Chapter Ten
The ladies were working together in the kitchen while Eleanor held little Rowan. Eleanor asked, “Where are the men again?”
Rowan was scooping brown sugar for a pork rub. “In the gym. Apparently, it is hard to get the machines that I have down there.”
“Avor wants to know where you got them.” Regis was measuring out spices and salt.
“Um, I can ask your new palace for them. I asked the building here and wanted something that Aspen or Grandpa could use. I kept the image in my mind, and it takes shape.”
Regis paused. “You can ask my building?”
“Sure. It was designed with the intent to be a building like this one. Shelter for many while allowing them to start new lives. The gym just helps people build body confidence. Even the rescued omegas.”
Regis paused. “Can they come here? For the barbeque? I think this is the most relaxed and culturally normal event that they could witness.”
“As long as no one tries the garden, we are good.”
“But you just got the herbs from there,” Mell said softly.
“Sure, but it is my garden. It didn’t absorb my blood; it contained it. It also contained my pain and all my omega impulses. It holds it all beneath the roots and beneath the plants. You aren’t cannibalizing me.”
Regis looked relieved.
Rowan chuckled. “Even I wouldn’t eat me.”
Mell opened her mouth and then snapped it shut.
Eleanor smiled. “I will explain it to her later.”
Rowan snorted and kept working. Once the rubs were set up, she put them into clamp jars and labelled them. She lined them up on the counter, put a pot on the stove, added ingredients, aromatic sauces, and started the pot simmering.
Regis looked into the mess in the pot. “What is that?”
“Barbeque sauce. It begins the journey here.”
She laughed. “I always wondered how that kind of thing happened. I just open a bottle.”
“All that fussy pastry and you just open a bottle? Well, we know where your patience runs out.”
Regis grinned. “I have to pick my battles.”
Rowan smiled. “For my next trick, I am going to make some ketchup from scratch and then mustard. I have jars of relish put aside, and the mayo will be made tomorrow.”
Mell blinked. “You know how to make all that stuff?”
“Grandma is older than most of those recipes. She taught me, and I started making the stuff when I was little and selling the condiments to fancy restaurants.”
Eleanor smiled. “We lived too far off a main route for a lemonade stand. We got a family friend to help her set up with inspected premises. She worked on her recipe until she got it just right, and then she went commercial.”
Regis paused. “How commercial?”
Rowan smiled. “Does Kiss my Ash barbeque sauce ring a bell?”
Ted and Lucia froze and looked at her. Ted said, “Our family buys that stuff by the barrel.”
Rowan chuckled. “Good. They eat a lot, and they talk a lot. All good for business.”
Lucia chuckled.
“Eudora makes an amazing steak sauce. You should get together.” Regis smiled.
“Will she be here for the party?”
Regis grinned and tapped at her phone. “Yes. As will the pixies and the ladies they are pursuing.”
Rowan smiled. “I have met a few when I was younger.”
Regis blinked. “Right, because of your grandfather. Oh, there is another oldy. Dr. Aquilar. I am going to invite him as well and his mate and his son and his pack.”
Rowan grinned. “And this is why I am planning for a minimum of one hundred and twenty people.”
“Do you need rental tables or anything?”
“Nope. Buffets are set up in the large dining room. The wide doors to the back patio will be open so folks can wander in and out.” Rowan paused. “I am weak on beverages.”
Regis nodded. “We’ve got that. We are also bringing chairs and folding tables. The setup will happen Friday morning.”
“I can do the setup. I just need the stuff here.”
Regis nodded. “Nice. We will bring beverages and ice and treats. You have plates and cutlery?”
“Yup. All pressed leaves. Sounds weird but burns easy and doesn’t flavour the food.”
Mell chuckled. “She hates dishes. It takes some getting used to, but the plates are sturdy, and the wooden knives cut, not that you need a cutting blade; it will be fall-apart when she’s done. Rowan, will you make your special potato salad?”
“Fine, but you are peeling the eggs and the potatoes.”
“Deal.”
Regis looked around. “Do you have room for everything?”
Rowan grinned. “We do, and it makes all the room I need.”
“Oh, wow. I hadn’t considered it would work that way.”
Rowan got out white wine and vinegar along with mustard powder in yellow and brown. She put on a mask and began to mix the two powders together with turmeric and some salt. Then she began to add other spices and heat the mix gently.
Regis watched. “Is that how you do it?”
“Yes. If you want it stable, you need to add xanthan gum. This will do for one night.”
She checked her phone, and the cheesemonger had confirmed the order for delivery on Friday. She had a plan for it. “I am going to need a cheese shredder on Friday. I want to do some stuffed burgers.”
Mell held her hand up. “Me. Me!”
Eleanor smiled. “I will babysit.”
Regis laughed. “Anyone who could is going to be here to help. This is the least formal event we have participated in, and I think we might want to do it more frequently if that is okay with you. The enormous wall and promise of privacy is intoxicating. We are all going to be here, ears out.”
Rowan could see the excitement. She said, “The bathrooms are ready for duty. Septic tank was just drained, and the field is clear, so they can do their worst.”
Regis grinned. “I was going to ask. How many bathrooms are here?”
“Twenty near the ballroom with the food. Anyone who pisses in the woods gets hosed with their own contribution. I have facilities, use them.”
“Noted. Will you have this on a sign?”
“Absolutely. It will be glowing on every building and the path into the woods.”
She finished prepping the mustard and turned the heat down while checking on the barbeque sauce. Six more hours and it would be ready.
The ladies talked about the different contributions, and Rowan realized whatever wasn’t covered could be compensated for in less than thirty minutes.
When planning was over and decorations for the shower had been settled, the ladies left, and Rowan was holding the baby and waving his tiny hand to the ladies and Avor as they drove off, some preparing to return the following day to help with prep.
Eleanor looked at her and the baby sleeping on her shoulder. “That’s a good look for you, Rowan.”
“Yeah, but you have to have sex first, and I am opting out of that little ritual.” She stroked little Rowan’s head and kissed his forehead.
“But don’t you want children?”
“I can adopt. I can do IVF. Neither involves me pinned screaming on the ground.” She looked at her grandmother. She didn’t want to be that blunt, but her grandmother was single-minded.
Eleanor started crying silently.
“Grandmother, stop it. Like many things that are survived, I am changed by the events. In my case, the change will affect the family line. I have had treatment; I have had therapy. This is as far as I can go.”
Her grandfather walked up and held his wife. “She’s mourning a future she had dreamed for you. She always saw you with little ones, and now she is upset that her vision has changed. It hurts her.”
“Ah. I will leave you to comfort her. This little guy needs a diaper change.”
Little Rowan’s dad came by and took him away.
Rowan smiled. “He hasn’t let me change the little guy once.”
Her grandfather smiled. “He owes you. You took the pain and did not kill him; you delivered his child safely, and you kept his mate from being alone in the curse.”
“It was important.”
“Ro, who kept you from being alone?” His words were soft, and her grandmother’s head came up.
She jerked and said, “I did.” She turned on her heel and stalked away.
Renyet met her and took a look at her expression. “What happened?”
“Grandpa asked a question, and I didn’t know how to answer.”
He turned to walk with her and offered his hand. She held onto him, and they walked toward the house where dinner was in the slow cooker. He calmed her down, and that was a rare thing. She muttered, “Don’t get a swelled head.”
Ren laughed. “Of course not, little opal.”
* * * *
Vasoric looked toward his granddaughter and sighed. “All hope is not lost. Renyet knows her struggles, knows the past, and has an opal omega in his bloodline. Strong as steel and delicate as glass are hard characteristics to work with.”
Eleanor lifted her head. “It’s a challenge, and only the worthy have a chance.”
“It was like being attacked by a kitten made of lead when I met you.”
“And then you followed me home, you glutton for punishment.”
“I did. And we had three glorious daughters, and one of them had Rowan. What do you truly see for her, love?”
Eleanor sniffled. “I still see her and little children who look like her.”
“What about the ears?”
“Uh, pointed.”
He smiled. “And the skin?”
“Golden green. Oh!” She looked back toward the house. “So, the shaman...”
“Yes. He spoke at length with Avor and myself. Our little granddaughter has removed eighty percent of shadow mages from the area. She can generate the red mist, and this entire property is rigged to defend her. She has taken control of the soil beneath our feet.”
“Because she had to.”
“Because her family left her. Laurel was gone, her parents were gone, Aspen was here to protect her and was the first thing that was attacked. Her protector was now wounded, and protection for the house and grounds was up to her, so she pulled herself together.”
“She’s been alone. Alone isn’t good for us.” She burrowed against her husband.
“I will never leave you alone, my love.”
“I know. I am hoping that Rowan is lucky in the same way.”
“Renyet is focused on her. It will be a matter of time. So what do you want to do in this world?”
“Did you see the building on the drive? It is going to be a daycare centre and an afterschool drop-in for children. Rowan built it and added it to the blueprints for the property.”