She hadn’t expected that last comment to horrify Jennaessiya but it clearly did. “You can’t possibly be planning to work with an infant.”
“Who’s ready for dessert?” Jason asked, cutting into the conversation suddenly.
Allie looked over at him and then back at the food, physical proof of all his effort today. And she was ruining it with her insistence on picking fights. She was keenly aware of everyone sitting there, done eating, and simply watching this scene play out. She forced a smile. “You know I think I would love some pumpkin pie.”
Jason visibly relaxed, “Great let me clear the table and I’ll get dessert ready.”
“I’ll help,” Bleidd said, standing up.
Allie poked him in the ribs as he stood, reaching out to his mind, “Thanks for nothing all night, you could have helped me in all that.”
He smirked at her as he leaned over to lift several mostly empty dishes. “You held your own well enough, and you never asked for my help. Besides where’s the fun in interfering?”
She gaped at him, as on her other side Jess smothered a sigh with his hand. Jennaessiya looked like she still wanted to bring the subject of Allie moving back up but luckily by the time the table was cleared Brynneth and Jess had started an involved conversation about one of their recent cases and she seemed reluctant to try to talk around them and unable to get a word in edgewise.
Allie stood, and stretched, then excused herself looking at Zarethyn rather than try to stop the conversation, “I’ll be right back. I need to use the rest room and let my fairy hound out. I think it’s more than time she have her dinner as well.”
He smiled and nodded, his attention clearly more on the forthcoming pie than on her words. Allie didn’t mind though, and she went upstairs as quickly as her bad ankle would allow.
Luath was ecstatic to be brought down, and Allie only smiled sweetly and did her best to ignore the discomfort plain on Jess’s mother’s face at the sight of the puppy. It was clear that Jess had not been exaggerating about his mother’s feelings about the fairy hound, who was by the standards of Fairy, disturbingly malformed, although by human standards she looked much like a mortal dog. And that Allie thought watching happily as Luath devoured the burned turkey from the morning is probably the real problem. She looks too much like a mortal dog and that’s what bothers anyone Fey. Well I don’t care I think she’s beautiful.
Bleidd walked up to her, his good mood still intact, and looped an arm around her waist, “Come on, babe, let’s go eat some pie.”
“Babe?” she repeated, trying not laugh and fighting to stay annoyed with him which was always difficult.
“Sure why not?” he asked leading her back to the table, which now held three pies and a huge fruit tart. “If Jess can call me Gadreene and call you all those sappy nicknames I should get to call you something as well.”
“Sure but babe? He gets to be ‘Commander’ and I’m babe?”
“Yes,” he said giving her a possessive smile and nudging her towards her chair.
She sat and switched to mental communication as Jason began serving everyone slices of pie. “Why? I’m not sure I like it.”
“That’s why,” he said smiling wickedly. She rolled her eyes at him. “Ask Jess if he likes me calling him Commander.”
“I didn’t at first but it’s grown on me Gadreene,” Jess said, smiling as he ate. Allie gave up, knowing that if Bleidd was set on this there’d be no deterring him, and that it could be worse.
Which, she reflected as she enjoyed her dessert, summed up the entire day.
10 P.M.
Jason and Allie lay quietly side by side on his bed staring into the darkness. “You know,” Jason said personably, “you can’t hide in here forever.”
“Why not?” Allie said sighing and draping her arm over her eyes. “It’s my house.”
“Yeah but it’s my room, not yours, dork,” he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice as much as feel it in his emotions. “Besides eventually Bleidd will start to get jealous and come up here to make sure we aren’t fooling around.”
Allie snorted loudly, “Be serious.”
“I am,” he said. “Trust me on this one. Jess could probably find the two of us playing naked twister-“
“Thanks for that visual, it’ll haunt me forever,” she cut in giggling.
“You’re welcome, but as I was saying Jess could find us tangled up naked and he’d never think anything of it because he trusts you and he believes at this point that I have no interest in the girly bits-“
“Smart man since you don’t.”
“Stop interrupting,” he said pushing her lightly in the side. “And right, no interest at all in anything lacking a dick, but Bleidd on the other hand has always had a bit of a jealous streak, and I don’t want to aggravate him.”
“I don’t think he’d be jealous of you just because we’re hanging out in your room,” she said, sighing.
“Maybe, maybe not but I don’t want to find out.” He retorted.
“Yeah well I don’t want to go down there and deal with either of them yet.”
“Why not?”
She shrugged, “Because I’m tired and full of good food, and I don’t know if Jess thought I was rude to his family or not and I don’t know if I might smack Bleidd for being an ass and not helping at all when he could have.”
“Well, bright side, I think that was as close to an actual traditional Thanksgiving as we’ve ever had,” Jason said cheerfully. “I mean we had it all, food drama, family drama, tense silence, awkward conversation.”
“And pie,” Allie said, grinning, “Don’t forget the pie.”
“How could I? That pumpkin pie was delicious.”
“It really was,” she agreed. “I think I’m going to have some for breakfast.”
They were silent for several minutes.
“Hey Allie?”
“Yeah Jason?”
“I really miss them,” he said, his voice pensive now. “Even Liz. I mean I know it is what it is and all, but…I still wish they’d been here.”
“Yeah,” she said softly, thinking of her cousin and even more of her best friend Syndra who had been killed in the spring. The tears that she’d managed to hold off that morning finally came and she lay there and cried.
“Oh!” Jason said sitting up, then leaning over her, “I’m sorry Allie, don’t cry. It’s okay.”
“I think I need to cry,” she said between tears. Then laughing and still crying, “Syndra would have loved that Alpluchra.”
He snorted and she realized he was crying too, quietly, “Are you kidding? She’d probably have shot it.”
They both laughed until the tears stopped and a companionable silence fell again.
Then Jason said, “Hey Allie?”
“Yeah?”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure,” she said, bracing herself for whatever might be going through Jason’s head.
“What does, uh, ‘Kare-eed’ mean?” he asked stumbling to pronounce the Elven word carid.
“Oh,” she said, remembering Jess’s mother had referred to Jason as that earlier. She hadn’t thought Jason had caught it though. Her voice softened and she reached out to take his hand in the dark. “It means friend.”
“Oh, well that’s okay then,” he said mollified.
“It’s more than okay actually,” she said, “it’s hard to explain but elves don’t usually have friends. To be someone’s, ah, ‘carid’ means that you trust them and love them even though they aren’t closely related to you, which is a big deal to elves.”
“Oh,” he said thoughtfully. “Cool.”
“Yeah, cool,” she repeated, smirking. Then, “That really was an awesome meal you know. You outdid yourself, despite all the disasters.”
“Thanks,” he said. “So next year what do you say me, you, and junior runaway and celebrate Thanksgiving anywhere that doesn’t have elves?”
“I think you’re rea
ding my mind,” she said giggling again. “But they’d find us. Wherever we went they’d find us.”
“You’re probably right,” he said.
She sighed and sat up, “Okay, I guess you’re right, time to face the music. But for the record this was probably the best Thanksgiving we’ve ever had.”
“Yeah I know,” he said laughing again. She crossed to the door leaving him on the bed. “Good night Allie.”
She paused at the door, looking back at Jason, and said seriously, “Good night carid.”
Do You Believe?
Three Days Before the Solstice
“Where’s Shawn?” Jason asked turning slightly from the stove, where he was stirring something that smelled delicious. Beef stew Allie guessed, her mouthwatering.
“He’s at the theater. They’re having an early Christmas party since the play – A Christmas Carol I think – runs all next week,” Allie said, setting out glasses and pouring milk into each.
“I’m glad that the theater is doing so well,” Bleidd said from his position sitting near Jess at the kitchen table. “I worried that after all the negative associations this spring, that it might reflect badly on the place.”
“Nope,” Jason said cheerfully, moving to get bowls from the cabinet as Allie began shuttling drinks to the table. “If anything I think all the publicity improved ticket sales.”
Allie was silent, thinking of her cousin who had been the theater manager. Part of her thought she should be angry with Liz…but despite everything Allie still felt ambivalent about her cousin’s death.
“And where is Hannah? Should we set a place for her?” Jess asked.
Allie shook her head sliding into her seat between the two elves. “No, she’s working late at the clinic tonight.”
“We’ll save her some,” Jason said carrying the first few bowls over. Allie sighed appreciatively; it was beef stew, perfect for a snowy December evening. “She can heat it up when she gets home tonight.”
There was a knock at the door and they all looked up, even Luath who was laying in front of the sink. Jason started to set down the last bowl, obviously planning to run for the door but Allie got up. “Don’t worry Jase, I’ll get it.”
She limped down the long hallway to the front door, leaving the others chatting in the kitchen, the puppy already back to her nap as soon as it was clear no one was worried about the knocking. The door opened to reveal a dark snowy front yard and the tail lights of a special delivery truck pulling away. Glancing down Allie saw a heavy manila envelope on the welcome mat. When she picked it up her fingers tingled at the magic it contained and she felt a nervous smile creeping across her face. She stood there in the cold for a moment, and then shut the door and jogged as quickly as her bad ankle would allow up to the room she shared with Jess and Bleidd. It had been her grandmother’s when she was growing up here, and more recently Liz’s, but after Liz’s death Allie, Jess, and Bleidd had taken it over, despite Allie’s reluctance to move into Liz’s former space. But even in the sprawling Victorian her own childhood bedroom had been too small for three people.
Reaching into the oversized messenger bag she used as a purse she pulled out a stack of thick parchment paper, her fingers tingling again, and turned to head back downstairs. She hesitated a moment, then turned and quickly opened the envelope and read through what it contained. She nodded to herself, her hand dropping unconsciously to the slight swell of her lower abdomen where she could feel the dull glow of life that was her child. She wasn’t entirely sure how this was going to be received, but she hoped this was a good idea. It had certainly seemed like a good idea at the time.
She re-entered the kitchen, greeted by three sets of curious stares. They’d started eating without her and she sat back down pushing her own bowl away. Exchanging a puzzled look Jess and Bleidd put their spoons down as well. Jess was the first to break the silence. “What was it?”
“A delivery,” she said, holding the bundled envelope and papers against her chest.
“Okay,” Jason said, still eating but watching her carefully. “Is this a surprise or are you going to tell us what’s going on.”
“It’s kind of a surprise. An early Grianstad gift I suppose,” she said, referring to the holiday the elves celebrated on the solstice. Now she had Jess and Bleidd’s full attention and she tried not to squirm. This was either a great idea or a really bad one, and she was about to find out which. She shuffled the items in her hand, finally setting the envelope down on her lap and holding the papers out to Jess.
He took them, his expression quickly changing from confused to excited. “The contract is done?”
“I went and picked it up yesterday,” Allie said, trying to ignore the sudden surge of envy and despair from Bleidd, even though it hurt her to know he was so upset.
“What contract?” Jason asked, and then answered his own question. “Oh! The marriage contract! Then if you picked it up what was the delivery?”
She waved him away for the moment, “I hope you don’t mind Jess I renegotiated part of it.”
He tilted his head to one side, skimming through the pages of legal-speak that was, for all intents and purposes, their marriage since the contract was the heart of it. As far as the elves were concerned signing the document was the wedding ceremony, and once signed they would be legally married. Jess put the papers down without bothering to give them a more thorough read and said, “I trust you.”
“Good,” she said licking her lips. “Because I added a clause allowing for secondary marriages. For either of us, by the way, which I think is the only reason your family allowed it. The idea of me taking another husband didn’t thrill them, given how badly they want a legal female heir through me for your mother, but the idea of you being able to take a second wife won them over.”
Jess gave her a long suffering look. “You know I would not do so, nor could I.”
“Right, but the point is it’s in there,” she said feeling Bleidd’s emotions shift into tentative hope. She put the envelope on the table.
“What is that?” he asked, unable to restrain his curiosity.
“This, is the surprise,” she said, biting her lip again. “But if you don’t like it, I mean if you don’t want to…I’ll understand.”
She slid the envelope over to him and he pulled out a set of heavy parchment paper identical to what Jess held. The look on his face was indecipherable. His fingers actually shook as he quickly flipped through the papers before dropping them. Jess leaned around Allie to see, his own emotions, to her great relief, overjoyed.
Bleidd looked up at her in disbelief. “Allie?”
“I contacted your mother,” she said quickly, still worried about his reaction. His feelings were moving too fast for her to be certain about them. “And offered a marriage contract for you, as a secondary spouse. I hope that’s okay? I wasn’t sure she’d agree, since it’s not exactly a prestigious thing, but she was actually really enthusiastic.”
Jason’s eyes were darting rapidly between each of them. “I thought you were already engaged, weren’t you?”
Jess and Bleidd looked at him and then each other and Allie spoke into the silence, “Yes, I did ask him to marry me and we are engaged. All that really matters is Jess’s family agreeing to allow a secondary spouse and Bleidd and I can do whatever we want marriage-wise. But I thought, I mean it just seemed like a good thing to make it fully legal in Fairy, with both of them. I’m not sure if we married – Bleidd and I that is – married by human law what that would mean for Jess and I since human law doesn’t allow for multiple spouses at the same time.”
“Oh,” Jason said, looking thoughtful then nodding. “Yeah I hadn’t even thought of that, but yeah. I have no idea if you could get in any kind of trouble with that. I mean can you be married to one person in the human world and another in Fairy, legally? It does sound kind of sketchy doesn’t it?”
Allie looked back at Bleidd who had picked the contract back up and was reading the papers in hi
s hands now far more carefully than Jess had. She fought down a nervous laugh, hating that she always wanted to giggle when she was in a stressful situation, and chewed her lip instead. His emotions were still far too conflicted for her to tell what he was really feeling about this and she was starting to worry that she’d made a mistake.
When she’d sent the first letter to his mother back in September she hadn’t meant for any of this to be a surprise; she hadn’t told Bleidd simply because she didn’t want to upset him if the answer was bad. He had been Outcast from elven society for almost sixty years and since being redeemed had gone to see his family once, a visit that he wouldn’t say much about. Allie had assumed that part of that was because his family hadn’t been willing to truly accept him back after his shunning, something that seemed to be supported by his insistence on keeping the name he used while he was Outcast rather than returning to his given name. Since he’d already accepted her marriage proposal it hadn’t seemed like a big deal at the time to take the risk of contacting his mother to see if she would agree to the contract, even if he would be a secondary spouse. She had thought that the worst case scenario would be a refusal and they would simply marry in a human ceremony instead. It wasn’t until she’d gotten Ellyrisian’s extremely enthusiastic response that she realized she may have badly misread the situation, that it wasn’t Bleidd’s family that was rejecting him for having been Outcast but Bleidd who was choosing to keep his distance from them.
He finally looked up from the papers, his expression softening, his emotions confused. “Why did you do this?”
“Ummm,” she hesitated, Jess taking her hand on the other side. “Like, why did I do this because it was stupid or why did I do this because it was sweet?”
His confusion fell away for a moment in the face of annoyance and he actually smacked her in the arm with the bundled papers, the magic invested in them making her arm tingle. “Aliaine! Honestly you are impossible sometimes!”
Fairy Gifts: A Between the Worlds Anthology Page 13
