“You can actually hear them?” Willow’s eyes widened. She couldn’t even hear the wind nymphs. She’d spread her branches, letting them play, but had never spoken to them. She didn’t even know they could talk.
Alex snorted, raised an eyebrow at her. “Now I suppose you will tell me there are wind nymphs.”
“Yes. But I’ve never known them to speak.”
“They do, all the time. I’ve learned to tune them out.”
“What are they saying now?”
A sigh expanded his chest, Alex shrugging at the same time. He cocked his head, listening for something Willow couldn’t even begin to hear. He straightened up, frowning.
“We need to get back.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
She’s almost here. You need to get back. She’s almost here. Save our friends.
It seemed unbelievable. Water and wind nymphs, tree nymphs, dryads, fauns, Alex could hardly wrap his mind around the idea. His grandfather knew, of course he did. Looking down at the innocently sensuous Willow, he wondered if his grandmother knew.
Then again, jealousy would explain her hatred. Losing a daughter to the forest must have hardened her heart. If she ever had one. Alex avoided the bitter old woman at all costs. Despite the money spent to keep her looking youthful, her age showed in her eyes and in the sour shape of her mouth.
Most of the time, she seemed a brittle, older copy of his mother. His mother wasn’t as bitter and hateful, but sometimes he wondered. The only times she seemed carefree were when his father was around. She seemed, at times, like Jeckle and Hyde. He hoped his father survived. He softened her sharp edges, showing Alex the side of his mother he preferred.
Go, go, go! She’s almost here! Unseen hands tugged at him, pushing, pulling him in one direction.
“Let’s hurry.” The bucket on one arm and Willow’s supple waist in his other, Alex headed back toward the fire as quickly as he could.
A loud rumble reached his ears. Who the hell would bring an ATV here? Consternation echoed in the forest. Alex saw nymphs and dry fauns slipping into trees all around him. The fear on their faces almost stopped him in his tracks. Almost.
The sound of the engine stopped. Voices raised. His chest tightened. Grandmother.
Unseen hands, voices whispering in his ear, urged him forward.
“I’m going. It doesn’t help if she thinks she has the upper hand.” He didn’t think they believed him. The tugs didn’t stop.
“Who are you talking to?”
“The wind.”
“Oh. Do you think your plan will work?” Willow snuggled closer to his side.
“Appealing to her? No, but it has to be done.” He strode forward, not stopping until he could set down the dishes next to the fire.
Willow slipped from his side.
She slid into the shadows. He didn’t blame her one bit. She moved over, hiding by his father, leaning against his damaged tree.
“Alex, Levi. I’m sure you failed in your grandfather’s silly request.” His grandmother glared at her daughter. “I thought I told you to stay out of it. You have no business coming out here, further disgracing yourself.”
Alex swallowed, fury rising in his blood. The contrast between his mother and grandmother, despite their similarities was never more obvious. Maybe he’d been doing his mother a disservice all these years, thinking she was following in her mother’s footsteps.
Probably self-preservation. Stiffening his spine, narrowing his eyes, he spoke.
“We didn’t fail. Neither of us.” Behind his grandmother, his cousin Kane came into view, giving him a grin and a thumbs up.
“Momma?” Lucille stepped forward, her face ethereal in her beauty. There was no mistaking her features. Especially when Sarah stepped forward and the women wound their arms around each other’s waist.
“Why did you tell me my sister was dead?” Sarah glared at her mother, moving closer with each bitten off word, unwinding from her sister, leaving Lucille behind her. “Why? Why would you do such a horrible thing?” Her voice raised, making Alex wince. “How could you?”
Pride swelled his chest. He’d never seen his mother stand up to his grandmother.
“You know nothing.” His grandmother gestured around her. “She’s only a ghost of a person. She’s dead. Dead to me. Dead to you.” She poked Sarah in the chest. “It’s better this way.”
“No, only in your head is it better this way.” Sarah looked around, pushing her mother’s finger from her chest and leaned forward, arms akimbo. Right in his Grandmother’s face.
Go Mom. Alex didn’t know she had it in her.
“You are a bitter, nasty old woman. You’ll only bulldoze this area over my dead body.”
“And mine.” Alex wrapped his arms around his mother, squeezing her tight.
“And mine.” Levi stepped forward to join them. “This place is special. It’s our birthright.”
“No. No, it’s not. Think of all the money we’d have if we developed here. Tear down these abominations.” Arm cutting through the air, she pointed at Lucille and Peter, and gesturing all around her.
Kane walked forward to the fire.
“It’s a shame you don’t understand.” Sarah frowned at her mother. “We have plenty of money. This land is ours to protect.”
Grandmother whirled to face Kane. “Kane, you understand. You’re not some nature lover like your cousins. At least one of you is civilized.”
Alex snorted. Kane stood there in slacks and dress shirt, looking overdressed for a campsite in the middle of the woods. But, he didn’t look civilized to Alex. He never had. Kane could seem at home in any environment he stood in.
Kane grimaced, looking slightly uncomfortable. “Grandma, do you love me?”
She nodded. “Of course I do. How can you even ask?”
Alex found it hard to believe. She never showed it, not even a little softening in her expression, ever.
“Because I need you to leave this place alone. I need you to stop trying to destroy it. I asked Grandfather to deed it over to Levi, Alex, and myself.”
Alex winced. Her screech echoed across the clearing. The wind moaned, shivering through the trees at the sound. His stomach twisted.
“No! I won’t allow it.”
The fury on her face took Alex aback. “Why do you hate this place so much?” He needed to know.
“It’s evil. It stole my daughter Lucille, took her so she could never come home. It turned Sarah into a whore, spreading her legs for the evil living here.” She sent a baleful glance at Alex. “She bore you, and your sister. The evil turned her against me.”
White hot fury spilled through his veins. “You bitch. The only evil here is you. You turned your back on your daughters. Declaring one dead and treating my mother like dirt, demanding she grovel to you her whole life. You, and only you, turned her against you.”
“You would say that. The evil runs through your veins.”
Kane rolled his eyes. “Grandma. Stop. You don’t know what you’re saying.” Kane, ever the peacemaker, grasped her hands, turning her toward him. “This is your family. Your daughters, and grandsons.”
“I have to kill this place. Before it infects all of you.” She reached out a hand, a finger running along Kane’s jaw.
He sighed and stepped back. “You don’t understand.”
“Grandmother, this place is part of all of us.” Levi, gestured to all of us. “Maybe you don’t understand because you married into the family. But we are all a part of here. You’ll kill your whole family if you win.”
“Only the evil parts.”
“Your husband. Your daughters. All of your grandchildren. We are tied to here.” Kane grabbed her shoulders. “Why can’t you understand?”
“No, maybe Alex and his sister since their father is an abomination.”
Alex couldn’t believe the hateful words. His mother’s face turned white, eyes wide and shocked. He wanted to slap the old woman. He would never claim kinship with her
again. He hugged his mother, wanting to comfort her. Lucille whimpered, tears running down her face. Alex gathered her close too, pulling her next to her sister, wrapping his arms around them both.
“You are the abomination.” He gritted his teeth, trying not to yell. “A hateful old woman who doesn’t appreciate what she does have. What you had. You are no family of mine.”
Peter came over, pulling Sarah into his arms. Alex took a deep breath. His mother belonged to his father, him, and glancing down, her sister. Not to mention his other aunts and uncles. Levi’s and Kane’s families.
“Grandma, am I an abomination?” Kane gave a ghost of a smile, and disappeared.
Alex’s jaw dropped. He drew in a breath, let it out in a rush. Kane stepped into the nearest tree. He stepped back out, a wicked grin on his face and a giggling nymph at his side.
“No.” Grandmother stepped toward him, shock on her features. “No, your parents are normal. How can this be?”
“You still don’t understand. This land is a part of us. Each of us has different abilities. Not one of your children or grandchildren are normal.” Kane looked at her with pity on his face.
“You know.” A rough voice spoke, a man stepping forward out of the circle of darkness. “No matter how you wish to change it, you know.”
“Grandpa.” Levi smiled, relief washing over his face.
Alex’s chest unwound. The sick feeling leaving his stomach. “What are you doing here?”
He shrugged. “Kane told me she planned to come here.” He smiled, glancing around. A wicked sparkle in his eyes. “Daphnaie, you’re looking good my dear. Little Willow, my, how you’ve grown.”
Alex rolled his eyes, both women giggling like teenage girls. “I thought you were too sick to travel.”
“Only because Agatha tried to kill my tree.” He looked at his wife, a bitter twist to his lips. “She doesn’t realize how hardy I am. Even a twig will keep me alive.” He sneered. “I have plenty planted so I don’t have to worry she can kill me off.”
His grandmother gasped, stepping back. “I did not. Maybe if you didn’t pay so much attention to everyone else and so little to me, I’d be happier.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have assumed I would fall in line with your ambitions when you married me, you’d be happier. Maybe if you didn’t spurn the love around you.”
“Maybe if you didn’t lie to me. Maybe if you didn’t cheat on me, I’d be happier.” Alex winced at her shrill screech.
“I never cheated on you.” He shrugged, grinning slyly. “Maybe if you hadn’t lied to yourself. Believed what you wanted to until reality slapped you in the face. Maybe you should have married a boring, safe, normal man. But you loved every minute in my bed.” He chuckled. “Explain all the children if you hated me.”
She screamed. “You lie! I followed you when you came out here. You kissed and hugged every woman you saw. God knows what else you did out here.”
The venom in her voice shocked Alex. He stared, wondering how long his Grandmother’s hate had festered.
“Nothing. I did nothing out here I’m ashamed of. I visited my family. My brothers and sisters, their parents, and cousins. Just like you do. Except we weren’t a bunch of stuck up, snooty nosed people trying to make ourselves look better.”
Alex couldn’t help but chuckle at her screech of frustration. His grandfather nailed it on the head. Willow came over, winding her arm around his waist. Her soft curves molding against him. She completed him, filled in a part he hadn’t even realized was missing.
Watching his grandparents, he couldn’t help but feel sorry for his grandfather. No way had his grandmother ever cuddled with him, a warm and happy bundle in his arms like Willow was to him. But looking at them, he wondered from the wicked twinkle in his grandfather’s eyes if he preferred the challenge Grandmother presented.
“How dare you!”
Alex winced. He knew where his mother and sister got their high pitch from. He hugged Willow tighter. Thank God, she didn’t have a voice like nails on a chalkboard.
His grandfather just chuckled, tossing Grandmother over his shoulder. “You’ll never learn, will you?”
“Whoa.” Alex started, moving unconsciously toward his grandfather. He’d never have expected him to be able to do that without hurting himself. “Don’t hurt yourself.”
“Don’t worry about me. Now that I’m surrounded by the forest, my strength is back.” He strode off, his gait of a man in his prime. “I’ve signed the land over to the three of you. With provisions written, keeping it from ever being developed. Get down to the lawyer’s office this week, he’s expecting you.”
Alex’s jaw dropped. Seeing this side of his grandfather, so unexpected, made him wonder what else he’d missed. He glanced at his cousins. Levi wore a grin stretching across his face. Kane shook his head, eyes following their grandparents, a smirk on his face.
“So, what day will work for you two?” Levi chuckled. “Just name the day.”
“The sooner the better. Before Grandma can kill him off for good this time.” Kane grimaced.
“How about tomorrow?” Alex rubbed his cheek against Willow’s head, nestled against his chest. Warmth blossomed from his heart, spreading through his limbs. “I don’t want to take any chances.”
“If the ladies are up for it, I’m good.” Levi bent over, whispering in Daphnaie’s ear.
Alex watched her nod, smiling at Levi. His big cousin towered over her, but Alex could tell he melted in her hands. It warmed his heart to see Daphnaie could give his cousin a measure of peace.
Gaia stepped from the shadows. Again. Alex frowned. Hopefully she’d stop messing directly in their lives.
“Daphnaie and Willow are no longer tied to the forest. You don’t have to worry. If you were.” Her outline wavered, seeming to blend in with the air. “Thank you.”
Then she disappeared.
“Well, anticlimactic much?” Kane snorted, turning away, heading toward the ATV. “I’ll see you all tomorrow.”
Alex watched him climb on. He winced at the loud roar of the engine starting up. “You think we need to worry about Grandmother? She did come with Kane. Plus, she’s pretty old. The hike might be too much.”
“I think the last thing we need to worry about is her. Seemed like she was in pretty good hands when she left.” Levi snorted, gathering Daphnaie in his arms.
Alex snickered. “Yeah, so it seemed.” He could feel Willow smothering her laughter against his chest. “Mother, I’ll leave the tent to you tonight.”
“No, don’t bother. I’d prefer to stay with your father. Just give me a sleeping bag.”
Alex nodded, releasing Willow. “No problem.” He gathered up a bag and brought it to her. Seeing the strain on her face he gave her a hug. “We’ll make sure Dad’s tree is okay.”
“Thank you.”
Alex turned, heading back to the fire and Willow. He smothered the fire, the smoke drifting off into the sky. He filled his lungs with the scent. Crisp air, pine, smoke and the alluring scent of Willow filled his lungs. Willow stood quietly, watching him.
“Time for bed.” He held out his hand to her. “The first of many?” He couldn’t help the question in his voice. Now he didn’t have to worry about the land being sold, he didn’t want to lose the only woman who touched his heart.
Her shy smile lit her face. She grasped his hand, snuggling against him. “The first of a lifetime.”
Alex smiled, pulling her into his arms. Wrapping his body around hers. His heart bursting at her words. Content to never hear his Willow cry again.
THE END
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