“What if you don’t pass your driver’s test!?” Logan had countered.
Bradley just stared at him. “And what makes you think you will?”
I tried my best not to laugh at the entire situation, especially with Meghan sitting next to me, pinching me every time the corner of my mouth curled up.
Finally, their mother had enough, and she sent them off to bed. Meghan and I didn’t stay up much longer, either. We were planning on leaving tomorrow around noon, to give us plenty of time to stop by Luathara before venturing into the Weald. I was nervous about telling my sister about my upcoming wedding, but the news had gone over so well with the Elams, I was holding out hope that Enorah would have a similar reaction. Only time will tell, I reminded myself.
Releasing a deep breath I didn’t realize I was holding, I began to let the slight tension drain away as Meghan resettled herself against me on the couch. I could worry about Enorah and how she might take the news tomorrow, but at the moment, I was content just sitting still and relaxing.
MEGHAN
I was beginning to nod off when Cade leaned down and whispered in my ear, “Ready for bed?”
Jerking back awake, I blinked blearily at the TV screen. When Bradley and Logan had finally followed my other brothers to bed, Dad had switched on one of those murder mystery documentaries that aired once a week. It had been pretty interesting, but it was hard to focus when I had Cade as my very own warm, comfy pillow.
“Huh?” I managed, rubbing at my eyes.
Cade smiled and repeated his question. Oh, right. Bed. We had to go back to Eile tomorrow. I sighed. So soon. I hadn’t had enough time with my family, but the wedding was a month and a half away. We needed to let the rest of our loved ones know about it, and then, we had to start making all the preparations.
Yawning, I nodded my response, and the two of us rose to wish my parents good night. I was going to sleep in my old room. It was in the process of being converted into Bradley’s room, but for now, it still contained my bed and most of my other belongings from my previous life. I almost snorted at that, but it was true. I was not the same person I had been those handful of years ago.
Regretfully, I kissed Cade goodnight before disappearing down the spiral staircase. It was no secret the two of us had been living together for a few months now, but Cade took it upon himself to do the honorable thing and sleep in the guest room. It was one night, after all, and he wanted to show his respect toward my parents. Even so, I tossed and turned half the night, missing his solid, safe presence next to me. I wondered if he was having the same problem upstairs.
I must have drifted off at some point, because I woke up the next morning having not remembered falling asleep. Changing into a fresh set of clothes, I padded upstairs to find the house empty save for my mom. She was in the kitchen, getting breakfast ready for all of us. I smiled, happy to see her behaving just as she always had before learning what I was. It brought me some comfort, knowing that although my world had turned on its head, some things never changed.
I slipped onto one of the stools tucked under the ledge of the kitchen island and propped my elbow up on the counter, watching her with a faint smile on my face.
Her hair was slightly messy from sleep, and she had a towel draped over her shoulder. As she turned to deposit some bacon onto a pad of waiting napkins, she caught me studying her. She froze and lifted one eyebrow.
“What?” she asked cautiously.
I shrugged. “Nothing. It’s just good to see you, Mom.”
She smiled, and some of that anxiety seemed to melt away from her. “It’s good to see you too, honey.”
As she turned to tend to the new batch of bacon, she threw over her shoulder, “Cade has taken your father out for a ride in that car of his.”
She rolled her eyes, and I laughed. Dad would enjoy that.
“Where are the boys?” I wondered aloud.
“The twins are still asleep, but Bradley, Logan and Aiden were all watching cartoons until your fiancé stepped out of the guest room announcing he was going to take a drive, and anyone who wished to join him was welcome to tag along. He was also sure to mention there were three seatbelts in the back.”
I snorted again. If I didn’t already love the man beyond all reason, then Cade’s efforts to charm my brothers and father would have pushed me over the edge.
“I take it you don’t approve?” I pressed carefully.
There was something more I wanted to ask my mom, something that had been nipping at the edge of my mind like a tiresome mosquito I couldn’t quite swat. But I wanted to make sure I led up to it in a gentle way.
Mom shrugged. “I don’t approve of the car.”
I released a small sigh. Perhaps she had anticipated my question after all.
“But what about Cade?” I asked, taking the plunge. “Do you approve of him?”
I had never really asked her that question before; I just assumed she liked him. Now that we were about to make our relationship permanent, I wondered if she simply tolerated him because I was so smitten.
For several moments, everything went still in the kitchen, and all I could hear was the crackle and bubble of frying bacon. I held my breath, keeping my eyes lowered. There was a loose thread on the cuff of my hooded sweatshirt, and I worried at it nervously.
Finally, Mom took in a great breath and let it out on a long sigh. I glanced up just as she turned around to look at me. To my dismay, tears glinted in her eyes. I was off of the stool in a heartbeat and rounding the island to reach her.
“Oh, Mom!” I cried.
She held up her spatula like a sword, her gaze narrowing as she forced the tears back. I stopped my forward progress and showed her my palms.
“Hold it right there, missy,” she scolded. “I’m just having a Mom moment. You are my only daughter, and I still see you as my baby girl. Of course, I approve of your Cade. In fact, I couldn’t possibly imagine anyone more deserving of you. The man asked your father for permission to marry you, and he took the time to sit down with me and listen as I helped him pick out that bracelet on your wrist. And,” she paused, sniffling back those tears she couldn’t quite get rid of, “and he spent the entire day getting to know your brothers. He played a basketball game with them, sat through those mindless videogames with them. He volunteered to be the one to count in several games of hide-and-go-seek, and he brought them all bows from that place you live, Eire? Eilu? Whatever it’s called. Then, he taught them how to make their own arrows and showed them how to shoot the darn things.”
As Mom went on and on, listing everything Cade had done to win my family over, I could only gape, feeling my own tears form in my eyes. He had done all that? Had it been during those handful of days he’d been gone from Luathara before he proposed? And why hadn’t he told me? If he was standing in this kitchen right now, I would fling myself at him, then drag him off to some corner of the swamp where no one could disturb us for a very long time. I wouldn’t be able to help myself.
“Oh, Mom,” I said again, and this time my voice cracked a little.
She only nodded at me, her eyes still shining. “That young man must love you beyond reason, Meghan.”
Setting the spatula aside, Mom moved forward, her arms spread wide. Without a second thought, I stepped into her embrace, hugging her as fiercely as she hugged me.
“Go home to your Otherworld, Meggy. Go home and marry your Cade and be happy.”
She sniffled and held me at arms’ length, smiling brightly up at me. “And,” she added with a waggle of her eyebrows, “Come back and visit us as much as you can, especially when you have a grandbaby for me to hold.”
Chapter Three
Weald
MEGHAN
Returning to Eile after such a short visit with my family was bittersweet, but I counted my blessings where I could and tried to be grateful I’d had the chance to see them at all. Cade and I stayed a little longer than we’d planned, arriving on the Otherworld side of the dolmarehn
an hour past noon. We met up with the horses closer to the bottom of the hill and reached Luathara a few hours before sunset. After a quick bite to eat, and once we’d switched out our worn clothes for new, clean sets, we were stepping out onto the back patio and heading for the cave system behind the castle.
All this rushing about had me feeling rather drained, but Cade assured me we would slow down once we reached the Weald.
“If we don’t get there before this evening, Enorah will worry,” he’d said, as we stepped into the dolmarehn that would bring us to the edge of the great forest.
“That is your fault for giving her a time of reference. If you’d just said we’d be dropping in sometime this week, she wouldn’t be sitting on the outer most edge of the village boundary waiting for you to show up.”
I said it in a teasing manner, despite the truth behind it. If anyone in this world loved Cade as much as I did, it was his sister, followed closely by the Dagda, his foster father.
I caught the sarcastic roll of Cade’s eyes in the dim light of sunset once we were on the other side of the dolmarehn.
“She isn’t that bad,” he insisted gruffly, his Otherworldly accent growing sharper.
I beamed at him. “Oh, yes she is. And that is exactly why I am so pleased she’ll be my sister-in-law soon. She loves deeply, your sister, and I plan on earning that same affection and trust she guards so fiercely.”
Cade impeded my forward progress by coming to a stop. I turned to look at him, a question in my eyes.
His look was dark, but not in a way I thought was meant for me. “You already have that from her, Meghan. You know that, right?”
I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. A large part of me wanted to start laughing manically. How was it that all of these unanswered questions were coming out now, mere weeks away from our wedding? Shouldn’t we have addressed them long ago? I shook my head. The other part of me, the more sensible and cautious side, insisted that it was perfectly natural to be wondering about these things now. After all, we weren’t married yet. We still had time. We should only worry if these questions started popping up after the wedding, not before it. I bit my lip. Despite my own self-administered reassurance, I was certain there’d be plenty of questions in our future.
Sighing, I shrugged and said, “I know, Cade. It just seems like there are so many more layers to your sister I haven’t even begun to uncover.”
He nodded, then shrugged his pack more securely onto his shoulders and started moving again.
“There are,” he conceded a few minutes later, “more layers to uncover. But it is Enorah’s place to tell you, and it will have to be in her time. Perhaps you can get her to open up a little in the next handful of days.”
After that, Cade and I made our way through the darkening forest in relative silence. I was lost in my own thoughts, and I’m sure Cade was as well. Meridian and Fergus joined us every now and again, and I smiled as my spirit guide swooped down onto my shoulder.
Night! she sent, fluffing her feathers and tucking her head under her wing.
Must be nice, I mused, having someone carrying you around all the time while you sleep.
We walked for an hour or so more, Cade stopping me every time he thought he heard someone or something rustling in the underbrush. Usually, it was only a benevolent Otherworldly animal foraging for food in the dark and not some foul thing wanting to give us trouble. By the time we reached the outskirts of the Wildren’s village, it was full dark and Cade and I had to use our glamour to light rudimentary torches.
Just as I’d anticipated, Enorah was perched in a tree growing along the edge of her territory. She dropped to the ground, as silent as a panther, and nearly scared me half to death. Cade, of course, barely flinched.
“There you two are!” she proclaimed in her usual, boisterous way.
Enorah either didn’t notice my glare of annoyance, or she didn’t care. She stepped forward and wrapped her brother up in one of her bear-hugs and then did the same with me.
“Enorah!” I wheezed, “I can’t breathe!”
She let me go then and held me at arm’s length, studying me with those sharp eyes of hers, their color impossible to discern in the flickering torchlight.
“And how are you, Meghan? Holding up well since the great battle?”
I nodded, grateful to be able to draw air into my lungs once again.
Enorah smiled and said, “Good to hear it.” She turned her gaze back onto Cade. “And how does Luathara Castle fare? I’m sorry I couldn’t make it to your Imbolg celebration.”
“Don’t worry about it. You weren’t the only one. Most of those we invited outside of Kellston had to decline for one reason or another.”
Enorah turned her eyes onto her brother, then narrowed them.
“You seem far more cheerful and light-hearted than usual. Are you ill?”
“No, not at all,” was all Cade said, his mischievous smile only widening.
I turned to regard him. He had been so quiet as we traveled through the Weald, and now, he looked simply giddy, so much so that if I were to suggest we go disturb a badger den just for the fun of it, he would jump for joy and clap his hands at the prospect.
What is with you? I sent, but he ignored me.
“Are you sure?” Enorah wondered, stepping away from me and placing her hands on her hips.
She gave her brother a quick perusal, then studied me as well, her eyes narrowing once more. “Something is different about you two.”
She placed her chin in her hand and gave us one more careful look. She studied Cade’s face, then trailed her eyes down his arm and regarded his fingers clasped tightly around the handle of the torch. They lingered there for a short while in puzzlement, and I started to wonder what she found so fascinating.
I think the truth hit Cade’s sister the same second I realized what she was gazing at. Enorah’s eyes grew impossibly wide, and her mouth became suddenly slack with shock as she turned with the speed of a viper to stare at my left wrist.
She made a choking sound as her eyes met mine. I almost laughed out loud. Never in my life had I seen Enorah so caught off guard.
Cade stepped forward and gave her a strong pat on the back. “What’s the matter, big sister? Did you accidentally swallow a litterbug?”
So that’s why he had looked so smug. He was waiting for Enorah to discover the truth on her own. I did my best to hide a smile. Only Cade would find a way to tell his sister about our engagement in pesky little brother style.
“M-married?!” she finally got out.
Cade shook his head. “Not yet. The wedding will be in early May, perhaps even on Beltaine.”
While Enorah still gaped at the news like a fish out of water, I took advantage of her weakened state and said, “I would have told you on Imbolg, if you’d come to the party. I told Cade that telling you in person was much better than sending a lett-”
I was abruptly cut off as Enorah shot forward, taking me in one arm and her brother in the other. Meridian screeched indignantly and fluttered off into the dark, seeking out a branch.
Too many arms! she complained.
“I am so happy!” Enorah finally managed. “Oh, wait until the Wildren hear!”
When she let us go, I chuckled lightly. “The Wildren don’t know us all that well, what makes you think they’ll be as excited as you?”
Enorah snorted and rolled her eyes, grabbing us both by our hands and dragging us forward. “Because this is an excuse to have a huge bonfire and party tonight, of course!”
Both Cade and I laughed as Enorah led us into the village center, proclaiming the good news at the top of her lungs. We just barely managed to drop our bags in a spare cabin before we were pulled and prodded to the center of the settlement where several younger children were already building up the central fire.
People poured from the many cabins making up the Wildren’s village, and soon, Faelorehn men, women and children of many ages were stepping forward to cong
ratulate Cade and me. Wind and string instruments were passed around, and somewhere in the crowd someone began playing drums. For the next half hour, we danced merrily to the music as the great flames of the fire leapt high into the sky, spitting flecks of orange light that disappeared into the night. Cade pulled me close to him. The two of us danced the way we had done at the Dagda’s Beltaine Eve party and at the castle in Erintara before the battle with the Morrigan.
For several glorious minutes, I felt that same rush of life again, that determination to live to my fullest because I had no idea what lay in store for me. In some ways, that was still true. I was about to embark upon a lifetime commitment with Cade, an eternal commitment, and although the very thought should frighten me, it didn’t. The reason why was beyond my understanding at the moment. Maybe it didn’t scare me because I had already known what it was like to lose the very thing I now held so dear. I had watched Cade die, and I had felt the fear of it happening again. Perhaps the reason I was so comfortable in the knowledge that I would soon be pledging my immortal life to his was because I had already done so in my heart. My glamour flared up then, as if verifying everything my mind was still trying to work out.
I looked up at Cade then to find his brilliant green eyes studying me intently. All around us the Wildren danced and laughed and played their music. We moved with them, two facets of a larger entity, yet I felt that Cade and I stood apart.
What are you thinking, Meghan? His thoughts whispered against my mind.
I smiled languorously and tilted my head back just enough to see him below my half-lidded eyes. That, despite all of these questions that are sprouting like weeds regarding my decision to marry you, not a single one of them scares me.
He angled one brow at me, his eyes darkening to brown.
Oh? he sent back.
I nodded, then proceeded to share my theory with him. He grinned, reaching down to give me a quick kiss.
Would you like to know when I decided I wanted you as my wife? he asked quietly.
I drew in a breath and felt my eyes go wide. My heart fluttered, and not because of our dancing. I bobbed my head vigorously. Yes.
Faery Tales: Six Novellas of Magic and Adventure (Faery Worlds Book 3) Page 22
