Tia regarded Alec in pity. “You misunderstand. Trey lost the pieces days before the fire.”
Alec grimaced. “I personally saw the silver on him an hour before the blaze. I told you we had dinner that night.”
“Nonsense!” John raved.
“Tia,” Alec said in a steelier tone, “I trusted you at seven hundred feet. You have to know I only want what’s best for you.”
She met his eyes then with an agonizing groan. “
I’m sorry, honey, but he likely thought you wore the clip in some kind of power play. That’s why I tried to shoo you out of the ballroom.”
At this point, John Winter impatiently snapped his fingers. “Blot. Plan B.”
Blot disappeared. Only to reappear moments later, to Alec’s amazement, with a burden twice his size. A plump, squirming female with gray hair sprinkled in lavender, dressed in a robe that appeared to be made of vines. With a wicked grin the leprechaun curled his thick velvet-sleeved arm to his captive’s neck, tight enough to make her sputter.
“Enough,” John ordered. “The point is made.”
“What point?” Wrenching free of her unsuspecting captor, she whirled to face him. “Blot? Have you gone mad?”
“Oh, Mamma,” Tia lamented.
“Tia?” Maeve whirled to the spill of lantern light.
“Maeve.” John balked, stepping closer. “You’re old and wrinkled!”
Maeve sniffed haughtily. “The bloom is off you as well, John Winter. What is the meaning of this, anyway? Tia, are you all right?”
“Save yourself, Mamma. Fly home.”
“Without explanation? Not on your life.”
“Ah, but it’s all on your life, Maeve,” John crowed, his face distorted. “That’s the crux of Plan B.” He snapped his fingers again, provoking Blot to produce an iron chain, which he wrapped loosely around Maeve’s fleshy waist.
Maeve gasped in outrage. “You dare threaten me with iron?”
“How it will singe faery skin.” John winced wickedly. “Ouch.”
Maeve attempted a wiggle. “Blot, you are in the deepest peril.”
“I do regret this unpleasantry,” John continued icily, “but our little girl is behaving badly. When I urgently need her help.”
“Tia,” Maeve lamented, “how on earth could you stir up this much commotion already!”
“I am a loser here, too. Misunderstood by everyone. Even the horrible John Winter mistook my sincere outreach for a cat-and-mouse scheme.”
“Well, excuse me, young lady, for thinking you’re every bit as conniving as your old friend Blot!” John thundered.
“What is your connection to Blot?” Maeve demanded. “Answer me, John. I won’t allow Tia to do your bidding until you do—threat of iron notwithstanding.”
“Blot and I have a long history. He paid me a visit shortly after our merger. Your own fault for keeping my address in plain sight.”
“Rolled up in a hollow twig in the back of my cupboard,” Maeve drolled. “But then, Blot is as snoopy as a spinster.”
“Blot was most determined to sink his claws into me. I was already fairly successful, you see, infatuated with Helen and her family’s social connections. He tricked me into admitting that I remembered our union, then blinked me back for a look at your brat with glaringly human features. The last thing I wanted was for him to deliberately pique your interest in this realm. So I began to pay him money to keep his fat mouth shut. Soon I paid him to get proactive, to play the attentive friend/suitor in order to distract you, squash any future ambitions in my direction. Eventually, he began to do all sorts of jobs for me here, putting my interests far ahead of his gold route. His cunning and magic make him a most valuable nemesis in mortal business affairs.”
“He earned his money,” Maeve grumbled. “Always pretending to be jealous of you, John, forever encouraging Tia and myself to settle.”
“Oh, he was deathly jealous of me from the start. That’s what made his betrayal to you possible in the first place.”
“So it was more than a little envy, was it, Blot?”
“Yes,” he breathed over her shoulder. “If only you’d ever gazed upon me with any true desire. We would have roasted John on a spit. As it was, Winter’s offer was more fulfilling than yours.”
Maeve gave a harsh laugh. “No wonder Tia is a loser in love, with my poor example.”
“Tia is not a loser at anything!” Alec thundered.
“Who is this young man?” Maeve asked with new sweetness.
“Shut up, all of you!” John roared. “Tia, go scoop up that cuff link. If you don’t, I’ll have Blot brand your mother like the old cow she is.”
Alec’s heart wrenched as Tia poised in uncertainty. “C’mon, John, this was always a job for Lucky Charms.”
“The little tub has developed cataracts,” John spat.
Alec couldn’t help but blurt out laughter. “This whole thing seems like a clumsy circus with you as dastardly leader. I mean, what were you doing even lighting your own fire?”
Alec hoped to keep him talking and the pompous mogul couldn’t resist defending his circumstance. “My hired hand was picked up on an outstanding warrant—got the call during our alibi dinner. The supplies were already here, so I decided to use them. It was imperative to get it done, you see, with those low-rent moochers set to take over my prime real estate. Helen had no right to promise them the place on her own, even if her parents owned it originally. Things got worse when I got here to find those kids and homeless people milling round. Handy fall guys, but they did make me nervous. I lost my footing upstairs in the dark and tore my shirt. Off popped my clip and cuff link. I could only hope they’d escape human detection—which they did. You can only imagine my shock to night, first to spot Tia flaunting the clip like a seasoned conniver, then to discover she was only trying to dazzle me with a stupid faery hairdo!”
Alec stepped up on John, only to halt as he whisked a revolver into view. “Another step, Alec, and I tell Blot to freeze you solid. Damn uncomfortable for a good hour. If it’s any consolation, I never wanted you hurt by any of this. But even my real son never gets in the way like you have here. Now, Tia, do as I ask or Mamma gets a lifetime allowance of iron in one dose.”
With a deep sigh, Tia zipped up through the hole in the floor. She returned moments later holding a small black chunk between two fingers. Steadying the gun, John extended his free hand.
Tia recoiled. “Release Mamma first.”
John nodded at Blot, who tightened the chain against Maeve’s robe while hissing in her ear, “Tell her to turn it over.”
With a cry of rage keen enough to hurt Alec’s eardrums, Maeve whirled on Blot. Belly to belly, she kneed him in the groin with a mighty jerk. Howling, he dropped the chain. “Turn this over, you sack of shit!” she bellowed, twisting his nose between two crooked fingers. Writhing in pain, Blot sank to his knees. “You see, John,” Maeve said conversationally, maintaining the pressure, “the snoot is a leprechaun’s only true weakness.”
John reared. “Now you tell me.”
“Hear me well, Blot,” she vented. “I’m going to tell your mother.”
The leprechaun trembled. “Please, no.”
“She’s truly insufferable, waltzing around, bragging about her son the pot of gold regulator. Which leads me to believe that even the Rainbow Council still considers you above reproach, regulating to the best of your ability. A hint of scandal and they’ll yank your prized route away. Then, they’ll start reviewing your numbers, checking coin inventory in those pots—bound to come up short. Oh, yes, I can see the inevitable comeuppance to you and yours is worrisome. Years of degrading labor in the teeth-grinding mines!” She released his nose with a crank sharp enough to make Alec’s eyes water.
“You’ve got me,” Blot whined. “What’s your terms?”
“Find a new home, Blot. Away from both the Isles of Man and Manhattan. And don’t think we won’t be watching.”
Blot popped off in
a flash of green.
The gun-wielding John, meanwhile, used the distraction to grab Tia, causing her to scream and slap his face.
“You little bitch,” he seethed, raising the butt of the gun over her head.
Maeve swooped to Alec. “Stop him, sir!”
Alec was already on it. Lunging forward, he grabbed for the gun. Forced to let go of either the weapon or the faery, John shoved Tia to the sooty floor.
“Just leave, boy,” John growled, struggling against him. “Not . . . too . . . late.”
Suddenly the gun went off between their hands. Alec recovered quickly, using the kick of the shot to slide a right hook into John’s jaw. The older man dizzily tumbled to the floor.
Alec regarded the women, now hugging one another. “Okay?”
“The shot went up,” Maeve reported, hugging her daughter fiercely.
Sirens now wailed in the distance. “Probably for us,” Alec predicted. “I did call for backup.”
“As if you needed any,” Maeve cooed.
“Mamma, I think it best we fly away home,” Tia whispered self-consciously.
“What? With this fine young man all over you like a harbor mist?”
“I have messed things up even with this human. Pushed him off when he deserved my faith. Fell for John Winter’s tricks.”
“Tia,” Alec interceded, grasping her close. “I am in no position to judge good judgment! Especially in relation to John. C’mon, we clicked in the first place because we both needed a fresh start. It’s still true, simply minus a couple of father wannabes who don’t deserve us anyway. We have each other, and your mother. Nice start on family if you ask me.”
“Oh, Alec,” Tia choked, “how can you desire this sooty mess?”
His eyes crinkled. “I happen to know you clean up nicely.”
“What’s our next move here, Alec?” Maeve demanded as the sirens neared.
“Tia’s got to ditch that cuff link.”
“Where?” Tia asked.
Alec glanced down at the unconscious mogul. “Put it in John’s suit jacket pocket. He did want it, after all.” The sirens whooped to a stop now. “I already reported that I was following John here on a tip. I’ll say I found him rummaging around. He confessed to setting the fire, tried to involve me in a search for evidence. He pulled a gun; we fought.”
“What about us?”
Alec grinned. “You have wings, Mamma. Use ’em.”
“Surely John will protest your version.”
“Admit to being trumped by his faery daughter and lover? Not a chance. He’ll sic his lawyers on the case and hope to hell you ladies don’t talk.”
No sooner were Tia and Maeve soaring off than Chief Mitchell appeared in the doorway with a posse. “Sorry it took me so long, Alec.” He hoisted a groggy John to his feet. “If it isn’t Mr. Winter. Sorry I missed the showdown, but it’s always down to that damn commute.”
Epilogue
Four months later
“Back here, Alec! My mamma is being unreasonable again.”
“I am his mamma, too,” Maeve sang out cheerily. “With a marriage certificate on aged cedar parchment as proof.”
Alec entered his roomy new kitchen to find Tia and Maeve seated at his new maple table. “What’s the issue today?”
“Mamma insists on exposing her wings where any neighbor might walk by and see them.”
Alec hedged round those wings, on display in a drape back top, to drop a kiss on Maeve’s head. “As long as the blinds are drawn, what does it matter?”
“A man should be leery of his mother-in-law,” Tia protested. “Complain of her in whispers at night after mergence. It is tradition in realms world over. But you two . . . thick as thieves.”
Alec returned the older woman’s serene smile. “We give her familial security and this is how she thanks us.”
“You do all you can, Alec, even returning with us to the Enchanted Realm for our wedding ceremony. You do still retain those memories?” Maeve queried.
“Every spin of reel, every mind-bending cocktail. Every vow.”
“For the first time ever,” Tia asserted above their exchange, “I feel I belong someplace. Our behaving human makes that possible.”
“I am not human!” Maeve chortled.
“Still, you promised to blend in for the sake of neighborhood harmony.”
“The principality of Queens is sure to surprise us one day. I suspect there are shape-shifters housed right down the street. A former toad at the grocer if I ever saw one. Not to mention a wandering tomcat with some very intelligent eyes.”
“Even so, let’s hold off and let them reveal first.”
“On the subject of marriage and neighbors,” Alec intervened excitedly, “I’ve been considering a mortal wedding ceremony in the backyard—to make it legal here as well. I have a weekend off at the end of the month. There’s not much time, but we can keep it simple.”
“The missus next door is on pins for this news,” Maeve half-complained. “She budges in on every small thing.”
“Elizabeth and Kevin Mitchell have been nothing but wonderful since Alec lost his Winter-owned apartment,” Tia countered. “Steering us to this house, instigating a block party to introduce us.”
“Chief Mitchell is grateful that I rolled over on John. Just the same, I only followed my conscience.” Alec sighed. “Turns out I knew him no better than you did, Mamma.”
Maeve sniffed. “I choose to pretend I never knew him. Though I imagine in the event that he is locked up, he will while away the hours remembering the splendor of me.”
No doubt! If not for that single night of splendid mergence, John Winter III would probably have gone on unfettered with his lies, schemes, and betrayals.
Levering to her feet, Maeve announced that she’d pop next door with the good news.
“Uh, Mamma?”
“Yes, darling son?”
He pointed to her wings. “For now, leave any true confessions to the cat.”
“Oh, yes.” Flexing her shoulders, she drew her gossamer blades flat against her back and threw a sweater over her shoulders. “Ta-ta, children. A human salutation I picked up at the block party.”
“What’s ‘ta-ta’ mean?” Tia asked as the screen door bounced after Maeve.
“It means . . .”—Alec playfully drew her into the living room, where he tugged her atop him on the sofa—“one suffocating snoop is off to visit another.” With a rich laugh he cradled her close for a long smooch.
Tia came up for air with a grin. “You are so good with her, Alec. I cannot remember the last time she giggled.”
“The pressure is off her now. Blot’s no longer feeding her anxiety and she’s let go of her deepest secret.”
“I imagine she has a few secrets left,” Tia wagered.
“We all have some, I suppose. Or maybe they’re simply discomforts we avoid talking about.”
“There’s something I’d still like to know about you, Alec.”
His forehead bunched. “Like what?”
“Does our happy ending compare with the one of your dreams?”
“It’s different,” he admitted. “For starters, I never expected to settle down with a girl who skinny-dipped off the Isle of Man.”
“Seriously, you expected to always be part of the Winters’ wealth and excitement.”
“It’s proven easy to give up what never existed. John was only out for himself all along. What you and I have is a real, equal partnership. Ironically, I feel amazingly grounded. Married to a girl who can fly, yet grounded,” he emphasized.
“I get it, Alec. Very amusing. In return I have a secret for you.”
“Uh-oh.”
“It’s a sweet one.” Straddling his thighs, she cupped his face. “I am with child.”
Alec’s jaw dropped. “Are you sure?”
“Mamma guarantees it.”
Alec sank back in the cushions. “Mamma knows first?”
“Only because you missed the s
pots on the bottom of my feet.”
“That’s no symptom of human pregnancy. Looks like heat rash.”
“What of my filmy fingernails?”
“No good, either. Thought it was pearly nail polish. Now if you had a tummy ache or a craving for pickles or some light-headedness—”
“I do have those things as well!”
“Now those signs I would have recognized.”
Tia nestled in the hollow of his shoulder. “You know what this means?”
“It means I’m going to finally be the dad I’ve always wanted.”
“What else?”
“I’m gonna make damn sure that wedding comes off in the backyard!”
“Oh, Alec, it means that despite its predominant human genes, the baby will still be a little bit faery.”
Alec stroked her cheek. “And that makes you happy, Tia?”
“Oh, yes.”
“Then I’m happy, too.”
Faeries Gone Wild Page 31
