Page 35 of Haunted By the Storm
camryn
"Mommy, look! I'm flying!"
Emily spins in a circle, her butterfly wings fluttering behind her. The homemade costume turned out better than I expected. Iridescent fabric stretches over wire frames, decorated with glitter and tiny rhinestones that catch the light as she moves. She's been wearing it non-stop since we finished it this morning, despite the fact that the Halloween party isn't until tonight. It’s not actually Halloween, but the club is having a party. As Mayhem said: “Any excuse for a party.”
"You look beautiful, baby," I tell her, smiling at her enthusiasm. "The prettiest butterfly I've ever seen."
She beams, her face alight with joy. "Can Sera and Ruby see it now? Please?"
"As soon as they get back from school," I promise. After two weeks at the clubhouse, we've settled into a routine. Emily spends her days with me, doing schoolwork and crafts, then plays with Sera and Ruby when they return from school in the afternoon. It's not perfect, but it's stable, which is all I can ask for right now.
"Is Storm coming to the party?" Emily asks, perching on the edge of the couch, her wings arching gracefully behind her.
My heart does a little flip at his name, just as it has every time his name has been mentioned since that kiss weeks ago. "I think so. It's at his clubhouse, after all."
"Is he going to dress up too?"
I laugh at the image of Storm in a costume. "I don't know, honey. You'll have to ask him yourself."
As if summoned by our conversation, a knock sounds at the door. Emily races to answer it, wings bobbing behind her.
"Storm!" she exclaims, and my pulse quickens.
I haven't seen much of him in the past two weeks. After our kiss, a kind of awkward tension settled between us. Not unpleasant, exactly, but uncertain. We've both been careful, polite, neither of us quite ready to address what happened or what it means.
"Hey, butterfly," his deep voice greets Emily. "Those are some serious wings you've got there."
"Mommy made them! Do you like them?"
"They're awesome," he says, stepping into the room. His eyes find mine over Emily's head, and that familiar warmth spreads through my chest. "Hey."
"Hey yourself," I reply, suddenly very aware of how I must look in my faded jeans and oversized sweater, hair hastily pulled back in a messy bun. "What brings you by?"
"Just checking in," he says, closing the door behind him. "Making sure you two are set for the party tonight."
"I'm a butterfly!" Emily announces unnecessarily but with great enthusiasm.
Storm's lips twitch in amusement. "I can see that. A very fierce butterfly."
"Butterflies aren't fierce," Emily corrects him seriously. "They're delicate and beautiful. But they're stronger than they look."
Something shifts in Storm's expression; a softening around his eyes, a slight smile. "You're right about that," he says, his gaze drifting to me. "Stronger than they look."
The subtext isn't lost on me, and warmth creeps up my neck. "Emily, why don't you go practice your butterfly dance in your room for a bit? I need to talk to Storm about grown-up stuff."
She sighs dramatically but obeys, fluttering down the hallway to her bedroom. Once we're alone, an awkward silence falls between us.
"So," I finally say. "The party. Is it going to be... appropriate for Emily?"
He nods, leaning against the counter. "The brothers know there'll be kids present. It'll be tame, at least until the little ones go to bed. After that..." He shrugs. "It's still a clubhouse Halloween party. But Eda's set up the media room as a kids' zone. They can watch movies and play games, all supervised."
"That's good," I say, relief washing over me. "Emily's been looking forward to it all week."
"And you?" he asks, watching me carefully. "You looking forward to it too?"
The question seems loaded with meaning I'm not sure I'm ready to decipher. "I'm... cautiously optimistic," I settle on. "It'll be nice to do something normal for a change."
He raises an eyebrow. "A biker club Halloween party is your idea of normal?"
