So I showed Caleb the vision he showed me of that day of me in my red dress, to remind him that this wasn’t our destiny. The vision showed exactly what was coming for us: him and me, Lynne and Kyle, my bare feet on green, lush grass, and so many smiling faces.
The council knew that we were going to be married one day and the fact that they didn't trust us to do what our bodies needed during sleep, to keep us from pain, was pretty much a slap in the face.
Caleb lifted his head, a little sheepishly, and looked at me. I bit my lip and smiled, but that quickly slid away as I realized we were surrounded by energy ribbons. I looked up and saw the picture of us twirling in our wedding attire in the air above us. Crap.
I hadn't meant to, but I'd just shown the whole room the very private vision of us at our wedding.
I looked over to see Donald watching. He looked at me differently, I could see that. He was just now realizing that he no idea the things that I could do.
I smiled at him as I spoke to hopefully soften the blow of my words. "I plan to marry him, in fact, it's more than a plan. I will marry him, but as you saw, it'll be on our time. My father isn't here or my brother, and I know that it's tradition for the human to leave her world behind when she joins you, but I didn't have that much to begin with. Bish and my dad are all that I have, and they…" I wondered if I should tell them about the fact that they both knew about us all. I decided against it. "…are really important to me. It's not really an option that they be present at the wedding or not. I want them there and I want to do it at Peter's house. This isn't because I don't want to get married, I just don't want to be told that I have to. I'm sorry if you think I'm being disrespectful-"
"No, no, of course not," Donald said quickly and shortly. Then he gulped as if he recognized that he made a mistake. He smiled a crap-eating smile. "I understand, and forgive me for suggesting that you do something you weren't ready for."
I opened my mouth to protest, but Caleb grabbed my arm. He shook his head at me in an exasperated way that said to not put in the effort.
"Enough," Caleb said and gripped my hand. "I'm taking Maggie to her room.""And you'll be dropping her off and then heading upstairs to your own room, right?"
"Of course, assemblyman," Caleb said dryly and turned to his family. "Night."
"Night, you two," Rachel said and hugged us both at the same time. She whispered to us. "Please don't provoke them. We'll get through this." She leaned back. "Caleb, just…hold hands on the way to get as much touch as possible before you leave." She grimaced. "I'm so sorry, Maggie. It's not…usually this way."
"So I've been told," I said with a smile. It wasn't Rachel's fault that this was happening. "Don't worry about us. We'll be alright."
"Alright, everyone," another assemblyman called loudly. "Lights out is in fifteen minutes. Everyone make your way to your rooms, please."
"Come on," Caleb said to me and didn't wait for anyone or anything else as he towed me behind him. I waved at Peter and Jen and our family, who all stood off to the side looking very unhappy. Everyone else bowed slightly as I made my way out of the room.
As we made our way to my bedroom, wherever that was, I couldn't help but ask my burning questions. "Why did Gran stay so quiet? She's always so vocal about everything."
"It's tricky. She can't be biased, she has to seem like she's not just making decisions for our family, but for everyone. If they think she's being unfair, they'll vote her out and the Jacobsons won't have a say on the council anymore. But they can't touch her unless she gives them a reason."
Our shoulders brushed as we walked and it sent shivers through me. One, because he was Caleb and his touch did powerful things to me. And two, I knew I'd be without that touch all night and I didn't even want to think about it.
"I'm sorry. Like I said, it's usually not like-"
"This," I finished for him. "I know. It's ok."
"The council is just scared of you," he said and sighed, sucking his lip in and out and frowning.
"They're just scared of your family," I corrected him. "There is some major hostility there."
"Well, even though Donald is a Watson, and the self-proclaimed leader of the council, we've never had any problems with him before. He's been silent enemies with my dad for as long as I can remember, but I've never heard Donald talk so much in all my life."
"So they really aren't going to punish the Watsons?"
"The law says there can be no murder of another clan member for any reason. It doesn't state anything about attempted murder or kidnapping. The Virtuoso are very strict in their rules, but when there is no specific ruling against something, they won't interfere at all."
"That's crap."
He laughed and pulled me to a stop. "Yeah," he agreed.
"And Marla has my blood….in her," I said and gulped down my disgust and discomfort about that. He nodded and twisted his lips. "And the Watsons are going to be here the whole time." He nodded again. "And Gran is on the council who wants to keep us apart or force up to marry, and I have to shut myself off every time I go into that room so I won't overload and all those people want me to fix all of their problems," I huffed a breath and kept going to get it all out, "and everyone keeps bowing and freaking out even though I've asked them not to."
"Babe, all that is true, yes, but you've got to get used to it," he said softly. "The only way you can stop them from acting like a bunch of idiots is exactly like you showed me." He looked at me pointedly. "Show them. Teach them. Be the strong, beautiful, amazing girl that I know you are and eventually they’ll come around. They won't have a choice but to."
I sighed and nodded. "Ok. I'll try."
He smiled and touched my cheek. "Good. Now, here we are. Your suite, my queen," he said playfully and bowed as he opened the heavy door.
"Don't you start or I'll…oh, my…"
I was flabbergasted. This couldn't be my room. Caleb must have made a mistake. It was huge. It was what I would imagine would be at the penthouse at the Waldorf. Not that I'd ever seen it or ever would. The walls were high and the molding was intricate. The wallpaper was thick lines of white and green and the carpet was seriously plush and thick. There was a huge mahogany poster bed in the middle of the room with white pillows and a white converter that was as thick and big as a cloud. And the walls were lined with mahogany dressing tables and floor length mirrors, but there were no windows. There wasn't much on the walls, but there was one painting of a city from the hillside.
I think I stood staring a little intimated too long because Caleb finally came up behind me, chuckling as he pulled me against him. He whispered in the skin of my neck, "Pretty nice digs, huh?"
"Are all the rooms like this?"
"Nope. The rooms on the second floor are nice, don't get me wrong, but they aren't like this." He looked around. "I've never even been down here before." He looked back at me. "Off limits."
"And it's still off limits," I said sadly.
"Yeah," he sighed. "And I better get going. If they find me in here, it won't be good."
"Yeah," I replied lamely. I turned in his arms and wasted no time. I pulled him down at the same time that I went onto my tip toes. His lips really didn't comfort me. I figured that I was just too worked up, too upset. But I kissed the heck out of him anyway.
And boy, did he kiss me back.
Four
My veins screamed inside me. Something didn't feel quite right, but my body was so happy that Caleb was here that I didn't dwell on it.
I felt more than heard his growl against my mouth. Gosh, I loved it when he did that. Like he was some animal and he was claiming me, letting everyone else know I was his. I lifted myself even more to be close to him and just as his hand was sliding dangerously down my back, we heard someone make an annoyed sound to get our attention.We turned to see a man there. I had no idea who he was, but Caleb apparently did. "Custodian Michaels," Caleb said and huffed. "Perfect timing."
"Caleb," the man chastised, but stood in the doorway and didn't come closer. "You know the rules. Come on, don't make me be the bad guy."
"I know the rules," Caleb repeated sarcastically. He turned and kissed me once more on the side of my neck and smiled at me. "Goodnight, babe." And then he went to the door. I was a little confused at how easily Caleb had just given in and left like that.
"Bye," I whispered, but they were both already gone. I closed my door and turned to lean against it. No matter how beautiful the room was, it wasn't me. I didn't want to stay here. If felt more like a pretty prison than a vacation. But what could I do now?
I looked around and saw my luggage on the settee at the foot of my bed. I hoped there was a bathroom in my room because I desperately wanted a shower. After exploring a few doors, and finding not only a huge walk-in closet that would put Queen Elizabeth to shame, but also a snack bar, I finally found the bathroom.
I was kind of surprised at how simple it was compared to the rest of the bedroom. It had a white claw foot tub on one side and a stand-up stall shower on the other. I decided to shower tonight, but at least once before I left, I'd try out that beautiful cast iron tub. And there were even a few scrubs and salts off to the side, making it appear very much like a hotel. The few towels that were there were folded into little designs. Even the toilet paper was shaped into a point, all nice and petite. Who did all this? Were all the rooms this way?