Ginger, Giselle, and I left my house and drove to Rowan’s. We pulled into his driveway and saw that everyone else had already arrived. I worried for a moment that we might have been extremely late, then I remembered that everyone else only had to walk a few houses down the street to get there. Rowan opened the car door for me, smiling. As soon as I stepped out, he pulled me into a tight hug. It wasn’t the type of hug you would normally give someone you saw every day. It was the type of hug that you gave someone who you hadn’t seen for months or years.
“I’m sorry I left last night,” he whispered into my ear. “I just thought you might rather be around girls. How are you feeling?” He looked at me quizzically, as if he thought I might have some sort of underlying disease.
I sighed. Would no one ever believe that I was capable of keeping my emotions under control?
“I’m fine, really. I feel great.” I smiled at him and leaned forward to give him a kiss on the cheek.
He tilted my head away from his cheek and toward his lips. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me. After a few seconds, I pulled away and started laughing. After watching me laugh, he started laughing as well. We stood there holding each other and laughing hysterically. We must have looked like absolute idiots.
“Hey there, lovebirds! We need to start heading up the hill, or I’m going to starve to death standing here watching you two laugh like love-sick puppies,” Giselle said, laughing.
I looked over at Ginger, and we both rolled our eyes, smiling.
“Yes, ma’am.” Rowan saluted Giselle, who rolled her eyes in response.
Everyone started walking up the hill. Most people walked with their individual families. However, everyone still seemed connected. It was a much happier scene than I’d ever witnessed within my own extended human family.
Except, of course, for Delilah. She was marching up the hill looking as determined as ever, pretending like the rest of us didn’t exist. Several times she tripped, almost falling over. Each time, I had to stop myself from laughing. I knew why she didn’t like me, but I couldn’t imagine why she seemed to despise everyone else, excluding Rowan, just as much. No one attempted to talk to her, so I assumed her behavior must have been normal.
Rowan held my hand as we climbed the hill. He smiled widely, seemingly lost in thought. With almost anyone else, it would have been an awkward silence. Not with Rowan, though. We were content just to be near each other. I smiled to myself, glad that my presence was enough to make Rowan look as if he was the happiest man on Earth.
Everyone went into the meadow, separating into different groups. Rowan went to play football with Colton, Carson, and Cameron. Thomas Smith, Clay Marshall, and Daniel Norris also went to play with them. Forest Jones, William Wood, Anthony Lincoln, Abraham Banks, and Issac Crane all decided to watch the game. The rest of us, excluding Delilah, went to sit on a blanket nearby. We started unpacking the picnic baskets and organizing the food. Tiffany sat with Lizzy on her lap. She had already fallen asleep, holding on tightly to a fuzzy blue stuffed rabbit. Tiffany was gently rocking her, humming a soft lullaby. Conversation quickly drifted to Eleanor, who was due to deliver in three days.
“I’m always just so hungry. I feel like I could eat all the food in the world, and it still wouldn’t be enough.” Eleanor rubbed her belly, gazing at a plate of pork chops.
“I had the same problem when I was pregnant with you,” her mother said. “I never could get enough to eat. I used to get up in the middle of the night to eat another plate of whatever we had for dinner.”
“I never had that problem. Except for pickles. I always wanted more pickles,” Marie commented.
“Of course, you know that you’re all invited to the party after the baby is born. You too, Lily.” Eleanor smiled at me while simultaneously cutting a pork chop.
I smiled back. “Have you picked a name yet?”
“Well, we don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl. But so far, our choices are Stephanie and Casper. Personally, I hope it’s a girl. I can’t stand the name Casper, but Daniel is in love with it.” She finished the first pork chop and reached to pick up a second one.
“It’ll be a girl,” Eva said. “We haven’t had a boy born into this family for four generations.”
“Momma, you know that’s just a coincidence. Gender has nothing to do with the mom’s side of the family,” Eleanor said while chewing.
“I don’t believe those scientists for one minute! My grandma always said it was the woman’s side.” Eva spoke as if it were her lifelong crusade.
Eleanor rolled her eyes while I suppressed a laugh. Looking around, it seemed like everyone else was doing the same.
There was a large crash from over where the game was being played, and we all turned our heads to look. There was lots of yelling, but the only thing I was able to make out was someone shouting, “Old man.” Thomas and Carson were playfully wrestling while everyone else appeared to be picking sides. We all laughed, turning to watch the match. Rowan was leaning against a tree a few feet away from them. He was laughing and cheering one of them on. But there was so much yelling that I couldn’t tell who he was encouraging.
I turned to my right to ask Ginger if she knew where the ketchup was when I noticed Delilah lying out on the grass near the lake. She had somehow gotten rid of her clothes and was wearing only a bikini—a very small, black bikini. Everyone else was fully clothed, but of course, she couldn’t just be normal like the rest of us. I rolled my eyes, feeling more than annoyed. I took a deep breath, trying to calm down.
Ginger had evidently followed my line of sight and was tapping me on the shoulder. “Hey, don’t let the witch ruin your day.” She smiled, handing me a large sugar cookie.
“Thanks,” I muttered.
A little while later, after much more talk about male baby names that were superior to Casper, everyone came over to rest. Rowan walked over and sat between Marie and me. He put his arm around me and kissed my cheek before reaching for a plate. Everyone was occupied with their own conversations and passing the food around. Rowan was piling a mountain of green beans onto his plate with one hand and eating an apple with the other. I reached for the bowl of grapes and put a handful on my plate.
I heard someone walk up behind me and turned around to see who it was. Rowan evidently heard it, too, because he turned around at the same time. He still had the apple in his mouth, which I thought was adorable. Delilah was standing behind us, her hands on her hips. She had put a pink swim cover up over her bikini. The only problem was that it was see-through. So her tiny black bikini, which barely qualified as clothing, was still entirely visible.
“Ugh.” She looked at the apple in Rowan’s mouth as if it caused him to instantly turn from a handsome prince into a disgusting caveman. “I see that her adorable quirks have been rubbing off on you,” Delilah said as she scrunched her nose as if she were smelling a pair of old, moldy socks.
Ginger noticed Delilah and turned around. “Back off, Delilah.” Ginger frowned something that was very out of character.
Delilah laughed, throwing her hands up in the air. “So, the redhead speaks! I wasn’t aware that she was capable of uttering anything except gibberish.” Delilah grinned, looking directly at Ginger.
Ginger didn’t even look upset, obviously accustomed to the comments.
“Go away, Delilah.” Rowan had taken the apple out of his mouth, looking as serious as ever. He had a glint of anger in his eyes, which was something I had only seen a few times before.
She smiled a deathly grin at Rowan. I didn’t know how one facial expression could be so beautiful and terrifying in equal measure. It was almost like gazing into the eyes of a tiger before it devoured you. She walked away, going to sit by her dad. Thankfully, he was a good distance away from us.
Marie looked at me and reached out to take my hand. “Don’t judge her too harshly, Lily. She lost her mother in a terrible car accident when she was only eight. I don’t think she’s been truly happy since it happened. I know she can be hard to handle at times, but she doesn’t mean any real harm. She would never hurt you or any of us.” Marie smiled gently at me.
I wanted to believe her. I wanted to believe that there was good in all people. Just a few days ago, I’d even felt sorry for Delilah. Unfortunately, I found it hard to find the good in her when I was positive that she would murder me in an instant if it meant she could be with Rowan. She was like a bad case of acne that would never ever go away.
Rowan put his hand on my back, softly rubbing it. “I’m sorry.” He reached out to pull a small piece of hair out from behind my ear.
“It’s not your fault. You shouldn’t have to apologize for her,” I said.
“Ah, but I have to,” he whispered. “If I wasn’t over here busy apologizing for her, I’d be far too tempted to go over there and punch her perfect, evil face.”
I laughed loudly, and several people glanced in our direction. “But you can’t,” I whispered.
“Why not?” he asked.
“Because, my love, you would have to get in line. You see, I’ve already reserved ‘punching Delilah’s perfect, evil face’ for the next ten years.” I grinned, trying not to laugh.
“This is why I love you.” He leaned forward and kissed me.
When he pulled away, my eyes caught Delilah’s. She was staring at me with an intensity far darker than I’d ever seen before. I almost thought that I could see tiny lightning bolts flashing behind her eyes.