Reflections End (Book 5) Now published so sample only

Chapter 9

© Sandra Corton 2013

Chapter 9

Kale’s POV

I saw her face fall the moment Nanna mentioned her age. I cursed to myself knowing that I should have mentioned it to her before. Now that it was thrown out there I felt terrible for not at least warning her. Gazing around at my family I realised for the first time how we must look to her. In human eyes even the oldest person here looked barely out of their teens.

“I should have told you.” I said with remorse as I squeezed her fingers in mine gently.

“It just makes things seem….well impossible. What happens when I die Kale? You’ll be left all alone for a very long time.” She said sadly and I let out a sigh.

“I will deal with that when I get to that point in time. I would rather have every moment with you now than regret having missed out on spending time with you.” I assured her and she finally sent me the tiniest of smiles.

“It still seems cruel to me.” She whispered.

“How about we discuss this later. I still haven’t introduced you to my Mum.” I tried to change the subject; that one was not so good to dwell on. She finally seemed to recall where we were and nodded her head.

“I’m sorry Kale of course.”

I gestured for my parents to come forward then. She spent a few minutes looking between my Mother and Matilda. I had to admit they had always looked quite similar. She blushed at my Father who sent her a wink but thankfully didn’t mention this morning.

Soon enough we were sitting around eating a rather strange meal, not that I would say anything against it. Ellie though seemed hesitant to say anything. As usual my family conversed together in a crazy rush that seemed to overwhelm her.

“Ellie I haven’t had this meal since the first week I met Hayden.” Mum said with a grin and Ellie looked at her strangely.

“I didn’t think anyone would have had it before.” She said with a shrug.

“Of course you would think that.” Nanna said as she looked at me with a frown. “I spent much of my childhood on earth as did Hayden. So this was quite a common meal in our house.”

“Yeah so long as you didn’t cook it.” Dad butted in with a laugh.

“Such disrespect.” Nanna pointed to him sternly.

“Well its true.” Dad chortled again and we all laughed. Nanna’s reputation as the Goddess may be enough to terrify the world but she couldn’t cook to save her life. It was one of the biggest jokes in our family.

“I’m just glad you like it. I made a cake for dessert as well.” Ellie said to everyone and Matilda cheered.

“Your cakes are fantastic.” Matilda beamed at Ellie who smiled in return.

It was when we were sitting down with cake and coffee, which was a new experience for most of us, that I saw it. Ellie had an almost unreadable expression on her face. I could only wonder at what was going through her mind. Everything had been going so well but I had a feeling that time was at an end.

“There is something I need to say and it’s probably going to come out wrong so please forgive me if it does.” Ellie said quickly and we all turned to her.

“Ellie dear not a lot of things will insult me. Believe me I have seen it all.” Nanna said with a reassuring grin.

“Mary said that you have to meet my parents eventually. My Mum is a bit obsessed with looking younger; no she's a lot obsessed. If she meets you all when you look so young….I just wish I didn’t have to say this about my family.” She winced then and I rubbed my fingers down her back soothingly.