by ID Johnson
It seemed like my sister and Aaron had been gone for a really long time, and I wondered if Hannah needed to go over to the luncheon and be in charge of that, too. A lot of people were checking their watches, which I found odd because I imagined they could look at the time on their IAC easier, and just when Hannah and Aurora were talking about heading over, my sister and her boyfriend walked in. My dad wandered over to where we were standing and Hannah headed off to greet the couple.
“Where did everyone go?” Cadence asked, looking around like she didn’t realize she’d been gone for so long.
“We’re having a luncheon at the main building in a few minutes,” Hannah explained, stopping in front of them. I took a few steps closer so I was pretty near behind her and the rest of my family followed. “Is everything all right?” Hannah asked.
“Yes. Fine. Why?” Cadence asked as Aaron stepped around her and headed over toward the guys.
I had no idea why my sister was being so dense. Why did she not expect her friends and family to be worried when she rushed out of a funeral? I stepped up beside Hannah, ready to have her back when she told my sister she was being dumb. Hannah began, “You took off out of here so quickly I just wondered if...” but halfway through, she switched tracks as her eyes landed on the same thing I was just noticing. “Oh, my goodness, Cadence! What's that on your hand?”
Mom pushed her way in before Cadence could even respond, grabbing my sister’s left hand. “Oh, this?” Cadence replied, beaming.
"Oh, my! It's beautiful!" my mom exclaimed. "Princess cut in a cathedral setting? Very nice."
“It’s huge!” That was about all I could think of to say since, “Hey, that’s the same dude who decided to date one of your friends instead of you and left you heartbroken for, like, six months,” seemed a little inappropriate, though it was on the tip of my tongue. No wonder he’d been so nice to me earlier.
I glanced up at my dad, who seemed to be trying to decide whether or not he should go be part of the guys or hang out with his family, and the expression on his face told me that he already knew about this. Had Aaron asked my dad’s permission before he proposed?
“Well, congratulations!” Hannah exclaimed and the rest of her friends gushed over her and the ring for a few minutes. Aaron seemed to prefer laying low, blending in with his friends, and I tried to imagine having him as a brother. I’d had two others recently, and I thought the shoes would be pretty hard to fill. I honestly didn’t think he could do it, but we would see.
Something else struck me as odd. My dad had walked back over to where his soon-to-be son-in-law and his friends were congregated. The other guys were all congratulating Aaron quietly and talking amongst themselves, but Christian was staring at my sister. And I mean staring at her. It was creepy. There was just something about that guy, and even though I couldn’t put my finger on it, I hoped I’d never have to spend any time alone with him.
Hannah began the process of herding us all over toward the other building, and as we walked along, I dropped to the back of the pack, content to observe and see how these people seemed to relate to each other. Cadence noticed and slowed down, and once everyone had gone past her, she slipped her arm through mine, which was comforting, even though I would’ve liked to have been alone with my thoughts.
"How you doin', Sis?" she asked. She gave me a sympathetic smile, and I returned it, knowing that she had to feel just as miserable as I did, though the ring on her finger might be reason enough for her to be happier than she otherwise might’ve been.
I had to remind myself that I needed to be strategic as I approached this. I wanted information from my sister, and I couldn’t give her any ideas that Elliott and I had been discussing all the secrets of this place for months. So I decided to be cautious as I sought more information. "I'm not sure," I began. "I never even knew this place existed. Those pictures of Elliott--and you--hunting Vampires, that was surreal. And now you're engaged to some guy I hardly know who seems like he's okay, but hasn't he already broken your heart a couple of times?"
Her response only addressed the last thing I mentioned, which was a mistake in the wording on my part. "Yes, but things are different now.”
"If you say so," I replied and then tried to steer her back to the fact that this was my first visit to headquarters. "I see all of this, and I think about what happened to Elliott, and I get so angry. I can't help but wish I could be part of it now, you know? Rather than waiting."
"I know, but you're not old enough to Transform yet. As soon as you are, we'll make it happen. In the meantime, you really need to talk to Grandma. She can explain everything a lot better than I can. I know she wanted to be here. At least she got to watch the memorial."
I thought it was odd that she said Grandma wanted to be here whereas my parents said she didn’t want to sit through another funeral. Maybe no one knew what was going on. Aaron had already promised me he’d fill me in, and while Cadence seemed to think my grandma was the best bet, I wasn’t sure. "I've spoken to her about Elliott dozens of times, and she never even acted like she knew him. I always thought it was a little odd that no one thought it was weird that I was such good friends with a guy my sister worked with who happened to be, in my understanding, like, ten years older than me. But even grandma would just say she was glad I had someone to look out for me. It makes sense now, I guess." I couldn’t tell her I knew Elliott had been at Grandma’s house on several occasions because I’d promised him I wouldn’t. Her next comment had me lying again.
We were almost at the other building now. I could tell because people were filing in, and the scent of scrumptious food, the kind your parents usually want you to limit, wafted through the air. Greasy burgers, taco sauce, chocolate. Cadence continued. "Elliott was assigned to look after you, since you were a baby.”
"What?" I stopped cold in my tracks and stared at her as if this was all brand new information. "He was?"
I think I must have fooled her because she went on to explain more. "Yes. Aaron just told me last night. So, it makes perfect sense that you would have a relationship with him from the beginning. And of course, Grandma, Mom, and Dad would think nothing of it."
"Wow, this keeps getting more and more bizarre by the moment." I shook my head still pretending to be in shock. I was really selling it. Elliott had made me promise, though, that I wouldn’t let Cadence know he’d told me anything, and that was a pretty big something. I had no choice but to lie.
"You're telling me," Cadence mumbled.
"No wonder he hated that guy I had a crush on.” I muttered, one last comment to sell her on my surprise, and I headed into the building. I almost ran into an unbelievably hot blond guy whom I hadn’t noticed before, and I’m pretty sure I would remember him, and stepped out of the way just in time. My mom was just inside the main room, beckoning to me, so I hurried over to her, not paying much attention to what happened to Cadence, though as I entered the large room set up with several tables and a huge buffet on one side, I realized that Cadence may have literally run into that guy.
“Come on, Cass,” Mom said, smiling. She pulled out a chair next to my dad, who was talking to Jamie, and sat down on the other side of me. There was a bit of a line at the buffet, and some people at our table were already eating. While my stomach was growling, I wanted to know who that other guy was. I wasn’t sure why, but there was something intriguing about him, besides the fact that he reminded me a lot of Chris Hemsworth.
I sat down and weighed my options as I spotted my sister still talking to the mysterious hottie. I didn’t really know any of these people, which gave me little choice. “Mom, who is that guy Cadence is talking to?” I whispered. Aaron was only about three seats down from me, but I didn’t think he was listening since he was talking to Christian.
My mom looked over at the door and then, shrugging, said, “I don’t know.”
I made a face I try not to make. My mom calls it my “teenager” face. “You really don’t know, or you are pretending not
to know because you don’t want to tell me?” I whispered back.
Making her “I’m exasperated by my teenager’s face” face, my mom replied, “I really don’t know.”
I inhaled through my nose and looked around again to see if there was anyone else I could ask. My dad probably wouldn’t know, and he was still talking to Jamie, so I couldn’t ask either of them. Just then, I realized my mother was talking to Aurora, who was on the other side of her. When she was done, she leaned over and whispered into my ear. “Aurora says his name is Cale.”
My blood went cold. I turned and looked at my mother, wide eyed, who looked remarkably unaffected by this information. “Mom. That’s Cale.”
Still unaware of the significance, my mother replied, “I know. I just told you that.”
“No, Mom!” I said, trying to stay calm as my sister wrapped up her conversation and headed our direction. She looked a little uncomfortable as she plopped down in the chair on the other side of Aurora ungracefully. “That’s Cale.” I glanced past my mom to my sister who was angrily whispering at Aaron, who seemed amused, which I found a little odd considering who my sister had just been talking to. I guess Aaron was confident in their relationship.
“I’m sorry, honey. I guess I’m just dense. Who is he?”
“Mom, he’s the doctor from Nevada,” I said, glancing over my shoulder to see Cale had gone to the buffet. “The one Cadence was dating.”
“Oh.” Full recognition took a few minutes longer. “Oooh!” My mom turned and glanced at Cale and then over at my sister who seemed to be in a better mood now. She was laughing at something it seemed Hannah must’ve said because both Cadence and Aaron were looking across the table at their friend. “Well, he sure is attractive.”
“Yeah, he is,” Aurora chimed in, and I hadn’t even realized she could hear us. I felt my face flush. “Hey, Cass, you wanna go grab a cheeseburger with me?” she asked, standing up and towering over top of us.
“Sure,” I said, glad my sister’s friends were being so nice to me when they didn’t have to be. I hopped up and followed her to the buffet, glad to see Cale heading off in the other direction with his loaded plate before we arrived.
Aurora handed me a plate and then took one for herself. “How are you doin’, kiddo?” she asked, looking down at me with caution. “This has gotta be rough on you.”
“I think it is on everyone,” I admitted, following along behind her as we surveyed all the food. I was going to need a second, maybe a third, trip.
“Yeah, it is,” she agreed, grabbing a hot dog loaded with chili and cheese. “But I know you and Elliott were super tight.”
There was something about the way she made that comment that had me raising my eyebrows. I decided on a cheeseburger and pizza first and grabbed some chips before I said, “We were close.”
We were almost at the end of the table when she said, “Listen, everyone needs someone to confide in. I totally get that. Before your sister got here, I felt like I knew a lot of people but had no friends. You ever feel that way?”
“Sure,” I said, nodding at her as I grabbed a pop off of a table loaded with drinks and skipped the cups. It looked like the same type of workers who had been taking care of the apartment building were restocking things here, which was nice for Hannah so she didn’t have to worry about it.
“I’m just saying, Elliott told me… some stuff. About… some of the stuff you’d talked about.”
My eyes bulged. Aurora knew that I knew.
“Don’t worry,” she said as we started to walk back over to the table. “I won’t say anything to anyone. He just mentioned it in passing once, not even on purpose, I don’t think. But I got the impression he hated keeping secrets from everyone and just wanted to get it off his chest.” We were almost back to the table. “Anywho, I’m sure now that everyone knows that you know, people will start answering questions. But if they don’t… I will.”
A sigh of relief came out of my mouth loud enough to make my mom turn and look at me. “Thanks, Aurora,” I said, taking my seat again.
“No problem,” she said, smiling and setting her plate down. My sister was gone now, and I glanced behind me to see her in line.
“Why don’t you take my seat,” my mom said, seeing that I wanted to sit by Aurora. “I think it’s time to hit the buffet.”
I thanked her and sat down next to Aurora and across from Meagan. Even though all of these people seemed way older than me, and like grownups, I was starting to think maybe I could blend in here just fine. These could be my friends, too. But I needed some answers, and I was hopeful I could corner my sister again soon so I could finally start to fill in the blanks that were driving me crazy.
Chapter 4
My sister’s boyfriend—scratch that—fiancé really is magical. The more time I spend around people on his team, the more I realize that. I was super impressed that he somehow managed to coordinate the cleaning and redecorating of an empty apartment a few floors below Cadence’s while also attending his best friend’s memorial service so that by the time we got back from the luncheon, my parents’ belongings had all been resituated in what seemed like an expansive hotel room. Cadence let me keep my stuff in her apartment, though. She said I could stay in the guest room, which was awesome because I hadn’t had the chance to see her much lately.
Most of the rest of the day was a blur, though there was definitely a lot of sitting around chatting. After several hours at the luncheon, my parents, Cadence, Aaron, and I headed back to my sister’s apartment, and there was more chatting. I had taken a lot of pictures of the place on my way back and wanted to send those, along with the ones from the plane, to my friends, but I also didn’t want to be rude, so I kept my phone put away. Eventually, Aaron said he had work to do and left. My parents stayed for dinner, which ended up being take out from a restaurant downstairs because my sister didn’t have much on hand, and after a while they said they were tired and headed downstairs after my sister explained that she didn’t have to go with them to unlock the door; she could do it from there, and yes, she could lock it again once they were inside.
“How are you doin’, lil girl?” Cadence asked once the quiet of the night had descended upon us. I couldn’t help but giggle, listening to her do such a terrible impersonation of Elliott. “Isn’t it funny how he always called you the same thing?”
“Yeah,” I said, snickering. “He only said Cass if he was exasperated.”
She giggled. “I was always ‘kid.’”
It made me smile. I missed him so much. “It will get easier, won’t it?” I asked quietly.
“It will,” she nodded. “But it’ll take a long time.” She was fiddling with the ring on her finger, and I realized I was doing the same thing and stopped. Hers was an engagement ring; mine was a constant reminder of a hole in my heart.
“I guess you had no idea Aaron was going to propose?” I asked, hoping I didn’t blurt out I didn’t think it was a good idea to get engaged so quickly. She really didn’t need my opinion and wouldn’t listen anyway.
“I didn’t,” she replied, and I could tell she was going back over it all again. “But he had already asked dad for permission.”
I nodded, thinking that had to have been the case. “Where did you guys go? He didn’t propose in the parking lot, did he?”
She laughed, and I hoped she didn’t really think I had the impression of Aaron that he would do something like that. “No. Actually,” she turned around and looked out the window. The sun was just fading behind the horizon. “He took me over to that fountain, the one you were talking about earlier.”
“Really?” I asked. I couldn’t see it from where I was sitting even if I strained and it was getting dark outside.
She stood up and walked over to the window, and I followed, surprised to see it was actually illuminated. The little girl standing on the rainclouds was sprinkling raindrops down into the fountain with a big grin on her face, the watering can tipped nearly upside down. “H
e told me that Elliott actually commissioned that fountain for him.”
I turned and looked at her, my eyes big. “For Aaron?” I couldn’t imagine why he would want a fountain of a little girl.
“Yep,” Cadence replied brushing my hair back away from my shoulders and resting her arm around me. She cleared her throat. “Aaron doesn’t like to talk about it, but since you guys are going to be part of the same family, I think you should know he was married once. A long time ago.” I thought I had overheard that information at some point, but I wasn’t sure. It might’ve been before my brainwashing. It seemed only vaguely familiar. “And he had a daughter.”
That was brand new information.
“He had a daughter?” I repeated. Cadence nodded. “What happened to her?”
“It’s a complex story, and it’s not mine to tell. He might tell you at some point, but I will say that she died when she was a baby.” I stared at her, yet another wave of sadness washing over me. While I normally would’ve been upset that she was withholding information from me, I understood why she wouldn’t want to tell me this particular story. It really wasn’t hers to tell. She had only mentioned it because of the link to Elliott, and maybe she wanted me to have a little more insight into why she was in love with Aaron after everything he’d put her through.
“Well, the fountain is beautiful. Elliott had pretty good taste after all. Who would’ve thunk it,” I said, staring at it for a few minutes before I took a deep breath and walked back to the sofa. Cadence chuckled at my comment, then followed and sat down on the other end.