Significance (Significance #1)(68)

“Hey, Gran.”
“Hey, pretty girl. You make a good entrance,” she said with a twinkle of amusement in her eyes. She hugged me tightly and rubbed my hair. “It’s so good to have you back, safe and sound.”
“Thanks. It’s good to be back.”
“I didn’t think you could get much prettier,” she observed and lifted my arms out to my sides. “But my, my...” 
I smiled shyly and I was sure I was blushing.
“Yeah. My, my,” Caleb repeated and smiled down at me.
“Yeah. It’s...something,” I muttered.
“You doing all right?” Gran asked me.
“Yeah, just thinking about the…about everything.” I remembered thinking about Gran in my cell. About how she’d been through the withdrawals like I had. She and Caleb were the only ones who had been through anything like that. “I, uh, well, I...wanted to say that what you told me before, I...”
“I know.” She shook her head. “You can never understand until you go through it, can you? And I’m so sorry that you had to. Both of you.” She looked at Caleb and back at me. She swallowed and I winced as I watched her memory of her withdrawal. “But never again. You keep each other safe from now on and all will be well.”
I nodded and turned to Bish.
“This is my brother, Bish. Bish, this is Gran.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Bish.” She grabbed his arm, lacing hers through it. “So, New York? I went to New York once.”
She pulled him away and I was grateful. I squeezed Caleb’s hand as we passed through the doorway. After we explained to Dad that I was fine we continued on. I was hugged and patted by everyone.
Kyle’s parents said they barely recognized me. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. His parents, Dad, Peter, Caleb, Kyle and I stood and talked for a long while about it all; getting my ability, the ascension and how the energy ribbons were all around us and how I’d projected my thoughts into them. They all crooned about how wonderful it all was. Dad listened intently with a look of amazement the whole time.
Kyle’s mom told me about her ascension and how she thought she had man arms afterwards and hated it. I laughed with her and Kyle’s dad went on to tell her he loved her arms.
Dad and Peter followed along with us as we made the rounds. Dad had been introduced to just about everyone before I got there and everyone told me how much they loved him already. He was a hit.
Jen and Maria I hadn’t seen yet, but Rachel hugged me long and hard.
“Oh, Maggie. I’m so sorry about all this. I’m glad you’re safe.”
I pulled away to see her crying as she wiped her eyes and in her mind, she felt like they’d dragged me into a crazy life of turmoil and she didn’t know how to fix it.
“Me, too.”
“You look so beautiful. You always did, but...you look complete now,” she said with a hand on my cheek.
“Thanks,” I said because I didn’t know what else to say to that. “Rachel, have you met my dad yet?”
“No, I was in the kitchen.” She held her hand out to him. “It’s so nice to meet you. I’m Rachel, Caleb’s mother.”
“Nice to meet you, too.”
“Maggie is such a darling.”
“That she is. This is a great house you have here.”
“Oh, we don’t live here.” She wrung her apron in her hands. “This is my cousin’s house. We live about thirty minutes from here. Just about everyone here does. We only come here to...well, for Maggie.”
I blushed, embarrassed and saw Dad’s eyes take in the room full of people, all here for Caleb and me. He was thinking that he’d see even less of me than he originally thought because he thought Caleb lived right here near him and now learned he doesn’t. And he couldn’t believe all these people drove all this way just for me.
He was also in awe of all the couples, all different ages, who had been married for years and were still so happily married. He felt a twinge of longing for my mom, but pushed it away.“Well. I’m famished,” Peter said and then clapped his hands loudly, drawing everyone’s attention. “Everyone, we all know why we’re here. Our Maggie has come back to us.” There were claps and cheers and Caleb put his arm around my shoulder to shield me, knowing I hated the attention. “Let us not forget the struggles of the past few days for Caleb and Maggie and give them our respect and space. Also there are new developments that need to be handled... delicately. We are very glad to have Maggie’s father and brother here with us as well and I smell something heavenly from the kitchen. I’m sure Rachel has outdone herself once again.” He looked over at her affectionately and she beamed under his praise. “Let’s eat folks.”
We all went through the line of chicken pot pie dishes and casseroles and then made our way to the patio. Caleb and I sat and I just looked at everyone. I got smiles and glances. They were happy. They were proud to have me in their family. It was surreal.
I saw Bish coming out the sliding glass door with a plate piled high, along with Dad and Peter. I waved to him to come sit with us.
“Maggie!” I heard and saw Maria bounding passed him towards us. I stood and received a very enthusiastic hug from her. “Maggie. My goodness, you sure know how to scare people.”
I laughed and so did Caleb.
“Did your mom teach you to say that?” he asked.
“Yep. She’s been worried like a crazy person.”
Then I saw her coming. Bish, Peter and Dad had taken a seat around our table and I saw Bish do a subtle double take of Jen as she came to hug me and Caleb.
Who is that creature?
I had to press my lips together at his thought and also give her props for looking pretty great. Her dress was flowy and blue, her hair was down and she looked awesome.
“Maggie,” she said sweetly, “oh, it’s so good to see you.”
“You, too. Jen, this is my brother, Bish and my dad, Jim. This is Jen, Caleb’s sister.”
She smiled at Dad and shook his hand and then turned to Bish. He stood and they just kind of stared at each other for a few seconds.
“Hi,” she finally said and cleared her throat and sat down beside Caleb without shaking Bish’s hand. “Nice to meet you,” she said softly and was thinking that he had the kindest, most focused eyes she’d ever seen.
I thought it was comical that she didn’t even think once how hot he looked or about how muscley he was.
“It’s nice to meet you, too,” he said, not having taken his eyes off her yet.
I looked at Caleb to see if he saw. And oh yeah, he saw. He scowled at his sister and glanced down at his dad. Peter frowned, but shrugged at him. 
I understood, the no-dating rule, it had a purpose but my brother didn’t date. Ever. Even in high school, he’d been very focused on his work and withdrawn. He’d even been shy and had no idea the reactions girls had to him. He thought he was a burden to our family though grateful we’d taken him in. He wanted to work hard and earn his keep and get a good job. He’d never been on a date since I’d known him.
The way he was looking at Jen was something I’d never seen on him before. He thought she was sweet looking and pretty. He had to physically keep his eyes from drifting down to her bare shoulders, which he liked, a lot.
I was blushing just listening to his thoughts. She eventually smiled shyly and pulled her hair to one side of her neck, looking over at Caleb.
“So, you’re leaving tonight?”
“Yep. Our flight’s in three hours,” Caleb answered as he leaned back in his chair. “In fact, we need to get going pretty soon and pack.”
His hand found my leg under the table and he squeezed my knee.
“Where are you going?” Bish asked and glanced between me and Caleb. “You’re going somewhere the day after you were kidnapped? Alone with him?” he said and I didn’t have to be a mind reader to see that he disapproved.
“Not alone,” I threw in.
“Bish,” Peter explained, “the ones who took Maggie aren’t in police custody. We want to send them away for a while, for their safety, to make sure that these men don’t try again. Someone will go with them.”
It took about ten minutes of back and forth with Peter and Dad to get Bish to settle down about the ‘men’ who took me not being under arrest and still out there after what they did. He was furious. Finally he calmed down enough but kept looking over at me and biting his thumb nail. In his mind he wanted to snatch me and run with me. He thought something fishy was going on. Everybody was a little too calm and collected about it all.
First, no one cared when I almost fainted, now this? He couldn’t figure it out but he didn’t like it. He went to put his arm around me and his hand ran into Caleb’s arm, already around my shoulder. He glared at him. Saved me or not, he was liking Caleb less by the minute.
Then I could hear Peter’s thoughts. He was thinking about Jen, worrying really. He hoped he wouldn’t have a problem with her and Bish but wanted her to be happy at the same time. He was conflicted.
I could also hear Rachel somewhere upset because she had broken a glass in the kitchen and Maria was looking at a butterfly and Dad was worrying about me leaving and Jen was back to thinking about Bish, how sweet he was to be so worried about me.