“Hello, love. Did you have a good swim?”
“We did. I can’t wait for the pool at home to be finished now. Although you should know that Henry on a float is extremely dangerous. We may have to hire a lifeguard to protect us from him.”
Eduard laughed and pulled Sawyer closer. He kissed him sweetly then turned to Henry with a smile. “Causing trouble again, I see.”
“Hey, there’s gotta be one in every group, right? And it was Sawyer’s fault.”
Eduard grinned as Cecil came out of the house carrying one of his polished silver trays. He sat a latte in front of Draco before giving Eduard a quick bow.
“Is there anything you need, Master Eduard?”
“No, thank you, Cecil. We have a few things to attend to, so we’ll be heading inside after a short visit with my cousins.”
Draco gestured Eduard toward his chair before taking his coffee and escaping to the other side of the pool. One of the vampire guards had stopped there to talk to Andvari so Draco joined them, escaping the chatty conversations he didn’t enjoy. It constantly surprised Henry how different they all were the moment someone outside their immediate circle came around. Whether it be one of the vampire guards or simply someone stopping to talk to Draco the rare times they’d left the house in the past few weeks, the man clammed up like it was an affront to his very being that someone dared speak to him. It hadn’t taken Henry long to realize that Draco actually got really anxious around people. It was funny that he was forced into a situation where there would be at least nine of them once the rest of the guardians arrived. Then again, it didn’t bother Draco to be with them, and Cecil and Vivian didn’t bother him either.
Sawyer, on the other hand, seemed to flourish around new people, so it had been hard to see him so tied up in knots after the mailman incident. His trust had been broken, and Henry couldn’t imagine what that must feel like. Although he’d been welcoming to Helena and Magdalen, the line of tension along Sawyer’s back hadn’t eased until Eduard returned.
After another half hour that was mostly spent discussing the weather, Eduard ushered his two cousins back to the path and gave the vampire guards a significant look. Sawyer and Henry stayed seated at the table, and Henry couldn’t help but wonder what had Eduard so tense.
Once they were gone, Eduard let out a sigh of relief and sat back in his chair. Andvari sat as well, while Draco hovered behind Sawyer.
“Sorry about that,” Eduard said.
“It was fine,” Sawyer replied. “They were nice. Well, Magdalen was nice. I think Helena wasn’t happy to be here.”
“No, she wouldn’t have been,” Eduard said. “I should have told the guards to not allow any family members entrance, but I worried about father’s reaction if he found out I’d barred their entry. It’s fine now.”
“You spoke to your father?”
“I did.” The tension in Eduard came back and Henry could see that it hadn’t gone well.
“That bad, huh?” Sawyer asked.
Eduard shrugged before reaching for Sawyer’s hand and threading their fingers together. “No one said this was going to be easy. We’re going to do what we have to do.”
They sat quietly for a few minutes, each lost to their thoughts, when Eduard’s cell phone rang and broke the mood. He took the call as he walked into the house. He ran his hand over both Sawyer and Henry’s shoulders as he left. Andvari took the opportunity to work out while Draco kept eying the lounge chair longingly.
“Go sleep,” Sawyer said. “Henry and I are going to be upstairs in Eduard’s rooms.”
Draco grumbled for a second but he gave up the fight and kissed them both before going back to the sunny spot and lying down. Henry followed Sawyer into the house and upstairs to Eduard’s sitting room. They each grabbed a book off the stack Henry brought and settled on the couch side by side. It wasn’t long before Henry had laid down with his head on Sawyer’s lap while Sawyer held his book on the arm of the chair with one hand and petted Henry’s hair with the other.
Sawyer sighed, long and dramatically, and didn’t even seem to notice. Henry dropped his book on the floor and rolled over so he could wrap his arms around Sawyer’s middle. It was awkward and limb tangling, but he managed to do it.
“Talk to me,” Henry said.
“I just… it’s all been so much. I think everything has finally started to sink in.”
“Okay. And why does that make you so sad?”
“Not sad, exactly,” Sawyer explained. “I’m… I don’t know if I want to say this out loud.”
Henry pushed up enough so that their faces were closer together. “You can trust me. You know that, right?”
Sawyer nodded. “It’s just… I don’t think all this is real.”
He’d whispered the words, his voice cracking a bit as he closed his eyes and laid his forehead against Henry’s.
“I know it’s hard to believe, but we are real. This is real.”
