6. Are you sure about that? #3
“You must really like unicorns,” the clerk said, her tone amused.
My husband smiled. “Guilty as charged.”
“But how can it not be too many boots?”
“Because I said so.”
I frowned, staring at the boots on my feet. I tested them out around the store, liking the way they felt. “They’re really nice.”
“And they look great on you. Do you want to wear them out?” Quinn asked.
I hesitated, but then I nodded.
The clerk carefully removed the tag and carried it over to the pile of jackets destined to come home with us.
“If you’ll come this way, we’ll get you measured for everything, and I’ll see what we have in stock in your sizes, and everything else will be custom made for you.
I’ll need a phone number and email address we can use to contact you when your order is ready. ”
Quinn spotted something near the purses, and a moment later, he returned holding a wallet and coin purse with the cindercorn stamped on them. “It seems this store knew you would one day come to Vegas and prepared its shelves just for you.”
I laughed, grabbing the wallet out of his hand and admiring it. “This is so cool!”
“There’s a keychain, too.”
“We need seven of those.”
“Seven?” I blurted.
“Two for the kids, two for the kids on the way, one for me, one for you, and one as the spare set of keys.”
Huh. “Babies need keys?”
“They will in a few years.”
“Oh? You’re expecting?” the woman asked.
“We’re expecting twins. It’s still early, so she’s not showing.” Quinn smiled, and he kissed my temple. “I’m pampering her now, and after the little ones are born, she tends to have trouble keeping her weight up, so everything should fit shortly after.”
“It’s true. He tries to feed me everything, and I just refuse to gain much weight. I expect he’ll have me at a doctor every other day because he’s a worrier.”
Quinn sighed. “Once every two weeks to begin with.”
“Let’s just get measured before I run out of here or embarrass myself further, Sam.”
“You’re fine. You haven’t done anything embarrassing.”
“Yet. I haven’t done anything embarrassing yet.”
“Why would you even think you’re going to do something embarrassing?” he asked in an exasperated tone.
“Well, I’m breathing, aren’t I?”
I loved his patience-worn sigh. “You’re something else.”
The rampage through the store left us with more things than we could carry, so I made use of my new phone, debating which family member to impose upon. After a ten-minute debate with myself, I tapped the button that would call my father, the one I actually liked.
“Bailey,” my father greeted. “How are you enjoying your time with your husband?”
“It’s going great. We have zero respect for money, and we bought a lot of stuff.
They have cindercorns on clothing at this store.
Mostly, I wanted to see if I could abuse my daughterly privileges for help getting all of this stuff to our room.
We rampaged. And apparently, Quinn is a standard-sized man, so they had most of the stuff for him in stock, and I’m a fairly standard-sized woman, so they had a lot of my stuff in stock, too. ”
My father popped into existence in a flash of sun-yellow light, and I hung up, as there was zero point in talking on the phone to someone standing right next to me. I showed off my new boots. “Look!”
My father peered at the design on my new boots. “That is an admirable representation. Did she complain much, Samuel?”
“Only that I bought too much of everything.” My gorgon-incubus doohickey regarded our collection of boxes and bags with a raised brow. “She isn’t wrong, but she would have put everything on display without ever wearing any of it if it was the only set she had. The new jackets are bulletproof.”
“Excellent for your line of work. I approve. You definitely require help getting this to your home. When do you plan on returning to New York?”
My husband smiled at me. “As soon as possible, honestly. We have some matters we need to take care of before she begins her training and comes to work with me. To handle that matter you discussed with her.”
“Prudent. I will handle the matter of your gifts and taking these to a safe place for the moment, and I will teleport you home where you belong.”
“I’ll need my laptops! And my box.”
I didn’t want to tell the store’s employee my handguns were in the box, so I stared at my father and hoped he did the thought-reading thing and determined that I needed to go home and sniff—and possibly eat—the roses.
My father chuckled, snapped his fingers, and flicked his hand in the direction of the counter, and both of my computers appeared on the glass with a soft thump, along with the important box of my weapons. A smaller box, which contained my ammunition, also appeared, as did my badge.
“Your dad is pretty cool, Sam, but my dad is so much cooler than your dad.”
My gorgon-incubus doohickey snickered. “I can’t even argue with that one, so I won’t, my beautiful. Put your computers in your bag and grab your boxes. It seems we have a short trip home ahead of us.”
I did as told, making sure everything fit, and I put my new wallet, keyring, and coin purse in, too.
To make sure it didn’t get put in storage, I slung my new purse over my shoulder with my other leather bag.
I gave my new jacket a pat down, giving a nod when I confirmed everything was where it belonged.
I picked up my badge and tucked it into my pocket. “Okay. I’m ready.”
Ra turned to the store employees, who gawked at him. “If you would please watch over their things until my return, it would be appreciated.”
“O-of course, sir.”
“Ra,” he replied.
“The divine?” she blurted.
Ra seemed to enjoy being recognized a little too much, and I rolled my eyes while he preened. “The same. I shall return momentarily.”
Unlike others, who seemed to need to touch to make the teleportation happen, my father chuckled. One instant we were in the store, and the next, we were standing in knee-deep snow in front of Perkette’s house. “Oh fuckshit!” I squealed.
My father laughed. “My gift to your husband, so he might enjoy pampering you to his heart’s content.”
“I might hate the other in-laws, but you more than make up for them, Ra,” Quinn announced. “And since I have a set of keys and the alarm code, I can check on their house while fetching our car.”
“Yes, you will need your car, of that I am certain. Drive safely, enjoy yourselves, and call your mother after the moon goes up, Bailey. It’s now strong enough for her to manifest. Please do tell her I will see her in the morning; we can cross paths for a little while then, but only for an hour or two. ”
An hour or two beat not at all, so I nodded. “I’ll do that. Thank you.”
“Now, I need to go reassure those humans. That will take a while. I will take care of making sure your hotel room is handled and all of your things are in safe keeping. I’ll bring them over when your mother can manifest during the day.” My father vanished in a warm yellow light.
“Should I be worried he knows where Perky and Perkette live?”
“That sort of meddling and snooping is child’s play for a divine. When we buy a new house, we need to make sure we have enough garage spots for all of our vehicles. We’re going to need an SUV for the kids for certain.”
“Not a van?”
“We’ll probably have two SUVs, and one will be large enough to pull a small RV.”
“Or we could get a big truck for the RV.”
“Big trucks don’t have enough seats for the kids. We’re starting with four plus our fosters.”
“Fosters?”
My husband slapped his forehead. “Damn it!”
“Damn it? What did you do, Quinn?”
“I agreed to foster three gorgon whelps, a boy and two girls, over the summer. To be friends with Beauty and Sylvester. Fostering whelps is super easy; they want to prove to their father and mothers they’re old enough to be fostered, and so they do their best to behave, because if they don’t, they may not get fostered again. It’s a rite of passage for them.”
“And we get to host them?”
“While visiting my grandfather’s hive will be good for Beauty and Sylvester, having fosters around will better integrate them with other gorgons.
You’ll be fairly heavily pregnant by then, so they’ll want to help you.
They’re taught to always help the brides.
I meant to talk to you about it, but I completely forgot with everything else going on. ”
“Merry Christmas to me!” I wanted to rub my hands together to warm them, but I settled with bouncing in place. “It’s fucking cold, Quinn. Do the thingie to get into the garage.”
Chuckling, he retrieved his keys and pressed the button on one of the fobs, which opened the garage door, revealing his beloved red convertible.
He pressed a second button on a different fob, which made something inside the house beep.
“I’ll go do a walkthrough of their house and make sure everything is okay.
Why don’t you get the car started so it can get warmed up? ”
I stomped the snow off my new boots in the garage, set my box on the hood, and unlocked the car before placing my guns and ammunition in the trunk.
Quinn entered the house through the garage door and disappeared inside.
By the time the convertible blew hot air, he returned, closing the door behind him.
“Everything okay?” I asked.
“Everything’s fine. I checked the faucets just to be sure, too. I’ll text Arthur to let him know we stopped by.” Quinn got behind the wheel and smiled at his car, giving the steering wheel a fond pat. “It is getting to be about time to retire this, isn’t it?”
“How long have you had it?”
“I got it right after I got promoted. I figured I’d use the bonus they shoved at me to get something just for me.
The engine is going to blow out sooner than later, and honestly?
I’m impressed it has lasted this long. We’ll go shop for something sporty we can both drive when we have a babysitter to take the kids. ”
“Are you sure?”