“I don’t know for sure. But there were times when she’d come to see me, and I’d have to be awakened. Back then, when I was younger, I did sleep. After Mom died, I never had the need for it.” Jude told him she’d be careful. She also told him the story about his mom. “I’d like for you to do that when you think of something. I didn’t know her the way you and the other birds did. I knew her as my mom and not the queen she was. I’ll even tell you all things she said to me about you. It was never anything but praise. Sometimes she’d tell me how one of you, mostly Mercy, would get on her about this or that. While she didn’t like it, I think she respected all of you for loving her enough to make sure she was safe.”
“Thank you for that. I have plenty of stories about her I could tell you. I thought of something else just now. Your mother was already dead when we destroyed the castle.” Duncan looked at her, his face filled with hope. “I know she took a poison before she summoned us to destroy all while she was in it. We didn’t want to, but she told us, and we knew she was right—that if this king were to make it here, she’d be dead anyway. She knew as well as we did, he wasn’t going to keep her around. He only wanted the castle and the lands and people here. I believe she also knew that Mercy, in her grief, would destroy the ship he was coming here in.”
“Mom didn’t tell me that part in her letters to me, about where she died first. She only explained to me why it had to be done. And how. If the castle was destroyed, then no one would think anything of looking for her people. With her dead inside, it would look as if she was set upon and had died defending it.” Jude nodded. “The people being gone too would have made it look as if they’d been taken captive and were more than likely all dead too. I need to know these things. All the information about her. This was a good story, Jude, and it cleared my heart of thinking of her suffering, even a little when the walls came down. Thank you for this.”
“It’s my pleasure, Duncan.” She ate some of the sandwich but did prefer the fruit. As a bird, she didn’t really get much in the way of fresh fruit as she did as a human. “Something else I want you to know about your mom. She wasn’t perfect, not even close. Dante made a great many mistakes when she was queen. She also was stubborn as hell about things. But she would admit, readily, when she was wrong and would say she was sorry right away. Nor did Dante hold a grudge. You should know too, when she was right about a plan or project, it was epic. And she’d make sure we celebrated those victories very well.”
“I knew that about her. She was never one to say she told you so either.” Jude told him that was right. “Thank you again, Jude. I wish there were more pictures of the two of us sometimes. I understood the reasoning behind her hiding me away. What I have trouble with is how she was able to keep her pregnancy so quiet.”
“She used magic, I would imagine. She had a great deal of it. Dante could make a person see what she wanted them to see—or not see, in this case. I’m sure she had your father believing she never conceived or had a child, even if he was in the room with her when she birthed you.” Jude laughed. “Your mom could never make it work on any of us. There wasn’t any reason for her not to have been able to trick us, but she couldn’t do it anyway. I used to think it was because she created us. I don’t know. But it is nice to know she couldn’t.”
“Nor me. Mary, yes, but never me. The only reason I’m sure of it is because she told me how she was making Mary rest more. For her to go to certain merchants when Mom was in need of something she didn’t want others to know about. I believe it was mostly potions and such. Mom could cast too if she needed to.” Jude knew that, as well. “Well, my dear. What do you have to do today?”
“Several things, actually.” She handed him the list she’d started in the bathroom this morning. “Tracy has decided she wants to take some college classes online, so we need to get her registered for that soon.”
After telling him her list, Duncan pulled up his phone. She knew she should be more fluent with the phone and what it could do for her. Jude just didn’t care all that much to do it. Someday, she’d kept telling herself. Well, it was, in her opinion, too much to learn now. Besides, she had her own method, and it worked well for her.
Laughing at Duncan’s attempts to get her up on the latest things, she left the house and him with a short kiss. There really was a lot to be said for having a paper list. She could simply scribble it out when she was finished with it. He could only delete.
~*~
Going over the paperwork that had been on his desk since Christmas, Duncan concentrated on each word this time in order to make sense of what it was saying. There was something there, some word that was out of place that he knew was going to trick him up. After reading it several more times, he put it down when a happy distraction entered the room with him.
“Tracy. Thank goodness you’re here.” She laughed, and he smiled at her. “I have this paperwork, contract I guess you’d call it, for the new building that we’re putting in. It’s going to be for things like large gatherings, as well as plays and such for all the grades.” She sat down and took the paperwork. “I think I’m reading more into this than there is, but for some reason, it’s eluding me as to what I’m missing.”
“What do you mean?” Duncan explained it to her as best he could. “So, you think there is some sort of magic on the page that is keeping you from reading it properly?”
“I’d never thought of that. Yes, that might be it in a nutshell. It’s hiding something from me. I was wondering if you could see what I can’t.” She looked it over, then looked up at him. “You’ve found it, haven’t you?”
“Before I tell you the answer, there is something I need to tell you first. I went to speak to Mercy yesterday. I told her how I was worried that people might take advantage of me now. You know, people have to know that you and Mom have money. I asked Mercy what I could do to prevent magic from being used on me to fall in love with a dead beat jerk and things like that. Understand?” Duncan told her he could have done it for her. “Yes, but like Mom, you would have wanted to know who had done such a thing to me, and would have been ready to hunt them down. This was a preventive thing, not someone taking me to the cleaners now.”
He smiled at her, and she grinned. “I believe you know us all too well. Okay, so Mercy helped you with this magic. I’m assuming she told you to tell us about it.” Tracy told him she had been very stern about letting them know. “Good for her. And for you for making sure you knew when someone was pulling something like that on you. What does it say, honey?”
“Mostly, it’s just what you’d think in a contract, except for this little bit in the middle. Right here, it says this. ‘If the project runs too long, there will be no consequences made to the builders. And if there is any leftover material, no matter the cost, it will be given to the builders at no charge to them.’ I’m thinking if they’re doing the ordering, you’re going to be in the red for an exceedingly long time on this project.” As he took the papers back, she went on to explain something else to him. “There are a couple of other benefits to the builders there. Mostly it’s what I thought about them doing the material ordering, as well as they hire as many men as they need to finish the project. For that alone, even knowing it’s in there, I’d not hire them. I would like to work with you on more projects so that I can run them too.”
“You want to work with me?” She said for him. “No. You’re my daughter. And someday I’d like for you to take over a lot of the projects. As my oldest, it would fall to you to take them anyway.”
“I’m not your child. I mean, biologically, I’m not of your blood.” Duncan set the papers on his desk and looked at her. “I know I’m going to have to take some hits in that I’m not your daughter. I think, and I’m sure this is true that you took me under your roof because of Abe. And I’d—”
“Stop right there. Have I treated you as if you’re nothing more to me than someone I took in?” She said he�
�d been really nice to her. “Good. I’d hate to think that with my first child, I’d mess up that badly. Tracy, as far as I’m concerned, you’re my child. Blood or not, I won’t treat you any differently than I would a child born to myself and Jude. I love you—both you and Abe. You have no idea how much I look forward to things that I’ll be asked to do as your father. And I am. The same as if I had raised you from birth.”
She turned away, then looked at him again. There were tears on her cheeks, and his heart hurt for them. Standing up, he came around the desk and held her in his arms when she stood up. It was as if holding her brought the doors to the dam wide open. She sobbed against his chest like she’d been holding them in for a while now.
“I’ve been on my own for so long. Even living in the home so I could take care of Abe, I was still alone. I never dreamed, at my age, that anyone would love me. Not like a child of their own. Never as a woman falling in love with a man. Then you and Mom came along and opened so many doors for me. I will tell you, I kept waiting for one of you to slam them shut in my face. Every time I speak to you, I think this will be the time you tell me it’s been a joke.” Duncan told her he’d never do that. “I know in my head you wouldn’t. However, my heart is waiting for the day you come to your senses and kick me to the curb.”
“Never. Besides, I think even if that thought came into my head, one of the birds would take me to the highest peak in the world and kick me off to see me crushed on the rocks below. I won’t tell them this, but they scare me.” Laughing, Tracy looked up at him. “There. That’s what I wanted to see—a smile from my firstborn. Tracy, I love you. Very much so. You’re my daughter, and I’d be honored if you would work with me. But never when you have homework.”
“I promise, homework and life is first.”
He held her tightly and saw Jude in the doorway. “She was feeling a little insecure. I thought a hug would take care of that. You have one for her?”
“I do, as a matter of fact.” Jude came and hugged the two of them tightly. “My goodness. I never thought of anything I’d love as much as being a bird. But this, right here and right now, makes all the things I had to go through to be a human all very worthwhile.”
They stood there, hugging and saying how much they had grown to love hugs. Tracy was no longer crying. She also looked more like she believed them. Duncan went to sit at his desk when she pulled away. His heart, for the first time in longer than he could remember, felt tender and wounded that she’d believed he’d ever let her leave.
Jude came to look over some of the other reports they’d gotten in the mail today. Mostly it was people wanting to borrow money for their projects. Each of them would be considered and looked into. The first one on top of the list was one he thought they could use right now. But both Tracy and Jude disagreed.
It was for a new library, as well as reading space. An addition of some computers was also on the list. He asked them why they thought it was a bad idea. Jude answered him first, but he could tell that Tracy didn’t agree with her ideas either.
“We have a library here.” He asked Jude how long it had been since it had been updated. “That I couldn’t tell you, but I do know they’re getting books in weekly they set out for people to read.”
“I think the reading space is a good idea. But without walls. Well, we could have walls, but only in the colder months.” Duncan asked Tracy what she had in mind. “I love to read. I’m sure you guys do as well. There are enough books in this place to put any library to shame. However, I know for a fact you can buy readers, several of them, and put an infinite amount of books on them. Erase the ones you’ve read to make more downloadable. That’s what I use. As for the having no walls, there could be a lovely park to read in. Chairs set in different places around the park. Easily moved ones a person could take with them to read in their favorite spot. A place to have quiet time. A brook that might be making just enough noise so that a person could nap should they need it. A refuge, I guess you could call it.”
“I love that idea. I can see a lot of people using it.” Tracy said that children would have their own park, with animals and such to play with. “Yes, I’m loving this so far. I think it’s a brilliant idea.”
“However, no computers in the park or in the reading area. The readers are only used for reading. No online searches while out in the park. No Wi-Fi, I think. A place that can be used simply to wind down. Step back from the electrical age.” Duncan asked her what made her think of this. “The other day, I was in the little park that was made for Dante. I just realized she’s my grandmother. Anyway, I was there, just smelling the different flowers and reading about the trees. A bunch of kids, about Abe’s age, came into the little space and turned on their phones to play music. It was disheartening to know they were only there because their parents had kicked them out of the house for quiet time for them. The kids were talking about how their parents weren’t into their music. I didn’t mind the style; I did mind the volume.”
“We could put in a media room too.” Tracy nodded and thought it was a good idea. As the two of them tossed ideas back and forth, he set the library addition aside. Pulling up the next paper, he looked at it for five minutes before he realized neither of the women were speaking. They were looking at him with an odd look on their faces.
“What are you upset about?” He asked Jude how she’d come to that. “You’re talking to yourself. Actually, you’re cursing too, but it was the talk that had us looking at you. What’s going on with whatever you’re looking at?”
“Do you remember Mr. Bloom? He was here at Christmas. Remember how he and Abe connected well?” Jude mentioned how she’d taken Abe to his house a few times last week. “Yes, that’s right. Well, he passed away the day before yesterday. Abe and Tracy are mentioned in his will.”
“Me? Why me? I mean, in a will, does that mean I might owe him something? Because if it does, I’m not going. I doubt even Abe would go.” Duncan told her that all it said was they were mentioned. “Can you find out?”
“I’ll check, but I doubt you owe him anything. Usually, when someone is mentioned in a will, they’re going to get something. Not the other way around. The person has died, so I’m thinking he doesn’t believe you owe him anything.” Tracy glared at him. “And that is such a teenager thing to do, love.”
“Good. I’m not sure what he’d be leaving us. To be honest, I didn’t talk to him as much as Abe did. And the one time I was there with my brother, he offered me his library to use while they worked on a project the two of them had started.” She looked hopeful. “Do you think he might have left me some of his books? He has a—had a large collection of all sorts of books.”
“We’ll have to find out by going to the attorneys tomorrow. We’re to be there at ten in the morning. Is there anything going on that I need to know about first?” Jude told him nothing, and Tracy said she had a test for school, but it wasn’t until later in the day at three. “I’m thinking we should be done in plenty of time for you to make that class.”
After they left him to his work, he was able to finish up on two more projects. Duncan was glad for the help in getting through the paperwork. Jude had taken half of his workload and had finished most of them already. He would be glad when he was caught up. Then he’d only have one or two a day to deal with instead of the four dozen or so he’d been putting off in favor of the holidays, as well as getting the castle ready for he and Jude to live in.
Chapter 10
Jude watched the line running through the building before she had them shut it off. Something was off here, and she knew it had to do with human error rather than anything with the lines. So far, she’d been able to track five packages, and each of them had gone to the correct line to be loaded onto the right truck. She turned when Remi said her name.
“Did you know when we got here today that there was over a million dollars in missing product?” Jude told her she’d foun
d it already. “How? And you should have said something, damn it. I have other shit I can be doing if I’m only here to chase your fucking tail. I’ve been looking for over two hours.”
“What’s the matter?” Remi asked her what she meant. “You’ve been snapping and biting since you got here. I can only imagine what you said to any of the employees. This isn’t like you. What’s up?”
Remi opened her mouth but closed it immediately before letting out a long breath. Remi, short for Remington, sat down on the floor. When she shifted to her other self, a vulture, Jude cocked a brow at her. Something really was off if she’d rather be a bird than to speak her mind. As soon as she changed back, Jude joined her on the floor.
“Three nights ago, I was flying over New Town. I was seeing how far my new home was going to be from the castle. It’s not far, but I saw you out in the yard talking to Tracy. Who I love, by the way.” Jude said that Tracy loved her as well. “I’m super jealous.”
“Because I have a back yard I can speak to someone in? I’m sure you can have a back yard as well.” Remi growled. “Doesn’t work on me. Not that it ever did, but tell me or go away. I don’t have time for your bullshit, nor you having a childish temper tantrum.”
“I want a child of my own. I don’t want a mate. I don’t have time to clean up after them. But I want a kid I can take out to lunch when I want to go. Someone to go shopping with. Stuff like you do with Tracy.” Jude asked her what she was talking about. “A kid I can have fun with.”
“Okay, first of all, you do know you could call up Tracy, and she’d go to the ends of the earth with you.” Remi said it wasn’t the same thing. “I guess not. But have you seen the work that Mercy is doing for her new baby? A lot more than I think you want to invest in a kid to have lunch with. Besides, I think it’ll be an exceptionally long time before the kid can eat food, much less read a menu to order from.”
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