Chapter 45
And when the time is finally there that Catherine will meet him again, just after lunch the next day, she is actually in a flutter. A two year old cannot be in love, can she?
When there is a knock on the door, Catherine accompanies her dad to open it. He's really there, and to Vincent he doesn't look all that special.
He's not very tall, and very slim, skinny actually, with a longish face, stubbled cheeks, and admittedly very beautiful long lashed brown eyes and a very cute little mouth with a deeply dented upper lip.
Vincent shakes hands with all three of their visitors, and he sees with satisfaction that his daughter receives a sincere greeting as well, especially from her favourite.
As Paul and Melissa follow him to the kitchen, where the others are already waiting, Lukas accompanies Catherine, and he actually seems pleased with his little escort.
She is rather quieter than usual, she must be a bit awe-struck, or maybe it is his holding her little hand and smiling at her broadly. That smile is enough to silence anyone, it's so cute even Vincent wants to hug him in response.
Whilst Victor comes to the point straight away and places an order for two bicycles with Paul, followed by Adison, who pleads them to consider making a smaller sized bicycle for her, Vincent looks at his daughter sitting in a corner of the kitchen with Lukas, deep in conversation.
Forcing himself to concentrate on the main group, he decides to trust his daughter and this strange young man, he'll hear what they have discussed later.
As she sees Lukas in the doorway, Catherine seriously wonders why her heart is beating so fast, she is a toddler, not a moony eyed teenager. Guys are just adults, people who all seem to think you are feeble-minded for being a lot younger than they are.
That's not fair, her parents and housemates are not like that at all, even if her foster-parents and their friends and neighbours were.
Lukas comes straight at her and takes her little hand, and she finds herself unable to think of anything to say. But of course she is a toddler, and she need not say anything. Her new friend excuses himself for not keeping his promise of telling her about his true nature.
'When the work was done, your mother told me you were napping.'
The way he says it, napping is not even childish, just a sensible thing to do.
'You did say work went first, so you didn't break a promise or anything.'
That causes him to smile again, a dazzling, broad smile, emphasizing the delicious dent in his upper lip, making his brown eyes sparkle. Instead of taking her breath away, it breaks the spell that is keeping Catherine locked in stunned silence, and she hears herself say cheekily, 'When you smile like that, I want to kiss you.'
He is not shocked at all, he merely smiles again.
'I have that effect on people. I get kissed a lot, and since I need a lot of love to thrive I'm very glad it works that way.'
'I warned my father I have a crush on you, so I'll not kiss you right now, he's watching, but may I kiss you later?'
'Sure,' he replies, 'but how did you know you had a crush on me? You had seen me only once, and we hardly spoke.'
He seems totally fine with her confession, as if he has that happen to him all the time.
'Do toddlers often tell you they have a crush on you, that you don't seem surprised at all?'
The smile again.
'No, but you are as much an ordinary toddler as I am a human. You look like one, but you're not really. Will you tell me about it?'
'I'm dying to, but you first. Victor said if you tell me what you are, I can tell you my secret. Anyway, I knew I had a crush on you as soon as I saw you.'
He nods understandingly, and he invites her over to a corner of the kitchen, where they both take a chair, very cosy. Then he bends his head towards her until Catherine is facing a mop of tight brown curls with his cute face just below it.
Is this an invitation to touch his hair? Gathering courage, Catherine reaches for him with a chubby little hand, and strokes his curls. They feel rough and ticklish, but that is not the point he is making, there is clearly something hard underneath them, two something's.
He encourages her with a, 'Go ahead, check them out.'
Catherine parts the curls, and finds two stumps covered in silver, with very naughty pictures stamped in it somehow. Raised on a farm, she knows immediately what these stumps are and she whispers, 'You used to have horns! You cut them off and capped the ends in silver. Didn't that hurt?'
'You have no idea how much, but strangely enough it stopped as soon as they were gone. I have a tail as well, Catherine, and hoofs.'
'That's why you didn't wear big boots working on the boiler, your feet are too hard to get hurt.'
He looks at her in a certain way, she is right, and he is impressed. But he keeps his promise and tells his own secret first.
'I'm a satyr, a mythical creature from ancient Greece, I'm not from this world. My real name is Lykos Hermeides, and I can heal people with magic.
If people knew what I really am, they'd call me the devil, and probably burn me at the stake. I trust you to keep my secret.'
He does not look cute now, but deadly serious, and Catherine promises him faithfully to keep his confidence.
Then she tells him her secret.
'I look like a two year old girl, but I can understand everything adults say, and I can talk and think like one, too. I don't know why, or how. I pretend to be a toddler to the world, but since I really want to talk to you I want you to know.
'You're a good actress, Catherine, and I'm glad you like me, for I like you, too. Do you want to kiss me now?'
He smiles his irresistible smile, and she falls on his neck and kisses him on both cheeks, then gives him a big hug. He smells very good, she has no name for it, but it reminds her of the expensive perfumes some of the ladies in the theatre wear.
