Defiance (Significance #3)(34)

Caleb leaned against me, or maybe I was falling onto him. "Show me the proof?"
"Tell her," Marla barked at him. He flinched and looked at me.
"I had an affair at your house with your mother while your dad was at work. I knew she got pregnant, so I called off the affair."
"You knew she was pregnant?" I asked and it hit me just then that I hadn't been able to read any of his thoughts. "Wait a minute. Why can't I hear your thoughts? You took her blood?" I accused and he stepped away a little."No," Marla answered for him. "You can't hear his thoughts because he made you. You have his blood running through your veins and you can't use your ability on yourself. It makes sense that you wouldn't be able to read him."
"But I could read my mother's thoughts."
"But she wasn't an Ace," she dragged out. Ok, that made sense and it pissed me off. My hands were shaking as I looked at that man. That man couldn't be my father. He was rail thin, scraggily brown hair on top of his egg shaped head with a pointy chin. He was weak and looked nothing like me as he cowered near Marla.
"I can't believe this," I said. "I just can't. Why would you tell me this now?"
"Well, I hadn't planned on telling you at all, but you brought Daddy dearest here, and the possibility of drama and the heartache I could cause was too much to pass up." I just stared at her with a hatred that I didn't know I was capable of. "Ask him something," Marla sang. "He'll make you believe it because it's true."
I thought about the vision I'd had of my mother and him. "Tell me what you used to say to my mom, when you'd…leave her," I said the words around my gag.
He sighed and his lips thinned. "I'd say, same time tomorrow."
That was it for me. I turned into Caleb with angry tears stinging my eyes. He held me and I could feel the heat from his glare over my shoulder at the one who made me cry.
His voice was harsh. "You're a real piece of work, you know that?"
"I'm here now, though," my father was saying with little conviction. No, scratch that, double scratch that. I was not going to call him my father. My father was downstairs. This douche bag was just a sperm donor. Caleb choked on his laughter at my thought as I turned to look at David, the sperm donor.
"I have a father."
"I just…feel bad." He reached out to give me an awkward sideways hug, and I didn't pull back. He had gloves on, but a little piece of skin from his glove to his sleeve was exposed and it touched mine. I jerked back with a hiss. Not from a vision…but an offense mark. I gasped at the horror of my father wanting to cause me harm, but it all blew up from there when Caleb reared back and punched the sperm donor's jaw so hard that I heard the crack as he fell back against the stone.
Twice in the same hour, two of the men in my life had knocked the lights out of two scumbags who had done me wrong.
  
"Are you crazy?" Marla shrieked at him.
"Nope," Caleb said and looked down at the man who groaned and held his battered face. "You want another one of those? You come and mess with my girl again."
Then he took my hand and led me into the stairwell.
I was reeling. I was proud and frightened and pissed and fragile all at once. I felt like I was about to overload again. Caleb stopped midway down the stairs and looked at me. He took my arm in his hand and did a half growl half sigh at the offense mark sitting there. His touch began to take the dark mark away and soon it was just a bad memory.
"Just…" he started, "I know that this is crazy, I mean the implications of what they said alone…"
"I know." I shook my head. "They're saying I was an Ace before I met you."
It was his turn to shake his head. "I've never heard of an Ace and a human having kids. I… We need to tell Dad and Gran and see what they think."
"Yeah, but first we need to occupy my father and Bish. They can't find out."
He nodded and asked me silently if I was ok enough to go down. I smiled at him, somehow able to even after everything. We emerged in the ball room to see a full on party. Music was blaring from the speakers and everyone was doing a hundred things at once.
My dad was involved in a horseshoe match with Peter and Rachel. Rachel was cheating her butt off. I laughed as my dad scratched his head and picked his shoe up once again in confusion. When he turned his back, Peter and Rachel laughed and giggled. I could have sat there and watched that all night.
Bish was tossing a football back and forth with someone. My steps faltered when I realized it was Jonathan. But then I understood again when Bish shot the ball to him and Jonathan curled his lip in pain and shook his hand out when he caught it. Jen and Maria were watching the tossing massacre with Gran who laughed and egged them on. Ok, everyone seemed to be pretty occupied, so we went to Gran first.
He tried to find a little bit of something to tell Gran and is mind ran the scenario through his mind. He had a thought. If only we’d met Marla and that guy in my bedroom, we'd never have known something was up with him because there would have been no offense mark. He was grateful for the knowledge that my father apparently meant me harm, but hated how we had to get it.
Caleb asked if Gran could come with us for a minute, but that peaked Jen's interest…which peaked Bish's interest and he gave up his game to come to us.
Then an idea hit me, causing me to gasp. Bish and Jen looked at me concerned, but Caleb had heard my thought. He squinted, thinking it over, then shrugged. It might work.
"Come on," I said to Jen and Bish. "Gran, can you keep Maria here for just a minute?"
"Sure, honey."
Bish frowned. "What's this about, Maggie?"
"Yeah," Jen agreed, "what he said."
"We’ll explain it all, just not here." I led the way to my room. Once we entered, I stay turned toward the door to gather my thoughts. What Caleb said had given me the idea. If we'd had the 'meeting' in here instead we'd have never known that my real father was scum bag because no offense mark would show…because my room is charmed.
Then why wouldn't it work so that Jen and Bish could have a few minutes together, and actually touch after longing to do so for so long, and not worry about imprinting?I turned and saw a very uncomfortable Jen and an intrigued Bish.
"I repeat," Bish said, "what's this about?"
"Ok, hear me out," I said and raised my palms towards them. "The council charmed my room, so that Caleb and I wouldn't be able to…" I stopped and looked at Bish. Hmm, not going to bring up mutualizing to that one. "Um, to have any abilities in here. So my abilities nor Caleb's work, and we can't have our healing touch either and we've been in withdrawal two mornings already because of it."
"Ok," Bish dragged clearly not understanding, but Jen did. She gave me her best nosy sister-in-law glare.
"Maggie, no."
"Jen, yes." I stepped forward and gripped her hand in mine. "I've been watching and from talking to you both, you are in withdrawal for him already. Your bodies understand that there should be an imprint connecting you and something is keeping if from being. Now, while this won't help with that part, because your touch won't heal, you won't imprint in here either. You can just have a few minutes to be together."
She looked at him, and boy did he get it now. He looked ready to pounce, but she shook her head.
"I can't, Maggie." Her gaze went to his as if magnets were involved. "Bish…it won't solve anything."
"But it won't hurt anything, either," he said humbly and begged her with his eyes. "I won't hurt you. I'll stay away from you if that's what you really want, but I need you to know that it's not what I want. Every second I live begs to be with you."
She sighed a painful noise. "I…" She looked at me again.
"If we can't figure this out, and stop the vision, then this may be your only chance to touch each other. These few days, in this room."
"It'll hurt too much when it's over," Jen reasoned. "Caleb," she implored his help. "You wouldn't want to only touch Maggie once and never again would you? It would hurt too much, be too much of a reminder of what you couldn't have?"
He rubbed the back of his neck in awkwardness at having this discussion with his sister. "I would've touched her had I'd known it was my only time to. It would've been worth it."
That was it. The dam in Bish broke and he made his steps to her. Her breaths were loud as she backed up to the wall. Just before he reached her she finally spoke.
"Don't," she breathed, her arm outstretched, but we all could the lie in that word. 
He collided with her in a crash of everything that had been building up between them. He didn't peck and gather her in his arms like some butterfly, he went straight for the kill. He groaned as he pulled her to him and practically swallowed her small frame whole with his huge body. She was no longer fighting as she clung to his hair with one hand, while the other was trapped between them. But their mouths… Their mouths were gentle and full of love as they kissed, but when Jen sighed his name, it was time to go.
I pulled Caleb out of the room. He had already closed his eyes and was pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Oh, my goodness! It worked!" I said in excitement. It was a small gift, a small battle in the middle of a war, but even that felt so huge with everything else going on. Bish and Jen were some of the best people I knew and it hurt me for them to be in so much pain.