A Life Unexpected: Holly Nather Book One (Holly Nather Series) (33 page)

THE WOMAN THAT
claims to be my mother is staring at me with curious eyes. She steps a little closer to me and says, “Darling, don’t concern yourself with that world. They are not worth your time, nor your concern.”

I look at her with a puzzled expression. “It’s just that…never mind.” I decide it is best to just drop it.
Apparently,
I was just dreaming. “What’s my name? My last name I mean.”

She smiles and says, “Chophit.”

I laugh out loud and quickly silence myself. “That was rude of me. I’m sorry for laughing, that is just an odd last name.”

She chuckles a little. “Yes, but it is
your
last name. Well, I am going to bring the laundry down to Helen. Would you like me to tell her to cook you something to eat?”

“That would be great. Thanks.” I am sttaarrvvviinngg. She nods and starts walking down the hall. I probably should have asked her where the kitchen is. Oh well, good excuse to look around the house some more. I walk to the end of the hallway, and there are two different staircases leading in different directions. While trying to decide which one to take I hear footsteps coming up the stairs to the far left. I turn my head and see Harim.

“Hey sis.” He says with a warm smile.

“Hey.”

“Are you lost?”

“Trying to find the kitchen.” I say while looking at the two set of stairs.

“I can take you there if you want. Mom said Helen was going to cook something for lunch. Mind if I join you?”

“That would be great. I have tons of questions. Is it okay if we talk about them while we eat?”

“Of course.” Harim starts walking down the stairs to the right, and I follow suit. I run my hands over the smooth wooden hand rails as I walk behind Harim down the stairs. He is talking about the weather, but I’m not listening. I am taking in my surroundings trying to remember my life here. There are fresh cut white daisies everywhere.
Daisies.
I stop and sit on a step with a blank stare on my face. Harim stops and turns around.

“Holly, are you okay?”

Anger comes like a flood and fills my whole body. “No, I’m not okay! Arlo taught me to gain control of my magic… I made a daisy from nothing!” He quickly sits down beside me and wraps his arms around me. I burrow my head in his chest and cry. I look up at him. “I just can’t accept that everything was a dream. It was all
way
too real!”

“In time you will. The healers will be here later and are going to try to help you forget that dream. Maybe once you forget that you will be able to remember your life here.”

“But—what if I don’t want to forget?” I ask as my tears become fewer.

Wiping the few tears left on my face away, he calmly says, “It is the only way you will be able to move on with your life here. If you keep thinking about that dream, you will never be able to accept that
this
is real.” I want to argue, but he is right. Luke isn’t the one in charge of Terre or his parents. A guy with a name I’ve never heard is. I don’t know how, but I just have to accept that it was a dream.

“I guess you’re right. It’s just… Never mind. Let’s go eat.” I say while standing up. Harim stands and leads the way to the kitchen.

We get to the kitchen and who I assume is Helen is busy cooking at the stove, humming a soft melody. She is younger than I imagined she would be but still much older than my…
Mother
. She turns around placing loose strands of her slightly grayed hair back in her bun, and a warm smile appears on her aged face. Her green eyes, dulled with age, meet mine.

After a long moment of fervently staring at me, she says, “OH, peanut! You are awake! How I have missed you!” She drops her spoon on the counter and wipes her hands on her apron. She walks over to me and wraps me in a giant hug that I shyly return. Putting both hands on my cheeks she says, “I’m cooking your favorite!” Before removing her hands from my cheeks she kisses me on the forehead. She walks back to the stove and starts humming again. I stare at her trying to remember the woman who helped my mother raise me.
Amnesia majorly sucks.

I sit next to Harim at a small table by a large window. Harim raises his eyebrows and says, “Do you even know what your favorite is?” I shake my head no and laugh. He smiles and says, “Chicken and dumplings.”
I hate chicken and dumplings.
My mom… the mom from my dream…used to try to make me eat those, and I hated them. I sigh out loud and look at Harim.

Whispering and scrunching up my nose, I ask, “I like those?”

Laughing he says, “You
did
like them. Do you want me to tell her you don’t want them?” I shake my head no, because that would be embarrassing and hurt her feelings. Despite my objection, Harim says, “Hey Helen, Holly doesn’t like those anymore.” I slap him on the arm and give him an evil glare.

Helen puts her spoon down, places her hands on her hips, and looks at me. “I should have asked you first, dear. Sorry. What would you like?”

“You really don’t have to cook something else!” I say while giving Harim another evil glare, and he laughs.

“It is fine, really. Your mother and sister will eat them.” She smiles and wipes a few loose strands of hair out of her face.

“I can make myself a sandwich or something… You—”

Cutting me off Helen says, “Oh no you won’t! I will make you a sandwich. Do you like everything on it?” I nod my head yes, and she immediately starts rummaging around the kitchen.

I rest my elbow on the table and my head on my hand. I look at Harim and say, “Mom told me that we are twins.”

Smiling he says, “Yup. Pretty cool, huh?”

I nod my head in agreement and ask, “So what else should I know? I mean, I know there has to be tons you probably need to tell me, but start with the most important.” Helen places our food in front of us and then starts cleaning up the kitchen.

“Have you talked to Stella yet?” Harim asks while taking a bite of his sandwich that is as big as his head.

“No. I mean a little when I first woke up…not a
real
conversation though.”

“You two don’t get along…Or I should say didn’t. Maybe with everything that happened she will be more accepting of you.”

“What do you mean by
accepting?”
I ask as I take a bite of my gigantic sandwich. Dang, Helen’s got skills! This is the best sandwich I have ever tasted. She looks at me to see if I approve, and I give her two thumbs up.

“When dad died, mom went nuts. She had Helen to help, but Stella was required to help out also. Stella blames you and me for missing out on part of her life.”

“Oh… Well that sucks.”

With skeptical eyes Harim says, “You talk differently now.”

“What do you mean?” I ask while taking a drink of a water Helen had placed in front of me.

Harim takes the last bite of his sandwich that he practically inhaled and says, “You just do… Anyway, Cohen wanted me to tell you to meet him at paradise.”

“Paradise?”

“It’s his and your ‘place’. It is where you two have always met up. I have never seen anyone as close as you two. I used to always tease you that you two were in love, but you both always deny it.”

Ignoring the part about me and Cohen being in love, I ask, “Why is it called paradise?”

“You will know when you see it.”

After thanking Helen for lunch, Harim and I head out the door. I follow him as we walk through the still strange and unfamiliar house that I should know so well.
Nothing
feels like home here. The white overstuffed couch and chairs, the cold concrete floors, the dark walls…
Nothing.
I sigh out loud when we reach the front door. Harim opens the door, and I follow him outside. Oh. My. Goodness. I am rendered speechless at the view. My hand quickly covers my mouth that just fell open.
It’s beautiful.
I have to do a double take while looking up at the trees that are so tall that the tops are hidden in the clouds. My eyes travel down the trunk of a just-mentioned tree. It is so massive that the length of a car could easily fit inside of it. Whoever did the landscaping at my house did an amazing job. Hedges are trimmed perfectly, and flowers paint the yard in so many various palettes of color—an artist’s heaven.

Harim points to a trail in the trees and says, “You and Cohen made that trail when you were younger. It leads straight to paradise.” I laugh because it sounded extremely dumb when he had said the part about it ‘leading straight to paradise’. He smiles and continues talking, “Would you like me to go with you?” I shake my head no. I am still speechless at the beauty of my front yard. He nods his head and says, “Okay then. I guess I’ll see you after dark then?”

Words finally find their way out of my mouth. “I guess.” I want to ask if that is how long I would normally stay out, but I don’t. I realize I’m going to have to stop asking questions about everything and figure a few things out on my own.

“The healers should be here by the time you get back.” He says and then goes to open the door, but I stop him before he walks inside.

“Is there anything I should be afraid of out there? I mean… My magic is sort of under construction right now. I don’t really have any self-defense except for running and screaming.”

He laughs and says, “There is nothing to fear. This is our property, and no one would dare step on it without permission. And as for your
Fae abilities,
we will work on that tomorrow. Tib is coming over to re-train you in the morning.”

“Awesome.” I say and then Harim walks into the house. I take a deep breath and let it out.
This is my life. My real life.
I don’t make it far down the trail when I see Cohen leaning against a tree, his arms folded across his chest and his bare feet crossed at the ankles. His smile grows bigger as I approach.

“Hey Tuff, thought you may stand me up.” He says as he walks over to me.

Okay—the nickname is going to take a while to get used to. I smirk and say, “I thought about it but when Harim said ‘paradise’ I decided to come.” Cohen pushes me on the shoulder and laughs. I push him back catching him off guard, and he runs into a tree. My turn to laugh.

We start walking down the trail, and Cohen says, “How are you doing? I mean with not remembering anything.”

I scratch the top of my head and don’t really know how to answer that, because I am not sure
how
I feel. I sigh. “I don’t know… This is all so confusing. All I can think about is Luke from my dream.”

“Luke?”

“Yea my husb—” I stop myself from finishing the sentence. “You know what… It doesn’t matter; it was just a dream.” A dream that cuts deep…I wonder if I will ever get over it?

Cohen stops walking which causes me to stop walking also. “Were you about to say husband?” He asks folding his arms over his chest.

“Yeah… Weird right?”

“You’re too young to be married, and I didn’t approve of him. So, you are right, that had to have been a dream.” He smiles, and I raise an eyebrow at him.

“Oh—so I will need your approval?”

“Yup, that has been our agreement for a long time.”

“You know…The fact that I don’t remember anything is kind of unfair. You could tell me practically anything, and I have to agree to it and believe without question that what you tell me is the truth.”

He laughs. “Good thing I’m trustworthy…Or am I?” He shoots me an evil grin and starts walking again. I roll my eyes and follow suit.

When we reach a dead end I look at Cohen for an explanation. He laughs and pulls back the thick patch of grass that is as tall as him, which is way taller than me. He gestures his hand for me to walk in while he holds the grass back. I hesitantly walk through and am immediately in awe.

“Oh wow!” I say as I look ahead at the massive waves crashing against giant rocks. I gasp when my bare feet hit the warm white sand. This is
so
unexpected. With the tall trees and wilderness I just came out of, I would never have expected a beach, maybe a mountain, but not a beach...
Wow.
No wonder it is called paradise. It is absolutely beautiful. I feel a breeze as Cohen rushes past me, stripping down to just his shorts, and jumps into the clear blue water. When he comes back up his already black hair is blacker from being drenched, and the water dripping provocatively down his chest makes me do a double take. Cohen is
extremely
attractive. My heart skips a few beats when I think about the way I just thought about him.
This isn’t right
.

“Are you getting in?” Cohen yells over the sound of the waves. I shake my head no.

I yell back. “No swim suit!” He laughs and falls back into a wave as it reaches the shore. I sit down in the sand while he plays with fish. I am so mad at myself for having thoughts about Cohen that would indicate me being attracted to him. I pull my knees to my chest and rest my chin on them. Cohen gets out of the water, and as he walks over to me he picks up his shirt and puts it on. By the time he is next to me he is completely dry.