Surrendering to Us by Chelsea M. Cameron Page A

Gracie was four and Fiona was two. Gracie hadn’t gotten the red hair gene (her hair was dark), but Fiona had a mop of bright red curls that tumbled in her eyes. They stared up at me with wide eyes as if I was some sort of alien invader.
    “This is my friend Rory. Can you say hello?” Two seconds ago they were screaming, but now it they’d swallowed their voices.
    “Hi, it’s so nice to meet you,” I said, crouching down. Gracie sort of glared at me from under her dark bangs. I nearly gasped because her eyes were almost exactly like Lucah’s. Fiona was more curious and moved forward.
    “Rory?” she said in her sweet little voice.
    “Yup, this is Rory. Can you give her a hug?” Lucah said, pushing her forward. Fiona put her little arms around my neck and then she pulled back and smacked a kiss on my cheek.
    “Rory,” she said, resting her head on my shoulder.
    “Are you going to be a grump, or are you going to say hello?” Fiona was whispering my name in my ear and patting my back as a man who could only be Tate walked out of the house, followed by a woman with dark hair who wasn’t much taller than I was.
    “Looks like Fi has a new friend,” Tate said. Yup. He was definitely a Blythe. Unlike Lucah and Ryder, however, his hair shaded toward blonde, and he wasn’t as tall or as bulky as Ryder. He also had glasses and a little bit more of a nerdy vibe. He leaned down and stroked Fiona’s hair.
    “It’s nice to finally meet you, Rory. We’ve heard a lot about you.” People always say that when you meet them, and it always gave me a sense of dread. I had no idea what Lucah could have told them. Tate crouched down as well, and so did April. We were all on kid level.
    “It’s nice to meet you,” I said putting out my hand and he shook it. April came over and whispered in Gracie’s ear.
    “Hi Rory, so nice to meet you.” I shook hands with April as well, and Gracie was the last holdout.
    “You know, Gracie girl, if you’re real nice to Rory, I bet she’ll let you play with her hair.” I smiled, like this prospect was exciting. In reality, imagining those chubby little fingers pulling at my hair was a bit horrifying.
    “Hi,” Gracie finally said with a little wave.
    “Hi, Gracie.” I waved back. “I brought you something. Do you want to see it?” The prospect of presents made her eyes light up.
    “Go with Rory and see what she brought you,” April said, pushing Gracie toward me. Lucah picked Fiona up and Gracie took my hand and I opened the door of the car.
    “I didn’t wrap it—” I started to say, but Gracie dove for the bags.
    “Candy, candy, candy!”
    Mayhem ensued. Gracie and Fiona both went for the bags, some of which weren’t for them, but for Sloane, and all four adults tried to get them under control without a meltdown, and I ended up apologizing a million times for bringing candy.
    Oh, there were tears and carrying on and I was freaking out and wishing Lucah had talked me out of the candy idea.
    Somehow, Tate and April got the two now-sobbing girls to give up most of the candy and only keep a small bag of jellybeans and gummy presidents each.
    “They’ll forget about it in about ten minutes. Their memories are pretty short,” Lucah said in my ear. “Trust me.”
    We all went toward the house and I prayed that I wouldn’t screw anything else up.
    “I’m really very sorry about that,” I said as Lucah closed the door behind me.
    “It’s not your fault, I assure you. Both of them are overdue for their naps, but they wanted to stay up and see Unkie Lu.” Unkie Lu? I gave him a look and he shrugged.
    “It’s hard to say Uncle Lucah.”
    The house was gorgeous, and it was clear whoever had decorated it liked the finer things. Or at least they had, but then children had taken over. The banister was covered in fingerprints and what looked like paint, there were toys and clothing items and more socks than I could count strewn about as if someone had taken them and thrown