Page 23 of Frosted Hearts

"Huh. Okay." With that Grace turns and walks away heading to the living room where I hear the television turn on.

"Well, I guess that answered her question," I chuckle glad that was the end of it.

"This is your fault," she glares pointing a finger at me. "You need to watch what you say to her. She's a kid, a very smart one at that who wants to know everything," she hisses at me. I'm pretty sure she'd be throwing something also if she could.

"I didn't think she'd question it. It was just a comment," I retort, annoyed she's yelling at me for this. It was a harmless mistake. It could have happened to anyone.

"That's your problem, Steel. You don't think. You need to with kids," she sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I'm going to see what she's doing. Can you take the cookies out when the timer beeps please? You can leave them on the tray and I'll take care of it when I start to cook dinner."

"Okay," I answer, not wanting to push the subject any further. "Don't worry about dinner. I'll make spaghetti tonight if that's good with you. Just keep it simple." I'm pretty sure the kitchen is probably the safest place for me right now. Far away from both of them so Grace can't ask me any more questions that I'll definitely answer wrong in Illeana's eyes, and so I can't manage to piss Illeana for just existing.

"Sure, you can cook tonight. The cookies, Steel, don't forget them," she demands before turning and leaving the room.

Maybe one day I'll be able to do something right in her eyes.Ugh, Why do I even care?

"So clearly youcan cook more than steak, Steel," Grace laughs, shoving the last bite of pasta into her mouth.

"Why yes I can, thank you," I chuckle, grateful for the compliment. At least someone in the house still likes me.

"Don't let the compliment inflate your ego, Steel," Illeana retorts, rolling her eyes. "You managed to not burn the pasta so I'll take that as a win for you. And since you cooked, then I'll do the dishes." I watch her as she rises and begins to collect our empty plates before coming back to get the last of the noodles and sauce sitting in the middle of the table.

I don't move, instead choosing to watch Grace shove a slice of garlic bread in her mouth and try to talk around it asking me a question I can't make out to save my life. "How about some English? I don’t speak bread. Let’s try that again?" I chuckle.

Swallowing, she laughs and re-asks the questions. "What gifts do guys give?"

"In what sense? Like for Christmas and birthdays?" I've learned with her to ask for clarification rather than just answer right away. There is no way I want to make the same mistake I did earlier and get myself yelled at again, though I'm sure it's going to happen.

"Well if babies come from a gift that boys give to girls, what kind of gift is it?t?" Her face is serious and I can tell she isn't going to drop this subject.

Well, fuck.Illeana may just very well kill me tonight. Murder me in my sleep and bury my body out in the woods where no one will find me until the snow begins to thaw in spring. I guess it'd be a hell of a way to go after the life I've lived. I'm pretty fulfilled. There are still things I would like to do with my life, but fuck it, here we go.

“Well, girls have eggs,” I start hesitantly.

“What kind of eggs? Like chicken eggs ? Where?” Grace interrupts.

Taking a deep breath, I reply, “Not quite like chickens, the eggs stay inside you, you don’t lay them. Girls are born witheggs.” Oh lord this is going to be a long explanation. Illeana is going to kill me, here we go. “Boys have tadpoles and they will give you some tadpoles when they like you. The tadpoles will try to get inside the eggs and once inside, they make a home there. The baby is created when the tadpole moves in.” Grace giggles as I wiggle my fingers at her.

"STEEL!" Illeana screeches as she walks back into the dining room in the middle of my explanation. "She's too young to know anything about that! You had no right to answer and should have told her to ask me whatever it was she asked you!"

During her outburst at me, the strap of her tank top slid down off her shoulder and I couldn't move my eyes away. The more she's been here, the more I've seen of her, especially her skin and it's drawn me in. It looks so soft and I want to touch it, touch her. Clearing my throat, it takes everything in me to pull my eyes away from her shoulder and up to her eyes. "I'm trying my best here, Illeana. She asked me a question and I was answering it the only way I could and trying to keep it kid appropriate. Wouldn't you rather her be informed instead of going and asking someone else questions or getting misinformation from somewhere?" I don't think arguing back with her is going to win me any points but I'm also not going to not defend myself. I let her be mad at me earlier, and she can be mad at me now also, but oh well. Shit happens.

"Grace, go upstairs and get ready for bed," Illeana demands in a controlled tone. I can tell she is barely holding on and trying not to lose her shit on me right now. "Now, Grace," she growls. Even Grace can tell her sister isn't in the mood and scoots her chair back to stand. She doesn't say anything to me but does give me a sad smile before moving to the stairs and going up them. She doesn't stomp her feet like I would suspect a kid to do, but I could tell she wasn't happy about being dismissed the way she was either.

"You do not get to choose what she can and can not know, Steel," Illeana snarls as she moves to the couch and grabs a blanket off the back. She wraps it around herself covering her shoulders hiding the skin she allowed me to see. Well damn, I was enjoying the sight while getting berated.

"Is there anything I can do right in your eyes?" I ask, wanting to know if I stand a chance here.

"No," she snaps quickly. "Leave my sister to me. Your job is to guard and protect us. Leave it at that."

"Got it, Princess," I retort, rolling my eyes. "I'll defer all questions to you from now on."

"You can finish cleaning up. I'm going to make sure Grace doesn't have any questions or trauma from your answer." She doesn't give me a chance to argue, instead following her sister upstairs and out of sight. Once again I'm left doing the dishes and cleaning up. I'm starting to see a pattern here when it comes to Illeana. Just when I thought I had earned some points with letting them go outside, she was quick to remind me that wasn't the case at all.

Iwas pissed at him. Still. I can't believe he went behind my back and was explaining the birds and bees to my sister without my permission. I can't believe he did that. I honestly was so surprised to hear their conversation when I had walked back into the dining room. It was a good thing that I wasn't holding anything because I'm pretty sure I would have thrown it at him if I could have. Thankfully when I went to check on Grace after scolding Steel she didn't have any sort of questions and left the topic alone. She also hasn't brought it up once today either. I'm hoping her curiosity was appeased and that she isn't going to bring it up again. Knowing her it's going to be a toss-up if that will be the case or not.

"Any chance we can go outside again? Maybe for a hike or something? It was nice getting to play outside yesterday and I don't think I can handle watching another Christmas movie right now," Grace comments, plopping herself down dramatically onto the couch beside me. Her movement jostled the laptop sitting on my lap where I had been doing some schoolwork. I wasn't allowed to have the internet up on it but I could get one of my final papers written while here. It was onGothic literature and I happened to find the subject extremely intriguing.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," I respond, trying to get back into the zone I was in while writing.

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