by Ashlyn Chase
To her shock, Nick pulled a small box out of his suit jacket and dropped onto one knee.
“Brandee Hanson. You’re the love of my life. I want and need you by my side always. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?” He opened the box, revealing the most beautiful diamond ring she’d ever seen.
At first she couldn’t speak. All the air had rushed from her lungs. Then, as if on cue, the music stopped and she exclaimed, “What are you, nuts?”
People all around them stopped what they were doing to watch the scene. Nick’s smile disappeared. A blush crept up his neck.
“Of course, I’ll marry you!” she cried and threw her arms around his neck.
Everyone applauded, but Nick seemed slow to hold her.
Nick, this is so sudden. Are you sure you want to do this—now?
“Absolutely. I couldn’t be more positive, but you don’t seem sure.”
I’m sure I love you. I just hadn’t thought about marriage yet. Perhaps we should have a long engagement.
“If it will make you feel better.”
She leaned back and held out her hand, allowing him to slip the ring on her finger. It sparkled like sunshine on snow and took her breath away.
Nick rose, angled his chair to face her, and took his seat. She glanced around to be sure people had gone back to minding their own business and they wouldn’t be overheard.
“Oh, Nick. It’s beautiful, and I do want to marry you, but we only started dating in September. It isn’t even Halloween yet.” She lowered her voice. “By the way, is there anything funky about Halloween for you guys?”
He chuckled but seemed hesitant. “Not for wolves. But there is one more thing I have to tell you. It’s not about the paranormal. Just about me. I’ll tell you later.”
Can’t you tell me now?
“I’d rather wait for the right time.”
She sighed. Please? I hate these surprises. Knowing there’s another one will drive me crazy.
He took both her hands in his and smiled. “This news isn’t going to upset you. At least I doubt it will, but I had to be sure you’d marry me for me before I told you this one last secret.”
“Okay. So now that I proved myself, out with it.”
He sighed. “All right. Brandee, I’m rich as shit. I only work because I’d be bored stiff if I didn’t. I liked police work and I enjoy being a private investigator even more. I don’t want to quit, even though I could.”
Her jaw dropped. “But you were a cop. How—I’m sorry, but I know cops don’t make much money. How did you get rich?”
He stroked her cheek. “I’ve always been good about managing my finances. I made a couple of smart investments, my brother and I sold our company, and voila. I’m a millionaire. You don’t have to waitress anymore if you don’t want to.”
“You’d be okay with my concentrating on my photography career full time?”
“Absolutely.”
She laughed. “Un-freakin’-believable. It’s about time you hit me with some good news for a change.”
***
On the way home, Brandee’s car began to sputter. Oh, no. “Don’t give out on me now, Clara,” she mumbled.
“Clara?”
“Yeah. I know it’s silly, but I name my cars. I should have named this one Christine.”
Nick snickered. “Pull over under that streetlamp. I’ll take a look at it.”
“No, we’re almost home. I think she can make it another few blocks.”
Brandee continued on, but the long, steep hill and her car had other ideas. The sputter turned into a choking noise and it died.
“Crap. Right in the middle of the street.”
“Don’t worry, sweetheart.” Nick opened his door and hopped out. “Stay there and steer.”
He leaned into the open door and pushed with all his might. The car edged forward.
“Jeez, Nick. Don’t have a heart attack pushing this junk heap uphill. It’s not worth it.”
“Don’t worry about my heart. I’ll be fine.”
“Just help me get her off to the side. I think we passed a parking space back a ways. I’ll let her roll downhill and maybe you can help guide her into it.”
Nick held the car still and looked over its roof. “Yeah. I see it. Let me get behind her in case the brakes give out too.”
“Oh, hell no. I don’t want to run you over.”
“I won’t let that happen. I’ll just brace myself against the trunk and walk downhill so it doesn’t roll too fast.” “I’m plenty strong, sweetheart. I could push Clara home if you wanted me to.”
“Are you sure, honey?”
He leaned down and smiled at her. “I’m positive.” He took off his suit jacket and tie, and tossed them onto the passenger’s seat.
Reluctantly, she agreed and kept her foot on the brake until he jogged around and braced himself against the trunk.
“Okay, sweetheart. Let her go,” he called out.
She let up on the brake very slowly. Please tell me if it’s too much and I’ll step on the brake right away, all right?
“I will.”
She heard him grunt a couple times as they rolled slowly down the hill. Eventually, the car was even with the truck parked in front of the empty space.
“How are you with parallel parking?” Nick asked telepathically.
I have to parallel park all the time. You can let go and I’ll steer her in.
“I’m not letting go, but I might need to move when we get close to the car below.”
Brandee wished he’d move onto the sidewalk just in case. She’d rather hit a parked car than pin her lover between the bumpers.
She applied the brakes lightly and steered Clara into the spot as best she could. If her car were running, she’d go forward a couple feet and straighten out.
She rolled down the window and called out, “I think that’s good enough. At least she’s out of the way.”
When Nick didn’t answer, she panicked. “Nick? Are you all right back there?”
“Roll up the window and don’t get out.”
Why? What’s wrong?
Brandee set the emergency brake and turned around. Nick stood on the sidewalk with another guy, and it took a moment before she noticed the gun pointed at Nick’s midsection. Oh, my mugging.
“Stay where you are, sweetheart. I’ve got this.”
Shit.
The guy moved up to her window and yelled, “Get out of the cah.”
She unlocked the door.
“No,” Nick shouted. “Stay there and distract him.”
Distract him? How was she supposed to do that? Stick out one shapely leg at a time and hope he liked what he saw?
Can you transform or shift or whatever you call it? That ought to distract the hell out of him.
“Not in front of a human unless I have a vampire handy to erase his memory. Otherwise, I’d have to kill him. Think of something else.”
“Hey, dipshit. We just got engaged and you’re ruining our beautiful memories of this night,” she said. It wasn’t poetry, but it got the job done.
The guy inched closer and said, “Lemme see the ring.”
Oops, that I didn’t count on.
“Let him see it. It’s the distraction I need.”
As much as she hated to think the robber might try to grab it off her finger, she trusted Nick’s reflexes. She gripped the steering wheel, allowing the man to see the ring on her left hand but making it difficult to take it off her finger.
He took his eyes off Nick to look at the diamond, and before he could say, “Hand over the rock,” Nick had grabbed his wrist and twisted it hard.
A horrible grinding and a pop were followed by a male scream. The mugger sank to his knees. Fortunately the gun fell to the ground, and before they could
grapple for it, Brandee jumped out of the car and snatched it up. She held the weapon with two shaking hands and pointed it at the mugger.
The guy was breathing hard but managed to laugh and say, “It ain’t loaded, so you can drop it, bitch.”
“I don’t know…” Brandee said. “Maybe I should put it down so I can call the police.”
“Keep the gun pointed at him.” Nick growled. “I’m going to let go, and he’ll probably run.”
So you want to let him get away?
“For now.”
Oookay. Brandee waited until Nick let go, and as predicted, the guy took off. What she didn’t expect was that Nick would run after him.
“Crap,” she muttered, as she watched the chase. He just wanted to get the guy away from me. They disappeared down a side street. She hoped the mugger didn’t have another gun or a knife stashed somewhere. Nick? Come back. He’s not worth it.
Either he was too far away to communicate or too busy with his pursuit—regardless, he didn’t answer her. Brandee got back into her car, locked the door, rolled up the window, and prayed for the best.
***
After he paid the cab driver and walked Brandee to his front door, Nick said, “This was quite a night.”
Brandee let out a breath in a whoosh. “You can say that again.” She waited until they were inside Nick’s stairwell and then whispered, “So, even though you could have sniffed him out as a wolf, you had to let him get away?”
“I couldn’t take the chance of anyone seeing me, sweetheart. If someone had been looking out their window or walking around the corner, I’d have exposed our existence, and I’d be in deep shit again.”
“What do you mean by ‘again’? And shouldn’t we go inside instead of talking out here in the hall?”
“It’s fine. My neighbor uses a different staircase. Remember that conversation I was having out in the alley with a middle-aged-looking woman?”
“Oh, that time the woman you called ‘mother’ bitched you out?”
“Exactly.” He gently rubbed Brandee’s arms. “She wanted to send me to Mount Vesuvius for revealing myself to you. It’s absolutely crucial that you keep my secret—that you keep the secret for all paranormals. You’ll be in danger of a fast trip to Timbuktu if she thinks you revealed our existence to another human.”
“Timbuktu? She could do that?”
“She certainly could.”
Brandee tipped her head. “So she’s paranormal too. Why did you call her ‘mother’ if she’s not your mother?”
He smiled. “Are you sure you want another secret to keep?”
She rolled her eyes. “Why not? Lay it on me.”
“That was Mother Nature.”
Brandee gasped and her mouth hung open as if her jaw hinge suddenly let go. When she snapped her mouth shut, her teeth clicked. At last she gathered herself and whispered, “I met Mother Nature?”
“You did, and you don’t want to see her again—at least not in person.”
A voice from the top of the stairwell said, “Too late, asshole.”
Both of them gazed up the stairs to where a woman in a long white robe stood. Brandee recognized her as the same woman who had been at the bar before, but wearing an eighties vintage outfit. The “mother” who’d confronted him in the alley.
Nick slapped a hand over his eyes. “Oh no. What did I do wrong now?”
Mother Nature descended the stairs until she stood only two steps above them. “This time I’m not here because you did something wrong. I’m here because you did something right.”
Nick dropped his hand. “You’re kiddin’.”
“No, I’m not. And I’ve been thinking about what you had asked me the last time we met.”
“Wait.” Nick paused as if recalling the conversation. “You mean when I asked if there was a way you could make Brandee as long-lived as I am?”
Brandee gazed from Nick to the woman and back again. Is this conversation really happening? In Nick’s stairwell?
“Let’s go inside where we can sit down and discuss this further,” Mother Nature suggested. Without waiting for them to agree or disagree, she ascended the stairs so gracefully, she appeared to float.
Nick grasped Brandee’s hand and followed the white-robed woman upstairs. He dug the door keys out of his pocket, but before he could use them, the door opened of its own accord.
Freaky.
Mother Nature led the parade inside and sat on one of the armchairs. Nick closed the door behind them and sat on the couch next to Brandee. He took her hand and tucked it around his arm at the elbow, then he covered her hand with his.
“Hang on to me, sweetheart. If either of us is sent anywhere, maybe we’ll go together.”
Focusing on Mother Nature, he said, “I don’t know whether I should introduce you two formally or not. I don’t want to slip up again.”
Mother Nature smiled. “Smart. It’s all right since I’m right here, but let me do it.” She gazed at Brandee. “I’m Gaia. You may call me Mother Nature or Goddess. I think Gaia is a little informal, but that’s my name.”
“It’s an honor to meet you, Goddess,” Brandee said.
Mother Nature raised her eyes toward the ceiling. “At last. Someone who shows me a little respect.”
Nick gave Brandee’s hand a squeeze and smiled at her.
“Now, as I was saying,” Gaia continued. “Ever since the Industrial Revolution, I’ve been thinking about adding a couple of new muses. With all the inventions and advanced technology, the usual nine really can’t handle it all.”
Brandee had to clarify for herself what the woman was talking about. “Do you mean the nine muses, as in the muse of poetry, the muse of dance…like that?”
“Yes, Brandee. Exactly like that. My muses are lesser goddesses who have traditionally been immortal. Each takes care of a different area of the arts and sciences. In a nutshell, there’s Clio whose area is history; Urania takes care of astronomy; Melpomene, tragedy; Thalia, comedy; Terpsichore, dance; Calliope, epic poetry; Erato, love poetry; Polyhymnia, songs to the gods; and Euterpe, lyric poetry.”
“Wow. There’s a lot in the poetry field.”
“No kidding, and poetry has really fallen out of fashion, so they’re kind of useless.” Mother Nature rose and paced with her hands clasped behind her back. “I tried reassigning them to things like steam-powered engines and other inventions as they came along, but now with high-tech advances, they’re having a hard time handling it all. I often catch them grumbling about the good old days.”
And this affects me, how?
She whirled on Brandee, who immediately shut off her thought. Nick, can she hear what goes on in our heads?
“I don’t know, sweetheart. Maybe we’d better think about kittens and puppies just in case.”
Mother Nature smiled, but that didn’t comfort Brandee.
“So, you see, dear, I could use your help. I understand you have a background in photography.”
“Oh.” Brandee sat up straight. “Yes, Goddess, I do.”
“Great. I want you to be my muse of still and motion photography.”
“Digital or traditional?”
Mother Nature raised one eyebrow. “All of it. I’m going to give you some limited powers, and you’d better be prepared to use them.”
“Gaia, wait,” Nick interjected. “I need to ask a question.”
She let out a deep sigh. “Yes, Nick. I’ll extend her life span.”
“Awesome!”
“Wait.” Brandee rose. “I’m not sure I want to be immortal. I-I don’t want to outlive Nick any more than he wants to outlive me.”
Mother Nature crossed her arms, and Nick rose quickly. He clasped Brandee in a protective embrace.
“She has abandonment issues,” he said defensively.
“
Hmmm…” Gaia began pacing again. When she stopped, she faced them squarely. “I’ll grant you limited immortality.”
What the heck does that entail?
“I’ll let you live as long as your husband, and when he passes into pure energy, you will too.” She waved a dismissive hand. “By that time, there’s sure to be some kind of newer technology, and I’ll need another young one to pick up the slack, so it’ll all work out.”
Nick tipped up Brandee’s chin so she could see his eyes. They danced with excitement. “How about it, sweetheart? I don’t think we could ask for anything more.”
She had to mull this over. “It sounds like a big responsibility. To tell you the truth, all I wanted was a little gallery where I could showcase my own work and that of other up-and-coming photographers.”
Mother Nature shrugged. “You can have that. You’ll need a base of operations anyway.”
Brandee’s heart leaped. Her own gallery. Nick. A long and fruitful life. What more could she possibly want?
“Is there some kind of on-the-job training that comes with this muse gig?”
“Of course. Hold on a minute.” Mother Nature turned her back and called out, “Erato, Come!”
A beautiful younger woman appeared out of nowhere. She was wearing jeans and a clingy red sweater over an impressive rack.
“You called, Gaia?”
“Yes, I did. I want you to take this young lady under your wing. Teach her how to be a muse. She’ll be taking care of everything in the area of technical photography, all still and moving images.”
“Everything on film?”
“And digital images, too,” Gaia added.
Erato slapped a hand over her heart. “Thank you, Goddess. Finally. We can use the extra help keeping those idiot war correspondents alive.”
“I knew you’d be pleased.”
Brandee held up her index finger. “Just one thing…”
Mother Nature’s eyes narrowed.
“Nick and I just got engaged.” She bravely forged on and hoped for the best. “I don’t want to leave him and go traipsing all over the world.”
