You Are My Sunshine

Chapter Two

Sam's POV

Emily set Kinley up with a cartoon so we could step aside to have a quick conversation in the kitchen. Kinley didn't look to put out by this, curling up in a corner of the sofa with her eyes glued to the television. Once we were certain she was engrossed, Emily and I spoke in low voices.

"I need to tell the guys," I said, and she nodded. "If I don't, it's only a matter of time one of them comes barging in here and scares her."

Emily's lips twitched. "I'm kind of surprised none of them have stopped in yet. I baked cookies."

We shared a smile for a small moment, and then got back on track. "Yeah, it's only a matter of time. Surely one of them plans on stopping in for dinner. I'll tell them to stay away, let them know what's up."

She crossed her arms over her chest, head tilting in thought. "I don't know. Maybe they shouldn't totally stay away."

I watched her closely, trying to gauge where her mind was going. "What do you mean?"

She shrugged. "Maybe we should introduce them to her. Not today, of course. We don't want to overwhelm her. But maybe little by little tomorrow? I don't think it could hurt for her to see she's not alone."

Her brown eyes pierced mine, and I understood exactly what she meant. That unpleasant woman had said Kinley had no family, except for me. The longer I studied Emily, the more clear it became that this pissed her off. That woman had it all wrong. Kinley had so much more than just me. She had me, yes. But she also had Emily. And Jacob. And Jared. And the entire pack. Hell, she'd even have Paul. We were a misfit of a family, but we were tight knit.

"All right," I agreed. "I'll talk to them tonight, tell them what's going on and to stay away so she can have tonight to settle in. Then tomorrow they can stop by throughout the day."

Releasing a breath, Emily let her arms fall. "Sounds good." Her eyes cut to the doorway. "The poor little thing."

I stepped forward, wrapping my arms around her. Pressing a kiss to her cheek, I whispered, "We can do this, Em. It won't be easy. She's sad. She's grieving. But we can help her through it. She'll be happy again. Okay? We can do it, and with time, she'll be a perfectly happy little girl."

"She's beautiful," Emily whispered back.

"Adorable."

She took another deep breath, air puffing against my neck. Then she moved back, meeting my eyes. "We've got this."

She and I shared another smile. Then she said, "Go. I'll sit with her and get dinner going soon."

I dropped a kiss to her lips.

Five minutes later, I was in wolf form, hearing Jared and Quil in my mind. Not wanting to go too far from the house, but also not wanting to do this too close and scaring Kinley, I ran a moderate distance away before letting a howl rip through the air.

"What's going on, Sam?" Jared asked, already almost to me from where he'd been in the midst of his patrol run.

"I'll explain it all at once, Jare," I said, settling back on my haunches to wait a moment. I released one more howl for good measure. Tonight was not the night for any of them to ignore me.

Jared slid into sight. "Is everything okay, at least? Is Emily all right?"

Quil scoffed, getting closer himself. "If Emily were not fine, do you really think he'd be here?"

Paul and Embry's minds joined ours, cutting in mid conversation. If you could even call what had been happening a conversation. Not giving them the chance to make their comments, I told them, "Just get here. I'll explain everything soon."