“Is he the one?”
Molly chuckled. Candy was addicted to romance. “He’s the one I want to be the one. How about you?”
“Nothing for the past few months. I was pretty serious with a chef for a while, but I caught him basting the wrong bird.”
“That’s a… unique euphemism.”
Candy shrugged. “She had a neck like a chicken.”
“I need to introduce you to my friend, Heather. You two will get along swimmingly.” At least they would until Candy inevitably made a pass at Anthony.
Lydia and Brandy made their way over, and Molly tried hard not to notice her sister leaning on the cane.
“Look at this, Molly.” Lydia handed her Brandy’s camera, and even on the small screen on the back, Molly could tell the shot was of exceptional quality.
“Wow.” It was all she could say.
Brandy blushed. “I’m taking a photography class this semester.”
“Keep this up, and you’ll be teaching it.”
They turned their heads at the sound of a horn. Holly had barely parked her Mini Cooper before she was out of it and running toward them. She reached Candy first and squeezed hard enough to bruise. She was gentler with Brandy and Lydia. Then she turned to face Molly. There was an awkward half-second where Molly feared that she’d destroyed her relationship with Holly. It passed when Holly just about tackled her.
“I have missed you so much. I hate being the big sister. You have to start doing that again.”
Molly needed a moment to recover from the shock and another to get enough air into her lungs as she fought against Holly’s fearsome grip. “I’m going to try, kiddo.”
“Are you making dinner tomorrow?”
“No, Mom’s cooking. She’s just using my kitchen.”
“Then I still love you.”
They both laughed. Holly had learned to cook almost entirely so that she wouldn’t need to eat Molly’s food when their mother and father went out on date nights.
Another car pulled into the development, and Molly waved. She hadn’t been sure Wulfric could make it, but she was glad he’d been able to spare the time. He’d be spending Thanksgiving at a soup kitchen, as was his custom, but today he had come to visit her. She tried not to read anything into the way her mother’s face brightened. Lydia and Wulfric had become friends. That was all Molly could process about the mixing of her two worlds.
“Is that your boyfriend?” Candy didn’t even try to mask her disapproval.
“No, just a dear friend.”
“He looks familiar,” said Brandy.
Since Wulfric did not keep his identity secret, and since he might just have delivered a guest sermon at Lydia’s church, that didn’t surprise Molly.
They went inside Molly’s home, and Molly poured coffee for everyone. She had wine, and stronger stuff, ready to go if her sisters needed it. Brandy wasn’t old enough, but Candy might drink enough for the two of them.
It was to be expected. The Martin sisters were going to learn that Molly used to be a superhero.
“So is this where we find out the news Mom wouldn’t tell us but was so secret Holly had to ask her fiancé to stay away until tomorrow?” Candy was already leaning forward, sitting on the edge of her seat on Molly’s couch.
“Pretty much. Wulfric, may I ask for that favor we talked about now?”
He nodded solemnly. She was glad to have him with them for a number of reasons, but having a trained counselor on hand for what was going to be a bit of a scene was an extra bonus.
Wulfric stood and made his way over to Brandy. “May I shake your hand, please, miss?”
Brandy went from zero to weirded out in nothing flat, but at Molly and Lydia’s nods of encouragement, she extended her hand to Wulfric. Golden light flashed in the room, causing everyone but Molly and Wulfric to gasp.
“My leg.” Brandy whispered the words, awed. Wulfric gently tugged her to her feet, not providing any support, and she took a step forward without urging. It was soon clear she would not need the cane again.
Molly took one more sip of her coffee, set it down, and then ghosted as she stood. It was time for the other big reveal. “And now that I have you all in a space where you can believe in miracles, I need to tell you about a few that happened to me.”
✽✽✽
Overall, they took it well, or at least it didn’t ruin Thanksgiving.
Candy wouldn’t stop complaining about having such incredible news, but not being allowed to tell anyone. She smiled when she said it, and Molly was confident her flightiest sister understood the gravity of the situation. Candy seemed proud of Molly’s work as a superhero. If anything, she was disappointed it had come to an end.
Brandy was understandably more caught up in her newfound mobility. Molly noticed, however, that she never let her cane be more than an arm’s length away. The relief had come so suddenly after so long. It only made sense that it would take some time before she was confident she wouldn’t lose it again just as quickly.
Holly had been… quiet.
She’d said something about understanding why Molly had disappeared for five years. She’d stated flatly that she wasn’t upset about Molly telling them all she’d been in the Witness Protection Program.
Then she’d said next to nothing and spent long minutes at a time lost in thought.
Molly couldn’t exactly be upset. She was the one who had lied, the one who had left. Holly would either forgive, or she wouldn’t, and there was nothing to do now that Molly had offered them her apology.
“The pie was really good this year, Mom.”
“Thank you dear, but I didn’t make it.”
Lydia looked to Molly to explain, but the sisters misinterpreted the look. Molly didn’t even try to hide her annoyance at the wide-eyed stares of surprise.
“No, it wasn’t me. Now close your mouths or you’ll catch flies.” She shook her head. “Honestly, you’d think I poisoned you all as children.”
“There were those undercooked turkey burgers from when Mom and Holly had the flu.”
Molly shot Brandy the stink-eye. “The pie was from Bri. She’s my neighbor and one of my students from time to time, and she wants to be a pastry chef when she graduates.”
Scoring a pie off of Bri before a major food-related holiday had been a lucky stroke. Thankfully, Bri thought she owed Molly at least one favor. The owner of Koffee Kate’s Kafe had wandered into La Belle Dame on the day Molly had left a bag of Bri’s treats there. After Heather offered her a lemon bar, the coffee shop owner had demanded the identity of the baker. Bri was now working from 4:00 AM to 7:00 AM every weekday before school. Aside from the early hours, it was her dream job.
“I would like some coffee. Anyone else?”
It was unanimous that they did, but there was only so much room in Molly’s kitchen. She stood and made her way out of the dining room. She hadn’t made it to the kitchen before the doorbell rang.
She could break up with Frank a thousand times, and not see him for years on end. He would still be a part of her life, and they both knew it. Still, his appearance at her door, on Thanksgiving, no less, did not bode well.
“I can’t do it.”
“Can’t do what?” There was no point in trying to stop him from coming inside. This conversation would not be easier that way.
Frank came in and immediately started pacing. Not a good sign. He wasn’t using his super speed, but she nevertheless took a moment to figure out how long it would take to reach her fire extinguisher in case the carpet was ignited by friction.
“I can’t take care of three kids. I tried to make a Thanksgiving dinner today, and you know what got burned? Everything. I burned the gravy. I didn’t think gravy burned, but apparently it does.”
Molly held up her hands. “Stop. You’re taking care of children?”
He stopped pacing and looked at her in surprise. “Beth, her sister, and her cousin. You didn’t know? Beth didn’t tell you?”
Mol
ly sighed. “I didn’t know. Beth isn’t speaking to me, and I don’t imagine she ever will again. She blames me for Hunter.”
“How does that work?”
“That doesn’t matter. How did you end up taking care of her and her family?”
Frank started pacing again. “I mean, technically, it’s not official yet, but Hunter got the process started before he turned himself in. There aren’t any other relatives except an Aunt who’s in no condition to help, so Beth suggested me. They all know who I am, and—”
He came to a sudden halt. Molly followed his gaze, and found Brandy and Candy waving at them awkwardly.
“Those are my sisters, Candy and Brandy. My mother and Holly are in the dining room trying to curb their curiosity.”
Holly poked her head out the door. “Mom is. I was trying to eavesdrop.”
Not a one of her sisters had a scrap of guilt on their faces.
“Everyone, this is Frank, my ex.”
“Don’t say that.”
Alarm bells went off, and Molly fixed him with a warning glare. “Frank.”
He ignored her, or else he only saw what he wanted to see. “I thought I’d be able to do this. Beth just turned seventeen, so it was only going to be for a year or so, but I can’t do it. I’m terrible at this. I left three children unsupervised and told some lie about going out for Chinese food.”
“I can’t help you, Frank.” Molly kept her voice firm. “I’m a teacher, so maybe I can give you some suggestions on child behaviour. Over the phone. That’s all.”
“These kids need someone who has their act together. For some reason, I thought that was me, but it’s not. You know who can do this, though? Us.”
“No.”
“Don’t say that.”
“Then don’t ask me questions that I can’t give you another answer to! Frank, there is no us. And even if there was, I’m not the one you want helping you here. The last time those kids saw me, I told them Hunter, the man who raised them, was a murderer.”
“They’ll get over that.”
Molly wanted to scream. How could he be this obtuse? “Maybe. Years from now, maybe they’ll get over it. But these kids are hurting and—”
“And I can’t help them!”
She had only seen him cry once before, at the funeral for Moondancer. The single tear drop made its way down beside his nose. She knew this wasn’t an attempt at manipulation. He was just that lost.
“Bright eyes, I can’t help them. They’re all hurting so much, and I’m trying to do stupid things like give them candy. I know you’ve got other things going on in your life, but I can’t afford to let these kids down. And the one thing I’ve known for years is that the only time I can’t fail is when I’m with you. This isn’t like all the other times, when I just wanted to be with you so we could have fun together. This is the real deal. You and me, together against the world.”
He was the fastest man in the world. Molly watched him in slow motion. The moment his knee began to bend and his right hand started to move into his pocket, she knew what he was doing.
Candy let out an extremely unwanted “Aw!” as Frank produced a box, and then a ring from out of it.
Despite knowing the inevitability of what was coming, Molly hadn’t been able to move. She stared at him, mouth agape as he took her hand and slid the ring onto her finger.
“Molly Martin, will you marry me?”
She didn’t know how long she continued to stare. Her breath was frozen in her lungs. She needed something to break her out of this moment.
It was the change in light that did it. She’d left the front door open, and Sean now filled it, blocking the waning sunlight from outside. He’d gone to visit his sister for Thanksgiving, but he’d promised to come to her house afterwards.
She turned and saw the pain in his eyes. It broke whatever spell she was under.
“No!”
It was half an answer to Frank, half a command to Sean. When he was hurt, it was sometimes his instinct to walk away. She spotted him starting to turn back and leave, and she dashed to his side, grabbing his arm.
“Don’t you dare go anywhere, Sean. I don’t want you to go.”
He met her eyes and seemed to understand that she’d been proposed to, but hadn’t said yes.
“I really should. If I stay here, I might break his neck.” She could feel the tension building in his arms, and knew he might not do it, but Sean wasn’t exactly kidding either.
“No need, big guy.” Frank slowly got to his feet, and then he took three steps forward and bent over. He picked up the ring where it lay on the carpet.
Molly stared at it in confusion. The ring had been a perfect fit, and she hadn’t pulled it off. How had it gotten onto the floor?
She couldn’t help but gasp when she realized what had happened. In running to get to Sean, she’d ghosted, letting the ring slip right off of her.
“I have my answer.” Frank croaked it out through the pain he was feeling. Then he disappeared in a burst of speed.
“Where did he go?” Brandy asked hesitantly a moment later.
“He’s a cape. He can… He can do that sort of thing.”
She heard her voice break, and she felt Sean’s arm go around her shoulder. She turned back to him, and hid her face in his chest. While she expected to sob, there were too many eyes on her. All she did was breathe. She let herself focus on just doing that. Sean was a wonderful person to hug when she didn’t want to acknowledge the rest of the world existed.
“Oh, crap.”
Molly popped her head up and turned to face her sisters. Holly had a deep grimace on her face.
“I love him, but my guy has awful timing.”
Indeed, Holly’s fiancé stood outside the door. Molly knew it was him from their photo in the paper. But that wasn’t where she recognized him from. The photo hadn’t been of high quality, and, to be fair, he’d made some pretty significant changes to his hairstyle. He’d also grown a moustache since the last time Molly had seen him.
Even then, though, she hadn’t seen him often without the mask.
Ex-Cape | Book 2 | Ex-Cape From A Small Town Page 29