It Was Always You

Chapter Eight

As soon as Shasta gets off the bus she runs to her with excitement. "Issie!" She quickly opens her arms as the little girl flies into them. Thank goodness she thought to hold her ground otherwise their bodies would have fallen over. Chuckling at the enthusiasm of the child she gently lets her go and stands back up with a smile.

"How was school?" She asks as she takes her hand, and they begin walking back towards the house.

She shrugs her little shoulder as she replies, "It was alright. Same thing we do every day. I wanted to hurry and come home to you though!"

The words warmed her heart as she seemed happier than she did this morning. "Someone is here to see you and I'm sure you'll be even more happy to see them." She informs her as the gate closes behind them.

Shasta's eye brighten at hearing that. "Is it Uncle Jared?! Auntie Millie?!" She asks with even more excitement.

"Guess we'll have to find out when we get inside, don't we?" She tried to smile at her, but it was nearly impossible to do when it came to the woman that was waiting on the other side of that door.

But she didn't want to show her just how much she disliked her mother. She didn't want to create even more tension between any of them, especially since she was Shasta's mother. She figured the woman could have at least came out to greet them but when she opened the door and started taking Shasta's jacket and backpack from her she frowns when she notices she was nowhere to be seen.

As soon as Shasta was free of her burden she immediately runs to the living room. When she sees it was empty she races to the kitchen and dining room to find those rooms empty as well. Frowning she runs back to her and pouts.

"Where are they?"

When she goes to open her mouth to let her know that it wasn't either of them clicking sounds of heels walking on tile reach their ears. Kristan walks from another hallway that leads to the stairs where their bedrooms were located.

"Shasta love, mommy is here!"

Isabel stiffened at the way the woman was displaying fake devotion to her child as if she couldn't really be bothered yet felt forced to act the part anyways. She looked stiff, a bit annoyed and yet smiling all at once. Instant protectiveness overwhelms her as Shasta stops dead in her tracks and all traces of happiness and smiles were gone.

The little girl doesn't say anything, doesn't even move as she watches her mother walk over to her, bend down awkwardly and gives the world's most uncomfortable display of affection. Shasta carefully hugs her back but not in the same way as she hugged her or anyone else for that matter.

Kristen straightens up and says to her, "I just came by to check on you."

Yeah right, more like check on the new babysitter was more like it. Isabel couldn't help thinking to herself as curiosity crept in further.

"Does daddy know you're here?" The little girl's voice sounded small and fragile as if saying anything wrong could set off a bomb.

She watches closely at the two of them, worry setting in now. How did Kristan interact with her daughter to get this kind of reaction from the child? It wasn't sitting well with her at all.

"Of course he does." She nearly snapped but then remembered herself as she took a glance in Isabel's way. "How about we get some mother and daughter alone time? You can show me all the new drawings you have done."

"Okay." She perks up a little as she leads the way to her room upstairs. She begins chatting up a storm as she tells her mother about what she's been creating and what she had done at school for the day.

Kristan just smirks at Isabel before disappearing up the stairs. Not wanting to overstep her boundaries she heads for the kitchen to start preparing a snack for Shasta. She listens carefully hoping to be able to hear anything amiss in case the little girl needed her. She was sure her mother wouldn't do anything to harm the child, but it kept rubbing her the wrong way on how Kristan was acting towards her.

She shouldn't think like that just because the two of them hit it off horribly or because of the fact that Evan and she were not on any good terms whatsoever. She had to remind herself she was just a babysitter doing a job. She just secretly hoped that woman would leave sooner rather than later, and she can find out just how much she should worry about her when they had that talk.

After placing the snacks on the table she heads for the room to inform Shasta to come down and eat when the doorbell rang. Frowning, she heads for the door and opens it slightly. Blinking at the most beautiful woman she laid eyes on she couldn't help but stand there and gawk.

Lush, wavy auburn hair, skin so flawless it instantly made her envious and the greenest eyes she's ever seen. The smile the woman gives her was bright and warm.

"Hi, you must be Isabel right?" Even her voice sounded like pure honey, if honey had a sound that is.

She doesn't answer as if she was stuck in the trance like state, slowly comprehending that she truly existed. Looking down she blinks as realization hits. There was a wrapped up bundle in her arms and soft black hair was poking out.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" She shook herself to get out whatever funk she had just been in. "How can I help you?"

The woman chuckles. "I'm Mila, Evan's childhood friend. May I come in?" she asks sweetly.

"Of course!" She quickly opens the door to let them through.

"My husband is parking the car and will be in shortly. His name's-"

"Jared. Yes, I've heard about the two of you." She couldn't help intervening. "What brings you both here?"

Mila walks through into the foyer and turns to her. "I wanted to introduce-"

"What the hell are you doing here?" Kristan's cold voice nearly boomed in the empty space of the foyer causing everyone to stop and become still instantly.

The rudeness nearly caused Isabel to snap but Mila took it all in stride as if this was an everyday occurrence. "I should be asking you the same thing, cousin."

Isabel swings her gaze back at the woman holding the newborn baby in shock. Cousin? Kristan was this woman's cousin?