Chapter Ten #2
He chuckled. “I know you love the little ones. You are going to renew your certification?”
“I already have the study materials. What about you?”
“I will check my credentials and see what my options are. I am thinking a small family practice.”
She smiled and held her husband. “Thank you for staying with me.”
“I could never leave you, Eleanor, and if I had gotten to the hospital in time, you would not have left me.”
“Rowan survived the accident, and that is what mattered.”
“Sweet? It wasn’t Rowan in the car with you; it was Aspen. Aspen was driving. Rowan was at school.”
“She came to me. I was waiting in the hospital, and she was with me. She glowed so bright it made me smile.” She looked up. “And then you were there, telling me that you wouldn’t leave me, and everything got soft and warm.”
“I am not going to leave you, love. Ever. When we both want to fade, we will go together. Deal?”
She laughed. “Deal. Now, I have to show you the room she created for us. It has your library, my desk, comfortable seating, and a bed I really want to try.”
“We haven’t had dinner.”
“She has hidden ice cream, and since I showed her where to hide it, we are all set.”
He swung her into his arms and headed for the big house. He carried her through the house they had once called home and were now returning to.
Vas looked at the room that Rowan had created for them. It was perfect. Every interest was present. “Our granddaughter knows us very well.”
“Yes, but her room was a complete surprise. It was shockingly less soft than an omega on her own should seek out.”
“She still dresses in a feminine manner.”
“But the lines are crisp, the fabrics stiff.” She shook her head. “Not omega stuff.”
“Perhaps you can help her remember her softer side. There is time. Renyet has the patience of his training.”
“You have a lot of faith in that mage.”
“His entire family had the calling to shaman. Six of them entered training, four survived, three took positions in clans for the empire, and Renyet became the official shaman of the new imperial court. When the mention of women of power on this world came through, he checked a few of the scrolls and found he was a close enough match. When Rowan’s scroll appeared, he knew what she was.
He came through, went back ten years, and returned to the new palace on the appointed day. That was three days ago.”
“Well, for three days, he has been doing well.”
The door locked, and Vasoric smiled. “It has been over a decade since we were together. That needs to be corrected.”
Eleanor pressed herself against him and kissed him. “Let’s test the mattress.”
He grinned. “Excellent idea, my love.”
The mattress was tested, and it was perfect.
* * * *
Renyet murmured, “If you need anything for the party Friday, I can bring it.”
Rowan sat with him at the kitchen table while she chopped butter into chunks and checked on her barbeque sauce. She smiled. “I can turn this off now.”
“How do you know how to do all this?”
“Grandma taught me to make things from scratch. She showed me how to refine things until I tasted what I wanted. This sauce is just right. Tangy and not too sweet.”
She pulled a spoonful out and put it in a shallow dish. She got some tortilla chips and said, “Taste test?”
He picked up a chip and dipped it in. She watched as he chewed, and then his brows lifted. “I can’t believe you make that here in your kitchen.”
“I also have more industrial manufacturing facilities in town. I haven’t touched the trust Grandma and Grandpa left me.”
He chuckled and went for another chip.
She took a chip fragment and verified the flavour. He casually grabbed the small plate and destroyed the remaining sauce.
“Did you want some dinner? The stew should be ready by now.”
“Sure. How did you have time to cook today?”
“It’s just something I do. Keeps me calm. Today was stressful.”
She got a crock of butter out, sliced chunks off a loaf of bread, and got two bowls for stew.
She opened the slow cooker, which was filled to the brim, and stirred the stew before dishing out two bowls.
Everything flew to the worktable, and she settled.
Next to him, she slapped an obscene quantity of butter on her bread and started eating. Renyet was right behind her.
He groaned. “I am going to weigh a ton if I remain here.”
“Why? You are active, work out, have a normal physique for a... yet?”
“Correct.” He smiled and worked his way through the bowl.
Mell and Norec walked in with the baby, and Mell asked, “Can we just go for it?”
“Yup. I can handle the baby if you need two hands.”
Norec grinned. “I’ve got this. Have a seat.”
Mell sat and looked at Rowan. “You must be happy.”
Rowan paused. “Why?”
“You have all your missing people back.”
“Oh. Yes. It’s good.”
Mell frowned. “Just good?”
Rowan looked at Mell. “I have spent the last few years keeping you and Aspen alive and focused. I didn’t want you to drift off or feel that you were missing the world.
I was feeding life to my grandparents, and today all of that stopped.
Twelve years of effort to control the world around me just stopped.
I am tired, and my grandmother has already started whining about my not having little ones of my own for her to play with. ”
The room was quiet.
“So accept good as an answer. My brain is not full of endorphins. It is full of pain, change, confusion, and loss.”
Mell dragged in a breath. “Right. You always just seem so invulnerable.”
“That is my secret identity. Now I am at home, and I am just the guy in the bat cave on his day off.”
Ren asked, “Can I go for seconds?”
“Of course.”
“What about when the others come?”
“There is a second slow cooker in the corner and more bread.”
The other three arrived from their day jobs and were delighted by dinner.
She produced the meal agreement and smiled.
“Here. This way I get a schedule of when you guys are going to be home. Breakfast will start at five thirty and conclude at eight thirty. Dinner will begin at four thirty and conclude at seven thirty. If you text me, I will put servings into the fridge for you.”
The guys grinned. They were into their food when a specific sound got Rowan’s attention. She smiled. “Please excuse me. The delivery is here.”
Mell blinked. “Delivery?”
“All the meat for Friday. It’s here.” She smiled and gestured; a huge span of the worktable cleared.
She walked out and greeted the driver and the shopowner. “Hey, how are you doing?”
The owner said, “I threw another hundred pounds of meat in. I have been hearing whispers of the party from all over the city. You are going to get a lot of packs and party crashers.”
“As long as they avoid the gardens, things will be fine.”
The driver stacked a series of boxes, and she paused him and asked the owner, “Is the truck for me?”
“Yes. No other orders inside.”
She smiled and lifted her finger. A glittering band wrapped around the boxes and worked itself into the truck. She walked back toward the kitchen entrance, and a parade of meats followed her.
“How will you prepare the meat?”
“It is going to be a low, slow barbeque for the large cuts and a few chickens. Stuffed hamburgers for the ground beef. Marinated skewers for the pork and chicken chunks, and I am just keeping the bacon to snack on.”
He grinned. “I am very grateful for the invitation. I supply for the fancy events, but I am not invited. This will be the first time I get to see my meat in action.”
Rowan got to the door and opened it. “Rephrase that.”
He snickered. “No.”
She sighed. “I am going to tell my grandpa on you.”
“Who is your grandpa?”
“You would call him Vasoric.”
The man stumbled, and Rowan laughed. “He’s awake and here in the building. I mean, he’s currently balls deep in my grandmother, but I am sure he wouldn’t mind meeting another one of his people.”
She lined up the meat and sorted it by species and purpose. “I might have enough for steaks.”
He said, “I can get you some cuts and drop them by tomorrow. Thirty will do?”
“Sure. You have my card on file?”
“Ah, the new palace called, and they are picking up the tab.”
She got trays and racks out, then pulled the pork rub out. The butcher said, “May I?”
She nodded, and he opened the jar and inhaled.
“This is going to be a very good party.”
“It’s not over until everyone has the meat sweats.”
“That is my kind of party. Did you want help?”
“Nope. I am good. I have done this before when I was playing with sauces.” She shrugged. “Then, I donated all of the food to a homeless shelter. They filled out cards on preferences, and then I did it again with those preferences in mind.”
He stared at her. “So you tested your sauce on the homeless?”
“Yup. I work with food shelves, and they held summer parties so the meat was served there. I also did veggie dips, and they were well received. They are the veggie dip cream or vinegar-based lines.”
He chuckled. “If they are as good as I think, I am going to have to start carrying them.”
“Don’t strain yourself.”
He nodded. “See you Friday. If I hear of any more packs coming, I will bring some sausages and rolls.”
She snorted. “Sausages will be in common reference.”
The orcs laughed. One of the mages asked, “Do you have any additional female friends?”
She paused. “I do have a friend, and she taught me to grill. I can ask her.”
“What’s her name?”
“Hope Matthews.”
One of them whipped out his phone and was tapping away.
Rowan asked, “I have been meaning to ask, how do you guys text so fast?”
The guy typing grinned. “The wide fingers?”
“Yeah. That.”
“We have claws under the tips of our nails, and we use that as the contact point. After growing up with them, we can be pretty precise.”
“Thank you for keeping the explanation clean.”
He grinned and looked at his screen. “Rowan, what does your friend look like?”
“Long black hair, pearly white skin, eyes made of rainbows. Why?”
He looked at her in surprise. “You didn’t think that was odd?”