Winter Legacy -19-

The young woman inhaled the fresh, crisp scent of Sunset Valley. It had been about three years since she left for schooling and she wasn't exactly happy to be back. But she couldn't stay away.

"You look familiar."

She blinked at the old man who plopped himself directly in front of her, a warm smile spread across her face. "Do I Mr. Winter?"

Jack returned her smile, "Well if it isn't Jaylee Darling. Where have you been all this time?"

Jaylee shrugged. "At school and a bit of college."

"My have you grown."

Jaylee followed Jack's gaze to her breasts, she tugged on the top of her blouse in a pathetic attempt to hide them, she only succeeded in making them pop a bit more and bounce around, much to Jack's delight. "I'm actually looking for your son." She said, placing a finger under Jack's chin and forcing his head up so that he could meet her eyes. 

"Huh? Oh, Claus...We don't see much of him lately. He spends most of his time in Egypt."

"Doing what?"

"Who knows. He may be home, but then again, he may be in Egypt." Jack gave Jaylee Claus' address. She immediately ran off to go find him.

Claus was exhausted, he had finally gotten rid of Layla and had planned on spending the entire day sleeping. He was peeved when the door bell rand, he'd just fallen asleep too. Grumbling and swearing he crawled out of bed and made his way to the living room. His mutterings stopped immediately though when he peeked out the glass.

"Jaylee?" He asked the obvious when he pulled the door open. She had certainly grown into a beautiful young woman.

"Where's your bed?" Jaylee asked, she was practically dropping in her steps. 

"It's..." Before he could say more she sauntered past him, down the hall and went into his bedroom.

Claus peeked through the door at her, Jaylee was already fast asleep on his bed. Erika had told him that Jaylee had left for some kind of boarding school but wasn't able to give him any further information. 

"Dad always says that she's doing fine, but nothing else." Erika had told him.

"Don't you think that's...strange?" Claus had asked.

"Her mother's Jamie, for all I know my sister has been sent off to some kind of cult or sacrificed."

Claus' mind had immediately drifted to MorcuCorp, he wondered if Jamie was involved, then he mentally kicked himself. Egypt, MorcuCorp and Tahiya Shalut were consuming him, but he couldn't take a break just yet.

Jaylee slept all day, darkness had already fallen by the time she began to stir. Claus waited patiently as his friend moaned and rubbed her eyes.

"Hey." He whispered, Claus hadn't realized that he'd missed her until she showed up on his doorstep. He wanted to pull her onto his lap and hold her, and never let her go, but it had been years, they weren't dreamy teenagers anymore. 

Jaylee sat up and smiled widely. "Hey Claus."

He knew instantly that nothing had changed. "Where have you been?"

"Here...there...you know."

"No." He shook his head. "I don't know."

"I've been away at school, I'm sure Erika told you."

"She did, but nothing much."

"There wasn't much to tell, I got a once in a lifetime chance and I took it."

Claus knew that he would not get anything more out of Jaylee and trusted that she would tell him when she was ready. 

"So, tell me about Egypt." Jaylee adjusted her seating to a more comfortable position and Claus got to telling her about his many trips, and the tomes and all of the people he met. "So, you've finally got friends." Jaylee joked, "I would love to go there with you on your next trip. You can't say no, you already promised me."