Chapter Thirty-Two Douglas
“ H ello, big fella.” Madge’s dry rasp of a voice comes with twinkling eyes and a knowing smile. “Second shelf in potions. Look under O for Orc. I’ve been reorganizing.”
“Ta.” I nod and wander through the magic shop. It smells delicious, full of spices and herbs, something glittering and lingering in the air, just beyond normal vision.
I didn’t ask the proprietress for anything in particular, but seeing as I want a potion to dampen my fertility and prevent pregnancy for Georgia, I decide I’ll look first and hope I don’t have to ask second.
A kitschy card with an illustrated black cat curled around the letter O guides me to a small section of polished wooden shelves.
Knotting Tea is sold in eight-ounce canisters. Tusk polish is sold in tiny blue glass vials. Prophylactic Pregnancy Prevention comes in amber bottles with rubber droppers.
My fingers pass over it twice before I pick it up. The wise woman from Nicola’s clan made wee bottles of this for Nicola to pass on to me. It was something I took without question, part of the routine of being a newly married Orc who wanted to wait a bit before welcoming little ones.
I push the bottle back on the shelf.
I want a family with Georgia so much my heart cramps up inside of me, tired of being patient, tired of being lonely, of thinking my dreams of a wife and bairns of my own were gone.
Not gone. Just worth waiting for. Don’t you want a few months or years with Georgia to do all the things you’ve both been waiting to try?
My fist closes around the bottle, and I turn it to read the label.
Dosage: Male Orcs and Half-Orcs: Three drops a day.
All natural active ingredients: Monkwork, Celibate’s Purse, Clove, Mint, and Impugenia. Other ingredients: Therapeutic grade sterilized water and ascorbic acid.
Warnings: It takes three days of the recommended dosage to be fully effective. Stopping this potion may cause a rebounding effect where increased fertility has been documented. This potion is only ninety-seven percent effective when taken consistently on a daily basis.
Ninety-seven percent effective. Is that enough?
“What am I supposed to do about those last three percent?” I mutter.
“Wait. Cold showers. Abstain.”
I whirl. Ray, Claire’s adopted father, is at my elbow. I suppose that makes sense. He tends to be where Madge or Claire is whenever he’s in town.
“Aye, I suppose.” Condoms simply do not work for Orcs when knotting is involved.
“You’re going to marry Georgia, aren’t you?”
I almost drop the bottle. “Wheest, man, who told you that?” Cold sweat pops out on my spine. I certainly plan to, but I don’t want him spreading it around before I speak to Ian or ask Georgia myself!
“No one. But I’ve been visiting this town enough to know that most supernatural folks don’t date—you pick your soulmate and then...” He looks over toward Madge as she nibbles a pen, working through a crossword puzzle. “Ahhh.” He sighs, one hand on his heart. “It’s love.”
Well. There’s no denying that—and why would I want to? “So it is.”
“Claire is my daughter, at least in name. And Georgie is my son-in-law. That means Georgia is my family, and you will be family, too.” The short little man puts a warm hand on my arm, beaming. “I have dreams of being an abuelo ,” he beams. “And Madge,” his voice drops, “she never had children. I think she’d enjoy spoiling children she can return at the end of the night.”
I can’t help but chuckle. “It’s certainly the easier option.”
“You don’t strike me as a man who makes things easy on yourself. But the potion. Nothing is ever 100% effective. I’m sure Madge has something for your beloved to bolster your odds.”
“Under W, in the Women’s Health section!” Madge shouts, not looking up from her paper.
Woman must have the ears of a bat.
Actually—I might take a closer look when I pay at the counter.
I find the section, and I’d rather the little man at my side clear off, but he doesn’t. I’m about to tell him to hop it when panic sets in and I blurt, “Should I ask Georgia first? What if she thinks I’m being presumptuous? Or that I don’t want to have a baby with her? As in, I’m afraid of it and that’s why I’m so concerned with avoiding it?”
Why is being in love so wonderful and so worrisome at the same time?
“ Are you afraid?”
“No!”
Ray gives my arm another pat. “She will know that if she loves you. You’ll tell her.” He gives me a stern glare. “Ian Fenclan is my best friend, you know.”
Fuck me, no, I didn’t realize that. I’d seen them together at the wedding and at Georgie’s hunt before it, but I assumed they were just being friendly as future in-laws. “Oh?” I let out a strangled noise.
Ray’s face is a dark scowl now, and his voice is a growl. “You will take very good care of Georgia. He stares pointedly at my kilt and then looks into my eyes. “If you don’t, he will rip your steak and eggs right off, and I will help him.”
“Me, too!” Madge. Again.
“I love Georgia. I’m... I’m being cautious because I love her.”
“And you are buying these items because you love her and not because you fear a future with her.”
“Exactly.”
The jovial beam is back in place. “Good! Do you need anything else? Candles? Roses for romance?”
“Ray. Stop upselling.”
“Of course, my jewel.”
“Love is strange,” I grumble, making my way hurriedly to the counter.
“I know.” Madge commiserates and rings me up. Her eyes dart to Ray. “Especially when us solitary types find the chatty ones. Ray was a doorman at a fancy-ass building in New York City. Georgia runs the nerve center of our town.” She puts the items in a brown paper bag. “Opposites attract,” she whispers.
“Ah, my little witch,” Ray slides behind Madge and wraps his arms around her middle, “it is not only that—it’s that we bring out the best in each other.”
“I’ll drink to that.”
“Good, but not too much, loverboy. Read the labels.”
I fight down the urge to say, “Yes, mum.” “Will do.” I hustle away, shutting out everything but thoughts of Georgia and tonight.