Bitter Sweet - Ch 7 - Oil & Water

The car ride over to Willow Creek was long and silent.

Kelly tried asking the driver a few questions about where she was going, but he never really answered her other than a nod or a muttered ‘Don’t know Miss.’; so she let the half conversations fall into silence.

Finally the car stopped, the driver came and opened her door letting her out, then he got back in the car and drove off across a small bridge and down the road.

Standing on the curb for a moment slightly confused about why he hadn’t taken out her bags and given them to her, Kelly turned and began to walk up the long driveway towards the biggest house she had ever seen, it looked to be even larger than the collage.

The gardens were extensive but not overcrowded, and as large as the house was it wasn’t overly extravagant in its architecture.

She felt her heart beating faster and faster in her chest as she walked closer the house, Kelly didn’t think she would be nervous meeting her grandmother, but it appeared her emotions had other ideas.

Halfway up the garden’s u-turn cobble stone type driveway, a well dressed, older woman came out the front door with surprising energy and walked right up to Kelly with a smile on her face so warm and kind that radiated from her sparking green eyes. The very same colour as Kelly’s, her grandmother seemed very pleased to meet her.

“You must be Kelly.” He smile never faded as she spoke, it seemed to glow even more. “Oh my dear child, I had no idea how much you would look like your mother.” She seemed ecstatic looking like she might burst into tears at any moment.

Kelly felt herself smiling back, her nervousness slowly melting away. “Dad looks a lot like you, my brothers got his looks, I guess I got mums only now I know where I got my green eyes from. Dad never told me you had green eyes, actually he...”

The front door opened and young man in casual work wear came outside, he moved to the bottom of the stairs and seemed to be waiting.

Kelly’s grandmother glanced around at what Kelly was looking at; she gave a small wave before turning back to Kelly her smile a bit softer now than before.

“Come and meet one of the boys. Sadly their parents and older brother, who was a first generation cupid of their family line, died when they were younger in a car accident. Their parents had made me their guardian, so I took them in. They’ve been like my own children ever since.”

“Oh.” Kelly gathered talking about her father was a sore point and decided to leave the subject alone for now; her dad had never spoken much about his mother except to explain why they didn’t speak, that was all that had ever been said. “Alright, I guess I have a lot to get use too.”

Her grandmother gave a slight chuckle and nodded. “I think you might dear.”

At the steps, the young man adjusted his posture to stand up a bit straighter than he had been, then spoke straight to her grandmother before acknowledging Kelly.

“Eliza I’ve fixed the coffee machine for you, the steamer was just clogged up. It’s back to being as good as new.”

“Thank you so much Reese. I’ve been looking forward to having my morning mocha again. Now introductions, this is my youngest... Oh no that’s not right any more is it dear, this is my oldest grandchild, Kelly, I told you would be staying with us while she completes her studies.”

Reese smiled at Kelly, his shoulder length, black hair was partly tied back and shone like smoothed out silk in the sun and he was fit looking with a bit of a five-o’clock shadow. His dark brown eyes didn’t show any emotion though, as if he was guarding himself.

“Ah of course the one with the same eyes as Eliza. Defiantly an heiress to the Andrews’s name.” He gave a slight chuckle; his smile still didn’t reach his eyes though.

Kelly smiled feeling unsure. “Uh yeah. But I don’t think I’m any kind of heiress, thanks for the compliment though.”

The awkwardness was so thick Kelly was sure her feet had stuck to the spot from it, she couldn’t help but be silently thankful when Reese excused himself to go and finish off another odd job he was working on.

Inside the house, Kelly’s grandmother began the tour of the ground floor.

“Well, obviously this is the foyer. I know it’s a bit showy with all the framed certificates and what not, but I think it’s good to show ones achievements, don’t you?” Eliza’s face seemed to light up as she looked over the framed certificates, pictures, medal and trophies hanging on the walls.

Kelly admired how much pride her grandmother had in the house and all the little pieces that added character to it added from generations past.

Her ancestors glory in full display for anyone who came in the front door.

To the left of the foyer, Eliza led Kelly out to an open planned family room.

A cosy sitting area was in front of a small but elegant fire place, the double doorway off to the side Kelly was told lead to a small gym, sauna room and the downstairs bathroom. A sunken lounge area with some cosy couches and the biggest television Kelly had ever seen were at the far end of the room. Lastly at this end of the house was a grand piano accompanied by a violin and electric guitar which stood basically in the middle of the would be room, just off the side of the grand staircase leading up to the second floor.

Eliza then took Kelly to the other side of the house, a huge open area kitchen made Kelly pause and hold her breath for a moment.

Every tool, spice, herb, seasoning and piece of equipment she could have ever put on a wish list was laid out casually to be made use of.

“The baking machine is the newest piece to be added to the kitchen, I thought maybe later you might like to be the first to see how it works out? I’m not usually one for machines but the boys insisted that you’d like using this.”

Kelly glanced at the huge machine beside her and she was speechless and let out a small “Oh...” in her surprised state.

The dining room was off to front of the house from the kitchen and following the rest of the house’s design, was simply decorated but elegant none the less with velvet covered mahogany chairs and fine linen cloth table cloths and matching velvet curtains.

Kelly followed her grandmother in a sort of daze; Eliza went to the tea pot and made a fresh pot of tea for them both.

“So then, do you think you’ll survive here?” She poured the out the first mug of tea not looking at Kelly who was still looking around the kitchen half mesmerised by everything.

“Well it’s very, um... red.” Was all Kelly could seem to manage to say as she slowly came back to her senses, her grandmother handed her the mug of tea which she took giving a small smile.

Eliza gave a small warm chuckle. “Yes it is isn’t it?” She sighed with a small smile on her face and motioned for Kelly to follow her once more. “Well, it seemed appropriate in my youth to stick with the traditional colours of the lineage."

Eliza then led Kelly into the conservatory, brimming with beautiful exotic plants and flowers of various shades of reds, pinks and white.

The heady floral scents were soft but Kelly was hit by them as soon as she came into the room.

Sunlight flooded in through the large pane glass windows. These looked out over the backyard and to the side of the house; there was a dreamy looking landscape with a slow flowing river boarded with weeping willows, which seemed to wind its way past the house and into lush grove.

A marble and wrought iron, hand carved chess set with a small glass and marble serving table with nectar fountain gave away that this room was used to entertain from time to time.

“Wow.” Kelly found herself whispering as she sat on a bench next to her grandmother, she gave another warm chuckle. It seemed to be her way of showing her happiness.

“I have a feeling, despite you slightly disapproving of my choice in decor colours that you’ll do just fine here. So then, tell me all about yourself. Seeing as how I already know you’ve inherited the Andrews’s family traits and skills, what about the actual you hmmm?”

Feeling a bit overwhelmed, Kelly wasn’t really sure what to say.

“Well, I... I’m not really sure. I mean, in all honesty last week I was just sixteen and this week I’m twenty. I thought I’d just get a job while I was a home figuring out everything. And now, I’m here, with you and...”

“Oh my dear child.” Eliza smiled shaking her head softly before she had a sip of her tea. “If anything I envy you.” She sighed still smiling.

Kelly felt even more confused.

“Figuring out who we are is one of the hardest things to do in life, and you just got a short cut to all of that. It may not feel like it right now, but I assure you, the council did the right thing by allowing this to happen to your collage.”

“You know about that?”

Eliza nodded as she sipped at her tea again.

“You knew where I was this whole time?”

Again Eliza nodded, her eyes never leaving Kelly’s. “I forgave your father and mother a long time ago, but rules are rules and they both accepted that with heavy hearts. Which is why, we are where we are right now. Because of how much I love him and how much they love you.”

It was Kelly’s turn to nod and sip her tea, she did her best not to make a face at finding the tea had a strange bitter taste to it that seemed to linger on her tongue.

“Um, you know grandma; I might go and try out that baking machine you showed me... do you mind?” Kelly stood up glancing back at her grandmother as she began to walk off.

“Not at all dear, I can understand this all might be a bit daunting for you. You’re bedroom is up the stairs and it’s the last door at the end of the hall by the window with the ferns and candles. Maybe tomorrow you can help me in the garden?”

“Ok, sure that sounds nice.” Kelly half nodded as she left the conservatory, leaving her grandmother amongst the beautiful plants to finish her tea.

After pouring out the bitter tea into the sink and putting her mug in the dishwasher, Kelly went over to the baking machine and looked it over for a while, the levers and buttons were a bit confusing and she frowned for a moment.

After seeing that all the containers were full of the required ingredients needed for baking, Kelly took a deep breath and grabbed the first leaver pulling it down to begin the machines process of baking her chosen choice of mixed fruit tarts. “Here we go.” She muttered to herself.

After a few minutes of whirring, bells chiming softly and finally a high pitched ‘BING’, a plate of mixed fruit tarts came out of the machines oven on a small convener belt stopping on a small platform at the end.

Carefully picking up the plate, Kelly found that although the tarts were oven hot, the plate itself was just warm enough for her to hold.

She couldn’t help but feel slightly pleased with the machine as she took the tarts over to the counter island and put them down, as she looked up there was another man standing in front of her and she started slightly.

“Oh, hi. Who are you?”

Something was familiar about him, but Kelly couldn’t put her finger on it.

“Sorry I didn’t mean to startle you; I assumed you heard me walking around. I’m Kurtis, Reese’s older brother; the handsome one.” He gave a small chuckle at his own joke.

Kelly gave him a weak smile in return, her mind was trying to put everything and everyone together, she recalled her grandmother telling her of the accident and gathered that Kurtis and Reese must be twins, like her own brothers. Kelly was beginning to get a rather sharp headache from all the information she was taking in over such a short span of time.

“Ok so, you and Reese are my grandmother’s god-sons and you two stayed on to help her around the house?”

Kurtis gave another small chuckle nodding. “Got it in one, well Reese mostly does the dirty work; I take care of retouching up anything that needs it in the way of painting or cleaning any of the art pieces up from time to time. The important heirloom stuff is my department.”

Nodding Kelly realised that this was why the house looked almost new, not to mention the modern appliances and light fixtures.

With the house being so large, it was lucky Eliza had help from the two men who were both handy in the different areas that complimented each other.

“So, have you had the grand tour yet?” Kurtis speaking again shook her out of her thoughts. “I’d be happy to show you around on a private tour if you’re not busy?” His voice was smooth and coaxing.

“Ah, thanks but my grandmother already gave me the main tour downstairs earlier.” Kelly felt a weird lump in her throat, like she’d not swallowed a piece of food correctly.

“Ok, have you been upstairs yet?”

“No, I was just about to.”

“Well I could...”

Kelly shook her head cutting him off and gave him another weak smile as she moved around him. “Again, no thanks. I’m sure I can find my room, my grandmother told me which one it was.”

“Ok, just wouldn’t want you walking into the wrong bedroom by mistake, now would we?” He gave her a cheeky wink as she walked off.

Not saying anything else, Kelly felt her cheeks grow hot and her mind raced as she envisioned herself sprinting out of the room. But she kept her composure and calmly walked away; though her heart was thudding in her ears like a drum.

Upstairs, a long corridor type room stretched out along the houses length, it was mostly sparse save for the three doors that were off to the right side of the staircase and then two more that were off to the left of the staircase beyond a cosy sitting area with fire place and bookcases that were nestled under a narrow staircase.

Kelly felt that she should wait for her grandmother to show her what was up there rather than being nosey and moved onto the door that was supposedly to her room.

It was obvious that her room was the original master bedroom of the house. Red was still a prominent colour in the room, but at least the wallpaper was a pleasant subdued dark cream.

Two piles of presents were piled up, her name on all the tags, the red pile was from Kurtis and the smaller blue pile was from Reese. No doubt welcoming gifts to help make her feel more at home, but she was feeling very far from that as she looked around giving a sigh feeling like she might burst into tears at any moment.

There was a knock at her door, she turned seeing Reese actually smiling properly at her, he gestured to ask if he could come in, she nodded and he opened the door.

“Hi, I just wanted to apologise for earlier when I half rushed off on you. I’m behind in a few of my repairs around the place.”

Kelly nodded not really sure what to make of the unneeded gesture, as sweet as it was. “It’s fine, really.”

“How are you settling in?”

“Oh, fine I guess. I only just got up here, so I’m getting there, slowly.”

Kelly sat down feeling a little bit flustered and suddenly found Kurtis was knocking at her door and then he came in before Kelly barely had time to respond.

“Hi, just wanted to see how you liked the room, and the gifts we left for you too.” Kurtis half looked at his brother and then at his rather large pile of red wrapped gifts grinning.

“I was just telling Reese I’m getting there. But thank you both for coming to check how I’m doing.”

“No worries.” Reese seemed to realise that Kelly really just wanted to be alone and made the move to leave. “I’ve replaced all the washes in your bathrooms plumbing but let me know if anything starts leaking or acting up.”

“Thanks.”

“Same here just let me know if anything needs touching up or reupholstering and I’ll come fix it.”

To Kelly’s relief her grandmother now came into her room after knocking lighting on the door, she again gave her proverbial warm chuckle as she came and stood beside the two boys. Reese calmly glanced at her but Kurtis jumped slightly as if he’d been caught doing something he wasn’t suppose to be doing.

“How did I know you boys would be acquainting yourselves with my granddaughter so soon?”

They both gave half sputtered excuses seeming to become flustered and embarrassed. “Alright boys, come now, off you go. Leave Kelly be, can’t you see she’s exhausted and doesn’t need either of you badgering her? Shoo! I’ll see you downstairs for dinner in a little while.”

Without another word both Reese and Kurtis left, Reese glanced back giving Kelly a true eye shining smile before closing the door behind him.

Eliza moved to stand in front of Kelly and they both smiled at each other.

“Thanks, I wasn’t sure how to tell them to go away without sounding rude.”

“Oh my dear, I keep forgetting you’re still thinking like a sixteen year old. You must be firm and direct with people, if they don’t like you being honest, then that is their problem. You’ll learn in time that everybody gets offended at something or other, but just remember, being offended actually doesn’t do anything other than bruise our egos.”

“But, I can’t be offensive to everyone just because I want to be honest.”

Eliza put her hand on Kelly’s shoulder. “Again, don’t worry. You’ll figure this all out soon enough, and being an Andrews, that will come sooner rather than later.”

Kelly smiled and then gave a small yawn covering her mouth with her hand. “Oh, I’m sorry.”

“That’s fine dear. Are you hungry or would you just like to get some sleep?”

Thinking for a moment Kelly realized she wasn’t hungry and just wanted lots of sleep. The day had been too long and a definite whirlwind of emotions.

“I’ll have a good breakfast in the morning; I’m just too tired to eat right now.”

Eliza nodded. “Alright then, goodnight and I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Night and thank you grandma, I really am happy to be here.”

As she left Eliza she nodded at Kelly. “I know dear, goodnight.”

With that she left Kelly’s room, leaving Kelly to change and crawl into her new bed.

The bed smelt faintly of jasmine and strawberries as Kelly snuggled down under the sheets and comfortable doona.

She fell asleep quickly, but her dreams were a confused mash up of strange places and a person she felt she knew but couldn’t see who it was.

Kelly was in a forest standing by a large peaceful lake.

Somebody was standing right by the water’s edge, a man, she felt herself smiling affectionately at him.

The sun was shining down in warm streams of light through the pine trees, birds flew overhead chirping happily and wild forest critters darted past her feet where she stood.

The wind rustled gently through undergrowth for a moment.

Something told her she needed to be where she was seeing, pulling her there... but she couldn't place where she was dreaming of.

Bitter Sweet - Ch 6 - Boiling Point.

Kelly arrived back home mid morning; it was a beautiful cool but sunny day. The lavender bushes scent wafted lazily past her nose on the slight breeze that caused her to get goose bumps on her arms for a moment.

Taking in a deep breath she let her eyes look over the outside of her home, the wood and stone merging perfectly in design, the memories of playing hide-an-seek with her brothers, birthdays parties with laughter and music ringing out from the backyard, watching winter thunderstorms from the front veranda cuddling close between her mother and father drinking hot chocolate.

She blinked away tears that stung her eyes and shook her head slightly.

“Come on then, time to face the music.” She spoke quietly to herself for courage, then took a deep breath and walked up the steps to go inside.

Closing the door behind her, Kelly turned to find she was standing in an empty house. The grandfather clock ticked meticulously in corner by the stairs, the fridge hummed softly from its own corner in the kitchen in an almost soothing drone. More memories flooded in.

Her first batch of pancakes which she had burnt horribly when she was twelve; there was so much smoke from it that the house’s main fire alarm went off causing fire brigade to come, she remembered not making eye contact with any of her neighbours for a month after that because she was embarrassed.

Looking in the lounge area, Kelly saw no one was sitting reading, napping or watching TV either.

“Where is everyone?” She muttered to herself heading out to the backyard.

As she stood on the porch she saw that no one was in the backyard either.

The pools water moved lazily by the pools filter and sparkled from the morning sunshine gleaming on it, Kelly thought it was almost inviting.

But Kelly’s eyes went over to the somewhat neglected vegetable and fruit plants at the far end of the yard; the usually healthy green plants were looking somewhat sad with brown drooping leaves.

Grabbing the bug spray and watering can from the side of the house, Kelly decided while she was waiting for her brothers and father to return home from where ever they all had disappeared off to, she would try her best to fix up the plants and make herself useful.

Becoming lost in saving the vegetable and fruit plants, Kelly wasn’t sure how much time had passed when she heard someone walking up behind her. She turned around and stood up from her work, she realised the shadows had gone longer signalling that it was now coming into the afternoon.

Her dad was standing next to her. “Hi sweetheart, when did you get home? You should have called me; I’d have come home earlier from work.”

She could not help but feel a bit confused by his question, he knew she was coming home today, so why wasn’t he here when she arrived earlier?

“Uh, I got home this morning. You’re the one who arranged for me to come home today, remember?” Kelly couldn’t figure out what was going on, she was usually really good with knowing what her dad and brothers were doing. Being a Saturday she knew her dad didn’t work and her brothers were usually lazing about the house over weekends.

“Well, yes of course but I thought you’d be home this afternoon. I was going to call you so we could meet up at the ‘Water’s Edge Bar’; after all, since you’re no longer the baby of the family.”

“Oh, right, that.” Kelly still wasn’t sure how she felt about the whole idea of herself now being twenty years old virtually overnight.

“Oh come here you silly creature.” Suddenly her dad was wrapping his arms about her in a warm, embracing hug. “I will never stay mad at you and I will always love you.” He spoke warmly into her ear.

Kelly smiled closing her eyes and returned the hug to him just as tightly. “I’m sorry for saying what I did; it just feels like so much is happening so fast and there’s nothing I can do to slow it all down.”

He stroked her head gently like he use to when she was a little girl and came to him for hugs when she was upset. “You know that’s ok. Life can move forward so fast that you blink and suddenly a decade has gone past, you’re children are all grown up and you’re left wondering where the time went.”

Kelly stood back from hugging him and smiled. “So, what happens now?” She wasn’t sure that she even wanted to hear what her father had for an answer at this point.

Devon cleared his throat half smiling at her. “Well, tonight there’s a small belated party for you, then tomorrow you and I can discuss what comes next. Sound good?”

Kelly nodded. ‘I think I can handle that.” She turned and walked off.

“Hey, where are you going?” Devon sounded worried at his daughter suddenly walking off on him.

Kelly glanced back smiling at her dad. “Well, if there’s a party for me, I think I should go shopping to get some new clothes to suit my age, don’t you think?” She turned and headed for the house leaving Devon scratching his head smiling at her as she disappeared inside.

That evening unexpectedly, Anita, Rourke and her Aunt Stacy showed up to the party.

It was just a simple house party, but everyone got dressed up just for the occasion. The music played loudly so everyone had a moment where they danced and Devon had even ordered a fancy cake for Kelly as well.

The sparking apple cider flower from a tired fountain and there was so much food that Kelly had a feeling she’d be sick of chips, dip and chicken by the end of the week. But she was glad that no one would be going home hungry from this party.

At the end of the night when the guests had finally gone, Kelly wandered out to the back yard for a bit of fresh air. She found both her brothers already sitting around the fire pit talking in hushed tones to each other.

She half caught the conversation as she came down the stairs from the patio but they didn’t notice her until the last minute. “Don’t be a jerk about it Sam. OK so Kelly got the cupid streak and now she gets to move in with our grandmother to some big...” Francis stopped talking when he noticed Kelly.

“Hey sis, have a fun party? That Anita girl is really pretty, was she at that collage with you?” Francis quickly tried to change the subject.

Kelly wasn’t having it. “Yes, I know and yes.” She sat down stiffly feeling anger burning in her mind. “You know what? I’m going to cut this short for the sake of us being a family. Thank you so much Sam for telling me how you’re feeling, Loving the animosity behind my back, it so very supportive of you.”

“Kelly I...” Samuel started to speak.

She just gave him a ‘look’, which stopped him talking. “Its fine, you’d be surprised at just how much I actually do get it.” She looked at Francis, her green eyes seeming to grow darker. “Francis you were saying; I’m to be shuffled off yet again am I? Well, as much as I love how I seem to be continuously left out of the loop in what is happening to me and my life; could maybe this once I be let in what everyone else knows? Just for giggles.”

Francis begged her. “Kelly, please don’t be upset. Dad was going to talk to you about it in the morning, he only told us so that we could sleep on it tonight and...”

“What Francis?” She snapped unable to contain how angry she was feeling any longer. “So that both of you could get over being mad at me for my life being ruled by everyone else but me? Fine! Well you know what boys? I do hope I am shuttled off somewhere else. Then I won’t have to worry about people being jealous of what I’m going through but never thought to ask me how I was feeling about it!”

At that moment Samuel angrily stormed off back inside the house.

Francis sighed shaking his head. “I’ll go cool him off, see you in the morning Sis. I... I hope you feel better.” Getting up, he went inside leaving Kelly staring into the slowly dying fire.

Picking up a stray stick, Kelly sat poking the fire embers making the flames dance up a little bit more.

What had been a wonderful celebratory evening, had turned sour on her. The most crushing thing though was finding out that the one brother she never thought would be jealous of her actually was.

Her mind flew over every little thing he had ever said and done since she had found out that she was a cupid.

The mysteriously letter he had penned to her.

The afternoon where he had visited her but hadn’t actually spent any time with her except for when they’d taken a solitary photo and then at the very end of the evening when he was leaving and she had had to run just to catch up with him, and their short conversation just before they had been interrupted by Anita.

Had he done all of those things to make her feel bad and to doubt herself?

A chilled breeze made Kelly shiver for a second; in the distance the town’s clock stuck three o’clock, echoing over the streets. She had been sitting outside for four hours since her brothers had gone inside, going and getting a bucket of water she sloshed it over the fire and slowly wandered inside to bed.

As usual, Kelly was the first person awake the next morning.

Coming downstairs, she cleaned up the lounge room, dining room and a mess of some weird liquid that had been spilled on the kitchen floor.

Although she didn’t feel hungry, she set about making some French toast for her dad and brothers. It was a Sunday and she wasn’t sure if they’d kept with tradition, but she recalled that every Sunday they always use to have freshly made French toast. She felt that today was no exception and her new skill of being able to flambé with vanilla was something she’d wanted to try with French toast for a while.

Grabbing herself a cup of earl grey tea, Kelly went and sat down at the dining table enjoying the quietness of the morning, a few birds chirped in the garden from the pear tree.

Someone came downstairs yawning, Kelly half turned to see her Dad out of the corner of her eye getting himself some of the French toast.

“Morning cupcake, you sleep well?” Devon sat down next to her and began to eat.

Taking a deep breath, Kelly decided to just say what was on her mind and get it over with. “I came across Samuel and Francis talking last night about me moving somewhere else because I’m a cupid, is it true?”

She waited for a moment, it was obvious he was thinking of how to word what he was going to say and she didn’t want to rush him. She didn’t want him to leave anything out from being frustrated or angry at her being impatient.

Devon looked at his food, seeming to be ashamed of looking Kelly while he spoke. “Well sweetie, as you've probably found out, my family has a very long ancestry of being Culinary Cupids. And you can imagine they built themselves a very fine little empire with all of the trimmings that go along with it.” He took a deep breath in then let it out. “When I married your mother they disowned me. Naturally I was cut out of all of the family’s estates and connections, they were upset I had married another cupid and would tarnish the family’s name.”

As he finished off his food, he looked at Kelly giving another sad sigh.

“OK so... what has this got to do with what Samuel and Francis were talking about last night? If you’re family disowned you, why do they want contact with me?” Kelly was now feeling confused again.

Samuel suddenly came and sat down opposite Devon with a plate of food himself, he didn’t hesitate to chime in with his opinion. “Well if you don’t like Dad’s family we can take you shopping for another family if you want?  Use your Cupid powers to make them love you without any questions or animosity.”

“Samuel, stop being rude to your sister.” Devon snapped at him. “My family will never accept me back, that’s true, but Kelly is still part of that ancestry line and they have acknowledged her. It’s a blessing.”

“Oh well Kelly just gets all the perks doesn’t she?” Samuel half spat out in a loathsome tone.

Kelly felt a heavy stone drop in her stomach making her feel sick, Samuel had never acted so cold towards her before; but she hadn’t really been around him since finding out she was a cupid either.

“Samuel, I understand that you think this isn’t fair. Well, you’re right it’s not.”

“Finally, you get it.” Samuel seemed satisfied and began to eat his breakfast.

“Ah, no son, I mean for Kelly it’s not going to be fair.”

Samuel almost choked on his mouthful in shock, Devon quickly kept talking.

“Have you even thought about how your sister feels with being told where to go, what to do and how she has to do it?” Devon sighed with exasperation. “Being a cupid is about following rules Samual; Kelly must obey all of the regulations and the strictest guidelines of magic. There is no ‘winging it’ or ‘guessing’ with anything. Not to mention the paperwork each time you are successful, and we won’t even go into the unsuccessful details.”

Kelly wasn’t feeling any better with her father’s explanations and felt like she might be better off living in a cave as a hermit far away at Granite Falls.

“How about you just calm down and think about what she’s going to go through, maybe then you can talk to me about things being unfair.”

With that Devon got up from the table leaving Kelly and Samuel to sit in an uncomfortable silence, glancing at each other every so often while Samuel finished off his breakfast and Kelly finished her tea.

Upstairs as Devon went to get ready for work his phone rung, as he answered it he had known that this phone call would be coming; he was just hoping it would be a while little longer in coming.

“Hello Devon.” The female voice was stern but soft.

“Mother, glad you called.”

“Yes, well. You know why I’m calling.”

Devon sighed heavily. “Yes, yes I do.”

“Well, is she ready or not? You know the dilemma everyone is in, there’s no time to waste any more. She still has a lot of training to go through. That collage taught her nothing if you ask me, except how to read books and dwell on the past. Modern day coddling, it’s ridiculous.”

“She’s finishing breakfast with her brother right now. I’ll have her dressed and ready by this afternoon.” Devon stopped himself from snapping at his mother, they had never really seen eye to eye on anything and he didn’t want his daughters last day at home to be marred by any more arguments.

“Midday is when she needs to be ready by. A car will be coming to pick her up.”

“Alright, she’ll be ready by then.”

“Thank you Devon.” The phone went dead, Devon sighed feeling his chest grow heavy for a moment.

He decided to go have a shower and freshen up before telling Kelly the news he had been hoping not to have tell her for a few more weeks yet, but now he would only have a few hours to spend with her.

A short while later Kelly came out of her bedroom from getting changed and she found Samuel waiting for her right outside her door.

“I don’t want to fight with you Samuel.”

“No of course not, because you know I’m right!” He snapped at her. “Ever since mum died everyone’s been pandering to your needs and how special you are; well I think you don’t deserve any of it.”

Kelly was getting sick of Samuel and his very drawn out temper tantrum, she’d never seen him act so childish and it defiantly wasn’t one of his good traits.

“You know what, you’re right Samuel. You deserve all of what I have.” She poked him in the chest to stress her point. “You should have the restrictions placed on you; you should be doing hours of reading and research so that you don’t screw up some other Sims entire life. Oh, let’s not forget you will have to be careful of who you marry, that is if you can be honest enough with another Sim and then they still want to marry you.”

“Stop it.” Samuel stepped back from her, a confused look on his face that seemed to almost be panic. He suddenly turned and walked off back to his room. “Just forget it.”

“Oh, but I thought you wanted to know that the skill your most brilliant at is your Cupid ability; the thing in you enjoy most and excel at in life is the one thing you use to help others.”

Samuel slammed his bedroom door shut behind him, the walls and floor shuddered slightly.

Sighing Kelly turned and went down stairs to get a cup of tea to sooth her slightly frazzled nerves.

Coming into the lounge room with her tea to watch some television and relax, Kelly almost jumped out of her skin when her father spoke.

“Hey cupcake.”

“DAD!” She stopped herself from spilling her tea from being startled. “For Watcher’s sake you could have said something earlier you know. What is this, pick on Kelly day?”

She heard her father sigh and felt an uneasy feeling grow in her stomach.

“Well, you might think it is after we have a talk. Sit down for a moment?”

Kelly sat beside him shaking her head. “I was going to sit down and watch a movie, calm down after Samuel's second tirade at me  just before.”

“Yes, I heard. I hope you two make up, I’d hate for you to leave home on such a sour note with him.”

Frowning slightly Kelly took in a deep breath then let it out again. “OK Dad, you’re doing that thing again where you go all serious but don’t actually tell me what’s going on. It’s getting really annoying.”

Now it was Devon’s turn to sigh heavily. “Well, you’ve defiantly got your mothers intuition. No doubt on that family trait.” He gave a slight laugh which made Kelly smile slightly, and then he cleared his throat seeming uncomfortable. “Alright. You know I told you about my mother and all that happened, well, she’s going to be continuing your training in Willow Creek at the family estate. She is sending a car for you today, at noon.”

Kelly sat staring at her father for a long time, the clock struck ten thirty as if to point out how much time she had left.

Francis had been sitting at the computer doing some programming work. He came around to where they were sitting; Kelly put her tea on the side table, stood up and hugged him tightly.

“Don’t you dare throw away this chance, but don’t forget about us while you’re over there, OK Sis?” He gave her an extra squeeze.

Kelly closed her eyes against oncoming tears and shook her head into his neck. “Never.” She whispered.

There was a car horn that blared from the front of the house. Devon’s ride to work had come. He put a hand on Kelly’s shoulder then left without another word.

Francis went upstairs to get dressed and Kelly went to take her tea cup into the kitchen to wash up, she was stopped by Samuel.

He had come down from doing some boxing; he seemed to have calmed down from before.

“I... I’m sorry Kelly. I shouldn’t have...”

Kelly shook her head looking at him but she wasn’t sure what to say. The silence was deafening and at the same time, as siblings they both just needed to look at each other to know what the other was thinking.

The ticking from the clock seemed louder than it had ever been, almost echoing in the silence of the room.

“I should go and get ready, I’ve...”

“Yeah, of course. You’ve only got an hour to pack, you going to make it with all your junk?” Samuel gently teased her; she smiled as he took her tea cup from her so that she could go upstairs to get her things packed.

She smiled laughing slightly as she watched him go into the kitchen, she felt nervous and sad.

Again Kelly’s life was transforming in front of her eyes and all she could do was sit back and watch.