Chapter 6
Christian slowed his car as he drove onto Kaid’s property. As they passed Kaid’s house, he slowed even more, actually coming to a stop when they both started grinning.
“Oh, man, I miss that feeling,” Analise said, watching Harley outside early in the morning, still wearing her pajamas with her coat over them as she jumped on a brand-new trampoline.
Maverik, Valerie, Ronan were laughing and taking pictures with their phones as Hellen jumped with Harley.
Hellen noticed them and jumped extra high, pulling her legs up in a toe touch while making a goofy face at them.
Christian pressed the button to roll down Analise’s window. “Merry Christmas!” he shouted.
“Merry Christmas,” Analise repeated, waving at everybody.
“Where y’all coming from this early? Nobody without little ones should be up this early, not even on Christmas,” Maverik said.
“Just getting the day started. Dropping ‘Lise off on my way home for breakfast with the family,” Christian answered. “Merry Christmas, y’all. I’ll see you for Christmas dinner.” Christian and Analise waved again, he rolled up the window and took his foot off the brake.
As Christian’s car slowly made the turn toward Bam’s and Everly’s house, Valerie and Maverik shared a knowing look.
“Don’t say anything to Havoc. No reason to upset him today,” Valerie said.
“He knows,” Havoc said from the porch behind where they stood.
Valerie and Maverik turned quickly, surprised by his comment. “How long you been standing there?” Maverik asked.
“Long enough,” Havoc answered.
“Well, I don’t know what to say about all this,” Maverik said.
“Nothing happened. They’re just friends. She wandered over and what was he supposed to do? Turn her away?” Havoc asked.
“They were awful close before,” Valerie said.
“Yes, and they’re awful close now. They’re best friends. That’s it,” Havoc insisted, sipping from the steaming cup of coffee he was holding.
“If you’re sure…” Valerie said.
Maverik watched his son, sizing him up. “He’s sure. He went over there. Didn’t you?” Maverik asked, starting out speaking to Valerie, and ending up speaking to Havoc.
Havoc just looked at him, not bothering to answer.
“Daddy! Look what I can do!” Harley called out, waiting until Hellen got out of the way so she could do the flip she’d already perfected.
“Whoa! I can’t even do that!” Havoc exclaimed. “How’d you learn that so fast?”
“Aunt Hellen showed me,” she said proudly, perfectly executing the flip again.
“You playing with fire, Havoc. You know how ‘Lise feels,” Maverik said. “Just gonna hurt all over again if you don’t leave it alone.”
“Analise, not ‘Lise… I’ve been reminded to use her full name. And Analise doesn’t even know how Analise feels.”
“And you do?” Maverik asked.
“No, I don’t. But I do know how I feel. And I know that Christian told me that she’s proud of me, that she was actually speaking kindly of me. That’s a huge change.”
“It is. I’ll give you that. I just don’t want to see you fall into that chasm again,” Maverik said.
Havoc took another sip of coffee. He turned his head and looked directly into Maverik’s eyes. “Daddy, I never climbed out of it.”
“Daddy! Come jump with us!” Harley shouted.
“Yeah, Havoc, come jump with us!” Hellen added.
Havoc smiled and finished off his coffee, then headed down the steps of the porch, pausing to hand the empty cup to his father. “But I’m planning to start trying to live again.”
“Merry Christmas to me,” Valerie said, kissing Havoc’s cheek.
“Maybe. We’ll see,” Havoc answered.
“What do you need to help you get to that point?” Valerie asked.
“Nothing anybody can help with but me,” Havoc answered.
~~~
Analise opened the front door of her parents’ home and slipped quietly inside. She made it halfway down the hallway toward her bedroom before anyone noticed she was home.
“Analise? Or Emmalyn?” her mother called out from the kitchen.
Analise sighed. She was a grown adult living on her own for the last several years, and still felt like a guilty teenager whenever she did something to disappoint her parents. “It’s me,” she called out and changed direction, moving back toward the living room and the kitchen on the other side of it.
“Did you really think you could sneak back in and I wouldn’t know you’d been gone all night?” Everly asked.
“No, ma’am,” Analise answered.
“Mmhmm,” Everly said, with brows raised. She looked at her daughter for a few seconds longer before she nodded her head toward the coffee pot. “Got a fresh pot there if you need some caffeine.”
“Thank you,” Analise said, moving gratefully toward the cabinet with the coffee cups and smiling when she found the one she’d always drunk from as a kid. It was a ceramic Santa mug, white beard, rosy cheeks, blue eyes, red hat, and the tail of the hat with the pompom on it formed the handle. She made herself a cup of coffee, complete with her favorite vanilla flavored almond milk and took a seat at the bar to watch her mother cook.
Everly smiled at her as she finished up the waffle batter and poured a ladle full into the Belgian waffle maker, closing the top to wait for it to cook. “So, were you with Havoc last night?” Everly asked, doing a little dance in place.
Analise’s smile fell and she seemed to deflate a little. “No,” she said, shaking her head gently. “I was with Christian.”
“Oh, ‘Lise.”
“No, it’s not what you think. We’re just still best friends after all these years.”
“I know that, but I also know he wanted more at one time.”
“We’ve moved past that, Mom. I was just really struggling after running into Havoc and his daughter. Honestly, I was thinking about heading home today. I still might later this evening or tomorrow morning at the latest. I needed some balm.”
“Balm?” Everly asked.
“Yes. Like on a wound. He’s my friend. he makes my hurts better. Like a friend does. Nothing happened, at all. I just knew he’d be awake… insomnia, and I really needed my brain to be entertained, so I went over. It’s been a while since I let my Fox out. I wandered a little, then ended up at his place. We fell asleep watching Hallmark.”
Everly nodded as she opened the waffle maker and removed the waffle before pouring in more batter. “I don’t want you to go home yet. You just got here.”
“I know, but it’s just so much more drama than I thought it’d be.”
“Did you really think you’d waltz in, have a bright stress-free holiday, then waltz right back out?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
“Analise… it’s family. There is always some kind of drama and stress during the holiday. Especially with the whole clan being together and living in the same place like we do.”
“I know. I just didn’t expect to have to see Havoc.”
“Look, I know it’s not fair to say it, especially to you, but if your own mom can’t be honest with you, who can, right?”
“Mom…”
“No, don’t ‘Mom’ me. I was just really hoping that since you both ended up here at the same time, being civil, and the way you took care of Harley, maybe you’d get another chance.”
“There will be no other chances for us.”
“There should be.”
“You know what I went through!”
“I know exactly what you both went through. I wanted to run over him, remember. Still do. But the thing is… he’s your mate. He’s grown up and has become a fantastic father. He’s not the wild kid he was back then, and quite honestly, you two got a bum deal. Who the heck finds their mate as toddlers? You didn’t get to grow up separately and live your lives until you were ready to mate. You had to experience all the wildness together, and it drove you apart. And I really, really want you to have what I have with your dad. And I know you won’t get that without your fated mate.”
“Well, I kind of met someone,” Analise admitted.
“You met someone? Is he a shifter? Possibly a mate? Remember that Maverik had two…”
Analise huffed a small laugh. “No, Beau’s a human. But he’s very kind, and so smart and funny. Very charming. We go to dinner every now and again and go to the farmer’s market when I’m in town.”
“Oh. Well, we all know that’s not often.”
“No, but at least I’m not sitting home alone when I’m home.”
“I’m glad for that at least,” Everly said.
Analise sipped her coffee. “He really has done a great job, hasn’t he? I’m happy for him. So proud of the man he’s become.”
Everly opened her mouth to point out that she’d never met Beau, but realized from the things Analise was saying, she meant Havoc.
“He’s certainly turned into an excellent father. But he has been all along. That baby is the only reason he went along with the things he stood by that girl back then.”
Analise shook her head. “He stood by her like he did back then because it was the right thing to do. And the baby. There was no way he was giving up his child.”
“You’re right. Even in the middle of all the teenage angst, he had a measure of integrity,” Everly said, slicing bananas and strawberries to put on the waffles when they were all done.
“Yeah. Shame he couldn’t have applied that integrity to me and what we had,” Analise mumbled as she slid off the barstool and went to refill her coffee cup.
“You shouldn’t have had to see all that. Most shifters have the chance to grow up, make their mistakes, experience other people, then meet their mate later. Not witness it right beside them.”
The sound of the front door opening stopped their conversation, then Emmalyn called out happily. “Yoohoo! Anybody awake yet?”
“No, we’re all still sleeping. And why are you calling me to tell me to get home when you’re not even here?!” Analise asked indignantly.
Emmalyn came into view, her hair mussed, sheet prints still across her face, smiling sheepishly. “Sorry. I thought that if maybe you were home before me, they wouldn’t be as upset when I got home.”
Analise glared at her sister. “Because they’d have already taken out their irritation on me.”
“Something like that.”
“Where were you?” Everly asked, propping a hand on her hip.
“Nowhere I shouldn’t have been,” Emmalyn answered defensively.
“Emmalyn…”
“Mom, I swear. It’s all good. I got it under control.”
“Got what under control?” Analise asked.
“I have no idea. I’d like to know myself,” Everly said.
“Look. I’m a grown ass woman. I work for the FBI for God’s sake. I am well aware of how to take care of myself. I got this. I know what I’m doing.”
“Unless somebody’s playing you,” Analise said.
“Really? You think that I’m in danger of being played? Do you remember who used to take up for you and keep you safe? Me. It was me. And I’m a damn profiler. I’m the one who analyzes everybody else, tears them down and lets the agents know who they’re looking for. Nobody’s going to play me.”
“You get a little too confident, you can easily overestimate yourself,” Everly said.
“Just like everybody else underestimates me. I got this. Y’all will see,” Emmalyn said.
“All I know is you are both grown women and I can’t tell you anything about how to live your lives, but I can tell you what I want for you and what I don’t,” Everly said.
“Merry Christmas!” Bam said, walking up the hallway from the master suite. While his Christmas morning greeting was standard, the tone with which it was delivered was less than jovial.
“Thank you, Daddy! Merry Christmas,” both girls answered at once, going to hug him and kiss his cheek.
“Breakfast ready?” he asked, walking into the kitchen to hug Everly and kiss the side of her neck before going to the fridge to get out the half-n-half he liked in his coffee.
“Just about. Bacon’s done, and one more waffle, we’ll be ready,” Everly answered.
“Alright. Girls get everything else on the table for your mom,” he said.
“Yes, sir,” they both answered and immediately did as he said. They were grown, but this was still Mama and Daddy.
“Don’t forget the powdered sugar, and the syrup,” Everly added. Three minutes later Everly was carrying in a huge platter of Belgian waffles to place in the middle of the table. Bam was already seated and Analise was right behind her mother carrying in the fruit she’d sliced up. After they were all seated, they served themselves from the heaps of bacon, waffles and all the fixings.
Bam made a show of putting his fork and knife down on the edges of his plate, his hands flat on the tabletop on either side of his plate. Analise and Emmalyn both stopped spreading butter on their waffles and looked at him.
“There’s a thing called respect that I thought we’d taught you both about. What you do when you are off living your own lives, I have no control over, though I hope you treat yourself with some kind of respect. But when you’re here, in the family home, you will treat us with respect whether you like it or not. Showing us respect does not include traipsing out at all hours and staying wherever is it you happened to land. We deserve better, and so do you. If that’s how you treat yourself in your day-to-days, I hope you figure out you’re worth more. Now, I don’t wanna know where or what. In fact, I don’t want to talk about it again, and I will not tolerate it happening again while you’re here. Clear?” Bam asked.
“Yes, sir,” Analise answered, crushed that she’d disappointed her father.
“Yes, sir. It’s clear,” Emmalyn said.
“Good. Now thank your mother for this delicious breakfast, and when we’re done go and get changed. We’ve got some presents to open and a Christmas day to enjoy.”
Everly smiled to herself as she enjoyed her waffle. Bam very rarely got onto the girls about anything. He didn’t need to. So, when he did, that made it even more devastating to them. She raised her gaze to him and found him smiling at her.
She puckered her lips and sent him a kiss.
He grinned at her and took another bite of his waffle.
They were still as in love as they’d been in their first days of bonding, and even happier than they’d ever been. It was all they’d ever wanted for their own kids, and both hoped one day, their daughters would figure it all out.
When breakfast was over and Analise and Emmalyn had both gone to get cleaned up and dressed, Bam helped Everly clean up the kitchen and get all the gifts out from under the tree.
“Where was Analise?” Bam asked, his voice a whisper so his daughters wouldn’t know he was asking.
“She was with Christian. Swears it’s just because they are best friends and she needed a shoulder because Havoc surprised her by being here,” Everly said.
“I didn’t scent anything on her. So, she’s probably telling the truth,” Bam said.
“I think so. She did say some nice things about Havoc, though.”
Bam nodded.
“I know you don’t like the idea, but it’s the only way she’ll have what we do,” Everly said.
Bam nodded again, and kept stacking the gifts by name for when the girls were finished getting dressed.
“Did you scent Emmalyn, though?”
“No, I did not. I was trying not to,” Bam said, looking queasy. “Do I want to know?”
“It’s him. I’m not sure it’s finalized, but at least it’s a step in the right direction.”
“I just don’t understand what we did to have two of them that can’t do things the old-fashioned way,” Bam said.
“Analise was destroyed by her mate once, she’s got serious trust issues. Emmalyn is just so damn headstrong it’s her way or no way. You know that.”
“It was rhetorical. I wasn’t really looking for an answer,” Bam said, smiling at his mate. “And I really meant it. I don’t want to know,” he said, looking sickly again, “they’re my little girls.”
“They’re grown women, Bam.”
“Not to me!” he whispered harshly.
“Aw, honey, it’s okay. Everybody grows up.”
“Not them,” he said stubbornly.