I blushed, “Umm you’re welcome… it’s no big deal.” Veronica smiled, “On the contrary, it’s quite a big deal.” I had no idea what to say. Veronica gave me a hug saying, “Alexander has longed for you for quite some time.” Freya cooed, “Awww.”
Veronica continued, “I am glad you are finally here to celebrate one of Haley’s holidays with us. You also brought several of my other grandsons their mates. You are something else, Melanie Conners. Thank you for everything you’ve donefor this family.” She kissed me on the cheek and walked away. I stood there with my jaw on the floor because that was surreal.
Someone cleared their throat. I turned around and blushed harder. I greeted, “Hi, Mom.” Mom smiled saying, “She’s right, you know? What you’ve done is impressive. We want to talk to you about what we’ve learned.” I asked, “From who?”
My mom answered, “Several prisoners. I just want to state here and now that I do not care what happens to me, Melanie. I will never want you to let someone hurt you to punish yourself for anything that happens to me.” Oh god.
I sighed, “Are we having this conversation right now?” Mom raised an eyebrow before replying, “No, I just wanted that reiterated after what I’ve learned. No matter what, my wish and dream for you is to live a happy life. For you to accomplish your dreams and your goals. I want you to be happy, Ladybug. I don’t want you to live some half-life because something happens to me. Ok?” I nodded.
Mom led me back into the kitchen. Everly and Kai were here now. Kai smiled and ran over to me squealing, “Hi, Aunt Ladybug.” I smiled, “Hi, Kai.” My nephew pouted, “Mom said I can’t have a cookie until it’s time for dessert.”
I reasoned, “Moms say things like that. At least they aren’t peanut butter cookies… or I’d burn them all… probably… definitely… so there’s that.” Kai giggled, “Yeah I know.” Haley snorted, “Peanut butter cookies are fucking banned.” Good.
We got back to cooking. I linked Kai, “Come over here and take a chocolate chip cookie.” Kai gasped, “Wait, wait? You said moms say no cookies before food.” I explained, “Mom’s do… Aunt’s do not.” Kai snickered and came over to stand by me. I slid him a cookie and he took off.
Everly yelled, “No running in the hallways, Kai.” Kai didn’t reply. Haley winked at me linking, “Very fucking discreet. I almost missed it.” I reasoned, “Well… I’m his aunt. Aunts haveto be fun.” Haley laughed, “I know. I’m absofuckinglutely a fun aunt.” I believed that with every fiber of my being. She was absolutely the fun aunt.
Everly carefully said, “Melanie, I’ve been meaning to thank you.” Good lord. It really was the day of thanks. I asked, “What for?” Everly answered, “A lot of things. You coming to see T meant the world to him. I know we discussed you saving Kai, but my gratitude will never be expressed enough for that.”
“Even though you thought that you were being excommunicated from our lives, you communicated with Kai. I wish I’d known, but I am glad you guys had that. I’m damn glad you gave him a necklace with GPS and were able to locate him. I was so frantic when we got the call.”
“They had no idea how long he’d been missing, and we had no leads. No one saw anything. Until we got Al’s call. God, I don’t know the last time I’d been so scared. No one could even pop to him. Sharon was being thrown back.”
My sister in law shivered, “We all know that means the Ring is involved. I think I lost twenty years off my life in that time frame. If not for you, I don’t know what would’ve happened to Kai. So, yes. Thank you doesn’t really suffice. Even though we already had a conversation about this, given what you were suffering.”
“You saved me when I was pregnant with him, and you saved my son when we couldn’t. There are literally no words to say. One day when you have your own pups, you’ll know that there is no greater fear than something happening to your pup.”
Haley snorted, “Afuckingmen.” Everly smiled at her. Haley added, “By the way, that never goes away. I still worry all the damn time about my kids.” Everly smiled, “Of course it doesn’t. Kai will always be my pup even when he’s grown up.”
“I just felt such overwhelming anxiety during that ordeal. That panic and all the bad thoughts of what my pup couldendure, and I wasn’t there with him. God, I was in a bad place. T was out there looking for our son.”
Everly scoffed, “They didn’t want me to leave pack lands because I was ready to rip his babysitter’s head off. I probably would’ve too. How do you just not notice my pup going missing?” I offered, “Magic. They used magic to confuse her and everyone around them….since they didn’t want you to find him.”
Everly gasped, “Really? I guess I might have to stop glaring at her.” I shrugged. It would be nice, but feelings weren’t always rational like that. Plus, I’d looked into that a little bit ago. I definitely wouldn’t have let anyone live… who was a threat to Kai. Everly snickered, “I’m fine with that.” INSIDE THOUGHTS MELANIE! INSIDE!
We got back to work. I felt when Xander entered the realm. It didn’t take long for him to find me either. My husband walked out to the larger group and Haley snapped all the food ready. My mother in law announced, “Everyone should be seated. Now, we just need to get everyone looking hot as fuck.” She snapped her fingers.
I ran my hands down the skirt she snapped me into and could admit I really liked it. I asked her, “Have you ever thought of owning a department store… or a boutique?” Zoe’s jaw dropped. Haley squealed, “What? No! Really? You’re fucking with me.”
I snorted, “No, I’m not. You conjured those super nice dresses for me in Switzerland when Xander proposed. I bet if you opened a store in the mall in Faerie with the designs you envision and think of… it would be really popular…. or like guaranteed to be… it’s not like I have projections on it or anything.”
“That would be weird… if I did have projections… I’d say that you could open a lingerie store from what I know from my mom’s badass girl gang days. Which is related to a childhood memory… I’m never discussing… ever… ever... like ever.”
I waved my hands, “Anyway based on my projections… that allegedly exist… you’ve got everyday clothes down too. You could even do one of those websites where you style people. They fill out questions about their style and you send them outfits.”
“Customers purchase what they want and send the rest back. Maybe that’s something I think you should run… and employ a lot of partial Fairies doing… it just umm… statistically speaking, a guaranteed success.”
Haley shouted, “THAT FUCKING EXISTS?!” I nodded, “Yes… pretty much everything does. Even a site where you can rent fancy dresses instead of buying them. You just select the date you want the dress and then send it back.”
Haley squealed and got out her phone while everyone else was trying not to laugh. Haley said, “I fucking love you, Melanie Conners. This is the best fucking idea ever! Miley and I are going to have to draw up business plans. That you will help with, because you know the things and clearly have the projections for them.”
I laughed, “The things? Umm… I guess I know things… well …no… I do know a lot of things so… the plans… and projections are… umm… I could totally work on them?” Mom snorted, “Melanie Jane, you still can’t lie worth a damn. We know you have the projections.” Fine. Maybe I did.
Freya snorted, “I know you do and so does everyone else.” I tapped my watch and said, “Maybe… those plans and projections are in your email.” Haley squealed, “I fucking love you!” She hugged me. When my mother in law pulled back, Zoe pushed me out of the kitchen. Which was good since I’d probably start talking about more projections and things I knew about these people that I should not know yet. Haley then popped to me and then popped us into the massive dining area.
I was stunned when Kingsley and Hastein stepped through a portal. Hastein was clearly a miracle worker. I threw myselfat Kingsley. Freya told me, “Kayda is quite happy to see us.” I replied, “I’m sure she’s happy to talk to you. Kayda has always called me her pet.”
I could see it on Kingsley’s face that she was happy to be here. My friend felt like she belonged because she did. The Fairies popped in. My eyes widened. CRAP! I forgot Aiden would know what Kingsley was. He’d been reaching out to the Dragon realm since before I was born.
