Chapter 13 #2
“I’ll be right back. Eggs cook quickly. Grits, I’m pretty sure they have those instant ones because their daughters have zero patience.”
Gwen nodded. “I’ll be right here.”
~~~
Rance was busy cooking Gwen’s eggs and grits when he heard the front door open and close. He stepped around the corner of the kitchen and looked through the formal living room toward the door. “Feral? You alright?”
“Yeah,” Feral answered. He walked past the kitchen to be able to see through the den where all the kids were sleeping again, to the pool area outside. Most of his people were still outside around the pool, visiting and enjoying the night.
“You don’t look okay,” Rance said, darting back into the kitchen.
Feral sighed and walked over to stand just outside the kitchen’s entrance. “What are you doing? Breakfast?”
“No, Gwen is awake. She’s hungry so I offered to make her some scrambled eggs and grits.
A lot easier on the stomach than fried chicken and dirty rice.
Especially Alison’s dirty rice. It’s good, real good, but the woman cooks most everything spicy.
Spicy is good until you’re nursing a gut injury. Then, not so much.”
Feral had practically frozen in place when Rance mentioned Alison. He watched as Rance plated the scrambled eggs, mixed butter into the grits then added them to the plate, then quickly buttered a slice of bread. He opened the fridge and glanced through it quickly, before closing it.
“What’s missing?” Feral asked.
“Something to drink. Don’t want to give her coffee, it might keep her up. But I don’t see any juice either.”
“Green tea, or chamomile tea. Both are good for digestion. Chamomile is good for relaxation, too. You have either one?”
Rance went to a cabinet over the microwave and opened it.
“Ah hah!” he exclaimed. “Bonnie’s stash of herbal teas.
” He dug through it until he found what he was looking for.
“Chamomile!” he said triumphantly, holding it up to show Feral before taking a tea bag out and plopping it into a cup.
He filled it with water, then put it in the microwave.
Gwen’s drink option taken care of, he looked over toward Feral again. “What is wrong with you?”
“My woman left and didn’t tell me, and if I go storming over to her house she’s going to think I’m nuts and send me away, or call her Alpha to send me away, and neither is good.”
Rance blinked slowly as he considered Feral’s outburst. Behind him the microwave dinged, letting him know the tea was ready.
“What woman?” Rance asked.
“Alison.”
“Alison is your woman?” Rance asked.
“Where have you been? Everybody seems to have noticed but you.”
“Catatonic, worried about my own woman surviving. Remember? You put her back together.”
Feral nodded.
“The thing with Alison is that if you’re interested, you’re going to have to practically beat her over the head to make her aware.
She’s never been the kind to be very worried about males, or mates, or even kids for that matter.
She’s just always kind of done her own thing and been more of a loner. ”
“I can’t get any clearer than you are mine and I plan to win you over.”
Rance had taken a tray out of another of the cabinets and was putting the food on the tray. He stopped and looked up at Feral. “You said that?”
“I did. And then she left without telling me she was leaving.”
“Where were you when she left?” Rance asked.
“Talking with the others. Determining our plan for the night, where we’d sleep, what time to reassemble…”
“You were busy. She didn’t want to interrupt. Alison is very unassuming. Very quiet, very shy, but also very strong. I’ve always thought of her as being a quiet, steady kind of strength.”
“Where is she?” Feral asked irritatedly.
“Probably at home,” Rance said as he lifted the tray and walked past him. He walked over toward the stairs, then looked back at Feral. “You know where my house is?”
“No. Never been here before.”
“Okay…” Rance said, thinking about it. “Alright, go out of the front door and walk about twelve paces. You’ll see a footpath leading to the right.
Take that. About eight minutes later, it forks.
Go to the left, follow it until you go around a large curve in the path, then it’ll fork again, go to the right.
You’ll see a two story farm house sitting off to the side at the end of it.
It’s obscured behind some trees and heavy foliage.
And it’s not like a huge farmhouse. It’s quaint, and has a front porch swing.
It’s painted pale yellow and the roof is tin.
That’s Alison’s house. Do not actually beat her over the head, just be clear about what you feel.
If she doesn’t want you, try to come up with a different approach.
You get violent, we’ll all get violent and it won’t be good. She’s good. Don’t hurt her.”
“Never,” Feral said as he spun on his heel and rushed to the front door.
Rance shook his head as he went up the steps.
He realized he couldn’t open the door without balancing the tray on his hip with one hand while opening the door with his other.
“Okay, this was the hardest part,” he said, as he walked into the bedroom carrying the tray as he gently kicked the door closed behind himself.
“What was?” Gwen asked.
“Opening the door while carrying a tray.”
“If you’d knocked I would have tried to open it for you.”
“Which is why I didn’t knock,” Rance said. He set the tray down on the chair he’d been sitting in and helped Gwen sit up higher so she could eat. Once she was comfortable, he lifted the tray and placed it across her thighs. “I checked on the boys, too. They’re both out cold, one of them snoring.”
She smiled. “Thank you for checking on my babies.”
“You’re welcome.”
“This looks so good,” she said.
“Hope so,” he said, tucking a paper towel in the collar of her shirt so if she dripped food it would land on the paper towel and not the shirt she was wearing.
“I wasn’t sure what to give you to drink, but then I found chamomile tea and it’s good for digestion and for relaxation.
” He didn’t even grin when he delivered his newfound knowledge, acting like he’d known it all along.
“I don’t know how I can ever thank you for taking such good care of me like this,” she said as she took her first bite of scrambled eggs.
“Please don’t thank me anymore. Every time I help you with anything, you say thank you, like it’s the most unlikely thing to have me help you.
I enjoy helping you. It is a demand from my soul that I make sure you’re safe and secure and happy.
And each time you say thank you, you remind me that I’m nothing more than a stranger to you.
And while I know that’s not completely the truth, and I know you’re just being kind and recognizing all I’m doing, it’s not necessary.
I’m taking care of you because I want to, not because I want recognition.
And that makes me sound like an asshole, but that’s not how I meant it. ”
“I know what you meant.”
“Do you? You understand what I mean?”
“I do. But what I really want to know is how did you get these eggs so soft? Mine never come out like this unless they’re runny and I don’t eat runny eggs.”
Rance leaned closer to her like he was sharing some deep dark secret. “My momma used to make them like this. A tablespoon of ricotta cheese for every two eggs you're scrambling. Mix it in with the raw eggs and scramble it all together. You can’t tell it’s there and the eggs stay fluffy and soft.”
“They’re delicious,” she said, reaching for the tea and taking a sip. “You’re full of surprises,” she said as she set her cup down and reached for her toast.
“Don’t tell anybody. They think I’m big and bad and rough around the edges, barely able to tolerate shaving and wearing clothes because I’m so wild.”
Gwen laughed, her hand going to her side again. “Oh! Oh, stop that! You’re making me laugh and it hurts.”
He laughed, too, as she took a bite of her toast, and he reached for her spoon and started feeding her grits without even noticing he was doing it.
She didn’t stop him, though she did meet his gaze every time he gave her a bite.
“I’m glad it’s you taking care of me,” she said softly.
“Me, too.”