Burdened (A Burdened Novel) (28 page)

C
ute.

Someone starts pushing their way from behind them. “G
et a room you two!” A girl’s voice sounds. “Let me meet my brother’s mate,” she says, forcefully making it through them—just as beautiful as Taylor. Her hair is dark too, with a pointed nose.

“Hi Tracey!
Thank you for choosing my brother.” She embraces me. “You are just as beautiful as Nathan described. I’m Rose, and this is my husband, Arnold.” She points over her shoulder to a man who only stands an inch above her height.

“Hi Tracey,” Arnold says
. “It is nice to meet you.” His voice is cold, but it doesn’t seem intentional.

“You both as well
,” I say as I feel someone pulling my arm on the side that Nathan is standing.

I turn to him and he’s looking down. I do the same
, finding a little boy holding my hand. “Hi, I’m Nicholas, Nathan’s youngest brother.” He has dark-brown hair, like Roseland, and big eyes to match it.

“Hi Nicholas
. It is very nice to meet you.”

“Thank you for choosing my brother.”

“You are very welcome.” Nathan touches his head, rubbing his hair. Nicholas knocks his hand away and punches him in the gut. Nathan buckles over, like it hurt, and Nicholas runs away.

He straightens
, once he’s gone. “My other brother is over there.” He points toward the entertainment side of the great room, where people I just met are starting to gather. “He’s currently antisocial, going through his teenage years. When there are not so many people around, I’ll introduce you two. His name is Nathan.”

I look at him
. “Huh?”

“My parents really like the name.”
He shrugs his shoulders. “Speaking of my parents…”

His mother walks over
, with his father at her side. “It’s nice to see you again, Tracey. I hope you like our home.” She smiles.

“
I do.” I study her, trying to figure out what she would be comfortable with me calling her.

“Just call me Natalia,
and call my husband Mr. Newcomb. It helps separate him from the other Nathan’s. He holds the family name.”

“Your house is very beautiful
and
big, Natalia. Thank you for welcoming me into it.” Her smile widens.

Mr. Newcomb clears his throat. “You’re welcome here anytime
, Tracey. I’m sure Nathan has offered you an invitation to stay.” This man is different from the standoff dad I met the other day.

“He has
,” I say with a smile.

“Well
, I hope you consider the offer.” He looks at Nathan, then back at me. “Thank you for choosing my son. I can see you will be good for him.”

“My father
can sense true feelings,” Nathan answers my unasked question.

“Okay
,” I say to Nathan. Turning back to his parents. “Thank you.”

Natalia grabs me in a tight embrace. “We will be glad to add you to our family.” She releases me and hugs her son. I am so over this hugging thing. A
nice handshake will do just fine.

He returns the hug and kisses her cheek. “Thanks
, Mom.” She lets him go and they join the rest of the family.

Going over the number of immediate family
members Nathan had informed me of, all of them are out of the way. This is the longest meet and greet of the century. At least everyone is nice.

I meet Nathan’s cousin
, George, and his mate Caitlin. They look perfect together. Everything about them matches, even the way they speak.

Then there is
his cousin Mary and her mate Marlin. They are a little weird with their talk about ending worlds and new worlds. Amongst other things, I couldn’t keep up with them.

Nathan’s grandparents are sitting on the couch
, and we go to meet them. They are really old and I wonder how long they’ve been alive. I think they are definitely hitting bible age.

“Hi
, Gram and Grandpa. This is Tracey,” Nathan speaks low and soft. His grandmother reaches her hand out slightly.

Touch her hand so she can see you
. I look at him curiously, not knowing the meaning behind this. I’m really over touching people.
She sees through touch, not her eyes
.

I touch her hand as he
had stated, and she smiles. “You are just perfect for my grandson, Tracey. Thank you for choosing him.”

“You are welcome
,” I say, as quietly as I had heard Nathan speak.

“Don’t hog her
, Beth. Let me see her,” Nathan’s grandpa fusses.

“
Oh, hold your horses, Roseland.” Another Roseland. This family loves their names. She reaches over to touch his hand.

“
She
is
really pretty. Young lady, you did wise by choosing my grandson. You’re a smart girl.” He points to his head. “I know these things.”

“Oh
, hush up. You know what Nathan has told you,” Nathan’s grandmother retorts.

He
shoos her away. “Very good, son.” They speak without looking at us.

Nathan smiles
, taking his grandfather’s hand. “Thank you, Gramp. I love you both,” he tells them. As we walk away, they start to bicker. It reminds me of Glen and Scott.

My aunt i
s out and I’ll introduce you to her when she returns. You actually already know her.

I look at him.
And who would that be?

Your school nurse
.

What! Mrs.
Waturstrom. She’s one of you?
That would explain the teardrop under her eye.
That looks like Glen’s snowflake, now that I think about it. A
nd that weird conversation between you two
.

Yes
.

“Are you all going to stay for dinner?”
it sounds like Natalia, asks.

“No mom, not tonight. I have to get Tracey home. She’s been gone for too long.”

There are a lot of ‘aawws’ and a few ‘boos.’ “Come back, Tracey, and let us know when you’re here, instead of letting Nathan hog you and keep you all to himself,” someone says. I smile.

“
There’s a reason things were done that way. I
did
want to keep her all to myself.” Nathan wraps his arms around me and kisses the back of my head.

“Yea
h, and we know exactly what the reason was, bro.” A voice I have not heard yet says with a laugh. I turn red. A head lifts from the other side of the couch. “Hi, I’m Nathan, by the way. Come back soon. I know you had fun.”

My mouth falls open. I know I’m the color of a strawberry
Twizzler.

Rose moves over to him
, quicker than I can blink, and punches him in the chest. “Shut up, dork. You don’t know anything.”

The other Nathan jumps up from the couch
, ready to attack his sister.

“And that would be our queue to leave. Bye.” He turns us towards the door and everyone follows with their
‘goodbyes’ and ‘nice to meet yous.’

We walk out of the great room
, and Roseland’s behind us. “Tracey, I’m sorry we have to take Nathan from you tonight. But the girls will be here if you need anything.”

I look at Nathan
, and he nods. “Thank you,” I respond halfheartedly, not sure why I needed to check with Nathan first.

He smiles and walks back inside the room.

“It’s the bond. I told you, you are going to start feeling obligated to me. Once you notice it, you can control it more.”

“Okay.” I don’t know what else to say
, still stunned by my actions. I didn’t have to do it during the meet and greet.

“Yea
h, I know,” he says, looking at me with the same questionable look that I’m giving him.

We take his truck to drop me off. I’m tired and craving a nap and some food. I haven’t eaten all day.

“We can stop and eat if you want.”

“Yes. Your pick.” I’m not ready for him to leave me yet, knowing he is going to go when we make it to my house.

He takes us to a restaurant called
‘Eddie’s Best.’ It is a BBQ joint with cows and pigs all over the place. They have country music playing, and everyone is wearing cow print cowboy hats. I find it amusing.

We seat ourselves and the waitress comes over with water
s and menus. We thank her and she says she will be back soon.

“So, what do you have a taste for?” Nathan asks
, looking over his menu.

“Everything.” I am so hungry. They have everything I can think of
: burgers, ribs, chops, roasts—anything you can make out of a pig, cow, or chicken. I look over the menu a little longer. “I’ll have a burger with fries and a Coke.”

“Me too
. How do you like it—well-done?”

“Yes
.” I yawn. “Hold the pink.”

“You look really tire
—”

The waitress walks up
, cutting him off. “So you two ready to order?” She has a southern accent; it doesn’t sound real.

I let Nathan order for us both as I drink my no
-iced water. She writes everything down and walks away.

“Yea
h, I
am
tired.”

“When you
were sleeping earlier, you were having a nightmare, which is probably why you didn’t get enough rest. You want to tell me what you were dreaming about?” It’s not meant as a question, and his tone is mellow.

No
, not really. I’m not sure how he will respond to my dream. “Not really.” He looks at me hard. “Don’t, Nathan.”

“Tell me. It was bad? I had to send Taylor to check on you.”

“Yeah, I know. She came and we talked.” Thanks for reminding me.

He is interested
. “What did you two talk about?” I don’t know how to tell him what she had said. “It doesn’t matter
how
you tell me, just tell me.” He’s a little aggressive.

In conversation
, or when he is not trying to convince me of something, he is always calm and stern. He has a direct attitude and a ‘don’t bullshit me’ swag. It’s attractive when it’s not directed towards me. And in this conversation it is.

I don’t say anything, not knowing how to address it.

“Would you prefer I find out for myself?”

I shake my head. “She
—”

The waitress cuts me off
, bringing us our food. “Here you go. Do you need anything else?” she asks, placing extra napkins on the table.

He does
n’t look at her as he says, “No, good for now, thank you.” She walks away. “Okay?” he probes, not touching his food.

“She told me something about not helping you, not trying to help you when you spaz out
, how it wouldn’t end well for us if I did. And not to underestimate you. Although you have gotten better at controlling yourself, I shouldn’t put anything past you.” I pause. “In so many words.” I pick up a fry. “But she is happy I chose you.” I shrug slowly, still trying to make sense of it.

He stares at me for a moment. Then he reaches over
, cutting my burger in two pieces. Going back to his plate, he starts to eat. I do the same, thinking how hard he is to read.

The food is great
. I don’t know why I’d never been here before.

I look at Nathan
, waiting for him to look back at me. He finally does. “What makes you ‘number one’ to your family?”

“She told you that too
, I assume?”

“Yes
,” I say slowly. Mr. BeatAroundTheBush is getting ready to make an appearance.

“That’s what you thin
k of me?” he asks suspiciously, still stern.

“No, that’s what you do.”

He shakes his head. “As I told you, I am capable of doing a lot of things. And I am stronger than the rest of my family, and I have more abilities, as well as unique abilities. That is where she would get that from. I wouldn’t say ‘number one.’ I would just say they always like to have me around when things happen.”

“So you all fight as a family when things happen?”

“Sometimes, but we try to keep the women out of it.” I can understand that.

“Like
, whatever is going on tonight?”

“Right.” He pauses
. “I am not as bad as my sister made me seem. Yes, I used to be, and we’ve discussed that. But that is not me anymore.”

“I know
, Nathan. You don’t have to explain that to me. You, or anyone else, can’t keep me away from you—sane or insane. I’ll never not be in the way,” I say, biting into a fry.

He calls the waitress and she brings the bill
, and we leave.