Cian and JJ had gotten closer in the year since they had met and JJ had settled into life in Moonlight Gorge.
Cian figured it was about time for JJ to meet his family his Uncle Aaron, Aunt Shonda, Uncle Dave and Aunt Jazz.
"I think it's time you meet my family," Cian told JJ.
"I've met a lot of your family already," JJ said. "They've been very warm and welcoming when I was introduced to them."
"That's true, but I'm talking about my Aunt Shonda and Uncle Aaron and my Uncle Dave and Aunt Jazz," Cian explained. "They'll be here in Moonlight Gorge tomorrow in order to meet you."
Arrangements had been made and Dave, Jazz, Aaron and Shonda were coming back to the town they had lived in for a number of years, the town where Jazz and Shonda had been born and grown-up.
Cian had told his family that JJ would insist on paying for her own ticket to come and see them in Philadelphia and as she'd only been working about a year it would again put a strain on her finances. While she was doing very good, she still didn't have a lot of extra money for things like even a third class shuttle ticket. Such a ticket would've strained her finances yet again so it had been decided for the family to come here to meet Cian's mate, in order not to do that.
It had been a very long time since any of them had returned to their beginnings and they were looking forward to seeing how much the town had changed in the centuries they'd been gone.
It had been so long that nobody would recognize them when they arrived in town as all the original citizens that had known them were long dead.
"They're coming just to see me?" JJ asked biting her lip nervously, obviously panicking.
"They're coming to see their family to but yes, they're coming to meet you specifically," Cian said. "Don't panic, they'll love you just as much as I do, just in a different way of course."
"It's just like they're myths," JJ tried to explain why she was suddenly so nervous. "You just talk about them so affectionately that I can't help but be worried that they'll think I'm not good enough for you. My family is nothing like yours. I have one sister Rosalie and that's it. You talk about all your cousins all the time and it's clear you love them. I mean, technically, you're not even related to them, and yet you were adopted by a couple that seem perfect, at least on the surface."
"That won't matter JJ," Cian promised. "I know you have this image in your head, but my family is far from perfect. They all have their faults I promise. Just because they're genuinely kind, compassionate and loving, doesn't make them perfect."
Cian didn't laugh, because he knew JJ was really worried about meeting what were basically his parents, even if he called then his aunt and uncle.
"They'll welcome you into the family I promise you. I know you were worried initially that I would find that I didn't like you as much as I thought, which is why you urged me not to rearrange my life and move to Milwaukee for you. That never happened and no matter what you thought I knew it never would. I was sure from the beginning that you were the one I wanted to settle down with, have a family with," Cian told JJ calmly, his tone soothing.
"There's no need to worry about my family not liking you, because so long as I love you they'll love you too. I might not be a Hotchner by blood, but I am by affection and love and that should be all that matters to anyone. I am their son no matter whether I share their DNA or not."
"That is so sweet and endearing," JJ told Cian touched at what the man she had fallen in love with said. "I'm glad I decided to stay in Moonlight Gorge, as I have a job I'm enjoying very much and I no longer have to put up with a boss that was trying to force me to sleep with him if I wanted to advance and a coworker I detested. I never expected to meet someone like you in a million years. From the first moment you found my car stopped on the side of the road you've been there for me and it is something I truly appreciate."
"It was nothing," Cian said modestly. "I just felt like I had been hit over the head with a hammer when I saw you for the first time, metaphorically anyway. I was shocked at how strongly I was attracted to you, as I've never been so attracted to any other woman in all my life."
What Cian didn't say was that there was a reason he had feel like he'd been hit over the head with a hammer and that was because he was immortal and JJ was his mate. Now, Cian understood why the other people who were mated in his family felt the way they did about their mates, because he was now feeling that way himself.
Hopefully, JJ would believe what she was told when his family arrived from Philadelphia and they revealed their secret to her, but since she'd been eating a steady stream of dessert type items from Jazz's Stupendous Delights she probably would, as the bakery magic was baked into every treat that the current owner handled personally, which was most of the regular stock.
Cian hoped JJ accepted his family's explanation anyway, as his heart was now fully involved and had been from the beginning.
"I have to admit I was really attracted to you to," JJ said. "I know I tried to convince you not to follow me to Milwaukee, but I was actually relieved when you told me you were going to do so anyway no matter what I said about not becoming attached."
"I know you just were trying for a clean break. Give me a way to back out if I wanted to," Cian said. "I'm glad I could convince you to stay in Moonlight Gorge."
"I'm glad I let you convince me," JJ said smiling kissing Cian's cheek. "I'm glad you didn't listen to my voice of doubt of our relationship working now simply because we met under unusual circumstances."
"I am a man that follows my instincts, JJ and I knew we had something special from the first moment we met," Cian told her smiling.
"I'm looking forward to meeting the people you talk about so affectionately, even if I am nervous," JJ said.
"Good, because they are definitely looking forward to meeting you!" Cian told her.
~~~Cian and JJ~~~
"We are very pleased to meet you Jennifer," Shonda greeted Cian's mate pleasantly as soon as the Rossis and the Hotchners had arrived in Moonlight Gorge.
"It's nice to meet you too," JJ said. "You can call me JJ though, as I hardly ever use my given name."
"JJ it is," Aaron agreed smiling.
"JJ this is my aunt and uncle, Dave and Jazz Rossi," Cian introduced after Aaron and Shonda, who were essentially his parents, had shaken JJ's hand.
Cian had greeted his family enthusiastically when they had arrived just an hour ago.
"It's very nice to meet you young lady. We've heard a lot of about you from Cian," Dave said, as he shook JJ's hand cordially.
JJ returned the greeting and once everybody had been introduced Cian said, "Why doesn't everyone take a seat, since Rick was nice enough to loan us his house for a few hours, so we could talk in privacy."
Cian led the way, even though this was the house that his Aunt Shonda had grown up in and where Aaron and her had lived after the father Mike had passed. JJ didn't know that though, so Cian kept up the pretense for at least a few more minutes.
Everybody looked around as they walked thinking that not much had changed over the centuries though there were some different decorations on the walls, wallpaper or paint in the various rooms they went through. Some of the furniture was also different, but it was essentially the same house that the Hotchner family had turned over to their descendants once they had moved elsewhere. It was the same house that Shonda grown up in, so they had simply moved in from Shonda's apartment once Mike Walters was buried.
There were many fond memories in this house and Shonda tried not to let nostalgia overcome her, at least right now.
"I've already prepared some snacks for everyone and yes, they came from Jazz's Stupendous Delights," Cian said smiling at the irony that the original owner was now sitting on a couch in the den.
"That just means they'll be good then," Shonda said smiling
"Certainly better than store-bought anyway," Dave said, as he took one of the offered snacks and bit into it.
"I would never think of purchasing store bought when there's an excellent bakery right here in town," Cian said winkling his nose at the thought. "You would think I didn't love you very much if I served you store-bought cookies or cakes and I do. Besides, why pay for something store bought when I can get anything I want from the bakery for free? Snacks not even half as good, as what I get at Jazz's Stupendous Delights."
Cian couldn't help thinking it was rather ironic that he was serving Jazz what would technically her own products, even if it had been one of her descendants that had made them, one that had inherited his aunt's bakery magic.
"I've become a regular customer there ever since Cian took me there the first time," JJ said, as she took a cookie of her own. The cookies were nice and buttery with a touch of cinnamon and spice, which meant they were perfect. "I've tried multiple things ever since I became a patron there and everything I've tried has been spectacular."
"I'm glad you like the bakery my family started so much," Jazz told JJ smiling.
"Oh, I do," JJ said enthusiastically smiling back. "They're always very busy, which ought to tell you how popular they are. Your family has quite the talent when it comes to desserts that has been passed down through the generations."
"That they've managed to stay in business for so many centuries is also a miracle," Dave commented, even as he ate another one of the cookies. "I mean with ever rising taxes and also inflation."
What Dave didn't say was that with the bakery magic baked into whatever treats were in the front cases meant that all the bakeries owned by his family were never going to go out of business, even if prices kept rising.
It was definitely good to have such an advantage, as it kept people coming back for more instead of going elsewhere for their sweets. Grocery store sweets would be cheaper at least in some cases, but they wouldn't be as good.
"It just goes to show you that my family is very good at business and also baking," Jazz said.
"It definitely does," JJ said.
"Now JJ, we have something serious to discuss with you," Aaron told the pretty woman that was sitting beside his adoptive son.
"Why do you all suddenly look so serious," JJ asked looking around the room at everyone.
The atmosphere had gone from lighthearted to deadly serious in the space of a few heartbeats.
"You see, we're not like most families," Aaron continued and went into his usual explanation about immortality, magic and mates.
JJ looked around the room to see if anybody was joking, but they all looked calm and serious, though there was worry in Shonda's brilliant green eyes. Worry for her son, JJ realized. This mate bond Aaron had briefly touched on during his explanation that Cian supposedly had with her was apparently pretty earthshattering.
"It is hard to believe," JJ said finally seeming lost in thought.
"I know it is," Cian said. "When I told you I was adopted into the Hotchner family I didn't lie to you about that, I just left out some details. When they took me in and told me exactly what they were several months later and then proved it to me I swore I would never say a word. Well, not unless I met my mate of course, as that's an entirely different situation. I wasn't about to mess up my chance of having a real family. A roof over my head that didn't leak and food in my stomach to where I was actually full.
"I might've been only six, but I was also intelligent as I told you and I knew I wouldn't last long living on the street, as young as I was. I would either died by being knifed somewhere vital to where I bled out or in some other horrible way or I would've died of starvation if I'd managed to avoid that fate.
"There are multiple horrible ways to die on the street or worse I could've been taken by some kind of procurer and sold into slavery or sold to old women to be raped multiple times before I eventually took my own life probably after years of abuse. It's also possible I could've become some kind of criminal in order to survive."
Everyone in the room including JJ winced at the scenarios that Cian was painting, although they were all to realistic if Cian's life hadn't been changed.
"I'd only been on the street for a few months when I wandered into Aunt Shonda's antique shop and I hadn't even seen my first winter without any shelter other then an abandoned building that probably would have had other occupants like rats and possibly people. My mother and I might not have been able to run to heat as high as we would've liked in the winter, but at least we had it, even if it didn't work half the time. We lived in a poorly maintained building after all and the landlord wasn't exactly keen on keeping things up-to-date to where they worked like they should, since we basically lived in a slum neighborhood."
JJ was not naïve about the dangers in the world and could see that happening to the man she had to come to love over the course of a year.
"I'm certainly glad you didn't die or become a criminal," JJ said her tone fervent.
"We are to," Shonda said and everybody else nodded in complete agreement.
"We knew we were taking a risk taking him in, as child services could've been looking for him and we could've been in trouble if they had discovered that he was staying with us," Aaron said.
"The risk was minor," Dave said.
"Which is why Shonda and I agreed that we would take him in and raise him until he was old enough for college," Aaron said. "Shonda never would have put her family in danger if it had been a major risk, but luckily, no one was looking for him not even child services."
"Our secrets and the family comes first, always," Shonda added. "I've never forgotten that and I never will so if we couldn't have helped Cian then I would've been sad, but would've understood that our secrets were too important to risk being discovered."
"As I have already explained, my mother and I lived in what was basically one of the slum neighborhoods of Detroit," Cian told JJ. "There were no pictures and though there would've been a few toys in the apartment where my mother and I lived there was no way to identify me. My mom couldn't afford a camera, as we were barely making ends meet as it was and the camera was a luxury we couldn't afford, not even a cheap one. She wasn't one to waste money on what she considered nonessentials. Also, I actually didn't have many toys because my mother couldn't afford them. What toys I had, I had mostly found in dumpsters and trashcans, which wasn't often and if I did, they were mostly broken.
"I remember me and mom snuggling under as many blankets as we had in the winter in such a way that the holes in them didn't intersect with each other.
"I was actually born under the name of Ciaran Blakemore, but Uncle Aaron and Aunt Shonda changed it, as I didn't know my Social Security number. I didn't think to collect any important documents before I left the run down apartment me and my mother were living in before somebody could discover that my mother was dead. I had heard bad things about childcare services and so I didn't want to end up in a foster home."
"Aaron and I might've wanted for Cian to keep his original first name at least, but it was so unusual at the time he was born just like it is now that it wasn't a good idea. There was just less chance of someone identifying him if he totally changed his name," Shonda added.
"I'm the one that suggested Cian, as the first three letters are the same, even if it doesn't mean the same thing at least it's somewhat similar to his old name," Dave said,
"We also changed his middle name because he hated his. It was Brantley by the way," Aaron told JJ smiling at his son.
"This is all hard to believe," JJ said.
"I know it is, but we can prove it to you," Cian said, as he flicked his wrist and JJ watched as a blue globe of light seemed to form out of nothingness.
"What?!" JJ exclaimed startled.
"This is what's called a witch light," Jazz spoke up.
"It's basically a flashlight and it takes magic to power it," Shonda continued the explanation smoothly. Shonda and Jazz flicked their wrists at the same time and so there were three witch lights in the air above their makers shoulders.
"A witch light is the simplest magic there is," Cian continued, even as he guided his light into JJ's hands, so she could see that it wasn't an illusion. "It doesn't take much power from the caster to produce one so no other preparations need to be made in order to make it appear.
"It turns out that I also had magic, which is why I was drawn to Shonda who was in her antique store in Detroit over a block away in an abandoned building. Something drew me to her and I wasn't sure what it was for many years," Cian explained.
"All of us believe that fate guided him to us, so he could be trained to use his ability responsibly," Shonda told JJ. "Magic users went underground a very long time ago, way back in the dark ages as magic used to be considered evil no matter how it was used."
"So your mother had magic then?" JJ asked Cian.
"I think it was more than likely my father who died when I was really young," Cian said. "I believe our circumstances would've been better if it had been mom. I have no way of knowing for sure, since I barely remember my dad, but that's what I believe."
"There's really no way of knowing at this late date," Jazz said, "and it doesn't really matter anyway, as Cian is one of us now and everybody in this room loves him."
"But I don't understand how any of you became immortal, which you still have to prove to me by the way," JJ said.
"We'll be happy to do so," Aaron said, as Shonda rose and went into the kitchen to get a knife to do the demonstration since there was no dessert to cut.
"Who wants to demonstrate," Shonda asked the others and Aaron volunteered.
"What exactly are you planning on doing?" JJ asked, as she saw the sharp knife that Shonda handed to her husband.
"The way we always demonstrate our immortality is one of us cuts ourselves on the hand and it will of course heal immediately," Cian told JJ his tone calm and reassuring. "When they told me about immortality they gave me the same demonstration, though that was many years ago. Still, you never forget something like that. The demonstration I was given burned itself into my brain."
JJ watched avidly as Aaron took the knife his wife handed him and cut himself on the back of the hand deep enough that normally, it would need several treatments with the healing wand.
JJ was astonished when the deep cut on Aaron's hand begin to heal right before her eyes and she didn't take her eyes off the cut until the long, deep wound had disappeared leaving behind absolutely no sign that it had been there, except for the rapidly drying blood.
"That was really amazing," JJ decided, as she saw Aaron flex his hand without any sign of farther pain and JJ had seen him wince when he had cut his flesh.
"I'm glad you think so," Cian said smiling and JJ's positive response.
"So if I'm understanding from your uncle's explanation is that we're soulmates," JJ said.
"Basically yes," Cian agreed. "When I saw your car stopped by the side of the road, because it had broken down, I stopped out of politeness and because it was the right thing to do. Of course, at first, I didn't see anything except your hair and your arm through the car window. The fact that it was also getting dark didn't help me see more clearly. Once you got out of the car and I had offered to call a tow truck for you I was shocked when I looked directly at you. As I mentioned at the time it was like being hit over the head with a hammer and I wasn't lying about that as I felt deeply shocked."
"Your eyes widened," JJ remembered. "You said you had never been attracted to any woman as strongly as you were to me."
"At the time, I didn't tell you that there was a reason that I was," Cian said. "I finally understood what all the mated couples in my family meant when they told me that I would be very strongly attracted to my mate more than any other women. It's why I begged you to move to Moonlight Gorge and if you had still insisted on going back to Milwaukee, well, I only would've followed you and probably started up another Walters Antiques. You might not have wanted me to rearrange my life, because you weren't sure that your attraction was anything but lust, but I knew better. I knew I would be miserable without you in my life as any immortal that has met their mate will tell you the same thing."
"Cian speaks the truth," Aaron told JJ. "If Shonda had turned me down when I told her about my immortality I would've been miserable as no other relationship will ever compare to that with your mate. Luckily for me, she accepted it, since magicals also have a mate. I knew nothing about magic until then. She accepted I was immortal, just as I accepted she was magical. That's what being mates means accepting anything unusual or stranger than normal traits about a person, that most people just wouldn't for whatever reason that may be."
"Finding your mate is always due to chance," Dave added.
"This is where it all began," Jazz said gesturing around the room. "Right here, in Moonlight Gorge. Shonda and I were born here and have been best friends ever since kindergarten."
"So Jazz's Stupendous Delights," JJ realized.
"Was originally mine yes, until Dave and I moved on after my parents had passed," Jazz confirmed. "The original bakery I started before I met Dave is run by some of our other family these days, but it will always hold a special place in my heart as that's where I met Dave who came in for a cup of coffee."
"I was just passing through this charming little town when I stopped at Jazz's bakery to get me a snack as well as that cup of coffee, Jazz mentioned," Dave said. "I knew immediately she was the one, but it took me awhile to convince her to even consider going out on a date with me."
"I certainly liked Dave a lot, but I'd already had one bad experience in college that was bad enough to qualify as a national disaster so I had sworn off dating completely and maintained that status for several years until Dave came into the picture," Jazz added. "Really, it didn't take him long at all to convince me to go out on a date with him and I enjoyed myself so much that before I realized it we were officially a couple. When he proposed I immediately said yes, as we'd known each other for awhile by then and I knew he was the one. The one I was meant to settle down with, have children. Basically, build a life with."
"Moonlight Gorge was a lot smaller in those days so that wasn't many places to go out to eat, so if you wanted anything different from normal you had to go to a nearby town," Shonda added.
"Most people cooked at home in those days, and didn't eat out all the time like they do today if they can afford to, at least not in Moonlight Gorge," Jazz said. "It only a couple of decent restaurants and one bar back when Shonda and I lived here and the town has grown so much since we have set foot in it."
"There is 50,000 people in this town now," Cian who had been silent said.
"That's definitely much bigger then it was centuries ago," Shonda noted.
"Very true, once I met Shonda in Houston Texas we moved here so while Shonda grew up here, I moved here to be with her," Aaron said.
"Why not just stay in Houston though," JJ asked. "That was a large city compared to what you've told me about Moonlight Gorge back then. I would think your antique business would do much better in somewhere like Houston then in a small town that Moonlight Gorge was at that point."
"While that's true JJ, Jazz who was and is my best friend, was here and she was pregnant with her first child and I'd been named the godmother," Shonda explained calmly. Her voice was a monotone, as if she had given this explanation 1000 times before. "Not only did I have to be back before Jazz gave birth there was also my father to consider, as he was very ill and he needed me. While yes, I could've done much better in a bigger city I had responsibilities here including a dog that I named Goldie. My father looked after her while I was in Houston, as he was still mobile, just ill."
"Shonda isn't one to abandon her family or her friends just because she could've done better in someplace like Houston," Jazz told JJ. "She made enough with the one here that she and her father made a more than decent living, especially for a small town."
"Walter Antiques here in Moonlight Gorge was basically an institution, as it had been around several generations before I was ever born in the late 20th century. Jazz is absolutely correct, even in such a small town Walters did well enough that it paid the bills for me and my father, as things were much cheaper back in those days."
"We didn't think so the time though did we?" Jazz said speaking to Shonda.
"No we didn't. We thought things were ridiculously expensive, but compared to today they really weren't," Shonda agreed smiling.
"I understand," JJ said thinking over everything she's been told.
She knew that she had seen Aaron's hand heal within a few seconds and she assumed that Cian's would do the same if he cut himself on accident or even deliberately, just to prove he was indeed immortal.
All she really knew was she loved Cian Hotchner or Ciaran Blakemore as he had once been known, so much and so deeply that she knew it would never fade. He might be going by Cian these days and JJ had no doubt that changing his name and getting him a new social security number had been done illegally, but he was still the same man that she had fallen in love with.
Besides, there was nothing she could do about the fact that Cian's aunt and uncle had changed his identity, as it had happened centuries ago and it wasn't like she could tell the authorities that he was still alive and have Aaron and Shonda brought up on charges of changing Cian's identity illegally. Even if she could she wouldn't.
JJ could understand not wanting to go into foster care, because if it was bad now it would have been just as bad back then she was sure.
~~~Cian and JJ~~~