Loyalty

by Carrie Butler

  “Believe it,” I said, pushing the ring onto her finger with a giddy second wind. “WANDA, SHE SAID YES!”

  A muffled woohoo came through the door.

  “You told my mom?” Rachel asked, incredulous.

  “She helped me pick it out.”

  “Well, you’re just full of surprises, aren’t you?”

  “Oh, you haven’t seen anything yet.” I stood up and swept her into my arms.

  ~

  After a long talk and some engagement action that almost compromised Rach’s heavenly hymen, we emerged to celebrate our good news with the others.

  We’d heard their staggered returns through the door, but we were, uh…a little preoccupied. Thankfully, Wanda had set up a buffet of leftovers from Wallace and Rena’s impromptu wedding, so they have been mildly entertained.

  Rach tugged on my arm as we mingled. “My middle name isn’t Petunia, by the way. It’s Patricia.”

  “I know. I liked Petunia better, so I changed your birth records.”

  She stopped mid-step. “What?”

  “Kidding!” I threw my free hand up in defense. “Geez.”

  “I hear congratulations are in order,” Wallace said, clamping a hand on my shoulder before he went for a handshake.

  “You hear correctly.” The handshake turned into a bro hug, and Sis joined in on the action.

  “When’s the wedding?” she asked. “Should we get out the car mats again?”

  Rachel laughed. “We’ll probably try to find a different venue. We wouldn’t want to steal your thunder.”

  “Why not?” the chick glued to Drew’s hip popped up out of nowhere, inserting herself in the conversation. “They cut in line and stole my thunder.”

  “Be gone, peasant!” I pointed toward the door and the line of pipes that followed. Sis had probably wanted to do it for ages, anyway.

  “Brittani…” Drew tried to quietly urge her aside, but her reddened face had reached nuclear levels.

  “No, I’m sick of it!” she shrieked, her cockeyed false eyelashes making her blink every two seconds. “First, they invite us to some half-assed wedding in the middle of nowhere, then they get us involved in a freak show conspiracy that gets us kidnapped, and now to top it off, they’re forcing us to mingle at an engagement party for two people we don’t even know! That’s the definition of rude, Drew. After this, we are not having anything to do with your sister.”

  Rena puffed up, but her brother beat her to the chase.

  “Oh, oh! You know what I’m sick of, Brittani?” He gestured so wildly, he almost smacked Gabby behind him. “I’m sick of you treating my family like they’re beneath you. In case you missed the newsflash I picked up earlier, it turns out we’re pretty damn special. Hell, I’m not even human. How does that sit with you?”

  Her penciled brows dropped dangerously low. “Lower your voice. You’re making a scene.”

  “How about this for a scene? The wedding’s off! I’m done. I can’t deal with this anymore.”

  Brittani’s jaw dropped, and Frank Bacon squealed with delight. “You can’t do this to me.”

  “I just did.”

  And the Grinch’s balls grew three sizes, that day!

  “Would you care to rethink that?” She put her hands on her hips. “I’ve learned a lot of potentially damaging information today. I’d hate to see it ruin you.”

  Before any of us could bust out the tar and feathers, Grandma tapped her on the shoulder. “Excuse me.”

  “What?” Brittani snapped, turning to address her elder.

  Grandma cupped the side of her face, her eyes sparking a bright blue. “You’re not going to tell anyone about anything you saw or heard this weekend.”

  “I…”

  “You went to Rena and Wallace’s wedding and got caught cheating on Drew with a boat hand at the marina. The wedding was called off, you broke up, and you’re too ashamed to contact him again.”

  “I’m…ashamed.”

  “Good girl,” Grandma cooed. “Now give the nice boy his ring back.”

  Brittani acted as if in a trance, gliding the rock off her finger and handing it to Drew without looking. “Sorry.”

  “There we go. Now leave this place and forget you were ever here.”

  Without another word, Brittani stumbled out.

  Holy shit. Grandma’s scary.

  Judy giggled. “Well, that was something!”

  Rena raised her glass. “Something a long time coming. Bravo!”

  “Bravo!” everyone echoed, slaphappy with exhaustion. The party went on.

  “Uh, Rena?” Aiden Ross cleared his throat and looked down at his sneakers, his brows furrowed together.

  Her joyous expression melted as she turned to face him. “Yes?”

  “A-About what happened, about…everything…”

  “I forgive you,” she told him in a quiet voice, drawing him in for what appeared to be a long-awaited hug. “It wasn’t you before, but I forgive you.”

  Sobbing ensued from the pregnancy ward—a.k.a. Gabby. She wiped her nose with a napkin and launched herself into the middle of their reunion. “You guys make me so damn happy!”

  Disgusting. I loved it.

  Wallace raised his eyebrows at me, empathically catching on to my moment of mushy weakness.

  I flipped him the bird, and Rachel jabbed me in the ribs. Yep, we were all gonna be just fine…

  “Oh! That reminds me. Rach, question.”

  She tucked herself in against my side. “Hm?”

  “How do you feel about adoption?”

  Wallace facepalmed.

  “Why?” Rachel pulled back to look at me, suspicion lining her delicate features. “What did you do?”

  “Why do you assume I did something?”

  “Because you’re Cole.”

  I chuckled and rubbed the back of my head. “Remember that little girl I met in the parking lot, when I retired from being a superhero?”

  ~

  The night ended with little fanfare.

  Our guests returned to their own homes—their own lives—and we packed up the tunnels. Henry and Jaya took Grandpa Edwin back to their house in Cleveland, Corynn went to stay with her family in their hotel, and Wallace and Sis headed to their place back in Wilcox. Viva la honeymoon.

  I wasn’t ready to face the empty apartment with reminders of Tits everywhere, so Wanda went ahead of us to get things…ready. Did I mention I loved my future mother-in-law?

  Grandma stayed behind with us in the tunnels, because her house had burned down, and Aiden Ross stuck around because he was technically dead. Gabby went home with her parents, despite her protests, so they could simultaneously shame and spoil her. And last, but not least, Vlad and Zvoni caught a late flight to Florida.

  Over the next few days, Rachel and Marlene got to know each other, while I ran a few errands—namely, blackmailing elected officials.

  With the help of the documents I’d filled my Jeep with, prior to ERA going up in smoke, their denial of involvement quickly turned into begrudging appeasement. “Are you kidding me?” A senator had balked at my request. “There aren’t enough milk cartons in the world to illustrate the number of people I’ve helped get ‘lost’ in the system. Give me a few days, and our mutual link will be severed.”

  Yeah, it happened. Welcome to politics.

  So, Faye and Gail were declared dead without having to wait seven years for absentia, and Grandma became a millionaire almost overnight—thanks to ol’ One-eye’s idiotic trust move of making her sister beneficiary.

  Some of that money went to grease a few more palms, which allowed Rach and me to bypass all the bureaucratic tape that adopting Marlene should’ve involved. Her piece of shit father even absolved himself of his role as guardian, signing her over like the title of an old car. Sure, we still took her to visit, since she loved the bastard, but he would never have any real influence over her again. I’d make sure of that.

  Hell, Rachel would, too. She’d floor
ed me with her acceptance of the situation, given her last brush with motherhood. I’d worried that it was too much, too soon—that I was essentially showing up at our doorstep with a stray, asking if we could keep her—but I should have known better than to underestimate her compassion. No one has a heart like my fiancée. Or a body, for that matter…

  But I digress.

  Hector got in touch with Grandma again—I assume she must have accidentally given him her number on the boat—and he invited her back to the island for a date. She said yes, and I’m hoping it’s just a trap to kill him for being so forward. Rach thinks it’s cute.

  Zvoni helped me distribute all of the information regarding the virus’ vaccinations and treatments via the Internet. Open source. We also made sure Faye’s registry got destroyed, before any other nefarious characters could take it upon themselves to use it.

  The clever little minx even thought to tamper with the security cameras of businesses surrounding R.S. Tobler Laboratories to keep us out of the arson investigation. I sent in an anonymous tip that protesters torched the place, because they were testing on animals, but who knows if it’ll stick. Either way, we should be clean.

  I went back to work the following Monday. Told the boss I finally got rid of The Clap, but I was putting in my one-day notice. Like I was going to work in that hole without Tits. She accepted my resignation and bought me a cake—or maybe she bought a cake to celebrate my leaving. Whatever. The point is, I left and Rach was supportive.

  “What are you going to do now?” she asked that night, slipping under the covers beside me.

  I laced my fingers behind my head. “I don’t know. I’m thinking of doing some good for mankind, maybe find schoolyard bullies and beat ‘em with a wrench or something.”

  She stiffened. “You can’t just assault kids, Cole.”

  “Well, yeah, I was going to wait until they were eighteen.”

  There it was, the facepalm. “That’s not the point.”

  I grinned. “Fine, fine. What if I wrote my memoir? I’d called it Speed.”

  A moment passed by in silence, and we both laughed. “Nah!”

  No one would ever believe it.

  EPILOGUE

  « RENA »

  I turned my cup, swirling ice cubes around in my lemonade. “What a difference a year makes, right?”

  Wallace bent behind me, dropping his chin to my shoulder as he wrapped his arms around my waist. “Tell me about it.”

  We’d invited everyone over for a barbecue to celebrate the last reported case of the virus and threw in a few extras for good measure. Like Sam, the grill master.

  “How you expect to learn all the way over there, Wally Boy?” he called to Wallace, threatening him with the spatula. “You ask me how to do this right, and you wander off to go visit your girl. What’s it gonna be?”

  “Coming!”

  “You believe this guy?” Sam turned to Dad and shook his head. “Kids just got no attention span anymore.”

  “Amen to that.”

  They clinked beers.

  “Yooou got in trouble,” I teased Wallace under my breath, goosing him.

  “Shut up.”

  “Frankie, get back here!” Marlene called, chasing after their ‘teacup’ pig—the one that had grown to the size of a dog over the course of a year. She was laughing and tripping, her pigtails swinging the whole way. Nauseatingly adorable.

  Of course, Frank Bacon decided to run under a table, disturbing Wolfie’s shade retreat. Then we had a real race on our hands.

  “Papa B!” Marlene called, thrusting her little index finger out. “Save Frankie! The dog is gonna eat him.”

  Cole blurred across the yard and appeared again, clipping a leash to Frank Bacon. “Hold on to it tight this time, okay?”

  “I will!” Off she ran again.

  “You’re such a good daddy,” Rachel praised my brother-in-law, pulling down on his collar to sneak a kiss. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you two.”

  “It must have been something pretty significant. I’m quite the catch.”

  “So I keep hearing.”

  “Gag,” I interjected.

  “Girl, don’t even talk to me about gagging,” Gabby cut in, bouncing past with baby Joaquin on her shoulder. “This kid straight up barfed on me twice this morning. I don’t even know where I got this shirt. It might’ve been on the floor. I dunno. I Febreezed it.”

  Aiden chuckled. “It’s fine. I did laundry last night.”

  “Bless you, stranger.”

  Since Aiden had been technically dead and homeless, and Gabby needed someone to help her with the baby, they’d ended up getting an apartment together. He babysat all day, while she went back to school for broadcasting, and then they’d swap shifts.

  Cole had "found" Aiden a new identity, but it came with a price. In exchange for a new life and a sweet cyber security gig, he had to carry on Larry’s legacy. Whatever that meant. Regardless, the arrangement seemed to be working out pretty well.

  The three of us were close enough to resume our weekly diner dates at Sam’s—with a few new regulars added to the mix—and any day now, the "too soon" restriction on our shared tragedies would expire. As Gabby had informed me on the phone last night, that meant anything was fair game. Even near-death experiences.

  Strangely enough, I welcomed the normalcy.

  “Well, if it isn’t plus and minus!” Cole called, when my brother and Corynn came through the gate. She’d gotten her student visa renewed, and he’d developed better taste in women. One thing had led to another, and they’d started dating—an Augari and a Nullari.

  “Sorry the fam couldn’t come,” she told me, passing off a plate. “You know, the whole ocean thing.”

  Drew put a hand over her mouth. “It’s an excuse. They just don’t like you.”

  She swatted him away. “Shut up.”

  “It’s fine,” I told her. “I just didn’t want to leave them out. Since the whole dying thing, I’ve been pretty sentimental.”

  Gabby patted Joaquin’s back, trying to get a burp out. “Yeah, well, try to contain yourself next time. I barely got away from my folks after the baby was born. Now you’re inviting them to social gatherings? Tch, Ree, you should know better.”

  “Sorry, sorry…” I held my hands up and backed away. “I better go check on…the dip.”

  “Uh huh. You better run!”

  I rolled my eyes and kicked a ball across the yard for Wolfie, scanning the area. My mom was sitting with Clara and Hector, who had been dating—much to the boys’ dismay—for months now. Her newfound wealth had bought her a place near us in Wilcox and a vacation home on Middle Bass with her new man. If you asked me, they were perfect together.

  Wallace looked like he needed rescuing from Sam and my father, so I popped over on my way to the table.

  “Baby, could you run inside and grab some more pop?”

  “Absolutely.” He handed Dad the spatula and bowed to both men. “Sorry, gentlemen, duty calls.”

  “Gentlemen, he says…” Sam scoffed.

  “Hey, Rena!” Lexie waved me over. She’d shown up with her uncle, since the diner was closed for Labor Day weekend, and shocked us all with a total one-eighty in attitude. I suspected happy pills.

  “What’s up?” I asked, sneaking a tater tot off one of the tables. “You guys having fun?”

  Zvoni sat across from her, showing her how to stalk some guy she’d met on the Internet a few weeks prior. “Loads.”

  “Looks like it…”

  Pastor Mark sat on the other side of them, lost in a conversation with Darien and Jon about some TV show I’d never seen, so I just waved. It sounded like George, Vlad, and Wanda were discussing the current state of Sanctuary.

  “Yeah,” George told them, “we’ve had some new faces show up in the past year. A woman named Jackie and her family. She even brought along her brother Titus.”

  Nope. Didn’t want in on that discussion, either. I smiled and slipp
ed past them.

  Henry, Jaya, and Edwin made up the end of Clara’s table, so I segued to them. “Anything you guys need over here?”

  “Guy Fieri’s here?” Edwin asked at his highest decibel. “Then why’s the food so bad?”

  “Dad…” Henry shot me an apologetic look, and I waved him off with a grin.

  “Don’t sweat it.”

  Clara perked up when she noticed me. “There she is! My beautiful granddaughter-in-law.”

  My cheeks burned. “Hey. Can I get you anything?”

  “Grandchildren,” my mother immediately interjected, and Clara cackled with glee.

  I didn’t bother going into Sanctuary’s Mark of Nexus theory on fertility, because the last time I’d tried it, they’d answered, “You never know unless you try!” Or my personal favorite, “Practice makes perfect!”

  Hector snickered.

  “I’ll see what I can do about that,” I told them, “I’m going to go check on Wallace.”

  “Oooo…”

  God help me.

  The house was quiet when I stepped inside, but it still smelled like barbecue rub and pie. “Wallace?”

  He wasn’t in the kitchen.

  I crept down the hall, anticipation lifting the hair on the back of my neck. What if Faye had come back from the dead and abducted him? Or worse, what if she had come back as a vengeful ghost? My next step hit a creaky board, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. “Wall—”

  “Grah!” He jumped out of the bedroom and pulled me inside. “The Madman has chosen his next victim!”

  I screamed.

  I knew it was him, and I still screamed.

  I’d never live this down.

  “Where’s the pop, dear?” I asked, trying to sound mad as I backed up against the door.

  He gave me a wolfish grin. “Better idea. Why don’t we pound on the wall for old time’s sake? See what rumors we can start with a few moans?”

  Who said the spark died after the honeymoon? “You want to play dorm now?”

  “Can you think of a better time?”

  I paused to consider it. Would I pass on making love to my husband, the sexiest man on Earth, just because our friends and family were all out in the backyard?