"You're going to love it, Happy." I pulled on his hand as he eyed the plane terminal suspiciously. It was one thing for him to go on vacation with me in the states, but flying didn't seem to agree with him. I shook my head and moved Freya over to my other hip so I could lean into his side.
"I'll love putting my boots back on the ground. I hate flying." He growled as he handed the tickets over to the stewardess. She looked over our passports again before nodding and handing them back to Happy. It was almost strange to walk behind him without his kutte on. I smiled and raked my nails down his back. He turned around quickly and shook his head.
"Can't exactly join the mile high club, Kat. Don't make this long ass flight feel any longer." He rasped with a scowl. I giggled and nodded, promising to behave myself. He shook his head with a smirk as we continued to our seats. His phone started vibrating as soon as we sat down.
"Answer it before they tell us to turn our phones off, Hap." He nodded and answered it quickly. I listened to his side as I bounced Freya on my lap. His expression grew darker the longer he listened.
"What's wrong?" I asked as he put the phone back in his pocket. He shook his head and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer to him. I twisted my mouth and glanced up at him. I knew he wasn't in the mood to be questioned.
"Wake up, Hap." I kissed him on the cheek as the pilot made the final loop around Brisbane. He swallowed and rubbed his eyes before sitting the seat up and glancing out of the window. He smiled and kissed my hand as the plane started descending. I felt energy rolling up and down my spine at the idea of stepping back on Australian soil.
"You left this for California?" Happy asked as he maneuvered through Brisbane in the rental car. I stared out of the window and nodded even as the skyscrapers loomed over the waterways, just as beautifully as they always had.
"I didn't live in Brisbane, Happy. It is beautiful though." I said as I took it all back in. Happy nodded and followed the directional signs for the M1. I looked back at Freya who was playing with her father's ring as per usual.
"Take a nap, Kat. I know you didn't sleep on the plane. I'll wake you up when we get closer." Happy said as he rubbed his thumb over my knee. I nodded and reclined the seat a little. It would take a little over an hour to get to Sunshine Coast, so I figured I might as well take advantage of the extra sleep.
I woke up as the car slowed to a stop. Happy turned the engine off and held the keys in his hand for a minute before looking over at me. I shrugged and got out of the car while I stretched my arms above my head.
"This is where you grew up?" Happy asked as he pulled Freya out of her car seat. I looked over the manicured lawn and nodded before walking down the stone pathway. He followed in silence as I led the way to where I hoped there was still a hidden key. I smiled as I moved the hideous frog statue to find the little silver key.
"Welcome to my family's house." I said as I stepped inside the home that had received me from the hospital so many years ago. Happy's attention turned to the photos on the wall in the entryway. He smiled and nodded towards a picture of Kiara and I when we were barely teens.
"It was after a surf competition. She was mad that I beat her again." I said with a laugh. My eyes skimmed over a picture of my parents with Kiara and I from several years prior. I bit my lip and covered my mouth with my hand.
"Katerina, come here." He pulled me into him as I started sobbing and remembering the last time I'd spoken with my parents. It was a normal conversation that went over the weather and the latest job prospects in LA. It felt so far away.
I took a few minutes to gather myself together before giving Happy and Freya a tour of the house. As we were looking around my old room, that hadn't changed in two decades, Freya fell asleep on Happy's shoulder. I left them in my room and headed back to the car to get her pack and play.
"So, what do you think?" I asked as we sat down on the edge of the pool. I dipped my feet in and let them sway back and forth. Happy took a drink of his beer and nodded slowly.
"It's nice. I'm a little worried you won't come back home." He said with a wink. I laughed and shook my head. He would find out exactly why I left so many years ago tomorrow afternoon when we had lunch with my older brother and his family, along with a couple cousins and my aunt.
"How are we supposed to rent this place out during the season if I stay here?" I asked with a little laugh. He almost choked on his beer as he looked over at me.
"Girl, we never really had some big talk about what we owned and shit but are you saying you own this place?" He asked incredulously. I twisted my mouth and hitched a shoulder.
"Legally, we own it together now. It's part of that whole inheritance thing I told you about a while back. There's a housekeeper that makes sure it's kept up and stocked for renters. How did you think the kitchen was stocked, Hap?" I kicked some water out towards the middle of the pool as he shook his head and rolled the legs of his jeans up.
"Here I thought you were just some prison guard." He said with a laugh. I rolled my eyes and shook my head.
SOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOA SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA
I was still knocking sand off of the shorts Katerina insisted I wear to the beach when I heard a car pulling up the driveway. Katerina was giving Freya a bath before getting showered herself and we weren't expecting anyone that I knew of. My hand reflexively moved to the spot my Glocks normally were. I groaned and remembered the one I brought with me was with my jeans so it didn't get any sand in it.
"Who are you?" I asked as I walked over to the white Jeep that was parked next to the black Altima we had rented from the airport. The man raised his brow and looked me over before straightening his tie. He looked oddly familiar, but there was no chance in hell I'd ever met him before.
"Ethan Recker, my sister owns this home. Who are you?" His accent was thick and I had to pay attention to understand him. I relaxed a little at the sound of his name but the look he was giving me pissed me off.
"Happy Lowman, Katerina's husband. She know you were coming over here?" I asked as he nodded and made his way towards me. He shook his head and held up his keys.
"I have a key. You're really married to my sister?" He chuckled a little as I narrowed my eyes at him. We both had the damn paper and ink to prove it but this damn asshole seemed to find something funny about it.
"Kitty Kat!" The guy hollered as he walked into the house. I growled and counted backwards from three, knowing the exact timing of how long it would take Freya to start screaming. She wasn't asleep but she also didn't really care for strangers. Sure enough, she started screaming right after I muttered one.
"Ethan, you drongo! She hasn't cried all day!" Katerina snapped as she walked into the living room carrying our unhappy kid. I grabbed her and gave her my reaper ring. It never failed. She quieted down almost instantly.
"Come on, mija. You need to eat." I muttered as I carried her on my back. She giggled and slapped her hands on my head. The heavy ring hurt like a bitch when it hit my skull but I couldn't bring myself to take it away from her.
"You look like a damn skimpy, Katerina." I had no damn idea what that meant but I didn't like the way she reacted to it. He gave her a quick hug as she adjusted her bikini top. I put Freya down in the highchair and handed her a cup of little crunchy baby treat things she flipped her shit over. I sat down on a barstool close to her in case she decided to choke on one.
"I thought we weren't meeting until lunch, Ethan." She folded her arms across her chest and walked over to me. I let her back up between my knees before wrapping my arm around her waist and pulling her down to sit on my left leg. My right leg was still giving me hell after laying my bike over a couple weeks ago.
"Yes, that's right but I wanted to come make sure you had the address before hand." He said, extending a folded piece of paper to her. She and I both knew that was bullshit. Her phone was international and if he wanted that he could have called or texted.
"Well, now I have it. I'll see youse tonight unless you're not done being nosey yet." Katerina hissed as she passed me the piece of paper. Ethan smirked and nodded.
"I'll let myself out. I'd hate for ya to get off his lap." He gave us a quick wave before heading out of the house. As soon as the door closed, I let out a growl.
"No damn wonder you high tailed it to the US." I said as she stomped back down the hall. She paused and shook her head.
"You haven't even seen the worst of it yet. I don't even know why I agreed to see them." She muttered as she disappeared into the bathroom to take a shower. Freya started gabbing and making all kinds of noises. I nodded and lit a cigarette.
"I agree." I said as she blew air through her lips and made a sputtering noise. I walked out to the patio and watched her throw the little puffed crisps everywhere from a safe distance. Since she'd been born I'd cut back on smoking and never did it anywhere near her when I did have a cigarette or joint.
"We don't have to do this if you don't want to." Katerina said as I parked outside of the restaurant. I grunted as I got out of the car. She waited for a minute before getting out as well. I recognized her brother's Jeep parked a few spaces down as she got Freya out of the car seat.
"Over here!" A redhead called as we walked into the restaurant. She was sitting next to Ethan and across from a few other people. Katerina started muttering something as she walked over. I twisted my toothpick around with my tongue and waited for her to get Freya settled into the highchair. She looked up at me with her big blue eyes and I sighed as I passed my ring over to her.
"Talley, it's good to see you." Katerina said as she gave the redhead a hug. She seemed pretty genuine about the comment and the girl didn't look nearly as stuck up as her husband. Katerina went around the table introducing me to everyone before finally taking her seat. I sat down after she did and almost smirked at how proud Ma would be.
"I'm sorry we couldn't make it to tha wedding, Shelia. I'm sure you were a beauty." Talley said with a smile as she squeezed Katerina's hand. I surveyed the rest of the table and realized the women all seemed pretty relaxed and polite. The men were all staring at me like they wanted a fight.
"Didn't see you with a bushranger, Katerina. What happened to that other bloke?" The man with salt and pepper hair and a pipe in his mouth asked. I tensed at the reference to Declan and I got the point that a bushranger wasn't a compliment.
"I got tired of being in a fake relationship with a fake person. Happy isn't an outlaw." She snapped back. I wanted to point out and own the fact that I was actually an outlaw but I had a feeling it wouldn't help anything.
"Mind taking the pipe outside or putting it out, brother? Kid doesn't need that shit." I growled as the man kept puffing on his pipe. I despised the smell of pipe tobacco and if I wasn't going to smoke around mija than no one was.
"She's no where near it, son. You could watch your language around the ladies." My fists clenched and I wondered just how much Katerina liked that particular cousin. The whole for his body would have to be pretty deep but it was manageable.
"Marty, put the pipe out for the love of Joseph. Katerina, I'm glad to see you happy and with such a beautiful family." The eldest woman at the table said with a smile. Katerina looked a lot like her and smiled brightly at her compliment.
"Thanks Aunt Elizabeth." She replied as the waiter started passing out the orders. I gave her a nod and a half smile before starting to cut up my steak, pretending it was her damn cousin Marty's head.
SOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOASOA SOASOASOASOASOASOASOA
"I'm ready to get back to Charming." I told Happy as I rolled over to face him. We were both exhausted from surfing almost the whole day yesterday while Aunt Elizabeth came over to spend time with Freya. Happy had actually given her a real smile as she gave him a hug goodbye before leaving.
"Yeah? You don't think you'll miss the surf or the house?" He asked me, tracing his hand over my finally flat stomach. I laughed and shook my head.
"I love our house and we can surf in California, it's just a little further away." He chuckled and nodded in agreement. Here, we could walk down to the beach where it was at least a two hour drive back in Charming.
"Well, if we don't get up that flying cage is gonna leave without us." Happy said before shoving me off the edge of the bed. I caught myself just in time to save my butt from getting bruised.
"You're paying for that one when we get home, asshole." He smirked and hitched his shoulder as he stepped into a pair of jeans. I rolled my eyes and started getting dressed and finishing up the packing.
"I'll get mija, babe. Take your time." Happy said as he returned from taking the last load of luggage out to the car. I gave him a greatful nod before slowly making my way through the house. Every room had different memories attached to it. I smiled at Kiara's old room where we had pierced her ears with a sewing needle and ice cube.
"Let's go." I said to Happy as I got into the car. He nodded and pulled me over for a kiss before backing out of the driveway. I took a deep breath and said a silent goodbye to my home. I couldn't be sure we would ever come back but I was glad we got to come here at least once.