Independence (17 page)

Caleb came up behind me.
"You cooked supper?" he asked and sniffed the air over my shoulder from behind. "Smells good."

"It's your mom's Shepherd's Pie," I explained and turned to him. "She gave me the recipe and a few pointers."

"I'm sure it's awesome," he murmured and kissed my neck before making his way to my lips. "Did you get anything else done today?" He grinned. "Wedding wise?"

"Gran
finished fitting
me for my dress," I said and sighed. "It's so unbelievably beautiful."

"I can't wait to see it
on you
," he replied in a husky tone. "For now, I'll settle with fruit shorts." He squeezed my hips in his hands. "Bananas tonight, huh?"

"Yeah," I breathed as he inched closer. "I heard they were your favorite."

"To be absolutely honest, Maggie," he stopped when there was no more space between us, just cotton and denim separated all of him from all of me, "they are my favorite."

And then supper was forgotten.

His tongue found
mine
and commanded it
as he lifted me and carried me right to his bed. Whe
n he pressed my hands to the comforter
above my head without even taking off his shoes yet, I sighed at getting what I wanted.
I wondered if mutalizing felt the same for everyone. For me, it was like I was drowning and had suddenly breached the surface. My body sang all over and goose bumps crawled over my skin as I let him into my mind to consume me from the inside out.
He kept his lips on mine as we let ourselves be taken over.
The energy ribbons, ever present and ever ready, moved around us. It seemed strange to have them in this new place, the glow from them illuminating his stuff in ways I'd never seen.

When they died away, along with the intensity, he rolled and pulled me to lay on his chest. My whole body rose up and down as he tried to catch his breath. He combed my hair with his fingers. "Well, your plan worked." He chuckled. "Being all domestic and
then wearing those shorts. Daggum banana shorts…" He chuckled again.

"You caught me." We grinned at each other. "
So, how was your day with your dad?
"
I
ga
ve him
a pointed look. "Everything work out?"

"I didn't tell him. I want to tell him and Mom together
,
and she was running errands all day. We'll go over there tomorrow. I need to help Dad interview the new security guy anyway." He gulped and I felt for him. Poor Ralph. "Don't worry. It'll be OK."
I nodded. "
So, it really did go well with Gran? She didn't push you into something you don't like, did she? I know how she is."

"She was great." I lifted my
head to look down at him. "
That woman can work a needle and thread."

He smiled. "She used to make me gloves when I was a kid. I was always too embarrassed to wear them though."

I scoffed. "She made them with her bare hands and you wouldn't wear them?"

"They had Frosty the Snowman on them, babe. Frosty the freaking Snowman."

I tried not to laugh. "D
idn't you like Frosty the Snowman
when you were little
?"

"Not when I was fourteen." I did laugh then. He smiled waiting for me. "She makes stuff for everyone. That's her thing."
"I wonder what my thing will be," I mused
and chewed my lip playing with the button of his shirt
. "I haven't even thought about what my major's going to be
yet
."

"
They don't offer classes in
Gorgeous Leader of Her Race
. Sorry. You're stuck with something crappy, like Biology or Business Economics."

I giggled and climbed up his chest to kiss his dimple. "You want to eat the perfectly good dinner I cooked now? Maybe watch a movie with me?"

"
You read my mind." He sat up with me and took my face in his warm hands. "Thank you." Then he kissed my lips. "If I
can
come home to this every day, I'll be the happiest man alive."

I smiled and led him to the kitchen. We sat and ate and watched bad reality TV. We made fun of the people and laughed and laughed. The last thing I remembered was being carried to bed, Caleb's scruffy chin rubbing my cheek, before being surrounded with his usual warmth and falling back asleep peacefully.

"Dad! We're here!" Caleb
yelled as he opened the door. "Bella!" She came bounding around the corner before plowing into him. He knelt down and crooned to her. "Oh, my goodness. Look at my girl. You're so big."

I just watched with amused fascination. "Does your apartment complex not let you have dogs?"
"They will, but I just usually leave her here because I'm always at school." He straightened. "And then
someone
had to take up all of my time this summer, so…" He grinned and pulled me to him. "But…maybe soon she'll be able to come with us."

He was giving me house hints. I stared up into his blue eyes, but he left it at that. I nodded letting him know that I definitely wanted Bella to b
e with us. I scratched under her
chin before following Caleb.

"All right," he said and stopped me. "Let me show you the trick with the hallways." He pointed to the floor in the corner. "See the tiles?" I nodded. They were all mixed up and different colors of greens and browns that seemed to have no pattern. "Ok, see the corner, the tile is cream over there? And in that corner, the corner tile is green? The cream tiles take you to the west side of the house, for my room and the living room. The browns take you to the back end of the house, like the kitchen and dining room. The green tiles take you in circles."

I was skeptical. It didn't look that complicated. It didn't look like it was a trick except for the fact that the halls were winding and seemed to be everywhere. It looked confusing, but that seemed pretty elaborate. So he took me on a tour of the
green corner-tiled hallways and to my surprise we wound up right where we started. "But I didn't even realize we were coming back around. That's so weird."

"Yep. Dad's a genius."

"Why yes, yes I am," Peter joked. We turned to find him laughing at us. "
Thanks for noticing."

"Hey, Dad."

"Hey, son." He beamed at me. "Are you going to just stand there or give your father-in-law a hug?"

I laughed. "I like the sound of that."

"I like it, too, sweetheart." He pulled back, but kept his arm around my shoulder as he made his way down the cream corner-tiled halls. Caleb trailed behind us with Bella at his side. "So, what is it you've come to tell us?"
"Um…" I peeked at Caleb as we landed in the den. He looked curiously at his dad.

"I could tell something was wrong yesterday, Caleb. I assumed it was something Maggie wanted to discuss with us. About her human friends, perhaps." It was his turn to look confused. "I guess not by the looks on your faces."

"Where's Mom, Dad?" Caleb asked gently and took my hand to sit on the couch with me.

I heard Peter call to her in his mind and she told him she'd be there in just a minute. "She's coming. Is everything all right?"

"Everything's fine. We just want to talk to you about something."

Peter nodded and looked pensive.
There was a crystal bowl on the end table. Peter swung his fingers back a forth a little, causing t
he bowl to slide back and forth, following his finger's movements
across the table as he tried to figure out what we were about to tell them.
Rachel entered and after hugs and glasses of tea, Caleb got down to the matter. He explained it all, about what he wanted to do, about how he wanted to expand the
tutoring
centers and he wasn't interested in joining the architecture firm.
Peter listened while Rachel looked warily between the two of them. Peter's silence was weird. It was almost as if he wasn't thinking at all and his thoughts were just on pause, unable to process.

But then he finally started to, and I heard his answer before he said them. "Caleb, you know I've always admired your initiative. Starting your own company like that all by yourself was brilliant.
" Heavy pause.
"
But I always assumed it would be a temporary thing. I always assumed and wanted you to come work with me at the firm. To find out that you don't want that is pretty surprising, son. This is the first I've heard of it."

"I know," Caleb answered. "To be honest, if Maggie
hadn't come along
I would
probably have
went to work with you at the firm." He rushed on. "Not that it's her idea or her fault that I'm not, it's just that she gave me the courage to do what I want to do. I'm not all by myself in my decision making anymore and she has faith in me that I can do
it
."

"So do I." Peter cleared his throat. "I have faith that you can do it. That was never in question. It's just that…wor
king at the firm is tradition, and an honor
to carry on the legacy our family built. I just…thought you'd
want
to be a part of that."

"It's not that I don't want to work with you, Dad. It's just that I want to do this more."

Peter thought. Rachel and I stayed quiet. This was something the boys had to work out.
Eventually he spoke quietly. "You're a man, Caleb, and I can't tell you what to do. I'd be lying if I said I was thrilled about it, but I'll stand behind you like I always do. You've never let me down before. If this is what you want, then I think it's what you should do."

Caleb sighed, a weight lifted and a burden released. "Thanks, Dad."

"No matter what I said, you were still going t
o move ahead with your plan," Peter
mused
and opened his arm for Rachel to come into
.
She scooted over and they looked at each other for a few seconds before he looked back at Caleb.
"Am I right?"

Caleb smiled wryly. "Yes, sir."

Peter nodded and smiled. "I figured.
You've always been a little bit rebellious. That star on your shoulder." He gave him a pointed
'fatherly'
look. "
Joining the swim team instead of going out for football. Leaving
during Kyle's graduation party when everyone was waiting for you."
He sighed and laughed soundlessly. "I guess…it all worked out for you."

"Yes, sir," Caleb whispered and
pulled me to kiss my temple. "It did."

And I love that star tattoo.

He grinned down at me. "I know."

Something hit me then
as I stared up at the grin I never wanted to be away from
. We only had two days left until the wedding.

Two. Days.

And I
hadn't even written my vows out for him yet.
I hadn't even had time to
think
about them
let alone put pen to paper
.
He kept smiling as he let me have my mini freak-out.

I turned to Rachel. "Thanks for the recipe. I actually cooked something edible for once."

She giggled a little. "You're so welcome. You can come over later on and I'll teach you a few things if you'd like. My mother was an excellent cook. And Jen tries, but she's always pretty preoccupied with work and Maria."

"That sounds great."

Peter smiled at me and asked,
"Have you
thought any about what you're going to do for school and such?"

Caleb leaned back further, laying his ankle over his
knee as he settled back
into the couch with me pressed to his ribs.
"
I told you this, Dad. She's coming to school with me this semester."

"And that's what you want to do?" Peter asked me. "You want to go to U of T?"

"I do.
I didn't think that I was going to be able to go to college, so for you to work that out for me…thank you. I'm very grateful."

"Not a problem. It was my pleasure to do it. But since Caleb was reluctant to tell me that he didn't want to work with me, I was just checking to make sure that this is what y
ou wanted."
"It is. Thank you," I said sincerely. "I can't wait."

Jen and Bish came around the hall corner. "Can't wait for what?"

"College," Peter answered for me. "Our Maggie is starting
the end of
next month."

I smiled. Our Maggie. Bish grinned at me, too, and shook his head. "It ain't all it's cracked up to be, kid."

"Don't rain on my parade!" I playfully scolded
as she sat on the couch and he leaned on the back with his arms
. "
What are you guys up to?"
They looked at each other and then back to me. "Well…" she started.