Chapter 5
Everybody chatted before the two ladies that were missing, arrived with plates, napkins, cutlery and a dish that had the dessert.
Shonda and Jazz worked in harmony to cut the dessert and put it onto plates before handing some to each person sitting in the room before they got any for themselves.
"Eat up," Kainen told Tabitha with a smile.
"Happy to," Tabitha said, as she took the fork and napkin she was offered and dug in happily after she had put her napkin underneath the plate. "This is really good so my compliments."
Jazz nodded smiling, sitting down in the spot that had been left for her beside Dave and said, "All compliments are appreciated."
"Now we have something serious to discuss with you Tabbi," Aaron told their guest once everyones dessert plates were scraped clean.
"What's going on?" Tabitha asked looking at everyone in the room, including her boyfriend and immediately noticed everyone's serious expressions.
"You see," Aaron began while everybody else just listened. Aaron then explained all about immortals and also magic and Tabitha listened in disbelief. She felt sure that Kainen's family was playing a joke on her, though she failed to understand why they would.
They had to know that she would break up with Kainen in a heartbeat if she believed for a moment that he was insane, but she had gotten to know him over the last nine months and knew that pulling a prank on her wasn't like her boyfriend at all, as he was a serious artist and while he had a lighthearted side, he wasn't one to pull practical jokes on people. Even if that was the case, Tabitha didn't see his family going along with his idea to prank her. Also, considering that she had never met Kainen's family before tonight, they would have no reason to pull any kind of practical joke on her, but still, immortality and magic being real, was nearly impossible to believe.
"It's impossible to believe," Tabitha finally spoke after several minutes of silence and Kainen waited anxiously for her response to his father's explanation.
"You're not the first person to say that, nor will you be the last," Kainen said before anyone else could respond. "My family has told other people before, but always when they discovered what is known as their mate."
"Mate?" Tabitha inquired her tone curious knowing that there was several definitions to the word.
"Soulmate," Dave spoke up having been watching silently. "Kain is very right, as we've given this explanation multiple times over the centuries and every time we did, our family just expanded and none of us mind that at all."
"Definitely not!" Kainen's parents and Jazz responded.
"In any case, I met Shonda in the late 20th century in Houston Texas," Aaron said, then went to how he had met her. Tabitha noticed that his voice was a monotone as if he had given this explanation multiple times before and she knew that he had indeed done so, probably every time someone new joined the family.
"For me, I actually met Dave three years before Shonda met Aaron in my own bakery in Moonlight Gorge," Jazz added once Aaron was done speaking. "To be truthful, I never expected to meet my mate, as there are billions of people in the world and find the one person meant for you doesn't happen as often as authors of such fiction would have you believe. You see, I never intended to travel, not after college anyway and since I come from a small town, the chance of meeting your mate were slim to none unless you were lucky. I did travel for several years after college, but once I got back to Moonlight Gorge, I never intended to leave again, because despite certain annoyances it was home, where my family was.
"I know I was one of the lucky ones and believe me, I am beyond grateful, that the two of us met that day. To find out that he was immortal, when I wasn't aware that such a thing existed at the time was a bit of a shock, but considering I come from a magical family and can perform it myself, I accepted it quickly. I was well aware that the supernatural did and does exist, even if we don't reveal ourselves to ordinary people at least for the most part."
"With obvious exceptions," Kainen put in taking Tabitha's hand in his own and giving it a gentle squeeze.
"With obvious exceptions," Shonda agreed smiling at her son and then Tabitha.
"And what would you say if I asked you to prove you're not just pulling practical joke on me?" Tabitha asked. "Though I can't come up with a logical reason why you would do such a thing considering I just met you a couple of hours ago."
"We'll be happy to," Kainen said calmly something Tabitha definitely noticed.
None of the people in the room looked panicked that they would have to prove what they were telling her was the truth, which clued Tabitha in that they likely weren't lying to her. She supposed they could've drugged the food, but since everyone had eaten the same thing off the same platters that was unlikely.
"Here," Kainen said, as he made sure his mate was looking at him before he produced a little globe of light without any kind of electronic device. "This is a witch light produced by magic. It's basically a flashlight, except no technology can produce one. If you don't have magic, then you won't be able to produce this little globe."
"You could probably produce something similar if you experimented, but not this exact same thing," Jazz spoke up.
"I've never seen anything like it," Tabitha said poking at the little ball of light that was hanging over her boyfriend shoulder. "That doesn't necessarily mean anything though, as science was never my strong suit, so I have no idea if some type of science could produce something like this."
"What about this then?" Shonda suggested, as she took the knife that Jazz had silently passed her without Tabitha noticing and slashed the back of her hand deeply. Tabitha was startled at Shonda's actions and was about to protest when she saw how rapidly the wound was healing.
Tabitha took notice that no one looked worried in the least for the wound that Shonda had created in the back of her hand and in fact looked unsurprised when it healed within 10 or 15 seconds.
Aaron silently handed his mate several paper napkins and Shonda wiped off her hand calmly.
"And you chewed me out that time I did it that way," Jazz told her friend, though she had a small smile on her lips. "What did you say at the time about me doing that with no warning whatsoever to someone who wasn't expecting it? I mean, the hypocrisy is thick enough to cut with a knife."
"And you don't hold a grudge at all do you?" Shonda asked with a raised eyebrow not looking at all put out Tabitha noticed. In fact, Shonda was smiling, just a little showing that she wasn't really upset at all, despite her words and tone of voice.
"Who said I was holding a grudge? I was just pointing out the hypocrisy that's all," Jazz said innocently before she broke into laughter Shonda joining her a moment later.
Shonda held up her hand for Tabitha to examine once she had stopped laughing her butt off, and Tabitha had to admit that there was absolutely no sign of a wound at all. All there was, was the sign of drying blood.
"That was pretty amazing," Tabitha said finally. "I would think you would never tell anyone this secret though, as I'm not naïve enough to believe that thousands of people wouldn't want what you have for themselves."
"While that's very true there is a reason we told you," Aaron spoke up. "I mentioned mates briefly and explained how we have told people in the past. That is what you are to my son."
"Yes, you did, but I never connected the dots," Tabitha admitted.
"You've had a lot to absorb so I'm not surprised it hadn't occurred to you yet that my family has told you our two biggest secrets for a reason," Kainen said. "When I walked into Gemini Art Gallery that day, I was shocked when I looked at you after you offered to help me find anything I needed. That connection that all mates share instantly hit me like a brick wall. I felt as if I'd literally run into one and I'm surprised I could string a coherent sentence together."
"Leaving Kain speechless is quite the feat," Shonda told Tabitha winking at her son. "Kain is never speechless."
"That's true," Aaron said smiling at his son. "Kain has always been very verbose. When he was a young child just learning how to speak properly, he could do so at a rapid pace. Considering all the children that Shonda and me have had he's not the only one that has that quality."
"All right, all right, enough about me," Kainen put in having turned bright red while his parents had been talking about him.
"Kain never did take teasing well," Jazz said smiling sympathetically at her pseudo nephew.
Tabitha watched the family as they gently teased Kainen and thought that this was what a family should be like one who was fun-loving, warm and gracious. They weren't teasing Kainen out of any sense of maliciousness, but out of love and he knew that, even if he still didn't like it. Some people just didn't take teasing well, no matter how it was meant, and Kainen was apparently one of those people. It didn't matter how old you were, and apparently Kainen was centuries old, that didn't mean that some people liked being teased, even if it was kindly meant.
"We all have our crosses the bear," Kainen said hoping to get off the subject.
"I think we have embarrassed Kain enough," Shonda told everyone giving Kainen a break. "If we embarrass him anymore, immortal or not, he might stay red in the face permanently from embarrassment."
"I don't believe that's possible," Dave said.
Dave had not taken part in the teasing like everyone else had mostly his parents. He had simply finished his dessert without comment and watched as Aaron and Shonda had embarrassed their son with Jazz adding her own comment once or twice.
The family dynamics were fascinating to watch, Tabitha thought. If they had been together as a family for hundreds of years, though, Tabitha could understand that they were all very close. From what Kainen had told her, he and the Rossi children had been raised as siblings. Being raised that way, made sense after what she had been told tonight, as she was sure that Kainen's parents or godparents didn't want any of their children to get romantically involved with anyone except their mate, and have hurt feelings on both sides.
This actually made sense to her, but if they dated outside the family that they saw on a regular basis, then it wouldn't matter about the other person's hurt feelings, because that immortal would never have to see that person again if they were completely mortal like her.
She could see neither the elder Hotchners or the Rossis wanting to deal with hurt feelings of their children when their relationship came to a halt. Raising them as brothers and sisters prevented them from ever getting involved with each other romantically.
It also prevented any resentment or hate from forming when someone that had been involved in a previous relationship found their mate. Yes, Tabitha could see a lot of advantages to how the Rossi and Hotchner children had been raised
"I wasn't being serious, Dave," Shonda shot back making Tabitha come out of her thoughts. "I simply meant that we need to quit embarrassing him or he might never come to visit again afraid he'll get the same treatment. Aaron and I don't see him often enough as it is, so we don't want to make it to where he never visits, because we tease him when he does."
"None of the children visit after enough for any of us," Jazz spoke up. "They have their own lives, and while we can go up to visit them, we rarely do so."
"You have to learn when to cut the apron strings, especially when you're immortal," Dave told Jazz who nodded in agreement.
"I know it. It doesn't mean I don't wish that they didn't visit more often than they do."
"They would only resent and hate us if we tried to baby them and swaddle them in cotton wool," Aaron said sympathetically.
"Besides, no house is big enough to house all the children we've had over the centuries so that is another factor. Even if we stopped having children right this minute we still wouldn't have the room to house them all, not even if we bought a mansion. I mean, think about it, between our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren there are a great many, certainly more than even a mansion could hold, even if we bought two mansions one for each family," Shonda said with a touch of practicality.
"So exactly how many children have you had?" Tabitha spoke up intrigued and fascinated by the conversation.
"Well, between Shonda and me, several hundred at least, though I couldn't give you an exact number right off the top of my head," Jazz said. "The thing with immortals is you never get too old to procreate so we usually have 4 to 5 every generation, usually four though.
"Yep, mom just gave birth to another son, just a few months ago, so I now have a baby brother," Kainen grinned. "Also, Aunt Jazz gave birth and it was also a boy, though he's about a month older."
"I hadn't thought that far, but I can see how Kain ended up with his name, as you would have had to be creative with as many children as you've had," Tabitha observed a lot more calmly than she felt.
"Very astute observation considering I know what we've told you is a lot to absorb," Shonda noted, as she looked at Tabitha. "I think that's enough for tonight, as Tabbi needs a chance to sleep on it and absorb what she's learned tonight, as we all know very well that her view of the world has just taken a dramatic shift."
"I won't deny it has and yes, I do need time to sort everything out in my head," Tabitha agreed sounding more calm than she actually felt.
"We can give you more information once you have or Kain can," Dave said quietly giving his godson a look and Kainen nodded, but said nothing.
Kainen knew that his uncle's look was to tell him that he needed to give his mate time to absorb what she'd been told before she learned about his ability to shape any type of metal into anything he wanted it to be. His ability was one reason he was becoming quite famous in his field, as nobody knew how he got the seams that showed where he'd put the pieces together so small.
Some of his statues were so big there was no way they could be made out of just one piece of metal, especially if it was something like silver or gold, as getting a large chunk would be impossible or at least really super expensive.
Nobody except his family knew that he melded the pieces together using magic, not some kind of tool. No smelting tool on the market even today left such a fine seam.
"We should be going, but we'll be here for several days seeing some of the sites so we can visit again before we head back to San Francisco," Kainen suggested.
"I've never been here to Bar Harbor, so we thought we might as well stay for a few days, as it's supposed to be a tourist destination and be very beautiful," Tabitha put in.
"We'll have to share another meal then, since you're staying for a day or two," Shonda said. "We could do that tomorrow or the next day before you head home as I'm sure Tabitha needs to get back to the gallery."
"Oh, I haven't taken more than a day or two off ever since I started. I've definitely never taken a vacation as I usually only take off if I'm to sick to go in," Tabitha said. "My boss didn't mind if I took a few days so long as I gave him some warning so I did."
"Well, that's something anyway," Aaron commented. "We'll see you for lunch or dinner in the next couple of days Kain."
"Of course, dad," Kainen told his father, as the two shared a manly hug while Kainen gave his mother a kiss on the cheek, and also a hug. Shonda also hugged Tabitha and kissed her cheek as well much to her surprise, though she was still pleased at the affection as she missed it ever since she and her parents had argued about what college courses she was taking. "Look after my son for me. Come meet your new brother Kain when you come back for that meal. In fact, I'm sure Tabitha would like to meet him when we come back."
"I would love to," Tabitha said, smiling widely. "I was an only child, which is just as well considering, but still, I would've loved a sibling."
"It's not like that's unusual though," Dave said. "All of us except for Jazz were only children, but Jazz had two brothers and sister."
"True, and I miss them sometimes, particularly Brian my oldest brother," Jazz said looking nostalgic. "Still, he's been dead for a very long time so I try not to think about any of them too often. It just makes me kind of melancholy."
"I know you miss your family, but they're always there in your heart," Dave told her kissing her on the cheek affectionately. "I'm grateful every day that you didn't tell me to get lost when you found out I wasn't exactly normal."
"I could never have done that as I loved you too much, and if it wasn't for you, I would either be dead or married to Jorge," Jazz shuddered, as she mentioned the man that had been obsessed with her for years back when she and Dave had met.
Tabitha wondered about Jazz's last comment about Jorge, but she would ask Kainen later as it was obvious the memories weren't pleasant for his godmother.
Kainen gave his aunt and uncle a hug before he took Tabitha's hand and led her towards the front door saying they'd see everyone later.
~~~Kainen and Tabitha~~~