Present Day...
Rhea was breaking the eggs into the pan as Otto entered the kitchen, and she turned to him giving him a smile of greeting. "It's a bit chilly this morning, isn't it?"
"Yes, and as always, it's twice as bad on the water. I can't wait until summer." He sat at the center island on one of the stools and pulled out his paper as she delivered a cup of coffee.
"It's only been a day Otto!" She laughed, shaking her head as she returned to the stove.
She heard Otto's stool scrape the wooden floor as he stood up suddenly, and she turned, towel in hand, expecting to find that he had spilled his coffee, but he hadn't. Eli had come down the back staircase with Mason, and Otto stood, looking awe struck. Mason and Eli nodded a greeting to him before turning to look at Rhea.
"Is this the right place for breakfast?" Mason asked.
"It is!" Otto said a little too loudly and quickly as he pulled out a stool, inviting them to join in him at the island.
"Where's the menu?" Mason asked taking the seat that was offered to him.
Rhea realized she was still staring at Eli who was staring at her in turn, and she had to force herself to turn away.
"Coffee?" Mason asked, but Rhea's heart was beating too loudly for her to hear his words.
Otto lifted his mug towards the coffeemaker next to Rhea. "Everyone helps themselves around here. It's kind of the charm of the place, a home away from home, right Rhea?"
Rhea nodded absently as her shaky hands picked up her own mug of coffee. She had to use both hands to keep control of the action. When Eli walked up to the coffeemaker and reached past her to grab a mug, she closed her eyes at his nearness, and she almost dropped her own mug as his arm brushed her shoulder.
"Your bacon looks finished." He nodded towards the pan and her eyes flew open to find that the bacon was a little crisper than she usually made it.
She cleared her throat as she reached for the pan. "Thank you."
"Your welcome," he said as he carried two mugs towards the island.
Focusing on the task at hand, she started cracking a few more eggs in the pan and popping more toast into the toaster, listening to the conversation going on behind her as Otto introduced himself.
"We were just discussing the cold," Otto supplied. "I bet you don't get much of it in L.A., do you?"
"No, we don't," Eli agreed, sitting on the other side of Mason.
Rhea turned to serve up the first plate of eggs and was hit by the sight of the two men sitting next to each other. It was almost as if she had been sucked back in time. A time when Mason had stopped in to visit with Eli and she had served them breakfast.
"Just like old times, uh?" Mason asked with a grin, understanding her pause.
Otto looked from her to Mason with a look of confusion, but Rhea turned away without saying a word.
"You lived in L.A. for a while, didn't you Rhea?" Otto asked trying to figure out Mason's odd comment.
"For a while, and it was a long time ago." She turned around to serve up two more plates.
"You never really talk about it, I had forgotten you had even lived there," Otto said before digging into his plate of eggs.
"No, I never do talk about it." Her eyes met Eli's once more, caught in his unwavering gaze, she may not talk about it, but she certainly did think about it.
"So, this is your place?" Mason asked, looking around curiously.
"It's my family's, we've owned and lived on this island for more than four generations." She turned her attention to him, glad for the reprieve from Eli's constant stare.
"So, Phoebe is you sister and Collette is your mother?" Eli asked, putting all of the pieces of the puzzle together.
"Yes," she confirmed and the conversation died quickly when she didn't elaborate.
She was thankful to hear Aion's little whiny voice from behind Mason and Eli's massive frames as it broke the awkward silence.
"Where am I supposed to sit!"
Eli and Mason turned to look at the boy, who didn't care in the least that they were supposed to be famous, staring at at them until Eli rose with a serious face and offered Aion his chair, and Aion jumped into it without a word of thanks.
"Aion, say thank you to Mr. Emory for giving up his seat so that you could sit down," Rhea insisted.
"It's my seat!" he cried, crossing his arms.
"Your about to sit by yourself in the corner if you don't say thank you," Rhea insisted once more.
Aion crossed his arms and refused to say anything, so Rhea walked to the counter by the backdoor where a step stool sat and laid his food there.
"I won't eat!" He cried.
"Your decision," Rhea said as everyone waited silently for Aion to cave.
"Will you make me cookies, the oatmeal kind?" he asked, trying to strike a bargain.
"That was your last chance, over there is your breakfast. If you want it you'll eat it there." Rhea realized she was quickly losing control of the situation so she pulled out the look, the one she only gave him when she really meant business.
"Yes Ma'am," he agreed sullenly as he shuffled across the kitchen to the stool and started to eat in silence.
Eli didn't sit back down, but he did keep looking from her to Aion.
"I apologize, he's having a hard time adjusting to school, he just started and it's not going very well." Rhea was wondering what was going through his mind, and she hoped it wasn't what she thought. Eli should know she would never keep something like that from him,
"How old are you Aion?" Eli asked, she noticed he hadn't touched his food. Rhea frowned as she knew he was thinking that Aion was his.
"Five!" he announced as he shoveled his food in his mouth.
Rhea turned to look at Eli's response to Aion's answer and found him leaning against the wall sipping his coffee and watching the boy. Now there was no doubt in her mind what he was thinking and as his eyes met hers, she shook her head vehemently to deny it, but Eli only raised an eyebrow disbelievingly.
Mason was oblivious of the look passing between the two of them as he focused on his food and a part of the paper that he had stolen from Otto, and Otto, thank goodness, had his head buried in the paper as well. Eli ended the silent conversation that was happening between the two of them as he looked over at Aion, watching while he shoveled food into his mouth.
"You about ready buddy?" Otto asked looking up from his paper.
"Yep, I got my shoes on today," he said between the last bites of food then jumped down from the stool.
He wrapped his arms around Rhea's legs and looked up at her. "I'm sorry Ree," he pleaded with his eyes, and Rhea could never stay mad at him as she pushed his hair out of his face.
"Thank Mr. Emory." Rhea reminded him.
"Thank you," he said with his charming smile before turning it on Rhea.
"Fine, you little booger, I'll make you your cookies," she agreed before she crossed the kitchen to the backstairs and picked up his backpack from where he had dropped it.
"Yea! Let's go Otto, I wanna drive the boat today!"
Otto grinned as he followed Aion to the door. "Shhh, that's supposed to be our secret, are you trying to get me in trouble?"
Rhea didn't hear Aion's reply because he was too busy worrying about what had just occurred between her and Eli, but she followed them out the door and walked to the edge of the porch with them, glad to be away from Eli's judgmental gaze.
"Is there anything that you need to tell me?" Eli asked, joining her on the back porch a moment later.
"No, but I'm guessing that you have jumped to a conclusion that is most definitely false." She spun around to look at Eli. "Do you really think that poorly of me? Do you think I would keep something like that from you?"
"Maybe, but not because you wanted to, perhaps you had some misguided notion of protecting me." He shrugged.
"The only one who has been misguided is you." Rhea hissed.
"But he is your son?" Eli asked as he crossed his arms, watching the little boy jump on the boat effortlessly.
"Aion is one hundred percent my brother. Why do you think I had to come home for my mother's health all those year's ago? You read the texts, besides he's about to be six so it doesn't fit with the timeline does it?" She stomped down the steps and walked towards the back of the house.
How dare he think such a thing about her!
*******
"That answers that question," Mason said, as Eli entered the kitchen.
"What question is that?" Eli asked, closing the backdoor harder than he had intended.
"How serious it got between the two of you." Mason watched Eli's fist clench and unclench.
"Did you hear the entire conversation?" he asked as he started to refill his mug of coffee.
"You weren't exactly whispering." Mason shrugged.
"What am I supposed to think, she left and never let me know how to find her. She just disappeared, and she acts like that boy's mother." Eli defended, already knowing he was wrong.
Mason was thoughtful, considering his next words carefully. "This is our Sunny, Eli. She was the one who kept us smiling in the darkest days, remember? She's as honest as they come. I get that you were hurt when she left, but maybe she had a good reason. Have you ever asked her?"
"How could I? I had no clue where she was until yesterday! Those were the first words we've spoken in five years."
There was a silent pause as Mason considered that statement. "Wow! I don't know what to do with that. You didn't know she was here when you arrived?"
"No!" Eli sunk onto the stool rubbing his face with his hands. "She knew I was here, she had to of known, and she's been hiding for a week."
Mason started to laugh at that. "Oh, that's funny!"
"No, it's not!" Eli slammed his fist onto the counter.
"Yes, it is, a girl hiding from The Elias Emory. The only girl that he's ever wanted and she's afraid of him." Mason started to sing the song, 'Sunny', by Bobby Hebb. The song that Eli sang at the end of every concert in hopes that Rhea would be at the concert and hear it. It was a mystery that had followed him for five years, and every reporter worth their salt had tried to learn the real name of the elusive Sunny, and Mason wouldn't be surprised of Rhea was completely ignorant of the mystery she had become.
"Sunny one so true, I love you!" Mason sang before he wandered over to his friend. "Talk to the girl, be happy again." He hugged his friend, who sat like a ridged statue.
"Oh no...it's way to early for that!" Cassie groaned as she slumped onto the stool next to the two men. "Get me some coffee, Mason," she insisted as she laid her head down on the counter.
"I promise, you'll be as happy as me," Mason said with a grin, before pinching his wife's bottom where it hung over the edge of the stool, on his way to pour her a cup of coffee.
Rhea banged back into the kitchen carrying a bundle of firewood looking unhappy that they were still there.
"Yep, as happy as I am," Mason confirmed once more as he put a mug of coffee in front of his wife. "Now, show me what you have so far, we'll leave these little rays of sunshine to themselves."