The Reluctant Journey Ch. 08

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Malia woke up to a bright room. She looked over at the clock which showed it to be 12:32. She hadn't remembered falling asleep, but she must've been very tired to sleep through half the day. Suddenly she wondered why Cain had allowed her to. She'd assumed she would be going back to the base camp with him today. Her stomach growled viciously as she sat up in the warm bed. She walked slowly into the kitchen, every muscle she had was sore. Cain wasn't there but a note was taped to the refrigerator.

'I'll be gone all day. I'm at work, so don't go looking for me. Feed yourself.

-Cain'

His handwriting was pretty in a masculine sort of way. Of course it was, one more thing that was perfect about him. She was surprised he'd left her alone, it was the first time she'd been alone for any extended period of time since she'd first left the unit. She ate some fruit and yogurt and took a shower, she'd badly needed one.

Her day spent alone was dreadfully uneventful. She didn't know what to do with herself and all of her attempts at entertaining herself just seemed to put her more on edge. Finally the black SUV pulled up and Cain stepped out. It felt to domesticated to meet him on the porch, but she was irritated when he talked to the driver instead of coming in the house immediately. She wasn't sure what she was going to do when he did come into the house anyway. Was she still mad at him? No. Should she be? Probably. It wasn't the most disturbing thought she'd had. The most disturbing was that she still wanted to jump his bones, desperately. He was wearing his usual expensive suit, and he looked amazing as always. She gave a disgust filled snort at her lack of willpower and turned towards the TV. She realized that she'd never turned it on just as he started to head for the door and made a dash to the power button so he wouldn't see how pathetic she was being, sitting in a quiet room waiting for him. He opened the door as she plopped back down in the recliner. She hoped he didn't notice the chair rocking with the force of her sitting. He looked at her suspiciously.

"You didn't cut open all the pillows? Catch anything on fire? Smash all the mirrors? Finn wouldn't be too happy with me if you did."

She shook her head, slightly annoyed at his mistrust of her. She hadn't had a single destructive thought all day. Her libido seemed to be too much in overdrive for anything else to seep through. What was wrong with her. He'd made her into some sort of sex freak. He looked at her strangely for her out-of-character compliance at his clear goad. She couldn't argue with him, it would only serve as foreplay. He looked at her, trying to discern her thoughts from her expression. She hoped he couldn't see what she was thinking. She blushed furiously and turned towards the television.

"Get dressed, we're going to dinner." He said somewhat offhandedly.

She quickly looked back up at him. "What?" She didn't know what else to say.

He walked into the kitchen and got a glass of water as he answered. "It's my grandmother's birthday. We're going to dinner at her house." He took a drink. "Tristan will be there." He added on as if it would be a selling point.

She usually would have argued with him she mused as she looked through the collection of clothing in the closet. Probably only for the sake of arguing, but she didn't like giving him his way so easily. She was glad that there would be other people at dinner to buffer their interactions with each other. She could get over whatever was wrong with her as long as there were other people around.

Tristan's grandmother's house was large, though nothing compared to Milan Manor. It was a brick building with immaculate white trim and flower-filled window boxes. There was ivy climbing up the tall chimney and beautiful flowers growing everywhere around the house. It was gorgeous. Malia felt as if it would be more appropriate to arrive in a horse-drawn carriage instead of the usual black SUV.

Before they exited the vehicle Cain turned to look at her seriously. "For the sake of my grandmother's birthday I hope you will agree to a slightly different story as to how we met."

She arched her brow. "Who are you going to tell them I am?"

"I really don't have much choice, I wouldn't bring a colleague or subordinate here and I don't have any female friends. I'm not going to tell them the truth, it isn't their business. So I'll have to tell them that we're dating. We met in a meeting at a base camp in Lystra, it is a small town west of here. You were a secretary in the building the meeting was held in and transferred into central Phoenix."

"How romantic." She mumbled sarcastically.

"They shouldn't ask any questions." He assured her.

An old woman had came out the front door to stand on the stone stairs in front of the house. Cain got out of the car and opened her door before she could get it. She looked at him strangely but got out of the car. He smiled warningly down at her. So she was to play the lovesick infatuated girlfriend, fantastic. He put his arm around her shoulder as if it were the most natural thing in the world as they both walked toward the woman. She was about Malia's height. Her hair was completely silver and pinned up in a bun. She was elegantly slender, but she looked like she was strong despite her age. She smiled widely as Cain walked up to greet her. He let go of Malia as he gently embraced the older woman.

"Cain." The woman said with complete admiration. Malia suddenly didn't feel like she belonged her. Seeing his grandmother hug him with so much open love for him seemed like an intimate breach. "And who is this?" His grandmother asked as she held onto Cain's waist with one arm and faced Malia.

"This is Malia Yates." Cain smiled at his grandmother, clearly fond of her. Malia didn't know why she hadn't expected him to be so affectionate with his grandmother. He was just so closed off to her that expecting anything else was risky. "We've been seeing each other for a few months." Malia was surprised when the woman pulled her into a hug.

"That's fantastic." She smiled at her. "You're beautiful Malia."

"Thank you." She replied, still stunned from the woman's reaction. "Happy birthday." She tacked on because she couldn't think of anything else to say.

"Well thank you sweetheart. I have to celebrate to get this one to come and see me." She motioned to Cain. Before he could argue she looped an arm around Cain and the other around Malia and led them to the door. "Come in, come in. Tristan and your mother are inside." The woman, who's name she learned was Kate, oozed an infectious kindness. She looked up at her grandson with such open love and admiration. Cain smiled down at Kate with the same smile Malia had seen in the picture on his mantle of him and his brother as small boys. Clearly he loved her very much.

The trio walked through a hallway and turned right into an open archway that led into a dining room. There was a fire crackling in the fireplace at the far wall. The large cherry table was set immaculately for five with pristine white dishes and crystal glasses. Malia felt her stomach drop when she realized she was going to have to eat in front of these people. Cain had criticized her table manners before, how was she going to fool these people?

Tristan walked into the room from another archway opposite them that looked like it connected a sitting room. He had his arm around the shoulder of who could only be his mother. She resembled the beauty queen in the picture Malia had seen, but there were some distinctions that could only be accounted for by time. Her light brown hair more than likely came from a bottle now and hung in a straightened bob at her shoulders. There were faint lines around her eyes and mouth. She still had a timeless elegance shining through her pale green eyes.

"Malia." Tristan smiled happily and left his mother to hug her. He also hit Cain's shoulder affectionately in greeting. "This is my mother, Miranda." He brought Malia over to his mother.

Miranda smiled politely and extended her hand. "Pleasure to meet you Malia." Her voice was enunciated and almost clinical.

Malia smiled in return and shook the woman's hand. "The pleasure is mine ma'am."

Miranda turned to her oldest son. "Cain." She acknowledged him with barely veiled hostility.

"Mother." Cain nodded.

Kate hugged Tristan as lovingly as she'd done with Cain. His mother didn't seem to show the same fondness towards Cain.

"Now that everyone is here let's eat." Kate said to the room. Kate sat at the head of the table with Miranda on her left and Cain on her right. Malia sat next to Cain and Tristan next to his mother. The first course came out almost immediately after everyone was seated. Thankfully Cain surreptitiously showed her which utensils to use and how to eat the strange unrecognizable food. After several courses the conversation, which Cain's mother had been silent through, turned to Malia.

"Malia how did you and Cain meet?" Miranda asked, looking across the table.

"We met at a meeting in, um, Lystra. I was the secretary there and your son is quite the charmer." Malia hoped she came off as genuine. She badly wanted to change the subject.

"You're from Lystra?" She asked.

"Yes." Malia had never heard of the place, she didn't know where the corresponding area would be on a map she would recognize. She didn't know what being from Lystra even entailed, though Miranda made it sound like it had negative connotations.

"She transferred to central Phoenix about a month ago." Cain added, sounding much more believable than she had.

"You're living in the manor?" Miranda asked incensed.

"Miranda don't start." Kate warned her daughter.

"Yes mother, Malia is living in the manor with Tristan and myself." He sounded weary instead of spiteful. Malia's discomfort grew at the clear antagonism Cain's mother showed for him.

"Why shouldn't you turn your father's manner into a brothel!" Miranda seethed across the table.

"Miranda!" Kate yelled, much louder than Malia thought she could, in outrage.

Cain was surprisingly composed in his response. "I'm sorry you feel that way, mother. If you still lived in Milan Manor I'm sure you wouldn't see it as such." He spoke as if he were speaking to an unruly coworker.

"I guess I'll never know. I had to move away from my home because I couldn't bear to live with my murderous disappointment of a son!" The hostility that had been clearly bubbling beneath the surface had risen for this woman.

Tristan and Kate yelled at Miranda simultaneously. Malia was stunned into silence. Cain simply sat in the chair seemingly unaffected by his own mother's savage outburst against him.

Miranda stood angrily. She turned to Tristan briefly. "I'm sorry Tristan I hope we can visit soon, just the two of us." She said briefly before she left the room. The remaining members of the table sat in silence for a moment.

"Cain," Kate touched his arm comfortingly.

He smiled weakly in return. "It's okay. I can handle it. She's right."

"No she isn't." Tristan replied vehemently.

Malia didn't want to see this side of Cain's life, not without his permission. It was too raw and vulnerable. She wanted to hit the woman that didn't love this man, her own son, unconditionally like he deserved. She put her hand over his that was resting on his knee under the table. She didn't say anything, she rubbed his large hand with her own and tried to send comfort to him through the small gesture. Eventually the four remaining diners talked about lesser things again, the weather and gossip of the town. Malia had trouble keeping up with the small talk and was mostly quiet throughout the rest of the formal courses. She had finally seen this beautiful brutal beast of a man, she'd seen some of his darkest secrets. Something had happened as she watched him take the unwarranted abuse from his mother. She'd wanted to protect him, not only from Miranda, but from the world in whatever way she could, for the rest of their lives. She knew in that moment as if it were the clearest thing in the world that she had finally fallen over the precipice she'd been flirting with, and there was no returning. She had went and fallen in love with Cain Malcolm.