Lucinda sipped her drink, listening to the men discuss some merger, waiting for them to finish their impromptu meeting. She'd decided to go along for the ride, since she'd been preoccupied with Megan earlier and hadn't taken the time to feed.
Large restaurants full of business men, gave her a perfect opportunity to do just that. Swirling the olive around her martini glass absently, she felt Caydn stiffen suddenly.
Glancing up she saw Lucien and Christian had felt it also.
Worming her way into her brother's mind, she could hear the struggling gasps she knew had to have been Gypsy, due to Caydn's reaction. Seeing him start to stand, she moved quickly.
"I'm not any help here, so you gentlemen finish your meeting. I'll get a quick lift home," she said seeing Caydn understand her meaning, when she gripped his arm firmly.
Lucien stood beside his twin, "I can also go if you think it's warranted," he said firmly, frowning, when Caydn growled. Flashing his friend a quick glance he saw the possession burning in his eyes, Gypsy's scent radiating from him.
The short balding gentleman sitting at the table, stared at the three overly tall people questioningly, not sure what to make of the sudden turn of events.
"We European's can be an odd sort," Christian laughed, breaking the tension and getting Caydn's attention. "I'm sure Lucinda can make it home unaided. We'll be along the instant this business is taken care of," he said firmly, nodding when Caydn and Lucien both took their seats.
Giving his arm one last squeeze of reassurance, Lucinda walked rapidly toward the exit, heading into the shadows of the large parking lot.
**************
Moving in her normal quick long legged stride as she appeared suddenly near the garage at the estate, she thanked the powers above for giving her this unusual talent to move from one place to another within a reasonable range in an instant.
Making a quick scan of the area she knew Victor, Vince and Sophie were still out to dinner. The additional staff was in place as they should be so she wasn't sure what had happened to distress Gypsy, enough to cause that type of effect on Caydn.
Walking toward the guest house, converted into Gypsy's private design studio, she hoped she'd find her happily buried among lengths of fabric, and that Caydn's nerves had just gotten the best of him. This was the first time Gypsy had been totally alone. Megan she knew was with the designer Christian had hired to redo some of the rooms at their home.
Reaching for the door, she felt the hum of the protection spells Lucien had placed around the property. She knew immediately nothing had happened to disturb the spell. Opening the door she felt waves of pain and fear pouring from the room over her.
For the past week she'd been watching both Caydn and Gypsy, wondering when or if either of them were going to mention how and when they'd stepped further with their relationship, bonded as vampires did as opposed to formal wedding ceremonies humans seemed to thrive on.
A quick look around told her nothing was out of place, but she also didn't see Gypsy immediately, stepping further into the room she saw her lying on the chaise asleep.
Her breath caught, her mother's face getting closer to her own. She could almost feel her breath against her face, knowing any minute the sound of her voice would fill her ears, making them hurt as her brain already did from the anger and resentment flooding through her mother's mind.
She shook her head, not wanting to have to stare into Evelyn's eyes as she once again berated her for something she was sure she hadn't done. The moan of frustration and fear slipped between her lips, before she even knew it was happening. Cringing she knew her mother's reaction would be to slap her.
"I didn't do anything," she kept thinking over and over, the words never escaping her lips since she knew they'd result in a sharp ear ringing slap each time. When Evelyn was convinced Gypsy had done something, it was written in stone as far as she was concerned.
She felt her mother's hands grab her wrists tightly, a move she hadn't seen coming. Pulling back, it didn't register that the grip was far stronger and firmer than her mother could've ever managed.
"Gypsy, wake up," Lucinda said as gently as possible, suddenly having to tighten her hold of the thrashing arms. Kneeling beside the chair, she almost growled. When feeling and hearing the over the top fear pouring out of the young sleeping woman.
"You've got to wake up Gypsy. It's me Luc, come on wake up," she said louder, shaking her, ignoring the nails sinking into her own wrists.
"But I didn't do it!" Gypsy screamed one last time, her body freezing when she heard the sound echoing off the walls of the shop loudly. Opening her eyes, she jerked, seeing Lucinda next to her holding her arms tightly.
"With a reaction like that, I'd say nope, you didn't do what ever it was," the tall woman laughed, trying to break the awkwardness Gypsy was suddenly feeling. "I do know you have some of the most vivid dreams I've ever seen, floating around someone's mind," she said slowly releasing Gypsy's arms.
Pushing her self up to sit on the edge of the chaise, she looked around. She'd leaned back earlier, doing some final alterations on some slacks. Gypsy shook her head. Glancing at Luc when she sat on the floor beside her, she forced a smile.
"I thought you'd gone with the men to their meeting," she said trying to keep the trembling she felt in her body from affecting her voice. "Are they back already?" she asked, looking toward the large front windows at the estate house.
Lucinda leaned back, stretching her legs out comfortably before answering. "No they're not back yet. I don't think it'll be much longer, but time enough for you to get a grip on yourself," she said watching her closely.
Gypsy shrugged her shoulders, making Luc wonder if she'd meant 'thanks' or 'there isn't ever going to be enough time for that'. "I think we need to talk," Lucinda said seriously.
She held her hand up when she felt Gypsy stiffen, her expression becoming a mask. "I know I don't seem to be the best candidate, but obviously you haven't spoken to Megan, or she would've been doing something to help you," she said firmly.
"It was just a nightmare," Gypsy said casually, brushing it off as she stood, laying the small part of slacks she'd been working on across one of the many tables in the large work room.
"Okay if you don't want to tell me, that's fine. But why don't we try and figure out what caused it," she said with a gentle smile. "Don't try and tell me it's over work," she laughed, looking around the room. "You thrive on this chaos more than anyone I've met in all my centuries," she chuckled, seeing Gypsy shaking her head.
Brushing her hair out her face, back into a some what neat bun, Gypsy laughed. "Some times I forget all of you are so much older. Not that I'm saying that's a bad thing," she rolled her eyes at her self. She'd just called the breath taking woman in front of her old.
Standing at the table she ran her hands along the length of the navy woolen slacks she was making. Taking a deep breath she turned away from the table, a frown on her face.
"I think this was because of the young girl that came in with her mother this afternoon," she said softly. Looking at Lucinda she saw her nod, waiting for her to continue talking.
"She's about fifteen maybe a year younger or older, I didn't ask for details," she forced a smile. "The mother was being over bearing, about what she wanted made for her daughter," she explained. "This young woman wasn't the least bit interested, and even acted as if she was totally withdrawn from the situation. I finally found a happy medium with some fast talking, by the time they left the girl actually smiled at me," she said with glowing smile of her own.
Lucinda could see that having made this young woman happy had been important to Gypsy. "Now why don't you tell me what it was you didn't do, obviously someone said you had," she asked, watching her closely.
The sound that escaped her was a mix between a laugh and a sob. Closing her eyes she exhaled. "Well it depends on what time you're talking about. I don't think I can remember many times in my life when there wasn't something I did my mother and grandfather felt wasn't right," she sighed, walking over to flop down on the chaise again.
"Just tell me one thing Gypsy, when either one of them accused you of something, did they ever hurt you, to make you agree they were right?" she asked carefully, already knowing the answer before the crushed young woman nodded.
Holding her hand up, Lucinda stopped her. "You don't have to say anything else, but I do want to ask. "If I introduced you to someone who could talk to you privately and help, would you be willing to give it a try?"
Gypsy felt her pulse beating loudly in her temples, just at the thought of being put under someone else's microscope. Mentally poked and prodded to find out what was wrong with her. Shaking her head no she fought to contain the tears that threatened to fall.
"Not a problem, it was just a thought," Lucinda said with a smile, in her mind she knew she was going to have to be devious when putting her plan into action.
Looking toward the house, Gypsy took a deep breath. "Caydn will be here any minute," she said quickly. "Can we keep this to ourselves? I hate to add something else for him to worry about. He's walking on egg shells wondering when Barton might show up again." At Lucinda's nod, they headed toward the house.
They found the men in the study. Victor, Vince and Sophie arrived a few minutes later. Sophie begged off the after dinner drink for some rest, Vince accompanied her to their apartment.
Caydn held his hand out to her when she and Lucinda walked into the room. He wrapped his arm around her tightly when she stepped up and leaned into him.
