Confidential (21 page)

"Nothing." I just don't want Anna to kill me.

He began climbing out the window before he paused and poked his head back up one more time, "Don't forget to have sweet dreams about me!" He whispered.

I couldn't help but laugh as I saw him jump down to the ground. Hesitantly heading towards Anna's room, I poked my head in.

"Can I just say, I am sorry, he just wanted to see me, because I didn't really see him today, but it was late…" I trailed off, not even bothering to defend myself anymore.

"Heidi. I don't care that you were sneaking a boy in your room."

"You don't?" I was a little surprised.

"Well, I mean, I do, but its not that, its that you're getting pretty close to him, and it worries me." Anna sighed.

"Why?" I crossed my arms, frowning.

"He can't know." She gave me such a stern look, I momentarily froze. "At all. You cannot tell him anything. This is very serious. You could endanger his life."

"I would never tell him that. Ever. It's too late for that type of honesty anyways. I'll ruin the best thing I actually have going for me." It was
a
little spiteful, and plenty bitter, but the minute the words were out of my mouth, I knew it was true. I whirled around and hurriedly went to my room, quickly shutting the door behind me, but Anna was kind enough to leave me to myself.

Anna dressed me up and made me look pretty for thanksgiving dinner, as she brought over wine and some dessert, while I was ambushed by Jill.

"Heidi! Look at you, you look beautiful." Jill had her hair in
a
clip and was wearing jeans and a soft pink top and cardigan, such a young outfit making her look even more young and beautiful. Joe was forced into
kakis
and a collared shirt, while Ella was dressed like a doll. She wore a puffy dress and even had on Mary Janes.

As soon as I walked in she had attached to my side, looking up at me with her big, brown doe eyes.

"Oh my goodness, who is this!" Anna exclaimed, absolutely adoring Ella, as I attempted to shake her off towards Anna, and Anna glared at me so I immediately stopped.

"I'm not exactly sure how to act around children." I whispered to her, after Jill and Joe had went into the kitchen, with Ella still staring up at me.

"I noticed." Anna smirked. "Try to be nice. She's just a little kid." Anna bent down next to her, "I love your dress, you look so pretty in it."

Ella just gave her a blank stare back, "She doesn't really talk much." I explained to Anna, looking down at Ella, "Don't worry, I got you covered," I told little Ella as Anna left us alone.

"Where's your brother?" I asked her smiling form.

"Upstairs." It came out as a little whisper, but I did a double take.

"Uh… where?" I stared down in disbelief.

"Upstairs." She repeated, more confidently.

"Oh. Okay. Well I'm going to go get him." I told her, while she just gave me a nod and went off to find her mother.

I walked up the stairs and saw Camdon come out of his room, "Hey." I naturally smiled at the sight of him, "Uh... has your sister started talking yet?" I asked.

"No, not yet. Why?" He looked at me, a little confused.

I shrugged, "Just wondering." Something told me that I shouldn't mention it.

"You look nice." He said.

I looked down at the outfit I was wearing, a flowing skirt that hung off my hips, coming a couple inches from my knee, I wore thick tights, as it was cold out, and a light sweater that fitted me perfectly, tucked into my skirt with a thick belt. I was really proud of the outfit actually, as I had never thought to put it all together, and Anna had to scrounge to find something this warm.

"Thanks," I looked up at him. Noticing how good he looked, with a Ralph Lauren dress shirt on, his sleeves effortless rolled up with his hands shoved into the pockets of kakis. "You're not looking too bad yourself."

"But not as good as you." He said giving
me a
slow kiss.

I shrugged, "Yeah, but that's hard to do."

He laughed, and said sarcastically, "Okay princess, whatever you say."

"I'm ignoring that comment, and I'm going to go downstairs where the people are that will truly adore me." I easily escaped his grasp and hurried down the stairs, where he quickly followed, attempting to poke my side, making me laugh.

"There you are!" Jill came around from cutting pieces of the turkey off. "Camdon, honey, I need you to go set the table, Heidi would you help him? And where is Ella?"

I looked down, and, not surprisingly, she was by my side, and took my hand. "Right here," I pointed down at her.

"I'll go grab the plates and hand them to you okay?" Camdon gave me a kiss on my cheek. "I'll be right back."

"Want to help set the table?" I looked down at Ella as we walked over to the dining room. "I bet your brother is really bad at that stuff, and he secretly makes you do everything huh?" I asked her.

She giggled a little. "No." She spoke again, "He thinks I'll break the glass."

I stared at her, in shock again. Not so much that she was speaking, but that she was speaking so well.

"How old are you again?" I looked at her in disbelief.

"Almost four!" Her quiet voice said excitedly.

"Huh. You're really smart." I said, "Where did you learn to talk like that?"

She looked up at me, concern on her small face, "Is it bad?"

"No. Not at all." I felt strange, talking to someone so small like they were an adult.

"That's how mommy talks, and that's how they talk when she reads me stories."

"That would do it." I said more to myself than her.

I frowned, wondering where Camdon went and turned around and looked at him as he stood behind us, with his mouth hanging open. I hurriedly looked down at Ella, but she was oblivious. "Oh look, I think your brother's coming." I said forcefully, sending Camdon a look.

He snapped his mouth shut, and walked over to us slowly. Apparently he was speechless, and gave the plates to me, as I began setting them on the table.

"Here Ella," I gave her a plate, "You won't
break
it will you?" I grinned at her, our little inside joke, and she gave a small giggle, carefully taking it from me and setting it in front of the chair next to her.

"Do this one too." I almost forgot Camdon was there, as me and little Ella set the table, sharing little laughs, and she silently was at my heels, offering me silver wear or napkins as we went around the table.

"I think we're done." I said proudly. Ella stood next to me, her hands on her hips, a big smile across her face. She gave me a high five and silently skipped off, to go wordlessly observe whatever else was going on.

"Thanks for helping by the way." I teased, trying to keep the mood light, but apparently there was no chance for that.

Camdon knows that one of my favorite things about him are his eyes, and he loves to use them against me to get what he wants. He figured it out pretty quick, as I would become so enthroned in the deepness the color of his eyes held that I would loose sight of whatever our conversation happened to be.

He was doing it now, I could tell. It was like I became transfixed, I couldn't look away, and there was nothing I wanted to do but look at the blue of his eyes and the different speckles of light I often saw in them.

He stood in front of me, holding both my hands, his thumb lightly caressing my skin. He gave me that stare of his, the one that was so captivating. "My sister talks to you?" His voice was soft, full of hope, disbelief, and something that sounded a bit like amazement.

I was so close to just nodding my head, but I stepped away from him and closed my eyes and put my hands behind my back, pulling me out of my hypnotic state. I shook my head. "Nope, nope, you are such a conniving little human being."

I could feel his hand cupping my cheek and his other hand running through my hair, all soft and straightened from Anna this morning. I kept my eyes closed though, knowing I could stay strong as long as I didn't have to look at his beautiful eyes and cute face.

He laughed, "Why are your eyes closed?"

"You know why." I stated frankly.

"No I don't." Camdon's fingers traced the lines on my face, sending me little thrills throughout my body.

"Yes you do."

"No, really, I don't." I could hear the smile in his voice as I squeezed my eyes shut tighter, as if that would really do anything. "Does my sister talk to you?" He asked again.

My heart sped up as his fingers lightly traced up and down my thigh, playing with the hem of my skirt. "Um…" I tried to speak but it came out as more of a sigh.

"What was that?" He whispered into my ear, his breathe sending more tingles through me, and I was starting to feel a little weak in the knees. I shook my head, my eyes still closed as I enjoyed the feeling of his light touch, "No," I finally said, my voice was surprisingly normal, "I don't know what your talking about." I let my eyes flutter open only to shut them again seconds later.

"Ugh!" I put my hands in front of my face. "Why do you have to do that?"

"Do what?" He, once again, mockingly asked me.

"I'm getting you back for this." I mumbled into my hands.

"I look forward to it." And with one last squeeze of my hand, he left me standing there, in the dining room, all hot and bothered.

Later, I ended up sitting next to Ella at dinner, and I felt like we had made a new connection. I didn't feel like I needed to shake her off my leg anymore, and I started to see her as more of a little person than this cute plaything Jill had birthed.

Jill would chat away about some new medical advancement that was being installed at the hospital, then would sidetrack and change subject to something really random, like a Shakespearean play or something. She was very high maintenance.

In the mean time, Ella would pull on my sleeve and pass me a carrot, while I would give her some of my pie when Jill wasn't looking. "This is a very unhealthy tradeoff." I whispered too her as Anna was enthusiastically talking about something to Jill, as they explained it to Joe.

Ella looked around cautiously before sneaking in a couple words, "But I'm growing."

I laughed, "Good excuse." She just grinned, proud of herself for the amount of talking she was doing.

I looked over her at Camdon who was looking at me and Ella with a raised eyebrow. I leaned back against the chair slowly and he frowned questioningly. I looked over at the distracted parents and Ella who was busy eating her pie. I flipped the hair behind my shoulder and rubbed my hand behind my neck slowly letting it fall across my chest and move down my stomach and slip inside my thick belt into my skirt.