17. Aerin
17
AERIN
E ver since I walked into Adela’s home to work on improving my grounding, she told me to make myself comfortable on the couch, but has shown no sign she’s ready to start practice.
I’d remind her why I’m here, but since my powers are in a flux and will only lead to more frustration when I can’t do anything with them, I don’t bring it up.
“I wonder what Mack’s surprise is,” I say. “Did he tell you, Adela?”
She takes a sip of her herbal tea and places the China teacup and saucer on the wooden coffee table in front of us. “Not even a hint.”
“He said it was something that covers a large area,” I say, watching her closely. “And one night, I found him working on some plans for a house big enough for everyone. Could that be it?”
“Perhaps.” Her expression doesn’t change. “But I wouldn’t know anything about that. Did you not like your tea?”
I scrutinize her through narrowed eyes. “You know something, don’t you?” The woman would excel at poker. She gives absolutely nothing away.
She passes me a remote. “Did you want to pick something to watch?”
That’s another thing. First the sitting on the couch, then the offer of tea, and now TV?
Does she not know why I’m here?
I open my mouth to remind her that I’m here to work on my powers, not watch a TV show. Then I remember my powers don’t work, so I shut my mouth, take the remote from her and start channel surfing. “I’m not sure what I want to watch.”
Outside, the sound of a car pulling up briefly distracts me from my hunt. Most days I like to read with Mack or we go for walks if we’re not out in the garden, so we don’t watch too much TV. When we do, it’s late, and I’m snoring five minutes after a movie started.
When I recall the strange phone calls at the house and the unknown shifter marking a tree outside the hotel, the car outside makes me nervous. “Are you expecting someone, Adela?”
Adela is sipping from her tea, not the least bit concerned. “Gregory and Jude back from their errand.”
Adela had said they’d gone out and would be back soon when I asked where my grandparents were. But when I pressed her on what that errand was, she was vague.
I eye her suspiciously.
She has to know about Mack’s plans to build a new home for all of us, yet she won’t admit to it. She invited me to her house to work on my grounding, but the moment I arrived, she nudged me toward a couch in the den, handed me a cup of rosehip tea and is encouraging me to watch a TV show.
“What’s going on, Adela?”
The door swings open before she can respond, and my grandparents enter the house, smiling.
“We have pie and cake,” my grandpa announces, lifting a large white paper bag that smells delicious.
I look at Adela. “So much for working on my grounding.”
She continues innocently sipping from her teacup. But I know exactly what this is.
“Did you arrange all this?” I ask her.
“You’re going to have very little time for yourself in a few months, so it’s important you enjoy this quiet time while you can,” Adela says.
My grandma sinks onto the couch beside me. “After I had your mom and Ivy, any spare time I had just disappeared. Enjoy the peace and quiet while you have it. I promise you will miss it.”
I give her a hug and my grandpa says, “I’ll be back with plates and napkins for this. I hope you like cherry pie.”
My stomach grumbles happily. “I love cherry pie.”
He grins at me and wanders out to the kitchen with the paper bag.
They’re completely different people now. It’s been months since I first saw them in Virginia, where the previous Alpha of the Lonergan Pack was treating them so cruelly.
They’ve put on all the weight they must have lost and it’s rare that I don’t see them smiling or relaxed.
“I’m so glad I found you,” I say, squeezing my grandma’s hand. “It’s a weird thing to admit and be pleased about, but if Nolan hadn’t kidnapped me, I might never have met you.”
“We’d have found each other,” she says firmly. “I don’t know how, but I’m sure of it.”
“What was my mom like?” I ask, putting the TV remote away.
We’ve spoken about my mom several times, and about Ivy too, but I will never get tired of listening to stories about my mom when she was younger.
I still have the handmade bracelet that she made and which Jude gave me back in Virginia. It’s tucked away, safe in a jewelry box at home, and I treasure it. I’m so scared to break it or lose it that I almost never wear it. But I do look at it often, just to remind myself that it’s there and that I have something that belonged to mom. It’s like a tangible piece of her.
Jude, my grandma, grins at me. “Fearless. Messy. She could go on a five-minute walk and come back to the house covered with leaves. She had the brightest smile that would light up a room.”
“Dad never talked about her,” I say.
Her smile dims. “I heard. I’d like to think he kept quiet about her to stop Nolan from going after you, but every child needs to know something about their mother.”
Nolan, the former Alpha of the Lonergan Pack, had a long time ago been in a relationship with my mom. It didn’t last. My mom fled him and her childhood pack when he refused to let her go. And surprisingly, my mom discovered my dad was her fated mate.
She died after she gave birth to me, so I knew nothing about her growing up. Just that we shared the same long dark brown hair and blue-gray eyes, and we were both omegas. Now, more than ever, I wish she was here.
“I know she wasn’t pregnant with me in Virginia, but do you know if the other pregnant omega’s powers stopped working like mine did?”
I hold my breath as I wait for my grandma’s answer.
She shakes her head. “No, Aerin.”
So whatever is happening to me has nothing to do with me being an omega.
“Your powers will come back,” my grandpa says, carrying in a tray with four slices of pie. “Things don’t just disappear for no reason.”
“It came back when Mack said he loved me and I saw his aura,” I say, taking the plate of cherry pie he offers me.
He nods firmly. “Then it’s not truly gone. Just… idle.”
“Your gift is unique,” Adela says. “I’ve never known anyone to use pain as a weapon, and I’ve asked everyone I know. I’ve been thinking that Mack might be right. You’re in a new season of your life and that is naturally going to have an effect on the things you can do.”
I sigh. “Unique means this is going to be something I have to figure out on my own. Right?”
My grandpa gives me an encouraging smile. “Not on your own. Whatever questions you have, we will answer them as best as we can.”
“I know. But it’s not the same as having an instruction manual handy, or someone who can actually tell me why my powers don’t want to work anymore.”
My grandma wraps her arm around me and kisses the top of my head. “You’re about to be a mother. There’s no instruction manual for that. You’ll feel your way, like the rest of us do.”
“Things will work themselves out. They usually do,” Adela adds.
“We can try calling Ivy,” my grandma suggests.
I’ve considered it more than once, but she’s a pack leader. Whatever problems she’s facing that have her so distracted seems serious. Too serious to speak for our conversations to last more than a few minutes. I can’t bother her with my issues.
Could they be having some kind of civil war like the Dacres are and she doesn’t want to tell me and worry us? Is she pregnant with Connall’s child and they’re both worried Mack and I won’t be happy for them?
“A little control would be nice,” I say.
“Control is overrated,” Adela says quietly. “Now eat your pie and we can talk through baby names. Have you thought about if you want something modern or traditional?”
I shrug. “I was going to see what felt right after I give birth. Mack and I talked about it and we have some names that we like, but we won’t know which one is right until we meet her, I think. Does that make sense?”
It feels like a massive responsibility to give someone a name they’ll have for the rest of their life. We both want it to be right.
“A good idea.” Grandpa nods. “I’m not sure I like Thumper for a granddaughter.”
“Thumper is probably going to stick around as a nickname.” I smile at Adela. “Thanks for this.”
“Thanks for what?”
“Blowing off lessons to spend time with you, my grandparents, and giving me another live in the moment experience.”
She nods. “That surprise Mack is planning in the nursery…”
“What about it?” I take a big bite of cherry pie.
“You don’t know what it is, do you? Usually I can pull most things from him, but he’s being so closed mouth. Have you snuck into the nursery to see what it is?”
I cough and laugh. “ Adela! ”
“It has to do with the baby, so makes sense it’s some toy. Maybe a playhouse?” Grandpa nods as if he’s worked it all out. “I heard Bennett ask if he needed help, so it must be some project.”
We eat pie as we consider Mack’s surprise.
“I haven’t heard any banging, so it can’t be that,” I eventually say. “I guessed a rocking horse, but he laughed. He said it covered a large area. Whatever that meant.”
Grandpa’s expression is thoughtful. “Maybe one of those big train tracks that covers the entire floor.”
Grandma shakes her head. “For a baby ? No. It has to be a swing set or something that he’s building in the nursery and will sneak out after you’ve had the baby, so you don’t see it.”
We fall silent as we think about what this big surprise could be. Mack has never locked the nursery door. In fact, I don’t think there’s even a lock on the door, so I could open it whenever I wanted.
But I don’t want to.
I’ve had precious few happy surprises in my life, that this is one I want to draw out and have fun guessing what it might be. From the enthusiasm of my grandparents and Adela as they make suggestions and swiftly reject them, they’re enjoying this guessing game as much as I am.