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with me tonight. You better not throw a fit on the plane.”
    Her little brother stuck his tongue out.
    Keegan laughed and put him back down. “Go play with your blocks or something.”
    As Warrick ran away, headed for the toys, Rourk stared after him with a smile. “It must be pretty neat to have siblings,” he said.
    Keegan heard the wistfulness in his voice. It had never occurred to her that Rourk was an only child and that it could be a lonely thing. To lighten the mood, she rolled her eyes. “That’s one way to put it. Although, I have to admit it would be odd to be an only child. You must have been lonely growing up.”
    “I didn’t know any better. Being alone was normal to me.”
    “Keegan, Rourk, come have some breakfast.” Her mother peeked out of the kitchen. There was a streak of flour on her cheek that made Keegan laugh.
    They walked to the table hand-in-hand.
    “Are you packed? We have to leave by 3:00.” Her mother stood at the stove, scooping the last remnants of scrambled eggs from the skillet. She looked at Keegan.
    Keegan reached over and pushed some eggs on her plate. “No, but I’m only bringing my backpack so I don’t really have much to pack. It will just take a few minutes.”
    “Do you mind if I drive you guys to the airport?” Rourk asked before taking a sip of his juice. “I’d like to spend as much time as possible with Keegan.”
    Emerald’ eyes twinkled as she glanced over at him. “That would be nice of you. I’m sure Keegan won’t object.”
    Keegan felt her face turning red. “Are you sure you need to come with me mom?”
    “It’s better to be safe than sorry. We’re not sure how the distance will affect you. I have to run to the store today and get a rose quartz necklace for you. I’m going to charge it with healing energies and hopefully that will ease some of the discomfort.”
    Rourk finished chewing his toast, then said, “Having a healer in the family comes in handy.”
    “Yeah, especially when Keegan was little. She was quite the daredevil. I lost count of how many times I had to fix her up after one of her stunts.” Her mother had a faraway look—a slight smile on her face as if she was visualizing a memory.
    “I can picture that.” Rourk squeezed her hand across the table.
    “Come on Mom, I wasn’t that bad.”
    “Whatever, Keegan.” Emerald turned to lean against the counter and crossed her arms. “Then where did all the scars on your legs come from?”
    Keegan looked down at her plate and shrugged. “Ok, maybe I was that bad.”
    “Where did you get that scar?” Rourk touched a long gash on her shin. His finger made her shiver.
    “We were at a camp in Maine, and I thought the water was deeper than it was when I jumped off the dock. Turned out it wasn’t very deep at all, and I landed on a huge rock.”
    Thaddeus walked in as she was speaking. When she finished, he said, “A dare devil klutz—quite the combination.”
    Keegan threw a biscuit at him, but Thaddeus just caught it and took a bite.
    Rourk had stayed quiet during the exchange, watching them interact. “You guys have a great family. My house is always so quiet.”
    “Well, get used to it. You’re part of the family now. Lucky you.” Thaddeus smirked.
    Rourk looked over at Thad with a serious expression on his face. “Thanks to you. I will forever be in your debt for bringing back our bond.”
    Thaddeus gave him an impish grin. “You might take that back after dealing with the drama queen for a while.”
    Rourk grinned and shook his head. “Somehow I doubt that.” He paused, his eyes on Thaddeus’s. “Seriously, thank you.”
    Thaddeus shrugged. “No problem.”
    Emerald set her mug down on the table. “What are you guys going to do today?”
    Keegan looked over at Rourk. “Not sure. I guess just hang out around the house. Maybe we’ll go for a hike. I also want to look online at the schools.” Keegan turned towards Rourk. “Speaking of online, we need to set up