“No thanks. But don’t say that I didn’t warn you about this. She’s a beautiful woman who would turn me down as sure as shit.” Even with that answer he knew that his son would do it. He was already in a better mood. Melville grabbed one of the rolls before Mel ate them all. “Besides, maybe she and I will suit and I can give you the grandkids you’ve always wanted.” Never, he wanted to tell his son. Never did he ever utter the words, “I’d love to be a grandfather.” That was for old men and women. A thing to pass the time of the day and to have back spasms and hurt feelings. Nope, not him. He never wanted to hold another child for as long as he was on this earth. And he figured that he had a very long time to go yet. Children were for saps, and he certainly wasn’t one of those. He might be down, but he wasn’t out, not yet. There was always some way for him to make a buck or two before the big one hit. He just wished the big one would hurry up and get here—he was sick of the dry spell he was in. ~~~ Sapphire knew they were never going to go for this idea. But she did promise that she’d ask. Sebastian had actually thought of the plan, and she had thought he was joking. But the more she thought about it, the better she liked it. And going to Carmine hadn’t been her idea, but the little girl had been sitting quietly on the sofa when Sebastian had asked her. “There’s some trouble at school.” That wasn’t the way to start that conversation, Sapphire knew that, but she wanted to get things out where they could understand. Danburn asked her what was going on. “Carmine’s not sure who she is. How she fits into her own family.” Quinn and Hanson were there, as well as Rette and Cassie. They’d had a family dinner tonight, but the other two, Kip and Griffith, had begged off, saying that while it was dark out, raining, they wanted to fly. Sapphire looked over at Elissa when she said that she’d heard too. “They’re teasing her, Quinn. She’s not your daughter, not his child, and she isn’t sure what the baby will be to her either. Stepsister, half? And then there is the mother/daughter tea coming up. They’re making it hard on her to figure out who is to go with her.” Sapphire told Elissa she had a plan. “Oh, my dear, I know that it’ll be a good one too.” “Let Sebastian take her.” No one said a word but their faces said plenty. Sapphire continued before they could tell her no. “Hear me out. He said that he’s unique and that he’d stand out like a beautiful woman. But also, he’s dangerous and would know how to fight. Sebastian thinks that it will give her the confidence that she needs, and she will be much better afterwards. She’s suffering needlessly, and he wants to fix it for her. He’s sure that he can.” “What’s he going to do, kill the other children?” They were joking, but that’s just what he wanted to do, she told Hanson. “No, then. He’s not going to—” “He won’t. Sebastian loves her like his own child. He’d never harm her or any other child. But he hates that she cannot have a good time because her home life is so different than the other children’s lives. And while she’s happy at home, confused but happy, she’s still different than them in a lot of ways; you knew she would be going in. And because of that, she’s a target for all kinds of jokes and such.” Hanson asked how having a gryphon would change that. “When you were going to show and tell at school, who was the coolest kid that day? It wasn’t the kid that brought in his mom, was it? I’m betting it was someone that was very different than what you had at home.” “The kid whose father was an undertaker.” Danburn laughed as the memory was told by him. “He dealt with the dead. Not that any of us had seen a dead person by then in our lives, but we knew they were around. And when he told us how he had to prepare the body for viewing, you could have heard a pin drop in the room we were so interested.” “You think that Sebastian will make it so that she’s the cool kid? I mean, yes, that’ll be good for one day, but what about the rest of the days? She’s trying so hard.” Sapphire agreed with Quinn. “I don’t know about this.” “He wants to walk her to school every day. Even the cold days in winter.” Kendrick asked why that was important. “Did you know that he can fly? That he can also kill someone that comes for her? And you know as well as the rest of us that she is being searched for.” “Yes, but.... Oh, I see. You think that if he’s with her, she’ll stand a better chance of not being hurt.” Sapphire said that’s not what she meant at all. “Then I don’t understand.” “Carmine can take care of herself. Even under threat of being shot, I’m betting that she could bend a bullet around so that it never touched her. Each of us have given her a part of ourselves. My sisters included. Sebastian would be a distraction for her. Someone that could outrun a bullet so that she could use her considerable powers on some ass hat that wants her to come to some lab with him.” “And the flying part you talked about, that too would be a distraction for her to work her magic?” She nodded at Elissa. “I love the idea. Not just so she can get through this tea thing, but also that she gets someone with her at all times to make sure that she’s safe.” “When is the tea?” Sapphire told Quinn that it was on Friday. “All right then, he can go. Wait; why is he only going on that day?” “To make sure that the children aren’t afraid of him. He’s a beautiful creature to all of us. But to a child, he might be too big, too scary for them. Also, I don’t want his feelings hurt if they reject him every day.” Elissa nodded as if she understood that more than others. “If you give him permission, he’ll take her to the tea on Friday and bring her home. After that, we’ll see how they react.” “What does Shawn say?” She was surprised that the question wasn’t asked from Danburn before this. “As pack leader, he’d have to okay this. It might be what she needs, but he’d be the one that would have all the questions put to him when Sebastian leaves for the day.” “He is thrilled to have such a creature coming to his school, and will be there as well. He wishes to be there to see the kids’ reaction to something so different than themselves. Also, in the future, I have made arrangements with him to have a faerie come in and talk to them about keeping the forest cleaned up, as well as a brownie to talk to them about how things are made by them.” Danburn thanked her. “I didn’t want to come here about this without having all the information. Also, there is one more thing that I need to ask of you all.” “Anything you want, it’s yours for helping our daughter.” The rest of the room agreed with Hanson and she smiled. “Within reason, I should say. I always forget to say that part when I’m happy.” “There is nothing to fear from me, I promise. I would like to talk to you about having a garden patch work.” Danburn asked what that was, but Elissa knew and told him. “You mean have a garden patch set up for the townspeople to use? We tried that once before and it became a disaster. People were stealing another person’s food. There wasn’t anything to keep the animals out of the gardens, and they lost a great deal on that. The only thing that came out on top was the deer.” “I’ve a different approach. There will be vegetable and fruits assignments. People will be responsible for growing, say, green beans. And someone else will be growing peas. They can work together if they wish, but one person will be assigned something to grow. Once the produce starts to come on, they can barter their goods for someone else’s. Say the potato man would like some green peas. Then he would barter for them with his things. It has worked before when there was enough equipment to make the job easier.” “You mean to buy a tiller, or even hoes and such.” She told him that sometimes it would be the only thing keeping the gardener from being able to do his garden correctly. And having the right equipment would make it easier for all of them. “Who will be in charge of this? To be honest, I have too much on my plate as it is. I would love to help, but I just can’t.” “Mr. Crocket said that he’d help. In fact, this was entirely his idea. He said that it would help him, what with his job now in watching over our lands, to have someone play around in the dirt for him. That’s another thing, it would be a family thing. And no cell phones would be allowed within two yards of the garden area. I can take care that there is no service around the plots to ensure that it doesn’t happen.” He laughed and asked how that would go over. “I don’t care. This will be family time, as I said. And between the hours of
whatever time frame we decide, the cell service in the town will be turned off too. Family time.” “What do you think, Danburn?” She loved Elissa, but right now she wasn’t sure that she still agreed with her on the plan. “I mean, it sounds like a solid plan. And you were just saying the other day how you’d like to see more involvement around the town. Perhaps this might be a start. And the fact that you’d not have to oversee it, that should be a good thing for you, wouldn’t you think?” “There is more, if you want to know.” Danburn nodded and Sapphire pulled her notes from her pocket. “Mr. Crocket said that he and his sons would like a hand in reopening the greenhouse. It’s too late for this year, but they think, with a little help and a loan, they can get it running by fall for Christmas. I’ve spoken to Dana about it, and he and I are going to give them the loan to start it. But like a good dragon, I’m asking you for permission. Not that I need it, really.” She grinned at Danburn. “Christmas? Why so late in the year? And what does he plan to sell in the winter?” Danburn looked at his mom when she told him to hush and listen. “Mom, the ground is frozen solid that time of year. You couldn’t plant a thing the way the weather is around here. Cold as a witch tit in a brass brassiere one day and hotter than Hades the next.” She popped him in the back of the head. “There is no reason for you to be vulgar, Danburn.” Elissa looked at Sapphire with a smile. “Go on dear, ignore the bad man for now.” “Yes, but there are things that can be sold in the fall. Foliage for one thing. Trees in the fall. From what I’ve seen on the outlaying properties, there once was a grove of pine trees that have been all but forgotten. Mr. Crocket said that you could get the land cleared and make some cash on the side.” Danburn perked up but didn’t say anything. “Also, there are the school children. They can come in in early spring and plant something for their mothers for Mother’s Day. Trees can be planted as well. And spring flowers are a huge hit when there has been snow on the ground for months.” “This Crocket person seems to be stretching himself pretty thin. What’s going to happen to all these projects if he can’t get to all of them when someone needs him?” It was a fair question and one she had an answer to. Instead of answering him, she handed him the list. “What’s this?” “Those are the names of the people that have been assigned to each project, should you approve. And even if you don’t, Dana and I are going to make sure that some of them are started, for the good of the community.” He looked at her hard. “It’s a good thing, Danburn. A lot of these people have been out of work for a very long time. And like Mr. Crocket, they only need a hand up to get their homes in order. Kids to the dentist. A car that runs every time they start it and not only in the warmer weather. There is a list of over two hundred people, most of them pack but a lot of humans too. Like Carmine, they need to have just a little boost to their hearts to get themselves feeling like they can do just about anything.” “You’ve put a great deal of work into this.” She said that it had been easy with Mr. Crocket’s help. “This man, he works for you? Or do you have him already working on some of these projects?” “He’s going to get his sons started on their project at the greenhouse when you approve it. They’re so sure of this that two of his sons are quitting their jobs to devote to it full time. The garden project is already started, you might as well know. That’s going to be his baby, so to speak.” Danburn looked at her for a full minute before he burst into laughter. “I can’t wait all day on you to approve something that I know will work. Sir.” “Yes, well, that sir at the end isn’t necessary. You did a great job, and I’ll approve of all of it. And fund them. For a start. After the first...let’s say five years, then they’ll have to show some kind of profit on the ones that can. But the garden project is the best idea I’ve heard. If you can keep it working.” “I will.” She knew she would too. Or heads would roll. Not really, she thought to herself, but she would keep them going if she had to help them herself. Help, not do. That’s what Dana had told her from the very start. “Thanks, Danburn. I didn’t know what to expect, but I thank you for this. You’ve made a great many people happy. And in doing this, you’ve put some food on their tables that they can take pride in too.” “I might even have a little of the produce myself. And if you can get a few in the orchard in the back to help with picking, I’ll give them a decent wage and one quarter of what they pick from the trees.” She said that they were already working on their trees. “I think they were planted at the same time, so if you need to replace, I’m sure we will too. It all bears looking into now.” “That’s very generous of you. And I thank you again.” He said that he had to do something better than she could. “Oh, we did the same; they’re getting half the profits they show for each year they’re ahead, and they have the option of paying the loan off early. But we’ve cautioned them on that move. For now.” He was still laughing when lunch was called for them. Sapphire was beginning to like the big dragon. And she decided that since her sisters were missing so much being hidden away, she’d start a diary so that they could at least be able to keep up with the goings on that were happening in their new homes. Also, they’d be able to not be behind on the projects that were being started. It would be as if they had never left.
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