Chapter 2 #3
They found another sight where she was going to need to put in new plugs.
It was an easy job and didn’t need to be inspected by the man coming tomorrow.
As soon as she got the one put in, she was asked to put them all around the kitchen.
It was good work, and she didn’t have anything else to do until her son returned.
With the power off again, she was able to make short work of the plugs.
Just moving from one to the next, she had about forty of them finished in the time it took her to do ten in the different rooms. Once she got into a groove, she worked fast. Walsh was there when she was putting her tools away for the day. It was nearly quitting time anyway.
She found out that her interpreter had gone home when she finished the kitchen. She’d have to call her boss about leaving her without help. It left her without anyone to help her out, and if not for her son coming in earlier, she might well have missed something that needed to be done.
The next time she saw Walsh, he was clean-shaven. It looked all right on him, but she had liked his mustache better. It just needed to be trimmed. Smiling at her, she looked around to see who he was looking at. When she realized it was her, she didn’t know what to do.
“I’d like to talk to you.” Nodding, she said that her son would be back soon. “Yes, I guess we’ll need him too. Do you know what mates are?” Nodding again, he smiled bigger. “I’m your mate. I belong to you.”
Shaking her head, she knew that she looked foolish.
Backing away from him, he said he’d never hurt her, but she couldn’t breathe.
Nothing could have prepared her for him saying those words to her, and she was suddenly afraid.
If not for Gravely standing close to her, she might well have passed out.
As it was now, she was having trouble focusing on what he was saying.
“Breathe. Just breathe. I didn’t mean to frighten you.” She nodded, then shook her head. “Come on now, just breathe, and you’ll be fine. I’ll stand right here until you’re better. All right?”
He couldn’t be her mate. She was too old for him.
At twenty-nine, she knew that someday she might meet a man who would want to go out with her, but never a mate.
She didn’t need another man in her life.
Ever. Sitting down when a chair suddenly touched the back of her legs, she put her head between her knees and breathed.
This just couldn’t be happening right now.
She didn’t know how long she sat in the chair, but the crew was headed out the door.
She wasn’t bothered by anyone. She needed her son so that he could tell Walsh that there had been some kind of mistake.
It couldn’t be her. She watched the door waiting for her son, and when he arrived back at the house, she nearly knocked him down, wanting him to talk to the Walsh person.
“Calm down, I can’t understand you when you’re going that fast.” She tried to reason with Thatcher about what was going on, but he needed her to be calm. She was far from that. “He told you you’re his mate? That’s all right. I can talk to him. Just let me get my bearings straight.”
When Thatcher walked away to where Walsh was, she felt a little calmer. No one would want to be mated to her, not with her past. Olivia was damaged goods. Not just because of her hearing and loss of voice, but she was told she couldn’t have any children either. Not since Thatcher was born.
“Mom, he wants to talk to you.” She shook her head no. “You have to tell him something. You can’t just say no, it can’t be when you know as well as I do that it could well be that you’re mates.”
“I’m not capable of giving him what he needs.” Thatcher asked her how she knew that when she’d not even spoken to him. “Tell him about my past, then he’ll understand. Tell him about Winchester and the nine days I spent with him.”
“You’ll have to tell him too.” She looked at her son and pleaded with him to help her. “He’s the first man in nearly seventeen years that has given you a second look, Mom. You have to let him know what happened so that he can make a decision on his own.”
“What if he wants children? Then what do I tell him?” He told her to tell him the truth. “I can’t be what he wants. He’s a wealthy man who will need a wife who can at least hold her own in a conversation.”
“He’ll just have to learn sign language, that’s all.
” She glared at her son. “You taught me you can teach anyone how to talk to you. Just tell him what happened, and you’ll be able to work something out.
You know how mates work. For all you know, now that he’s found you, he won’t be able to function without you. You have to give him something.”
“I have nothing to give.” She watched as Thatcher spoke to Sidney.
She didn’t even know if he really was the homeowner.
There had been so many of them coming and going since she’d been on the job that she didn’t know who was who.
Packing up her things, glad now that she didn’t have to bum a ride home, she had her gear near the car when both men came out of the house. It was Walsh who spoke to her calmly.
“I need to talk to you. All right? I won’t harm you in any way, but I’d like to know what happened that has you so upset.
” She simply nodded. “All right. Good then. We can have dinner tonight. Thatcher said that you two usually have pizza on Friday night, so we can do that. If you don’t mind, we can pick it up and eat it here if you want. That way, no one will bother us.”
Giving him the thumbs up, she agreed to eat with him.
Thatcher was going to be there in the event that things got out of hand, and he could also translate for her if he didn’t understand her.
This was going to be a nightmare. Not one that she wanted to go over again today.
Looking at her son, she told him how sorry she was, and he laughed.
“You’re always getting me out of one bit of trouble to the next.
For a change, I get to help you.” She laughed with him and looked at Walsh.
“His name is Sidney, the homeowner, as you guessed. As soon as he orders the pizza, I’m going to go and get it, and we can talk.
He’s a nice man and well respected. Also, he’s a dragon. ”
“Dragon?” He nodded. “I’ve never known a dragon before, have you? I would guess that explains the double ovens and the larger-than-life stove. It would take a lot to feed them all when they’re together.”
“Mom, you’re going to be just fine. Tell him like you told me all those years ago, and it’ll be fine.” She didn’t say anything back to Thatcher because she knew better. Men did not want damaged goods, and she was about as damaged as she could be. “I love you, Mom. You’ll see. This will work out.”
She didn’t know how. But just so he knew what was going on, she’d tell him everything that had happened and how, at thirteen, she’d had a child.