Though…I’m his daughter. That has to count for something, right?
“Oh my goodness!” Abby twists in her seat and stares out the window. “This town is adorable! It’s like something out of a Lifetime movie.”
“Don’t Lifetime movies end with murder or cheating spouses?”
“Some of them do,” Abby says. “I prefer Hallmark. They just played a bunch of Christmas in July holiday movies. And I watched them all.”
I laugh. “I try not to start any Christmas stuff until at least the second week of November. But then I go crazy with decorations, cookie baking and all the Christmas movies and music.”
“I’m surprised you like Christmas,” she says softly.
“Christmas is safe.” I shake my head, knowing that doesn’t make sense. “That’s what I related it to, I guess. Safe.”
“I can see that correlation happening. And I’m glad you like it. It just surprises me, considering you were only brought back around Christmas to play the part of darling daughter.”
“I know it’s fucked up,” I go on. “But I was pretty much left alone during Christmas. I’d be brought back to the house and everyone was too busy to really bother me.”
The GPS tells me to turn left and I slow, almost missing our turn. “Lucas and I will be in the new house by Christmas. It won’t be fully done yet, but it’ll be put together enough that I’m having a Christmas party. I cannot wait to decorate all those railings with garland.”
“I’m sure it will look gorgeous. And you should do an Ugly Sweater party.”
“Ohhh, that would be fun! Okay. We’re doing it.”
“What is Lucas doing with his house on North Orchard?” Abby asks.
“Eliza is taking it.”
“I’m surprised they don’t live together.”
“They did,” I tell her. “Shocking, but Lucas is a tad overprotective of her.”
“The whole making a vampire child confuses me,” Abby goes on. “And I used to think that it was only done for, uh, sexual reasons.”
“A lot of makers do have sexual relationships with their progenies. But others have a parent-child relationship, which is more how Lucas views Eliza. He’s never thought of her as anything else.”
“She’s the only vampire he’s turned?”
“Yep. Back in the early 1800s.”
“That’s so crazy to think about.” We pull into the bakery and get out of the Jeep. “Even this place is cute,” Abby says as we walk in. And it is. Everything in this town is cute, making it the perfect backdrop for a wedding.
“Callie Martin?” the baker says, coming out from behind the kitchen.
“Yes, that’s me.”
Her eyes go to Abby and then back to me. “I’m Kristin. I spoke with your wedding planner on the phone.” She shakes my hand. “Congrats on your engagement.” She beams and me and then Abby. “You two must be so excited.”
“Oh, this is my sister,” I say, realizing that the weird look she gave us was because she thought we were lesbians, which bothers me. Why would it matter if we were a lesbian couple?
Closed-minded people piss me the fuck off.
Kristin actually lets out a breath of relief. “I thought your wedding planner mentioned a groom. Is he coming?”
“No,” I say. “He doesn’t eat cake. Or go out in the daylight.”
Kristen gasps. “He’s a vampire?”
“He is.”
Kristin gapes at me for a second and Abby puts one hand on her hip, staring down Kristin.
“Does that affect your ability to make a wedding cake?” Abby shoots out. “If it does, we’ll go elsewhere.”
“No.” Kristin forces a smile. “Not at all. Follow me.”
“Thank you,” I whisper to Abby.
“You’re welcome.” She smiles. “It’s not every day I get to stick up for my super-powered little sister. It’s kind of nice.”
“Yeah,” I say, looping my arm through hers. “It is.”
“The cloaking spell hasn’t worn off yet,” I tell Lucas.
“How can you be sure?” he asks.
I slow at a stop sign and look at Abby, smiling as I shake my head. We’re back in Lincoln Park and are almost to Ricci’s house to pick up Penny.
“I can feel it.”
“Okay. Be careful, Callie.”
“I always am.”
He lets out a snort of laughter. “Sure you are. I love you.”
“Love you, too.” I end the call, pressing a button on the steering wheel.
“You two are so cute together,” Abby says. “I’m really happy for you, Cal.”
“Thanks. Things are as perfect as they can be…considering.” Considering demons are collecting organs, angels want to kill me, I’ll be leaving my coven soon, and hired hitmen are still after me.
I put the Jeep in park and cut the engine, going into Ricci’s house with Abby so I can give Penny a hug before I head back to Thorne Hill. It’ll be too late to go out for dinner tonight, but Lucas and I have a movie date planned for tomorrow.
“Penny!” Abby calls as soon as Ricci opens the door and welcomes us into her house. It’s big and grand like most houses in this area, but pales in comparison to Lucas’s house. Penny’s little bare feet slap against the hardwood floor in the foyer as she runs to her mother.
“How were they?” Abby asks.
“Just fine,” Ricci assures her. “How was sampling wedding cakes?” Her eyes go right to the big-ass diamond on my hand. I did find out that this thing cost over six figures, which is ridiculous, if you ask me. But that’s Lucas for you…
“It was really fun,” I reply. “I picked out the flavors and designed the cake.”
“That does sound fun! I remember planning my wedding. We had a shoestring budget back then but it was still so fun.” A cute little boy who can’t be much older than Penny toddles into the room. Ricci picks him up only to have him immediately whine to be put down. He runs away as soon as his feet hit the floor.
“That one is testing my patience today,” she admits. “But little miss Penny has been an angel. I’ll trade you kids for the day,” she laughs. “Ben has been climbing on everything. And I mean everything. I pulled him off the island counter today. I don’t even know how he got up there so fast.”
She puts her hand to her forehead and lets out a dramatic sigh. “I’m telling you, if I had Ben first instead of Charlie, I wouldn’t have had a second kid.”
“I hear that’s often the case,” Abby laughs. “The second or third kid is much more difficult than the first. I’m a little afraid whenever I do decide to have another it’ll be the same way. Overall, Penny’s been pretty easy until recently. She screams in the car and doesn’t want to go to bed at night.”
“I’ll always come over and hold her again at night,” I offer. “She was perfect for me.”
“Kids are always perfect for people who aren’t their mothers,” Abby laughs.
“Oh, for sure.” Ricci looks around for her son. “Now where did that stinker go?” She turns right as we all see him at the same time. He went up the stairs with impressive speed and is climbing up onto a chaise lounge chair that’s against the railing of the catwalk above us. Ricci screams and makes a mad dash for the stairs, but she won’t make it there in time.
The little boy hoists himself up and tumbles right over the railing.
20
I don’t think. I just act. Throwing out my hand, I telekinetically catch the toddler, slowing his decent to the floor below until he’s hovering just a few feet off the ground.
Ricci stands frozen for a few seconds, staring at her son, who’s floating in the air. Then she dives off the bottom stair and drops to her knees, wrapping her arms around the kid.
“Ben!” she sobs, holding him tight. “Oh my god! Oh my god,” she cries, over and over.
“Holy shit,” Abby gasps, clutching Penny to her chest. Her face is pale and her hands are shaking. Adrenaline pumps through me and I let out a breath
. The kid is okay, but fuck, that was close.
Ricci looks up, tears streaming down her face. “You…you saved my baby.”
Holy shit is right. I used my powers in front of someone, and right now is not the best time to be revealing my secret identity to anyone. But what choice did I have? Let the kid plummet to the ground in front of us all and hope he only broke a few bones? If I had the choice, I’d do it again.