11
1606 Words
"We should go and get that coffee," Elizabeth muttered.
She was uncomfortable with the conversation, but it was a genuine request; she really wanted to restock the kitchen.
"We?"
"Yeah, I thought…well, from the way you're looking at me, I guess I thought wrong."
"It's not that I don't want you to come. I just think we should wait until you're invited, OK?"
Sawyer sounded upset that he had to tell Elizabeth she shouldn't come to see the baby with him, but he didn't think his sister would appreciate it if Elizabeth commented on the baby's appearance.
"I get it. I should probably wait here for Klara, anyway. You might know what Selene needed to talk to her about but I haven't got a clue and I don't want Klara to feel like I abandoned her."
"It's not about her needing to talk to Klara immediately. It's not my place to say anything, but I know you're feeling weird about the fact I spent time alone with Selene, and I want you to know that she's talking to Klara now because there are private issues she needs to deal with later on. This is just a formality - she's glad we've brought someone back with us, and if we're lucky this will mean we get the place to ourselves again soon."
Elizabeth rolled her eyes and sighed.
"Is that all you ever think about?"
Sawyer smiled, and Elizabeth blushed because she knew that he could have accused her of exactly the same thing.
"I should go. It's not that I'm desperate to find out if we get to settle here without an unexpected roommate, I just want to see her again."
"Your sister? Or the baby?"
"Both of them. I have a lot to talk to Francesca about - and a lot to apologize for - but I never thought I would get to see a white wolf and…"
"...and she's your niece. You can just say that you want to see her again, I'm not heartless."
Sawyer was silent for a moment, and Elizabeth was worried that she had said the wrong thing.
"Thank you for understanding."
He didn't need to thank her, and it made her feel weird, but he had been feeling guilty and it meant he could leave without feeling bad about it.
His sister hadn't exactly had a chance to tell him how she felt about him disappearing, and he was scared that she might turn him away, but Jonas opened the door and invited him in and he found his sister sitting on the couch in the living room with the baby in her arms.
"Are you sure you should be out of bed?"
She smiled at the concern in her brother’s voice; it was touching.
"I'm fine - she didn't give me any trouble physically; it barely even hurt."
He chose not to mention the fact he had heard his sister screaming in pain, or that he had figured out why she needed a dressing on her forearm. She didn't seem aware that he knew it wasn't as easy as she was insisting, and he wasn’t going to cause a fight with her over something so silly.
"I didn't believe it when…"
"...why are you here alone? Is Elizabeth still afraid of me?"
Sawyer approached his sister cautiously and sat down on the couch beside her so he could look at the baby.
"Dad was right; I'm glad he never found out."
Francesca twisted away from him, protectively moving the infant with her.
"Right about what?"
"He always said that our eye colour was down to having white wolves in our lineage. He told me that people found the colour so striking because they knew instinctively that our family had more magic than others."
"He never told me that. But I'm glad he didn't get to see her; he would have taken her from me… and you ignored what I asked."
"Nobody is going to take her from you, and Elizabeth isn’t afraid of you - I assumed she wouldn’t be welcome here.”
Francesca moved warily back towards her brother and finally looked him in the eyes for the first time since he had arrived.
“She’s family, isn’t she? Why wouldn’t she be welcome?”
“You spent a long time without us in this house; I know you probably despise it here and yet you’ve chosen to stay here when you don’t need to. So, I can only assume that you’re still worried about needing medical assistance, or that you are still terrified of people seeing the baby. Elizabeth is family to me - I don’t think you really feel the same way, and I don’t think you would have been OK with it if I did bring her with me.”
Francesca chewed the inside of her lip for a moment, then sat up a little straighter as she looked at her brother.
“Why are you here?”
“Because I haven’t been here - I was gone for far longer than I planned, and I know you probably have questions you need me to answer.”
Francesca seemed indifferent; he had expected her to be angry, but she didn’t seem to care at all.
“There was no need for you to cut me off the way you did; but I suppose you could easily argue that I deserved it, or that it was for my own good. Honestly, I’m impressed that you managed to elude me for so long - in an odd way it’s touching to know you could have disappeared at any time and chose not to, because now I know that even when you were all angry with me you made sure I knew where you were.”
Sawyer smiled, but that wasn’t exactly true - not as far as he was concerned, at least. He’d had other things on his mind, and hiding from his sister just wasn’t something he considered a priority.
“We’re going to stay…I know that you didn’t ask that, but I wasn’t sure whether Elizabeth would be happy living here. Before I came over now, she told me that she wants to stay here for a while.”
“Congratulations.”
Sawyer’s eyes narrowed slightly as he waited for his sister to say something sarcastic or unpleasant.
When she didn’t, he wasn’t sure how to respond.
“Congratulations? On not acting like an irresponsible child? For coming back before I f****d up everything and put you all in danger?”
“Mundanity appeals to you, Nathan. I’ve never understood why - perhaps it’s because that was the one thing you never thought you could have. You were never interested in people who could be described as ordinary, though. You wouldn’t have mentioned what Elizabeth said if it didn’t mean something to you, and I thought it was right to congratulate you on…”
“...achieving mundanity?”
Francesca smiled sardonically, but surprised her brother by passing him the baby rather gingerly.
“Here: you didn’t get to hold her for long yesterday.”
“Have you decided on her name yet? You seemed dead set on Minerva when I left you guys, but you haven’t been calling her that today.”
“I thought Minerva was the right name for her - I want people to value her for her intellect rather than the way she looks. I figured that when she’s old enough to understand, it would help remind her that she’s more than her appearance and reassure her that we never intended to take advantage of that. Jonas thought Athena was a prettier name, but when he asked Selene for her opinion she suggested something different and now I’m not sure.”
She didn’t sound distressed, but she was clearly frustrated and Sawyer felt a little sorry for her when she had been absolutely certain about the name she had chosen before.
“It’s not like she’s going to be stuck with it forever if it doesn’t suit her. You called me Tobias until we were eleven and you didn’t have any trouble switching to Nathan when everybody else at school called me that - even dad called me that. Most people have referred to me by our family name for more than half of my life, and I know that you hate that, but it’s my name as far as a lot of people are concerned. Perhaps you could name her Minerva Athena, or Athena Minerva?”
“You’re not exactly normal; you’ve been through all those names, but I’ve never even been called Fran, or Frannie, or Graziella… I think the only nicknames I have ever had are ‘stuck-up b***h’, ‘Tobias’ daughter’, and ‘heartless psychopath’ and two of those were given to me by your mate.”
“Well - now you can be ‘mom’. And nobody ever called you Fran or Frannie because those names don’t suit you - just like Tobias was a f*****g stupid name for me.”
Francesca picked at the edges of the dressing Selene had put over her forearm.
“Minerva would be a stupid name for her - I know that. Selene suggested we name her Saga, and I think that’s what we’re going to do. It’s not a common name here, but it’s not completely unheard of, and it’s still associated with wisdom but it’s a little more magical - I think it’s perfect for her.”
“You’re right.”
“No…” Francesca sighed and stopped picking at her arm, “Selene was right.”
- Writer
