Chapter 19 Jayne
JJ was wide awake when we got back. Lila was holding him, and Anson was entertaining him by making a flower appear and disappear out of his hand.
At least I thought JJ was entertained. Hard to tell with a newborn, especially when their facial expressions were generally an indicator that they were soon to need a diaper change.
Spider and Sugar were definitely amused. They were on the back of the couch, watching intently as the flower vanished and reappeared in Anson’s palm. Every time it disappeared, they twitched as though ready to pounce.
It was enough to make me laugh.
Lila stood and held JJ out to me. “He’s been such a good boy.”
As much as I wanted to take him, I didn’t. “Could you hold him for just a bit longer? Sin and I have a few things to do first.”
She smiled and brought him close again. “I will gladly hold him as long as you want.”
Sin and I went into the study. I called Ezreal about sending up a copy of the citizen registry while Sin found the right cord necessary to connect his phone to my laptop.
Then he sent me all the pictures he’d taken so I could work on transcribing them into a list. After that, I’d search for them in the registry, which Ezreal had promised would be right up.
The registry would give me the basics, like spouse, children, addresses, jobs, awards and commendations, and any sort of criminal history. But any glaring reason the individual might have wanted Delton dead and Janvier’s name kept hidden would be up to us to figure out.
Once the list was made and we worked out the most likely suspects, we could decide who to talk to first. If we could check on all the teachers in one go, and all the reporters in another, it would make things easier. A trip to the school, a trip to the newspaper, and done.
Neither the schools nor the paper would be able to deny me access. Not for long anyway. Being the Winter Princess definitely had some perks.
Sin went off to get another pain pill while I went out to see if JJ was ready for feeding. I had no doubt he would be. He pretty much ate, slept, and pooped. In that regard, he wasn’t much different than Spider and Sugar, not that I’d tell them that.
I found Anson and Lila in the living room. Anson was slouched in the chair beside the couch and looked ready for a nap himself. Lila was on the couch, now singing softly to JJ, whose eyes were half-lidded and growing heavier by the moment.
Spider and Sugar were sniffing around Anson, no doubt looking for that flower.
Sin was in the kitchen eating snickerdoodles. Just the sight of those cookies gave me an intense sugar craving. As soon as everyone left and JJ was taken care of, I was going to indulge in a serious number of sweets.
Lila looked up. “A couple deliveries came while you were gone. One from the bakery, one from the candymakers.”
I saw boxes on the counter. I could only imagine what goodies filled them. My stomach rumbled in agreement. “Their timing could not be better.”
She smiled. “Hungry?”
“Like you wouldn’t believe. But I’ll feed JJ first. Thank you so much for watching him for us.”
She handed my son to me. It was so good to hold him again. I kissed his head.
“Yeah,” Sin said from the kitchen, mouth full of crumbs. “Thanks, Mom. Thanks, Dad.”
Anson roused himself. “Anytime. We mean that. Just let us know.” He edged forward but hadn’t quite made it to his feet yet. “We’re going to miss that little guy when we go back to Vegas.”
Lila sighed. “I can’t think about that right now or I’ll cry.”
I felt for both of them. I loved having them around. “I promise we’ll come visit. That’s always been the plan.”
Lila nodded, but the sadness in her eyes remained. She got to her feet, which brought Anson to his as well. “We’ll see you later?”
“Absolutely.”
Anson took a few steps in the direction of the door. “Thanks again for those tickets. Zinnia is beside herself.”
Sin laughed. “I’m sure you’ll all have fun.”
Anson rubbed his hands together. “Maybe I should see if I can audition. Do a little magic.”
I grinned. “Now that I would watch.”
Sin suddenly stopped stuffing cookies in his face. “Hey!” He pointed at me with half a snickerdoodle still in his hand. “Wouldn’t it be cool if my dad could do a little magic at the Naming Day ceremony?”
I thought about that a moment. “That would be a great way to incorporate them, but I’ll have to see what’s protocol. I don’t even know the order of events yet.” Sadly, that meant I was going to have to get in touch with Flora Merriweather sooner rather than later.
Anson lifted his hands. “Don’t worry about us. I don’t want to interfere with tradition. Whatever happens that day is up to your family, Jayne. We might have been given the honorary titles of Lord and Lady, but we aren’t the royals here.”
“I’ll look into it and tell you what I find out,” I said. It would be nice to have them involved. They had come all this way. And JJ was their first grandchild.
Sin caught his dad’s attention. “You want to go with me to transportation? I just have to run over there to check the RV for something, but I thought you might want to see where they work on the crawlers and other machines.”
“I’d love that. I can drive, too. Be easier for you.”
Sin laughed, because we all knew how much his dad enjoyed driving the crawlers. “That would be fine with me. I’ll be over in a few minutes to get you.”
Lila smiled at her husband. “You boys have fun. I’m going to take a nap so I’ll be wide awake for the show tonight.”
She and Anson headed to their place, and I carried JJ into the nursery to feed him. As I settled into the rocker, Sugar and Spider walked in. Sugar jumped up on the changing table, did a circle, then curled up to sleep.
Spider sat directly in front of me. “Spider miss Mama.”
“Sweet boy, I’m right here.” I had a feeling that what he missed was my attention being fully focused on him. I did have some guilt about that. I stopped rocking. “Do you want to sit in my lap?”
Spider didn’t answer, just hopped up and nestled into position.
“Mama loves you, baby.”
“Spider loves Mama.” He was already purring.
I should have told him he’d have to move when I was done feeding JJ, but I didn’t want to ruin the moment.
Sin hobbled halfway in. “You want anything before I go?”
“No, I’ll fix myself something after I put JJ down.”
He stood there, smiling. “I love you both so much right now.”
“We love you, too,” I said quietly, my heart full.
Spider shifted, stretching one paw out. “Spider loves Dadman,” he mumbled.
Sin chuckled softly. “We have the best little family, don’t we?”
I nodded, in deep agreement and once again feeling like I might cry.
He carefully moved closer on his crutches, balanced on his good leg, then leaned down and planted a kiss on the crown of my head. “I should probably get going to transportation before it gets dark. We can’t risk running out of —”
“Don’t say it.”
“—treats.”
Spider’s head came up, and he and Sugar simultaneously said, “Treats?”
I sighed.
Sin squeezed his eyes shut, rocking back on his crutches. “I knew better than to do that.”
Spider was now standing on my lap, crowding into JJ. “Spider wants treats.”
Sugar was on her feet as well. “Sugar wants treats, too.”
I gave Sin a look. “You started it. You fix it.”
“Yep, on it. Come on, you two. In the kitchen.”
He led them out like the pied piper of cats, although as soon as he cleared the door, they shot past him. I had to laugh. It was funny.
JJ was done, so I burped him, which thankfully did not result in any throw-up, then laid him in his crib. He was out before I put him down.
I made sure the baby monitor was on, then tiptoed into the other room, easing the door closed behind me. Spider and Sugar had adjourned to their cat condo by the window, both of them fastidiously cleaning themselves. The aftereffect of treat-eating.
Sin came out of the foyer, parka in hand. “Is he asleep?”
“Yes,” I whispered, although being quiet wasn’t really necessary. JJ seemed to sleep pretty soundly. I brought my voice back up to its usual volume. “You headed to transportation with your dad now?”
“Yeah. We shouldn’t be too long. You need me to get anything while I’m out?”
“I think we’re good.” I looked at the boxes on the counter, already imagining the sweet treats they held.
“You’re about to dive into those, aren’t you?”
I nodded. “Probably better you’re leaving. It’s not going to be pretty.”
He laughed as he came over and kissed me. “Enjoy yourself.”
“Thanks.” I walked with him toward the door, then veered into the kitchen.
He called out his goodbye as I was opening the first box. I kept opening them so I could survey the bounty at once and make an informed decision.
Two mini cakes that looked like the usual Dr Pepper buttercream, one mini cake with chocolate buttercream and a note on the inside of the lid that said Chocolate Orange. That sounded interesting. I did a love a chocolate orange at Christmas. I leaned in. It smelled heavenly.
The box from the candymakers included two packages of the Dr Pepper licorice, more truffles, which were always a bonus, and some actual chocolates. I picked one up and sniffed it, but it was impossible to tell the filling through the chocolate enrobing.
I took a bite. Raspberry jelly. Not bad at all.
Hmm. So many choices. I should probably take them all.
I grabbed a fork out of the utensil drawer and stuck it in the chocolate orange cake, then I snagged a Dr Pepper from the fridge.
A quick assessment told me this was too much to carry, so I got a serving tray from the pantry.
I added the cake box, a package of licorice, the entire box of chocolates, the Dr Pepper, and just to keep things balanced, a couple of Lila’s snickerdoodles. I carried it all into the living room, prepared to nosh while checking out Aunt Zinnia’s favorite new show.
I already knew what my talent was. Eating.