Page 20 of Mason

“Alexa, that was beautiful.” Albert, Mason’s father shocked me by speaking. He didn’t talk often, well, not to me anyway. He was very protective of me, as I’d learned when the officers had come to the house, but otherwise he didn’t talk much. “I didn’t know you played, and your voice . . . ” He closed his eyes a beaming smile on his face. “It’s so strong and has so much feeling in it. We were all hypnotized.”

The older lady I hadn’t met stepped forward and held her arms open. “Come here girl. I’m Shirley and that old guy beside me is Russell, but you can call me grandma, grandmother or gran, if you’d like.” I didn’t move, but she came to me and grabbed me from Mason and hugged me tight. “My son and . . . ” She shot a glare at Andrew, who didn’t seem to care what look she sent him. “Grandson, are right. That performance was amazing. I can honestly say that was better than some of the performances I’ve seen in the Sydney opera house or Madison Square Gardens. You have a gift, truly you do.” She squeezed me. “Now I’ll let my grandson introduce you.”

Shirley pushed me back to Mason and I barely had time to react before his arms circled my waist and he brushed a kiss on my neck and then spoke. “Gran, this is my Alexa. Alexa, this is my gran and pa. They’re early. I didn’t think they were arriving for a couple of weeks.”

Mason’s pa rolled his eyes dramatically. “Ha, she’s been waiting to leave for months. Since the babies started arriving. She’s been telling everyone who’ll listen and even those who don’t care that she’s a great grandmother and she has a granddaughter. I swear that at least one of the suitcases is just for the first Silverman little girl.” The shine in the man’s eyes gave away that he was pretty excited about being a great grandsire and a girl Silverman.

“I bet after that performance you could use a nice glass of wine,” Shirley said.

“Gran, she’s not eighteen.”

“Pish, posh, Mason,” She waved her hand elegantly in front of herself. “She’s only got a week to go. A glass won’t hurt her. If she was in France or Italy they would give her one. It’s legal there for wine at sixteen.” She sighed. “America needs to catch up with the rest of the world or at least move it to eighteen like Australia.”

“Mother, you do realize you’re talking about giving wine to people like Andrew.” Albert jerked his head in his youngest son’s direction.

“I’m with you, gran.” Andrew came over and wrapped his arm around his grandmother.

Shirley huffed and I couldn’t hold back my giggle as she patted her grandson like he was special in a slow kind of way. “Andrew, you didn’t follow the rules. I don’t think you ever have, kid.”

As I watched Mason’s grandparents I knew that I could let go. That I hadn’t released my anger at my parents being taken from me. I’d been holding back on doing anything that I’d done with them, things that they loved. I’d been holding out hope that I had family, but as I looked around, I realized I did have family, and just because I had a new family I didn’t have to forget about my old family or stop doing what they loved. I needed to enjoy everything, not just the new things that had come my way. It was time to live my life again. Time to find old friends, time to find out what happened to my parent’s things. It was time to find out what life was going to be now.

WE’D HAD ANOTHER BREAKTHROUGH. ALEXA was a different person. I’d thought she was coming along fine, but I was wrong because after the previous week’s discovery of her musical and vocal talent she had blossomed. She had goals. She had a focus I’d not seen before. I’d worried that I was holding Alexa back as she didn’t socialize with anyone but me. The children at the daycare didn’t count as they weren’t adults and her therapist didn’t count either. Alexa had to talk to her. This week she went out with my mother and sister-in-law, Bailey, shopping. She even went out to see a girly movie with Bailey, Jade, and Cassie, who barely left my cousin Dustan’s side. Today she’d gone with my gran to go get their hair done.

This week she didn’t cling to my side. I frowned as a shiver ran up and down my spine and not the good kind. My skin felt itchy and I was tense and on edge. My employees had started to avoid me. Alexa wasn’t coming to work with me much anymore, either. On the one hand I was happy she was gaining independence, and on the other I was scared, because if felt like she didn’t need me anymore.

I made my way to our suite eager to see my woman when I heard the haunting melody of Leonard Cohen’sHallelujah, but she was singing it like Jeff Buckley. She sounded like a fallen angel. Needing to touch her and remind myself she was mine, I went to her. This last week I think I’d figured out why I wasn’t all caveman with Alexa. It was because she’d stuck by my side, but this week, I could feel my rein on that side of me slipping.

Alexa’s eighteenth birthday was two days away and my mother and I had planned a huge surprise party for her. I couldn’t wait to give her all her gifts. I was so happy she would be legal age, too, and I intended to tie her to me before she changed her mind. I had wanted to take her away after her birthday, but with the date she needed to testify in court so close I couldn’t risk leaving.

Going to the living room, I paused at the entry and closed my eyes and enjoyed the haunting melody. She really was amazing. Alexa would be crazy if she didn’t do something about her talent. I savored the last note before I opened my eyes and let my gaze rest on her only to take a step back.

“Alexa?”

She turned and I was shocked to see the changes. She still had her long length, but it was layered to frame her face and there were bright pink streaks in her hair. It didn’t look bad, just different. Striking, and confident, not the little wallflower that hid when danger came. She stood out. It would take me a moment or two to get used to it.

“What do you think?” Her eyes shined and she practically bounced on the seat. I could tell she loved her new hair style.

“It’s different. Pink?”

Her smile disappeared and the light left her eyes. “You don’t like it?”

I shook my head franticly, wanting the shine back in her gaze. “Yes. No. I mean. It suits you. I really like it. Pink. It stands out.”

Slowly the shine crept back into her eyes. “You know I love the color pink. Gran thinks it goes really well with my blonde and green eyes.” She giggled and my heart beat faster at the happy sound. “She said it gives me attitude. Some major cred.”

I laughed, because sadly, I could see my grandmother saying that. She was one big kid herself. We may not be that close, but she was always hilarious. Trying to keep up with what she called kids’ lingo.

Hesitantly, Alexa stepped towards me. Growling at her slowness and her unsure movement, I stalked her, tilted her head up and plastered her lips to mine, showing her in my kiss just how beautiful I thought she looked. When I broke away we were both panting a little. “You look gorgeous. Stunning. Gran is absolutely right. It just shocked me at first. It’s so different.”

Her sigh showed me how relieved she was that I liked her new hair style. She kissed my cheek. “I missed you. How was your day?”

She snuggled in and I tightened my hold on her. “Good. I’m glad I was missed.” She smirked up at me. “I missed you too, but I got so much done. Guess who I found and talked to today? Guess?”

I’d never seen her that excited. “Dunno, bear, who?”

“Oh, you’re no fun.” She was still beaming at me. “You could have at least guessed once.”

“Okay. Argh, an old friend?”

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