Chapter 30 CALISTO AND GILLIAN
WILLA’S POV
Both William and I hastily stood up from our seats, briefly sharing a glance.
Calisto and Gillian stood by the arched entryway of the kitchen, holding hands. They were so sweaty and a little grimy from playing outside all afternoon.
There was a scrape on Calisto's knee, and his eyes were glistening with tears, which he valiantly tried to hold back.
At the sight of him being hurt, I was immediately in front of him, kneeling down to check him and his little wound.
“Are you okay? What happened?” I asked worriedly, cupping Calisto’s soft and plump cheeks in my hands, uncaring of how wet they were with sweat and tears.
“He stumbled,” Gillian explained helpfully as Calisto mumbled, “I’m fine.”
“Yes, he did fall down,” Grandpa’s gruffed voice resounded from the front door. “Do children nowadays never stop running?”
“Can’t keep up, Grandpa?” William teased, scooping Gillian in his arms to allow me to focus on Calisto for a while.
“Indeed,” Grandpa affirmed as he slowly hobbled into the kitchen, his cane thudding quite loudly on the polished wooden flooring. “Babysitting them is drastically different from running a school full of hormonal teenagers.”
“Missed the Institute?” I asked as I settled Calisto on the chair I had vacated.
“Sometimes,” Grandpa answered, claiming a seat for himself on the dining table. “But I am happy and very much content with my retired life.”
Just then, Gillian proudly handed me the first aid kit, which she had retrieved with the help of her Uncle Will. I repaid her assistance with a kiss on her cheek and whispered, “Thank you, sweetheart.”
I made quick but thorough work of cleaning Calisto’s scrape and the surrounding skin. Then I applied a thin layer of healing salve, which had my little boy hissing softly in pain.
“It’s okay,” I whispered soothingly. “It’s Aunt Sarina’s healing salve. It might sting now, but the scrape will disappear in a few minutes.”
Calisto nodded, his lips wobbling a little as he endured the pain.
“You wash your hands too, little Cal,” William said as he washed Gillian’s hands.
He then perched Gillian on a chair and pulled the charcuterie board closer to her, so it would be within her arm’s reach. Once done, he picked up Calisto, careful not to accidentally wipe away the salve I had just applied. “Your turn, Cal.”
After throwing the antiseptic wipes and keeping the first aid kit, I settled back on my chair beside Gillian and watched her put a lot of thought in deciding what to get from the charcuterie board that was full of apples, grapes, strawberries, raspberries, salted pretzels and crackers.
“Mommy, what’s a retired life? Is it the same as the ancestral lineage?” Gillian suddenly asked.
Grandpa’s eyes were suddenly on me as he paused from taking another bite of the apple slice in his hand. Meanwhile, I pointedly acted as if I didn’t notice his intense stare, focusing my attention on my daughter instead.
“Sweetheart, retired life is very different from ancestral lineage. Retired life is when you grow old, and you stop working for money, while ancestral lineage just means the family you came from,” I answered, hoping that providing the simple explanation wouldn’t prompt more questions anymore.
Ever since they turned two, both Calisto and Gillian had been bombarding me with questions. At first, it was just, ‘what’s this?’ and ‘what’s that?’ But then when they reached three years old, the where, the hows and the whys began coming in relentlessly.
Of course, I always offered them answers as much as I possibly could while maintaining a certain degree of simplicity, so it would be easy for them to grasp.
But sometimes, their questions would leave me scratching my head, unsure how to explain. There were even instances wherein I didn’t have any answers to give, and I always ended up calling William or Sarina for help. All because I knew they wouldn’t shut up until the little mystery in their head was solved.
It was during these times that Gallahan would slip into the forefront of my mind, and the thought that he would be better at satisfying the twins' curiosity and thirst for knowledge much better than I could… It lingered every time.
“I see. So my name and Cal’s name will appear in the ancestral lineage because we are family?”
“Yes, sweetheart.”
“Ancestral lineage?” Grandpa joined in, reaching for another apple. “Were the two of you talking about the Ascension Rite before we came in?”
“We were,” William answered as he settled Calisto on the chair beside Grandpa and across Gillian.
I mouthed my thanks to my brother, which he dismissed with a roll of his eyes as he went to claim the last vacant seat at the head of the table.
Although he was an annoying manchild, William had been a big support to me, a pillar I could lean on, and a wonderful uncle to the twins. But that was something I would never say out loud.
“Willa,” Grandpa called. “Have you explained it to them?”
“Not yet.”
A subtle hint of disapproval in Grandpa’s eyes appeared as soon as he heard my answer.
“Well, you must,” he said sternly.
I shared a look with William, but he nodded in support of Grandpa.
So I puffed out a sigh and said, “I know.”
“Well, you better explain soon, Willa,” Grandpa ordered severely. “The Ascension Rite for our pack is right around the corner.”
Resignation filled me in an instant. There was no room for any more argument, because Grandpa’s tone didn’t allow for one. On top of that, I knew he was right. The twins needed to know and understand what would happen during the Ascension Rite and what the feelings that would come surging and forming within them would be.
So I obediently replied, “I will.”
Still, I couldn’t banish the dread I was feeling about having to explain the ceremony to the twins. After all, I would have to explain how they would be forming and feeling a parental blood link with me and their father.
And mentioning their father to them? That wasn’t a talk I would ever be ready for.
To my luck, Calisto chose that moment to pipe in, asking, “What’s an asseshon rite?”