A Shower of Arrows

Chapter Fourteen: Unexpected

"This will never work, Oliver." Hazel looked at Oliver apprehensively. 

"Hazel give us a bit of faith. Nate will stay here with you, Sophie and the little girls. You will be perfectly fine. Harry is going to spell the house so no one comes in or out. Nothing can get past his magic."

Liam nudged his sister and gave her a lazy grin. "Haze, we will be fine. Now can we discuss you using the name "Liam" for your baby? After your favourite brother."

Hazel rolled her eyes at Liam but her eyes were sparkling with laughter. Despite all the chaos that was their life, she was grateful she and Liam had reconnected.  

Oliver was sitting with Grace and Lacey. Lacey was reading a book to Grace and Oliver. Oliver was stroking Grace's hair while she leaned into him, with Lacey sitting on her lap. 

Liam felt a wave of envy looking at them. He knew he would never get to share a moment like that. 

"Mummy, are we going home tonight?" 

"I don't know, Lace. What would you like to do?" 

"Could Darcy and I have a sleep over?" 

"Why don't you go find Hazel or Harry and you can ask them?" 

Lacey took off and Grace turned to Oliver. 

"Would you mind if we stayed here?" 

"Sure, we can have our own sleepover?" Oliver winked at Grace and she kissed him on the cheek. 

"Can we go to my house to grab a few things?" 

Lacey was playing with Darcy so they quickly checked on Sophie, who was still asleep and walked to Grace's house. Grace entered Lacey's bedroom and began finding clothes for Lacey. She soon turned to Oliver who was standing in the landing.

"Grace I want to tell Lacey about us." 

"I don't think that's a good idea. It's still early and I want a little more time for us to get to know each other. " 

Grace was undecided about telling Lacey. She wanted to get all of this Jordan business out of the way before even thinking about this. 

Once they walked back to the house, Grace gave Lacey a bath. There was a knock on the door and Nate walked in. 

"Grace, Sophie's awake and she's asking for you."

"I'll just put Lace to bed and then I'll go see her."

Nate nodded and left the room. 

"Lacey-lou lets go to bed, Miss. Say good night to Oliver and Uncle Nate."

Lacey gave Oliver and Nate a hug and said good night. Lacey was rubbing her eyes and yawning as they walked down the hall way. There was another bed in Darcy's room that Lacey would be sleeping in. 

Grace lifted Lacey into the bed and tucked her in. Grace kissed Lacey on the head and said goodnight. 

"Mummy?"

"Yeah babe?" Grace turned to Lacey.

"I love being in a princess castle."

"And I love you my Lacey-loo."

"Love you mumma" 

Grace closed the door with a smile. 

Grace walked down the stairs and into Sophie's room. Sophie was sitting up in her bed and had a little more colour in her face. She gave Grace a small smile, which Grace returned. 

"How are you feeling?"

"Better, thanks to Hazel and Nate." 

"Sophie would it be alright if we asked you some questions?" Nate spoke in a soft voice, as if she were a child. 

Sophie nodded. 

"Was this the man you met in the bar?" Grace held up her phone and showed her a picture of Jordan. 

Sophie nodded and the colour that was on her cheeks disappeared. Nate quickly put his arm around her which she laid into. 

"And is this the woman that you would see?" 

Sophie glanced at Gloria's photo and started shaking. Grace quickly put the phone away and Sophie looked at her with tears in her eyes. 

"Please don't make me go back there. Please" Sophie's large brown eyes pleaded with Grace and Nate sat next to Sophie, who grabbed his hand. 

Grace sat in front of Sophie. 

"I promise, you won't have too."  Grace could see the relief in Sophie's eyes.

Harry soon approached Sophie and he spoke to her in the same tender voice he used for Darcy. 

"Sophie, why can't I feel your magic? Your aura is magical but you have no magic in you." 

Sophie's eyes filled with tears and she gripped onto Nate's hand so hard that her knuckles turned white. 

"Gloria would inject me with Belladonna constantly. I think my magic won't come back." The tears overfilled Sophie's eyes and ran down her face. Nate moved closer to her and she sobbed into his chest. 

Liam came forward to Sophie. 

"Sophie, did you ever see this woman?" He showed her a picture of Willow. 

"Yes, she would talk to me sometimes. I used to hear her screaming."

The three siblings shared a look of pain. 

"Screaming? What did Willow say when she would talk to you?"

"She gave me hope. She used to sit there and tell me that her family would come and save us. I thought that I was going to die there but she used to make me laugh. Willow even said that I could come stay with her family when they would help us." 

"That sounds like our Willow." 

The seven of them looked around the room at each other not really knowing what they should say next. 

Nate spoke first. 

"We should all go to sleep. We have a big day tomorrow."

Everyone nodded and Oliver took Grace's hand and led her back up to his room. Grace checked on Lacey, who was still asleep, and they continued walking. 

"Grace, I don't want you to feel uncomfortable, if you want to sleep in another bedroom you can."

Grace looked at her feet and blushed. She spoke looking at everything but Oliver, who watched with amusement. 

"Um, I'd like to sleep with you if that's okay." 

Oliver grinned at her and they continued walking. Grace picked up her bag and walked into the bathroom. She changed into shorts and a singlet. Once she finished brushing her teeth, she went back out and saw Oliver standing in just sweatpants that were hanging from his hips. Grace stared at Oliver for a moment to long and he raised one eyebrow at her. She looked away blushing. 

Oliver pulled back the sheets and Grace got in the opposite side. Grace turned over and faced Oliver. He slung his arm across her waist and pulled her closer. 

"Today has been a crazy day. How are you handling all of this so well?"

"Trust me, inside I'm freaking out about all of this. I mean my husband kept a pregnant teenager in a cave for eight months. Why didn't he do that to me? I just have so many questions about him. Why did he need to fake his death? Was he really in love with me or did he just use me for Lacey? Why did he get another woman pregnant?" 

Oliver scowled when he heard Grace refer to Jordan as her husband. But he couldn't figure out the reason either. 

"I think there is so much that we don't know about Jordan and we need to figure it out. But that is tomorrow's problem as we both need to get some sleep. " 

Grace was already asleep before she closed her eyes.