Chapter 17 Arden
ARDEN
When they got back to Baz’s place, the street in front of the old store was hectic and crowded with people and vehicles. There were two motorcycles pulled up behind Baz’s truck, big touring bikes twice the size of Lexie’s red dirt bike. There was also an old minivan and a newish blue SUV.
As soon as they emerged from between the houses and Arden saw how many people were there, she nearly turned around and walked right back into the woods.
Baz put a gentle hand on her arm. “It’s okay,” he murmured. “My parents are going to love you, I swear.”
Arden desperately tried to scrub dirt and sap off her hands on her jeans, only to discover that it was all over her. “I need a shower!”
“Our parents live and work on a ranch. It’ll just show them that you’re a good solid country girl.”
“But I’m not!” Arden protested, but she allowed herself to be drawn closer to the group.
All the members of Baz’s little clan were there. Declan was talking to a girl his own age with long dark hair. This must be his sister; although Declan was at least a head taller, the resemblance between the two was clear.
Lexie was helping unload some boxes from the back of the minivan along with a teenage boy and an older woman with brightly dyed red hair.
“Hello there, son!” And this was self-evidently Baz’s dad, a big guy with an easy grin and arms wreathed in sleeve tattoos. “The place looks great. We figured we’d come up and check on you after all that rain, but I knew you kids could handle it.”
Baz grinned, clasping his dad’s hand. “We got some flooding and had a few adventures. I’ll tell you about it in a minute. How’s the road? I was a little worried the culvert might’ve washed out.”
“No, it’s fine. We did get pretty splashed.
” He waved a hand at his mud-covered motorcycle leathers.
“Your mom and I don’t get to ride much anymore, so we figured we’d take the bikes out and enjoy this beautiful morning.
Shoulda paid more attention to your uncle Axl’s descriptions of the road from last time. ”
His parents ride motorcycles? Both of them? Suddenly Arden’s idea of Baz’s farm-boy childhood tilted sideways a bit.
“Yeah, the road could use some graveling. Another thing for the to-do list. Anyway, Dad, there’s someone I want you to meet.” Baz placed a hand in the small of Arden’s back, a gentle, supportive touch. “This is Arden. She’s a guest staying with us. Arden, this is my dad, Remy Hayes.”
“Is she, now?” Remy’s gaze went back and forth between Baz and Arden, and what he saw made him smile. His hand engulfed Arden’s. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, now. Have you seen your mom yet, son? She’s around here somewhere.”
Baz’s mother, Saffron, was a pretty woman with streaks of undisguised gray in her dark hair, just as mud-splattered as her husband, and just as cheerfully unrepentant about it.
She welcomed Arden into the group, and Arden met Declan’s sister Maida properly.
She had arrived along with a pair of large hard-shell suitcases.
“Yes, I’m staying for a while,” Maida told Baz, who greeted the news with a delighted whoop. “Don’t get too excited. I can’t let the rest of you have all the fun, can I?”
“Oh, you just waited until we get a nice place fixed up for you,” Lexie said, flinging a sweaty arm around her prettily put-together cousin, who squawked in dismay.
The redhead was Tara, Lexie’s mom, and the sandy-haired teenager was Lexie’s baby brother Seth.
A variety of other items were unloaded, including a small propane-powered refrigerator and a small satellite dish that Baz’s dad said was going to give them a satellite-powered wifi signal so they could have internet and phone service again.
Finally they sat down to eat. The new arrivals had brought an enormous sack of breakfast sandwiches, which Arden understood had been homemade by Baz’s parents.
There was enough food for everyone with some left over, even for shifter-sized appetites.
“Are you Baz’s girlfriend?” Seth asked Arden, who immediately felt her face turn tomato red.
Lexie whapped her little brother across the back of the head. “I know it’s hard, but try not to be a dumbass if you can help it.”
The story of Fern’s narrow escape was told and retold, with Fern snuggled up against Tara, who had an arm around her.
“Do you need to go to a hospital?” Baz’s mom asked. She glanced anxiously at the others. “I didn’t realize it was so dangerous out here!”
“I’m fine,” Fern reassured her. “My head hardly hurts at all.”
After having seen Fern the night before, Arden reflected that it must be true what people said about shifters and fast healing.
But she couldn’t bring herself to bother with jealousy over it, even with her blackberry cane scratches itching and stinging.
It was so nice to see Fern up and about and feeling well again.
“Oh, hey, who’s ready for mail call?” Remy asked, waving a handful of envelopes in the air. “Lexie, I think your mom has an box for you, too.”
“Aha!” Lexie exclaimed, descending on it. “This must be the carpentry books I’ve been waiting for.”
There were some postcards and letters from older relatives, junk mail, an herbal catalogue for Fern, and some tool catalogues for Baz.
Arden watched them with a smile, but she was caught by surprise when Tara turned to her.
“You’re Arden, right? That would explain this.
” And she pressed an envelope into Arden’s hand.
“What?” Arden asked blankly. But the words on the envelope were clear: Arden, Windrock City.
“We wondered if it might have been a mistake, but this was shoved under the door at Charmian’s midwife practice this morning,” Tara said. “We picked it up and brought it with the rest of the mail, just in case there was someone else here.”
Lexie nudged her. “Pretty cool, huh? Someone knows you’re here.”
“Yes,” Arden breathed. “Someone does.” She shoved the envelope in her pocket without opening it.
“Aww! Don’t you want to know what’s in there?”
“I’ll find out later,” Arden said, forcing a smile. “I think I need another of those breakfast sandwiches.”
In truth, she wasn’t even slightly hungry. Because she recognized the handwriting on the envelope.
It belonged to her ex-husband’s bodyguard, Sloan.