Chapter Forty
Spencer
Igot back from my latest meeting and was trying to finish up a few things so that I could leave.
My mother had arrived from Greece yesterday since our mating party was tomorrow.
I joined her at her hotel for breakfast, and she was coming over for dinner tonight so that she could meet Grace. Riley and I were going to cook.
Glancing at my phone, I realized that I missed a bunch of texts from Grace along with pictures.
She was working from home this afternoon since the interns had an activity day that she wasn’t a part of.
Though she’d come in this morning. At lunch, she helped me sort through some of the presents that we’d gotten, like we’d been doing at lunch all week.
Grace
Your mother arrived with bags of food and just went right to the kitchen.
She’s been cooking all afternoon. The house smells amazing, and the stuff she’s making is delicious.
Also, she brought me an omega lily that’s in a pot as pretty as the one Verity gave me.
How had I missed that? Oh, I’d been in meetings.
The pictures were of all sorts of familiar dishes as well as of her and my mom. Yes, my mother had made the pot the omega lily was in. I’d know her work anywhere.
Me
Are you okay? Is she being nice?
While my mother showing up and cooking even though we’d planned to cook for her was perfectly normal, this also felt 100% like a test for Grace.
Grace
I love her. She’s teaching me to make your favorite foods. It’s fun.
Relief coursed through me. Not that I expected her to dislike Grace. My mother had also loved Elaris, even if she was a disaster in the kitchen.
“Let’s go home and cook for Yiayia.” Riley stood in the doorway in black pants and a silver shirt, badge around her neck.
I wasn’t sure when Riley had started calling my mother Grandma, but she loved it–even though Evan and his other siblings had always called her Auntie.
“We just need Wes. Warning, she’s been at our house cooking with Grace.” I put my laptop into my bag.
“Oh. Okay. I could live with that. I hope it’s good, because I could eat a polar bear.”
Grabbing my things, we went down and collected Wes. All week Wes had been coming with me, so that Grace and Riley could take her motorcycle. Maybe next week I’d take mine and ride with them. Wes could get to work himself.
Wes grabbed his stuff. “Did you know that Grace has been alone with your mom all afternoon?”
“Yes. I hope Grace passes. Not that her failing means anything.” I shrugged as we went down to my car.
“Your mom is pretty nice. Also, considering your father was a physicist, Grace probably won’t confuse her too much,” Wes agreed as we got into the car, Riley scrambling for the front.
“I want to talk to Yiayia since I’m taking ceramics next year,” Riley added as she changed the radio station.
I started to drive. “She would love to discuss ceramics with you. Maybe when you visit, she’ll give you a lesson. We probably still have the pottery wheel that she taught me on.”
Her face brightened. “I’d love that. Question. Grace said lots of worlds were real and full of all types of people. Do you think there are worlds with magic or shapeshifters or superheroes?”
“Probably. Why?” That was an odd subject change.
“So, Grace said the Greek gods we have here are similar and have stories a lot like the ones in her world. I know there’s only so many ideas in the universe, and things are bound to overlap.
But… do you think there’s maybe a world of them and they know how to travel from place to place.
So, like they’re real and lived here, but eventually got bored and left for another world?
People like that probably don’t give a flying fuck what the Temporal Authority thinks and do what they want,” Riley rambled.
“It’s an excellent theory. That’s also a horrifying thought, and I hope to never encounter a world such as that or those who reside in it,” I replied as I drove us home. Yes, if Greek gods existed, I hoped to never, ever run into them.
When we got home, Jett and Brennan were already there, as was Grace.
The entire place smelled like my youth. My mother loved to cook–especially when she needed to work out her latest art project in her head.
I often came home to delicious things on the stove and her humming away in her studio.
We’d also often have people over for dinner, mostly my dad’s family, or Dr. and Mrs. K, or students who could use a good meal.
“The boys are setting the table, wash up.” My mother’s eyes fixed on Riley. “Look how much you’ve grown. Come give Yiayia a hug.”
I kissed Grace. "You're okay?”
“This is so much fun. We made baklava for dessert. I've never made phyllo dough from scratch before.” Excitement danced in her eyes.
Now two omega lilies sat in pots in the window that looked out into the backyard next to the glass doors that led out onto the porch.
“Go.” My mother shooed us upstairs.
When I came back down, changed, I went down to the basement and got one of the bottles of bourbon Grace had chosen for me.
I came back up and saw a sumptuous feast of all my favorites from childhood were on the table–and it wasn’t just Greek food.
“Is it okay if we try my bottle of bourbon tonight?” I asked as I got the glasses out of the hutch.
“I’d like that,” Brennan replied.
“I’m so curious about the tiny sausage octopuses in the mac and cheese,” Jett joked as he took a spoonful.
“The macaroni is the ocean.” Evan shrugged as he took some. “I haven’t had this in forever. It’s perfect after a day at the beach.”
I poured all the adults a little bourbon so that we could try it. “Grace chose this bottle for me especially.”
Brennan went through his whole process of observing the bourbon, sniffing, and tasting it. “Leather and chocolate with a hit of orange.” He took a larger sip. “I think this is even smoother than mine, but fuller-bodied.”
Wes took a sip. “It tastes like booze. Expensive booze.”
And this was why Brennan got annoyed when Wes drank his high-end liquor.
I took a sip, making note of what Brennan mentioned. I looked over at Grace. “Thank you, my good doctor. I feel like this suits me perfectly.”
“I’m glad you like it,” Grace replied.
“It’s quite nice,” my mother agreed.
“Mama, this is amazing,” I praised, starting with a bowl of meatball soup.
“It’s nice to have a competent helper.” She gave Grace a fond look. “Cooking is lonely with no assistant.”
I’d been her helper so many times, especially after we moved to Rock Springs. Evan’s family was over a lot, too. Though I had plenty of fond memories of my father cooking with her.
A little bit of loneliness crept through me. How I wished he were here.
“Ilena, this is delicious. Thank you. We could have cooked for you.” Brennan took some marinated lamb and roasted artichokes.
“No, no. It’s fun to cook for a family again.” She waved us off.
“How was your activity?” I asked Riley, adding some macaroni and cheese to my plate. Personally, I thought the tiny sausages sliced to look like octopi were a sweet touch, something she used to do in order to tempt me to eat as a small child.
“It was fun, very chemistry-oriented, but it was nice to get to know some of the interns in other departments. I like the internship. It’s almost as fun as punching people all day.” She picked up a dolmas and stuffed it in her mouth.
“Boxing camp. She was at boxing camp last week, Auntie,” Evan corrected, taking some roasted artichokes.
“Does everyone have everything they need for tomorrow?” Grace looked at everyone anxiously as she took some souvlaki.
Wes squeezed her hand. “We’re all set.”
“Good. We were able to squeeze in our unexpected guests. Oh, right, so we have some additional guests, one will be staying a couple of nights. The other guest room isn’t done, so she’ll have to sleep in the creepy doll room,” Grace added.
Brennan sighed. “Tru booked herself a plane ticket?”
“Verity is flying to Europe tomorrow for a modeling job. She managed to re-book her ticket with a long enough layover to attend our party. Mercy is coming and staying with us for a couple of days. I’m surprised her parents let her come, too, since who’s going to watch the kids with Verity gone? Hale?” Grace shook her head.
“That sounds disastrous.” Brennan shuddered.
“Grace recently found her biological father, and she has nine siblings. It’s a complex story, but her siblings are very nice. Hale is simply… rambunctious,” I told my mother.
Brennan snorted.
Grace glanced at her phone. “I think Tru assumes that she’s coming with them. She keeps sending me pictures of herself in different dresses.”
“I mean, she thinks she’s your favorite sister. I just love her. She has no filter, and I get rambling video messages with all the gossip. I think she thinks she’s making insta-chat videos like Mercy does. Did you know that Hope stuffed a rock up her nose?” Riley laughed.
“I sort of want to know why Hale isn’t allowed near bouncy castles,” Grace added.
Brennan shook his head. “No. I don’t want to know.”
“Well, I’m looking forward to your visit this summer,” my mother told everyone.
“I can’t wait.” Riley started talking about ceramics, and she and my mother had a lively conversation about it. We finished up dinner, and had coffee, baklava, and tiny orange and chocolate cakes. Grace also made slushies out of the peach bourbon.
“So delicious, Ilena,” Jett complimented. “Really, thanks for making such amazing food for us.”
She waved him off. “My pleasure. Grace should know all his favorite foods. Just like you should know all of hers, and how to cook them, or at least where to buy them.”
Her eyes narrowed as she looked over us.
“Of course, Mama,” I assured her.
“Wes and I just made something for her the other day, Auntie,” Evan added.
We tried to help her clean up, but she kept shooing everyone out of the kitchen. Finally, I just started doing dishes.
“Thank you.” As she worked, she told me about all the plans she had made to do things with the various relatives coming to town.
Besides the party tomorrow, some of my father’s family was hosting brunch on Sunday, and my mother’s family was hosting a lunch, so that we could spend more time with everyone.
“Do you like Grace?” I asked as I loaded the dishwasher.
“Yes. Very smart. Very kind. So very small. Your father would have made her his assistant and brought her everywhere because she’s travel-sized,” my mother laughed as she rinsed dishes and handed them to me.
I laughed, picturing it. “Yes, I could see them getting along. But that would mean either you moved to Rockland–though Rock Tech would love him–or we moved to Greece.”
And, for my father to be here. I wasn’t going to hope that the Temporal Authority ever released him. No. That was too dangerous. If it happened, then it did.
She gave me a look as she handed me another dish. “They have schools in Greece. They have Omega Centers and police in Greece. They even have places to open company offices in Greece. You can move some of your company. Your hotelier can buy a hotel in Greece so that you can visit more often.”
“That is a very thought-out plan.” No, I don’t think we’d be moving to Greece anytime soon. However, she seemed lonely. We should make more visits. Maybe I should see if there were any symposiums coming up near her.
“I’m getting nostalgic in my old age.” She shrugged. “While I like my quiet days in my studio, I enjoy traveling with my friends, and I love touring the world with my art, sometimes I just want my family.”
Noted.
“Well, hopefully we can visit more often,” I assured as we finished up the dishes.
She looked at me. “Is everything all right? Something feels… unsettled.”
Her words sent shivers down my spine. The last time she’d said that to me was right before Evan’s parents died. While she hadn’t said it before Elaris’ death, she had the night before the super collider blew up.
“I hope it’s nothing,” I said softly as I put a soap pod in the dishwasher.
“Me, too.” Her look went worried.
Indeed. With Grace, who knew what could be coming?