I have changed my rating to "M" after posting the last chapter. After all, Wanderer is no 'little' girl anymore. Much love to all of you who continue to remind me why I write. - NL
Boundaries
When I woke in the morning I was laying on top of Ian who was sprawled out across the bed. As I sat up I smiled at the memories of Ian and the way he always slept. I missed that. He was dead to the world. I got up and picked up his dirty T-shirt from the floor and put it on. I opened the door just a crack to see who might be in the living room. All was quiet. I sprinted to the bathroom. I took a quick shower and brushed my teeth. I was so happy I was humming with joy. I left the bathroom wrapped in a towel and slipped back into the bedroom. Ian looked so beautiful. I just had to get back in the bed and wrap myself around him. He was warm. The coolness of my freshly washed skin touching him roused him from his sleep. "Jeez girl, you're cold!"
He slipped out from under me and stood up. "I'll be right back." He grabbed the towel I had left lying on the bed and wrapped it around his waist and left the room. About ten minutes later he came back. His hair was wet. He climbed onto the bed and shook his dripping head like a dog spraying me with his wetness. "Ian!"
He collapsed onto my body and wrapped himself around me. Then he rolled over so I was on top of him. "Good morning beautiful."
"Don't call me beautiful." I was being obstinate.
"Why not?"
"Cause that's what Nate calls me." I said flatly.
"Should I be jealous?"
"Absolutely, I'm losing my virginity to him tomorrow." I smiled at him. "Seriously, did you know that bringing me here to you was his idea?"
"I don't believe it."
"Believe it. I spoke to Burns before we left. I wanted to thank him and he said it was all Nate's idea. He said Nate couldn't take watching you destroy yourself anymore. He was the one who offered to take Burns to see Lily."
"You're sure about this?"
"I'm going to lie to you?...So, if Nate wants to call me beautiful as a nickname I think I'm going to give him that." I put my finger on his nose. "You'll just have to choose a different nickname." He snapped at my finger with his teeth. "Actually I like it when you call me Wanderer as opposed to Wanda."
"Well, we'll tell everyone to call you by your correct name."
"No. I don't mind being called Wanda by the others. They see me as human and so the name follows suit. But you see me for who I am. That's why I like it when you call me Wanderer." I kissed him lightly on the lips.
"Okay, but I still need a nickname. You hated Babe."
"I hated Babe but I don't mind Babydoll."
"Babydoll, it is. It suits you. So, Babydoll, it's been eight hours since we made love and you don't have any clothes on yet."
"You're right I don't." He grabbed my lower lip with his teeth. Then he pressed his warm lips to mine. And so we made love. During our lovemaking we heard the door slam. We stopped briefly realizing we weren't alone in the house. We tried to be very quiet which just made me giggle. Trying to keep our pleasure quiet was no easy task. I don't really know how quiet we really were because I was caught up in my own primal needs, and I had found throughout the last fifteen hours that the sounds I made really had an effect on Ian. When we were finished we both started to laugh uncontrollably. We were just both so damn happy. We were giddy.
The door slammed again. We could hear voices in the living room now.
"I guess that's our cue to join the living." Ian muttered.
"Okay, Superman. You better put on some clothes or you are never going to make it out of this room."
"Is that supposed to be a threat?" He came over a hugged me tight. I had to peel him off of me before we started all over again. I couldn't believe he made me wait all this time to make love to me. I could just scream when I think of all the missed opportunities.
I put on my babydoll dress that was grey and white with the layers. Ian gave me a wolf whistle. "Are you sure you want to leave this room?"
He lunged for me and I sprinted to the door and squeezed through it before he could catch me. Nate was in the living room with Jeb, Jamie, and Megan. As Ian exited the bedroom Nate called out, "Hello Beautiful!" Ian shot me an annoyed look.
I skipped over to Nate and plopped down on his lap and put my arms around his neck. I had the biggest grin on my face. "Thank you. You are the best!" I kissed him on the cheek.
"Hey now!" Ian barked.
"I'm just glad you're happy." His smile was genuine.
"I am happy." I jumped back to my feet. I floated across the room to Jeb. "Good morning Jeb" I kissed him on the cheek. I danced over to Jamie. "Good morning Jamie!" I gave him a big sister hug.
"Damn. She's just beautiful to watch." Ian said. I assume he was speaking to the others.
"Good morning Megan!" I went to her and hugged her as well even though I had never hugged her before. I would have even hugged Holly today if she were here. Nothing was going to bring me down from my high.
"Wanderer, I'm hungry." Ian announced.
He looked at the others. "Have any of you eaten breakfast yet?"
Jamie answered. "We just had cereal."
"Wanderer will you go in the kitchen and see what we have in the fridge?" It sounded more like an order than a request. I found this unsettling. He had said that if he fought for me that I might not like it because he could be demanding.
"O-kaay."
He heard the uncertainty of my answer.
"I'll be in to help you in a few minutes. Please, Babydoll."
Okay that was better but he obviously wanted to say something to someone in the living room without me being there. I wanted so badly to eavesdrop. I heard the back door slam. Someone really needed to fix that spring. I opened the fridge. I found plenty of eggs and bacon. I went back to the living room just as Ian and Nate were coming back into the living room. Ian looked serious and so did Nate.
"Is everything all right?"
"Yes, let's make everyone some breakfast. What have we got?"
"Bacon and eggs."
We went into the kitchen to prepare breakfast for everyone. "What did you say to Nate?"
"Nothing. I thanked him for bringing you to me." He turned towards me and trapped me against the sink and kissed me. Nate did not look like someone who had just been thanked. I cut the kiss short.
"You're lying."
He tried to look offended but I could see right though it.
"Ian! Tell me what you said!"
"I didn't say anything." He was lying.
"I'm going to ask Nate." I stomped towards the kitchen door. Ian grabbed me and pulled me back.
"Look I don't want you to get mad." He was defending himself.
"What did you say?" I knew this was not going to be good.
"I just said that you were my property now and he was not to touch you."
I was horrified.
"Oh my god. You told him I was your property?"
"Well, yeah. Remember I said you were my property and you said I was your property."
I held my forehead in my hand. I was mortified ."You know what? I'm not hungry." Again I tried to leave the kitchen.
"Where are you going?" He demanded.
"For a walk." I knew he would never let me out of the kitchen while I was angry. I put my arms around his neck. "I love you but you can't bully someone because they like me." I kissed him briefly.
"I'm sorry." He pulled me in for the slow burn. This kiss in the past would have left me dizzy. Now it was a prelude to other things. It took a lot of inner strength to walk away from him.
"I'll see you in a bit."
In the living room I went to Nate and grabbed his hand. "Take a walk with me?" Nate was very hesitant. "Please?"
He got up and I towed him out the back door. I made sure I walked him past the kitchen window in hopes Ian would see us.
"I know what Ian said to you. I forced him to tell me. I'm sorry about that. It was rude of him." I was trying to give him a sincere apology.
"It's okay Wanda. I completely understand. You made your choice and so did he. You do belong to each other. I don't know that I wouldn't have said the same thing had the shoe been on the other foot."
"Thank you. It's just going to take awhile for Ian to believe that I would never do anything to hurt him. You know?"
"I know."
"So, I just want you to know that if I seem distant, it's not because I don't think of you as a friend….a very good friend."
"I know. Be happy."
"I love you."
"I love you too." I hugged him for a long time. He kissed the top my head.
We parted ways and I headed back to the house. I sat on the back porch for a while. After a few minutes, Ian came out with a plate in hand. "You have to be hungry after all the exercise you had last night and this morning." He leered at me playfully.
I snatched the plate from him. "This better be good." I pretended to still be angry.
"Hey, when it comes to cooking I'm better than good…"
"I'm the best." I chimed in so we said it in unison. Gee where had I heard that before? Ian and Kyle were so much alike sometimes it was frightening.
"Thank you Superman." I stood up and carried my plate into the house.
Everyone was enjoying their bacon and eggs.
"So, what's on the agenda for today?" I asked nonchalantly.
Ian turned to Megan, "Aren't you supposed to be in school?"
A tinge of pink shot through Megan's cheeks. "I cut school today."
Ian looked like an angry father.
"I didn't want Jamie to have nothing to do Coach. I was trying to be a good hostess." She smiled a brilliant smile at Ian.
I could see Ian's hardness melt before my eyes. I had to turn my head so he couldn't see me smile.
Jeb offered his opinion. "Now there's nothing wrong with missing a day of school. We'll call it a sick day. Tomorrow you will both go to school."
Jamie was too quick to reply. "Tomorrow is Saturday."
I burst into laughter.
"Wanderer!" Ian yelled at me.
"What? It was funny!" I couldn't stop chuckling.
Ian took control again. "Go to school, both of you!"
Jamie tried again to weasel his way out of school. "But Jeb said…"
"NOW!" Ian roared.
Megan jumped to her feet and headed quickly to the door. Jamie, on the other hand was spoiled and used to Ian and he didn't have the fear that Megan had. He muttered, "Not fair, I'm on vacation." Then he trudged sullenly towards the door.
Once they were out of earshot Ian turned to me. "You never finished high school, did you? Maybe you should go with them."
"Nuh-uh. I'm not a little girl anymore remember?" I threw his own words back at him.
"You surprised me Ian. I didn't think you had it in you to be a Dad." Jeb said as he stood up.
"Right. Can you just see Wanderer as a mother?" He shook his head.
"Oh, sure. Something happens to a woman when she gets pregnant. That whole mother instinct just kicks right in. I've seen it a hundred times." Jeb replied confidently.
"Could we please talk about something else?" It had suddenly dawned on me that Ian and I had practically non-stop sex in the last fifteen hours with no birth control. I wanted to be a Mom someday but not today.
"Listen, I am going to take a quick road trip into town. I'll be back this afternoon. I'll meet you at the cave for lunch?" I was directing my question to the both of them.
"Sounds good to me." Jeb retorted. He was quick. He knew exactly what I was talking about.
Ian on the other hand, Greek god that he was, didn't grasp my sudden urgency to go to town. "Why are you going to town?"
Jeb rescued me. "I'll tell you on the way to the ball field. Kiss your woman good bye." He walked silently as only Jeb could towards the back door.
Ian put his arms around me and pulled my chin up so I could see his eyes. "Are you okay?"
"I will be." He still didn't get it. I kissed him tenderly. "I love you. I'll be fine. I'll see you at lunch."
I drove into town and visited the local healer. I explained to him my present situation saying I had attended a party prior to my visit here. I had been foolish and needed a pill. He was understanding and non judgmental as any soul would have been. He suggested that I protect myself in the future. I took him up on the offer. I decided that I would protect myself from pregnancy until I was officially Mrs. O'Shea.
When I got back to the cave for lunch, Ian was not there yet. Megan and Jamie were there. Nate was there too but he avoided me. Megan came to me. "Thanks for sticking up for us in front of Coach."
"You didn't need me. You melted his big heart!" I said with assurance. I turned to Jamie. "You need to keep your big trap shut!"
"Sorry Wanda." He hugged me.
The ladies had made hot dogs and baked beans for lunch. I wasn't very hungry after my late bacon and eggs breakfast. I ate only one hotdog. Jamie and Megan stuffed themselves. It was nice to see Jamie interacting with someone his own age. I wondered where Sarah was though. When she did appear she headed straight for Nate. It sill made me chuckle to see her stalk Nate.
When Ian did finally arrive for lunch, he was mobbed by Blake, Carlos, and Dean. They were his brat pack. They wanted to make sure they were getting their practice time with the coach.
I waited patiently for Ian to break free from his boys and come to me. I didn't want to rock the boat. I wanted the boys to like me.
When Ian finally came to me his expression was so cute. "I'm so stupid! I didn't have a clue as to why you were going to town!"
"It's okay. I'm good now. I'm yours for the afternoon."
He mistook my meaning. "Um. I promised the boys I'd coach them."
I giggled. "No, silly! I meant I want to see what you do on the ball field. You can coach me too!"
He was being playful now. "I don't think you need any coaching." He gazed into my eyes with a wicked look.
He finished his lunch. We had a few minutes of personal time which we spent gazing into each others eyes and stealing kisses to the chagrin of his 'pack'.
As we walked back to the field, Ian was flanked by the big boys, Blake and Carlos. I couldn't get next to him so I used my wits and I jumped on Ian's back and he carried me piggy back to the field. I was so happy it didn't seem fair. I was almost afraid that a freak bolt of lightning might come and strike me dead. When we got to the field I saw that Holly was sitting on the bench waiting. I didn't remember seeing her at lunch. I guess that she had been here this morning and had waited for his return.
"Let me down." I patted Ian on the back. He dropped my legs and I slid to the ground. My dress slid up to my waist so I was glad that I put a pair of shorts under my dress when I returned from my trip to town.
I walked towards Holly. Ian grabbed my hand and pulled me back.
"It'll be okay." I reassured him. He let me go but he still looked tentative. I realized that Holly was probably hurting, and even though she felt that I had no right to Ian, I would still try to smooth her feathers, and attempt friendship.
"Hey, Holly." I sat next to her. She scooted away from me and looked off into the field. "I'm sorry I pushed you yesterday." She didn't answer. "Can we go for a walk?"
She snapped her head towards me. "For what?" she said bitterly.
"I just wanted to talk to you."
"You don't belong with him. You are a parasite." Ian had apparently been listening intently and his head snapped in our direction when she said this. Without looking at him, I held up one finger to keep him at bay. Her comment stung. I hadn't been called a parasite in a while.
"Regardless of what you think of me, I would like the chance to talk to you."
She didn't look at me. She looked at Ian. He looked angry. "You know you can be angry at me but it's not going to change the fact that this parasite is capable of feeling emotions just like humans, and Ian is in love with this parasite."
"But it's not your body." She judged.
"Then who's body is it?" I demanded. "Please, walk with me. I want to tell you a story."
Holly rose to her feet but she seemed hesitant to hear what I had to say. We walked away slowly. "Did you know that Ian has held me in his hands? The 'real' me, I mean."
Holly looked confused. "I would have thought that Ian and Nate would have told you this story but I guess when they brought you back here they were primarily concerned with your welfare, and getting you to feel at home. When I first came to this planet, this was not the body I was originally put into. Do you remember Melanie and Jared, the couple that was here with me on my last visit?"
"Yes, they are a perfect couple." Holly pointed out probably because they were both human.
"I was originally put into Mel's body but she wouldn't let go. She bombarded me with memories of Jared and Jamie until I loved them so much I couldn't bear to be without them. I followed her memories to the desert. We, and when I say we, I mean me and Melanie shared thoughts. We could talk to each other even though I was the one controlling her body. We couldn't find the caverns. We nearly died in the desert. We had had resigned ourselves to the fact that we gave it our best effort and at least with our death the Seeker would never find them. It was Jeb who found us. He saved us. Melanie wanted me to blurt out everything but I knew they would just think of everything as a lie, and surely kill me. I remained silent, and they kept me prisoner. During that time I was slapped by Maggie, who is Mel's Aunt. I was pummeled by Jared. Ian's brother Kyle tried to drown me and Ian…well Ian tried to strangle me to death. He would have succeeded too had it not been for Jeb and his shotgun. Besides Jeb, the only thing that kept me alive was my protective instincts towards Jared and Jamie. I put myself in danger several times to protect them from the anger of the others in the caverns. Ian saw this. It changed him. Instead of my murderer he became mygreatest protector not just physically but emotionally. He was the only one to separate me from Mel on an emotional level."
She seemed genuinely engrossed in my story. "How did you end up in this body then?"
"There was only one secret I kept from them all. It was the fact that I knew how to separate a soul from the human body without destroying the human or the soul. What I didn't know was that they had been capturing my kind and trying to figure out how to do it themselves. Unfortunately, they were murdering both body and soul in their attempts."
"Well, you must have told them then."
"I had made up my mind that I would show them how to do it only if they promised me that they would not hack up the souls they abstracted. We stole cryo tanks and placed the soul into it and returned the cryo tank to the shuttle station where it could be sent to another planet. I knew that giving them this information would mean giving Melanie back her body. Ian didn't know of my plan until the very last minute. He nearly lost his mind. I had made Doc promise to not send me to another planet but rather to let me die and bury me with my other human friends who had lost their lives during my stay in the caverns. Ian had fallen asleep when I snuck away to end my life. Ironically it was Jared who went to him and woke him. He arrived as Doc was removing my body from Melanie's. I'm told that Ian took my body in his own hands and pressed his lips to me as he wept. He put me into a cryo tank, and refused to let me go. Apparently he held me for days while Jared and Jamie searched for another human to put me in."
She was deep in thought before she asked. "You mean humans can be brought back?"
"Not all humans. Most just fade away and give the body to the soul without a fight. But some, usually those who are either older and were human for a long time or those who lived as rebels after the initial takeover are strong and they know the consequences. They fight for their survival even after being taken over. That's what Mel did."
"So how do you know that some don't come back?" Holly asked.
I sighed. "Did you know that Ian has a brother?"
"Yes, Kyle. He thought you slept with him."
Great. This she knows. "When Kyle found out I could remove a soul from a body he took off to find his love. The soul came willingly because her memories of Kyle were strong. She loved him. The soul was removed and placed in a cryo tank. They waited for days for the body to come to life but it never did. The body was comatose. They tried everything. Finally Kyle asked that they put Sunny back into Jodie's body because he felt sorry for Sunny because she begged him to let her stay. When they took the soul out of this body they waited to see if the original owner would emerge. She didn't so they put me in."
"So, Ian chose this body?"
"No, actually it was Jamie who chose this body. Ian wouldn't leave the cryo tank that contained the 'real' me."
"Wow, that's some story."
"Yes, it is."
"I'm still jealous." She was being brutally honest.
"I accept that." I paused. "Shall we head back?"
"I don't think I should."
"Ian would expect you to be there. He thinks of you as a friend."
"I just need time alone. Will you tell him that?" I thought about what had happened this morning with Nate and how I felt when Ian lied about his conversation with him. I was afraid Ian wouldn't believe me.
"I'll tell him but you should make sure he knows that I didn't tell you to stay away." She turned away as I added, "I'd like to be your friend too." She continued walking towards the cave.
I walked quietly back to the field. Ian was pitching to Sarah. Jamie, Megan, and little Ben were there as well. When he saw me, he called Carlos in to pitch. He jogged over to where I was. "What did you say to her?"
I thought if I started with a joke it would ease the tension. "I told her you were my property and to keep her hands off of you." He looked straight up at the sky and blew out a big breath. When he looked back at me, I was smiling. "Silly I didn't tell her that."
"Then what did you tell her?"
"I told her a love story. A love story between a human and a soul."
"You told her our story."
"Yes. I was surprised that you never told her."
"Honestly, I didn't talk much at all."
"Hmmm."
"Well, what did she say?"
"She said she needed time alone. I wasn't mean to her, I swear." I looked at him sincerely.
"I believe you." He took my face in his hands and he kissed me. "You're not a parasite."
I smiled. "So, Coach. What are we doing today?"
"You can grab a glove and go warm up with Megan."
Ian turned and called out to Megan. "MEGAN! WARM UP WANDERER!"
"OKAY COACH!"
Megan and I moved over to the side of the outfield and began playing catch. We started about ten feet apart. After every twenty throws we backed up two steps until we were pretty far apart and had a hard time reaching each other. Megan explained that if either of us missed the catch then both of us had to do five push ups. No wonder he's so strong. He's been doing mass quantities of pushups for the last six weeks!
It took us fifteen minutes and a lot of pushups to complete the warm up. Megan ran up to Ian who was giving little Ben batting tips. He was trying to hit it off of a tee ball stand. He gave Megan instructions and she ran back to me.
"Coach says he wants you to take third. Tell Carlos to go to the outfield behind you."
I did what Coach asked.
Little Ben was only five years old but already Coach had snapped him into shape. He did exactly as instructed and he was hitting well. He hit one in my direction. I waited for the ball to get to me and threw it to first base. It bounced into first. I didn't have the arm strength for that distance. Coach called out to me. "Wanderer, you have to charge that ball. Don't wait for it to come to you." I stuck my tongue out at him. "Young lady, you can take a lap for that."
I was shocked. "I am not taking a lap!"
"Then get off my field." He was adamant.
"You mean it, don't you?" I called to him.
He marched out to me and stopped about two feet in front of me. "I don't force anyone to come here. This is my field. If you want to be a better ball player, then you do it my way. Is that clear?"
I wanted to cry.
"Take a lap Wanderer."
"I threw my glove on the ground." I was incensed.
"Pick up the glove. Carry it with you." He was serious.
I walked to the bench. I put the glove down and I walked off the field. My eyes stung. The tears were welling to the surface. I didn't turn to see if Ian was coming after me. I saw that someone was coming towards me from the direction I was walking in. It was Nate. The tears were streaming down my face.
"Hey Beautiful!" He called to me.
I put my head down and tried to wipe the tears from my face.
"Hey? What's wrong?"
I tried to walk past him but he grabbed me around the waist to stop me. "Wanda, talk to me!"
"It's Ian! Why is he being so mean?" He was holding my hands and I was trying to pull away. I just wanted to flee.
"Oh." He seemed to understand.
I looked back, Ian and Jamie were arguing.
"Look, it's just his coaching style. It's nothing against you personally. It's about respect. Jamie is arguing with him now. If he can't control the field then he loses all respect and then no one will learn because they will only listen when they want to. Wanda, you have to run. If you love him, you will run. You'll destroy him if he can't coach these kids."
"Okay, okay!" I turned and I started to run back to the bench. Ian and Jamie stopped arguing and watched me. I grabbed my glove and started to jog around the perimeter of the field. When I was done I jogged back to Third base and wiped my tears with my forearm.
He stepped towards me and said aloud "Thank you." He continued towards me. "Does anyone else have any problems with me?"
They all yelled "NO!"
"All right, let's continue. Ben, go ahead." He ordered. Ian walked up to me and kissed me on the cheek. I didn't dare move.
He put his face to my ear. "I'll make it up to you. I love you."
By this time Nate was by the sidelines. "COACH! Can I talk to you for a second?"
Ben continued to hit the ball as the two of them talked. I wasn't sure if the conversation was about me or not. When they were done, Nate yelled out to me. "Hang in there, Beautiful!" Then he turned and walked away. Ian ignored the comment but I knew it bugged him.
At the end of practice he had us do some running drills and relay races. Then we all had to 'take a knee' while he spoke. "Tomorrow Nate is arranging for a game for all of us if it doesn't rain." The kids all cheered. "Everyone here will have the opportunity to play."
"Even me?" Ben asked.
Ian smiled at Ben. "Even you."
One more thing before we go. "I want to apologize to this beautiful lady here. I was very harsh with her today. Even though she was very angry with me, she respected me and I can't ask for anything more from her or from any of you." He looked at me. "Wanderer, I'm sorry. I'll take my lap now." He turned and tucked his glove under his arm and started to run the perimeter of the field.
The kids all left the field while I waited for Ian to complete his lap. When he got back, he packed up the bats and excess equipment and packed it away into a very large bag that I'm sure I couldn't even have lifted. He dropped the bag when he came back to where I was standing. "Do you forgive me?"
"Yes, but only because of what you said to the kids just now."
"Good." He paused. "If you don't want to come to practice anymore; you don't have to. I'll understand."
This made me mad. "Are you kidding me? I did not go through all that humiliation to quit!"
"Okay!" He was being defensive.
I marched on in silence. I was angry. Who was he tell me to quit? To even give me the option? Damn him!
I went straight to the house. Ian took the equipment to the root cellar. By the time he came into the house I was already in bed even though it was only dinner time. He knew I was protesting but he tried to ignore it.
"Babydoll, do you want to jump in the Jacuzzi with me?"
"No, I'm tired."
He came around to my side of the bed and got down on his knees so that he could be face to face with me. "I'm a jerk. Okay? When it comes to baseball, I get into a zone. I appreciate that you want to be a part of it. I love you." He got up and kissed my forehead.
Then he grabbed a pair of boxers and headed for the bathroom. I couldn't stay mad at him. I got out of the bed and followed him.
So that night I learned when it came to baseball he was in charge, but when it came to everything else, Ian did pretty much anything I asked.
Saturday, when I woke up it was raining and Ian was up and gone. I got up to go to the bathroom. Megan, Sarah, and Jamie were in the living room watching Saturday morning cartoons. I figured since it was raining, they would probably be camped out there all day.
"Do you know where Ian went?" I asked as I scratched my head. I needed a haircut. My curly mop was getting difficult to control.
"He's in the kitchen. He said if you came out to tell you to go back to bed."
Okay, I could do that but I needed to go to the bathroom first and I might as well brush my teeth while I was in there. I crawled back into the bed and stared out the window at the rain. This place was so different from the desert. The window was open a few inches and the sound of the rain was soothing. After a few minutes Ian came in carrying a tray with breakfast sausage and French toast. It smelled heavenly.
"Good morning, Babydoll. I made you breakfast. I would say that I did it just because I love you but the truth is I still feel bad about being so hard on you yesterday."
"Well, do me a favor and hang on to that guilt because I'm starting to like this." He sat next to me on the bed and watched me eat.
"Aren't you going to eat?" I asked.
"I already did. As a matter of fact I need to go clean up the kitchen. Maria gets angry when there are dirty dishes left in the sink." He kissed me and got up to leave. There was loud knock at the front door. Ian froze. "Crap, someone's here!" he whispered.
"Get the kids! Hurry!" I ordered.
Thankfully I was already dressed because seconds later, Ian, Jamie, and the girls came barreling into the bedroom. They all slumped to the floor between the bed and the wall. Megan whispered, "Wanda, don't forget to pull the shades!"
I bolted into the living room and pulled the shades that faced the back of the house. There was another knock. "Coming!" I took a deep breath, and opened the door slowly. It was Fluttering in the Wind.
"Hi!" I sounded surprised because I was. She was holding a bunt cake.
"I'm sorry to come by unannounced but I didn't have your phone number. I saw you going into the healer yesterday. I was worried you might not be well." What does she hang out on the street corner? She was expecting me to ask her in. This would be very risky. I could only hope the others would not make a sound.
"Come on in!" I said loudly. I led her to the couch and lowered the sound on the TV but I didn't mute the sound completely in order to create background noise just in case.
"It took you a while to answer the door. I hope I didn't disturb you." She placed the cake on the coffee table and sat daintily on the couch. I sat next to her and I noticed Jamie's video game shoved behind the throw pillow.
"Sorry I was in the bathroom running a bath. I guess I didn't hear you right away."
"Oh. I'm sorry, I won't keep you then. I brought this cake for you."
"Thank you. That's very sweet of you. It's too bad I've already eaten breakfast." I tried to sound gushy.
"Well then, you just save it for later." She was being polite.
"Are you sure? I could cut you a piece." Now I was being polite.
"Well, maybe just a small piece."
"Of, course! Would like some milk with that? I don't have any coffee. I need to do a little shopping." I had coffee but I didn't want to have to wait for a pot of coffee to brew.
"Milk will be just fine." She smiled.
"I'll be right back." I rushed into the kitchen and poured two glasses of milk and grabbed two plates, two forks, and a knife. I put them on a tray like the one Ian had served to me and rushed back out to the living room. I cut us each a piece of cake and sat back down.
She looked at me with serious eyes now. "You are okay, aren't you?" Damn she's nosy. I might as well stick with the truth.
"Oh, yeah. Just a woman thing, you know? More preparation for college."
"Oh…." Then she understood. "OH!" I'm sure it was my imagination but I could have sworn I heard Ian smirk.
"So, what is it that you do in town?" I asked because I was curious as to what she could possibly do that would allow her to stare out the window half of the day.
"My calling is hairdresser."
"Hmm...I've been thinking about getting a haircut. Maybe I'll stop in."
"I could do it for you now!" She gushed.
I needed to think fast. "No, no. You didn't come here to work. I'll come to you."
"Sure, when you come to town to buy the coffee." Her attention was pulled briefly towards the television. "I thought someone was here with you but I guess it was the cartoons."
I chuckled trying to cover my nervousness. "Back home, I have a little brother. He watches cartoons all the time. He kinda got me into it."
"I see." She didn't have anywhere else to go with the conversation and I wasn't trying to continue the conversation either. "Well, I guess I should be on my way. I'll expect to see you soon for that haircut."
"Absolutely. Thank you for the cake. It was delicious." I walked her to the door. "Oh! Let me give you my phone number for next time." I didn't want her to surprise us again. I wrote the number on a scrap of paper.
When I closed the door behind her I backed my body against it and I didn't move until I heard the car door shut. Then I sprinted to the bedroom and opened the door. There on the floor Ian sat with his arm wrapped around Sarah. Jamie had his arm wrapped around Megan and she had her head on his shoulder. They all looked up at me at the same time. I put my finger to my lips. I went back to the kitchen to look out the window. I watched her drive away. I felt like my pulse had stopped when she was here and only now did I feel the blood rush back into my extremities. I darted back to the bedroom. "It's okay. She's gone."
Everyone let out a huge sigh. Ian got up and put his hands on my face. "You were good. I am so proud of you." He kissed me quickly and put his forehead to mine. "You're amazing."
He turned his attention back to the others. "You kids can go back to watching TV but stay quiet in case she thinks of a reason to come back. We'll keep the shades down a bit longer."
"I'll go finish the dishes so I can keep an eye on the road." I couldn't chance Ian being seen in the kitchen if she did decide to come back.
"That was supposed to be my job," he protested.
"That's okay. Maybe the next time I stick my tongue out at the Coach, he'll kiss me instead of making me run a lap." I teased.
After a while, we put the shades up. No sooner had we finished, Nate came flying through the door.
"What the hell happened?" He was wide eyed.
Jamie spoke. "Wanda had a visitor. We hid in the bedroom. It's okay now."
"Since when does Wanda have friends?" he demanded.
Jamie continued to answer the questions. "It was that crazy lady from town; the one who stopped us at the traffic light."
Nate took a minute to calm down.
"Wanderer was amazing. She even got cake." Ian was bragging.
Nate took a deep breath. "Well, I came up here to let you know that everyone is at the cave and they've asked if Wanda could tell them some of her stories."
Again it was Jamie who spoke. "Oh, tell them the one about the bears! Rides the Beast!"
Ian put his arm around my neck. "Yes, Babydoll. Tell him about how you rode the beast." I elbowed him in the stomach. I could see by the expression on his face that Nate got the joke.
"Come on kids. I'll tell you my best story." I turned my back on Ian and hooked my arm into Jamie's and led him towards the door.
Everyone was at the caves. I told them my bear tale and then Jeb told some stories too. He told stories about me and Mel. It was basically the same story that I had told Holly but from Jeb's point of view. Ian lowered his head when Jeb talked about him trying to strangle me. I kissed his cheek and squeezed his hand. "Can't they leave that part out?" he muttered.
I whispered back to him. "No, because you might not have fallen in love with me otherwise."
It was nice to hear someone else tell my story and when they came to the part about my abstraction from Mel's body, Ian pulled my hair away from my neck and kissed the scar where my true self lay hidden beneath the surface. Some people were shocked but he didn't care. He loved me and that was all there was to it. Jamie came over with Megan in tow and hugged me tight. "I love you, too."
It felt great to have so much love from my family from the caverns. It made me realize that no matter how much better the accommodations were here on the mountain, the people still did everything they could to keep the separation between soul and human. I hoped that Burns was getting treated well at the caverns.
Dinner was phenomenal. The ladies spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen preparing pot roast. Ian hadn't eaten a meal like this since before the takeover. It brought tears to my eyes to see the appreciation he gave the ladies in the kitchen. He kissed them all and then chased them out so he could clean up the mess.
After dinner the living room was crammed with people who came to watch a movie due to the rain. Like in the caverns, there were many couples. I wasn't alone this time though, and I noticed that Jamie wasn't either. Megan was still with him just as she had been this morning. I felt so stupid that it took me all this time to pick up on the fact that they had a crush on each other. As I lay back in the strong arms of my own crush, it warmed my heart to see Jamie and Megan looking so adorable together. I couldn't wait to tell Mel and Jared.
Jeb was here too. He was sitting with Maria. They seemed to be getting along very well.
The night ended in the best way possible. I was in a romantic embrace with the man who in my eyes was the hottest guy on the planet.