Chapter 3
Brenin watched Lisa carefully.She seemed to be just fine one moment, then she’d drift off and shiver the next.Like she was reliving the accident that didn’t happen because of magic.When Davy was ready for bed, she read him a story and tucked him in.When she came back to the living room, he could tell that she’d come to a decision, and he was almost afraid of what it would be.
“Tell me again about me being your mate and what kind of magic I’m supposed to get.”He opened his mouth, but she held up her hand.“I don’t want to know about sex or how it makes us stronger right now.I’m taking this one step at a time, and I don’t want to get too ahead of myself and get all bogged down with details I don’t need just yet.Just give me the basics.”
The first thing he told her about was changing her clothing at will.“You should just be able to think of something that you want to wear, and you’ll have it on.Even if it’s just sweatpants or a designer dress, you’ll have it on.It doesn’t cost you anything either, in the event you were going to ask.”
“I wasn’t, but that’s good to know.So I can just want woolly socks on my feet, and they’ll be there?”He asked her if she wanted to try yet.“Not yet.I’m still trying to wrap my mind around stuff, and trying it out would bog me down again.What about this premonition thing?Was that a one-shot deal or should I expect it to be around forever?”
“I don’t know.Sometimes, women get more than we give them simply by being around the rest of the dragons.I did tell you I was a dragon, didn’t I?”She said he might have mentioned it, but she didn’t remember.“I’m a blue dragon.I’m cold most of the time.Tucker, my younger cousin, is a red dragon.He burns hot all the time.But when I told you that you could shift that has nothing to do with me.Except that you’ll be able to shift into a dragon.The Lady Earth did that for us as a gift.”
“I remember now.You said it was to help with the faeries.”He told her that it was right.Keeping an eye on her, he was happy that she seemed less stressed out.But he didn’t know her that well yet, and she might be stressed out, and he didn’t know it.“Will Davy have magic, too?I’m not sure that I’d be happy with him having magic.He’s only seven years old.”
“He’ll more than likely be able to change his clothing at will.I agree with you on the magic, but I have no way of knowing what he’ll get.Or what he has now.The Lady Earth could tell us, but she’d have to come here, and I’m not sure you’re ready for that just yet.She has wings and a halo around her.She’s very beautiful.Not as beautiful as you are right now, but she’s lovely.”She asked what sort of magic her son might get again.“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.All right?”
“Yes, all right.If I don’t tell him about it, he’ll not try it at school and get himself into trouble.That’s the way I’m going to handle it right now.”He thought that was an excellent idea and told her that.“I do have them on occasion.It’s just today, I’m a little lost on where the ideas are coming from.I’m sick with worry if you want to know the truth.What if you decided that I’m not for you, or Davy isn’t in the picture?He’s my life, and I will not send him away because you have some kind of dislike about him not being your son.”
“I would love him like he’s my own child.And if you and I were to have any more children, I would treat him no differently than I treat the other kids.”She didn’t want to believe him, but he said he couldn’t lie to her.Like she believed that he’d never lie to her.Everyone lied, and it was just a fact of life.“I can see you’re thinking hard on something, and I wish you’d ask me rather than ponder it out on your own.”
“I’m fine.What about sex?Are you going to force it on me even though you said you’d not rule me?”He seemed hesitant at first, but then he told her it was her body and she was the only one who would decide if they had sex or not.“Don’t count on it happening too soon then.I’m not sure I evenlike you right now.You seem to be just too calm.”
“I’m usually the calm one in the bunch.I’ve always been.”She asked him what he was calm about.“Anything and everything.I don’t let things get to me either.If I can’t resolve something in a reasonable time, I ask for help, or I walk away for a little while so that I can get my head on straight.I don’t know how I’ll do with you and Davy, but I will remain calm as long as I can about something.I will protect the two of you with my life and my dragon.”
“Will I get to see him sometime?Not now.I don’t know how big he is, and we have nosy neighbors.”He told her that there wasn’t even enough room in her backyard for him to shift and not allow the neighbors to see.“I don’t want them knowing that I’m dating or whatever this is called between the two of us.They’ll tell Janice, and she’ll react badly.Even though it’s been almost eight years, she’ll still think I should be holding out for her son for some reason.Not that I want you to spend the night just yet, but we’ll work on that when the timing is better.”
“I have a house.It’s a nice one that is being worked on right now.It needed a new roof, and they should be finished with that in a few days.Also, the kitchen has been updated.I don’t cook much, but I’m home a great deal, so I have a staff as well.If you wish to continue to work, then they’ll be helpful around the house.Or if you’d rather live here, that’s fine too.”She told him she’d have to see it and the school district he’s in.“I understand.If it helps any, we’re in the same district as you are here.He’d get to ride the bus, however, because he’s outside the city limits at our house in town.”
“He’d love that.A few of his friends live outside the city limits and get to ride the bus.He’ll think that’s the best reason ever to move.I’m not saying I’m ready to move in with you, and if I do, then I’ll pay my share of the house payment too.”
“You have no reason to work, I think I told you that before.I have enough money that neither one of us has to work another day in our long lives.I have to work because I think I would go crazy if I didn’t.I need to keep my mind busy, too.”She said that she was barely making it as it is right now with two jobs.“I would have thought you’d be getting some kind of widow’s pension from when your husband was killed.”
“He was off duty when he was killed.”He said he didn’t think it mattered, but he’d look into it if she didn’t mind.“I wouldn’t mind.Janice took half of his insurance policy.It wasn’t all that much, just ten grand, but it would have gone a long way in paying for his funeral.As it stands right now, I’m making monthly payments to that.I should have stepped in more when his mom was making arrangements, and I might not have such a big bill, but she wanted it all, including extra calling hours, and I was too shocked to know anything about it until later.”
“I’m sorry she took half of his money.Did she have a reason for that?”She told him how her name was on the policy and that she didn’t have to give her any of it.“No, I guess not, but that seems sort of selfish to me.I would have wanted to make sure you had it all.”
“I never understood her reasons either.She told me that I was just lucky that she was in a generous mood, or I wouldn’t have gotten that much.I never saw the policy myself, but she took care that we had half of it.”Brenin didn’t think that was right and made a mental note to look into it.He would never have done anything like that.In fact, he’d given away an insurance policy worth millions to Ace and Tank when they were found after his parents and sister had been killed by the council.“If you find out anything, don’t say anything to Davy.He’s not into caring for his grandmother too much as it is.She’s been wanting things from him that he’s not willing to let her have.Like spending the night and cuddling with her on the couch.He does it here, but then I don’t make a big deal about it like she does.”
They talked until midnight, and he was glad for it.He had a few things he was going to be doing for her and others that he was going to make sure got looked into.He couldn’t believe that the older Mrs.Manchester would do that to her son’s wife, but stranger things had happened.When he said that he’d walk to his car, he really didn’t want her to wake up Davy to take him back to it; he told her he’d be fine.He was a dragon after all.
He didn’t have any trouble and called her when he got to the car as soon as he got into it.Shemade him promise that he’d call her when he got home, too, and he did it.The house seemed so empty now that he was alone in it, and he wondered how it would be filled with laughter when Davy and Lisa lived there.He was looking forward to that more than anything.
The next morning, he was making notes on the conversations that he’d had with her and was glad that he could look things up on the computer.Having the application that would do background checks was the first thing he did.Janice Manchester was right there for him to see all that she was about.
The first thing that he noticed was that she’d cashed a fifty-thousand-dollar policy on her husband when he had died nineteen years ago.That was quite a bit of money back then, and she’d invested well.The second bit of income that she had that wasn’t her monthly checks was another insurance policy from her son, David Manchester.It was much more than the one from her husband and was worth just over two million dollars.Saying that she gave her daughter-in-law half was a lie.
On top of that, she owned the house that Lisa was renting, and it looked like she’d just raised her rent.There was something fishy going on with the elderly woman, and he was going to see what he could find out by sending a faerie to her home and see what was going on.He told himself it was just to watch over the woman, but it was more than that.He no longer trusted her at her word, and she’d never even spoken to him.The rent thing bothered him the most.Why would she be charging her rent at all?
The more he looked into her life, the stranger things got.Like she had a wealth of money that was just sitting in the bank.Why wasn’t she helping out with her grandson more?She had to know that Lisa was struggling with two jobs that barely made a dent in her rent now that it had been raised again.Then there were the insurance policies that she was paying for, not to mention the insurance on them in the event that they needed a doctor.
Each time he found something, he’d be amazed that she wasn’t helping out with Lisa more.Or, at the very least, not charge her rent each month on the house she was renting.It was like she was making it so that she failed.When that thought popped into his head, he knew that was exactly what it was.She was making her have to come to her for help and was holding out on her for some reason.
That thought was centered in his mind when he found that there were two more policies taken out on Lisa and Davy for millions of dollars.Using his considerable magic, he called for help with Lady Earth to see what she might know about the elderly woman.
“I know nothing more than you have there before you.I will look deeper into her lands.She doesn’t plant any flowers around her home, much like the others have surrounding her.But I never thought that she could be doing it for selfish reasons.The other people around her have begged her to help out by keeping her yard maintained, but she just won’t do it.It has been a sore spot in their lives when they try to sell their homes.With hers looking so poorly, their houses aren’t worth as much as they could get from them.”He asked her how she would know that.“I have my reasons for watching over the place.Much violence had gone on there before the husband finally passed away.He was an abused spouse.We have been keeping an eye on the house for many decades, and the faeries know better than to be caught there, too.Yes, much violence has been at that address.You said that your mate is related to her by marriage?She would do well not to trust the woman.She’s also been known to hurt herself on purpose so that your mate must see to her needs.It hasn’t happened as much as it did in the past, but it does happen sometimes.”
“You’ve given me a great deal of information that I wouldn’t have gotten from the web.Thank you so much.”She said she was very welcome to be able to help him.“I’ll have to keep an eye on her myself.I think she’s making it so that my mate will have to go to her soon for help with her money.She won’t want to, but she’ll have no choice.”
“Then you should bring her to your home before it gets to that.Show her what a beautiful dragon she has in you, and make sure that she can see her own.It will be such a great gift to me to see the two of you flying in the sky again.”He asked if she’d seen them all lately.“Yes, I come to the flying when I can.With so much time on my hands now, I feel like I can do lots of things that I never did before.Seeing my dragons fly is one of the best treasures that I have.I so love to see you all flying.”
