Winter's Love

Welcome, Thomas

Emma wore her thickest woolen coat, fluffy boots while holding a plate filled with brownies she made from scratch. Her niece helped her bake them last night. They had so much fun. The kitchen was filled with laughter. They sang Christmas songs, drank hot chocolate, and made a nice call to Sara.

Sara sounded good, she was happy and she laughed along with their jokes. She wanted to come over, spending the week with them and celebrating Christmas in the mountains. Faith was so happy about it the girl could hardly sleep. Faith ran into her bedroom this morning and jumped in her bed. Excitedly talking about buying a Christmas tree and decorating it together with her mom. She wanted to bake cookies and brownies. Make a Christmas dinner together and drink amazing hot chocolate while watching movies.

It actually sounded great and Emma was looking forward to it. She could tell Sara was looking forward to it too, the messages she received this morning said that much.

Arriving at the all too familiar cottage Emma was welcomed by Snow. The dog brushed against her leg and then walked back inside. That was a nice welcome, Snow was the nicest dog she had ever met. She wanted to step inside when all of a sudden William came in view, holding the door and keeping her on the deck.

“Good morning.” She greeted.

William flashed her a small smile, “Morning.” He greeted back.

William didn’t look like himself. He was anxious and seemed like he wanted to brush her off. Something was going on and she had a feeling his cousin, Victor, was involved. There was something off about the guy but she couldn’t figure out what. She knew William didn’t trust his cousin that much either. Whenever she looked at them she could feel the tension between them. Sure, they were friendly but both of them always had their guard up. It was a weird family, but overall good people so she didn’t pay too much attention to them.

Maybe she should have been more focused on them.

"Now is not a good time," William told her quietly.

He was lowering his voice, he rarely did that. William had no secrets, he even openly insulted people who pretended to be his friends. She witnessed that at the flower shop. He was lowering his voice now so something was wrong. She didn’t want to get him into more trouble so she lowered her voice as well.

“Faith and I made brownies.” She whispered.

His eyes trailed down to the plate she was holding up, “I can see that.”

“She wanted you to have them.”

William quietly chuckled, “Why are we whispering?”

She narrowed her eyes on him, “Because you were. So I figured now not being a good time means we have to whisper.”

He shook his head at her, a wide smile spread across his face, "You are something else, Emma Dixon."

She was taken back by the comment he made. Not because it was nice, but because of the way he said it. The emotion was almost palpable. It scared her but at the same time, it felt kind of great. Warm and comfortable. She opened her mouth to say something when all of the sudden the door opened wide and a familiar face scared her half to death.

“Brownies, that’s unlike you dear sister-in-law.”

Her heart raced, she could barely breathe. He was the last person on earth she wanted to see. Not to mention he was at her safe place. Standing right beside the person who made her feel warm and loved. Someone she trusted.

“H-How?”

Thomas pulled away the foil and grabbed a brownie, “Smells good, Em.”

She trailed her eyes to William, “What’s going on?”

William inhaled deeply, “My other cousin came over to stay for the holidays.”

She frowned, “You have a lot of shady cousins.”

He snorted, “You have no idea.”

Emma could tell by the look on William's face that he didn't plan this. He looked just as upset as her so she couldn't blame him. Not to mention that Snow let her in. The dog was very protective of her and Faith. If he didn't feel like Thomas was a threat right now he wouldn't have left her side. She liked to believe that.

Emma reached out and tore the brownie away from Thomas, “These are not for you.” She warned him, “These are for William. Faith and I, yes, your daughter and I made these brownies. The brownies are for nice people and you’re definitely not nice. So you don’t get one.” She pushed the plate into William’s arms and glared at Thomas for good measure, “You better find a way to make this right.” She warned him and then turned around and stormed off, careful of the thick snow.

She didn’t want to make a fool out of herself by falling on her butt right now.

When she managed to reach the A-frame without any accidents she thanked her snow boots for keeping her safe. She entered the toasty house and finally took a deep breath. Thomas was here and he’s related to William.

This couldn’t get any worse.

***

William put the plate filled with brownies on the kitchen counter and grabbed his cup of tea. There wasn't enough tea in the world to help him right now. Two people who were the absolute worst were staying at his house and he had no say in it. Grabbing a brownie he took a bite, a smile spread across his face. He could feel how much effort Emma and Faith put into this. The girls were amazing and they were good people. They didn't deserve this drama. It was, however, quite hilarious to see her dealing with Thomas. He knew Thomas thought it was amusing too. Something told him that a little bird informed Thomas about Emma and Faith. He glanced at Victor who was seated in the living room. His cousin met his gaze and innocently shrugged his shoulders.

He wasn’t nice either so he also didn’t deserve these homemade brownies.

Victor smirked and focused back on his phone.

Thomas came in view, a mug filled with steaming coffee in hand, “I guess I have a lot of work to do here.”

William sighed, “You’ve messed up and you can’t fix this with your gifts, Thomas.”

“Everything can be fixed with our gifts, Will. If we combine our gifts we could rule the world.”

William narrowed his eyes on his cousin, “Here is the thing, Thomas, I don’t want to rule the world. I want to use my gifts to do good. Not abuse it to be a dictator. Find a way to fix this mess or leave and never come back.”

Thomas chuckled, “I never heard you that serious before.”

William didn’t like the amusement in Thomas’ eyes.

“Because they are good people, Thomas. You should know that considering they are your family.”

William grabbed Snow’s leash and whistled to call the attention of his dog, “Come on, Snow, we’re going for a walk while these two have some privacy to discuss their plans for world domination along with their plans to be alone forever and ever.”

“Dramatic, just like my dear sister-in-law.” Thomas laughed.

William flashed him a mocking smile and left together with Snow. Snow stared up at him occasionally as they walked. Snow was worried, he could feel it in the air.

“Don’t worry, they may act like evil villains, but deep down they’re still good.” He rolled his eyes, “Well, somewhat good. They’re his family though, so I should believe that he’ll do the right thing. Faith’s too cute to hurt.”

Snow barked at that.

Smiling William followed the trail, giving Victor and Thomas time to figure things out.