Helen didn't bat an eye, “Immediate family is 19, with Joe and Mary, their kids, and grands.Rebekah, Michael, Abi, and Naomi.Naomi and Michelle as the flower girls, yes is about nineteen people.”
She continued with her list, “I have to invite the Fruits of the Great Lakes, Bad Apple, and the boys with Ricky.Then there is Lemon, Jared, and the girls, plus Pear, and I have to include Bryan, who will be Passion Fruit's plus one, which makes that roughly about sixteen if I factor in a plus one for Sour Grapes.”
“Tracking,” Mustang said, “but what about the rest of these hundred people?”
“Considering your history at the Summer Camps with Reverend Johnson,” she said, looking at her notes, “The Directions should be invited.Yield asked to be your best man, so if you invite one, you'd better invite them all to avoid any hurt feelings, and their kids, which is about thirty-one, if I’m counting correctly.”
Mustang was still staring at her.Helen continued, “Oh, The Archangels, since Gabriel and Azrael will be there, Belial will want an invite, considering your history with him.So, why leave out Moloch, Arial, and Jesús?”
Mustang leaned forward.“Jesús?You're inviting Jesús?”
“Well, when I met him, he bore down on me, and I nearly severed his carotid, so yeah, why not,” she said.“Then my Mom and Waldo, he's a cretin, but she likes him.My father and Aunt Stephanie, who is Abi's mom, and I'm not looking forward to that shit in the least.”
Mark was staring even harder when she said the next part.“The person who wanted to meet with me earlier in the week at the coffee shop was Kurtzwilde,” she said.“He wants me to wave my magic fairy wand and get his kids to a table where they can meet and have dinner and cake.So, let's add Elm, Morgan, and Thunder at the table with Passion Fruit.Ruth, the label I want for the table is ‘The Stray Bullets.’
Mark held up his hand as he swallowed hard and blinked three times in disbelief.“Hold on, you had coffee with Michael Kurtzwilde?”
Helen shrugged and said, “That's nothing, I made breakfast for the Fer de Lance, and we also need to send an invite to him and his wife, the Bushmaster and his assassin bodyguard Alita.I think that's it.”
Mustang blinked several times as well.“Are you sure?”
Mark raised his hand as if he were at a conference for the confused and misunderstood, “The Fer de Lance?Did you say the Fer de Lance?”
“Yes, I'll send it, not sure if he will come, but hey, Jesús will be there, and who knows?”
It was Mustang's turn to stare at her.“Helen?”
“Well, they are cousins,” she said to everyone's shocked face.
He wasn't certain how his wife knew the things she knew, or what she knew and held in that head of hers.This is what she meant about having information and not knowing what to do with it.He watched her and honestly didn't know what to do with her.Mark too was perplexed.
“Helen, what is your specialty as a Technician?”Mark asked.
“I am...hell, I don't know, Mark,” she said.“I am able to make connections between people and random bits of information.My life skills for surviving nefarious intentions by men honed my ability to read people.I use it to find soft spots in the alpha's armor.I slip in my hand and gently massage the tender areas.Which reminds me, I hope you're okay with me snapping a few photos of you and Jay this weekend.”
Mark's entire posture changed.She watched him go from high-alert law enforcement officer to proud dad in less than five seconds.His eyes went to the hallway, imagining photos on canvas of him and Mustang being added to the wall.He wanted to see his son's new workshop.He wanted to craft a piece of furniture in there for his new grandson Luke.He was looking forward to the weekend of spending time with Jay, and suddenly he looked at Helen.
“You just did it to me,” Mark said.“You slipped under my tough officer of the law armor and massaged my soft spot.”
“Yes, and I'll let you pick the photo at the end of the weekend, and the spot where you want it hung on the wall,” she told him.
“You're good,” Mark said, forgetting all about the cutthroats she was planning to invite for cake and dancing.“You're really good.”
Her eyes went to Ruth.She used her name informally to gain her attention.She would add an endearment to it to drive home the request.“Ruth, in the meantime, I have three more months of training with a woman I know nothing about.My focus is going to be centrally directed on getting through this last leg of my training.I'm sorry, but I am going to have to rely heavily on you to help me pull this off.Mama Ruth, can we count on you to stay within budget and give us a warm, family-friendly celebration?”
Ruth stuck out her small chest as Helen slid the planner across the table, along with a new fountain pen with extra ink cartridges.Ruth accepted the notebook as if it were the lost pages of an unwritten covenant.She answered, “Yes, I won't let you down.”
“I have a prepaid card here for deposits to secure locations, caterers, and the incidentals,” Helen said, watching the woman's face.Suddenly, she looked up at Helen.“It's important to stay on budget.I have weapons to buy, bullets, kits, and more to set up my shop.I want to be cute, but I have to stay realistic.Jay and I both work too hard to make money to just throw it away on a party.”
“You are good,” Ruth said smiling at her.
“You have no idea,” Helen said with a wink.She looked at Mustang, who was giving her the same look he gave before chasing her down the hall and ravishing her body.
“Helen, why are you inviting so many Technicians?”Ruth asked.
Helen paused, looking down, then with tears in her eyes her response was, “I have seen things and had to do things in the last few months that will never leave me.I'm not even a full Technician yet and I'm weary of the screams I hear in my sleep, as well as the images burned into my brain.I want us to come together to have a good time, eat some damned cake, and saw through some chicken.There is good in the life we live, so I want to celebrate it as well.”
“Good enough,” Ruth said.“I won't let you down.”
