Chapter 489) Kismet

Brindleton Bay
White Ivy Estate

Watching Jack make us breakfast wearing nothing but a towel was a sight to behold, even though it still made me uneasy that he was here, in my new home, all the way across the country.

I had hired an equine transport service to go get Kismet from him, their estimate was that she would arrive at my home around Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday late morning. On Sunday morning I woke up to a heavy vehicle navigating in my driveway, when I peeked out the window, I saw Jack’s beat up truck and trailer.

I ran downstairs to get to the bottom of it all, and well, basically he told me that he is very protective of his horses, so he came to an ‘agreement’ of sorts with the delivery driver; in exchange for my address, he got to leave Jack’s property with the exact number of holes in his body he arrived with. Evidently that worked, and Jack got his buddy to watch his cabin and horses while he drove across the country for several days to bring Kismet to me.

So, now I was here with my secret lover only Bianca even knew about, and my new horse, my first horse for the nice stables and paddock I had built.

The excitement about Kismet way outshined the worry about Jack being here so, after he helped me get her situated and went over some things with me, I was gonna put him up in a guest room, I had several, except I just hadn’t gotten around to furnish any of them yet, so my bedroom it was.

A few hours later I went to check on him, he was awake and drowsily pulled me into bed and we did what we always did, afterwards we fell asleep together.

Then, a nap and some showers later, here we were. Breakfast smelled amazing and I was strangely excited, about Kismet being here and somehow that Jack brought her, even though I had originally wanted to cut him loose and go undercover. I had not been back to see him in months, ever since that last fight.

So, here we were now, in my kitchen, and suddenly Bianca was here too, in one of her workout outfits, cat whistling at Jack, who was only in a towel, just finished cooking eggs for breakfast. I nearly had a stroke, Jack gave me a strange look but didn’t seem very disturbed. I was shocked enough for the both of us.

“Well, hello there! You must be Jack. I am Bianca, AG’s best friend. Heard a lot about you and now I see why. Look at you! Yummy!” she now said, holding out her hand to him, which he took and shook, while she was looking him over top to bottom without any shame.

“Mornin’ Ma’am. Yah, I am Jack. Heard ’bout ya too. Want some eggs? Made plenty.”

“Oh, aren’t you just precious! No, thanks, I am good. But OMG that drawl. And those abs and guns! I get it now, AG, I REALLY do! Totally no judgement, I would too with him if I were single. Good for you, gurrrl!”

“How did you get in!?”

She waved the spare key in front of my face, I tried to snatch it from her, but she was faster and slipped it back into the inside pocket of her bike shorts. I was definitely not gonna go digging for that, especially not with Jack watching us.

“That’s for emergencies!” I complained at Bianca.

“Oh, THIS constitutes one. I drove by your house to go meet my sisters for our monthly Auditore sister spa day when I saw a truck and trailer in your driveway that stood out like a sore thumb, then I see a horse in your fence-y thingy, and I check my phone, nothing from you about ANY of that. So yeah, emergency, girl!”

“The fence-y thingy is called paddock, I told you that last time. And I didn’t know about any of this. Jack kinda … umm … surprised me by bringing me Kismet himself. He chased the delivery guy I had hired off his property after getting my address from him at gun point.”

Bianca stared at me wide-eyed for a moment, then laughed hard, so hard she had to sit down.

“Oh, my Gawd, guys. This is some stuff from a romance novel. I’d TOTALLY read this! This is gold. Okay, I need a coffee now.”

So, Bianca stayed, ended up sharing breakfast after all, while investigating and analyzing Jack until her sisters sent her fiery texts as they were at the spa waiting for her, so she had to leave.

Jack gave me strange looks.

“Well, I better be headin’ out now too.” he said, still looking at me as if waiting for me to ask him to stay.

When I didn’t, he went upstairs to get dressed. As he came back down, we went outside together, so he could say goodbye to Kismet, as he turned to leave, he cleared his throat and asked me to attend his best friend Ahanu’s sister Taynee’s wedding with him. My heart skipped a beat. I knew his friends were very important to him, and him asking me to be his date was huge.

I wanted to say yes, not only because I had never been to an indigenous wedding ceremony, but I remembered that Jack and his strange world just didn’t fit into the new life I was building for myself at all. Not to mention that he broke my heart before when he made clear there would never be a future of him and me.

There would come a point where I had to completely sever ties. Maybe that point should be now. I thought he and I were already history when we fought last time and months passed without us seeing each other, but evidently for Jack, time and social conventions were different than for me. He acted as if nothing happened.

While I was in the right mindset, I inhaled deeply, pulling in all the courage I could muster and told him

“Jack, I am sorry, but you and I just aren’t on a level where it’s right to be each other’s dates for events like that. To be honest, we should make this the last time we ever see each other. I will, of course, pay you, for the gas, the trip expenses and for Kismet, but …”

“No.” he simply said, cutting me off, then just turned and got into his truck, started the engine and drove off without another word, leaving me standing there, too shocked by his dismissal and after his truck and trailer had already masterfully navigated my windy driveway and disappeared on the horizon, I was still wondering what exactly he meant. No to me paying him or no to us being over?

I was still wondering the same thing later that night, when I heard Kismet neighing excitedly, so I peeked outside at a man standing at the paddock fence. Grabbing the first thing I could find that seemed weapon-like enough, I hurried out into the twilight, with more courage than brains.

“Hey! Get away from my horse!” I shouted, swinging a Chanel designer tennis racket through the air, the man turned to face me, so I could see the preternatural shimmer of the eyes in the dark.

A vampire!

I froze, but he already headed over to me, I tried to run inside, but now was cut off by the vampire using supernatural speed, causing me to drop the tennis racket until I relaxed when I recognized the man.

“Grandpa, it’s you! You scared me! I thought you vamps weren’t supposed to leave Forgotten Hollow for a while until the drama between you and the mortals has blown over enough! Pretty sure Cesare meant months or years by that, not a few weeks.” I complained, my heart still racing despite the relief.

Smirking, exposing part of his fangs, my grandfather leaned forward to hug me. When we separated again, he shrugged, crossing his arms.

“Yeah, but when have I ever been known to follow rules? Little late for tennis, ain’t it? Unless you became one of us and I am now senile and forgot that you did, you can’t see shit in the dark like we can.” he pointed at the tennis racket on the ground next to me.

“I thought you were an intruder. A burglar or something.”

“Ah, I get it, you were gonna use my hollow noggin for a tennis ball. Yeah, well, Imma gonna go ahead and veto that shit, sweetheart. I ain’t much of a horse guy, but shouldn’t the nag be going nighty-night in his stall instead of hanging out in the pasture after dark? Cesare has horses, and when they’re not too busy showing him what they think of his attempt to keep them contained only to come show me how they really feel about me as they go shit on my front lawn while munching on your grandmother’s beloved red roses, which gives them gut rot and they bust ass all over the road, he has them in the stables locked and tight at night. Now given, in my gloomy new hometown it’s often hard to tell when day ends and night begins, but he has a routine and usually knows what he’s doing, since he’s older than a dino turd.”

“The pasture is a paddock, and he is a she, her name is Kismet, and I helped birth her. Like stuck my hands up in her mom and pulled her and her sisters out. And she is no nag, she is beautiful and perfect. And she has a long journey behind her, so Jack said to leave her out for the night. At his place they are always outside. But I will start bringing her in eventually.” I said, realizing too late that I said too much.

I could tell by the grin that my grandpa caught it. I sighed defeated, slipped past him to open the front door and started walking into the house, leaving the front door wide open for him to follow me. When I had almost reached my kitchen and realized he hadn’t, I went back and found him still outside my threshold.

“You coming or what? Never known you to be shy.”

“I am not, but new house, new rules, sweet girl. You want me inside, you gotta invite me in. The whole fang-rules-thing. Everyone I know has to do the same, and the cherry on top was Chandler literally having to invite me into the house I used to live in since birth when I went there with the movers to pick up my recording studio equipment. That was awkward for both of us and I ain’t easily offended, but that’s BULLSHIT right there.”

“Oh, jeeze, those weird new vampire rules. Fine then, grandpa, please come inside my house. You’re my grandpa. You’ve always had fangs, and you’ve always been welcome, so I am not gonna start being afraid now.”

Nodding, he wiped his feet on the doormat, the writing on it welcoming guests to a Cameron home. He smiled as he followed me inside and around my home after accepting the tour I had offered. Once back downstairs I made us coffee.

“So, you took your maiden name again. And you moved to bougie Brindleton Bay. I used to come here a lot when my twin cousins were still alive. One of them, Jordan, raised his family here. I think one of his kids still lives around here somewhere, Ethan, he must be an old man now too if he’s even still alive. And you own a horse now. And you are a vet midwife now. Hmm .. talk about everything changing.” he sat as we sat down at the table with coffee

“No, no vet assistant, long story, I just did what I had to – and I am NEVER doing that again! I actually know Ethan, he is older, a retired history prof from Britchester, he owns horses and gives riding lessons. He’s my instructor for dressage, actually. We have the same last name, so we tried to trace back if and how we may be connected. But other than the same last name and a profound love for horses, we have little in common, so we don’t actually hang out ever or something. I know he’s married to one of your former fosters, Celeste, she’s an old lady now too, head of the local ‘Ladies of Brindleton Bay’ rotary club, which is just too old-fashioned for Bianca and me, and they have a son who’s learning the horse training stuff from his dad and will take over after he is done with college. Oh, Bianca and Gavin moved here too with their two kiddos. You heard that, right?”

“Oh yeah. Been there to check out their place already. Before Gav even called us your mother’s pesky uncle/bestie aka my brother-in-law came over gloating that he heard it first from your mother. Fuckin’ Caelan. Can’t believe that fool is my neighbor now. But I rather him a neighbor than when Scarlett and I had to live at the damn castle with his dad and him for a few weeks till our house was ready, UGH, I’d sleep on a park bench before I do that again! I discovered new forms of rage and invented a bunch of new curse words. Wanna hear?” he grinned at me. Usually, he tuned down his crudeness and cursing around me, especially if we were alone, but around my big brother Nick he went full boar with it all, so I was callused over in that aspect.

“No, hard pass, thanks grandpa.” I shook my head, making him chuckle.

Sipping his coffee, he kept looking at me.

“Okay grandpa, I love you, and I trust you, but having a vamp stare at me like the cat stares at the sparrow makes a girl uneasy. Just say it already.”

“So, the new man in your life is a Jack, huh? You must like dudes with short names. Max, Jack, …”

My cheeks started glowing red.

“No! I said he is the one who I got the horse from. That’s all. No new man.”

“AG, sweetheart, lemme tell ya a few fun facts about vampires you might have forgotten. We have supernatural senses. I may not know your Jack from Adam but can sense him in this house. Here, in the bathroom. In your bedroom … if I can still sense him so strongly now, he was in there for a while. That ain’t someone I know. So if that ain’t that Jack, you definitely had another dude staying with you.”

I blushed in deep shades of red, but said nothing, just looked down. Grandpa deduced the situation.

“Ah. In typical Cameron fashion it’s something complicated again. We always have complicated love lives. My dad did, Scarlett and I had some REALLY rough beginnings, your mom and dad continued that tradition, … Thinking you shoulda kept the married name, that Cameron one might be cursed. I am not the superstitious type but can’t help wondering here.”

“I don’t think it’s the name, grandpa. Lots of good being a Cromwell has done me – NOT. And this whole Jack thing is just a disaster waiting to blow up in my face too. Not worth talking about, trust me. There is no story here, just pitiful sad actions on my part having some really messed up reactions from someone who was in the right place at the wrong time.”

Grandpa leaned back in his chair for a minute studying me, then sat back up and said

“I don’t have to tell you that the best Cameron family love stories are always the ones there didn’t seem meant to be when they started, right?”

“No, I heard all those stories a million times, but Jack and I, we’re not one of them. Our story isn’t complicated, it’s impossible. Okay, grandpa, I’ll fill you in, but you have to promise me not to tell anyone. I told Bianca about him, because she is my best friend, but that’s it. Nobody else knows, nobody else CAN know. Jack and I can’t happen. Not to mention that Jack doesn’t even WANT us to happen.” I preceded to tell him the entire way we met and why he doesn’t fit into my life and that Jack told me he and I had no future together, something that still burned deep in my soul. True or not, hearing those words wasn’t easy.

To my surprise, grandpa listened without interruptions, and when I was done, no lecture followed. Grandpa took it all in, nodded, then finished his coffee, clearing getting ready to leave.

“Well, sounds like your mind is made up on Jack, I am not Cupid, so if you say you don’t want to even try, then suit yourself. I best be going. Love the house, and you are right, this place suits you. The house and the town. You and your brother were always different. Nick never wanted any part of your mother’s fame. And he managed to keep off the radar without ever denying his heritage, and his wife has too. Smart kids. You needed a little more experience but looks like you arrived at the same place. Should be easier now that your mom is out of the fame rat race.”

“Can I ask you a question, grandpa?”

“You can always ask me anything, as long as you can take my answer. You know I give it to you straight, am not the sugar-coating type.”

“Are you sad about the way things went? I mean, with you vampires and the unturning and all recently? I am so sorry that happened to you, your kids now being mortal and all and that you and grandma lost the Cameron Mansion. Del Sol Valley has always been your home.” the words just poured out of me before I could help it.

He gave me a strange look, I regretted my tactless question, but then he smiled that crooked, charming smile many Cameron men had inherited, including my big brother Nick.

“Not gonna lie, wasn’t easy at first, but I had long talks with your grandmother and with everyone affected by it and I am at peace with it. I was never supposed to be this,” he pointed at his fangs, then snorted a laugh, probably remembering the naughty story behind his accidental turning at the hand of my grandma, before continuing, “but I tell you what. Being a vamp is what you make it, can be the worst thing that ever happened to you or the best and everything in between. Just like everything in life, it comes at a price. Would I choose this for myself again? Probably not. There is a reason my parents chose mortality, and a reason good ole Cesare got a quite a number of volunteers. Don’t you worry your pretty head about us, we’ll be fine. As long as I got my Letty, I can handle anything life throws at me.”

I got up and just hugged him.

“Love you grandpa.” I said, I meant it, even though the icy cold always exuding from him and grandma was something I would never get used to, just like that strange scent all vampires always had. Not bad or good, just … very specific. But when he wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head, he wasn’t a scary, supernatural hunter for human blood, he was simply just grandpa. And for that very moment in time, my life was simple.

After grandpa left I turned in, but lied there, mulling over his words and Jack’s visit until I drifted off to sleep.