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The small boy ran across the grass and threw himself into Hawke’s arms, and Hawke hugged him tight. He ruffled Jamie’s hair and took him in. “You’ve grown since I’ve been gone.”
Jamie beamed. “Of course. I’m six now.”
Hawke looked at Sienna and offered a smile. “Hello, Sienna.”
“Don’t hello me, you idiot. Give me a hug.” She threw her arms around his neck, and he gave in.
“Hey, don’t let me have to kill you, Hawke,” Toron said coming up from behind his wife. They locked hands in a shake.
“You could try,” Hawke responded. “Good to see you, old friend.”
“Likewise.”
Hawke stepped aside and reached a hand out to Stephanie to draw her close to his side. “This is Stephanie Martin, and her energetic daughter, exploring your garden right now, is Meechi Ward.”
Sienna swept Stephanie into a hug. “Welcome, Stephanie. It’s great to have you. I hear you’ll be looking for work while you’re here. What kind of work do you do, because I could also use an assistant.”
“I’m a writer.”
Sienna gasped. “A blind writer? That’s awesome.”
Stephanie’s eyes widened. “How did you know? Oh, stupid me. Hawke told you.”
“No, he didn’t. It seems our friend neglected to share a lot of things. We’ll get everything sorted out once we’re inside. Come on. We’ll collect Meechi and get you all some coffee or tea and snacks.”
“Snacks,” Jamie exclaimed. “Can we have cake?”
“Goodness, Jamie, you just ate with Daddy, for Pete’s sake.”
Stephanie laughed, and Hawke watched her walk off with Sienna while he and Toron gathered the bags from the car.
“Wow, now I’ve seen it for myself,” Toron commented.
Hawke hefted Stephanie’s biggest bag from the car wondering what the hell she’d packed into it. Felt like rocks. “You’ve seen what?”
Toron slapped him on the back, the broad grin on his face a bit annoying. “You’re in love. You look at her like you don’t know if you want to eat her yourself or keep the enemy from doing it.”
“Shut up,” Hawke growled. He was well aware that the others sensed Stephanie’s blindness. Maybe it was a combination of the way she moved her head or how she didn’t always look directly at objects to avoid squinting, but he figured it boiled down to them being more aware of their environment than humans. Toron was right although he didn’t want to admit it. He didn’t always school his expression because Stephanie couldn’t see it. “She’s a friend for now. I’m not allowing things to get too serious.”
“You mean until she learns what you are? You have told her now, right?”
Hawke said nothing. He passed Toron and headed into the house. A young man not more than twenty hovered, awkward and more in the way than anything else, but his dark, neat clothing could be considered attire for a servant.
“Uh, sir, can I take your bags?” the young man asked.
Toron frowned. “You should have been outside, Karl. In fact, you missed any number of duties which I will spell out to you later.”
Karl bowed his head and uttered an apology, but the sincerity seemed questionable to Hawke. He appeared to be more interested in running off to get into whatever teens liked to these days.
The ladies strolled in and oohed and ahhed over the house before Toron introduced the butler. “Everyone, this is Karl, my butler in training. He will see to whatever you need. Just ask him, and if he can’t help, he will know where to find me.”
“Hello, how are you?” Meechi spoke up like a little lady. Hawke recognized the pink in her cheeks and the glow in her eyes. “Mom, can we go to our room soon? I want to clean up some.”
“Mom?” Stephanie repeated and glanced at Hawke. Hawke gritted his teeth and glared at Toron. Meechi always called Stephanie Mommie.
Toron chuckled and dumped a boat load of bags in Karl’s arms and shoved him toward the stairs. He clapped Hawke on the shoulder and whispered, “Don’t worry. We’ll watch over your little girl and make sure Karl doesn’t come near her. You don’t need to worry anyway. He’s got a thing for an eighteen year old in town. Now keeping a cap on an almost preteen is another matter. Welcome to the trials of fatherhood.”
“Toron, don’t you think you’re jumping the gun a little?” his wife demanded, several steps away from them.
