“You’re right. I’ll go tell Alyssa that I need to spend time with the parentals.”
“Charlie.” Kim came dashing over. “Time for me to start being a naughty auntie. Try this gin drink. It’s pink and lovely.”
Ebony took it out of Kim’s hand. “Don’t be ridiculous. Do you want Theo fainting again?” She placed it on the table behind me.
“Well give it back then.” She protested.
“I’m afraid I can’t. You see you can’t be drinking it either.” She smiled. A slow spreading smile that she then accompanied with a raise of her brows until I watched the penny drop.
Kim’s chin hit the floor.
“What did you just say?”
“There’s more than one. That’s all I’m allowed to tell you.” Ebony guffawed with laughter.
“What? More than one? Like two, three, oh my God, am I having like six? What about my figure? Do I give birth as a wolf or as a human? Please tell me they won’t wreck my vajayjay. Oh my God, Dar-iii-uuusss.” She went running back to him.
“You enjoyed that far too much, Auntie Ebony.”
She held up a high-five. I slapped it back.
“Go, go be with your man.” I said.
“I hope you get time to just be a teen, Charlie. To enjoy yourself and have fun. That it’s not all Withernsea woes.”
I shrugged my shoulders.
“What will be will be.” I said, and I walked away.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Ebony
September 2018
Withernsea had managed a whole six months without too much supernatural mayhem. Most of the hi-jinx had come from the very spirited duo of Charlie and Alyssa.
Shelley had returned to work at the Dating Agency, and Charlie had come to work with me in the boutique, helping me run the online side which had grown beyond anything one person could handle. When Shelley had gone back to work, Lucy had suggested to Frankie that they go on a research trip around the world looking into the history of supernaturals. They’d only got back last week. Henry and myself had sat down and spoken to Jax about the supernaturals of Withernsea. After a few hours of hysteria, and a large bottle of wine later, she had slowly started to come around to the idea. She was now at the stage where things were making a lot more sense. Like how Shelley would have had to have been around ten to have Charlie. Before Jax’s brain would just get stuck when she tried to make sense of it. Now everything was becoming clear. As Jax could be known for being very sensitive, when she’d started to get a little upset that she’d been the only one kept out of the loop, I told her my visions had shown me it had to be that way in readiness for her future love. It was a little white lie, but it stopped her from closing the coffee shop in a huff and denying us the drink of the gods.
Theo spent much of his time monitoring his daughter’s social media accounts. After much soul searching, he’d put a halt on his Bed-and-Breakfast plans saying having a teenage daughter was enough for him to deal with right now. Plus, now his mother wasn’t around much, he and Shelley got to spend a lot more time together when Charlie was out, and he was making the most of it. Like he said, he had years to open and run a B&B. I guess to a 127-year-old vampire, a delay of a year or two was nothing.
“The car is here, Ebony. Are you ready?”
I didn’t have a father but my grandmother had come to walk me down the aisle and give me away. I was helped into the wedding car and then we were on our way.
“Your mother would have been so proud of you.” My Grandma said. I knew she was right. My mum would have been so happy that I found love. I touched the diamond bracelet on my wrist that had belonged to her. My something old. Thank you, Mama.
My something blue was of course the bridesmaid dresses. The bridesmaids were waiting for me outside the church when I arrived. Shelley and Charlie waved as I pulled up in the car whereas Kim was yelling at Darius.
I got out and went up to them.
Kim looked at me. “You look absolutely stunning, you cow.” She looked down at her enormous baby bump. “At no point when you had your wedding visions did you notice I was heavily pregnant. Really? How’d you miss this?”
“I told you. I only saw your chest upwards.”
“Well, I could have used a heads up that not only would I be having triplets, but that this overprotective, overbearing idiot would be in my personal space. Go inside, Darius, before I bite your throat out.”
“Darius. Unless you want me to dress you in a lovely blue dress too, I suggest you take your seat.”
He growled. “Fine. But as soon as the ceremony is over I will be right back at your side protecting my cubs, wife.”
“Oh my God, you’re doing my head in. Shelley, Charlie, can’t you put a spell on him or something?”
Darius finally went into the church. “We can’t go in there yet. The groom hasn’t arrived.” Shelley said.
“He’ll be here, don’t worry.” I told her and I met Charlie’s gaze and smiled.
My dress was white, form fitting and plain. I’d totally gone a little Duchess of Sussex except my dress had a sweetheart neckline.
I took a deep breath and waited.
The sound of a car hurtling up the driveway came, the noise of stones thrown out in its wake accompanying it. Henry dashed through the door a few moments later. “Ebony. I’m sorry I’m late. Bloody wedding car wouldn’t start and none of us had a mobile phone between us to let you know.”
“I wasn’t worried. I knew you’d be here. Shall we?” I asked him.
Then we walked down the aisle together.
And just like in my vision the vicar pronounced us husband and wife.
We’d hired the village hall for our reception. It seemed a very long time ago that I’d visited there during a speed dating event in order to tell Theo that his wife was on her way. Now he had a wife and a daughter.
And now I had a husband!
A very sexy husband who was giving me ‘I can’t wait to get out of here and get you into bed’ eyes.
The DJ announced it was time for our first dance and I grasped his hand. Henry led me to the dance floor.
As we danced to Beautiful Day by U2, we invited everyone onto the dance floor with us. People made their way forwards, and I saw Tristan look around before his eyes settled on Jax and he walked over and asked her to dance.
“So, Mrs Marston, have you had any visions today? Such as ones where we go to bed and don’t get out for a week?”
I shushed him. “We can’t go anywhere yet. We have all these guests still here.”
He groaned. “The bridesmaid’s dresses aren’t the only things blue around here.” He pointed to his pants.
“Henry, behave yourself.”
“Spoilsport.”
Then Shelley’s parents gatecrashed the reception. Stomping across the dance floor, they interrupted Shelley who had been wrapped in her husband’s arms.
“Shelley.” Debbie yelled.
“Huh? What are you doing here? Is everything alright?”
“No, it most certainly is not alright.” Debbie huffed. “I just found my daughter in bed with one of your supernatural creatures.”
“Ooh, which one?” Kim asked, walking nearer before Darius pulled her back.
“Well, she was yelling the name Drake out loud.” Mark said.
“Lord Drake? Good for her.” Kim said, making a loud growl escape from Darius’ mouth.
“You do know Polly can make her own mind up about who she dates, right?” Shelley told them, folding her arms across her chest.
Charlie moved onto the dance floor and gave a nod in my direction.
I’ll sort out these selfish idiots.
Holding my new husband’s hand I began to lead him off the dance floor.
“Where are we going?”
“Home.”
“I thought you said…?”
“It has just been pointed out to me that when you have something enormous on your mind that you don’t take other peoples’
feelings into consideration. You just press on regardless.”
“They were very rude, turning up like that. You should have let me throw them out.”
“Yes, well like I say, they reminded me that I have something enormous on my mind, so let’s get out of here.”
“I don’t need telling twice, wife.” Henry picked me up and carried me out of the room.
I smiled. Right now, my vision was full of a hot husband who was eager to have his wicked way with me, and that suited me just fine.
No matter what was around the corner, we would face it together. Because Henry had been destined for me. Here for the Seer.
THE END
What will happen next in Withernsea? Find out in:
Didn’t Sea it Coming
26 September 2018. Pre-order here:
http://geni.us/SeaitComing
Continue reading for the blurb, how to get a free book, and more Andie.
Didn’t Sea it Coming
Chapter One
Rewind…
Charlene Landry’s christening.
March 2018
Polly
“We’re going to die today. I just know it, Mark.” My mother’s bottom lip trembled.
“We are protected, Debbie. I made sure we have every ward and spell available to humans on us. It’s only for a couple of hours. Then we can go back home.”
Help me. I let out my silent prayer. If there was indeed a God in this church, let him please do some miracle performing and get me away from the panicked clutches of my parents. We were standing outside Withernsea Church waiting for my niece to be christened, and my parents were taking it in turns to panic at being surrounded by supernatural beings. As if anyone there was interested in those two and their ramblings.
I was twenty-four and had at last almost saved up enough funds to buy my own place. I had a decent job as a fitness instructor, and when I could find the right time, I would break it to my folks that I was finally moving out of the family home.
There’d be more fuss then than there was right now. Shelley thought she’d drawn the short straw with our parents—my biological and her adoptive—but I wasn’t so sure. Shelley may have received the minimal amount of attention from them, but I’d got the maximum, and in doing so had been a virtual prisoner. They thought they’d attended to my every whim: I had my own pony, I was carnival queen, they got me piano lessons. I felt like a bird trapped in a gilded cage. Shelley got to slam the door, storm out, and off to freedom she went. I was watched while I did my homework and told the way to be.
Shelley thought me a pampered princess but actually I was a pampered prisoner.
Anyway, here we stood on this fine March day and something had gone awry. The christening was running thirty minutes behind and people were beginning to whisper about what the delay could be, given that someone had recently kidnapped baby Charlene and security ran high.
It had taken me a while to comprehend who my sister really was, but I was slowly coming around to the idea that there was more to the world than humans. The truth was, I would like to spend some time getting to know my sister better, even more so now she’d given birth to my niece. I could offer to babysit. What a fantastic idea. That would also get me out of the house even if it would send my parentals batshit crazy.
Shelley and Theo walked into the church and headed straight over to the vicar. A teenager with long dark hair and blue eyes walked in with Ebony. I’d not seen her before, but she gazed at my parents and whispered something to Ebony. Judging by her expression I’d guessed it wasn’t good, but who was she anyway to emit judgy glances our way?
Then Theo turned around and explained everything. Or rather, he performed a compulsion so that any humans present believed that Charlene was being christened today—as a teenager.
It didn’t work on us. My parents had made sure we had spells that covered being ‘brainwashed’ as they put it. My eyes felt like they bugged out on stalks as I looked more closely at the girl at the front, the one who’d walked past.
That was my niece, Charlene?
She was a teenager?
How did that work?
As I changed my focus to my sister, I could see the shock in her eyes. Yes, this has been totally unexpected. I couldn’t babysit now. Maybe I could be someone my sister could talk to instead? Shelley leaned in closer to Theo and he kissed her cheek while giving her arm a reassuring squeeze. Nah, she had Theo. Looked like I was staying in the entertaining company of my parents a little longer. The ones who were currently having heart failure.
“That’s Charlene? That’s their daughter?”
“How? This is too much, Mark. Too much. We’ve only met her once and now she’s a teenager? Do you remember our two at that age?” My mum mock-shivers. “I don’t see how we can form a relationship with a girl who is already a teen. I know Shelley asked us to be her grandparents, but, how can we? Really?”
Just like that, Charlene was being dismissed because she was too unusual, too unpredictable for Mark and Debbie Linley. A couple who could only cope with strict control and order in their lives. But life wasn’t meant to be lived that way, and I yearned to escape their stifling support.
Looking over the rest of the christening crowd, I stopped as a pair of ocean blue eyes were looking back at me. Lord Drake’s. We’d recently met when he and his father had come to visit Charlene. My eyes took in his pale blonde hair, and those pink pouting lips that were curving into a smile, making my own mirror them. He was wearing a navy-blue suit and looked hot as hell. I felt my core pulse.
“What are you staring at, Polly?” My mum asked.
I quickly averted my gaze back to the front of the church where the christening ceremony had now started.
“Nothing, Mum.” I told her.
But it was a lie.
Because I could feel a connection between myself and Drake, and I also knew that if I turned my gaze back to his right now, he’d be looking. I could feel his eyes upon me.
But I was going to have to stay away from him, no matter how much my body wanted to weave my way over to his after the ceremony. My parents would never allow me to date a supernatural, and the grief just wouldn’t be worth it. No, I was destined to end up with a boring human and a boring life, with my boring parents breathing down my neck for the rest of it.
I couldn’t help it, my gaze travelled over to look at Drake again, and just as I’d thought, he was staring right back at me.
Oops.
We made our way to Jax’s coffee shop where she’d put out a small buffet for after the ceremony. My parents were itching to go home, but for once I put my foot down and insisted we go back. I wanted to try one of the delicious doughnuts I’d heard so much about, and one of Jax’s coffees. They were every bit as lush as I’d been told.
As I looked around the coffee shop, envy hit me again. My sister and her husband were so happy. She had this great bunch of friends and a beautiful daughter. I wanted to get to know my sister better, to be part of things, but the truth was she hardly even acknowledged I was here. I knew I was being selfish, that Shelley was busy right now, but still, I was her sister, even if not by blood. We’d lived in the same house throughout our childhoods. If I could escape the controlling clutches of my parents, maybe we’d have a chance at a sibling relationship before it was too late.
My eyes met those of Drake. Once again, a smile lit his lips, making his blue eyes sparkle, just like the very sea he came from. I made an excuse to my parents that I wanted some fresh air and I left the shop.
Within a minute he was pushing open the door of Jax’s.
“It’s nice to see you again, Polly. How’ve you been?”
I flicked my fringe out of my face and smiled. “Good, thank you.”
“Are you still enjoying swimming?”
“Yes, I love it.”
“You’ll have to come swim with me sometime. In the sea itself. That’s if you’d like to?” His blue eyes held a hint of vulnerability and he bit at
his bottom lip.
“I’d love to, Drake.”
He asked for my number. I took out my mobile phone and he took it from my hand, put his number into it and then called himself. “Now we have each other’s numbers.”
“How does that work? Ringing you on your mobile if you live in the sea? It's a lot to get my head around.”
“Just go with the flow.” He winked.
“That’s like a dad joke; you know that, right?”
“I have waves of making you laugh. You’ll sea. You can be shore of that.”
“Please stop.” I groaned.
He laughed, and I swear his whole face lit up. He was the most beautiful, handsome man I had ever seen.
“Can I ask you something?” His tongue darted out and swept across his bottom lip. I felt hypnotised.
“Yes.” He could have asked me anything at that moment. I was so sucked in I’d have given him a kidney.
“Can I kiss you?”
I looked around, making sure we couldn’t be seen by anyone I knew-especially my parents.
“Yes,” I gasped.
He stepped closer to me and rested his forehead down against mine. His lips rested upon my own. He stared into my eyes and his lips once again lifted into a smile.
“You are one beautiful lady, Polly.”
Before I was able to protest, his lips took mine, gently at first and then with more firmness as my head tilted with his and his hand came around to gather in my hair and hold me against him. I swear fourth of July fireworks exploded in my stomach as our lips locked. I never wanted to let go.
After a minute, we broke away from each other. I smoothed down my hair. “I’d better get back to my parents.”
The Complete Collection: Supernatural Dating Agency Books 1-6 Page 52