Chapter 4

"You know I have yet to introduce you to my folks," Kainen told Tabitha. "I mean we've been dating for quite awhile now and I've told you a lot about my parents and my other family and yet you've never met them so what do you say about a visit?"

"So where do they live?" Tabitha asked.

"Bar Harbor Maine," Kainen answered. "I've told my parents all about you and that means my aunt and uncle know too as the two couples discuss everything, especially when it involves their children.

Kainen's mouth twisted wryly at that last statement causing Tabitha to chuckle at his expression

"Don't like being gossiped about, especially by your family?" Tabitha inquired with an expression of innocence.

"Not really, but my mother and Aunt are like sisters, even though technically, the Rossis aren't related to the Hotchners," Kaine said.

"So why do you consider them family then if they aren't technically related?" Tabitha asked.

"It's a long story, but I'll give you the short version," Kainen said. "Basically, my mother, Shonda and my Aunt Jazz grew up together. They attended school together, as they were the same age and they became friends in kindergarten. They have managed to maintain that friendship all their lives, so when my mother and aunt met their husbands, well, that friendship just continued into today. The Rossi and Hotchner children are raised basically as siblings, though if anything romantic had popped up between any of them, then both sets of parents wouldn't object and in fact, would be delighted, but that has never happened. That's basically the whole story."

Kainen did't bother to tell Tabitha why the children from either family had never been romantically linked and why the kids from the two families were raised as siblings. Tabitha didn't know that his entire family was immortal and that every immortal had a mate, though she would soon learn some things that shocked her.

"I see why you consider the Rossis, your aunt and uncle now," said Tabitha, "and why you see their children as your siblings since you were raised to think of each other like that."

"Exactly," agreed Kainen. "Also, my parents are the godparents for all the Rossi children and the reverse is also true, which is another connection. There's a long running joke in my family that if my aunt had not named my mother as godmother to her firstborn, then mom would've been so offended that she would have done something drastic. Of course, my mom can be a bit dramatic on occasion and as it happens, she's a redhead and a lot of redheads are known to be dramatic and have short fuses. This should tell you how close the two families are and while my father and uncle didn't know each other in advance of meeting their future wives they're close now. My father and Uncle Dave didn't know each other since childhood like my mom and aunt, but they worked on their relationship, because they would never try to break up their wives friendship and the women would never let them, so it's just as well they never tried."

Tabitha chuckled at Kainen's light humor ladened tone, as he told the long running joke in his family.

"I truly don't believe that nothing can break the bond that my mother and aunt share with each other, as it goes all the way back to when they were young children, and if teenage hormones and drama didn't manage to break up their friendship, then I don't think anything will, unless of course, one of them tried to steal their man from the other, which might just be enough to do it, but since that'll never happen, it's not a problem," Kainen said.

"I would love to meet them," Tabitha decided and Kainen nodded.

"They really want to meet you, as I've told them all about you. We can go up to Bar Harbor sometime in the next few days whenever you get off from the art gallery. Of course they could come down here if you want, but you'll miss out on a terrific meal if they do that, and also a fantastic dessert from my aunt."

"We can't have that," Tabitha said lightly smiling.

"No, we can't," Kainen agreed, smiling kissing Tabitha on the top of the head affectionately.

What Kainen didn't say was they would be able to tell Tabitha everything in the safety of their own home, which wouldn't be true in some restaurant not even in a private room. Of course, if they came here, they could talk to Tabitha in his house that the two of them were now sitting in, but they'd miss out on the meal, which would be a tragedy. It wasn't even that he wasn't a more than decent cook, but he couldn't compare to his mother at least in his opinion, and definitely not to his aunt when it came to any type of dessert item. There was a reason for that, though.

"So what about going up there one day next week? That will give my mother time to decide what to make for us," Kainen said. "I can then introduce you to my parents and godparents and we could be back in the same day so you won't miss any work."

"Or we could stay for a couple of days. I've heard that Bar Harbor is very picturesque and I wouldn't mind seeing some of the sites before we come back here to San Francisco," Tabitha said.

"That's fine with me if that's what you want," Kainen agreed. "How long do you want to go up there for so I can make a hotel reservation for that length of time?"

"At least three days and next week is fine as that will give me a chance to tell my boss that I'm taking a mini vacation. Since I never take any days off unless I get sick or something he won't have any problem with it I just need to give him a little warning, so he can call in one of the other employees to run the gallery while I'm gone."

"That works out perfectly then," Kainen said smiling hugely. "I'm looking forward to introducing you to my family."

"I'm looking forward to meeting your family," Tabitha said sincerely, smiling, even as she kissed his cheek. "You were right you know.

"In what way?" Kainen inquired, surprised at his mate's words.

"About the fact that we are very compatible, and I wasn't sure if we were at first because after all, even if we are both artists, doesn't mean we had anything else in common. I know I was rather leery about getting involved with a customer, even if you had only been to the gallery that one time."

"I could see where you were coming from though," Kainen said. "Just because I had only been there that one time didn't mean I wouldn't have come back to buy something else until I became a regular customer, which was my intent, though I'm still shopping around for more pieces and not necessarily just paintings."

"It takes a lot of time and money to fill a house this size," Tabitha said.

"Exactly and I have a very eclectic taste when it comes to art," Kainen agreed.

"Well, at least your decorating is tasteful, as I've seen some truly awful art and also people that have terrible taste," Tabitha said.

"I have to," Kainen said grimacing, as he had seen some of the places that had been decorated in what no one with taste would consider art.

"I don't believe I could get involved with you if you had terrible taste in art, as I like my surroundings to be pleasant not something out of a horror film," Tabitha teased him making Kainen laugh.

"I'm glad I have good taste then. Of course, if I did have horrible taste, you could have always redecorated and I wouldn't have stopped you, but since I don't, that won't be necessary," Kainen said, as he put an arm around her affectionately cuddling her into his side. "I'll contact my parents and tell them we're coming in next weekend as that will give them just over a week to prepare for our visit and to tell your boss that you'll be gone from Friday until Tuesday?"

The last part of Kainen's sentence was a question asking if Tabitha agreed to the amount of time to be away.

"That sounds fine, as that'll give us a chance to see some of the sites and it's only a long weekend. I'm looking forward to it," Tabitha assure him quite comfortable against Kainen's shoulder.

"What about your parents? You've even once mentioned them, as I would have remembered if you had," Kainen asked suddenly. "Shouldn't I meet them?"

"Trust me, you don't want to meet them," Tabitha said. "Neither one of them approved of my chosen career path and basically cut me out of their life when I said I was pursing an art degree. Both of them believe that any type degree in art was a frivolous career and they wanted me to go into something more serious like becoming a doctor or a lawyer or even a teacher, but that an artist was the last career they'd choose for me and they made their opinion perfectly clear. We argued about it, but since I had a scholarship and they didn't have to pay anything, I just left the house I grew up in and never returned."

"A lot of parents have expectations for their children that never get fulfilled. Dreams are good, so long as a parent realizes that trying to force their child to go into career they find acceptable is not the way to go and it just causes heartache, anger, sadness and regret," Kainen told her. "A lot of parents never seem to realize that trying to force their child or children into careers that they want for them instead of letting them choose their own career they go down a very troublesome, painful path as the child often breaks off all contact with their parents and neither ever makes amends. Either that or they do try to make amends for the rift, but it's a long, painful road filled with many emotional pitfalls to do so. Pitfalls like hurt feelings and emotional scars that take a long time to heal, even if both parties make the effort."

"There are some people who have married into my family who come from that type of background. There's one guy in particular. I'm thinking of Spencer Reid, as he married my cousin Shawnda Rossi and his father was something of a douchebag, similar to yours in someways. There are multiple other examples I could give you if you cared to listen to me list them all, but I don't see the point, as I'm sure you understand what I mean."

"Yeah, I do," Tabitha agreed. "So this Spencer Reid, went his own way despite his father trying to force him into a certain career."

"Exactly, as he's a veterinarian and is an excellent one, but his father wanted him to become an attorney," Kainen agreed.

Kainen didn't bother to tell Tabitha that Spencer's father had died centuries ago, but the rest of what he had told his mate was absolutely true, as Spencer was actually practicing his profession at the moment and was not retired like he had been several times over the centuries.

"The two of them never did see eye to eye and when his mother died when he was 10, well, neglect would not be too strong a term for what remained of his childhood," Kainen explained. "Anyway, Spencer is a great guy, despite his father and my cousin Shawnda adores him and that's all that matters."

"That does sound similar to my own parents, though at least it was just his father and not his mother as well," Tabitha said.

"True, but he's part of my family now and has been for years where he is treated like the super intelligent guy he is and where his genius is not ignored or disdained like his father did when he was a kid," said Kainen. "From what I know of his mother, she was very supportive of her son's, intelligence, but then, she was intelligent herself and was a literature professor before she was murdered by a couple of college students along with a bunch of other people. It doesn't really matter anymore just that Spencer is treated with warmth and love within our family something he never got from his father."

"I'm really looking forward to meeting your parents as they sound very loving," Tabitha said, changing the subject, and Kainen accepted the change, knowing that his mate didn't want talk about her non-supportive parents when it came to her choice for a career.

The two sat in comfortable silence and Kainen knew he needed to put a call through to his parents to tell them that he and Tabitha were coming for a visit. They would immediately know the reason why they were, so there would be no need for an explanation, which was a good thing as anybody could eavesdrop on a link conversation, even on a supposedly private line, so it was better to be cautious and safe.

~~~Kainen and Tabitha~~~

Bar Harbor Maine

The Hotchner Residence

"Welcome Kain," Aaron greeted his son with a smile. "And you must be Tabitha."

"Tabbi will be fine," Tabitha said shaking Aaron's hand blushing a little as Aaron was a very handsome man just like his son with only a few small differences like brown eyes instead of green. It appeared she had a type.

"Come in," Aaron said, politely ignoring Tabitha's blushing. Once Kainen and Tabitha were inside the door shut automatically with no assistance from a human and Aaron led his son and his mate down the hall towards the living room, where there would be introductions before they had lunch.

"Everyone, you know Kain, but this is Tabitha his girlfriend," Aaron announced.

"It's nice to meet you young lady," Shonda said rising gracefully to her feet shaking Tabitha's hand. "We've all been hearing about you ever since Kain met you months ago."

Kainen, who hadn't seen his mother since his visit to tell his parents that he had met his mate, noticed that she had lost all the baby weight she had gained from being pregnant. He briefly wondered where his brother was, but he was sure that Lee was probably upstairs in the nursery along with his aunt and uncle's son who was a little older with whatever nanny, his parents had hired. Now was not the time to ask about his brother as his parents and aunt and uncle should be too old to procreate.

"True, we have," Jazz agreed with a smile and laughter sparkling in her gray eyes.

Kainen looked like his father Tabitha thought, but he had his mother's green eyes and her nose, and also her hands, but the rest was all Aaron. Kainen even had his father's height, though he was several inches taller.

"Tabbi this is my aunt and uncle, Dave and Jazz Rossi," Kainen introduced, "and also my godparents."

"It's nice to meet you, young lady," Dave spoke for the first time, and Tabitha noticed that all the people in the room had no particular accent. Actually, their accents were rather muddled, which told Tabitha that they had lived in multiple places for varying lengths of time.

It was what happened to people who traveled extensively and stayed in foreign countries long enough to pick up the accent. It was common for people like diplomats or ambassadors who had lived in many places for months at a time before being reassigned elsewhere.

"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Rossi, Mrs. Rossi," Tabitha said politely.

"Just Dave will do and my wife is Jazz," Dave said

"There's no reason to be so formal Miss Tabitha," Shonda told her with a smile. "I'm Shonda and my husband is Aaron."

"I'm Tabbi," Tabitha said.

"It's time for lunch folks," Shonda announced once the introductions were out of the way. "Let's not let it get cold. We can talk some more during and after lunch."

"This way," Jazz told Tabitha led the way to the dining room with everybody else following.

Tabitha noticed that Jazz seemed to know her way around her friend's house, but then, that made sense, as she was sure that the other woman was a regular visitor and seen every room. Tabitha was sure that Shonda knew Jazz's house as well as she knew her own.

If the two families were really such good friends, Tabitha was sure that they had invited each other over to their houses to share meal or to maybe play cards or watch a movie together or do what couples did together on multiple occasions over the years.

In other words, they socialized with each other.

They reached the dining room and the men pulled out the chairs for the ladies including Kainen and Tabitha sat down as did everyone else. The food was already on the table under warming domes, so there was no way it was going to get cold, no matter what Shonda had said when she had announced lunch.

"So have you met her parents?" was Shonda's first question to Kainen as soon as everyone had eaten a few bites of the food that had been prepared.

"No, I haven't, but from what Tabitha has told me about them I don't want to," Kainen said, shaking his head in denial.

"It's like that huh?" Aaron said, even as he ate his food. "It's not like it's unusual, as there are quite a few members of this family who have at least one lousy parent."

"It's not that they were abusive or neglectful or anything like that. They just had certain ideas of what I should do with my life and when I told them I wanted to be a painter, they didn't approve," Tabitha said. "I always knew they wanted me to go into a more serious career, then one in art, as them that's playtime not a career. They don't understand the passion that goes into creating something nor how hard it is to get noticed. They refused to support my choice and when I went ahead and signed up for college and took some courses in art, along with the usual English and math, they cut me off completely. I think they believed I would come crawling back home when things started to get hard, but I refused to."

"I'm afraid that's very common that parents won't support a child's choice for what they want to do with their life. Maybe it was the fact that they knew you didn't have much of a chance to make enough to support yourself, because as you said, it's hard to get noticed, as they are a lot of artists, all in the same medium also trying to get noticed," Jazz commented.

"I knew it was going to be hard, but I did take other courses. If I ever decide to change my career path, I just need to take a few more classes to get a degree in something else, but I'm actually not doing too badly, though I'm far from famous and don't make as much as those that are. I certainly make enough to support myself.

"It's a good thing I do, as my parents would never have agreed to loan me the money to pay the rent or to buy food. I gave up on either of them understanding my drive or my passion a long time ago and really it's up to them to make the first move towards a reconciliation. If reconciliation is even possible, they have to be willing and so do I," Tabitha said.

"That's too bad that so many parents don't understand their children," Dave spoke up. "As for us, we're close to all our kids and we make sure we forge at least decent relationships with them. We don't try to make them go into a career that would only make them miserable in the long run, as that's a good way to get them to never speak to us again.

"Something we would never abide," Jazz said.

"Very true. We would never want our kids to just freeze us out of their lives because we tried to force them to go down a particular career path," Shonda agreed with her best friend.

"Well, you're certainly more enlightened then my own parents are, not that it matters, as I've been on my own for years and I'm doing just fine," Tabitha smiled, even as she ate the fantastic food.

"Make sure you save room for dessert," Kainen told her smiling. "After all, you might as well have some of whatever my aunt has made from the source so to speak. Who do you think taught Rose how to bake like she does not to mention all her other children."

"True, most of my children got the talent to bake fantastic desserts from scratch," Jazz spoke up smiling.

"I certainly agree about the fantastic part, as I've been eating Rose's desserts ever since Kainen introduced me to her dessert place," Tabitha said smiling, as she finished her dinner. "They never even charge me a cent for whatever I get."

"I'm sure you find that strange," Jazz spoke up and Tabitha nodded.

"I'm not family so why they never charge me is a mystery to me. All Kain had to do was tell his cousin at the counter to put it on his tab that first time he took me to, Magical Treats, and they have never charged me, even when he's not with me when I stop by there."

"And they wouldn't have, because according to Kainen, you'll be family soon enough, so you get the family discount, which means you don't have to pay at any bakery owned by the Rossi family," Aaron told Tabitha understanding her confusion

"Yeah, Kain did mention where he wanted our relationship to go," Tabitha admitted. "At the time we hadn't been dating very long."

"But now we've been dating for nearly a year now and my goal is still the same," Kainen spoke up.

"You're not the first one that thinks it's an odd way to run a business, but it's not going to change after hundreds of years," Dave told Tabitha. "You might as well just accept it and move on."

"The business has been in operation that long?" Tabitha asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Not the one in San Francisco, but the original one in Moonlight Gorge, a small town in Louisiana has been," explained Kainen. "None of the bakeries have the same name so they can't technically be considered a chain, but that doesn't mean they aren't owned by the same family and the one in San Francisco has been around for a couple of centuries, but the one in Moonlight Gorge has been around since the late 20th century."

"That's a long time," Tabitha noted. "The Rossis must have some great business acumen to keep the original one going for so long."

"It's been passed down through the main branch of the family for a very long time, so I would say that statement is accurate," Shonda said.

"It's time for dessert everyone. I hope you left room Tabbi," Jazz told her not bothering to make a comment to anyone else, as the rest would have known to leave room for dessert

"I did," Tabitha promised smiling. "I'm looking forward to trying it, even though I've been eating the sweets from Magical Treats for nearly a year now. I only wish I had discovered the bakery sooner, as I would've been a regular patron years ago if I had."

"It's not exactly close to where her apartment is or where she works at Gemini Art Gallery, as it's a bit out of the way for her unless she has to take a detour, because of road construction or something, which is likely why she never knew about it until I introduced it to her," Kainen said. "You know people rarely go out of their neighborhood unless they're looking for something specific like at a grocery store."

"It's true that most people rarely go more than three or four miles from where they live, and in that prescribed the area, there're restaurants and shops and everything that person needs," Aaron said.

"I missed out on a great bakery though, until I met Kain," Tabitha said smiling. "I won't say there aren't several bakeries within a short distance of my apartment or the place I work, but none is good as Magical Treats. I'm not sure what it is that makes them so different other than they don't charge me a cent for whatever I get."

"Well, at least you've discovered it now thanks to Kain," Dave said and Tabitha nodded.

"That's true," Tabitha agreed. "I can't help, but wish I had discovered it years ago though, but since one can't change the past, I suppose, I should be grateful that I know about it now."

"We'll eat dessert in the same room, where the introductions took place," Shonda announced. "Everybody head there while Jazz, and I get everything for the dessert."

Everybody headed for the family room without a word of protest about helping, and Tabitha simply tagged along beside Kainen.

Kainen guided Tabitha to the loveseat once they arrived and then let her sit first before he joined her.

Tabitha really enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere, as it was so different from her parents home as to be in another universe.

~~~Kainen and Tabitha~~~