Part 9 (1/2)
Becki felt moisture collect in her eyes, and then to her great horror, it began to stream down her cheeks.
Royce caught a tear with his thumb as he continued, ”Let's have dinner with your family and just enjoy the evening, no pressure. We can work the rest out later, ok?”
”Fine, dinner, that's it; that's all I'm willing to give right now,” Becki snapped, spinning away from him.
Royce watched her move away from him. Ok, this was not going to be easy, but it was probably more than he deserved. Three pairs of feet suddenly pounded down the stairs reminding him of a small cattle stampede. Leann had returned, and brought along reinforcements. Royce knew he had one shot to put the girls at ease and let them know that he was not a threat to Becki.
”Hi, Ladies,” he said, as he moved to take a seat at the table, strategically placing himself beside the flowers he had just put there. Flas.h.i.+ng a s.e.xy grin guaranteed to melt the heart of any woman or child, he said, ”Sooo, tell me, what do you like to do for fun? ”
Becki noticed his intentional staging and couldn't help but admire his skill.
In no time at all, they were complimenting the beautiful flower arrangement he had brought with him, talking about his ”awesome” car, and wrangling promises out of him to take them for a ride.
”Brownies are in the oven,” Becki said walking toward the group, ”Let's go out and see how dinner is moving along.”
Leann and Clarissa each put an arm around her, enveloping her in a group hug. Thankfully, she was feeling a little more calm and collected, but hugs were always good. Mandy had climbed on Royce's lap and was currently explaining to him the typical body structure of a crustacean. Yes, she did love to talk!
Royce had won the girls over and in the process melted some of the frost around her heart. The girls were very important to her, like little sisters, and it was important for them to feel comfortable with whomever she would bring into their lives.
Mandy scooted off Royce's lap and gave Becki a belated hug on her way to the door.
”Hot,” Clarissa whispered giving Becki the thumbs-up sign as she headed out the door.
”Let's get this party staaarrrted,” they heard Leann say. As she closed the door behind her, Becki and Royce were left alone inside the house.
Royce looked at Becki in surprise, and suddenly they both began to laugh.
”All I can say is 'the apple doesn't fall far from the tree' with that one,” Becki managed. Judging from stories she had heard of Kurt's youthful escapades, he was in for a wild ride over the next few years.
Royce silently stretched his hand toward Becki.
”You don't play fair,” she accused, as she placed her hand in his.
”Nope,” he admitted, pulling close enough to drop a b.u.t.terfly kiss on the top of her head.
Breathing a sigh of relief, he led Becki outside to the party. As they joined the group, he caught Natie's eye. ”Thanks,” he mouthed with a wink.
Natie smiled, raised her gla.s.s, and winked right back.
Sean and Landon appeared to be deep in conversation about tides, ocean currents, maps, and legends. Kurt and Jonah had just dumped a large pot of potatoes, corn-on-the-cob, sausage, and shrimp on a picnic table covered in newspaper. Becki's young cousins and Natie raced to the table each bragging that they would be the one to find the largest shrimp. Mandy had been the lucky winner last time. Since the rules stated that she had to wait until the other girls had chosen one shrimp each, she danced along the sidelines urging them to 'Hurry up already!'
”A girl could starve here!” Mandy complained, anxious to join in the fun.
Family, laughter, music and food-- Royce suddenly missed home.
The wind did not seem to be blowing as hard as it had been earlier, but the tropical storm was expected to make landfall tonight.
Royce and Becki sat on the porch swing holding hands and watching the girls hunt for shrimp-treasure.
”It doesn't get any better than this, does it?”
”I love spending time with my family,” Becki said resting her head on Royce's shoulder.
”I know you do, and they love you.”
”I'm one lucky girl,” she agreed, ”and, I've got the hottest date tonight, Clarissa said so.”
Royce chuckled, ”Kurt is going to have his hands full with those girls in few years.”
As darkness fell and stomachs filled, a deep sense of contentment settled over Royce. He found himself wondering what it would feel like to be part of something like this on a permanent basis. It was evident that Landon's secret was known only by Kurt, and also evident that he was as protective of this family, as he would be of his pack.
Landon was clearly an alpha. Royce couldn't help but wonder where the rest of his pack was. No doubt they were within shouting-- or rather howling-- distance.
Landon and Sean had spent the evening working on tides, currents, calculations and projections. Since the Witches had dumped Royce into the ocean, it stood to reason they might have hidden the coin in the water as well.
Ironically, Witches could not touch the coin directly, but they could have used magic to move the coin. However, there were limitations imposed by Merlin there as well; if they had used magic to move the coin, it could only have been moved to a destination within their direct line of sight. This safeguard prevented a Witch from simply grabbing the coin and using her magic to disappear taking the coin with her.
Hopefully, when Joanna arrived, she would be able to channel enough energy to lift the cloaking spell long enough to let Sean lock in on the coordinates of the coin's current location. At that point, it would be as easy as taking candy from a baby.
The winds were picking up again and rain would most likely begin to fall within the next thirty minutes, if not sooner.
”I had better head toward home,” Becki said standing up to stretch. ”Bee doesn't do so well in strong winds,” Becki said, referring to her little yellow car. ”She kind of gets tossed around like a grain of sand.”
”I need to get back to the hotel and finish packing. I wish we didn't have to go back home tomorrow,” Natie said, as she pulled a cell phone out of her pocket.
”I wish you didn't have to go back at all,” Becki said. ”I'll run you back to the hotel.”
”I'm not going across the bridge in that toy car,” Natie said. ”You're crazy.”
”I wouldn't either. That would be scaaarrryyy,” Mandy agreed, sc.r.a.ping the last bit of ice cream out of her bowl.
”I'll call Jonah to pick me up,” Natie responded as she began dialing.
He had driven back to their hotel right after dinner using the excuse that he had a long drive tomorrow and needed to rest-up for it. Good riddance as far as everyone else was concerned.
Natie had enjoyed a carefree evening with her family and had also enjoyed the eye-candy on the scene. She had not had an opportunity to talk privately with Sean though, and she was somewhat b.u.mmed about that. She would never actually cheat on Jonah. She didn't play those games; however, spending time with someone who treated her with respect and kindness had forced her to take a good hard look at her current situation with Jonah.
Their ”relations.h.i.+p” was actually a ”non-relations.h.i.+p”, very onesided...his side. Sure, he gave into her if she b.i.t.c.hed long enough, but that was getting old. Yes, Jonah was in for a big surprise when he got back to Indiana; ”stick-a-fork-in-her” she was done with his c.r.a.p.
Natie smiled thinking that Becki would be soooo happy. She tried to hide it, but Becki seriously detested Jonah.
”We will follow you home, Becki,” Royce said as he finished picking up the folding chairs to secure them in the garage for the night. The winds might get strong enough to blow them around, so it was better to be safe than sorry. The weather reports ranged from predicting heavy rains and strong winds to light showers with a strong breeze. This particular storm was proving to be extremely unpredictable.
”Right, because your sports car is so much bigger and heavier than my Bee,” Becki said with a lot of sa.s.s and a flip of her hair. ”I have managed to drive all over this city and beyond before you came along. I'm sure I can make it across the connector just fine all by myself.”
”That may be so, but we will follow you just the same,” Royce said with enough authority to end the discussion.
”Well that's just great,” Natie said pressing the end call b.u.t.ton. She had tried to call Jonah five times but could not get him to answer his phone.