Chapter 28 Awkward Encounters
TWENTY-EIGHT
Awkward Encounters
Stomach swooping, I felt lightheaded and confused. What the hell? Looking around, I realized we were now standing on the deck of our new home. Dad held my hand in one of his and the light fixture in the other.
He studied the building and the surroundings. “You’re still close. The ocean can see you. I like it better when you’re on the other side of the road, though.”
The door flew open and Declan was standing there, glaring at my dad. I moved forward, patting his chest and pushing him back inside.
“It’s okay,” I told him. “Dad fixed it. I invited him to dinner. I need to run and get cleaned up before people arrive.”
I moved past Declan and heard my father say, “Daughter?”
When I turned, Dad was pointing at me. I looked down and saw I wasn’t wearing overalls anymore. He’d put me in a long-sleeved dress made of a soft knit fabric. It was light green and went to the floor. My hair was down too, clean and soft.
I pulled at one of my curls. “What kind of conditioner did you use? This is the best my hair has felt in a long time.”
He shrugged a shoulder, then held up the glass branches. “My daughter has created a masterpiece for your home. Where do you want this?”
I waved him forward. “In the dining room. Declan made the table and chairs.”
The glass disappeared from his hand and was glowing on the ceiling. Nodding, he patted my shoulder. “Beautiful.”
Declan kissed me, then studied the light. “It’s perfect.”
I gave him a hug while my dad wandered into the kitchen.
“Everything okay?” he whispered.
I nodded. “Thank you for handling all of this on your own.”
He gave me another kiss as a knock sounded at the front door. “And so it begins,” he murmured, taking my hand and walking me to the door.
Mom was there, looking beautiful and holding a bouquet of flowers. “Good evening, darling. The flowers are a placeholder until I know what you need as a housewarming gift.” She passed me the flowers and took Declan’s hand. “Thank you for having me.”
Mom probably would have preferred I fell in love with a wicche, but she was making her peace with a werewolf in the family.
“Sybil.” Dad was standing to the side, near the dining room, staring at Mom.
“Oh.” Her face flushed. “I didn’t realize.”
“Dad visited this evening,” I told her. “So I invited him to join us.”
She looked between the three of us, a smile painted on her face. “That makes sense. It’s good to see you, Mac.” After one, long awkward moment, Mom turned back to me. “We should put those in water. Why don’t you show me where the kitchen is.”
“This way.” I led her through the dining room and into the kitchen. I held out a hand, gesturing all around me. “What do you think?”
She looked over her shoulder and whispered, “I think you should have told me your father would be here.”
“I meant the kitchen, Mom, and we arrived literally one minute before you did. There was no time to call.”
She ran a hand down her sweater and looked at her slacks. “I should have gone home to change after work. I didn’t want to be late, though.”
There were more voices. It sounded like Elizabeth and her family had arrived.
Mom looked over her shoulder again. “Oh, thank goodness. We need more people here.” She glanced around and stopped. “Arwyn, this kitchen is gorgeous.”
“Hey, you noticed.” I pulled a vase from a cabinet and filled it with water, arranging the flowers inside. “Now that you’re paying attention, come look at the dining room again.”
Hester had arrived as well, and Bracken was walking in the door as I put the flowers on the end table beside the couch. I flicked my fingers, starting the fire in the fireplace.
Dad was standing near the windows overlooking the ocean and away from the group. Tall, gorgeous, with aqua-blue eyes and hair like mine falling to his shoulders, he was impossible to miss, but the others seemed unsure if they were supposed to interact with him.
“Thank you all for coming.” I walked over to Dad and took his hand. “Has everyone met my dad?” Some eyes widened at that. “This is Mac. Dad, this is Mom’s sister Elizabeth, her husband Robert, and their kids Frank and Faith, whom you probably remember from the Gallery.”
I gestured to Hester. “Speaking of the gallery, do you remember my Aunt Hester? She’s helping me out behind the counter in the café.”
Dad nodded. “I remember. You were all in attendance at my daughter’s opening night.”
“Right,” I said. “And this is my Great-Uncle Bracken. He’s Gran’s younger brother. You’ve probably seen him around the gallery too.”
Dad nodded again. “Yes. You live in that—” He looked at me for help.
“RV,” I said.
“Yes,” he agreed. “I’m glad you are there. You are powerful and you care for my daughter. That makes you valuable to me, so I help you.”
No one seemed to know how to respond to that comment, so I blurted out, “Declan, maybe you could give everyone the tour?” Grinning like an idiot, I added, “He designed and built this whole place.”
They asked questions about the materials used and the design choices, but I ducked back into the kitchen to make the dessert filling. By the time the tour ended in the kitchen, I was putting the filling in the refrigerator.
Mom gave me a one-armed hug. We’d learned long ago how to show affection without causing visions. “Darling, your new home is stunning.”
“Thanks. I think so too.”
“He showed us which room you were planning to make the nursery. Can my housewarming gift be your nursing chair?” she asked.
“I’d love that,” I told her.
“Oh,” Elizabeth crooned. “We get to throw a baby shower. We haven’t had one of those in a while.”
Brow furrowed, Faith turned to her mom at that. “Nuh-uh. We went to Jade’s baby shower last year.”
Declan raised his eyebrows at me.
“Jade is a cousin,” I explained. “She’s in Gran’s sister Margaret’s line. Faith is right. We were there. Jade’s insufferable, as are most on that side of the family—”
“Arwyn,” Mom warned.
“Am I lying?” I rolled my eyes and turned back to Declan. “They made a huge deal over a very expensive designer baby bag. Everyone was taking selfies with it.”
“I looked it up afterward,” Faith told him. “That bag sells for twenty thousand dollars.” She shook her head in disbelief. “Who spends that kind of money on a diaper bag?”
“Wealthy people, I suppose,” Elizabeth replied.
“Then they can buy their own houses,” Faith countered. “They don’t need the yellow house.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, her hand slammed over it as her eyes darted around the room, trying to calculate how much trouble she was in. Who had heard who shouldn’t have?
Mom patted Faith on the back. “It’s all right, dear. We all make mistakes. No one here is going to gossip.” She glanced around the kitchen. “Are we?”
We heard the message loud and clear, so Mom got the head shakes she expected.
“FYI,” I said to Faith, “that bag was a fake.”
Her eyes went wide. “How do you know? Wait, does she know it’s a fake?”
Nodding, I told her, “She was the one who bought it online and wrapped it herself before putting a note on it from her boyfriend, so they’d all think she was hooked up with a rich guy who spoiled her.” I shook my head. “People are weird.”
“Yeah.” Frank laughed. “But you actually have a rich guy who spoils you.”
Declan’s arm went around me. “I’m the one who lucked out.” He tipped his head toward the dining room. “Can everyone sit down? Arwyn and I will bring out the food.”
Declan sliced the tri-tip, put it on a platter, then slid the veggies into a serving bowl.
He took both out to the dining table, while I used a spell to heat up milk bread dinner rolls.
I grabbed two ramekins from the refrigerator, one with roasted garlic and herb butter and the other plain.
When I took that out, Declan grabbed the rice.
“Would anyone like wine?” Declan asked. In the end Mom, Dad, Elizabeth, Robert, and Hester had wine. The rest of us drank water, soda, or tea, except for Declan who poured himself a beer.
“Darling, these dishes are stunning,” Mom lifted the plate to study it. “Are these the ones you shipped home from England?”
I nodded, taking the serving bowl that was passed to me. “I was so excited when I got to unbox them.”
Faith looked up at the light fixture. “It’s the same wisteria. Did you get that in England too?”
“My gifted daughter made those glass branches and bunches of flowers,” Dad announced. “She did that today.”
Frank stared at the light, then turned to me. “Specialty light fixtures? Arwyn, we could sell so many of those. It’s art but it also serves a function.”
“All art serves a function,” my dad contended.
Frank nodded and looked down at his plate.
I patted my dad’s hand. “Frank is my gallery manager.” Faith looked up and grinned at her brother. “He’s giving me ideas for things I could make and sell in the gallery.” I turned to Frank. “That’s a great idea.” I twirled a finger at my forehead. “And now I’m thinking of designs.”
Relaxing, Frank took a bite of his steak. My dad did too, after inspecting it closely. He didn’t eat a lot of beef.
“Tell me,” Dad said. “Who are these Swans and why are they threatening my daughter?”
It fell to Mom and Bracken to explain a lot of it, though Elizabeth chimed in a few times. Taken as a whole, their grudge was incredibly stupid and petty, but here we were. Wicche families had been infighting for centuries. This wasn’t new.
“So they’re using black magic,” Dad said. “And they killed this person whose arm you found in the forest?”
I nodded.
“All right.” He patted my hand. “I will kill them for you. I won’t allow anyone to threaten my daughter or my granddaughter.”
The rest of the table stilled at that proclamation.
I flipped my hand over to hold his. “Thank you. Very much. Really. But you can’t just kill them.”
“Of course I can.” The affront in his tone almost had me laughing. Almost.
“I misspoke,” I said. “You can. I’m asking you not to. We can’t kill everyone who has an issue with me. And it’s not only me. They have an issue with all Coreys.”
Faith’s eyes were wide, watching the conversation go back and forth. Frank, on the other hand, was trying not to laugh.
Dad glanced around the table. “If they benefit from my actions, it is of no consequence to me. I do this for you alone.”
“And I appreciate that very much,” I told him.
“But you killing off a whole wicche family is not the answer. We’re working to stop them, and we’re going to report them to the Wicche’s Council.
If the censure or penalty comes from the counsel of wicche families, it will be more meaningful.
If you kill them all, it will only turn more families against us. ”
He slammed his fist on the table. “Then I will deal with all of them too.”
Thankfully, Declan had built us a sturdy table.
Everyone had stopped eating and were exchanging looks, waiting to see if I could derail a mass murder.
I leaned over and kissed my dad on the cheek.
I’d done it before and knew I wouldn’t be dropped into a vision.
“Thank you, truly, but I need you not to do that. You’re always so wonderful about helping me when I need it, but I don’t need you to do that.
It may seem less efficient, but I’d like you to let us handle it. ”
He still looked angry but was listening. “Then why am I here?”
“Because you’re my dad and I invited you.” I squeezed his hand.
He stared at me a moment then nodded, forking up another bite of steak.
Everyone at the table let out a quiet breath of relief.
That moment of tension may have been what pushed a few to drink more than they’d intended.
By the end of dinner, I carried multiple empty wine bottles into the kitchen as I went to prepare and bake dessert.
I vaguely heard people chatting about the gallery.
Faith and Frank were explaining to my dad what they did.
They said at first they’d worried they might not have jobs long if the gallery wasn’t popular, but that hadn’t been a problem.
Someone, I’m not sure who but it sounded like Elizabeth, made a comment about the family giving back the three million they’d stolen from me so I could pay my employees.
Hester asked what Elizabeth was talking about and I raced back in to distract my dad but Elizabeth was already telling Hester I’d paid Gran three million for the cannery my dad had given me.
Dad bolted up as the building began to shake. “What?” he thundered.
I stood in front of him, my hands on his chest. “Please don’t destroy my home.”
Declan pulled me away and slid me behind him.
“Mac!” Mom shouted, standing as well. “Enough. You will not tear down our daughter’s new home. I’m dealing with it.”
The building stopped shaking.
“You knew your mother stole from our child, and you kept the secret? Kept the money?”
The look of disgust on his face hit Mom hard. She dropped back into her chair. “I just learned of it, and I’m working on giving it back. Mom didn’t hoard it. She loaned it to family members in need. Say what you will; Mother always put family first.”
“But stole from my daughter because she’s not real family, is that it?” His voice dripped with derision.
I ducked out from behind Declan. “Mom isn’t responsible for what Gran did. She was as horrified as you are now when she learned about it. Thank you for the cannery, though. I’ve always loved it. The fact that you noticed and got it for me means everything.”
Hands still fisted, he glared at Mom, not listening to me.
“I’m not allowed to see her, to speak with her, to train her so she doesn’t experience pain with her visions.
I try to give her gifts—the earrings and the cannery—and even those you strip me from.
You are the one who left me, who refused to ever speak with me.
Why am I forever being punished?” With one last rumble in the foundation, he disappeared.