"Tulip, where in the world do you think you've been?" I asked as we danced around hugging. "Your father and oldest sister have been worried sick."
"Oh no, I forgot to call Sophia and let her know I was going to be delayed. I'll have to call her as soon as we're done talking. Last week I got a message that one of the unicorns that lives up near Nome got sick. They've never dealt with illness before and heard I was close by. I left as soon as I could, flying up there in phoenix form to help," she explained.
She unknowingly added another creature to my list of real mythical beings. At the same time, her words generated a handful of questions.
"Is everything okay? Does the unicorn still need help?" I asked. I really wanted to ask when I could go meet one myself, but I'd save that for later.
"Everything seems to be fine, it was just traumatic for them because, like I said, they've never been sick before. Mama, when I walked in you called me Tulip and you actually knew who I was. Did you have a recent vision that Daddy hasn't told me about?" she asked. "As far as I knew, you hadn't seen me yet."
"I'd love to give you more details, but we have company in the living room, so I don't know if it's the best time to go into details about recent events," I started before I was interrupted.
"Don't not tell her on my account," Kyle said from the doorway. "Your fianc? decided to trust me and Liam enough to fill us in on what was going on in your world, as if we didn't have our own assumptions. I came in to check on all the screaming. Nice to see you in one piece, Princess Lizzie." There was a lot of sarcasm in his voice.
She looked confused, "I try never to be in multiple pieces, but I'm guessing there's more significance to your statement."
"You've only been gone a week, so I'm sure you remember that some of the other members of the community have been missing. We thought they'd just decided to move without telling us, but it turns out they were kidnapped and tortured. We got Miranda back, and thanks to your mom she's going to be okay. Tomorrow we're heading out to try to rescue the rest of them and take care of the madman taking them," Kyle explained.
"That's horrible, but you said you healed Miranda, so that's amazing news. I'm not probably going to be good for the fighting, but I'm able to help with the injured. Just let me know what I need to do," Elizabeth responded.
The oven timer dinged, so I grabbed a hot pad and took the bread out of the oven. "Well it looks like soups on. We can ask and answer more questions while we eat," I said as I started cutting the bread.
"Come and get it!" Kyle yelled at the top of his lungs. It was going to be a surprise if the whole neighborhood didn't end up at the front door looking for food.
"Hey, sweetheart, how are you doing?" Nate asked as he walks through the door. "I felt you enter the house, but wanted to give your mother a chance to tell you her big news. I heard she was being cautious for once and didn't get a chance to tell you before loud mouth over here interrupted," he said, pointing to Kyle.
Elizabeth laughed. "Yeah, I figured something was up, but I'll let her tell me whatever it is when she gets a chance." She walked over to Frannie and stuck out her hand. "You must be Frannie. I've heard so much about you from Dad."
"Hmm. I don't believe he's ever mentioned you before," Frannie said with a giggle as she brought Elizabeth in for a hug. "This lug over here is my very soon to be husband, Gary."
"Hi, it's nice to meet you as well," she said as they shook hands.
"It's nice to finally match a face to a name," Gary replied.
"Hey, little ninja, it's good to see you home," Rick said, picking her up and swinging her around in circles.
"Uncle Rick, you put me down right this second. I just got in from a long flight and feel the need to keep my feet on the ground for a little while."
"Fine, you little party pooper," he said, setting her down. I saw his eyes darken for a split second while he kept a smile glued to his face.
Elizabeth carried on the conversation before I could question the look. "So I'm guessing it was you, Mom, who was sending me the S.O.S. messages to return home."
It was strange for me to study someone I could see a lot of myself in. Even with my memories of her intact, it was hard to believe I had a daughter who looked the same age as me. She'd said she had been flying around in phoenix form, but thankfully she must have had some spare clothes stashed somewhere, because the sweater and jeans she wore didn't have any singe marks.
"You didn't tell me you tried to contact her," Nate said.
"At first I couldn't because of the memory issue, then after this morning I thought maybe it was possible, so I sent a couple short messages. I didn't think they'd work, so I kept them to myself."
Vinnie picked that moment to walk into the room and Elizabeth did a double take. Her eyes lit up, and I was afraid she was going to start squealing like a fangirl.
"Don't ask," I said before she could open her mouth. "I'll try to explain him to you later."
"Baby girl, I still claim there isn't a logical way to explain him," Rick provided.
I glared at him. Sometimes it was hard to tell if he really felt animosity towards Vinnie, or if it was just him messing with me. I couldn't recall one nice thing he'd said about the robot.
"There is too. Elizabeth, for now all you need to know is this is my friend Vinnie. He's of the robotic nature."
"Darn. You mean he hasn't really been sitting in my house. I was so looking forward to taunting Sophia with that knowledge, since we both have a little bit of an unhealthy obsession. Vinnie, you wouldn't mind posing for a couple photos later would you?" she asked.
"I have no problem with pictures," Vinnie replied.
Nate pushed a thought in my direction about asking Vinnie to change his skin. Apparently, it was bad enough that I liked the actor, but adding in two of our daughters was over the line. I still claimed to not have any attraction, so I didn't see the problem.
"Good, that should be all the introductions, now can we get some food?" Liam asked. "You've been torturing us with all the smells for over an hour."
"Yes," I said as I grabbed bowls and started handing them out.
We formed a line and filled our bowls, and then headed back out to the living area we'd created to eat. The room was bigger than the one we'd visited with Miranda in, but with the addition of three large men, it felt just as small. At least I didn't have to sit on Nate's lap to eat.
"So, the thing I almost told you about earlier," I started to say after I took my first bite of soup. After battling the cold, I was starving. "I don't know if it's just being in your house or what, but last night I had a dream of you when your oldest sister and brother made you a little doll."
"Callie?" she asked.
"That would be the one. When I woke up, I was sad because I started thinking of all the things I'm missing from my memory. I went to the shoebox I'm sure your father has mentioned me having, and took out Callie to hold. The second I touched her I started seeing flashes of your life. Nate says I stood there at least five minutes without him being able to shake me out of the trance.
"When I did come to, I remembered everything about your life. Well, except for the last fifty years that I've been missing from. It would've been great to get those years filled in, but I guess it will give us plenty to talk about."
"That's how you knew to call me Tulip," she said. The smile on her face reminded me of Nate's, which made me smile a little in return. "So only memories of me, nothing else?"
"Currently it's only you. Don't you go using that information to try to convince your siblings that you are my favorite or anything. I won't know anything for sure until I start remembering them too." I gave her a little wink.
"You don't have to worry about that. We've always known who your favorite was."
"What? A mother shouldn't choose favorites amongst her children. That's just wrong," I said confused. I didn't know exactly what kind of mother I was, but I couldn't believe I'd make any of my children feel more important than the others.
"Well, he is your biggest child, so we don't mind too much," she replied, doing her best to confuse me further. The smirk on her face led me to believe it was a joke of some sort, but I wasn't getting it.
"She's talking about me, Avery, so don't get too worked up," Nate said.
"Are you sure? Because I'm pretty sure she meant me," Rick added.
"Everyone knows I meant Daddy, Uncle Rick. You'd have to be blind not to know how much they love each other."
Nate looked over at me with a twinkle in his eye. I groaned and shook my head.
"Yeah, yeah, I know we're deeply in love and shouldn't be separated a moment longer. I'm pretty sure I've heard it all before. The answer is still you just have to wait until I'm ready."
"I know, my little butterfly. I always have to laugh when someone points out how much you love me. I should've recorded that first time you woke up to find me on your couch as evidence of just how much you loved me. You couldn't kick me out of the apartment fast enough."
I didn't bother commenting on that, and worked to stuff my face with food. We finished dinner and I assigned Rick to do the dishes as further punishment for all the jokes he made at my expense. Gary decided to be nice and helped him out.
"So, it's getting late and you probably had a long flight. I'm not exactly sure where the unicorns are hanging out, but if they're close, I would've thought Nate would attempt to get on my good side by introducing me," I said to Elizabeth.
"Yeah, I tried to hurry home and I'm feeling the effects of it now."
"Well, I'm making the berserkers biscuits and gravy in the morning, so why don't we plan some time to talk and you can catch me up on what you've been up to the past few decades. Now that I have memories of you, I want to know everything."
"That sounds like a great idea, Mom," she said as she gave me a hug. "It's really nice to have you back. I haven't seen Dad this happy in a long time." Her lips briefly touched my cheek before she wandered off towards her room.
We saw Kyle, Liam and Joseph out the door and the rest of us decided to call it a night too. When Nate and I were changed into our pajamas, we snuggled into bed. He pulled me in close to him and gave my head a kiss.
"Everything is going to work out okay," he said, evidently picking up on a little anxiety I was feeling.
"I know. It's just sometimes a lot to take in. All these changes in my life are happening too quickly. It's strange to be cooking in the kitchen one moment, then turn around to see someone with your nose and eyes staring back at you. She has your smile though, which is good. It's one of my favorite features on that handsome face of yours."
"It's good that you qualified that by mentioning my face, because I know what your real favorite feature is." I smacked him playfully, but didn't try to escape his grasp. "I know things are still confusing, and if you didn't know it already, you have a lot of people here for you if you ever need us."
"Oh yeah, about having people there for me. We may be getting a new roommate if you okay it."
"I know. I monitored your conversation. Before you protest, remember that I've barely known Joseph a day and he had already told me he felt connected to you. I can't leave you alone with him, even if it is in the next room."
"I understand your reasoning in this case. Just don't think I won't mind you listening when you shouldn't be," I said as I started to fall asleep.
"I always try to give you as much freedom as I can. That's all I can promise you, my little butterfly. Butterfly, shall we always be together??Butterfly, I do not mean, just here on earth, I mean until the stars stop shinning. Butterfly, I mean, until there is no moon ... no anything, but my Butterfly and I. Butterfly ... I think that we will. Butterfly,?I believe that we were meant to be."
"That's really pretty." He'd dropped his voice to just a whisper and it sounded like a lullaby.
"I can't remember who wrote it, but it always reminds me of you," he said, giving me another kiss on the top of my head. "Now, go to sleep. You've had a busy day and I imagine tomorrow will be even more so."