maliya
“Are you joining us for Christmas, Liya?” Jake asked from the sofa he was sprawled in sipping his beer.
“Sadly no, I’ve got to go to work. Me and Niki are going to celebrate an early Christmas with Aunty Trudy instead.”
I’d had to turn down Debbie’s invitation to spend Christmas day at the Jamesons, as I had a night shift to work over the holiday. Niki and I had managed to persuade Aunt Trudy to come and join us for a few hours before we took her back to the nursing home.
We had hoped that she would be able to spend the night, but the doctor had been worried about her and wanted the staff at the nursing home to keep an eye on her blood pressure, which had been particularly high recently.
“When are you picking Trudy up for your early Christmas?” Caleb asked. We were tucked up together on the sofa in his house.
“Monday around noon. Why do you ask?” I asked tracing shapes on the back on his hand draped across my arm.
“She’s going to struggle getting in the Beetle, babe. My shift finishes at 7, I can come with you to help get her in the house, it’ll be easier for her to get in and out of the SUV.”
“You’re going to be coming off a 48 hour shift, baby. You’re going to be tired. Are you sure?”
He ignored my question and tiled my face up to press on brief but deep kiss on my mouth.
I guess that’s a yes then.
“What’s Niki planning on doing on Christmas, if you’re working? She’s not spending it by herself is she?” Jake asked curiously.
Hmm… well that’s an interesting development…
Niki and Caleb had worked their way steadily through the entire back catalogue of what Niki had deemed “must see childhood movie classics”. Most times we ended up having one or two of the other Jameson siblings join us for our movie watching sessions, as a result we had all gotten to know each other well over the past couple of weeks.
“I’m not sure. I think she said she might be spending the day with Mitchell.”
Jake frowned “Who’s Mitchell?”
“Oh, he’s the in
credibly handsome, talented and sweet guy who works with her at the bakery.” I said, interested to see what his response would be and failing to mention that the only way Mitch would be into Niki, was if she could somehow transform herself into Johnny Depp (preferably dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow).
Caleb shook his head at me in reproach, but didn’t say anything, knowing exactly what I was trying to do.
Jacob didn’t say anything, but his unhappy frown deepened as he leaned further back into his chair taking a long pull of his beer.
I bit my bottom lip to stop myself from smiling. I’m definitely going to be having so much fun with this in the coming months.
-----------------------------
“Are you sure you don’t want anything else to eat?” Niki asked fluffing the pillow behind Aunty Trudy’s back.
“You keep stuffing food in me and I’m going to explode. Are you trying to kill me off, child?” Aunt Trudy asked dubiously.
“Yes. Manslaughter by excessive amounts of turkey and Christmas cake. That’s her plan for you, Aunt Trudy.” I told her helping myself to a homemade mince pie.
“Do you need to take anything back to the nursing home from your room?” Niki asked sipping on her mug of Christmas tea.
Yes. Christmas tea. Apparently that’s a thing now.
People have managed to condense a whole holiday into a flavour and apparently Christmas tastes just like cinnamon and orange peel. Me and Niki had a long argument over the stupidity of holiday named flavourings (with Niki being all for stupidly named flavourings and me being all for non-stupid, just-tell-me-what-the-hell-you’re-selling-me names) in the grocery store, much to the checkout guy’s amusement.
“Yes there’s a brown box filled with paperwork I need. It’s on top of the cupboard.”
“I’ll go get it.” Niki said putting down her mug and heading toward the stairs.
Aunt Trudy nodded vaguely while staring at a clay vase on the table. She smiled faintly, her eyes glazing over.
I was about to ask her what she was thinking about, when she broke the silence first.
“How’s things going with that fella of yours?” Aunt Trudy asked, seeming distracted.
“It’s going well. Surprised you asked though. Careful. I’ll start to get the idea that you actually care.” I said jokingly.
“He seems like a good boy.” she said in an uncharacteristically soft voice.
“He is… but…” I paused.
“But what?”
“It’s starting to get serious between us and I’m not sure what’s going to happen next year when I need to leave.” I said quickly, wanting to drop the topic.
Trudy frowned at me, but before she could answer the doorbell rang. I went to open it. Caleb was stood there with a smile on his handsome face, “We really got to sort out exchanging keys, Liya.”
“Oh. I don’t know how I feel about you having constant access to my house. It’s where I keep all my cookies, ice cream and chocolate. I don’t think we’re at the stage in our relationship yet where I trust you around my confectionary without supervision.” I said with serious expression. Caleb rolled his eyes and pulled me flush against his body.
“You’re a smartass, you know that?” he placed a kiss on my forehead.
I tiptoed to press a kiss to his mouth. “So I’ve been told once or twice. Did you manage to get any sleep?” I tugged his hand to lead him into the house.
“A little. But Jake had a day off and was creating a ruckus in the kitchen; he seemed pretty wound up about something.”
When we came back to the living room, Trudy was still frowning at me “Why are you leaving?” So much for dropping the topic.
Caleb’s hand squeezed mine hard. Oh, great.
“I’ve got a place at Oxford to study Medicine. I’ll have to leave before August next year.” I told brusquely, hoping she would get the hint to stop talking about the subject.
My plans to leave had become the elephant in the room whenever we were together, and it was a topic I hoped I wouldn’t have to discuss for a while, but Aunt Trudy seemed set to derail those plans.
“I’ve never heard you mention wanting to be a doctor, every time you come to pester me at the nursing home, all you can blabber on about is how much you love being a nurse and enjoy being with the kids you work with.” Trudy said dryly.
I raised an eyebrow at her. Apparently exaggerations in retelling of stories were a family trait. “I’m pretty sure those exact words have never left my mouth.”
“It was implied Malinda, you light up when you talk about your work. Wouldn’t you have less time with patients if you were a doctor?”
I nodded my head reluctantly “Yes, doctors generally aren’t able to spend as much time with patients and I do love being a nurse. But Mama and Dad were so happy when I told them I wanted to be doctor just like them; it’s what they would have wanted. I want to make them proud.”
“But people and plans change over time, child. Is that what you want? I’m sure you being happy is all that your parents would’ve wanted.”
I had no response to that, so simply shrugged my shoulders. Caleb had remained silent throughout the conversation, but I knew it wouldn’t be the last I heard about this.
Niki had come down the stairs holding two small boxes. “I found two similar boxes. I didn’t want to rummage through your things. Which one is it?” she asked setting both boxes down in front of Trudy.
Trudy pointed to the slightly bigger box “That one.” She turned to look at the smaller box and the same haunted look had returned.
“What’s in the other one?” I asked curiously.
“Pictures.” She said quietly “Pictures of what? May we see?” Niki asked picking up the box.
Trudy merely nodded in response.
Niki opened the old box carefully, and began taking out the faded images, there was a mix of black and white and coloured pictures. There weren’t many in the box, but the spanned from Trudy’s early childhood up until I assumed, about 30 years ago.
“I haven’t looked at these in years.” Trudy murmured. She picked up a black and white picture. “Your grandparents came to visit once, just after they got married.” She said pointing them out for Caleb in the picture.
Caleb and I were sat on either side of Aunt Trudy while Niki sat on the floor in front of her. We all craned around to look at the small picture.
There were four people in the picture; A young Trudy, my grandparents and a petite lady with dark hair I didn’t recognise.
“You both look a little like your grandmother.” Caleb said looking with a smile. “When was this taken?”
“Oh… it was probably around the early 60s, just before Thomas was born.”
“Who is this?” I pointed to the unknown woman as I asked Trudy.
“That’s Mary-Anne. She was friend. We ran the bakery together.” Trudy mumbled sadly.
I felt Niki pinch my ankle subtly as a warning to tell me to not ask anymore, but my curiosity was piqued “What happened?”
Trudy sighed and then took a deep breath. “We were neighbours, we became friends. When she tasted my baking she came up with the idea of opening the bakery in town, with me being on the baking side and her taking care of the books.”
She smiled fondly “Daisy was her car actually. She left it to me after she died.”
“How did she pass away?” I asked quietly
“Breast cancer. It will be twenty-seven years in January. She couldn’t bake worth a damn.” Trudy chuckled “The woman could barely boil a pan of water. But give her a calculator and she made us one of the most successful businesses in town. She loved pottery too. Made that vase and a few other things around here.”
“Did she ever have any kids?”
Aunt Trudy stiffened “No. She was young when her husband died and she never remarried.”
Niki placed a hand on Aunt Trudy’s knee, “I’m so sorry. She sounds like an amazing friend.”
“She was. You rem
ind me of her a lot. She was sweet, gentle, never had an unkind word to say about anyone, even those who deserved it. We made quite the odd couple, it was definitely hard work running the bakery, but we had an amazing time.”
She paused, looking at Niki. “I’m glad that it’s you running the bakery now, chatty” she then turned her gaze to me “I’m even glad that you moved here too, you hussy. I’ve grown rather fond of you girls.”
Falling Completely (Starling Falls #1) Page 19