“Boon was just a boy, just barely in his teen years, when Carrik suddenly roared into our lives. He was destructive, clumsy, completely unaware of the changes the world had seen in the thousands of years that he’d been standing in that clearing. All he knew was the revenge that forced him to break free from that place. After all was addressed and a shaky kind of peace settled into place, our Lily was still sad, distraught really, though she tried to pretend she wasn’t. Boon decided he was going to hunt down the Dragon that made her sad, and make him do the right thing,” Carolena explained.
“Or kill him,” Boon added.
“Obviously, he chose to do the right thing, since he’s still with her,” Daniel said.
“He did.”
“I’m not sure he’d have killed Carrik, but it would have been a show,” Carolena said.
“At any rate, I hunted the Dragon, and found my sister a mate,” Boon said.
“I admire that. Your sister was hurting and you decided to fix it,” Daniel said.
“That’s about all there was to it. Somebody had to do something. Neither of them could manage to get out of their own way.”
“Family. That’s what it was all about,” Carolena said. “So much family,” she said curiously.
Avaleigh didn’t quite understand, but made a mental note to ask more deeply about it later.
“That’s all it ever should be about,” Boon said.
“‘Es,” Carnage agreed.
“And, if this thing between our kids turns out to be what we all think it might be, we’re going to be family. That means something,” Daniel said.
“If?” Boon asked. “Angelle is my only focus. This is our future. At least as far as I’m concerned.” Boon turned his seat to better see Angelle.
Angelle was sitting at the kitchen table, and smiled ever so slightly as she met his gaze.
Carnage sat staring at Daniel.
Daniel realized it and started staring back.
Carnage lifted a hand and pointed back and forth between himself and Daniel. “Faahmlee?”
Daniel thought about a million answers he could have given. But from the interactions he was seeing between Angelle and Boon, it was only a matter of time before they stopped fighting their instincts and gave in — or Angelle did, since it was she who was still doing her best to hold out — he knew there was only one true answer… “Yes. We’re family.”
Carnage leaned forward. “Go’f, goood?”
“Do I think golf is good?” Daniel asked.
Carnage shook his head. “P’ay goood.”
“Not great, but better than some. Like I said, we’d play all the time at home and I usually won - not always, but usually.”
A grin slowly curved Carnage’s lips. “‘Arnge ween Trawl.”
Daniel laughed. “You want me to teach you how to beat someone named Trawl?”
“Trawl is Enthrall. He and Destroy play regularly, but it’s not officially golf. There is no particular course to play. Some of the areas they call their golf course, don’t even have holes. It’s more of a recreational thing. But if you can play the actual game, I’m more than certain that you could teach Carnage a few things Enthrall and Destroy wouldn’t expect him to know.”
Daniel grinned mischievously as he nodded. “I’m in. Let’s turn you into a golfer.”
Carnage laughed, his unusual sounding laugh causing Daniel to laugh, too.
Angelle and Avaleigh shared a smile as they watched Carnage and Daniel bonding.
“He’s a wonderful husband, a fantastic provider, my best friend, and he has the biggest heart. He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me, but he will forever be a man-child when it comes to outdoing his friends,” Carolena said, with a soft chuckle as she added flour to a bowl and started to cut in some lard to make biscuits.
