Alpha's Prophecy

Chapter 13.

Emma

"What did you do?" Louisa's voice startles me as she makes her way into the living room, taking in the scene in front of her. I must admit, when she asked me to stay in the cottage and watch over her children I felt a sense of dread come over me. I am an only child, the only other person I've ever had to look after is my Father, I've never even been around children and then I was tasked with the job of occupying these two little strangers. I panicked about everything that could go wrong, they could get hurt, badly, all because of my inexperience.

I coaxed the two little boys into the living room with the promise of play and they followed me willingly, leading me to where the the toy box was neatly tucked away in one of the corners of a room. Digging through the plastic crate they began pulling out toy cars, blocks, plush animals and books, playing for a few moments with each item until becoming bored and then reaching for another. Something caught my attention though, a book that they had pulled from the crate, it was one I was familiar with from my own childhood so I grabbed it and sat on the floor and began reading it aloud. Moments later I felt one small body push himself up along side mine, getting in close to look at the pictures, his brother following his actions not long after, placing himself on the other side of me. I stopped reading to look down at them, staring back up at me with their matching blue eyes, silently urging me to continue reading. I was so lost in the story telling that I didn't even hear their mother come back inside until she addressed me, shocked.

"I didn't do anything, I swear, I was just reading to them" I defend myself, looking up at the woman standing in the doorway, my panic subsides once I register the smile on her face.

"Emma, I have never witnessed this before, these two, so quiet and still, I was expecting to come back in here and hear screaming and crying and fighting. You're amazing"

"It's nothing really, I was just reading out loud"

"Boys do you think Emma might like to come back to our cottage and help us bake a cake?" Louisa asks her children who both look up at me with little smiles and nods, each one grabbing one of my hands. I climb to my feet and walk with the little family, next door, to their cottage.

Once inside I can see that their cottage is bigger than Jakes, more rooms and a larger dinning area. The place is decorated nicely, softer colours and more emotion, depicting a story of the family that live here. I like it here, it's friendly and inviting, unlike Jake's place.

On the dinning table there are two big boxes, I don't mean to stare but something stands out in them, something that is mine.

"Sebastian and Daniel collected a few of your things yesterday, don't worry, they didn't go through anything, they just grabbed stuff they thought looked important to you" Louisa explains as I peer into the boxes, filled with my clothing, books, journals, photos and other items from my home. I wish more than anything that I could have gone there myself to collect these things. Sitting at the bottom of one of the boxes is 3 wrapped presents, my heart feels like it's breaking all over again, the last gifts I will ever receive from my Father. I don't want to open them here though, I want to take them somewhere private and unwrap them. I need a distraction, something to get my mind off of thoughts of my Father so I don't break down and that's when I see it, the perfect way to keep busy, my baking books, each one filled with the most delicious treats to create, I know because I've baked almost everything inside these books. I pull out a cake book and present it to Louisa.

"Do you think we could bake this?" I ask her, pointing to a chocolate layer cake recipe

"I don't see why not, looks better than the package cake I had planned to make. I'll message Serena, she's out getting some things for dinner tonight, I'll just get her to grab the ingredients for this"

"Dinner tonight?"

"Oh, I forgot to mention that didn't I? You and Jake are coming around tonight for dinner, Serena and Daniel will be here too, I hope that's ok?" She frets

"You're inviting me to a dinner party? An actual dinner party?" I exclaim, I can't hide the excitement in my voice

"Well of course Emma, you're our guest of honour." She laughs, pulling me in for a hug.

When Serena arrives later with bags full of groceries I get to work, baking a chocolate cake masterpiece and by the time I'm finished it looks exactly like the one pictured in my book. Louisa starts preparing for the nights meal while Serena talks to me extensively about how I should let her give me a make over, I eventually give in and let her go wild, she goes next door to her cottage to grab her make up bag and returns with foundation, eye shadow pallets, lip sticks, blushes, mascara, eye liner and a whole heap of brushes and a hair curler and when she's done I don't even recognise myself, I've never felt more special in my whole life than what these two women have made me feel. Is this what it feels like to have friends? The ones I've only read about in my books?