Independence (13 page)

But these were
my
kids and it was the only thing I ever wanted to do.

I should have known my Maggie would understand.

"So you leave for a few weeks and come back engaged to this girl?" Honey asked, her hands on her hips.

"Now, Honey," I admonished. "Maggie is great."

"So am I
, but you ain't
going to marry me, are you?"

"I would if you'd say yes."

She slapped my arm and glared at me as I laughed. "What do you know about being somebody's husband? You're just a baby, yourself!"
"I know that I'll do anything I have to. I'm not
that
young, Honey. I love her, that's why I asked her to marry me. I can do this."

She pursed her lips. "Does she have a bun in the oven?"

I scoffed.
"Absolutely not."

"
What does your mamma say about this?"

"That she can't wait," I told her softly.
"My dad, especially. They've all fallen in love with her."

She sighed. "Well, you've made up your mind, now haven't you?"

"Yes, ma'am."
"Well, now. What are we gonna do now?" She gave me a pointed look. "Do I need to start looking for a new job?"
"No, ma'am. You're safe. By the way, where is everyone?"
"Just running a little late," she told me. "Sage and Violet are on tonight. They're going to do multiplication piñatas with the kids."

I laughed. "I can only imagine what multiplication piñatas are."

Violet and Sage came in minutes later with bags of supplies for the projects. Violet was the same age as me, and not only was her name colorful,
but so was her hair. It was a different color every week or so. And Sage, her boyfriend, was
just as colorful in personality. It was hard to keep track of all the kids and
helpers, but this office was my
main
office. This was where I spent most of my time.

I went and introduced Maggie to them and before we knew it, we'd been there for three hours. I hated to leave because Maggie was having so much fun, but Gran would skin me alive if she didn't get Maggie tonight.

As I opened the door to let Maggie walk ahead of me, she lightly punched my gut as she walked down the stairs. "Jacobson, you are in so much trouble."

"I figured," I joked and walked right up to her. I looked right down at her and watched her as she tried not to smile.
"I take it you like my kids."

"I love them," she said softly and toyed with the hem of my shirt."I know you're w
orried about telling Peter
-"

"That's my battle," I insisted and kissed the end of her nose. It was almost
dark
in the parking lot
now and I found myself looking around for anything out of place.

She pulled my face to look at her. "I can hear their mind if someone wants to mess with us."
"We don’t know that," I insisted. "The Watsons may
be human now, but what if your abilities don't work on them anymore. W
e have no i
dea what they're capable of yet.
"

"I have a pretty good idea," she muttered and thought of Beck. "Being cowards."

"No Watson talk tonight," I commanded softly.
"We can only talk about things
like…weddings." I grinned.

She grinned, too. "We better go or Gran is going to kill you."
"And Dad, too. This is my first meeting." I left off the part that matter
ed most. That it
was the first meeting that I was the Champion for. And it was going to be my show, my deal, mine. It was just my family, but I was scared crapless.

Maggie put her arms around my neck, reaching on her tiptoes as far as they'd go. "You'll be great." She kissed behind my ear. "Besides, what could go wrong, right?"

I knew something was wrong the second we pulled up to Dad's
. When I opened the door, Dad was there next to Bella, who wagged her tail and stared at me expectantly. Dad, however, did not wag his tail. In fact, he glared. "You're late."

"I'm right on time," I corrected and re-checked my watch.

"Pushing the limits doesn't make a good leader. Setting a good example does."
"I was showing Maggie the center. I think that teaching kids is about a good as an example as I can set."

"Maybe," he conceded. "We've been worried
about you two
. They've been talking about some things on the news today."

"What kinds of…" Maggie trailed off as she read it in his mind. "Mom?"

We both took off down the hall. I towed Maggie behind me because I still hadn't shown her how to maneuver the maze of halls. We reached the kitchen where Mom and Gran were watching the TV on the counter. We listened intently as they described the bus accident that happened on the highway. Then listed the ones on the bus who'd been injured.

My heart pumped painfully as I watched helpless-as-all-get-out as Maggie heard her mother's name as one of the ones taken to the hospital. For the second time in just days, we had to wonder if someone else Maggie cared about had been hurt by a Watson.

Maggie

"The hospital said she's fine," Dad assured me. "They called and said it was just a scratch on her arm. She got three stitches. It's not a big deal."

I sighed. I may not like the woman much, but she was still my mother. "Good." I switched the phone to my other ear. "
Are you OK?"
"I'm fine," he answered. I heard Fiona asking him if he wanted something to drink i
n the background. He told her,
"No, thank you," and then told me, "All right, well I heard you have a big night ahead of you." He cleared his throat. "So I'll guess I'll let you go…get to that."

"Can we come for dinner
?" I blurted out. "Caleb and me?"
"Of course," he answered brightly. "I'll invite Bish and Jen, too."

"Great. It's a date."

He laughed. "Have fun tonight. I'm glad you've got a woman to help you with all the wedding stuff."
"Help?" I scoffed. "Do you really think Gran is going to let me have the reins on anything, Dad?"
He laughed again. "Well, you're probably right. Still."

"Yeah. Still."
"Love
ya, baby girl. See you later
."

"Love you, to
o, Dad." I hung up and turned,
bump
ing
my nose right into Caleb's chest. I was glad that he was so close. I slipped my phone into my pocket and let him
wrap me up. "She's fine."

"I know. I heard," he said. "But are
you
fine?"

"As a fiddle."

He chuckled. "
Fine
as a fiddle?
"

"
Yep," I sighed and gripped him tighter.

"Baby," he said, his voice husky. "I've got to go, but now I don't want to leave you."

"I'm fine," I said with certainty. "I promise.
"

He paused and thought. He was thinking of a way to get out of going. I shook my head at him. "This is your first meeting as the leader of the Jacobsons." I felt my lips smile with pride. "You have to go. Show them who's boss."

He laughed
reluctantly
. "That would be
you
, gorgeous. I thought we went over this?"
"So I can come, too?"
I remembered our
friend
that needed to be found and dealt with. "We need to figure out what to do about Marcus."

"Next time, sure.
I'll handle it, I promise.
This time? Wedding stuff." He pointed to the floor. "And you're staying right here."

"OK," I said easily. "Well, have fun."
"Doubtful," he grumbled. "It'll all be formalities and tradition and…things like that. I won't be gone too long. We're taking it to Kyle's tonight since all the girls are here getting things ready."

"Getting ready for this weekend, right?" I said, biting my lip to tamp down on my excitement.

"Yep. Just a few days now." He cupped my cheek. "Then you'll be Mrs. Jacobson, and I'll be Mr. Visionary."

I burst out laughing. He l
aughed, too, and kissed my smil
ing mouth. "I love you."
"I love
you
,
"
he insisted in a rumble.

When he bent to kiss me
again
, I welcomed it, but Gran had other plans. "Stop that right now and get your butt outta this house!" We both looked at her, Caleb's hand still on my cheek. "I mean it! Get gone!"

He sighed and gave me a sullen look. "I'll pick you up in a little bit."
"I'll be here," I told him and managed to pull him down to kiss him right before he was dragged away.

Gran swatted his butt and shooed him away out the door. "Now, we can get down to business.
" She rubbed her hands together like a villai
n. I felt my eyebrows rise.

"Shouldn't we wait for Rachel?"

"Oh, she's coming with Je
n. They'll be here in a little bit." She smiled showing teeth. "Now, let me show you something."

She took my hand. It was impossible not to notice the cool and wrinkled feel of them. We went upstairs to the bedroom where she slept. She looked back at me and then to the trunk at the end of the bed. She started to kneel down and I rushed to help her. While gripping her elbow, I went down with her to my knees.
She
gave me a smile that said what she was about to show me meant a lot to her. I waited with silent patience.

"This," she started and pulled a box out of the chest, "was mine."

The white top came off the box and she rummaged through the silver tissue paper to reveal a
swath of red material. I knew immediately what it was.

Her wedding dress.

I pulled it from the box gently and held it up. It was a long dress with a
small
train
,
I assumed
,
because the fabric just kept going and going. "Gran, it's beautiful."

"I know," she said and laughed. She touched the side of the dress, rubbing it in her fingers and I saw in her mind as she remembered wearing it and feeling as beautiful as a woman ever felt. Grandpa Ray watched her and his mouth fell open as she came to him. It was almost enough to giggle about, but Gran was so wrapped up in her memory. She smiled, though her eyes watered.

I touched her arm. "You looked amazing in this dress, Gran."

She nodded. "My grandmother made it for me.
And now I want you to wear it."

I felt my chin fall in shock, but before I could say anything I heard a gasp. I turned to look and saw Jen and Rachel in the doorway. Rachel was smiling and
looking at me funny. I would have been worried had I not been able to read her mind, but she was thinking about how beautiful I was going to look in it. The funny look was because she was trying not to cry. I glanced back at Gran and saw a tear run down to her chin. When I looked back at Rachel, she wiped under her eyes. I flicked a look at Jen and saw her sniff.

Oh, boy. This had to be stopped.

"No crying allowed!" I said and laughed. "Come on, guys. You're going to make me cry."
Rachel chuckled, but Gran gave me a hilariously snooty look. "Besides…" I braced myself. "I can't wear the dress, Gran."

Her face fell. I rushed on so she didn't burst into tears. "Because Jen's going to wear it."

Jen smiled in that way that says someone is being silly. "We can both wear it. You can wear it for your
dedication and then I'll wear it to mine. It's no big deal. We can have it altered if we need to."

"No, I mean I want you to wear this to my dedication." She frowned in confusion. "Because I want you and Bish, and Dad and Fiona
, and Kyle and Lynne
to get married with us." They all sat there very still. "I know that's not tradition."