by Jillian Neal
“Thank you for everything. But mostly just thank you for being you, and always taking such good care of me. I can’t wait to be your wife.”
He felt his heart swell.
They’d made it to the barn before Rainer could respond. Logan was sprinting towards them so Rainer quickly responded, “I love you, baby, so much.”
Before he hung up, he heard, “I love you, too.” Rainer emerged from the Mustang in time to see Logan flinging open the door to the Hummer.
“Oh, my gosh! You are my favorite sister ever!” He lifted Emily off of the ground, and then he spun her away from her new car so he could see the interior.
Adeline laughed as Emily moved quickly to Rainer. The Haydenshires emerged from the kitchen.
“Daddy, look!” Emily announced excitedly. Governor Haydenshire smiled wistfully at Emily.
“Very nice, baby girl. You just promise me you’ll be careful.”
“I promise.”
“So, will you take your old man for a ride? Just through the pasture.”
Emily nodded excitedly.
“Oh, I’m coming, too,” Logan immediately invited himself. Before she could climb back up in the driver’s seat, as Connor immediately announced he was going along, Rainer grabbed her hand and pulled her to him.
“Em, I can’t wait either, to be your husband, and to make you my wife.”
She smiled broadly as he brushed a kiss across her forehead and released her.
“You wanna come?”
Rainer shook his head. “Take your dad, baby. I think he misses you.” She blew him a kiss, and climbed back into the driver’s seat.
Things to Come
Rainer followed Mrs. Haydenshire and Adeline back into the house. He seated himself at the kitchen table as Mrs. Haydenshire plied him with blackberry cobbler, made from the berries she and the twins had picked that morning.
“Rainer, you’re spoiling her,” Mrs. Haydenshire scolded as she shook her head, but gave him a broad grin.
“She’s worth it,” Rainer responded as Mrs. Haydenshire scooped vanilla ice cream on top of his cobbler. “Talk about being spoiled.” He gestured to the bowl. She laughed sweetly. She’d fixed Adeline an identical bowl.
“Well, I think you’re both worth it,” Mrs. Haydenshire patted Adeline’s shoulder.
Although Rainer knew the comment was mainly for Adeline’s benefit, he gave Mrs. Haydenshire a kind smile.
“This is delicious. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you all these years.” He wished he could somehow formulate the words to make Mrs. Haydenshire understand what she and the Governor meant to him.
She gazed at him with a wistful smile. “I would never have had it any other way, sweetheart, and I know Stephen has you scared to death, Rainer, but we truly couldn’t be happier about you and Emily. I’m so proud of you both.” She squeezed his forearm before turning to Adeline.
“Well, my sweet Adeline, are you nervous about Monday?”
Adeline nodded hesitantly. “I’m nervous about how I’m going to get there. I hate for Logan to drive me into D.C. every day, and then come pick me up. It won’t be so bad once he starts at the Pentagon.”
Rainer furrowed his brow.
“Why don’t you just take Logan’s Accord? He can drive the Mustang if he needs to go somewhere. I’m assuming Em will let me ride in the Hummer occasionally.”
Adeline and Mrs. Haydenshire laughed.
“Are you sure?” Adeline quizzed. “That’s so nice of you.”
Rainer shrugged. “It’s no problem.”
“Thank you,” Adeline sighed. “I don’t know what I’d do without all of you, either.”
Mrs. Haydenshire reached and took Adeline’s hand.
“You don’t ever have to find out, dear, because we’re not going anywhere.” She studied Adeline closely.
Rainer watched her. He noted the depth of wisdom and knowledge that her face held. She seemed to know something that Rainer didn’t understand, something outside of Adeline’s conscious thought. She seemed to be seeing more in the situation playing out in her kitchen, than anyone else seated at the table. Whatever it was that she knew, it wasn’t good.
“Thank you,” Adeline managed a smile.
Emily and Logan burst into the kitchen excitedly. Governor Haydenshire and Connor followed closely behind them.
“I said I would think about it,” the Governor’s jaw was clenched in annoyance.
“Think about what?” Mrs. Haydenshire cleared away Rainer and Adeline’s bowls.
“The old guesthouse,” Emily announced. This only further confused Rainer and her mother.
“What about it?” Mrs. Haydenshire asked.
“They want you to let them turn it into a love shack for the four of them,” Connor laughed, before he disappeared to the living room and flipped on the TV. Emily wasn’t going to be dissuaded; she tugged on Rainer’s hand.
“We’ll take Rainer and Adeline to see it, and you two can talk about what a great idea it is.”
“Where is it?” Rainer had never even heard of a guesthouse. Logan rolled his eyes at Emily before pointing to the west.
“It’s on the other end of the property. We’ve never done much with it. It needs a lot of work.” He seemed to be trying to reason with Emily. Rainer knew that was a futile task when she was this determined.
“We could fix it up, and then we’d still be on the farm. We wouldn’t have to move away. If we do all the work, then when Rainer and I get married, and we do move, if you wanted, you could sell that end of the property and the house with it.”
“We’re not selling any part of our property, Emily Anne,” Mrs. Haydenshire stated with a slight chuckle, “but that is an excellent idea.”
As Rainer had never seen the house, he wasn’t certain what an appropriate comment would be. If Emily were there, then that’s where he wanted to be. He didn’t think that was what her father wanted to hear, however.
“How big is it?”
“No one has agreed to this yet. I think it would be better for you all to stay here.” Governor Haydenshire insisted.
“But you will agree to it.” Emily pulled Rainer towards the side door. “Come on, I’ll show you, and if you’ll be sweet, I’ll let you drive,” she tempted Logan with the key to the Hummer.
“Deal,” he immediately agreed. He took Adeline’s hand and led her behind Rainer as he caught the keys Emily tossed to him.
“Do not get mud on my tires,” Emily demanded as Rainer opened the door.
Logan rolled his eyes and scoffed, “It’s a Hummer, Em; it’s supposed to have mud on it. And I’m driving through our pastures, so I’m not sure how I’m supposed to avoid that.”
“Just be careful.”
“I’ll wash it for you tomorrow, baby,” Rainer offered; he was extremely pleased that she was so taken with the Hummer. After rolling his eyes in disgust, Logan opened Adeline’s door for her and then crawled into the driver’s seat.
“I’ll wash it for you tomorrow, baby,” Logan mocked Rainer in a high-pitched squeal. “Seriously, man, she cannot be that good in bed.” He cranked the engine. Adeline glared at him furiously. Emily narrowed her eyes, but Rainer knew he had his number.
“She sure as hell rocks my world. You wanna hear about it?”
Logan convulsed as he groaned disgustedly.
“Ugh, yuck. No thank you. Geez, I was only kidding.”
Emily and Adeline laughed as Logan continued to shudder and pretend to be sick.
“So tell me about this guesthouse,” Rainer urged as he leaned forward and popped Logan on the back of the head for being so crude.
“It’s small,” Logan commented as he rubbed his head.
“I’m not healing you. You deserved that,” Adeline quipped as Emily and Rainer cracked up. Logan gazed at her adoringly as he pretended to pout.
“How small?” Rainer tried to refocus everyone.
Emily shook her head.
“It’s not
that small. I mean, it’s smaller than the farmhouse, obviously, but there are four of us, not fourteen, so it’s plenty adequate. It’s a two-bedroom bungalow.”
“I’m sure it needs some cosmetic work, but as far as I know, the plumbing and everything works. We don’t have to even have the power hooked up, because no one would know we were living in it,” she commented as she tried to strengthen her case.
Though Gifted people didn’t necessarily need public utility electricity, most often they subscribed to it to keep the Non-Gifted from becoming too curious. It was also a great convenience. Every cast cost a Gifted person energy. Keeping a permanent cast in place would drain a person of their resources.
“It mainly just needs to be cleaned up.” Emily commented.
“Your dad didn’t seem too thrilled with the idea.”
Emily scoffed. “Mom will talk him into it, because she doesn’t want us to move away.”
Rainer had to agree with her reasoning.
“It would be kind of cool,” Logan admitted begrudgingly. Rainer chuckled at his unwillingness to give his little sister any credit.
“So, who are you thinking will get the master bedroom?” Logan goaded.
“Well, I don’t see how it matters. They both have bathrooms, and they’re about the same size.”
Logan nodded as he drove further than Rainer had ever been on the Haydenshires’ land. He pulled up to a square abode. Bushes, weeds, and vines covered the outer walls. Rainer emerged from the back seat and helped Emily out.
“The porch is a little creaky,” she lamented as they made their way to the front door.
“There’s a garage in the back, but it’s a mess,” Logan explained.
Rainer smiled to himself; he would never have admitted it audibly, but he didn’t want the Mustang out in the elements.
“Uh, baby, this is more than a little creaky.” Rainer picked Emily up and lifted her onto the porch as Logan did the same for Adeline. The porch steps were collapsed, and the porch itself was sunken in the middle.
“It needs work, but we could do it,” Emily insisted.
Rainer chuckled. Though he and Logan had always worked the vast gardens and repairs around the barns and farmhouse growing up, he’d never seen Emily on the tractor or swinging a hammer.
Logan and Rainer grasped the only porch railing that appeared to be able to hold their weight, and vaulted themselves over. Rainer braced himself, but the wooden slats proved sturdy as they landed.
Rainer summoned, and lit the lights beside the front door and the two in the outdoor fans on either side of the porch that stretched along the front side of the bungalow. The pale yellow paint on the sides of the wooden home was peeling badly, and a feral cat screeched off the porch as soon as Rainer lit the house.
Emily shuddered as Rainer raised his eyebrows and wondered if she might be reconsidering. Logan turned the loosened knob on the door, and threw all of his weight behind it as he forced the swollen door. Some of the casing fell in as it creaked open. Logan batted away dust and insulation as it cascaded down in front of him. They coughed away the stale musty air that was thick with dust and mildew.
Logan cupped his hand, and lit an old fixture that hung in the room. Adeline stepped in over the loosened door molding.
“Wow, I mean, it does need some work, but I would love to fix this up for your parents. At least that’s something I could do to help for all they’ve done for me.”
Logan shook his head, but then moved away so Emily and Rainer could enter. Rainer took in the room around him. It was a narrow entry hallway that led to a decent-sized living room. He edged forward, and tested each of the slats of the hardwood floor before he stepped down and would allow Emily or Adeline to cross.
They emerged into the living room. He took in the mildewed flooring with a grimace, but the room had a large working fireplace and built-in bookshelves. A bay window with a bench seat, that he knew Emily would love, was carved out of the back wall.
“All the flooring would have to come out,” he commented as he studied Emily to see how she would take that news.
“Is that bad?”
Logan shrugged. “Not terrible if that’s the worst of it, but it’ll be quite a job.”
With that, Logan pried up a worn spot on the floor with his tennis shoe. His foot sank down a solid foot. “Yeah,” he pulled it back out. “They all have to be re-done.”
“Oh shit!” Logan shouted. He spun quickly as he backed Adeline away from a snake uncoiling itself up out of the hole he’d just created.
Emily screamed, and dug her nails into Rainer’s biceps. He summoned, and casted his shield over her, pushing it out over Adeline, as well.
Logan cupped a faint yellow glow, and harnessed the snake. He didn’t want to take the snake’s energy on himself, so he threw it off and let it dissipate into the air.
Rainer watched closely. He vividly remembered the dark, steely grey smoke that had come out of the copperhead he’d watched Governor Haydenshire kill.
This snake keeled over quickly, and what Logan released into the air seemed only to hold a faint white heat. A second later, it was over.
Rainer contemplated as he watched Logan kick the snake’s lifeless body back into the crawl space under the bungalow.
“Ok, I don’t want to live here with snakes,” Emily was shaking in her fear.
“We’ll get rid of those when we rip out the floor,” Rainer assured her.
“Are there more?”
“I don’t know, baby. Do you want to leave and come back tomorrow when it’s light?”
“No, we have to give Mom time to talk Dad into it.”
“Well, then I’ve got you, baby. Just hang on to me.”
They continued to study the space, but moved with extreme care as not to disturb any more of the rotted flooring. Off the living room was a decent-sized patio that appeared to need to be completely rebuilt.
The living room opened into the kitchen, with no wall between. The kitchen consisted of an island, complete with a bar, which contained no stools.
The side wall of the kitchen held more counter space and a refrigerator that appeared to have last been working in the late 1960s. It was teal blue, with the freezer on the bottom. The brand name Kelvinator was scrawled across the top in peeling, silvered letters that stated that it was ‘frost-free’.
The back wall of the kitchen held more counter and a cut-out for a sink. Logan scowled as he glanced through the hole into the cabinets below. There were windows above the sink, and a place for a cook top on the island. Part of the cabinetry was hollowed out to hold a double oven along the wall. A small breakfast nook was off the kitchen, beside a set of stairs.
“I thought it was one story,” Rainer pointed to the steps.
“Just attic space up there, I think. How ‘bout we look up there tomorrow? If we decide we’re gonna do this.” Logan strategized.
Past the stairs was a coat closet, and a small laundry room that led to the garage. No one seemed to have the stomach to investigate the closet or the garage, so Rainer led Emily to one of the bedrooms.
“This is the smaller one,” she hesitated. She was still concerned that the snake might have friends. Rainer nodded, cupped his hand, and lit the fixture in the room. It was relatively small but would hold a queen-sized bed, Rainer estimated. There was nothing in the room, but the flooring didn’t appear to be as badly damaged as the common areas.
Emily moved to the closet and whispered, “Please, please don’t let anything be living in here.”
Rainer moved to her as she edged the door open and promptly screamed. He casted her instantly, but then released it and chuckled, as he kissed her cheek.
“I don’t think I need to protect you from hangers, baby.” He lifted one of the swinging paper covered hangers, with advertising for Miss Daisy Mae’s Dry Cleaners established in 1957.
“Sorry, little jumpy I guess,” she wrapped her hands around his arm. “I hate snakes,” she admitted as if
that were some kind of failing on her part.
“I know, sweetheart.” He closed his eyes and willed calm into her, which she took rapidly. The feeling made his heart beat disjointedly as he felt her calm under his soothing energy.
The room held another bay window with a bench seat and a bathroom on the opposite side of the door.
After guiding Emily to the bathroom, Rainer casted the light in there as well. There was baby-pink tile everywhere. The tub-shower combination was also pink. The counter did have a double sink, but they were shaped like seashells and made into the plastic pink counter top.
“Ok, so the flooring and the bathroom have to be redone,” Rainer shuddered slightly as Emily giggled. Logan and Adeline moved into the room.
“What’d you scream for?” Logan demanded.
“Sorry, just a little jumpy.”
“The other room’s just like this; it’s off the living room. The closet’s a little bigger, and the bathroom is blue instead of pink.”
Rainer could tell he was already figuring the square footage, and the amount it would cost to replace the worn fixtures in the home.
“Hey,” Rainer urged, “if we all want to do this, I would be delighted to foot the bill. I would love to be able to do something for your folks.”
Logan gave him a genuine smile.
“It’d be a lot of work.”
“Yeah, no joke,” Rainer commented as he looked around at all that needed to be done.
“Oh, please, Logan,” Adeline’s plea thoroughly shocked everyone in the room.
“You want to do this?” Logan quizzed disbelievingly. Rainer wasn’t sure if he was shocked she wanted to live there, or that she’d actually asked for something.
“Well, I want to do something for your parents, and I can’t help out financially, but I can work. It would be nice to make it ours; I think.” She looked nervous about making the request. Emily turned her pleading gaze on Rainer, the one he’d never been able to turn down.
“It’ll take us weeks. Especially once we all start working.”
Both girls nodded their acceptance.
“We could start tomorrow, and Adeline is only working half days next week,” Emily pointed out hopefully.