“Forgive me for staring at you, Topper. You just look so different than when we first met. And you say the baby has done this to you?”
Topper waved away Thor’s apology as she slid the rest of their meal onto the table. She’d made steaming baked potatoes, crispy green beans, and the juiciest steaks she could find in town.
“My sisters are both healer witches. Evanna tells me it’s most likely the baby hormones causing this return of youthfulness. You can trust that I’m still the same old witch on the inside.”
“Well, actually…” Stark began.
Topper pointed her spatula at her husband. “No revelations of a personal nature. I know on Glacier such literal discussions are the norm, but here on Earth, they’re just rude. And Thor is our guest.”
Stark considered her argument and finally nodded. “You are correct. I will honor our privacy and spare Thor a medical discussion over dinner.”
“Thank you,” Topper said dryly. A mystical tinkling of bells chimed in her bedroom. “That’s my emergency mirror… uh, I mean, phone. I really have to answer that call. Please eat without me because I don’t want it to get cold. I’ll return as quickly as I can.”
Topper hustled off to the bedroom… okay, not really. She shuffled out of the kitchen like a waddling expectant mother, but managed to get there before the chiming stopped. The mirror cleared instantly and focused when she stepped in front of it.
“Oh dear. I swear to Gaia this is nearly impossible to believe, even when I’m seeing you with my own two eyes,” Fortune said.
“You’re huge for three months, Topper,” Aura observed. “Are you carrying an elephant in there?”
“What is happening here? I so did not predict any of this,” Destiny said in self-disgust, holding up both hands in surrender.
Topper crossed her arms, resting them on her protruding belly. “Did you three call to make fun of my abnormal pregnancy or was there another reason? I’m in the middle of dinner and I’m feeding a guest.”
Her so-called friends, the meddling Fates, looked at each other and then back at her.
“What did you make your guest for dinner?” Fortune asked.
“A very large steak… and mine is getting cold,” Topper said.
“Will you cook lunch for us tomorrow?” Aura asked. “We’re bringing you a gift. That’s why we called.”
Topper’s arms fell to her sides. “Fine. I’ll cook for you. What kind of gift are you bringing?”
“The surprise kind,” Destiny said. “We’re the Fates. You know we love surprising people.”
“Yes, I do know. So that’s what you’re having for lunch—a surprise. Can I go now?” Topper asked, nearly whining. “The baby gets fidgety and I get really testy when I don’t eat on time.”
“We’ll see you tomorrow,” the three sang together, laughing at each other before disconnecting.
“Great. A surprise gift from the three Fates. Now who wouldn’t want that?” Topper asked snarkily, shaking her head as she headed back to the kitchen.
Maybe she shouldn’t complain. The last time the fates had surprised her, a naked Stark from the planet Glacier had come waltzing through the portal she’d helped open. And now he’d given her an alien baby who seemed determined to be born in half the usual time.
No, she was right to be concerned. Stark and the baby were about all the surprises a witch could take in one life, no matter how long it ended up being.
Despite managing to get back to her steak before it got cold, the evening seemed destined to be ruined, even though Destiny hadn’t bothered to warn her. At least they’d finished their meal before the doorbell rang.
Stark rose to answer it, but looked her way first for permission. “Who is it this time?” he asked.
Topper closed her eyes to look. “It’s Theo again. Let him in this time. I’m sure Evanna has spread the word about my appearance by now. She loves to gossip.”
Nodding, Stark headed to the door and moments later returned with Theo at his heels.
“Topper? Geez, is that really you? I mean, it smells like you, but wow… you look younger than Lacey.”
“Yes. It’s really me, Theo. I don’t quite know what’s happening. Evanna told me to tell people it’s the baby causing it. She also thinks it’s temporary,” Topper said, skirting the rest of the facts as carefully as she could.
“Certainly going to take some getting used to if you stay this way,” Theo said. “And I hate to ruin your evening, but we’ve more snow zones happening.”
“Where now?” Topper asked.
“It’s snowing outside at the jail and the library, and frosting up inside the building at Anna Mae’s hair salon. Everything is getting wet in there as it melts and refreezes. Anna Mae’s already sprouted feathers over it. Her inner ostrich was not happy. She’s got her head stuck in a hole in the wall she built just for that purpose and is refusing to leave,” Theo reported.
Topper put a hand over her stomach as she looked down. “Are you doing this?” she asked her growing child. One hard kick against the side of her womb was enough answer for her. Topper looked up at Theo. “It’s not my daughter.”
The smart-ass dragon snorted and put a hand over his mouth to hide his laughter. Glaring at him, Topper started to rise from the chair, but ended up needing Stark’s help to stand. When she was finally upright, she glared even harder at a snickering Theo.
“Don’t laugh. If it was the baby, I’d know. She’d tell me.” Little flutters inside her womb confirmed her confidence. “We need to find out who’s causing this before the men in black show up. I do not want to deal with them right now.”
“Can you come fix what’s happening? I’ve got the truck here. I’ll drive you… since you seem to be having some trouble getting around.”
“I am not having trouble getting around,” Topper said sharply. “I’m just growing a child a little faster than the average woman. My size changes aren’t allowing me much time in between them to adjust my balance. Remember how many times you fell over when you first shifted to dragon? That dragon belly was hard to get used to, now wasn’t it?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Theo said, just before he burst out laughing. “Sorry. It’s so strange hearing the old Topper’s snarky lectures spewing out of a young and very pregnant Topper’s mouth.”
Topper lifted her hand only to have her husband catch it in the air and kiss her fingers. “Let’s not do that, Topper. A braying donkey will not fit in our kitchen,” he whispered.
“It’s okay. I’ll shrink him like I did the dakkari and put him in a cage. Theo can be our pet dragon donkey,” she whispered back.
Not wanting to be in the middle of witch drama, Thor cleared his throat to disrupt the growing tension. “How about this? I’ll do the dishes while you and Stark check out the Sheriff’s problem.” And then tomorrow he’d start his own investigation of the matter. His friend and mate had enough to worry about.
Topper didn’t like the compromise, but it did make sense. She smiled at Thor. “Thank you, Thor. You’re being a wonderful guest. Just stack the dishes in the dishwasher. I’ll start it when we get back.”
“As you wish, Topper,” Thor said with a head bow.
Topper smacked Theo on the chest. “Did you hear that? It’s called respect. You should have some for your elders, young man.”
“Even if they look like my baby sister?” Theo asked.
Unable to hold in his amusement a moment longer, they watched as Theo turned and ran. He laughed the whole way down the hallway and out of the house. They could hear him laughing even outside.
“I knew this would happen,” Topper said. “I’m going to be turning half the town into braying jackasses just to prove myself. I’m too old for this shit.”
Stark patted her shoulder. “When this is all over, Theo will be sorry he didn’t handle his shock better.”
“His reaction is precisely why I liked looking older. People respect a witch with a few wrinkles,” Topper said grumpily
.
“Want me to freeze our friendly neighborhood dragon after we get done tonight?” Stark asked.
“You’d do that for me?” Topper giggled. “That’s so sweet.”
“I’d do anything for you,” Stark replied. “Also, I don’t believe our child is causing these snow zones either. I suggest we look for an explanation while we clear them up.”
Topper put her arms around him and hugged as best she could. “If this isn’t the baby causing these disruptions, someone in Magic is playing with the weather. We’ll be swarmed with nosy scientists if this keeps happening. Snow and ice in the desert are going to be very hard to hide.”
Chapter 4
Alfred said nothing when a shiver hit Rime and a flurry of snow rained around just the two of them as they walked. Luckily it happened on the trek back to his house and not inside it. Rime was grateful Alfred was such a gentleman.
“I’m terribly sorry about that,” she said in apology. “It’s been happening a lot to me lately. I had hoped the desert climate might prevent it.”
“Would you like me to call a healer for you?” Alfred asked.
Rime chuckled. “I doubt your healer can cure my problems. It’s an aging problem females have where I come from—a buildup of mating energy that has no place to go. With my mate gone now…” She shrugged one shoulder. “Sadly, all I can do is endure it until I reach an age where it no longer happens.”
“I’m sure Nonny or Evanna could help. They’re very good at their jobs. They healed me after the green meanie female tried to possess me. I don’t even have a scar left to prove it happened. Everyone was relieved when Stark took them away from Magic.”
Rime smiled and slipped her arm through Alfred’s. “I’m glad the dakkari female did not get to use you for a host, Alfred. You’re one of the most gallant men I’ve met.”
Glancing down, she noticed Alfred had stopped walking to stare at someone. Rime watched as the shy woman lifted her gaze from the ground to him, but her smile fell away when she saw Rime. Lowering her gaze, the woman rushed on saying nothing to either of them, not even hello.
“Who was that?” Rime asked.
Alfred let out a slow breath. “Jeanie,” he whispered.
“Hmm… yes, I recall reading about those in the book you kindly loaned me explaining the mythical creatures in your town,” Rime said, resuming their stroll. “Genies—otherwise known as Djinn.”
“No, she’s not a genie—her name is Jeanie… with a J. She works at the bank.”
“Oh. Well, she’s very attractive,” Rime said, barely recalling the female’s appearance. The woman was more reticent than Alfred and had barely met her eyes. However, she wanted to be polite to her gracious host and client, as Alfred liked to refer to himself. “Have you ever asked her to mate with you?”
“No,” Alfred said on a laugh. “I could never do that.”
“You obviously like each other. Why ever not?” Rime demanded.
“She’s a cat shifter—Felis Domesticus,” Alfred whispered. “Cats eat fish on our planet. She’s too high up in the food chain. It could never work between us.”
“Well, at least she’s not Felidae Panthera.”
“How do you know that?” Alfred asked.
Rime blushed. “My brother and I both love animals. You might say it’s a hobby to study new species, which shifters definitely are to me. I never saw creatures like them before I set foot in Magic.”
“You’d probably like Lacey then. She’s our animal specialist. She also helps young shifters when they first turn. Most of them don’t handle it very well, especially if they’re carnivores. The Sheriff usually warns us prey creatures when some carnivore’s first time is happening so we can stay inside and out of harm’s way.”
“Quite wise of him. How about Jeannie with a J? You said she was Felis Domesticus. That means tiny, doesn’t it? Wait… are you afraid of cats, Alfred?”
Alfred shrugged. “I would prefer not to get eaten while I sleep.”
“Do small cats eat humans?” Rime asked.
“No,” Alfred answered cautiously.
“Then perhaps you could stay human for her. Perhaps the two of you could stagger your shifting so that neither of you was in animal form at the same time. All relationships require a certain amount of compromise, Alfred. Is your Jeanie not worth that effort?”
Alfred shrugged as they entered his house. “I don’t know. I’ve always thought she was beautiful, but cats usually are. I never thought I was her type.”
“Your fear is quite fixable,” Rime said with confidence. “I need to go run an errand. Thank you for buying me lunch. I’ll be back in time for dinner. We have a goal now. We’ll start working on it tonight after we eat.”
“Okay,” Alfred said, wary of the gleam in Rime’s gaze.
Rime laughed and cupped his face in her hands. “Where I come from, the good guy always gets the girl in the end. Does it work like that here?”
“Not for me,” Alfred said honestly.
“Well, it does now,” Rime said and headed out the door.
Tasty salads sat in front of the three Fates, but none of them were eating.
“I swear I did not do anything disgusting to your food,” Topper informed them, wondering how mad they thought she was at them. Oh sure, she might want to turn them into mice occasionally, but Gaia wouldn’t let her powers work on them.
Aura waved her hand toward Topper’s protruding middle. “We’re just stunned to see you like this. How can you even walk? You look so… unbalanced.”
“My legs still work fine, Aura. Rising from a chair by myself is my only problem,” Topper snapped, irritated with their shock.
She took a deep breath and let it out. It’d been ages since she meditated. She really needed to manage her stress better.
“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be so sharp-tongued with you. I’m just tired of people looking at me like I’m a freak in a circus sideshow. The baby and I are both fine. Evanna checks me every day and Nonny promises she’ll be here for the birth one way or the other.”
Fortune picked a bite of cucumber from her salad and ate it. “Forgive us, Topper. This is out of our hands and we’re still adjusting to that fact. As you know, we’re used to having final say, especially about the people we care about most.”
Topper slid bowls of steaming vegetarian chili over brown rice beside each place setting. “What do you mean it’s out of your hands?” She didn’t like the way they kept sneaking looks at each other.
Destiny squirmed in her chair. “Well… you see… Icela seemed like a perfectly nice goddess when we met her, but…”
When Destiny stopped talking and looked at her two sisters, a sudden silence descended on the table during which the three of them dug into their food like they hadn’t eaten in a month.
Topper narrowed her gaze as she studied her strange, and usually over-confident, friends. “But what, Destiny? Finish what you were saying.”
Destiny swallowed hard. “Icela went over our heads. Then Gaia got involved with what was going on. We didn’t know about the baby until you told us. They cut the three of us completely out of the Topper loop.”
Stunned, Topper walked to the table and lowered her bulk into a chair. “Gaia’s messenger never said anything about you three being out of any loop.”
Aura shrugged. “Well, we serve the people of Earth and your child is…”
“My daughter,” Topper corrected. “She’s a girl. Stark knew the moment we conceived.”
Aura’s head bobbed. “Okay. Well… your daughter’s fate is tied to Glacier’s, like her father’s, so…”
“What Aura is trying to say is that it’s complicated,” Fortune said flatly, interrupting Aura’s stumbling around. “Destiny and I are now reduced to getting notifications of what’s coming for you. Then we have to do what we can to make it work with your life’s plan. Add in Gaia’s wishes for you and your child and we have a hot mess on our hands. We had to buy a special cauldr
on just for you and your magical alien family.”
“Well, it’s not like it won’t be used for more than one future person,” Aura said, gasping when her sisters glared at her. “Oh dear. I wasn’t supposed to tell that part.”
Topper waved a hand. “It’s okay, Aura. Gaia’s messenger suggested I have more children after this one, and since I can’t stay away from my husband, I’m sure more will follow. She said it was my duty to have them so my mother’s amazing energy could come back into the world through them. I’m naming my daughter Jessica after her.”
“Aww…” they all three cooed in unison.
“I know. Stark likes the name too. It just seems right,” Topper said quietly.
“Before we get too wrapped up in discussing why we came to visit, I want to tell you that the chili is delicious, Topper. I love it over rice,” Destiny said.
“Thank you,” Topper answered automatically. “This whole baby thing is nearly overwhelming. Do you know why it’s happening so fast? Lacey got a full nine months to have their child.”
“Lacey’s not you,” Fortune said. “Your power is unmatched on Earth.”
“Sometimes Gaia holds your magic back on purpose,” Aura said, earning herself another glare. “I swear I’m not revealing things willy-nilly. Perhaps I should just eat and not talk for a while.”
“Good idea, Sister Loose Tongue,” Destiny said with a glare. She smiled at Topper. “We don’t have all the answers, but we know your child will not be average on either planet. That’s why we figured you might need someone on Glacier to call if you have any questions we can’t help you with.”
“Let’s eat first before we get into all that,” Fortune said firmly. “We’ll hang the new mirror for Topper afterward.”
“New mirror?” Topper looked between them.
“You’ll have multiple channels to call and answer on this one,” Destiny said. “Don’t worry. We’ll show you how to use it. Let’s just enjoy our meal.”
Magic, New Mexico: Timeless Topper (Kindle Worlds Novella) (My Crazy Alien Romance Book 3) Page 3
