“Jake’s definitely part of the reason, but there are others. Like how much I hate living in a big city. And how I actually miss small town life. Do you believe it?”
“Yeah, I do.” He looked around him. “Besides, this place is really special. There’s something different here.”
“Besides the Bigfoot family?”
He laughed, and the sound spilled through me like a cold glass of lemonade on a hot summer day. “It’s been years since I’ve heard you laugh,” I said.
“You’ll hear it more, because I intend to keep in contact with you this time.”
“Why didn’t you return my calls?”
He looked down, chewing on his bottom lip as he did. “William convinced me you didn’t care about me.”
White-hot fury impaled me. “I’ll kill that son of a monkey butt’s flea!”
My tall, handsome little brother put a steadying hand on my shoulder. “He’s not worth it, sis.”
I took a long, deep breath. He was right. Murder, as nice as the thought might be, was not the answer.
Suddenly I remembered my manners. “Brandon, this is…” I turned to see nothing but foliage. “Where did she go?”
I heard footsteps and realized Jake had just walked up. He had three glasses of cold iced tea. He handed me one then held out the second to Brandon. “We haven’t actually been introduced. I’m Jake Blackwood.”
Brandon took the glass and held out his other hand to shake Jake’s. “I’m sure you know I’m Brandon, Buff…Stephie’s brother.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“Jake, have you seen Aunt Octavia?”
He shook his head. “She’s not here today. She told Margaret she was going to an out-of-body workshop in Nashville.”
I stared at him, wondering if I was honestly losing my mind. Thankfully, Jake didn’t notice, he’d already turned to Brandon. “I’ll bet you have some interesting stories of Stephie as a kid.”
Brandon grinned. “Oh, yeah.”
I groaned, but the truth was I was so dang glad to have my little brother back in my life I didn’t much care what he told Jake.
“You bad man,” a husky voice said. “Ms. Margaret home. You went.”
We all turned to find the little Bigfoot…um Dyami behind Brandon.
“You’re right,” Brandon said to the little guy, who came up to Brandon’s shoulder. “It was wrong of me to go into her house without permission. I told her I’m sorry, and she asked me to help her with some things to make up for what I did.”
“He’s not a bad man, Abukcheech,” Jake said. “He did a bad thing because someone convinced him it was the right thing to do.”
The little creature scrunched up his leathery forehead. “Not bad?”
“No, he just did a bad thing.”
“I take doll. Cousin cry.”
I saw Jake’s lips quirk, but he held on to his stern expression. “That’s right. You aren’t a bad person, but that wasn’t a nice thing to do. Was it?”
“No.” The little creature looked down for a minute, then toward Brandon. “Baseball. I learn?”
“I would love to teach you.”
Brandon and the little Bigfoot took off toward a cleared and flattened area.
I glanced toward the house and saw Margaret and a Bigfoot talking together. Surprisingly, the Bigfoot, I mean Dyami, had on a dress. “They wear clothes?”
“Mostly for the sake of humans. They think it’s strange we’re so easily embarrassed,” Jake said. “Besides, in the forest it would be too easy to spot them.”
I studied the dress-wearing creature and realized it had much more delicate features than either of the other Dyami I’d seen.
“That’s Chepi, Nootau’s wife.”
To one side, the Bigfoot who’d had a gun held on him—Nootau—was talking and laughing with some of the men from town. He caught sight of Chepi and went over to her. He kissed her on the ear, and she turned and smiled at him. I saw the look in their eyes, the look of true love, of forever after.
“Surreal,” I whispered.
“Think you could live in a surreal world?”
I smiled. “I’m not sure I could live in the regular world. Not anymore.”
I caught a glimpse of movement in the trees to my left and turned that way. A tiny creature stepped into view, about three feet high, gray skin, huge eyes and a small slit for a mouth. I instinctually reached for my camera, but in mid-motion I thought better of it and waved toward the critter instead. It waved back, then as quickly as it appeared it disappeared into the woods.
“Good choice,” Jake said.
I smiled. “I’m learning.”
He ran a fingertip down my cheek. “Good, because I want you here with me.”
“I seem to have fallen in love with both a man and a town.”
Then I was in his arms and he was kissing me like I’d never been kissed before. When we came up for air, I looked deep into his eyes. “There are some things I need to take care of first. Things back home in Alabama.”
“What do you think your folks will think of me?”
I felt happiness wash over me. “I don’t really care. They’re stuck with you whether they like it or not. For a long, long, long time.”
Jake chuckled as he pulled me close again.
“Get a room,” Maddie’s voice called.
“Later,” Jake whispered. And I smiled with anticipation.
A word about the author...
Cheryel Hutton talks to dragons. Thing is, they talk to her too, telling her stories of witches, werewolves, Bigfoot creatures, fairies, and vampires. Then there are the stories of evil humans—and they are the scariest stories of all.
Cheryel, her family, and two dachshunds live in Chattanooga, TN. The South is known for odd corners where the impossible sometimes comes to life. Cheryel loves to visit those places when she isn't working on her next novel.
Cheryel is also the author of The Keepers of Legend, published by The Wild Rose Press, Inc.
More info about Cheryel and her stories can be found on her website:
www.cheryelhutton.com
or her Facebook page:
www.facebook.com/CheryelHuttonAuthor
or follow her tweets
@cheryelhutton
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The Ugly Truth Page 21