"I will," he said, "and your taste buds will explode with pleasure."
We trotted quietly down the stairs so as not to wake anybody. Once in the kitchen he made me sit down on one of the stools while he cooked. He put on his mother"s flowery ap.r.o.n and I had to admit that he could pull it off. He pulled out the makings for an omelet and hash browns and set to work. He had to keep brushing his s.h.a.ggy hair out of his face. "Guess it"s time for a cut," he commented.
I rested my face on my hand and said, "I like it like this."
He grinned. "Maybe I won"t take too much off. Deal?" he said with a wink. Then he added, "I absolutely despise getting my haircut. It"s akin to torture."
I laughed. "Don"t talk to me about torture," I joked.
His face instantly paled and he dropped an egg on the floor where it splattered. "I"m so sorry, Sophie. That was so thoughtless of me. Please forgive me. I wasn"t thinking. I was being stupid. I can"t believe I said that. It was extremely callous of me. I feel horrible." He enveloped me in his arms and soothingly stroked my cheek.
"Caeden, it"s okay," I said and suddenly I was the one comforting him. "Really, I"m fine. You didn"t mean anything by it and I didn"t take it that way. You were joking around and so was I. My intention was not to make you feel bad," I said using my finger to smooth his brow.
"I know that," he said, "but I still should have thought before I opened my big fat mouth. I"m really sorry."
"Stop saying you"re sorry, please, it just makes me feel worse," I said into his chest.
"Alright," he said gently stroking my long hair, "I won"t say anything else about it, today," he added and I rolled my eyes.
"I"ll clean this up while you cook," I said pointing to the egg mess that sprinkled the floor.
He smiled. "Thanks," he said and I knew he wasn"t just referring to the mess.
I grabbed a paper towel and wetted it, bending down to gather up the mess. I dumped it in the pullout cabinet trashcan that Caeden showed me. He pointed me to some disinfectant and I sprayed it on the floor.
I had just sat back down when Amy padded into the kitchen. She pushed the b.u.t.ton on the coffee maker and yawned. "Ya"ll are up early," she commented. She looked at me appreciatively, "And you got him to make breakfast. He hasn"t made breakfast since he was in middle school and he"s never up before ten o" clock when there"s no school. I"m impressed. Maybe you should move in."
I laughed. "I"m sure he"d love that," I said with a smile.
"I would," he grinned sliding an omelet and some hash browns onto my plate. He fixed a plate, of two omelets and enough hash browns to feed three people, for himself. He then fixed a more decent portioned plate for his mom.
The coffee maker beeped and Amy poured herself a cup. She inhaled it"s scent before taking a sip. "I can"t accomplish anything without my coffee," she said.
Caeden laughed and whispered conspiratorially to me, "She"s a monster without the stuff. You notice how she drinks it black? It"s just like her soul," he grinned.
"Caeden Henry Williams," his mother scolded.
He laughed and took a seat at the bar next to me. He shoveled a big bite of egg into his mouth and drenched his hash browns with ketchup. "I only speak the truth," he said.
Amy laughed at her son and sat down in the empty seat next to him. She took a bite and said, "This is good son."
"Thanks," he said taking a sip of orange juice.
Amy leaned over and looked at me quizzically. "You look better," she said. Her confusion was written plainly on her face.
"Um..." I said nervously. "Caeden healed me." However, I rubbed self-consciously at the one thing that wouldn"t heal. I could clearly remember the way it felt having that word carved into my skin. I would forever be labeled a liar.
"Oh," she said and looked between us.
"It"s a mate thing," said Caeden. "It was mentioned in the legends that mates could heal each other so I decided to try. It worked," he said with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Huh," said Amy, "that"s pretty cool."
"Except," said Caeden, "I couldn"t heal everything."
I rolled my eyes. Back to this again. "Really?" Amy asked. "What wouldn"t heal?"
I sighed and stretched my arm out to her. She flinched when she saw the word carved maliciously into my arm. Liar.
"May I look more closely?" she asked hesitantly.
"Of course," I said and hopped down from the stool. I came over to stand beside her.
She gently took my arm in her hands. Her fingers hesitantly ran over the savage markings. "He used silver," she said. "It won"t ever heal. It"ll stay like this forever. Just like those marks across your chest thanks to Peter Grimm," She said to Caeden as she ran her hand over the pale white indentations. "Let me guess, you were able to heal it closed and scarred but it wouldn"t heal beyond this?" she asked Caeden. "Because I"m guessing it looked a whole lot worse than this."
"Right you are," said Caeden.
Her blue eyes darkened to midnight. "They shouldn"t be allowed to be shifters. To do something like this to fellow man. It"s sickening. They should be stripped of their powers."
"Can that happen?" I asked. "Can you take away their power of shifting?"
"No, I wish. They are an absolute insult to everything that shifters stand for. They have tainted our reputation. The Grimm"s have always been bad but now they are beyond evil. They have no humanity left in them. They don"t deserve their gift or their lives. If I ever see them again I will make them pay for this. You didn"t deserve this. Neither one of you," she said looking between her son and me. "Neither one of you will ever be the same because of this. I can only hope that it makes you stronger. Find comfort in one another"s arms. You both deserve happiness and it frightens me to think about how it was almost lost to you both. But don"t let the bad break you, let it make you. It"s the only way to go on." Tears pooled in her blue eyes. She looked between us.
"You never know when your last day together will be," Amy said and started crying. Her shoulders shook with her grief. "He said he"d be right back like he always was! But he wasn"t! And then your brother found him... Dead. He was dead. I will forever cherish those last moments we had together. I never want you two to take each other for granted."
"Mom," said Caeden and I could hear his voice choking on emotion.
"Amy," I said and hugged her. "It"s okay."
"Roger and I may not have been mates but I still loved him with all my heart. You never know how long it may last. I know what you went through was beyond horrible, words can"t describe it, but I also saw what it did to Caeden. He was experiencing a completely different kind of pain. I could see the hopelessness in his eyes. He became a stranger to me. I never want to see anyone go through something like that again." She gently tucked a stray hair behind my ear and then took my hands in hers. "I fear if you hadn"t been found I would"ve lost my son forever. But now you"re here and you"re safe and Caeden is happy again. I never want you to take each other for granted. Never," she reaffirmed.
"I won"t," I said. "He"s everything." Tears leaked out of my eyes. "I thought I"d never get to tell him that I loved him." I looked at Caeden. "I do. I love you with all my heart. I love you like I never knew it was possible to love another person." I smiled and made a joke to lessen the emotional heaviness that had settled in the room. "I already almost lost you and now you"ve almost lost me. I think we"re even now. Okay? No more trying to get ourselves killed."
He laughed and pulled me from his mother"s hold and onto his lap where he sat at the bar. He pressed a kiss to my lips despite his mother being present. He ran his hands through my bird"s nest of hair. "From now on we do everything together. Lucinda"s going to be hard pressed to have me let you out of my sight."
I laughed as Gram walked in. "Why does everyone insist on talking about me when I"m not present? You"d think I was the Queen of England or something."
We chuckled as she grabbed a cup of coffee. "Gram, would you like some coffee with your sugar?" I joked.
She clucked her tongue at me. "This is how sane people drink coffee," she quipped.
"There is nothing wrong with black coffee," said Amy with a smile.
"You"re right," said Gram thoughtfully. "There"s something wrong with the drinker"s mind."
We all laughed and she puttered over to the omelets that lay prepared. "This smell"s delicious, Amy," she said.
"Actually," said Amy, "Caeden made it."
Gram turned to glare at Caeden. "If you put something in this that resembles anything besides edible food I will have your head."
Caeden put his hands up. "Now would I do that?"
"You did make your brother eat worm pie, if I recall," I said with a smile as I took my seat and continued to eat my breakfast.
Gram laughed and took a plate. "So you can make something other than cupcakes? I"m impressed." She looked at me and winked, "Sophie, he"s a keeper."
Since all the bar stools were taken Gram took a seat at the kitchen table.
"Well," I said. "This was some way to spend my Christmas break. I should get a medal or something for worst vacation ever. What day is it anyway?" I asked.
"New Year"s Eve," Caeden said.
"I missed Christmas," I mumbled. I knew I had but it hurt hearing it. "Christmas is my favorite holiday."
Amy leaned over to look at me. "Well, we were optimistic that we would find you so we saved Christmas until we found you. All the presents are still under the tree."
"Bryce wasn"t too happy but I think he was scared enough of my wrath that he didn"t say anything," said Caeden.
I smiled. This was the nicest thing they could have done for me. Gram and I had planned to spend Christmas Eve night here and celebrate Christmas morning with the Williams" but of course that hadn"t happened.
Choked on emotion I said, "Thanks you guys this means a lot to me. It really does."
"You"re family now," said Amy. "We wouldn"t have done it any other way."
"And look at this way, we get to celebrate two holidays in one day," said Caeden.
Bryce came into the kitchen rubbing the sleep from his eye. His face perked up at Caeden"s words. He turned to his mom. "Does this mean I get my presents now?"
"Yes," she said rolling her eyes at her youngest son.
He whooped with joy and ran from the room shouting. "Santa here I come!"
fifteen.
We followed Bryce into the large library-like family room. A large tree was set up in the corner with a mountain of presents under it. Bryce hopped up and down looking like a little kid. His dog Bella came into the room and joined him in his jumping motions. He practically skipped over to a fancy stereo setup where he hit a b.u.t.ton and the room was suddenly filled with the sounds of Christmas. Caeden pulled me down onto the floor and into the comfort of his arms. He kissed the side of my cheek and inhaled the skin at my neck. "I missed this," he said quietly.
"What?" I asked leaning back to look up into his eyes.
"Holding you, you"re smell, you," he smiled.
"I"m here now," I said.
"And you"re never going anywhere," he said.
"I like the sound of that," I said.
"Lovebirds you"re making me sick," said Bryce.
We laughed at him and Caeden planted a big, fat, sloppy, kiss on my lips. "Alright, enough of that," said Gram. "It"s time for presents."
"Presents!" squealed Bryce like a five year old girl upon seeing a Barbie Dream House. I couldn"t contain the laugh that bubbled out. Bryce glared at me which just made me laugh harder.
"Here Bryce," said Amy shoving a present at her son. He took it and tore it viciously open. I expected his wolf claws to come out any second.
"Yes, yes, yes!" he said doing a little dance and holding up his present. It looked like a very expensive camera but he was waving it around so frantically that the package became a blur.
Amy shook her head and looked at me, "His enthusiasm amazes me."
Caeden said to me, "We say that he saves his energy up all year just for this one day."
"That"s not true!" said Bryce pointing a finger at his older brother. "I"m just a very energetic person."
"I wish you had this much energy when you have duty," said Caeden.
"Maybe if I wasn"t stuck with boring old you I"d be peppier," countered Bryce.
"I doubt it," said Caeden and they both laughed.
Bryce looked at his mom, "I"m sick of talking to this old coot. Hit me with another present."
She tossed him one, hard. It hit him in the chest. He mock glared at his mom. "You said hit me," she smiled.
"It"s an expression, mom," he said.
"Oh, I know," she said.
Gram pointed to a pile of gifts, "These are for you Sophie," she said, "from me, your mom, and dad."
"Gram," I said, "you didn"t need to get me anything."
"I wanted to," she said, "I"ve been alone on Christmas for many years. This is special."
"Thanks Gram," I said.
I opened my presents in a less savage way than Bryce attacked his. Caeden opened his presents too. I got a bunch of new clothes and a new laptop. I thanked Gram profusely and called my parents to thank them too.
I pulled out a package that I had wrapped delicately. I had wanted to make it perfect. "Here," I said giving Caeden a small smile, suddenly shy.
He smiled and took it in his long fingers. He shook the box and grinned. "What is it?"
"You"ll have to open it," I said. "I"m going to warn you, I"m not good with gifts."
He ripped it open and took the tickets out. "This is awesome," he said holding up the Cage the Elephant concert tickets. "Thanks babe," he said and planted a kiss on my cheek.
"I know you like them so I thought we could go see them live," I said.
"This is really great," he said. "And now, here"s your present," he said handing me a small box wrapped in red paper.