Hybrid Zone Recognition (30 page)

She brought the hose up once more and rinsed the soap away. It left my skin with a soft citrusy smell. I thought I had just discovered the secret to Adam’s scent.

Bringing the back of my hand to my nose, I inhaled. “Does Adam use this soap?”

She seemed pleased that I’d finally spoken. “Something like it,” she said, “but more manly.” She picked up a towel and began drying my hair. “I’d brush it out for ya, but I reckon Adam for the job.”

I stood while she finished drying me off.

“Ya sure is a quiet one,” she said uncertainly.

“I’m just tired,” I assured her as she slipped the night gown over my head and started tying things in the back. “It’s been a long week.”

“I ain’t got no unmentionables for ya.”

Did she mean underwear? I didn’t see the need given the depth of coverage this thing provided.

“That’s alright,” I told her. “What you’ve done has been more than enough. Thank you.” Tears filled my eyes once again, and I wrapped her in a hug.

She patted my back a minute before sniffing and shaking me loose.

“Ya gonna let Granny take good care of ya tonight. Clear out them blues. C’mon,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Let’s see if that grandchild of mine got himself cleaned up.”

She started to lead me from the bathroom, but then she paused. Taking both my hands in hers and looking deeply into my eyes, she said, “Ya ain’t gone and got yourself into some trouble, have ya?”

I looked into her earnest face and had no idea what she was talking about. Thanks to Adam, I had gotten myself into huge amounts of trouble.

“I’m not sure what you mean,” I said in confusion.

“You and Adam ain’t expecting no little one, are ya?”

My eyes widened at her question. “No, Ma’am. I’m a good girl.”

I immediately felt stupid for my assertion. Good girl? When did I start thinking like that? My only defense was that she had me rattled. Granny was fierce in her own right. Her eyes were like twin spotlights, and I was squirming. I wasn’t guilty of anything, but I had a strong desire to confess to something.

She continued to stare at me, deciding the truth of my claim before she gave my hands a final squeeze and let one of them go. The other she kept as she turned towards the door again.

I heaved one giant sigh of relief. Under her interrogation, I was about to spill every thought I’d had about Adam, and they were not all G rated.

“That’s good then. I weren’t sure with the tears ya been crying.”

There was a scary thought. If me being emotional equaled kids, then I’d have had a whole houseful this week.

I followed her back into the room that served as the living area. The house was a lot cleaner on the inside than it looked from the outside. It reminded me of a hunter’s cabin in the woods. Not a lot of amenities, but what was there was highly functional.

The centerpiece of the room was a huge fireplace that took up one entire wall. I could feel the warmth of the fire from halfway across the room. I wouldn’t have thought a fire would be necessary in the summer, but I guessed it got cold at night in the mountains. Being from southeast Texas, my experience with mountains and fireplaces was essentially zilch.

Adam was there too, seated on a small stool in front of the fireplace. He glanced up when we entered the room and smiled at our joined hands.

“Ya’ll eat yet?” Granny asked.

The look that passed across Adam’s face was comical.

“No, Ma’am,” he answered guiltily.

She looked at him in shock. “Ya ain’t fed the girl neither!”

“I had a nutrition bar,” I offered in his defense.

Don’t help me, please. I’m in enough trouble as it is.

“That ain’t eating,” she said with exasperation.

I wholeheartedly agreed, and I gave Adam a pointed look that clearly conveyed, “I told you so.” I was starting to really like Granny.

She patted my hand and regarded me sincerely. “I’m gonna get ya something to eat child. Don’t you worry none.” Dropping my hand, she headed for the kitchen. Without turning around, she called, “Adam, fix her hair.”

I had no doubt she fully expected him to follow orders.

Her muttering continued well into the kitchen. I heard bits of, “Girl done been traumatized,” and, “He ain’t taken care of her,” interspersed with swearing that would win first prize for its innovativeness. I had never heard Adam swear once. It was a strange juxtaposition.

I glanced back at Adam, and he crooked his finger at me. “Come here,” he said.

All of a sudden, I was nervous.

He rolled his eyes at my hesitation. “I’m not going to bite—unless you want me to.”

I ignored his insinuation and crossed the floor with my lacey white night gown swirling around my ankles. When I stopped in front of him, his eyes travelled the length of my body and stopped at my eyes.

“Nice gown,” he said sarcastically.

“It’s very…” I stopped and looked down at the gown. It was old? Lacey, straight jacketish?

“Constraining?” he offered.

No, I could move freely. I looked back at him. The disgust in his expression was obvious. He meant it was a barrier to him. That was true enough. It surely did prevent any accidental viewing or contact. One would have to be determined to get through this thing. I didn’t even know how to get out of it.

Still eyeing the gown like it was a worthy foe, he slid another stool in front of him and patted the seat. I sat down with my back to him. Seemed like he always had my back.

“I do,” he said seriously.

I sighed heavily. Obviously my shields were back down.

“You seem to pick up a lot of things I’m not aiming at you,” I complained.

He grasped my hair and pulled it behind my shoulders. As he had before, he began to work through it a section at a time. “You project really well,” he said in explanation.

I cringed, recalling Miranda’s words. “Like a digital cinema?”

He snickered at my comparison. “Not quite that vivid. You’re getting better at shielding. You did it quite effectively earlier. We know you can do it. The fact that you shoved me totally out of your mind earlier today is also proof of that.”

That wasn’t something I wanted to think about. The fact that I had done it unintentionally or the fact of how much I’d missed his presence.

“For the record, I don’t like it when you shut yourself off from me,” he said quietly.

I pulled my feet to the top rung on the stool and rested my elbows on my knees. “I know,” I said softly. “But sometimes, I need a little space.”

He finished the section he was working on and slid it over my shoulder. “I know,” he acknowledged.

We endured an uneasy silence as he completed another section of my hair. Another round of swearing, something to do with a possum’s behind this time, erupted from the kitchen. It was so outrageous that we both laughed.

“She’s very creative,” I observed. “Is she really your Granny?”

“The one and only,” he said.

For someone so strong, his hands were amazingly gentle in my hair. I wondered if more of his family was still alive. Wait. How was his Granny still alive?

“Adam, how is it that you are seventy-eight years old, and Granny is still alive?”

His hands on my hair slowed as he answered. “She may have had a little help in that department?” The inflection in his voice revealed his embarrassment.

“May have? You gave your Granny nanobots? Can she shift?”

“Yes and yes.”

“The Organization allowed this?”

“The
Organization
had nothing to do with this.”

He had broken the rules. Straight laced Adam had broken the rules.

“I couldn’t bear to lose her,” he quickly explained. “I had already lost the rest of my family. She is—was the only person of importance left in my life.”

Ignoring the obvious question of who was the other person of importance in his life, I asked, “She knows about you and the Organization? And she’s okay with it?”

“She knows everything. She’s fine with me being a shifter and what I do for the Organization. As far as herself, I wouldn’t say she’s okay with it, but she told me she’d stay around as long as I needed her.”

He finished the last individual section he’d been working on and began pulling the brush from top to bottom through my hair. Granny’s strange symphony continued to keep us company while we waited.

After a lull in the action, I asked Adam, “Think she needs any help in there?”

“Don’t you dare,” he said forcibly. “She’d have my hide if you, a guest, got up to help.”

I believed him. I’d seen her with the rolling pin.

“She likes you,” he said.

I liked her, too. Remembering her comment about him finally getting a woman, I said, “Probably because I’m the only woman she’s ever seen you with.”

“She’s seen me with other women.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, I felt his regret. “What I mean to say, is, that in the course of previous missions, she has seen me with other women. But not
with
other women. I mean there have been other women.”

I smiled as he continued to flounder.

Abruptly, he shut his mouth. “The important thing is, she’s never approved of any woman with me, in whatever capacity, but you.”

Granny was growing on me all the time.

Adam continued brushing my hair until it was almost dry and completely devoid of tangles. I was so relaxed that I hadn’t realized Granny was standing in the doorway.

“You two young’uns finished?”

I blushed as if she’d actually caught us doing something, which she hadn’t. I nodded.

“Well, c’mon then.” She turned and headed back into the kitchen, leaving me and Adam to trail in her wake.

A small table stood against the far wall. On it she had laid out two plates piled with ham, mashed potatoes, field peas, and an array of other fresh vegetables. A tall plate of biscuits was stacked between them.

“Oh, Granny,” I groaned.

She wiped her hands on her apron. “Ain’t much,” she said dismissively before showing us to the table. “Well, what’ya waiting for?”

That was all the invitation I needed. I sat down and picked up my fork with glee. Adam joined me and watched in amusement as I began to eat. With the first bite of ham, my eyes closed in bliss. Whether Adam and I made it as a couple or not, I was keeping Granny.

I opened my eyes and watched Adam bring his hand to his heart in feigned shock. Then he took his first bite, and I could feel the taste hit him. I raised my eyebrows at him knowingly. Mm hmm. Keeping. Granny.

Satisfied that we were in fact eating, Granny left us to begin the cleanup.

“You’d really steal my Granny?” he asked through a mouthful of food. “Maybe I don’t know you as well as I think I do.”

“If you don’t think I’m serious about keeping Granny, you really don’t know me. Food like this is hard to come by in the city.”

“Thought you were a country girl,” he said slyly.

“Born and raised, which is how I know Granny’s a keeper.”

His smile was from ear to ear. He was really pleased that I liked Granny. I caught just a glimpse of the fear he’d been suppressing that I would be repulsed by Granny.

Putting down my fork, I grasped his hand. “Adam, it’s fine.” I looked around to make sure she wasn’t listening. “I’m quite fond of her.”

He squeezed my hand and then released it to grab a biscuit. Couldn’t really fault him there. They were so buttery and fluffy.

“Besides,” I continued, “how many people can give a good scrubbing like she can?”

He lowered his fork. “She bathed you?” He was truly surprised.

“And, how,” I said with a gigantic nod for emphasis. “From head to toe. And everywhere in between,” I added with a shake of my head. I looked up from my biscuit to find him staring at me in disbelief. “What?”

“She, a complete stranger, can not only see you naked, but touch you as well, apparently including intimate places, while I, who have repeatedly saved your life, cannot?”

I shrugged. “It’s different with you.”

His frown remained fixed on me.

“And, she’s Granny,” I said as if that answered everything.

“She’s Granny,” he repeated.

“Yep, she’s Granny,” I said, filling my mouth with more biscuit.

“Of course I am dear,” Granny said from behind me.

I almost dropped my fork. Dang, she was sneaky. That’s the second time I hadn’t heard her come in.

“Don’t ya let my boy hear go pushing ya into nothing ya ain’t ready for,” she said, and then she pierced Adam with a look. Appropriately, he hung his head in shame.

It didn’t escape me that Granny had good ears, too.

“Ain’t no call for giving out the milk for free. Ya understand me?” She patted my shoulder while giving Adam one more glare.

I hid my grin behind my biscuit until Granny walked away. The rest of the meal was eaten in relative silence. Occasionally, I caught Adam staring at me with that same look of disbelief on his face. But I knew inwardly that he was pleased that Granny liked me too.

“Granny, can I help with the dishes?” I asked as I stood up and began to gather my dishes.

“Ain’t no need. Ya’ll can go to the porch and finish up your courting for the night.”

Courting? I wasn’t entirely familiar with the term. What exactly did courting entail?

Without a word, Adam scooted back his chair and put his dishes in the sink. He placed a kiss on the top of Granny’s head and then left the kitchen. But not before she got him with the dish towel.

I heard the screen door shut, and I guessed he was headed to the porch to prepare for courting. Placing my dishes in the sink, I started to follow Adam.

“Not too frisky, now,” Granny warned, causing me to pause.

“No, Ma’am,” I said, and then I too headed for the porch.

I found Adam sprawled in a large porch swing under a pile of blankets. I pushed the screen door open, and he held up the blankets for me to crawl in. I slid in next to him and laid my head on his shoulder.

“You aren’t really upset about her bathing me, are you?” I asked. I could feel him squirming inside, and my heart gave a nervous flutter.

“I’m not upset that she bathed you.”

There was a ton of stuff not said behind that comment. I felt his guard click into place. See, I wasn’t the only one who needed space.

“What
are
you upset about?” I asked softly.

He sighed deeply. I was getting the impression that he didn’t want to have this conversation. Fine by me.