And Jericho Burned: Toke Lobo & The Pack
Page 34
The voice was hoarse, but Lucy ought to recognize it.
“It’s the Smiths,” he replied.
“Come in.”
He pushed open the door and let Lucy precede him.
“Mattie?” The shock in her voice satisfied him.
“Yeah, Ghost Lady,” Joseph said. Ethan had brought both of Mattie’s children to visit her. “Mama’s alive.”
The former cook’s skin was right red, and her face was swollen and bruised. A huge scab oozed on one cheek.
“Everybody got out,” Stoker said. “Mattie was in the root cellar, which protected her when the warehouses blew.”
“The Lord saved me,” Mattie said, “because I never let General Butler blind me to the truth of what’s in the Bible.”
She made a face–Stoker wasn’t sure if it was an attempt at a smile or a grimace.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do now,” Mattie said. “Reuel turned everything over to the General when he moved us to New Sinai. It wasn’t much, but it was ours.”
“I think I can help you,” Lucy said. “I’m moving to my husband’s hometown, so I’m making changes to my catering business. I’m promoting my assistant to manager, which means I need to hire another cook. Would you be interested in learning gourmet vegetarian cuisine?”
Hope lit Mattie’s features, making her almost pretty. “You’d do that for me?”
“No,” Lucy said. “My business isn’t a charity. I need a cook and someone who isn’t afraid of working long hours. I happen to know you’re a good cook. You’d be doing me a favor–save me the trouble of advertising and interviewing and all that stuff. And there’s a small apartment over the shop that I could throw in as part of your pay.”
“So my kids would be right upstairs while I was working,” Mattie said.
Stoker was so proud of his Lucy.
They lingered only a few moments, because Mattie tired easily.
“Everything is settled,” Lucy said, sitting next to him in the front seat of his rental truck. “I guess I can pack my stuff to move to Loup Garou.”
He lowered the windows, and a wash of cool air freshened the truck interior.
They drove in silence for several moments, leaving the city on a highway that seemed to wind its way into the clouds.
“Are you going to get into trouble for what happened to Randy’s hand?” Lucy asked.
“Nah. Last I talked to Restin, Randy’s being treated like the nutcase he is. Ranting about werewolves and ghosts and phantom singers tends to get one looked at funny by bureaucracy.”
Lucy laughed. “What are we going to do with the rest of our lives now that this is behind us?”
Did she sound the least little bit anxious?
“Well,” he said, speaking slowly as if he hadn’t already thought and planned about the future–about their future–for years. “I won’t be touring with the band any more.”
“Will you miss it so terribly much?”
“Nah. I hate being on the road. I’m really a home-loving kind of guy. But I’ll still do all the studio sets. Restin lost that round.”
“I thought the studio sessions were just part of your cover.”
“They were part of our cover in Idaho, but we really did lay down tracks for our next CD. We usually record closer to home. In fact, Tokarz is thinking about building a recording studio near Loup Garou, now that he has a family to think about. He wants to diversify the pack’s economic base. We were hurt real bad when the silver mine tapped out; and there are lots of elders who don’t like the fact that we own a brewery when we know beer is poison.” He glanced at her profile, but she didn’t react. “Tokarz is a good alpha. He’s looking at the big picture. He also wants to continue our collaboration–he writes the lyrics, and I do the composing.”
“That’s wonderful!”
“Yeah, I’m pretty happy about it. Now that I won’t be on the road, I’ll have more time to write music, which is all I ever wanted to do.” He pulled onto the shoulder of the road. “I guess this is as good a spot as any.”
“Is something wrong?”
“Yeah.” He opened his door and hopped out of the truck then made his way to her door, where he helped her out of the cab.
Lucy hesitated, and he caught the faintest whiff of fear, which hurt. Then he took in their surroundings and tried to put himself in her position.
They were miles from nowhere, alone on an empty highway. He’d stopped his vehicle and now they clambered over boulders damp with spray from the stream. Any woman would be nervous. They’d known each other only a week.
The trace of fear disappeared nearly as quickly as it manifested as he held her hand and they ambled downstream.
Icy droplets of water shimmered in prisms of colored light all around them.
Perfect.
Stoker lifted Lucy to the top of a large boulder, out of the chilling dampness then clambered up next to her. Clasping her hands in one of his, he dropped to one knee. His other hand burrowed into the pocket of his jeans.
He shouted to be heard about the roar of the rushing water. “Lucy Callahan Smith, will you do me the honor of remaining my wife, my life mate, the other half of my self?”
He withdrew his great-grandmother’s ring, the one he’d given her once before, and which Michelle had returned to him as proof that his marriage to Lucy was over.
The diamond sucked in all the sunlight it could hold then spewed it out in ribbons of rainbows that painted Lucy in all the hues of love and joy.
“Yes,” she said, and he slipped the ring over her knuckle.
Also from MJ Compton
and Soul Mate Publishing:
MOONLIGHT SERENADE
Alpha male werewolf Tokarz de Lobo Garnier will do anything for his headstrong human bride . . . except trust her. She’s a reporter, and she’s on the trail of a story that could destroy the sanctuary his pack has enjoyed since the American Revolution. But she’s in danger, and risking her safety goes against everything he believes. When the evil turns its sights on him, he must make a decision: the safety of his mate or the security of the pack he leads.
Available now on Amazon:
http://tinyurl.com/muv4cjx