The sounds of furniture being moved down the hall in their small, cozy cottage awoke Emily from her slumber and she sat up rubbing the sleep from her eyes. With a glance at the clock on their bedside table, she stands and slips her cotton robe on to combat the chilly morning air as she pads barefoot down the hallway to the guest room. She leans against the doorway for a moment and smiles seeing Sam easily holding the twin bed frame up so he could maneuver his way around it with the vacuum.
Sensing her, he gingerly lowers the bed to the floor and turns the vacuum off, walking over to his imprint and tenderly kissing each of the scars that marred her face. "Good morning, did I wake you up?"
"I needed to be up anyway, we have a big day ahead of us." Emily smiles, the unscarred side of her mouth turning up as she chastely but sweetly kisses Sam's lips. "The guys will be over soon as well."
"I know, they all want to meet her." He sighs softly as he wraps his arms around his fiancés tiny waist. His brows furrow as he frowns and Emily sighs quietly herself, knowing what was bothering him.
"Sam, you can't blame yourself. What happened to that girl is tragic but you couldn't have stopped it, you didn't even know she existed." Her fingertips gently knead the tensed muscles of his neck trying to comfort him.
He sighs, burying his face in her thick, raven colored hair to inhale her soothing jasmine scent. "I know, but she's my half sister. I should've been able to help her more all these years."
"Well we can take care of her now." There was a subtle note of finality in her otherwise soft voice that made him chuckle softly and pull away to look down into her warm brown eyes.
"Yes, we can." He twirls a lock of her hair around his fingertip gently as she glances around the room. "I was just finishing cleaning up. I figured one of us could take her shopping and let her pick out a paint color or whatever she wants."
Emily nods, her eyes making one trip around the bare room before looking up into the nearly black eyes of her fiancé. "I'll take her once she gets settled in. When is her plane coming in?"
"10:30, I should head to Seattle after breakfast and pick her up." Sam kisses Emily's forehead tenderly, brushing her sleep tussled hair away from her face then sighing as he lifts his head. "Jared and Paul are coming up the driveway."
Emily chuckles softly and nods, turning to walk back to their bedroom. "Let me get dressed and I'll start on breakfast."
"Okay, Em." Sam sits gingerly on the edge of the bed and slips the folded up papers from the pocket of his cutoff sweatpants once she's gone, his eyes reading the words he knew by heart already.
Stephanie Diana Uley
DOB: January 17
Ward of the state of California, under temporary care of Madeline Evers.
The call had come in almost two months ago, long distance from California. He was told his father had apparently impregnated some waitress from San Fransisco not long after leaving the Rez and the woman had died a couple years ago. His half sister had been bouncing from foster home to foster home until her social worker found the identity of her father and tracked down the last relatives.
He stared down at the photo the woman had sent him. Stephanie was 15 now and there was no denying she had Quiluete blood. She had caramel colored skin a few shades lighter than his own and jet black hair that ran in waves down to her slim hips. In the picture she was facing partially away from the camera but he could make out the carefree smile on her lips and he knew he wanted to protect her from all she was leaving behind in Los Angeles where she had been staying.
"Sam!" Paul called out as he and Jared bounded up onto the porch, walking into the small kitchen where Emily was baking and cooking already.
Sam sighs and slips the papers back into his pocket as he stands up to walk into the kitchen, knowing with two wolves rough housing in Emily's kitchen something was likely to end up broken.