“No, I’d not do that. Things, I’ve learned, have a way of working themselves out.” Noah agreed. “But when Giyanna goes to see Jenny today, I’ll have her take her brother out. It’ll be good for him to get out of the house for a little while.” “Good idea.” Noah sat back down after that and stared at him for several seconds. “Benny and I are going on a long trip. We’ll return, but not for a while. He has yet to see anything more than this state, and I have a need to go away for a little while. You and Giyanna are still planning to go and see to my homes, aren’t you?” “Yes, we leave on Monday. It was very generous of you to let us use your plane. In all the time that I’ve known you, I had no idea that you had one.” He said that he had plenty of secrets that he didn’t know. “I’m sure you do. A man as old as you, you’d have a great many tales to tell as well. You should write a book on them.” “I may yet, you never know. What shall I say about you, young Tanner? That you were a man of men, or that you let your wife rule the roost and enjoyed life to the fullest?” He told him that he could be both. “So you shall then. I must be going. Let me know when you arrive at the houses, and I may join you for a day or two. I might enjoy that more than I can say.” After Noah left, Tanner felt better about working. When Giyanna came into his offices at around one, she told him she was going to see Jenny. He asked her to take Tyrrell with her, just to get him out of the house. “He has been cooped up for a while now. I was with him yesterday when the old house was burned to the ground. I never thought that I’d say this, but I think I might miss it a little. Not that I want to go back there, but Tyrrell and I, we had fun with each other there.” Tanner told her that he was sorry about it. “I’m not. My Aunt Bea told me that I could let the past rule me or I could rule it. It wasn’t until I had to plan for Rogan’s funeral that I understood what she meant. I broke off with Rogan years ago, in my heart anyway. But not my head. Doing that for me meant nothing, the same as he’d become to me. Nothing more than a nuisance. Now that he is dead, I feel like I can live, for the first time in my life.” “I’m glad that I can and will be a part of that living part.” He smiled when she did. “Also, Noah thinks that you should be mayor of this town when the new elections come up. He seems to think you’d be very good at it.” “Really?” He told her also about her going to the White House someday. “I’d be good at that too, don’t you think? I mean, running the country can’t be much harder than working with your grandma and mom. They’re two of the most dangerous people when they’re together. I should be able to handle just about anything.” “I agree. And so you know, Mom thinks the same thing about you and Grandma. I guess she said that you two team tag in the teasing part.” Giyanna laughed with him. “I love you, my dear. With all that I have.” “And I love you. I’m going to go and get Ty and bully him into going with me. Then we’ll have lunch. It’s time for him to get out of his funk and have fun with his sister, don’t you think?” He told her if anyone could do it, it would be her. “Damned right I can do it. I can do just about anything I set my mind to.”
He was still laughing when she left him a short time later. Tanner really did have a lot of work to get done, and it wasn’t going to if he kept sitting here like a knot on a log. He was working on investments today, and was adding his name to the same deals that Joe had told Noah to use. If he did what she told Noah every day, he might be a trillionaire when he was ready to retire.
Chapter 11
Chris sat at her desk reading over the problems that had come to her last night. There would forever be someone that was taking things just a little too far, and she was glad for the distraction for a moment. When Myra appeared in the chair across from her, Chris carefully laid the paperwork down and asked her what she’d found out. “All the bodies have been accounted for, and everyone has been identified. I’m glad now that you gave me the name of the last woman. Her family is most grateful for the closure, as you can imagine. You did a wonderful job with this.” Chris thanked her for that. “Now I need something else to do. The plan with Ty meeting his own mate will come to fruition, by the way. They’ve not met as yet, but things will be looking up for the two of them. Jenny is going to be good for the young man, just as you said.” Chris told her that she didn’t know, but was glad that it worked out. “Also, Tanner and his wife are leaving on Monday to take their honeymoon in looking at all the homes of Noah the vampire. I would have thought they’d put it off for some time yet, but I think they need to get away now as the papers are having a good time with all the speculation about the murders. I think that’s what bothers her the most about all this. Not Rogan’s death.” “I know that it does, and this is a good thing on their part. We did send flowers to the two of them, so they know that we care. I think that you’re right in the honeymoon they’re taking. I know that we’re going to meet up with them at some point, so I’m glad that they’re on their way.” Myra nodded. “Where on earth did you see that pattern you have on?” The colors were very muted, very unlike the witch. If there was a pattern to the colors, she certainly didn’t see it. The fact that it was so drab in the way the colors came together was beautiful to her, but very unlike the witch, who made it her job to have the brightest colors ever made. “I was in the Market Place yesterday and this woman was selling quilts. They were quite lovely, and very well done. I saw this pattern and it made me happy. I even bought the blanket from her. I put it in your room so that you could have it.” Chris thanked her. “You’re very welcome. I may make a habit of going there weekly. There is always something new to look at, and I have found a good place for a few of the herbs that I’m forever looking for. You should go yourself.” “I might yet. I’ve been so busy lately that I’ve had little time to do much more than guide new witches on the right path. There is so much to distract them nowadays that I forever worry that they’re going to turn to the dark side before I have a chance to get to know them.” Myra agreed. “Also, you should have seen the look on their faces when I showed up at their last meeting. You’d think that I was bringing the world down around them. It was fun to watch them, and to know that I was that way at first.” “You are a little bit hard to be around when they’re afraid of you. Not afraid—no, that’s the wrong term. In awe of you. And people really are. I knew you would be great the first time I saw you.” And she had too, guiding her along the right path. “You’ve used your young faerie again, haven’t you? Daegan, he’s been a good man to have around, and he’s a bit smitten with you. But, he has been rewarded again for his part in the death of Rogan? I have to tell you, I’m so very glad that he’s gone. That was a monster that we could all have done without.” “Yes, he said that he enjoys playing a vampire. And I did tell him that I might have need of his services again. But he was ready to slay the dragon, so to speak, in this man. I only needed to tell him a little and he knew all about him. Daegan said that he still has a deep connection to the earth, and he had known about the deaths of so many, but not who had done it.” She leaned back in her chair and watched the older witch. “What’s on your mind today? You seem a little too happy to have been out with the humans, as I know you were.” “I am very happy, all the time. But I was thinking of the Calhouns and all that they’ve been through of late. It’s always surprising to me that anyone with only the magic they had at the beginning could have done so well.” Chris had thought of nothing else but the family for some time now. “Do you suppose that a hundred years from now they’ll look back on this and think that they were guided along their paths, or that it was the fates as they believe?” Chris said nothing, because they both knew that the fates had left that particular family up to her. “I think they will believe that they are very lucky to have found each other, and nothing more. And if they do think of us, and perhaps know that we might have meddled a little, they’ll know that we had the best of intentions.” Myra nodded, but didn’t look convinced. “Don’t you think so? They’re all very happy. They have family around them all the time, and that’s good for them. And they have all that they need in
the way of magic and friendship.” “I know that I have fallen in love with them. As, I think, you have as well.” She said that she had, especially Tanner. “He is what I’ve come to talk to you about. That poor young man could use some happiness, don’t you think?” “I wasn’t aware that he was unhappy.” Myra just waved her off, as if she might know better. “What do you have in mind, to make him have a happy ending to all this? He is full of magic, some of it yet untouched. He has a lovely mate, that I believe you picked out for him. And as I said, his family is nearby and he’s living a good life. What more is there we can do for him to make his happier?” “His wife is running for mayor. Did you know that?” Chris hadn’t, but it didn’t surprise her. She was very smart and well received. “I think someone is putting those thoughts in her head.” Chris laughed. “You don’t like the idea of her being mayor, or is it that you didn’t give her the idea and that’s what bothers you?” Myra said it was the last one. “I see. So, you know who this monster is that is making her into something that we can be proud of?” “Noah. The vampire. He’s meddling where I want to meddle.” Chris figured it was him. He was as bad as her in wanting the best for the family. “He and that young man that is working for him, Benny, they’re going on a trip soon. Perhaps while he’s away I’ll work on her for even greater things.”
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