Chapter Forty Four
A couple days later, Natala had forced herself to not think about Dean. She hadn’t heard from him, and while she knew boys often waited a few days, she suspected really it was more that he had a few other girls to keep him occupied. And while she admittedly hadn’t given him her number, he knew where she lived and probably had Tim on speed dial.
Maybe she could ask Lyris about him. They got along well,although Lyris spent most of her timeworking with Daisy in the city, Natala didn’t see her as much as she’d like to. She did enjoy the company of her younger cousins, and Rayma, Dana and Mabon often invited her to join their friends for shopping, or movies.
While Natala couldn’t stomach the sugar levels that her cousin Aralyn adored, she did have a fondness for Burger King French fries. So much so, she walked to the one not far from her subdivision at least three times a week.
The thought of driving made her tense and she panicked, which made trying to read the street signs even more difficult, so Brian had suggested they hold off on that. Her reading was on a lower elementary grade, and Brian didn’t want her driving until she was on a high school reading level. Her uncle had made sure that women in the troupe didn’t learn to drive. It would encourage them to think of leaving.
Her cousin Jim tutored her in reading three afternoons a week, and Brian often read with her at night. Having discovered she was dyslexic, a series of tests showed blue tinted glasses helped her with reading. She was learning quickly, to her delight, and hoped to try for her GED in the next year or so.
A few days after meeting Natala, Dean found her at Burger King. Planning on hitting the drive thru, he glanced in the window and happened to see the pretty raven haired girl sitting by herself eating. With a grin, he parked and went in.
She was flipping through a magazine, frowning at the page and wearing glasses with blue tinted lenses. Her tray consisted of a soda, several cartons of fries, two of which were empty, and a piece of pie.
“Now there’s a lunch to make Aralyn Duke proud,” he said teasingly, holding his tray in his hands.
Natala looked up and smiled, blushing slightly. “Oh well, better than what Aralyn would eat,” she laughed.
“Yes, I remember her lunches consisting mostly of candy, cake, brownies and cookies,” Dean slid into the booth across her. “And a lot of soda.”
“They have good fries here,” she said sheepishly. “Brian says I’m still too skinny but I don’t think he approves of my diet choices for weight gain. So instead, my aunts and grandmothers stuff me full of food whenever they see me and I stuff myself full of fries.”
“You are admittedly, the thinnest Belden-Duke girl I’ve ever seen,” he said it with a smile, so she wouldn’t be offended. “And I envy you. The women in your family are amazing in the kitchen. I’ve been to plenty of family holidays and the food is just, wow.”
“I know,” she made a face. “I wish I had Aralyn’s curves.”
“Trust me when I say she wishes she had Tiffany’s. I heard her moan about it a thousand times.”
Natala laughed. “I keep trying to convince Brian that the fries are good and fattening.”
Dean grinned. “That they are. Staying away from dangerous curbsides?”
Smiling, Natala nodded. “Yes, thank you again.”
“Anytime,” he smiled. “I love rescuing women. Say, what’s with the glasses?”
“Oh, uh,” Natala took them off quickly. “Just, um, reading.”
“You dyslexic?” he asked.
Natala looked surprised. “You know?”
“Yeah, my little sister has it. Took us forever to figure it out. Her glasses are yellow. They worked better for her than blue.”
Natala smiled shyly. He wasn’t turned off by the glasses at all. And he already knew about them and her disorder.
“Are you on your lunch break?”
“Yeah. Cam’s busting tail for a midterm, so I told him I’d grab lunch for him. His bitch of a —excuse my language— girlfriend has her hooks in him so deep he doesn’t have time to study. For a guy like Cam, that’s life shaking. The man lives for studying and reading.”
“Why does he stay with her again?” Natala asked, picking up another fry. The sex must be great, she thought idly.
“Lonely. He met up with her late last fall, and Aralyn didn’t call while she was in town over Christmas. Bummed him out. This chick is a snob. And demanding. Real high maintenance,” his blue-green eyes studied her. With her hair swept back he saw the delicate cheekbones, and her big blue eyes were fixed on him steadily. There was much more to her, he knew, and he planned to find out. It had occurred to him to cancel his date this weekend and ask her out but Dean knew if he did, he’d likely run into the other girl somewhere. He wasn’t that much of a jerk.
“He really never did get over Aralyn, did he?” she asked thoughtfully.
“Nope. Granted, it’s good he found someone else, but she’s just a time filler, I think,” he said casually, unwrapping his burger. “I sure hope so. And she doesn’t look unlike Aralyn.”
“I think they’ll find their way to back to each other,” she said slowly, “I really do. When I met him, there was something very…intense between them.”
Dean studied her, and when she flipped her hair over her shoulder, he saw the bracelet of stones, and noticed that each of her earrings was a different stone. The necklace that hung around her neck was a big chunk of a pale pink stone, rose quartz, wrapped in thin silver chains, he thought. Things began to click together in his mind.
“Aralyn’s not due back for a couple months. Hopefully she’ll change her mind, and Cam will be out of the clutches of Wicked Bitch.”
Natala chuckled. “They both need to grow, but I have to insist I think they’ll end up together again.”
Dean studied her closely and she smiled.
“You never told me what you figured out about me.” Her eyes focused on him and Dean had a moment of blanking out as he stared into them.
He could get lost staring into their depths, he thought. Mystery, pain-lots of it – these eyes had seen way more than they should have.
“All right,” he smiled and took a drink of his soda. “You’re wearing a chunk of rose quartz around your neck, which is traditionally used to heal broken hearts or open the heart to love. The wires wrapped around it form a pentagram, which is one of the oldest symbols of protection. Your bracelet is malachite, which is used for grounding personal energy and protection. Your earrings range in stones, but they mean a variety of things. I see protection, several different types, mental clarity, emotional strength. With your gypsy background, I’d be willing to bet you know fair amount about the neo-pagan movement, and probably the old religions.”
Natala stared at him in shock.
“You dress nicely but you aren’t entirely comfortable. I’m guessing your background is quite unlike the Beldens and Dukes, and you’re still adjusting. You long for family, and are trying to blend in here with them. You’re shy but want to fit in, and you’re brave enough to tolerate my presence, though I expect you’ve talked to at least one of your cousins to make sure I wasn’t a serial killer.” He was smiling broadly.
Natala froze, but she didn’t sense any judgment from him, rather, curiosity. And his accuracy was eerie. Was she that easy to figure out?
“I didn’t mean that to sound offensive,” he said quickly, taking a bite of his burger. “Or too personal.”
“Not at all. I was just determining if you were curious or malicious.”
“Curious,” he swallowed. “No one would ever describe me as malicious. Tiffany will just tell you I’m annoyingly persistent.”
Natala smiled. Tiffany already had.
“I do find things such as the astral plane, paranormal, supernatural and mystic natures to be very interesting.” Natala admitted.
Dean grinned and leaned forward. “You’re generally very calm and at peace with yourself but you’ve had a hard life, and you’re trying to find your place. You’re timid because of the things you’ve seen and you’re ready to bolt at any sight of trouble.” Dean leaned back. “How’d I do?”
Natala swallowed. “Who’ve you been talking to?”
“No one,” he shrugged. “But I have been studying you and I’ve been thinking about you since the other day. I’m a photojournalist, and generally pretty good at putting together the pieces. When you’re used to looking at people through a lens, you see with more than just the eye.”
Natala bit her lip.
“Listen, Natala, I’m not out to spook you,” he said gently. “You’ve got something about you that I like, and I want to get to know you better. You’ve got a glow to you that I can’t stop thinking about. I can’t get out of my plans this weekend, but I’d like to take you out to dinner sometime soon.”
Natala nodded slowly. “Yeah, ok.”
Dean grinned. “See, that wasn’t so hard.”
Natala studied him. He really did radiate in gold, she thought, and warmth. Why hadn’t Tiffany gone out with him? He didn’t have a mean bone in his body, he enjoyed having fun and he had a good heart.
“Did Tiffany ever give you a reason for not going with her?” she asked, lips moving in a faint smile.
“She said I talk too much,” was the dry answer, but he was smiling. “But that didn’t deter me from trying.”
Natala laughed. Tiffany’s future mate was a blond, but not him. Definitely not Dean.
“Hey, if you don’t want to go out with me because of Tiffany, I understand. Nothing ever happened between us, other than me kissing her at New Years Eve and at the prom. I’m lucky she didn’t deck me either time. It was totally weird though. Like kissing a sibling, and she agreed.”
“It doesn’t bother me,” she smiled.
“Can I give you a ride home?” he asked.
“No, thank you, I walked.”
“You walked? It’s like, three miles!”
“I know. I like walking. Driving makes me nervous,” she admitted.
“I’ll be happy to drive you home. I don’t like the idea of you walking so far.”
He persisted until she agreed to, and after eating his lunch, and grabbing food for Cam, he dropped her off, promising to call in the next day or two, securing her number this time.
***
“You definintely need some fun in your life,” Dean grinned at her, a few days later.
Natala looked at him warily. His idea of fun seemed to always to involve something risky.
“Hmm, spend the day falling on my ass while attempting to skate on a thin sheet of ice and freezing at the same time?” she chuckled. “No, thank you.”
“Aw, come on, it’ll be fun,” he caught her by the hand and spun her around up to him. “I bet Aralyn or Tiffany even have skates that would fit you.”
“I don’t how to skate!” she laughed.
Dean drew close and she felt a little surge in her chest. Instead of finally kissing her, he leaned close to her ear and murmured, “I’m really good at teaching.”
Natala burst out laughing. “I don’t doubt it.”
“Tell you what, if you fall on your pretty little butt, I’ll pick you up. Promise,” he smiled.
Natala rolled her eyes but didn’t protest again.
***
“Hey cuz, what’s up?” Aralyn answered cheerfully.
“Well, I was uh, wondering if you had some ice skates I could borrow.”
“Sure. I’ll call Dad and tell him to get them down for you. Are the twins taking you skating?”
“No, uh, Dean is.”
Aralyn burst out laughing. “You sure are spending a lot of time with him,” she teased. “I get the reports.”
Natala twisted the phone cord around her finger. “He’s really nice. And funny.”
“I know he is. Just watch his hands,” Aralyn laughed. “Seriously, he’s a good guy.”
They chatted a few more minutes then hung up so Aralyn could call Bo.
***
Saturday morning found Dean picking up Natala, grinning broadly.
“You do realize I’m going to make a total fool of myself,” she said as she climbed into his coupe.
“Don’t worry. There will be a ton of other people making a fool of themselves too.”
“Where did you learn to skate?” she asked.
“This is New York, everyone skates here. You’ve been out to Frayne’s Academy, right? Next to Manor House?” Natala nodded. “Their lake is perfect for skating in the winter. Every winter we’d be out there on the weekends, skating and playing hockey. The rinks had too many rules and with Leif and Logan around…the extra space is good. Plus we could make up our own rules.”
One more thing she had missed out on, she thought wistfully.
It was still early so the rink wasn’t too crowded. Dean laced her skates for her, trying not to look at her too much. Her heavy sweater was a deep blue that brought out her eyes, and her jet back hair was in a sleek ponytail.
“All right, my gypsy girl,” he stood and held out his hands. “Come on.”
Natala tried to get to her feet and almost toppled over. Laughing, Dean caught her. “You can do it.”
Slowly they got on to the ice, Natala clutching onto Dean, then the side bar for support.
“I think I changed my mind,” she said shakily. “I’ll just drink hot chocolate and watch you.”
“Nope. C’mon, I got you out here. Just kind of slide your feet forward. Hold onto me or the bar.”
Not quite trusting herself or Dean, she held to the bar, but Dean kept his hands on her waist for support.
“That a girl,” he encouraged.
Natala realized more skaters were arriving and felt even worse. To her relief, though, there were more than a couple people just learning, also clutching the bar or a partner for dear life.
“All right, I think you can glide okay. Take my hands. Come on,” he smiled. Natala let out heavy sigh and took his hands gingerly, almost falling.
“Just push forward,” he gave her a sexy smile and she almost lost her balance again.
After a couple minutes, he was skating backwards slowly, pulling her along as she laughed in embarrassment.
“I feel like such an idiot!”
With her eyes sparkling and cheeks glowing, Dean thought she looked anything but.
“Don’t’ keep your legs so stiff. You’re doing great,” he assured her, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. Suddenly he let go and she gasped. She coasted for a few feet then panicked and fell, hitting the ice hard on her butt.
“Come on, old girl!” a British voice shouted. “Hop to it!”
Before Dean could help her up, Leif and Logan Duke raced over, each boy grabbing their cousin by an arm and hauling her to her feet.
“Thanks, guys,” she said wearily.
“No problem!” Leif grinned.
“We were in the neighborhood,” Logan laughed. “Hey, Dean.”
“Hey, guys, long time no see,” Dean held out his arm to Natala who took it reluctantly, one hand massaging her butt.
“You guys here alone?” Natala asked.
“No, Mabon and Miles are here too. I think Dana was going to meet us.”
Natala sighed. Just what she needed, her whole family to see her look silly.
“C’mon, we’ll help,” Leif said.
With a nod to his brother, they each grabbed her by an arm and took off, pulling her along before she could protest. She glanced back at Dean who just grinned.
“Move your legs!” Logan called as they moved. Natala slowly began to pick up a rhythm, one twin on each of side her.
She was vaguely aware of passing some of her cousins as the twins guided her.
“Not so bad, is it?” Leif asked.
“No, it’s kinda fun!” she replied with a laugh, as they approached Dean.
“Dean, your turn!” they shouted, releasing her.
Horrified, Natala went coasting towards Dean, who turned to catch her. Stumbling instead, they both hit the ice, Dean laughing, but Natala was near tears.
“I’m so sorry! I-those brats!”
“Hey, hey, it’s all right,” Dean laughed. “They just didn’t give me enough warning. They mean well.”
The twins raced over to make sure she was all right.
“You were supposed to catch her, Dean,” Logan reached to help his cousin up, “not let her eat ice!”
Natala let the twins help her up, against her better judgment. Logan set about brushing the ice off of her.
“Thanks for the warning,” Dean said dryly.
The twins were hailed then by a friend and took off.
“I think I’ve had enough,” Natala said weakly.
Dean smiled, brushing back a few escaped hairs back from her pretty face.
“All right. We’ve been out here for a while, and I’m starved anyway!”
Natala rolled her eyes. Dean was constantly eating, not unlike her Uncle Mart or Aralyn’s twin brothers.
“I’m going to be bruised for a month,” she grumbled, as they made their way to the bench to remove the skates.
“I’ll take care of you,” he smiled, squeezing her shoulders.
Natala blushed.
“You like hot dogs?” Dean asked, as the strolled towards the car.
“No,” she laughed, not wanting to remember how many of the wretched things she had been forced to eat her entire life. “I never want to see one again.”
Dean laughed, and suddenly pulled her to him. With her big blue eyes wide, he touched her chin and gently kissed her, letting his lips linger. Natala almost twitched at the shock that zapped her lips.
“I’ve been wanting to do that since we met,” he murmured.
Natala giggled. “I wondered what was taking you so long.”
Dean’s blue-green eyes studied her as his other arm slid around her waist. “Half the time you looked scared to death, and I didn’t want to make it worse. But hopefully you know by now I’m not a scary person.”
“You’re a very good person,” she said softly, smiling up at him, “Otherwise I wouldn’t be here with you.”
“I was hoping you’d feel that way,” he grinned, pulling her close for a deeper kiss that left her knees weak.
A snowball whacked him in the head and they turned, in time to see Leif and Logan wave cheerfully, then take off again on the ice.
Giggling, Natala brushed the ice from his hair.
They made their way to a nearby Starbucks, where they found a small table and sat sipping their drinks. Dean had a never-ending supply of stories about her cousins, particularly his and Tim’s exploits. Natala loved listening to them; it gave her a deeper picture into her family, and Dean. Most of the stories ended with him and Tim getting caught and in trouble. Subtlety was not one of their finer qualities.
As Dean was regaling her with the story of the twins and Aralyn sneaking out the General Lee, Bo’s prized vintage racing car, Natala felt an ice cold shudder run down her back. She froze, mid laugh, and suddenly the sound dropped around her. She heard barking, a gunshot and a scream.
“Nat? Natala? What’s wrong?” Dean’s voice brought her back to herself.
The sounds of the coffee shop surrounded her, and she looked around. No one seemed to have noticed but Dean, who was gripping her hands, and staring at her with worry.
“What did you see?” Dean asked.
Natala licked her lips. “What do you mean?”
“You’re a Gypsy, Nat, and you always seem to know things. I’ve wondered if you get visions but haven’t wanted to ask. But you’re white as a ghost and you looked terrified just now. What did you see?”
“More what I heard,” she whispered. “Trouble. Someone’s in a lot of trouble, or are going to be.”
“One of the cousins?” he asked.
She nodded. “Yes. I did a reading for Aralyn and Tiffany before they left, and a brief one recently for Tiffany. I think they’re in trouble, Dean. Whatever I saw is coming.”
“Do you want to call them?” he asked. All traces of humor were gone from his eyes.
“It won’t do any good. I’ve asked them to come home several times but Aralyn doesn’t take me seriously. She’s determined to finish out this road trip before she’s confined to school.”
“Why don’t you give them a call tonight? Or now, if it will make you feel better.”
“You don’t mind?” she asked.
“They’re my friends,” he reminded her. “Of course not.”
Natala pulled out her phone and dialed Aralyn’s cell. There was no answer.
“Aralyn, it’s me, Natala. I have a really bad feeling about you girls right now, and I wanted to see if you’re okay. Please, please be careful and I’m asking you again to come home, right away!”
There was no answer for Tiffany either, and Natala left another message.
“Do you think it’s happening right now?” Dean asked.
Natala thought hard, trying to recapture the sounds she had heard a few minutes before but it eluded her. “I don’t know. I don’t think so, but it’s imminent. I’m so sorry, Dean, to ruin the night like this.”
“Don’t worry,” he smiled at her. “I think we have lots of nights. I just hope the girls are okay.”
“Me too,” Natala murmured.
***
The next morning, Natala sat up in bed, heart pounding. She had almost seen it this time.
A dog barking.
Cars driving past.
A gunshot.
A scream.
Blood.
She had no doubt, now. The girls were in trouble, and it was imminent.
Meet the cast in full & see the family tree!
Author’s Notes
- A huge yee-haa to the fabulous and lovely Ronda, for editing this and her suggestions which made it much better!
- Word Count, 3,369
| 
