Melt Your Heart

Chapter 17: Gifts and Curses

"So, you're saying that you've never known something is going to happen before it does...known who was calling before you even looked at your phone?" Abigail asked, sitting opposite Cassie at the kitchen island.

Cassie returned her look rather sceptically. Usually she was more open-minded about things, but she had just had her world rudely shaken off its axis. "That happens to a lot of people."

Abigail rolled her eyes. "C'mon Cassie, you can't tell me that anything of this…" she trailed off and gestured vaguely with her hands. "Really comes as a surprise to you?"

"What surprises me," she said, a little coolly, in the same tone she used when the twins had disappointed but not angered her, "is that you kept it from me for so long."

Abigail conceded the point, but that didn't mean she'd take it lying down either.

"Would you have moved here...moved in with a stranger you didn't know from Adam if I had told you?" she asked pointedly, feeling perfectly justified in her rationale.

Cassie stopped to consider that. Would she have thought her cousin was crazy? Possibly. Would it have stopped her moving across the country with her young children? Probably.

Damn it, her cousin was too perceptive by half.

"Thing is, it doesn't really change anything," Abigail continued. "This is who you've been your whole life, you've always been a Merriwick woman. The only difference is that now you know about it."

Cassie sighed, with barely-suppressed mild irritation…and, well, she wasn't quite sure what; Abigail was right. Again.

But it set her thoughts racing once more.

"What about other people? Does anyone else in Middleton know about us?"

"The Merriwicks are pretty legendary here, but you've seen how warm and welcoming everyone has been since you arrived - we're not social pariahs or anything," Abigail replied reassuringly, stopping to thoughtfully chew on a nail. "You're worried about Sam, aren't you?"

"Abigail…" Cassie's tone held a hint of warning. "What about the twins?"

"Oh, definitely. They've inherited the ol' Merriwick magic as well. I can't believe you haven't spotted it yet."

Cassie's answering glare was purely a reflex, but her thoughts continued to race a mile a minute. James and Catherine had always had a very special bond ever since they were born, something she and Jake had often commented on it, but they had just assumed it was a by-product of them being twins.

Surprising them both, Abigail reached across the table and placed her hand on Cassie's.

"It's a lot to take in, I get it," Abigail said with feeling, because she did understand it only too well. "But nothing has to change, you're still the same Cassie Nightingale."

Maybe she was, but she still felt different...more aware, more awake somehow. She wanted to share how she was feeling with someone…but the only person she wanted to tell was Jake. He had known her so well, understood her, and loved her unconditionally, while what she had with Sam was still so new and fragile.

"If I can sense things before they're going to happen, why didn't I know James was sick before you called me?" she demanded, with a renewed vigour as thinking about Sam had reminded her of her son's illness again. "Why didn't I know what was going to happen to Jake before it..."

She trailed off, her voice starting to crack.

Abigail squeezed her hand a little tighter.

"It's a gift, not a power," she explained carefully, sounding more like Cassie than Cassie. "There are some things we just can't change or manipulate...however much we'd like to." Her expression managed to be both wistful and dangerous at the same time.

Still reeling from all that she had just learned, Cassie pulled her hand away from Abigail's. She desperately needed some time alone with her thoughts.

"I'm making you late for work," she said, abruptly pushing back her stool, and wincing as the legs scraped against the kitchen floor. "I'll see you later."

Abigail, who had planned on not opening the flower shop that morning, watched Cassie leave the room with a sigh of her own.

She supposed it could have gone worse.

Cassie felt noticeably calmer after a quiet day at Grey House with James. The little boy seemed to be perking up, and by lunch time he was feeling well enough to try some dry toast. They curled up in the private sitting room and watched an endless marathon of his favourite Disney movies, both of them snoozing intermittently until it was time to go and collect Catherine from school.

Knowing the fresh air would do James good, she wrapped him up in a coat and hat, and they set off for the school together. The brisk breeze seemed to bring some colour back to James' cheeks and he chatted happily beside her, making her heart melt just like always. He was still her little boy and she was still his mom, and nothing that she had learned from the attic or from Abigail was going to change that.

She wasn't going to let it.

Abigail had a visitor at the flower shop just before she was closing up, and she made an exception because it was Sam, but also because making another sale meant she could delay going home a little longer. She wasn't sure how happy Cassie would be to see her, and that frustrated her. Abigail didn't feel like she had done anything wrong, and even after the episode with Cassie in the kitchen earlier that day, she wouldn't go back and do anything differently.

"Let me guess." Abigail closed her eyes in mock concentration, after she and Sam had exchanged greetings. "You'd like an arrangement for my cousin that says...'thank you so much for last night, I can't wait to do it again'?"

Sam frowned with fond amusement.

"How much did she tell you?" he asked, a little unsure of his footing here. He cared about both women, but they were family which made him the outsider here.

"Very little actually," she replied, a little despondently - which surprised Sam. It was an out of character emotion to see his neighbour expressing. "I haven't really had the chance to grill her about it, what with James being unwell and...everything."

There was no humour behind Sam's frown now, though he knew it was irrational to worry. He had already seen Cassie since their date and things seemed...fine. She'd been a little distant at first, sure, but that goodbye kiss she'd given him had stuck with him all day.

He'd be lying if he said he wasn't hoping that presenting her with a beautiful bouquet from Abigail's shop would get him a repeat performance.

Abigail finished tying the bouquet of autumn coloured blooms and handed them to Sam.

"You know..." she began thoughtfully. "I thought you might be coming in to place an order for Cassie's birthday."

"Cassie's birthday?" Oh God, he hadn't missed it, had he?

He realised, with a healthy dose of shame, that he'd gotten to second base with her but didn't know what day of the year she'd been born on. What kind of horny teenage behaviour was this?

"October 24th," Abigail confirmed, her usual all-knowing smile back in place.

"Okay, noted," he paused, waiting for her to elaborate, but it seemed like that was all the information such was offering up. "Ah, and you're not going to give me any pointers, are you?"

The wattage of Abigail's smile increased.

"Nope. I've already helped you out by actually telling you when her birthday is. The rest, my friend, is up to you. I'm sure you'll plan something perfect."

"Right, sure."

No sweat, Radford, he told himself, because of course as well as being a world-renowned emergency surgeon, you are also the master of the surprise birthday party.

Crap.

"Two visits in one day?" Cassie smiled warmly as she let Sam in through the kitchen door. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

Sam grinned back a little sheepishly. He wouldn't normally turn up with flowers the day after a first date, but he also didn't normally go on dates with women like Cassie.

He was too old for playing those games anyway.

He knew who and what he wanted, so he had no intention of letting her get away from him.

"Maybe I'm just here to check James over in my capacity as town doctor."

Cassie raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, and do you always bring your patients flowers?"

"Only if I have a thing for their mother."

"Oh." It was getting harder and harder for her to keep a straight face because he was too adorable. She wasn't quite sure how he managed to be cute but also sexy and dangerous all at once. It was a heady combination. "And does that happen often?"

They had been slowing edging towards each other across the kitchen floor as they flirted, Sam holding onto the bouquet the way he wished he could be holding her.

"Nah, it's a fairly new phenomenon," he admitted.

"Well, I hope it's not contagious," she replied with a smile and took the flowers from him, bringing the bouquet up to her face and inhaling their delicate scent. "They're gorgeous, thank you."

"Abigail picked them out, but I thought they were pretty."

"They are," she agreed with another smile, but her heart was aching.

It would so, so easy to fall in love with him.

And how did she know that?

Well… because she was almost all the way there.

Sam wanted to stay, he really did, but he had already been to her house twice since their date less than twenty four hours earlier and, although he'd had somewhat legitimate reasons for being there (James had been unwell, and he was a doctor), he thought that perhaps he should back off. Even if the thought of going back to his house to spend the evening alone depressed him. It never usually did. He was happy with his own company on the whole, and enjoyed winding down after a chaotic shift at the hospital by keeping update on medical journals and playing his guitar.

Neither of those things seemed quite so enticing when compared to the woman next door.

"I should be going," he said, only barely managing to suppress his sigh. "But I'll call you and we'll set up another date."

"I'd like that." Cassie smiled back at him, still cradling the bouquet in her arms and watched as he left with barely concealed reluctance.

After she heard the kitchen door close, Cassie crossed to the kitchen cupboard to find a suitable vase for her flowers. She stroked her finger gently over the petals of an orange gerbera, and hoped that their next date would have no interruptions.

Hope you liked this chapter - it's a little shorter than normal, but the next one will be much longer.

Big thank you to xfphile for doing a wonderful job beta reading this chapter for me, and especially for fixing my British-isms! :)