(Small Fry Ch 1)
Declan
cracked several eggs in a glass bowl and proceeded to beat them so hard, the
whisk made a squealing sound against the sides.
I watched him add the other ingredients for pancakes, as he prepared
them by memory. He was such an old hand
at this, he continued to cook as he talked.
“When
it was just me and Finn working at the Garage; we would be leaning over a
vehicle and he'd say as casual as can be, ‘So Declan, do you like soccer?’ I
wouldn’t look up as I'd be in the middle of something and I'd reply, ‘Yeah I
like it fine.’ Then Finn would say, ‘I
was wondering why you kept watching the other kids play. Here I was thinking it could be over a girl
instead, who just happened to be running around the field with your little
brother.’ In surprise, I dropped the
wrench into the motor and hit my head on the hood!”
I
cracked up laughing, as I could very well imagine the late Finn with his cheeky
sense of humor, bringing it up like that.
My
husband chuckled, “He'd only talk about it when we were alone. Sometimes in summer, during the long daylight
hours when the bloodlust was making me restless, we would stay up until
midnight repairing engines. It was when
we talked the most. He'd sneakily bring
you up by suddenly asking, ‘So how’s your spectator sport going?’ We'd talk
about you in the third person without actually saying your name. We always referred to you as ‘that girl who
liked playing soccer’.”
I
felt myself blush, as I hopped back up onto the bench to sit and listen. He finished off the pancake mix and left it
on the bench. Then I watched him pull
out another frying pan from one of the cupboards, to cook it in.
He
went on, “When the truth came out about us and we first moved in together? Finn gave me an early mark every day for two
months, so I could come home to you sooner.
When I felt embarrassed at the favouritism he was showing, he said in
front of the whole crew, ‘You’ve done the hard work, Declan. Now it’s time to enjoy the fruits of your
labours’.”
“Finn
said that?” I asked, touched.
“Finn,
my Mom and your Mom then your grandparents, seemed like the only people who
didn’t have a problem with our coupling.” He said in irritation. “I felt your Dad and Ian’s uneasiness for
years. Your father never trusted me with
you. If you had become pregnant by me at
that time, your father would have had the same reservations that I spoke of;
what carrying a European Werewolf could do to you.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
