Chapter 13: Everwood Territory

Caly walked down the stairs feeling as if she was on air. She was twelve, wearing her royal blue, silver-thread embroidered dress, excited about the party. Travis liked her and she liked him, she looked at the yellow-rose corsage with baby’s breath on her left wrist, and the leather bracelet cuff on her right wrist, and smiled. The cuff really didn’t go with her dress, but she loved it anyway because of the thoughtfulness of her brother Garrett and Ryker. She hoped that once Travis was done helping his mom, he would show up and they would have their first dance together. She looked up from her reverie and saw her mother waiting at the bottom of the stairs holding a sleeping Ardie.

“Oh sweetheart, you look absolutely beautiful and so grown up.”

“Thank you, I feel beautiful and grown up,” she said with a great big smile.

“You are missing one thing though,” her mother smiled broadly.

“Really? What is it?” Her aunt Seraphina came into the foyer and looked up at Caly and smiled with appreciation.

“Wow, Caly, you look so beautiful!”

“Thanks, Aunt Phina, you look gorgeous yourself, that emerald dress looks amazing on you!” 

“Oh Caly, you’re so sweet. Here CeCe let me take that sleeping baby up to the nursery for you,” she offered as she took Ardie out of his mother’s arms.

“Thanks Sera, I appreciate it, he is growing so quickly.”

“That he is!”  As Seraphina walked past Caly to head up the stairs, she whispered in Caly's ear, "Have fun!”

“Come on Caly, let’s go get what is missing, to complete your ensemble,” her mother said. Caly followed her mother down the hall towards her dad’s study. As they walked by the ballroom, it was filled with people dressed so beautifully, she stopped and looked in with awe. She could see Garrett and Ryker in the far corner of the ballroom, dressed very handsomely, but they were in a very heated discussion and looked as if they were arguing. They both looked up at her, then Garrett motioned for Ryker to step outside with him into the gardens. I wonder what that was about, she thought. She saw her best friend Naomi, talking to a group of boys as usual, wearing a pink poufy dress. Naomi's hair was arranged beautifully, pulled up in a high ponytail with tiny ringlets hanging down, atop her head was a silver tiara. Calypso smiled at the image,  Naomi was always the girly girl type, wearing skirts and dresses, and lots of pink whereas Calypso herself was more of a tomboy, and went for comfort instead of beauty. Caly was into horses, nature, and the outdoors.

Her cousin Cody was among one of Naomi’s many admirers. 

Naomi paused in her conversation and looked up, then smiled and waved to Calypso, seeing her at the doorway. She waved back and smiled at Naomi, she then looked around for Travis, but didn’t see him or Eli anywhere, in fact she didn’t see any of the rest of her brothers or her dad around. That’s odd, I wonder where they are, they wouldn’t miss this. There was a banquet of food lined up on tables covered with white linen tablecloths, against the far-right side of the ballroom where the large ceiling to floor glass windows and doors opened up to the terrace and gardens. Everything was decorated so beautifully, and it was all so shiny, she was in love. Seeing her daughter’s awe on her face, her mother said, “Come on Caly, you can go in soon,” taking her hand, they continued down the hallway.  When they neared the study, they could hear raised voices arguing through the closed doors. Calypso could make out her father’s voice, and her brother Jaxson’s, but she wasn’t quite sure who the rest were. 

Her mom motioned her to wait and knocked very loudly on the study door. “What is it?” her father hollered angrily through the doors then threw them open to answer. “Oh, Cecily, sorry my love, I didn’t mean to yell. This is just a very stressful situation after everything that has happened this afternoon. I feel like all I am doing is damage control and hoping that worse things are not on the horizon, even though I feel in my gut that they are.” He leaned down and kissed her, then he noticed Calypso and said, “We were just finishing up in here, darling. Gentleman, boys, let’s finish this conversation in the morning and make a plan. I have a birthday to celebrate for one of the most beautiful girls I know, come here pumpkin,” he said as he indicated Calypso. She went to him and gave him a big hug, “You look absolutely astonishing! Happy Birthday, sweety!”

 He moved to the side and several people came out of his study, her brother's Jaxson and Braxton, her grandfather James, and Uncle Axel, as well as her father’s Beta Derrick, and Jax’s best friend and Beta in-training Bastian, as well as a few others that she didn’t recognize. The last two to exit were Garrett and Ryker with looks of defeat on their faces. “Is everything ok?” she asked Ryker and Garrett, “I thought I just saw you guys heading towards the garden.” 

“We needed to talk to dad, so we went out to the gardens and entered the study from there.”

“Ok, are you guys alright?” she asked, genuinely concerned.

“Yes, everything is fine lil cub, don’t worry about it,” Ryker answered absently as he and Garrett walked away towards the ballroom. To Caly, he looked terrible, like something had changed in him to make him grow up. He didn’t look like the smiling, carefree, joking Ryker she knew since she was little. Darkness and shadows had entered his eyes, and he looked way older than he did this morning.

“How is that possible Rae? To look way older than he did this morning?”

“I don’t know Caly, it looks like something terrible has happened to him. Judging by the atmosphere in the study when we walked up, it was nothing good.” Caly felt bad for him, “I’ll have to try to find him and talk to him later and see if I can get it out of him.” 

“I don’t know Caly, that may not be such a good idea.”

“Why?”

“You might not want to know, especially if it has aged him so much, and given him that look.”

“Maybe, you're right Rae,........but still...…”

Her dad gently kissed the top of her head, absently and said, “Well, I’ll leave you ladies to whatever you were doing, I’ll check back in a little while, make sure to save me a dance, pumpkin.” He then walked towards the ballroom with Jaxson, and Braxton, talking in hushed tones.