“That makes one of us.”
Rubbing her temple, Vanessa tried to massage away the pounding headache from the herbs Angeline had put in her tea. After what felt like forever, but was truly less than a minute, she inhaled deeply, gratefully accepted the Healing Magic Celeste was pushing her way, and sighed with relief when the pain was gone.
“Thank you.”
“You’re very welcome.”
“Those weren’t the same herbs as the gris gris bag, were they?”
“Nope,”Celeste responded. Then instantly, she added,“But the babe is fine. I know you checked, but it bears repeating. Rest assured, there ain’t nuthin’ gettin’ through those Magical walls we built. I know how to protect what’s special and important,and there’s not one damn thing as special or as important as you and that baby.”
“Thank you so much for…”
“You don’t ever have to thank me for doin’ my job.”There was a split second of silence, and she added,“But you could let me take a peek to see if it’s a girl or a boy.”
“Nope,”Vanessa adamantly answered.“We’re all gonna find out when they’re born.”
“Can’t blame a girl for tryin’.”
“Don’t blame you at all,”Vanessa mentally chuckled. Swallowing hard, she added with a grunt,“My mouth tastes like the bottom of a birdcage. This is worse than the time Bonnie Sampson and I got into her daddy’s moonshine.”
Sliding her legs out from under the blanket, she slowly sat up and threw her feet over the side of the bed. The room tilted one way, then the other, and finally righted itself.
“You know you should’ve just stayed in bed for about five more minutes,”Celeste grumbled.“The herbs were almost completely out of your system, and you wouldn’t feel like you were on the ninth day of an eight-day bender.”
“Yeah, I know,”Nessy begrudgingly admitted.“But there is no way in all that’s holy I’m lying around like a hibernatin’ bear while the twisted sisters try to marry me off to their deranged brother.”Inhaling a cleansing breath, she slowly exhaled.“And if they think they’re laying one finger on my baby, then they can…”
“…Kiss your ass at the four-way stop in the middle of beautiful downtown Holly Bush,”Celeste teased to ease the tension.“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got that before.”
“Yeah, that,”Vanessa agreed. “But I was gonna say, then they have another thing comin’.”
“That’s good, too.”
“You know it,”Vanessa gave a sharp nod, smiling when the room didn’t spin.“Especially since you, my dear Polar Bear Princess, are the other thing comin’.”
“Oh, yeah, this day just keeps gettin’ better!”
“I knew you’d like that,”Nessy winked. “But first…”
“We need a plan,”Celeste finished the thought.
Blowing out an exasperated breath, Nessy took a long look around the room. She needed a plan, and she needed it yesterday, but all her brain wanted to do was think about Cyrus. She wanted her Mate– the man made for her by the Universe. She loved him more than she ever thought possible and wanted to spend the rest of forever by his side– not some thug with the IQ of a toothpick and his evil sisters who wanted the Magic of the Great Ursus Maritimus, the first Polar Bear who been blessed with the Power of the Celtic goddess, Artio.
“Who the hell do these Blackwoods think they are?” she pushed the words through gritted teeth. “They can’t fight Fate. They can’t laugh in the face of the Universe.” Getting to her feet, she stood as tall as her five-foot physique allowed and shook with fury. “And they damned sure can’t mess with a momma bear and the Polar Bear Princess.”
“Hell yeah!”Celeste agreed with a shout that shook the confines of Vanessa’s mind.
Taking one step forward, the aftereffects of Angelique’s nasty potion had Vanessa’s stomach doing flip-flops. Thankfully, the baby wasn’t affected. Unfortunately, Nessy had to take some seriously deep breaths to keep from throwing up.
Refusing to let the Blackwoods win, she slid her left foot forward, then followed with her right. When she stayed upright and her stomach didn’t revolt, she lifted her left foot and took a real step. Everything was fine until her left foot joined the party. Grabbing the huge, brass handle on the door of the wardrobeat the end of the bed, Vanessa held on for dear life as Celeste poured Healing Magic into every fiber of her being.
“Hold on, Nessy,”the Polar Bear Princess encouraged.“You got this.”
“I… I th-think it’s you, my friend, you have us both.”
Leaning into the tall, cherry wood armoire, the garment bag from the other room fell to the floor. “Well, shit, they brought the party dress,” she grumbled.
Spilling out of the black bag, the gorgeous, red velvet gown Angeline thought she could force Vanessa to wear to the farce of an ‘engagement’ party tickled the tips of her toes. Scooting back, she stepped on the dress with both feet and ground the fabric into the ceramic tile floor. A perverse sense of pride and glee filled her heart as red and green crystal buttons, along with snow white sequin appliques, pinged off the furniture and the walls as they flew around the room.
