Page 34 of Spiritwarrior (The Colemans’ Legacy #2)

Chapter Thirty-Three

S ophie took a bite of the roast beef on her plate as she listened to the conversation at the table. She shot a sharp glance at Jody when he placed an arm on the back of her chair, but he only scooted his chair closer to her. He was making it plain to his family they were a couple before she was ready to admit it to herself.

He was pushing every boundary she had for herself. He wouldn’t stop until she got in the hot tub this morning, nor would he take no for an answer when he wanted her to close the restaurant early so they could have dinner with his family.

What made her more wary was she had given in both instances.

“Have you heard anything from the school yet?” Silas asked as he passed the rolls.

“No,” Alanna answered, pulling her hair from her toddler’s sticky grasp. “They probably won’t contact me until they start filling vacant teaching positions.”

Matthew’s wife was pretty and had made her feel comfortable when they first met. She had the same friendly attitude Ginny had shown her.

Alanna caught her staring at her. “Feeling overwhelmed?”

“No,” she admitted. “I was just thinking how kind everyone has been to me. I would have left Treepoint if not for your family. I’m very grateful to all of you.”

Alanna gave her a sweet smile. “I haven’t done anything.”

Sophie shook her head. “You babysat Ginny’s children so she could help me at the restaurant. The good news is my parents should be here tomorrow, and you all can get back to your normal lives.” Seeing the way Ginny looked at her, she added, “At least not so often. Ginny is determined to keep working full-time.”

“At least until she gets pregnant again. Then she won’t be able to. She gets terrible morning sickness,” Fynn said matter-of-factly as he buttered his roll.

Sophie looked at Ginny questioningly.

“Don’t worry; that won’t be happening anytime soon.”

“October.”

Sophie turned her eyes back to Fynn, catching the warning glances his family was giving him.

“Am I missing something?” she came out and asked, getting a weird feeling.

“No, Fynn is a budding astrologer,” Silas explained, cutting the tension in the room. “It’s a hobby of his.”

“That’s interesting. What brought about your interest in astrology?” she asked, taking another bite of the beef.

“Our father had a deep interest in astrology and passed it along to all of us,” Silas answered for Fynn.

“Is that why you all believe in soul mates?”

Despite Jody telling her that she was his soul mate, she still believed it was a bunch of malarky.

“Yes.” Silas placed his fork down on his plate. “I take it you don’t?”

“No.”

“I understand. Most people don’t.”

Alanna gave her a smile. “I didn’t believe it at first, either.”

“You do now?”

“Oh, yes. I can’t imagine my life without Matthew, and I won’t have to. It’s very comforting to me that our souls are linked.”

“Let’s see if you can say the same thing when you’ve been married forty years.” Isaac laughed. “You’ll be searching for a chainsaw to cut the link between you guys by then.”

The table broke out in laughter. Alanna laughed along with the others at the dirty look Matthew was giving Isaac.

After dinner, they sat in the living room while the children played. Sophie couldn’t help but notice the teenager Ginny had brought with her. Lennon was sitting on the floor, playing with the children. The girl appeared to be sixteen or seventeen, was very pretty, and she hadn’t spoken a word when Ginny introduced her. While Lennon was helping set the table, Ginny had explained she was a friend of the girl’s foster mother, and Lennon stayed at Ginny’s house during school breaks.

Gavin seemed tolerant of the girl and didn’t seem upset she stayed close to Ginny’s side.

While she enjoyed listening to the banter going back and forth between the siblings, she continued watching the kids play.

Alanna sat Alex down on the floor. The adorable baby, who was a miniature version of his father, was shoving one fist in his mouth while attempting to maintain his balance. Ginny’s daughter, who was playing with blocks, handed one to Alex, which he promptly dropped. Leah reached out to pick the block up, and as she did so, Alex reached out to grab Leah’s hair. The little girl giggled, reached out to take the baby’s hand, and then Sophie jumped when Leah started howling in pain, holding her hand.

Ginny, Reaper, and Silas simultaneously went for Leah. Gavin reached her first.

“Give her to me.”

Sophie was shocked at the way Silas ordered Gavin to give his own daughter to him.

Ginny was trying to grab Leah’s hand, which she was holding close to her chest, which made Leah cry louder.

Ginny looked away from Leah to Silas, who had his hands out with a curious expression on his face.

“Give her to him, Gavin.”

Hearing the urgency in his wife’s voice, Gavin reluctantly handed Leah over. Gently taking Leah into his arms, Silas started crooning to the upset child, turning around to walk into the dining room. Everyone anxiously watched the two.

Glancing down at the children on the floor, Sophie saw Alex was crying, frightened by Leah’s cry. Big fat tears were rolling down his cheeks.

Seeing everyone’s attention centered on Leah, Sophie leaned forward to pick the baby up. Her movement caught Alanna’s eye.

“No! Don’t touch him.”

Matthew hurried over to scoop the crying child into his arms.

“I’m sorry, I just—”

Alanna shook her head. “There’s no need to apologize. I didn’t mean to yell at you. It’s just …” Alanna seemed to be at a loss of words to explain her outburst.

“Alex doesn’t know you well, and being touched by a stranger could have set him off crying louder than Leah,” Matthew explained, patting his son on his back.

Sophie glanced back over at the other child, seeing Silas handing her back over to Gavin. Leah had stopped crying and was snuggling into Gavin’s chest. Gavin had a fearsome appearance, yet the sight of him gently rocking his daughter brought a lump to her throat

Gradually, the room went back to normal with conversations starting again, yet Sophie noticed Matthew or Isaac kept Alex with them rather than letting him play with Leah or Freddie again.

Alanna moved to the couch where Gavin and Ginny had taken a seat after putting Leah back on the floor to play with the block. Sophie wished she could overhear what they were talking about. Alanna seemed to be tearfully apologizing.

She started to go over there to tell them Alex had done nothing wrong—he had barely touched her when she had started crying.

Jody took her hand, stopping her.

“Let’s go for a walk. I need to walk dinner off.”

“Okay, I just need to speak to Ginny and Alanna before I go.”

“Leave it alone.” Jody tugged her to her feet. Without giving her a chance to say good night, he ushered her out the door.

Sophie gave him a curious look as he closed the door behind them. “What’s the rush?” she asked. “I was just going to explain what happened. Alex barely touched her. I don’t know what set Leah off, but Alex didn’t hurt her. Alanna is upset, thinking he did—”

“No one is angry at Alex. Let’s take that walk. You need to loosen up your muscles.”

Blushing at the way he was looking at her, she went down the steps. Having never been in an inner circle of a family before, she assumed she was making more out of it than the weirdness she had felt.

“I shouldn’t have tried to say anything. I’m glad you stopped me. I forgot my place.”

Jody frowned at her. “What place?”

“I’m not a member of the family.”

They continued walking. Jody showed her the different areas of their mountain she hadn’t seen before. He took her into the building where Matthew and Isaac had their forge, where they made their fencing materials. Leaving the building, they walked until they had to go down a deep trail to where Silas kept the animals. Jody also showed her the storage buildings, which were like small grocery stores that held all of their supplies.

Sophie stared around the building in awe. “One thing’s for sure: we have an apocalypse, you guys are good to go for at least a couple of years.”

Jody laughed. “Maybe a year, with as many mouths to feed as we do. Silas intended to buy a couple of calves to raise to slaughter, but when Matthew and Alanna got together, he changed his mind.”

“Why?”

Jody took her hand as they left the storage building.

“Alanna gets too attached to the animals. It’s easier to buy from a farm that Silas goes to rather than upset her.”

“I saw her eating dinner—she’s not a vegetarian.”

“She’s not. She just doesn’t want any of the animals she named sitting on the dinner table.”

After showing her Moses and Matthew’s home, he took her to a small creek.

“This area is beautiful. I’m surprised no one has built their home here.”

Jody dropped down onto the ground near the creek. Taking his cue, she sat down next to him.

“We don’t want to spoil the natural beauty here. Freddie left each of us a section of land. This is Silas’.” Jody pointed to an area close to the road that led to the back road. “It extends to the main road.”

Sophie looked at him in surprise. “I thought the main house was Silas’.”

“No, the house belongs to Fynn.

“There’s another section that is undeveloped, which belongs to Ginny. She was building a house there when there was an explosion, and it was destroyed. Silas let Ginny have the land that would have been Leah’s if she had lived.”

“Who will get Ginny’s original property, then?”

“Silas will make the decision. It will go to one of the children when they grow older. The land will remain in the Coleman family regardless of whom he gifts it to.”

“Your family has made yourselves self-sufficient.”

“Which was our ancestor’s intention. Dad and Silas have turned down numerous offers to sell.”

“I’m glad. Places like this are hard to come by.”

Sophie watched curiously as Jody removed his shoes and socks, placing his feet onto the grass. “What are you doing?”

“Grounding myself. Have you heard of it?”

“I have. I’ve just never actually seen anyone do it.”

“The beauty is it’s not hard to do.” Reaching out, he took off her shoes and socks, then placed her bare feet back on the grass. “Now you’re grounded.”

They sat quietly. Sophie had never felt so relaxed. The night before and getting up early was catching up to her. She didn’t want to leave the tranquil spot, yet she couldn’t help becoming drowsy.

Jody stretched out his legs. “You can lay your head on my thigh,” he offered.

Sophie took his suggestion, feeling strange at the new experience of being with a man she didn’t feel uncomfortable with as she drowsily closed her eyes. Shifting into a more comfortable position, she then opened her eyes. Groggily, she thought the grass was bending toward her and Jody, as if each blade of grass was reaching for them. Thinking she was imagining what she was seeing, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.