Chapter 20
Like many werewolves who live in Moonlight Bay, Mason’s cottage was located in the Foxfire Lane subdivision.
It hadn’t taken much sleuthing on her part to figure out what house the council had secured for their new chief.
Providing the chief with a house was part of the salary package, she knew.
As she pulled to a stop in front of it, she admired the small, slate-blue clapboard home with its wide front porch and manicured yard.
There was a single light on inside the house.
Adeline sat in the Beetle Bus with the bakery box on her lap and stared at the front door, willing herself to just go inside.
“Well, are you going to sit here all night, or are you going to go knock?” Princess Muffin Top asked from the passenger seat.
“I’m working on it.”
“Work faster. I’m hungry.”
Adeline took a deep breath and climbed out. Princess Muffin Top jumped down after her and trotted up the porch steps like she owned the place. Before Adeline could knock, the cat scratched at the door with one paw.
“Delivery,” Princess Muffin Top announced.
The front door opened, and Mason stood there in a white t-shirt and gray sweatpants, his hair still damp from a shower. “Uh…hi.”
“Hi.” She held up the box she’d brought. “I baked chocolate chip cookies. One hundred percent magic-free.”
He looked at the box, then back at her. Smiling, he stepped back and motioned her inside.
His place was clean and cozy as she glanced around the living room.
He had a leather couch, a coffee table, and a matching leather recliner.
A pair of running shoes sat next to the recliner, but that wasn’t what she focused on.
Her eyes had landed on the little orange goldfish swimming in lazy circles.
It was the goldfish Granny Edna had given him last week at the street market.
She thrust out the box to him. “For you.”
Mason took the box from her and untied the twine, carefully lifting the lid. Smiling, he pulled out a cookie, took a bite, and moaned. “Delicious.” He swallowed. “I’m not much of a sweets guy except for chocolate chip cookies. And yours are amazing.”
The knot in her chest loosened. Just a fraction.
They sat on the couch, and he reached for another cookie, polishing it off in two bites as well. Princess Muffin Top had already made herself at home on the recliner, her eyes fixed on the goldfish with an intensity that was mildly concerning.
“So,” Adeline said, shoving her hands between her knees. “Mrs. Abernathy came to see me this afternoon.”
“Did she?”
“She mentioned community service and restoring the marsh. She said we could do it together.” Adeline watched his face.
“She also said something about me not hearing it from her, but that you and Thad had something to do with it. I must admit, I’m a little confused.
I didn’t think we’d be allowed back out at the marsh. ”
“I spoke with the council this morning. Told them exactly what you’ve been saying all along—that the marsh is ecologically essential, and that if the squish-squids’ habitat was damaged, that would have grave consequences for the entire town.
” He paused and smiled at her. “And then I pulled some PADA strings. The squish-squids are now on the future endangered species list. Which means their habitat can’t be altered or destroyed. ”
Adeline stared at him incredulously. His words hit her all at once. The marsh was safe. The squish-squids were safe. Herman and his whole adorable, cooing, tentacled family were safe.
With a delighted cry, she flung herself at him.
He caught her around the waist as she pressed her lips against his.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and a shiver ran over her as he chuckled against her mouth.
But she didn’t give him time to say anything.
Instead, she tilted her head and deepened the kiss as she threaded her fingers through his hair.
He tasted like chocolate, and it gave her a little buzz to know those were her non-magical cookies he loved.
When she finally pulled back, they were both breathing hard.
“I should save squish-squids more often,” he joked.
She laughed. “I guess you should.” She placed a hand over her heart. “Herman will be delighted when I tell him on my next visit. He and his family can now live in the marsh without fear of having their habitat destroyed.”
He gave her a small smile. “The tantrum Ivan had was priceless. You would have appreciated it.” He tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear and tilted her chin up.
“I’m sorry for how I handled this. All of it.
But especially the part where you came to me to tell me what you knew, and I sent you away.
I’m ashamed of the way I reacted to your news, Adeline.
I should have seen where you were coming from.
Instead, I reacted in my typical unyielding, law enforcement way.
” He cupped her face in his big hands. “It was wrong, and I’m sorry. ”
She pulled away from him and sighed. “There are some things I haven’t told you, Mason. About my parents. About why I fight like I do.” She forced a smile. “Why I resist the Beaumont name.”
“I’ll listen to whatever you want to tell me.”
And so she told him.
She told him about the night her parents had died.
How Grandmother Lavinia had insisted they both attend the founding family gala even though Adeline’s mother hadn’t been feeling well.
How her parents had gotten in the car because duty came first and Beaumonts showed up and you didn’t say no to Lavinia Beaumont.
How a massive live oak had fallen across the road and crushed their car, and how they’d both died before anyone could reach them.
She told him about being ten years old and waiting for them to come home.
Only they never did. About Grandmother Lavinia telling her to pack up her belongings because she was living with her at the mansion.
The pain of being ripped from the only home she’d ever known—away from Emory, away from Granny Edna, away from the warmth and chaos of the Ashgrove family—and living in the austere Beaumont mansion on the hill while her grandmother drilled into her every day the importance of Beaumont duty.
She’d lost her parents, her home, and everything she loved...
and still she’d been forced to embrace the very thing she felt caused her to lose all of it.
The Beaumont name. And the legacy behind it.
She told him about the twelve-person dining table with ten empty chairs.
About learning to sit up straight and speak properly and how best to represent the family name.
About her grief that was managed like a PR problem, and how her grandmother’s favorite saying growing up had been, “Beaumonts don’t fall apart, Adeline.
” And then she told him how one day she’d stopped crying where others could see and started baking instead.
Because flour and butter and sugar didn’t judge you.
They just became whatever you needed them to be.
“And I think that’s why I balk at authority,” she said, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.
“Why I chain myself to things and throw mud at trolls and fight for every underdog I can find.” She gave him a small, watery grin.
“Part of it is because I resent being told what to do by people who think their name gives them the right. And the other part...” She laughed. “The other part is because I love it.”
Mason smiled and lightly squeezed her hand. “Thank you for telling me.”
Those five words made her smile, and she pressed her forehead against his shoulder and breathed him in.
He smelled like cedar and soap, but more importantly, he was solid.
He was there and not judging her. And for the first time in twenty years, the weight of the Beaumont name felt a little less like a chain and a little more like something she could carry on her own terms.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Mrs. Abernathy sooner,” she said. “But I really did just find out, and I wanted to give her the opportunity to tell me why.”
“I’m sorry I told you to go back to your bakery.”
She pulled back and playfully swatted his chest. “That was pretty harsh.”
He winced. “I know. I’m sorry. I kicked myself the entire night for being so rough with you.
But I guess now it’s my turn to confess.
I wasn’t angry with you. I was hurt. I’d spent so many years keeping people at arm’s length, not getting close to them.
And then for the first time I found someone who makes me want to let all those walls down, and I find out they felt they couldn’t trust me.
And I didn’t know if it was because of something I’d done or said…
or if it was because you just didn’t care about me enough to think of telling me. Like I was an afterthought.”
She lifted her hands to his face. “It wasn’t like that at all. It was about Mrs. Abernathy.”
He nodded. “I get that now. I feel like the words, ‘It’s not all about you, Mason,’ should be tattooed on my forehead.”
Adeline laughed and dropped her hands. “Let’s not do that.”
He clasped her hands in his. “I see you for who you are, Adeline. I don’t want to change anything about you. I love that you fight for those who are weaker than you. I feel I do the same in many ways. I love that you’re passionate and compassionate.”
He leaned in and kissed her, and once again she melted into him…melted into his embrace.
“Hey, wait,” she said, pulling back and waggling her eyebrows at him. “Does this mean you’re falling for me?”
He laughed and pulled her to him, kissing her soundly on the lips. “I guess I am.” He traced the side of her face with his fingertip. “There’s something else. Your grandmother spoke privately to me after the council meeting today.”
Adeline went still. “She what?”
“She came up to me and said if I wanted to ask you out, it would be...” He paused, and a grin spread across his face. “‘Acceptable’ to her.”
Adeline blinked. “Acceptable?”
“Her word. Not mine.” He laughed. “I’m not entirely sure what it means, but I took it as a win.”
Adeline shook her head slowly. Grandmother Lavinia, the woman who had sat across a mahogany table less than thirty hours ago and told Adeline to marry her “ilk,” had walked up to Mason Wolfe and told him it was acceptable to date her granddaughter.
Maybe their fight had done more good than Adeline realized.
“Well,” Princess Muffin Top said, shattering the magical moment. “I’ve made my decision.”
They pulled back and looked at her cat.
“Decision about what?” Mason asked.
Princess Muffin Top jumped down from the recliner and stuck her face inches from the goldfish bowl.
The little orange fish was pressed against the far side of the glass, swimming in panicked circles.
“That’s either a pet or a snack.” She extended one claw and tapped the glass.
“Anyone got a coin? Heads I eat it, tails I name it.”
“She already has a name,” Mason growled. “Goldie.”
“Goldie?” Princess Muffin Top recoiled as though she’d been slapped. “That is the most hideous, uninspired, pedestrian, tragically unimaginative name I have ever heard. And I’ve heard you call Adeline ‘Ms. Beaumont’ with a straight face, so that’s saying something.”
“What’s wrong with Goldie?” Mason asked.
“What’s right with Goldie?” Princess Muffin Top shot back.
She sighed dramatically and looked at the fish.
“Fine. I’ll keep it as a pet. But no one can ever know.
It would be humiliating for someone of my stature to be seen fraternizing with a goldfish.
” She narrowed her eyes at the bowl. “And I’m not calling it Goldie.
From now on, her name is Snack.” She paused. “Or Treat. I’ll decide by morning.”
Adeline burst out laughing. She laughed until tears rolled down her cheeks.
She knew it wasn’t just about the goldfish...
it was much more than that. It was the levity she felt knowing her grandmother had given her blessing—in true Grandmother Lavinia way—to Adeline dating Mason.
It was about Mason seeing her for who she really was and not wanting to change her.
Not wanting her to fit in a certain mold.
It was about her...and her happiness. Something she hadn’t felt in a long, long time.
Princess Muffin Top settled onto the arm of the couch nearest the goldfish bowl and began grooming herself, one eye on the fish at all times.
Adeline leaned into Mason’s side, and he put his arm around her.
She wasn’t the black sheep anymore. She wasn’t the Beaumont who rebelled, or the girl who blamed her grandmother for all the bad in her life, or the baker whose magic went sour when her heart broke.
She was Adeline Beaumont. The witch who baked with her heart...
who protested and loved fiercely...and who threw mud when it mattered.
And that was enough. It had always been enough.
She just hadn’t believed it until now.
“Can I get you something to drink?” Mason asked, running his hands through her hair.
Smiling, she shook her head and tugged him down to her. “Nope. But you can give me a kiss.”
“Happy to.”
It took a few seconds for Adeline to comprehend what she was hearing…Princess Muffin Top singing.
“I’m a creep. I’m a weirdo!”
“Is that ‘Creep’ from Radiohead?” Mason asked against her lips.
“Just do your best to ignore her,” Adeline whispered.
“What the hell am I doing here?” Princess Muffin Top howled loudly.