Chapter Ten #4
Rowan heard her drag in a deep breath, and Hope took shape. Her black and blue butterfly wings were out from side to side behind her. Her hair was jagged but still black; her eyes were kaleidoscopic rainbows. Her skin had a familiar multicoloured glow under it.
Rowan blinked. “You are like me.”
“Second cousin on your mother’s side.”
“You never said.”
“I didn’t want to introduce it into conversation. I didn’t want you to think I was after any family funds.”
Rowan rushed toward her and hugged her. “You smell like rain and cotton candy.”
Hope hugged her. “I have done what I could around here. The garden fed me, and you have no idea how eager I am to have something in the hard protein range.”
“Come on. Everyone is afraid of the smokers. I need to get the meat out and onto trays.”
“Do you have an apron? I don’t want to mess up the dress.”
Pandora grinned. “Mess it up. Working around the wings is surprisingly fun.”
“Thank you for the dress. You have no idea how breezy the winters here are.”
Pandora smiled. “I travel as fog. I have a very good idea.”
Hope hugged Rowan again, her wings fluttered, and her feet lifted off the ground. “Come on, Rowan. I will help get the stuff off the smokers. Where do you need them brought?”
“Into the great hall. The platters are there and waiting.”
“Cool. Pans where they normally are?”
“Yup.” Rowan was grinning as she walked, and Hope flew just an inch above the ground.
The folks gathered widened a path as Hope approached, and when she got to the grill, she paused to get it started. Once that was done, Hope went for the smokers and pulled on the heatproof gloves.
She moved with the ease of practice, and Rowan felt bubbling happiness in her chest. When Hope eased the first slab of beef off the smoker, everyone gasped.
She piled them on the pan and carried the meat into the house.
Rowan changed things up and took the brisket apart in the kitchen.
By the time she had done two, Hope was looking at the burgers and steaks. “Those going on?”
“Yup. Will you?”
“Of course.”
She grinned, brought the two huge pans back outside, and prepped the first grill with an oiled rag while she got the second to heat.
She hummed and started the burgers. Rowan smiled. “They are stuffed, so you are doing great.”
“Any skewers?”
“Oh, shoot, yes. Be right back.”
“Who’s breaking down the pork?”
“My fella. Renyet. Well, Ren.”
“Ah, the green guy.”
“Yes. Why did you hide?”
“I didn’t want to add to your burden. You were working through enough.” She was flicking burgers onto the grill efficiently.
“I could have helped.”
“No. You were stressed. I could see it in your skin. I gave back through the plants and trees. I tried to keep you calm, and I watched over you until you got the spells under control. It was all I could do, so I did it.” She grinned.
“I also stole a bunch of the spare blankets from the empty rooms.”
Rowan blinked. “I had no idea.”
“I snuck in when the house let me in. It only let me in when you weren’t there. Glad you got a job.”
Rowan paused. “Did you sleep in the rooms?”
“The house locked me in a few times, but thanks to the soundproofing, you didn’t hear a thing.”
“So the house knew you were there.”
“Yup.”
Hope started flipping the burgers.
“You are good at that.”
“It was one of my first jobs.”
“Hope?”
“Yes, Rowan?”
“Will you move into the house with me?”
“I can’t pay you, so no. I have seen the rental contracts, and I can’t pay that.”
Rowan frowned. “You think I would charge you?”
“You should. Life isn’t free.”
“Fine. How about you run a tab, and anytime you do anything for the house, you deduct fifty dollars an hour.”
“Why?”
“Because I have eighteen empty rooms, people are looking at me speculatively, and I need someone to make dinners during weeknights and a grill night every two weekends.”
“So, you want a cook.” Hope was smiling. “I could probably manage that. They are going to do their own dishes, though.”
“And I will help when I am not working, but yeah, do you want to be the cook-housekeeper?”
“Sure. Write me up an offer letter.”
“Are you worried about the guys?”
“Nope. My wings freak them out. Most pixies who manifest are guys. Ninety-nine percent of them. There are four of them in town now, and one of them, who is mated to a fire mage, just welcomed their baby into the world. They are the ones over there who still haven’t shut their mouths.”
She smiled at Rowan, and Rowan said, “So nothing horrible happened to you?”
“No. Just had to start over with no legal identity. If you are homeless with no record of the foster homes you were in, it’s fucking tricky.”
She flipped again, and only one out of the twenty oozed cheese. “I’ll take that one.”
Rowan hugged her from behind. “You can have them all.”
She started the steaks while the burgers finished, and she moved through them precisely.
Rowan was happy. Bright and shining and happy.
She looked and saw Aspen talking to a red djinn lady who had a little girl holding her hand.
Mell and Norec were talking to other couples with babies; her grandparents were talking to Avor and other dark elves.
And Hope was back where she was supposed to be: visible and smiling and where Rowan could find her.