Independence (29 page)

He stopped his thought of saying he was going to live right next door and immediately started using Caleb's trick to keep Jen from seeing about the house.
His thoughts of an art project he was working on flitted through his, Jen's and my minds. He was thinki
ng about finishing off the tree
s on his canvas with a light stream from the sun.
What brush stroke to use.

Jen looked at him with a curiously raised brow. He just smiled and turned back to Dad and frowned. "Why are you leaving?"
"Well…for one, I don't think it's right for her to have to leave her family like that."

Fiona butted in. "I told you
,
it's tradition. It's just…the way we've always done things. I'll still see them
,
just not all the time."

He took h
er hand in his. "I understand, b
ut Bish and Maggie are getting on with their lives. I'm ready to get on with mine. We can travel, see your family and stay with them for a bit, and then we'll come back in a few months. I just really would like to get to know your family, learn where you come from."

She blushed with pleasure. "And I really love you for that."

He smiled. "So, we're going to leave," he announced. "I figure that Marcus or whoever else is trying to get to us can't do that if we're with her family. He won't even know that we're there.
And you,
"
he said to me, "well, you're very capable of kicking anyone's butt, so I don't think I have to worry."
I laughed.
As much as I hated that he was leaving, he had a point
about not being here
. And it was really sweet that he wanted to get to know her family. And in his mind, he was thinking that he didn't want her to lose touch with her mother like I had mine.

Caleb

"Well…call me and let me know
that you made it there
, OK?" Maggie sniffled a little and it kinda made me want to tell ol' Jim off for making her cry. But the guy was just trying to make his own significant happy s
o I couldn't blame him too much
.

He hugged her hard.
She hugged him back just as hard. He leaned back and put his hand on her cheek. "Love ya, baby girl."

"I love you, too, Daddy," she whispered. He smiled tightly
,
trying to hold in his emotions. He moved on to Bish
,
and
Fiona moved on to Maggie.

She smiled with chagrin. "Well, Maggie, I'm sorry that it seems like I'm stealing him away."

"It's all right. I understand why he's doing it. It's really sweet. And
I'm glad that he actually wants to do something like that.
It was just kind of sudden, that's all."
Maggie hugged her, which surprised Fiona who made a little, "Oh," sound.

"Take care of him, OK?"

Fiona nodded quickly. "Of course. I promise, Maggie. Thank you."
She touched Maggie's shoulder. "Don't worry about him, OK?"

She hopped in the cab and Jim came to me. Of course I was last. "Well, son, I don't think that I have to convey how much I'll hurt you if anything happens to Maggie, right?"
"No, sir," I said
and stuffed my hands into my pockets
. "I'll take care of her even before myself."
"Good." Then he hugged me. I gulped, waiting for the pun, for the shoe to drop.
There was none. He leaned away and gave me a crooked smile. "Take care of yoursel
f, son. I couldn't have handled
Maggie ending up with anyone else."

Did he really just say that?
"
Thank you, sir."

"Jim," he corrected.

"Jim."

"
Bye, Caleb.
We'll see you soon!" Jim called before getting in the cab.

Then they were gone to the airport and Bish turned to Maggie. "Well, little sister, we're all alone with no parents to watch us. What mischief can we get into?"

She smiled along with his joke. "
We could bake every pack of sugar cookies in the cabinets again. That went over well when they got home last time."

He slung his arm over her shoulder and chuckled. "Boy, I've never seen a woman so worked
up
over cookies before."

They began to walk back to the rooms. Jen came to my side and we watched.

"Yeah," Maggie said laughing. "
Well i
t was over a hundred cookies."

"They totally overreacted."

Jen laughed. "They're happy," she mused like it was amazing.

"And you're happy." I mirrored Bish's pose and threw my arm over her shoulder. "It's about time."
"I was happy," she rebutted. "Maria makes me happy."

"Yeah, but not like that." I nodded down to her tattoo that had Bish's name on the outside. There was an infinity symbol in the middle. She blushed like I'v
e never seen her blush. "When did
y'all ascend?"

"Last night." She sighed like I was being dramatic. "It's not a big deal. We didn't say anything because-"

"You didn't want the spotlight on you. I get it." I waited as we walked. She folded her arms over her chest as we walked. I stared. Finally I saw her mouth crack a smile.

"Stop staring, weirdo."
I kept staring until she finally caved. "What is your deal?"

"What's your ability? You know what I'm asking. Don't withhold just to be mean."
She smiled at me like I was a child. "Whatever. It's, uh…
I can kind of blend in
to
my surroundings."

I felt my eyebrows rise. "Blend in?"

"Mmhmm."

I grinned. "Say it."

"I will not say it," she laughed.

"Come on, say it."

She fought it for a few s
econds before she smiled. "Fine," she groaned.
"
I'm
the
invisible
woman
."

"Sweet.
"

We laughed as she lightly punched
my gut and caught up to them.

That night we ate steak and home
made bread
and honey butter
in the veranda.
I had to hand it to the place
,
as
Maggie moaned and licked it off her fingers, t
he food was killer.

Then we turned in, a
nd
went back to our own cottages and…man, I just couldn't believe
how much pure elation I got
when it was time to go back to
our room at night. I chewed and sucked on my bottom lip as we
made our way through the sand. I looked back to see where Kyle and Bish were. They were almost to their rooms, too. When I turned back my arm
swung right into a cactus
.
I hissed and cursed.

I felt her heart skid as she turned with inhuman speed and
came to me to see what was up. "What happened?"

"Freaking cactus. Who plants cactuses at the beach?"

She smiled and kissed my finger. That got my blood boiling
. She pulled me
up the step to the porch and then swung open the bay doors
. I pushed her with my hands on her waist to the big white bed and we
nt down with her. The wind blew
warm and salty
air
through the sheer white curtains. I kissed her mouth, her neck. We traded places as we rolled and then I was back on top.

Then I saw in my mind, the vision. This was one
of
Maggie's vision
s
from when we imprinted.
We walked through the sand, came through the bay doors and I kissed her 'til she couldn't breathe in a big white bed. Maggie broke the kiss and gasped as she realized, too. "That's two. Only one left to go," she mused.

I thought for a second. I wondered if it was too soon to show her the one I had. I looked up at her wide, expectant
eyes and decided
she was ready for anything I could give her. "Want to see?" I whispered.

She didn't hesitate. "Always."

I took a deep breath and got ready for the vision, the one that made me want to burst into tears every single time I remembered it. Maggie snuggled in and pressed her forehead to mine. I let it flow through me to her and heard her intake of breath
when it started to play. Maggie was sleeping. She heard a noise and rolled over, her hand reaching across the bed until it reached the alarm clock. She stretched and then got up, going into the yellow room down the hall. I was there, rocking the little boy in my arms and smiled when I saw her. She came and kissed me full on the mouth over the baby and then laughed when the boy complained and reached for her. She took him. He was very little still and she kissed his forehead, m
aking my
heart melt like an ice cube.
"He's hungry, mommy."

"He's always hungry, aren't you, Rodney?" she cooed and smiled at him.

"Daddy!" we heard down the hall. Our girl that looked like Maggie's mini-me ran in and the vision faded. Maggie shook beside me and I hugged her to me tightly, understanding.

I pressed my lips to her hair and whispered into her hair. "See, baby? We're going to have it all."
She leaned back, her face wet. "I want it all. Caleb…Rodney…"

I shook my head. "I know. I never really understood why we named him that until he died. It's perfect."

"I can't wait," she said in awe. "I know we're young and barely even getting started, but I can't wait to hold that little girl in my hands."

"You will," I promised. "And everything will be perfect one day."

She pulled me down to kiss her lips. "I love you. Thank you."

"I love-" She cut me off wi
th a kiss and I chuckled
against her lips. I surrendered. The girl was good at persuasion. We melted into the white sheets and comforter. I had been the one to control the bedroom so far for the most part. But tonight, Maggie was on fire from the inside out. She drove me to new heights in record time and I just held her and tried not to combust into flames. Man, she was hot, and so freaking sexy.

We had yet to add mutualizing to the mix. That was OK. Maggie was a beautiful force all her own and I was plenty occupied. I pulled her shirt over head and 'oomphed' when she pushed me back down to the bed. I laughed at her enthusiasm. She grinned sexily with
her hair across her face
.

Soon I was lost in my beautiful girl.
And
I wasn't ready to be found.

In the morning, I knew something was wrong. Even though neither of us had clothes on, and almost every inch of our skin was touching, I was in withdrawals. I groaned and swallowed the pain down in the throat. Maggie jolted awake and threaded her fingers through my hair to bring me closer. Finally after long seconds of panic, I began to feel her touch seep into me. She sighed and I pulled her closer. "What the hell…" I groaned.

"I'm starting to worry now," she said. "Yesterday was weird, too, right?"
I nodded barely. "I wonder if it was just us."

I rolled over and took her with me. She lay on my chest and breathed deeply. It was almost as if we were scared to stop touching each other. "It's OK, baby. Let's go and see if the others-"

Our room doors swung open. Kyle and Lynne stood there with angry and scared faces.

"Dude, freaking knock," I yelled and pulled the blanket up to Maggie's chin.

"We have a problem," Kyle barked
back
.

Maggie sat up a little, taking the blanket with her pulled tight.
"
We know. We were in withdrawals, too."

The blanket around her wasn't enough for me. "Get out so we can get dressed."

Kyle huffed. "You are such a-"