As she headed into the kitchen, she called out, “We have cake! Does anyone want a drink to go with it? Cup of tea? Coffee?”
“Milk, please,” said Ash, taking a moment to look up before returning to devoting his full attention to Bella.
“Tea sounds great, thanks,” said Calvin, moving as if to stand up. “Do you need a hand?”
“No, stay, stay,” said Diana, waving him back down. “I’m good.”
The truth was, she was loving seeing Calvin, Ash, and Bella spending time together. The three of them felt like a natural unit.
The four of us,she thought happily.
Humming contentedly, she boiled the kettle and got out some plates. The house, magically, was still retaining some of the coolness from yesterday – and, as the thought crossed her mind, she noticed a definite waft of pleasantly refreshing air coming in from the dining room.
Calvin’s on the clock, I see,she thought with a smile. Not that she wanted to take advantage of him for his abilities, but itwasawfully convenient while her A/C was broken.
Carrying a tray laden with cakes and drinks – and a treat for Bella – she returned to the dining room.
Ash made an immediate grab for the madeleines, only to lift the one he picked up to his nose to give it a quick sniff.
“What’s this?”
“Uncle Kieran told me it was yuzu,” Diana said. “It’s like a lemon – but from Japan? Uncle Gale has grown some, and now Aunt Sylvie is using them for her cakes.”
“Oh,” Ash said. “It does kind of smell like lemon.”
Apparently that was good enough for Ash, and he took a huge bite, chewing mightily.
“Is it good? Can I tell Gale and Sylvie it gets your approval?” Diana smiled widely as Ash gave her an enthusiastic nod – not that she’d expected to get any other answer.
“Well, with that recommendation, how can I resist for even one moment longer?” Calvin laughed, picking up his own madeleine, chomping on it enthusiastically.
“And I’m certainly not going to sit here watching the two of you eat!”
With a grin, Diana picked up one of the two remaining madeleines. It really did smell crisp and citrusy, a perfect blend of sweet and tangy.
And the taste…
As with everything Sylvie made, the taste was somehow even better than the smell. The madeleine was so light and crumbly that it made Diana feel almost as if she was eating a yuzu-flavored cloud, if not for the buttery, toasty crust.
“Mmm. My goodness. Ihaveto get Sylvie to give me some baking lessons sometime,” Diana said as she licked a final crumb from her lips, savoring the madeleine to the last. “But I wouldn’t want to spill all her secrets.”
“Your cooking is fine, Mom. I like everything you make,” Ash said loyally, and Diana felt a surge of love in her heart.
“I second that – well, I will, one of these days, once I’ve had a chance to taste your cooking,” Calvin said, shooting her a smile, before quickly glancing at Ash. Clearly, he’d remembered too late that, even iftheyknew Calvin was planning on hanging around permanently, they still had to go slow for Ash’s sake and get him used to the idea. “Well, what I mean is, I would love to come over for dinner one day. If it would be fine with you.”
“Um. Did you get the chance to show off your cryptic crosswords to your friends?” Diana interjected quickly, hoping the change of subject to Ash’s current special interest, sudden though it was, would distract him enough to keep him from asking any awkward questions.
“Not really,” Ash said – though the look he gave her was enough to let Diana know he hadn’t missed what Calvin hadsaid, he was just benevolently letting her off the hook for the moment. “But we did a few riddles. That was pretty fun too.”
“Riddles?” Calvin’s head shot up – and Diana had to admit, her interest was piqued too.
Why didn’t I think of this earlier?she wondered, as Calvin started digging through his pockets for the piece of paper he’d scribbled his riddle from the sprite down on.I guess I only just found out about the sprite and the riddle and shifters and… and…
There seemed like too long of a list of things she’d just found out about to go into it all now. There’d been such a whirlwind of events that the idea of bringing Ash into it – more than he already was – hadn’t really occurred to her. But was it possible that Ash, with his seemingly natural talent for wordplay, could figure out the meaning of the riddle Calvin needed to break his curse?
“A – a friend of mine gave me this riddle to solve a few days ago,” Calvin explained, as he laid the scrap of paper out on the table in front of him. “But I haven’t been having much luck with it. Do you think you might be able to help me with it?”
“I can try,” Ash said, blinking. “But isn’t the point that you do it yourself?”
