Page 12 of Returning to Everton

Then she had Violet, and she wasn’t so alone anymore. He started treating her better once she got pregnant. Doted on her, took her out more. I thought the baby was going to help their marriage. Things seemed better for a while; she was actually happy when I would call her. Then one day, Violet’s bottle flew across the room and into her hands. Harris was not happy that she had magic. It really didn’t help that she was a baby, so she didn’t really have any control over it. Violet wasn’t allowed to leave the house until she learned how to control her magic so she wouldn’t accidentally use it in front of people. Harris also kept his friends and family from visiting. He was always able to come up with some excuse.

But Violet loved magic. So even after Rowen taught her to control it, she wouldn’t stop using it. That girl is so stubborn. She finally accepted that Daddy didn’t want her to use her magic because it made him sad that he didn’t have any. So, she got good at hiding, too. I’m so glad Violet took after her mother so much. She is exactly like Rowen was at her age.

After I got off the phone with Rowen last night, I called Declan to let him know she would be coming home early. All the guys wanted to talk to me about something, so he asked me to come over today. I walk up to their door and knock. Less than a minute later, Logan opens the door.

“Excuse me, are you supposed to be opening the door to strangers, young man?”

“You’re not a stranger, Aunt Q. You’re just strange,” he smirks at me.

Oh, this little twerp. “Oh, yeah?” I lean in and tickle him. “How’s that for strange?”

“Pretty… strange,” he gets out between giggles.

Declan comes walking up behind him. “Alright, you two, move it inside. You’re letting out all the cold air.”

“You better run, Logan!” I threaten.

He takes off running while his dad and I laugh. I walk inside, and Declan closes the door behind us. “So, what’s up? It’s not every day I’m invited by the whole gang,” I chuckle.

“Come on, everyone’s waiting for you in the dining room,” he says.

Hmmm, okay then. I follow him through the house and into the dining room. Sure enough, everyone is in their normal seats, just waiting for me. I pull out an empty chair and sit down, then look around expectantly. The guys all look a little anxious. Ayden won’t stop fidgeting, and Kayden is kinda staring off into space.

As I expected, it’s Hudson that speaks up. “Thanks for coming, Quinn. We want to talk about Rowe. I know y’all had some unspoken agreement not to talk about us or tell us too much about her, but don’t you think it’s time we all talked this out?”

“Of course I do, Hudson! I’ve told y’all as much as I could over the years. But now that Harris is dead, Rowen is finally coming back to herself. Heck, she’s coming home! And that was all her. I haven’t even brought it up for a while. So since she will be here soon, I’m not going to tell you much about her life these past ten years. She can do that herself. But Iwillhelp you. I’ve been rooting for y’all since middle school,” I tell them.

“Thanks, Quinn,” he says, and the rest of the guys express their agreement.

“Okay, so I will tell you, she doesn’t know anything about your lives. She didn’t want to hear how y’all were doing. I think she didn’t want to hear that any of you had moved on without her. Even though obviously she had since she left and married that asshole,” I inform them.

“But since Declan here told her his friend owned a magical bakery… she might be putting two and two together. She knows Hudson wanted to open a bakery with her. And while I did tell her I knew the guy that owned the house I told her about, I failed to mention he was close to the rest of you. That’ll be a bit of a surprise,” I laugh.

“Alright, we can work with that,” Hudson says. “Dec, has she called you yet to see the house early?”

“No, not yet. I’m sure she’s busy packin’. She’ll probably wait til she gets here to get ahold of me,” Declan shrugs his shoulder.

As soon as he finishes talking, we hear a ringing coming from the other room. It stops, and then we hear Logan say hello. He walks into the dining room with a phone to his ear.

“Hey dad, some lady is on the phone for you,” he says. “Oh umm, she says her name is Rowen. Do you wanna talk to her?” We all have to stifle a laugh at that. Of course, he wants to talk to her. But I can guarantee he doesn’t want her to know the rest of us are here.

“Yes, thank you, Logan,” Declan says as he takes the phone from his son, and Logan runs back to the living room.

“Hey, Rowen. Sorry about that,” Declan apologizes once he has the phone to his ear.

We can hear Rowe’s laughter through the phone. He puts it on speaker and gives everyone a look while holding a finger up to his mouth. The universal sign for ‘everyone shut up.’

“Oh, it’s okay. I love kids. Was that your son?” she asks.

“Yeah, that’s my Logan. He’s seven,” Dec informs her.

“Aww, that’s only two years older than Violet. Maybe we can set up a playdate when I get there. Which leads me to why I called,” she laughs, “it seems we’re a little too excited to get there. We’re already all packed, and the movers said they could move our stuff a few days early. So now we’ll be there Monday instead of Friday. The movers can’t deliver our stuff until Tuesday, though, so I was wondering if I could come look at the house on Monday? That way, everything will be ready for the movers to drop off our stuff on Tuesday.”

Declan laughs as my best friend rambles on. “Yeah, Rowen, Monday will be fine. Any luck on the job front?” he asks as he looks at Hudson.

“Nah, I figured I’d just wait until I get there and ask around. I’m pretty excited about the bakery job you told me about. If it’s still available.” Hudson lights up at that.

“It’s definitely still available. My friend is a little picky about who he hires. Hopefully, y’all will get along,” he reassures her as Hudson smiles, and Nate rolls his eyes.

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