Paisley patted them on the head when they walked by her, then stopped Addison with a hand on her arm. “Stay here.” She held her hand up. “Don’t fight me one this one, Addison. I’m perfectly safe. Besides, you know some about my dad and my family. If they have questions, answer them.”
She opened the door and walked outside. Alexia stood beside the fence with her hip leaned against it and her head down. Today she wore form-fitting gray trousers and a pale blue sweater. It looked like cashmere, and Paisley knew for a fact the clothes were brought over from her world. Paisley had more pressing concerns than what Alexia was wearing. “How do you know my family?”
“Your father and I went to school together.”
****
Paisley kept her face neutral but inside she cringed. Her dad was fifty-four; that would place Alexia around the same age. Oh, god, was this the reason her mother hated her so much? Surely, Alexia and her father weren’t together, together. Alexia looked as calm as ever, and as smoking hot as ever. Paisley felt anything but calm or hot. She could only guess at how dirty she was. She shook her head to rid it of images of Alexia and her dad.
“Paisley, stop. I can see what you’re thinking.” Paisley gasped and stepped back. “Not literally.” She rolled her eyes. “Nothing happened between your dad and me. We’re friends.”
“Okay.” It felt like a load had been lifted off her shoulders and she visibly relaxed. Alexia smirked. Then it dawned on her what she said. Are friends, not were friends. “How can you skip between worlds? What’s the purpose? In order to be on the Council, you had to have been born in our world. Who are you? Really.” She screamed and smacked the fence post. “Why does all this crazy shit happen to me? First Lana, then my mom, then Gloria, then you, now them.” She pointed to the house. “Let’s not forget the queen, who hates me, by the way. Oh, and Beatrice.” She slumped against the fence. “To be fair, Beatrice is okay and I do have Addison. I like Addison,” she mumbled. She couldn’t decipher the look on Alexia’s face. “Why do my mom and grandma hate you? Why did they accuse you of making me disappear? What the fuck is going on?” She stomped her feet and waved her hands in the air.
Alexia slipped her hands in her pants pockets. “Are you quite finished?”
“I believe so.” How could one woman look so sexy just standing there? Her body quivered and she sucked in a breath when Alexia grinned at her. “I am done.”
“Why did you defend me in the marketplace? Don’t give me a bullshit story either. Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
“Lana made it quite clear what I’d done.” Alexia’s eyes flashed a deep red, but it only gave Paisley pause for a second. She knew deep down Alexia would never hurt her. She waved her hand in the air. “Not physically. It was implied that should I visit your house, she would know, because there are guards stationed around it. She also let it be known that once I fully come into my powers they are going to use me to protect this area and not you.” She sighed. “I was ready to give her a chance. Ready to try...” She took two steps closer to Alexia. “Until the marketplace happened. I’ve learned in the last couple of weeks that life is short and my life is fucked up. When I knew I wasn’t going to be able to meet you…it hurt. I can’t explain it. It’s just…you felt right. It’s not a secret, and I’m sure you know, but you are an incredibly attractive woman. You’re sexiness personified and I am quite affected by that. When I thought I would never see you again, I was ready to embrace my new life. My grandma asked me to give it my best try. I was, until…”
Alexia looked taken aback. “The marketplace,” she whispered.
“Yes. I don’t believe in fate or some notion that my life has already been written and I must follow a certain set of predetermined rules. I am not of this world.” She tapped the cuff on her wrist. “This wasn’t my choice. My choice was taken away from me. But I do have a choice now. I’m just not sure how to go about getting what I want.” She cocked her head.
“And what do you want?”
“You.” Paisley smiled when Alexia gasped. She felt a deep satisfaction when Alexia’s cheeks colored. So, she could be rattled.
“Me?”
“You have to know how you affect me.”
“I do.” She tapped her chin. “I’m old enough to be your mother.”
“Not with the things I think about doing to you.”
Alexia laughed, then drew her eyes from Paisley’s boots all the way to her eyes. “I’m not, not affected by you either.” They stood side by side against the fence.
She grimaced. “I know I don’t look my best right now.”
“Paisley, you look fine. Beatrice must be working you awfully hard?”
“You have no idea.” They stayed side by side and basked in each other’s presence.
Alexia turned to her. “You’re playing a dangerous game.”
“I’ve always been good at games.”
“Oh, Paisley.”
She laid her hand atop Alexia’s and squeezed. “I’m not sure I know what I’m doing. My life is messed up right now, but the one thing I know for sure and the one thing I am not fighting is the pull I feel toward you. Before I left, I told my dad I didn’t love Lana and I wasn’t sure I would ever be able to. He told me to find someone I could trust and hold on to her, no matter what happened and no matter who was against it. I don’t want to fight this.” She lifted their clasped hands and brought them to her chest. “Do you?”
“Paisley.” She shook her head. “No, I don’t, but I don’t really know what this is. I’m an old woman.”
“Me either, but won’t it be fun to find out? Your age is the least of my worries. Good grief, I almost fainted in the Council meeting when you put your glasses on.”
Alexia chuckled. “Indeed, it will be fun.” Paisley kissed Alexia’s palm then pulled her hand back. “What is it? Already changed your mind?”
“No.” She stuck her hands in her pants pockets and held Alexia’s gaze. “Beatrice hasn’t even started teaching me anything yet. She wanted me to move a cup. I need help. I need someone to show me what to do. I have no clue what I’m doing. Right now, she has me weeding her garden. I need to be prepared for anything that might happen. I need to be ready to protect you and your girls at a moment’s notice. How can I do that if I haven’t been taught?”
“Paisley.” She traced Paisley’s jawline. “First, give Beatrice a chance. She will teach you, but it will be on her own timeline. I wouldn’t go so far as to say trust her, but I don’t think you cannot trust her. Second, I am hated by a lot of people, including Lana and her family. If she were to find out I was teaching you, I don’t know what she would do or what the consequences would be. Do you really want to risk your life because of me and my girls?” She shook her head. “It’s not worth it.”
“You are worth it. I trust you. Don’t ask me why or how, but I do. I feel it in the pit of my stomach. It’s a fire burning me from the inside out. I know you could protect your girls. you would die for them. But who’s going to protect you?” She bit her lip. “Look, I like you. Let’s see where this goes. Nice and slow. I’m in no rush to get to the finish line, but rest assured, I do want to get there.” She ran a shaky hand through her hair. “You intimidate the hell out of me.”
“If you want to go nice and slow, which I agree with, you’re going to have to stop looking at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you want to lick me from head to toe.”
Good god. Paisley groaned. Play it cool. Play it cool. She coughed. “Good…good…okay. Yes, I agree. No devouring. Check.” She diverted her eyes to the ground, counted to ten, then took a step away from her. Alexia liked her. This was good. She could work with this. In the Council room she was so unattainable, but now, if she wanted to, she could reach out and touch her. Where once there was no hope, now she was filled with it. Life just got a whole lot sweeter. “When can we start my lessons, and where are we going to go? You can’t teach me at your house.”<
br />
“I’ll teach you here. You can ask their permission, but they won’t mind.”
“I have to be at Beatrice’s the rest of the week, then on Saturday, another family dinner. Which I am over the moon about.” She rolled her eyes. Pushing her nerves and anxiety as far back as she could, she stepped into Alexia’s personal space, kissed her quickly on the cheek, and stepped back. “I think we need to go back in the house, explain everything to my family, and figure out when my first lesson will be. I can assure you, I won’t be missing the first one for anything. But answer me a question. You said my dad and you are friends not were friends. What does that mean?” She turned away from Alexia’s penetrating gaze, then spun back around when it dawned on her who Alexia was. “You. It’s you. You’re the one that visits my dad once a year, on the fishing trip, to tell him about Dangor. Why?”
Alexia relaxed against the fence. “It was as much of a shock to me as it was to him when we ran into each other again. As it was to Cliff. It was like those two years had never happened. He was quite excited to receive news of his family, and I was happy to provide it.”
“You visited my world more than once a year, though.”
“I did, but your father and I only visited once a year. We felt it would be better that way. He was homesick at the time, but he also realized he had a family that needed him. He needed to keep his mind focused on his family.”
“He said he never told you about me, but you don’t seem all that surprised that I’m his daughter.”
Alexia sighed. “I am a member of the Council, therefore I know about your mom’s family line and I know about you. We, meaning the Council, thought that after a certain age, you wouldn’t develop abilities. Of course, we kept tabs on you, but when nothing came to be we concluded that you were barren.”
“You kept tabs on me?”
“Not me specifically, but someone did.” She held her hand up. “But from all of the reports, their interest in you died when you turned thirty. They felt that if nothing had happened up to that point, then nothing would.”
“And what did you think?”
“What I thought at the time didn’t matter. I only have a seat because it was passed down from my mother.”
“So you knew what I looked like before our first meeting?”
“Yes, but nothing prepared me for you in the flesh. You are a beautiful woman, Paisley, and don’t let anybody tell you any differently. I was especially surprised when you went against your mother in front of the entire Council.”
“I was fed up with everyone making my decisions for me. I was at a breaking point when I walked in there, then you happened, then my mother…I’d just had enough.”
“We all reach those points.”
Paisley sucked in a breath when the wind blew a lock of Alexia’s hair down her forehead, and without thinking Paisley reached up and pushed it out of her eyes. She bit her lip when Alexia captured her hand and placed a kiss on her palm. “I hate to break this moment, but I have to know.”
Alexia’s eyes sparkled. “Ask your question.”
“Why do my mother and grandma hate you so much?”
Alexia let her arm drop, but didn’t let go of Paisley’s hand. “That I don’t know. I don’t have anything concrete. I know she believes I practice dark magic and that could be the cause. I don’t believe she ever knew about me and your dad meeting. So, I don’t think it’s that. She has never liked me, even from our first introduction. At this point, your guess is as good as mine.”
“Fair enough. I still don’t know what possessed them to pull the stunt that they did.” She shook her head. “Anyway, we should head back in.” Alexia nodded and led the way toward the house. Paisley had a sinking feeling that her mother did know about their meetings and drew her own conclusions. If that wasn’t the case, she had no clue, but she had a funny feeling that her mother’s hatred for Alexia was far deeper than either one of them realized, and she hoped it didn’t play another part in what was happening around her or cause her any more trouble.
****
As soon as they entered through the back door, all eyes were on them. Paisley waved off the question in Addison’s eyes and focused on the people around her. No, not people. Family. It still felt surreal to be here with them, while the rest of her family were in a completely different world. Her aunt stepped forward.
“I take it you two worked out your differences?”
“What differences?” Paisley grinned and Alexia snickered.
“Good.” She pointed to the couch. Paisley sat down first, and even though there wasn’t much room, Alexia sat down beside her. Alexia angled her body so her back was to the person beside her and she slipped her arm on the back of the couch behind Paisley’s head. Paisley wouldn’t pass up the opportunity, so she shifted her body so she was leaning back against Alexia.
As Alexia relaxed, everyone else in the room did, too. Amelia was sitting on Nana’s lap and Zoey was standing in front of her, staring at her. Her little hands were balled into fists. She had a feeling she was the more vocal of the two.
“Would you like to sit on my lap?” Paisley held her breath, but didn’t break eye contact with Zoey. She feared that would be a complete disaster. As her heart dropped and her resolve stared to waver, Alexia squeezed her shoulder and she patted Paisley’s lap. Zoey inched herself forward, and when she was close enough to touch her, Amelia jumped down from Nana’s lap and climbed into Paisley’s without a second thought and snuggled into her. Paisley held her tight, but was at a loss of what to do when Zoey’s’ bottom lip started to tremble. “Alexia?” she said quietly.
“Zoey,” Alexia said softly.
“Mommy.”
“Come here.” Alexia picked her up and cradled her to her chest, all without moving her arm from behind Paisley.
“Addison, come here.” Paisley handed Addison the compact camera she kept in her pocket and told her to take a picture. She wasn’t sure how long the battery would last on the camera, but at least she would always have the picture of them. Their first family photo. She could almost believe they were in their own house, sitting on their own couch, until her aunt spoke.
“How is your dad, really? Pictures can only tell us so much.”
“He’s good, actually. It hurt to leave them, but I hope one day to be able to see them again. If not, I hope in time I can find a way to deal with everything that has happened.” She didn’t voice it, but she knew the three that surrounded her would go a long way in making that happen.
She relaxed back into the couch when Amelia started playing with her necklaces. “He’s happy. He and my mom have an amazing relationship. He misses everyone here, of course, but like me now, you have to find a way to push those pieces back, and he’s found a way to do that. If it helps, he told me he doesn’t regret anything that has happened. If given the chance, he would make the same decisions. He’s a good man.”
“Did he teach you to fight?” her uncle asked, leaning forward in his chair with his elbows resting on his legs. He looked so much like her father in that moment she had to take a deep breath to compose herself before answering.
“Yes, although everything happened so quickly, I didn’t get much training in.”
“I would love to teach you,” he said.
“I don’t know how much free time I am going to have, but I would love you to. Even though I fought his lessons, I did enjoy them and I do need to get more training with my dagger.”
Her uncle stiffened. “What does the dagger look like?” Every eye in the room was on her.
“Addison, slip my dagger out of the side pocket of my backpack.” Addison unzipped it, then handed the dagger to her uncle. Several different emotions crossed his features when he unsheathed it. The mix of feelings were clearly shared by everyone else in the room. Hannah, her cousin and Malcom’s daughter, looked over her dad’s shoulder.
“Is that Grandpa’s dagger?”
“Yes. Dad gave it to Daniel when he left. It’s be
en in the family for at least a hundred years. I didn’t think I would ever see it again.”
Paisley sniffed, holding her tears at bay. Alexia squeezed her shoulder. “Do you want it back? I can carry something else.”
“No.” He shook his head. “Dad gave it to Daniel, and Daniel gave it to you. You’re family, Paisley, and it will be up to you to pass it on when the time comes.” He sheathed it, then handed it back to Addison, who slipped it back into the backpack.
“When your dad was younger he always wanted a big family. I’m surprised you’re an only child.” Nana broke the silence.
“They did want a big family, but Mom had complications delivering me and the doctor advised her that she wouldn’t be able to have any more. I know they wished they would have, but they never felt like they were settling. Dad said he would never risk Mom’s life for another baby. He loved her too much.”
“That sounds like Daniel. Loyal to a fault,” Olivia said.
She snuggled back against Alexia, and over the next two hours Paisley answered any questions they had the best she could. It was hard to concentrate on them with Alexia running her fingers through her hair. Amelia and Zoey had fallen asleep over an hour ago, and she knew by the way Alexia kept shifting her body that they would have to leave soon.
In the coming weeks, she hoped Zoey would come around. Maybe on her next visit to the marketplace she would pick up a couple of chocolate bars for the girls. Bribing them couldn’t hurt. It had always worked on her when she was younger, so she didn’t see any reason why it wouldn’t work on them.
“Paisley?”
She tilted her head back. “Yes.”
Alexia kissed the tip of her nose and Paisley almost turned to mush right on the couch. “Your nana is talking to you.”
Paisley jerked her head around and couldn’t contain the blush that crawled up her neck when Nana gave her a knowing smirk. “Go home, Paisley. You’re about to fall asleep on the couch.”
The DragonWitch Tales - An Unexpected Beginning Page 15