“Yes, well, there hasn’t been anyone living here but me and the staff for a long time. I’m probably handing you more to make fun of me about, but I think I was just waiting to die here. The staff would find my body in one of the rooms and just dump me in the back yard.” Parker told him that’s how she’d handle his corpse. “You do say what you want, don’t you?”
“I do. There are a couple of things you should be made aware of. One, I was just released from prison. It took them eight years to figure out what I’d been saying all along. I didn’t kill my stepfather. At the time, I thought he was my father, a cruel bastard that thought his shit didn’t stink like everyone else’s.” He had read about her in the paper but hadn’t really cared at the time. “Secondly, I’m not going to tolerate you treating my mother like shit. She’s been through hell and back being married to Park. She didn’t have a choice in marrying him. The marriage was something he maneuvered around so he could get her magic. Park thought since she was a witch from an extraordinarily strong family, he’d get more out of marrying her. It didn’t work out that way for either of them.”
“Meggie was engaged to Peter when he died. I don’t think I treated her very well when she came to see my wife and me. We were still dealing with our own grief when she made her way to us. By the time I thought of her again, she was already married to that Park person. I just— Well, I just wrote her off, thinking she’d not really loved Peter at all.” Parker told him she still mourned his passing. “As do I. Every day, I think of him, and it doesn’t seem to hurt any less.”
He invited them for a late breakfast. For the first time in all of his adult life, he changed up his routine. Not only did he enjoy having a scone with his breakfast, but also two cups of tea. Peter laughed too, more than he had in decades. There was something so rudely refreshing about Parker that made him want to tease her into some sort of debate.
He noticed, too, that Don loved Parker, and she did him. They were the most beautiful couple he’d ever seen together. Also, they seemed to enjoy life to the fullest. Don told him he was a lion. Peter had to admit, he’d never seen a lion, not even in a zoo setting.
“We’re much larger than the ones in the zoo, sir. My brother Ronan, he’s the king of all lions all over the world. He and his wife Brook, they take their job very seriously.” Peter asked him how much of a family he had. “I have five brothers and my mom and grandma. Grandma is living with my mom for now. And each of my brothers all have their own homes, thanks to Brook. I’m to understand you know her.”
“I do. She’s a pistol, that one.” Don told him she’d gotten worse since marrying his brother. “That’s hard to believe. I enjoy working with her. She’s done several projects for me over the years. Never would have thought she’d have the guts to take on jobs like she has. She’s made a name for herself; I will say that for her.”
“We’re all a little afraid of her. I think she likes that too.” Peter laughed, catching himself off guard the way it just flowed from his mouth now. “I’ve been talking to my brother, Ronan. He would like you to come to his home for dinner tonight. Brook said to tell you it’s at six, and you’ll be there.”
“I think I’d like that. Very much so.” He looked at the couple and shook his head. “What I wouldn’t give for my Peggy to be here to see you two. She’d have a fit about it. Now, tell me what it is you’d like to know about magic. I would like to explain, I have quite a bit myself, but not nearly as much as my son had or you have, Parker. But I have lots of notes and books that have been handed down from several generations of Windchaser’s.”
“May I take them to read over? I will return them to you as soon as I’m finished.” Peter, never one to make a decision on the cuff, did so in that moment. He told her they were hers to keep. As soon as he said the words, a weight, one he’d not known he had, lifted from not just his body, but from his soul as well. “Thank you for that. I have some that my mother’s family had as well. If you’d like to read over those, you’re more than welcome to them.”
When Parker nodded, he had to look away. His wife, he thought—Peggy would have been over the moon right now. He was so happy that in his lifetime, he was not only able to get to know this girl but that he’d have plenty to tell Peggy about when he did meet up with her on the other side.
~~~
Quin rubbed the spot where he’d injected the little kitten. She wasn’t going to make it. Giving her a shot to combat the pain he was sure she was in was about all he could do for her at this point. He was sure that the little girl who had found the kitten knew it as well. Anna asked him if she could sit with Ginger, the name she’d given the kitten, for a while.
“Yes. For as long as you wish. You did a good thing by bringing her in to me. I don’t know if she has enough energy to save herself now, but she has a better chance than she did before.” Anna nodded as she gently ran her fingers over her fur. “I’m sorry I can’t do more for her, honey. She hasn’t eaten for an exceptionally long time.”
“I know you’re doing all you can for her. I just don’t understand people.” He wisely kept his mouth shut. He didn’t understand them either. “My mom said I could have a kitten when we moved here last month. But they’re so expensive, you know?”
“Where are you looking? At the store? I’m sure once I put the word out that you’re looking for a pet of your own, you’ll have so many offers for one you’ll have as many as your mom will allow you.” She looked up at him, tears on her cheeks. “However, we don’t want to rush things, now do we?”
“She’s going to die, isn’t she?” Quin got down to her level and nodded. “We did everything we could for her, too. I’m not sure how I can pay you, Doctor Quin, but I’ve got a birthday coming up, and I can give that money to you.”
“I’m not going to charge you for this, Anna. You tried to save an animal, and in my books, that makes you a wonderful person. But don’t think of this as just letting her die. She’s not going to perish alone, and that is a good thing.” Anna nodded as she petted the kitten.
Quin left her in the room. It was that, or he was going to join her in an all-out bawling event. It killed just a little of him every time he lost a patient. It was especially hard on him when a child was there to witness it. Going to the front, he smiled at his grandma as she played with the little bunny that had been brought in a couple of hours ago. She was talking to it while she played a game on his computer.
“I’ll have you know I think working for you was a mistake. Your mother told me if I bring home one more animal, she’s going to make me sleep in the shed and put all the creatures in my room. Do you think she’s serious?” He told her she’d said the same thing to him when he was younger. “Well, she will have to get used to it all over again, I’m thinking. How’s the little muffin in the room with the cat? It’s not going to make it, is it?”
“She’s taking it hard, but better than I am. I hate to lose a patient, you know.” His grandma had been working for him for a few days now. While she seemed to enjoy it, he was worried she’d overdo on some of the heavier things that were needed to work in a vet’s office. Like holding down a big animal while he tried to diagnose what was wrong with it. “Grandma, what would you think about me having a source for pets here for people to adopt?”
Quin laughed at himself. It wasn’t even a thought until just then. Grandma winked at him and told him she would love it. The more they spoke about the idea of it, the more he liked it as well. Not just cats and dogs, though they were the most popular. Quin thought it would be fun to see if he could match up snakes and the like for people too.
Anna came out of the room a few minutes later. Grandma and he were still working on the other idea when Anna hugged him tightly from behind, telling him that Ginger was gone. He picked Anna up and held her as he wanted, tightly in his arms, to give comfort to her.
“I watched her breathing for a long time, and I saw that it was get
ting harder for her to do. Then she looked at me, and I knew she was thanking me for being there with her.” Quin told her he was sure she was. “I held her little paw in my fingers until she closed her eyes and passed away. I’ll never forget this, Doctor Quin. Not for as long as I live, will I forget how she died here with me by her side.”
Putting Anna back down, he watched her as she stood telling his grandma how she’d come to find the little kitten in an abandoned building by her house. The rest of the litter, as well as the mother, were all dead. Anna didn’t say it, but he had a feeling all of them had suffered badly. He’d asked Cass to go by and take care that they were buried properly.
“You need a job.” He looked at his grandma when she spoke to Anna. “Yes, that’s the ticket. You need a job. I’m much too busy working on the phones to have time to cuddle some of the animals brought in here by people. Look at this bunny. What am I to do while it’s needing someone to make sure he knows he’s loved?”
Grandma handed the bunny to Anna, and she asked what she was to do with it. She knew nothing about bunnies. His wonderful grandma said she didn’t either but then asked Anna if she knew how to cuddle.
“I do. I mean, I think I do.” The bunny snuggled up under Anna’s chin when she sat in the other chair behind the desk Grandma was working at. “Why is he here? I mean, did someone drop him off and not stay to make sure he was going to be all right? That’s not right. People can’t just abandon animals like they’re nothing.”
“He was dropped off this morning when someone hit him. They have an allergy for bunnies, but they made sure he was going to be all right. Once I said that Mr. Whiskers here was stunned but not hurt, the man had to leave.” She asked about the name. “That’s what he’d been calling the bunny before he dropped it off. I think he was deeply sorry he couldn’t take him home with him.”
“What will happen to him now that he’s all right? He’s very friendly, isn’t he?” Quin told her he’d contacted the people that owned him, and they were coming to get him later. “So you want me to just keep him company? I can do that. I would have to talk to my momma about working here. I don’t think she’d care all that much.”
“You talk to her if you want, honey. Even if there aren’t any pets to cuddle with, you can come here and keep me company.” Grandma looked at him. “Don’t you have things to do? Go on now. I got this part handled.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
He kissed his grandma on the cheek. Her perfume, the scent of her lion, brought so many memories to his mind that he staggered just a little. Kissing her again, he thought about his grandma being around forever and did a little dance. He wanted his children to remember her scent too. Like gardenias and roses on a spring morning.
Going into the little room he had put the kitten in, Quin put her into a box made especially for the burial of small animals and wrote her name and day of her death on the top of it. Tomorrow he’d take her to the woods behind his mom’s old place and bury her, a place he’d been burying animals since he’d been a little boy. Ronan contacted him just as he was putting Ginger in the freezer for tomorrow.
The people came out today to look at the old barn on Mom’s land. He’s going to work on it with Brook to see how much they can preserve and how much is going to have to be taken down. It looks to him like it might not have to be torn down at all. But if we end up doing that, you know how it is. In old places, you never know what you might find when you start working on it. Anyway, he wants to help Brook save as much of the original wood as they can. Get this—it’ll be done in about a month if nothing goes wrong. He asked what they were planning to do with it. Brook wants to insulate it so it can be used all the time. Mom wants it to have a full kitchen to use when someone wants to have a family gathering.
That sounds good. If it’s heated or air-conditioned, it might be the perfect place for weddings too. No matter the time of year. Ronan told him that was what Mom had told him. I hired someone today. Well, Grandma did. Do you know the Harper family? I think it’s just a little girl, Anna, and her mom. She’s never mentioned a father. The girl brought in a kitten that was nearly gone. Can you look into them for me? The girl wants a kitten, but they’re too expensive, she said. I thought she meant purchasing them, but now that I think on it, I think it might be the long term of having a cat and the bills associated with having one.
I’ll see what I can find out and get back to you. Hang on. Mom just walked in, and I’ll speak to her. You know she would know if anyone else didn’t.
He didn’t wait on his brother to come back to him too soon. Picking up his office phone, he made some calls to the local shelter, asking how he could perhaps help them out by having pictures of pets available to be adopted posted on the office walls. They were so excited to let him help, someone was coming out with not just pictures but a kitten or two for Anna. He was also going to make sure the kid had enough money for food and other items.
Okay. They just moved here. He told Ronan he’d forgotten to mention that part. No matter. Mom still knows who they are. The little girl is Anna, as you said. She’s almost ten. The mom—her name is Shirley—is hiding out here from an abusive ex-husband. Shirley is having a hard time finding employment because she’s not lived here long enough. Also, the ex-husband is an abusive prick, and the places where Shirley has applied are worried he might show up and cause some damage to not just the wife and daughter, but also to wherever she’s working. Brook is going to hire her to work in the offices with her.
Thanks. Ronan told him it was his pleasure. But he had to find her a place to live, so they’d be safe. I can do that. I have two places in mind. One of them is close to where Brook’s offices are.
By the time Quin was ready to call it a day, Shirley had met with Brook and had been hired. His brothers were helping her move the things she’d left home with into the house he’d found for them. And Anna had two kittens instead of one because the barn on the back of the property would need to have the mice cleared out. He knew that any house his family was in or lived near wouldn’t have any trouble with rodents of any kind, but he wanted Anna to have something of her own. The kittens were the perfect balm for her broken heart since the last kitten had died. And the shelter was so excited to have an outlet to advertise their animals, they gave her a month of food as well as some toys for her and the kittens to play with. A good start all the way around, he thought.
As he was walking home that night, he thought about what might be in store for him if his mate were to come around. He’d be in trouble, he knew it. Quin wasn’t easy to get along with most of the time. Having a mate around all the time would cause him to have to seek out his own time. He only hoped she was an animal lover. Otherwise, he was going to hate giving up his job for her. Quin would, but he’d not be happy about it.
Smiling at himself, Quin thought he had a long time to get used to the idea of having a mate. Something far off, he was thinking. Or hoping. He wasn’t quite sure which. Going into the house, he looked around. He supposed he’d better start getting some things to put in the house besides a card table that was older than him and a lawn chair to sit at it.
Or maybe not. He hadn’t any idea why, but he thought of his house as a clean slate. Whoever came to be his mate, she’d have this, all of it, to work with. Laughing at himself, he knew he was about as bad at decorating as he was at socializing. Quin really sucked at both.
Chapter 6
Clyde Martin was enjoying his time watching the football team get ready for the new season. To him, it was the best kind of sport to have at a high school level. There was little to no involvement on his part. The kids that played had to pay the school for their equipment. The concession stands made so much money because parents donated some of the products they sold. And since he’d made a deal with the coaches around the area, he was going to be making money off of holding the football camp here—a win-win for the school, but mostly him.
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br /> Now that he’d gotten the right people in place to train them, they could fill up the new trophy cabinet quicker. It was also his plan to have more seating. The more butts that came to a game was more money all the way around for him and his little projects.
Having Don Foster as their coach, the all-American Player winner two years in a row when he’d been going here, was just the ticket he needed for the papers to recognize him as being the best principal in the state. He’d like to be known as the best in the country, but he didn’t want to seem too greedy this soon.
Glancing at his watch, he saw that Don had twenty minutes to get here and get started. He’d heard from Brook just yesterday—she wanted a meeting to discuss the uniforms. Things were falling into place better than he’d thought. Soon the money from the players’ parents to help pay for the new uniforms would be sitting nicely in his own account. He was going to make sure no one knew Brook Foster had paid for them in full. Yes, he liked it when all his ducks lined up in a nice neat row.
“Mr. Martin?” He smiled at the young player and asked him why he wasn’t on the practice field. “I have a note here for you. Mr. Ronan said I was to give it to you. Also, my mom said I can’t play football.”
Before he could ask him why she’d say such a thing, three more kids came to stand by him, telling him the same thing. Their parents said they couldn’t play football. This time, however, he got to ask one of the kids what the reasoning was behind it. None of them would answer him, and even threatening them with suspension, he couldn’t get an answer. It wasn’t until a woman sat down beside him that the kids, all of them, scattered to the seven winds and disappeared.
“I’m Parker.” He asked her why he should care what her name was. “Because if you don’t resign from your position as principal of the high school here, I’m going to make your life a scoop of rocky road with nuts. I’m going to be using your nuts, by the way, when I put the cherry on top of your head.”
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