Her lips tightened. “Aren’t you curious how I know that?” she responded.
I paused, and now my confusion matched Sky’s. “Howdidyou know that I dreamed about him?”
“Because I followed you as far as I could go, not that Pops even thinks that was safe. Then I waited in your bedroom, by your side, until the drink I made kicked all the way in and gave you rest.”
“Do what? How? What drink? Can you teach me to do that?” Sky asked.
Gran nodded. “Of course.”
He wiggled in his seat, then cut his gaze to me. “You dreamed about me? In front of your grandmother? Shame on you!” He batted a hand at me playfully.
I dropped my gaze to my lap. He wasn’t wrong. I’d had plenty of embarrassing dreams about getting him naked, sucking him off, him looking up at me from his knees while driving me crazy with his own hot mouth wrapped around my cock, and the thought of my grandmother sensing any of that made me throw up a little in my mouth.
Shaking off the images from those fantasies, confusion swamped me. Gran could see where I went in my dreams? And Pops… Okay, one thing at a time. “Have you done that before? Been with me in my dreams?”
“I can only watch you, like through a telescope. I keep an eye on how far you stray into the veil between life and death, but I used to dreamwalk regularly with your pops.”
My grandfather died when I was little, right before my parents passed. I didn’t remember him, but the pictures of him that Gran kept scattered around the house and the stories she told made me feel like he’d always been a steady presence in my life. Maybe this was why.
Except she’d never told me about the dream…walking. That it wasn’t the first time she’d dealt with someone like me, or that apparently, my pops was still around. “I don’t understand.”
Gran folded her hands on the table in front of her. “Unsurprisingly, your mother took after me with an Earth affinity that she squandered once she met your father.”
I’d always known Gran wassomething. Anytime I’d questioned her, she merely smiled like she had a secret, so eventually, I stopped asking. But my mother…there was never anything about her that was anything more than normal.
“My father didn’t approve?” I asked.
Gran rarely spoke of my parents, though, except to assure me that they’d loved me in their own way, so I was beyond curious.
She shook her head. “Worse. He didn’t believe. He accused us of doing parlor tricks to scare him away from your mom. Called us charlatans. Based on his reaction, your mother stopped practicing.”
“That must have hurt you.”
She tilted her head to the side like she was thinking or listening to someone. “It was her life, and her father and I had always taught her to live it as she saw fit. What bothered me was when your dreams started.”
Memories of the woman who’d smelled of peonies and had made the best chocolate chip cookies descended on me in rapid fire. Things I hadn’t thought of in years, as well as things I wasn’tsure I’d ever even known. “Her and Dad stopped spending as much time in Willowhope.”
Gran’s expression turned pained. “I was hoping you didn’t remember that.”
“I didn’t until just now. Was it because of me?”
She see-sawed her right hand. “Not so much because of you as her not wanting your father to realize that your nightmares”—she made air quotes —“were the beginning of your gift.”
“Because he wouldn’t have believed.”
Gran shrugged one shoulder. “Actually, your father wasn’t a dumb man, which your mom knew. I think, given a solid explanation and time, your dad would’ve come around. I was rather fond of him once we got past his calling us tricksters and such.
“His denial cost my daughter a big piece of herself, but that was on her. But her staying away from us to keep your dad from noticing your gift”—she shook her head, dejected—“that was just plain unacceptable. She knew that you’d gained this ability from her father, just like her talents had come from me.”
My mind whirled. My dreams were a gift that I’d inherited. Not some fluke or random thing. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Her face focused over my shoulder before she smiled softly, then she held out her hand to me. “Your grandfather loves you very much, and your magic comes with so many burdens that he thought we should save you the pain until it grew naturally.”
“So what changed, and why am I here? I feel like this is a family moment, and I’m intruding,” Sky said, gaze darting back and forth between me and Gran.
“No!” The word exploded out of my mouth, and he jumped in his seat. I grimaced. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to yell at you.” I stretched my arm out, clasping his hand in mine. “I’m glad you’re here.” He grinned at me so happily that it felt like… Huh. Maybe Jetty and Buck were on to something.
But Gran was right. After the dream episode last night, I wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on anything until I saw Sky for myself. A phone call or text wouldn’t have been enough.
