Katherine widened her eyes, surprised. “But … why? What do you have to do with the Grimlocks’ work?”
“Nothing,” Griffin answered hurriedly. “It’s just … Aisling is clearly injured. I thought I would find out how that happened.”
“I fell,” I offered, feeling like an idiot. “I tripped over a box at the auction house where Dad sent me to inspect merchandise today.” Our business front was an antiques company so I figured I might as well give myself over to the lie right away. “It was clumsy of me.”
Katherine’s smile was pleasant. “Oh, so you don’t usually come home looking like this, my dear? That’s a relief.”
“Not unless I’ve had a really bad day.”
“Okay, well, onward with the tour.” Maya forced a smile for Katherine’s benefit as she led her mother out of the room. She wisely shut the door behind her, and everyone remained silent long enough to give Maya time to shepherd Katherine away from the door.
After thirty seconds, everyone started talking at once.
“Have you ever considered looking around a room before speaking?” Dad barked.
“What happened to you, baby?” Griffin hurried to my side and gently ran his fingers over my cheek and neck.
“This is going to be my favorite Aisling story ever,” Braden snickered.
“You look rough, kid,” Redmond offered. “Do you need to sit down?”
“Katherine is going to totally think we’re all crazy now, Aisling,” Cillian groused. “Thanks a lot.”
I knit my eyebrows and glared. “Does anyone care about me?”
“If we didn’t we would’ve left you to come up with your own lie about your entrance,” Dad replied. “Why would you announce that you almost died and saved a small child in the same breath without checking to see who was in the room?”
“Well, because it’s true. I didn’t know Griffin’s mother was going to show up a day early,” I screeched back, my temper flaring. “How could I know that? There was no extra car in the driveway.”
“Okay, let’s calm down.” Griffin’s arm snaked around my waist and he protectively tugged me to him.
“Thank you.” I rested my head against his shoulder. “You’re my favorite.”
“Yeah, well, you’re my least favorite,” Dad offered, shuffling toward his desk. He bent over to pick up my scepter before sitting. “Did you collect all of your souls today?”
I nodded. “The last one was almost iffy, but I managed.”
“Define ‘iffy.’”
I told them about my job at Sunset Acres – having to put up with two stupid jokes from Redmond and Braden regarding the name – and wrapped up with what happened between the girl, the wraith and me. When I was done, my father was practically apoplectic.
“What were you thinking?” he yelled. “You could’ve died. You should’ve run instead of staying to fight. That was stupid.”
“Oh, well, thank you for your concern about my health,” I drawled, my temper bubbling. “It’s always nice to feel loved and supported in the bosom of my family.”
“Don’t say bosom when you’re talking about us,” Braden chided. “It makes my mind go to a filthy place, and then I feel disgusted when I really give it some thought.”
“Shut up.” I lashed out with my foot, kicking his ankle and groaning when the pain rocketed through my knee.
“Are you okay?” Griffin’s eyes clouded with worry as he led me to one of the chairs across from my father’s desk. “Sit,” he ordered. “Let me see what’s going on here.”
“I’m okay.” I decided to go the martyr route because I was fairly certain acting like a baby with my current audience would be a terrible mistake. “I’m just sore. I’ll survive.”
Griffin’s expression was unreadable as he knelt in front of me and ran his hand over my knee. “This looks to be scraped. What happened to your neck?”
“The wraith scratched me.”
“Get a tonic from my upstairs bathroom,” Dad instructed Redmond. “She’s probably not poisoned, but we need to make sure.” Redmond mutely nodded and escaped from the office. “Why didn’t you run, Aisling?”
“And leave a kid who looked to be about seven behind to fend for herself?” I was surprised he even had to ask the question. “Do you really think I would do that?”
“I … .” Dad worked his jaw. “You’re my child. While I respect the fact that you were worried about someone else’s child, that doesn’t mean I want you risking yourself.”
“Now wait a second,” Braden argued, taking me by surprise when he moved behind me. “You cannot expect her to turn tail and run when she knows a kid is about to be eaten. That’s hardly the kind of person you raised her to be. She’s not a coward.”
Dad balked. “I never said she was a coward. She’s too brave for her own good. That’s my point.”
“That doesn’t mean she could ignore a kid,” Griffin said, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “She did what she had to do and she survived.”
“And I kept my souls, argued with Angelina and came out on top, and found two gifts for Griffin while shopping,” I added. “I was a freaking dynamo today.”
Griffin smirked. “Next time I’d appreciate it if you didn’t show up hurt when you call yourself a dynamo.”
“Duly noted.” I gripped his fingers, something occurring to me. “Crap. I had a hair appointment this afternoon. I wanted to look good for your mother. There’s nothing I can do about the bangs until they grow out, but I was going to have my streaks freshened up. She must think I’m a complete mess.”
Griffin grinned as he leaned closer and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “I think she’s merely confused,” he offered. “You don’t realize how striking you are when you decide to make an entrance.”
“I was going to say ‘annoying’ rather than ‘striking,’ but he’s right,” Dad said, blowing out a sigh. “You did the right thing saving the child. Don’t forget that I’m your father, though, and I’ll always want my child to come home.”
“I did come home,” I reminded him.
“Yes, well, I’m sure we’ll be able to cover for your colorful antics.” Dad pursed his lips. “As for dinner, we need to be on our best behavior with Katherine. She’s bound to be on edge after what happened.”
“She’ll be fine,” Griffin supplied. “I promise. She probably thinks this is all very funny. I warned her that Aisling was dramatic.”
My smile slipped. “You warned her that I was dramatic?”
“Uh-oh.” Braden smirked as he straightened. “Everyone duck and cover. She’s about to get really dramatic.”
“That’s not true.” Okay, it was kind of true. “I simply don’t think of myself as dramatic. I’m a very even-tempered woman.”
“Oh, baby, I love you very much, but you’re a lot of work,” Griffin countered. “It’s going to be okay. I’ll help you guys cover this up. You just need to be careful as long as my mother is visiting.”
“Hopefully this was a random incident,” Cillian added. “It doesn’t sound as if the wraith was there looking for Aisling. It sounds as if she stumbled across a wraith looking for a meal and it recognized her.”
“That may be the best spot of news we have right now,” Dad agreed. “Okay, here’s the new plan: Everyone be on his or her best behavior. That means you need to think before you speak, Aisling. That also means you can’t torture your sister to get her to foul up, Braden.”
“Oh, man.” Braden made a disgusted face. “There goes my night.”
Dad’s lips quirked as he focused on me. “I will get Aisling cleaned up. She has clothes to change into upstairs. We’ll give Katherine a marvelous welcome meal. In fact, I ordered the cooks to serve prime rib tonight so we should be safe there.”
I pumped my arm, excited. “Score!”
Dad shot me a fond smile. “You’re safe. That’s the most important thing. As long as Griffin’s mother is here, though, we have to watch our backs and fronts. We need to keep a lid on the dar
k business while still acting like the perfect family. Can everyone do that?”
Cillian automatically nodded, but I wasn’t so sure. It sounded like a tall order to me. “What happens when Jerry gets here and blows this perfect family mirage out of the water?”
It was obvious that Dad hadn’t considered that yet because he twisted his hands together and frowned. “I’m sure we’ll figure a way to work it out.”
He had a lot more faith than I did. “Whatever. I need a quick bath and a drink. Who wants to help me?”
Instead of jumping at the chance as he normally would, Griffin passed me off to Braden. “My mother is here. You’re stuck with one of your brothers tonight.”
Braden made a disgusted face. “If you think I’m taking a bath with you, you’re crazy.”
“I will kill you if you suggest anything of the sort ever again,” I threatened.
“Oh, kill me now.” Dad rubbed his forehead. “This is going to be a very long visit.”
He was only saying what we all were thinking. It was definitely going to be a long visit.
6
Six
“I need your help.”
I struggled in the private bathroom for ten minutes before giving up and poking my head out. Braden, true to his word, rested flat on his back in the middle of my old sleigh bed, staring at the ceiling.
“I’m not getting in the bathtub with you, so you can forget it,” Braden shot back, not bothering to look in my direction. “I will not do it.”
“Not that, you freak!”
Braden slowly shifted his eyes to me, frowning when he realized I was hiding my bottom half behind the door. “I’m not helping you pick out underwear either.”
“Yes, because that’s what I want you to do,” I deadpanned, agitation coursing through me. “Go pick out a thong for me, Braden. That won’t cause years of family therapy or anything.”
Braden didn’t look impressed with my sarcasm. “What do you want?”
“I … need help.” It was hard for me to admit. I’m close with all of my brothers, Braden included. If I’m going to fight with one of them it’s almost always Braden or Aidan, Aidan because we’re twins. We shared a womb and we fight for prominence to this day. Braden, on the other hand, is the most like me of all of my brothers. We fight because we can’t seem to stop ourselves.
Braden must’ve recognized the resigned look on my face because he struggled to a sitting position, never moving his eyes from my face. He was probably fearful he would accidentally see more of me than he wanted. “What do you need help with?”
“My knee is really stiff and sore. I can’t bend it without losing my balance,” I admitted. “That means I can’t pull on my pants without help.”
Braden was horrified, understandably so. “No!”
“Then go downstairs and find Jerry,” I instructed. “He’ll help me.”
“He’s not here yet,” Braden argued.
“You don’t know that.”
“We would’ve heard someone screaming if he was.”
He had a point. “Then get Maya or Griffin.”
“And what do you want me to say?” Braden challenged. “Should I walk into the parlor and announce that you can’t get your pants on without help? That’ll cause more questions than I’m ready to answer. We’re supposed to pretend you got hurt because you tripped over some boxes. Your injuries shouldn’t be that bad.”
“Yeah? Well, I’m in pain.”
Sympathy momentarily flitted across Braden’s face and I briefly wondered if he would acquiesce and help me. That, of course, would’ve been too easy.
“Wear a skirt or something,” Braden instructed. “I’m not going down there and risking making things worse, and I’m definitely not helping you put on your pants.”
“Oh, geez, I should’ve seen this coming.”
I jerked my head to the door and found Griffin eyeing us with calm detachment. “What are you doing up here? I thought you were entertaining your mother.”
“She’s anxious to get to know you. Your father sent me up to check on you guys,” Griffin replied, breezing across the room. “That should tell you how desperate he is, because he never wants me in this bedroom.”
“That’s not true,” I grumbled, limping away from the door and handing Griffin the pair of black slacks I’d selected from the closet before bathing. “He’s over that.”
“He’s not completely over it,” Griffin countered, his gaze dropping to my colorful knee. “That’s going to be painful tomorrow morning.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
Griffin blew out a sigh and leaned forward. “Put your hands on my shoulders.”
I did as instructed, sucking in my stomach as Griffin slipped the pants over my feet and tugged them up. He almost looked amused when he lifted his eyes to mine. “Do you want me to snap them, too?”
“I’ve got it.”
Griffin pressed a soft kiss to my mouth before straightening and offering Braden a distasteful glare. “Why couldn’t you just help her instead of making her beg?”
“Because that’s not the way we roll,” Braden replied, sliding off the bed. “He gave me a cursory glance, taking in my freshly washed hair and the scratches on my neck. “How are you going to explain those? They can’t be mistaken for anything but what they are.”
“I’ll say I did it to myself when I fell,” I answered. I’d already given it some thought. “We’ll just say I’m prone to destruction … usually on myself.”
“That’s not far from the truth.” Griffin slipped his arm around my waist and led me toward the stairs. “Are you ready for a fun dinner?”
Was that a trick question? I swallowed my snarky response, determined to make sure this went well. Griffin deserved it. He put up with a lot when it came to my family, after all. “I’m definitely ready.”
“Yeah, this has disaster written all over it,” Braden muttered, exiting the room ahead of us.
I wanted to argue, but I was terrified he was right.
EVERYONE WAS settled in Dad’s favorite parlor when we made it down the stairs. By tacit agreement, I flopped on one of the sofas while Griffin poured me a drink. Katherine’s gaze immediately went to me the moment I entered the room.
“How are you feeling, dear?”
“I’m okay.” I forced a smile. “I’m a little sore, but I’m used to it. I fall all of the time.”
“Yes, Aisling is a real klutz,” Dad agreed, bobbing his head. “When she was a child we worried she had an inner-ear balance problem, but it turns out she’s simply easily distracted.”
Braden coughed behind his hand, arching an eyebrow when Griffin walked by him without offering a drink. “Where’s mine?”
“Upstairs in your sister’s bedroom,” Griffin replied, not missing a beat. “Here, Aisling. Drink up.”
He didn’t have to tell me twice. I swallowed half of the bourbon and coke before speaking again. “So, Mrs. Taylor, how was your flight?”
“Call me Katherine, dear,” she prodded. “It was fine. “I wasn’t sure I wanted to deal with a flight because I was only traveling across state, but now I’m glad that I did. It made things easier.”
“We were just talking about Griffin and Maya’s childhood,” Dad offered. “Katherine was telling us some lovely stories about how they fought when they were younger. I explained she didn’t understand true fighting because she didn’t raise the lot of you.”
“I think you’re exaggerating,” I gritted out pointedly. “I was an angel.”
Redmond, Cillian and Braden snorted as Dad cocked an eyebrow.
“What? I was.”
“Yes, you were truly an angel,” Dad deadpanned. “Every single day of your childhood I was surprised a halo didn’t appear over your head.”
I ignored his tone. “You told me I was an angel. I believe you said I was your easiest child.” He never said anything of the sort, but I figured lying might make me look better in Katherine’s eyes. “I
’m guessing Maya was your good child, right, Mrs. Taylor? It must be a girl thing?”
Whether she bought my innocent act or not, Katherine’s smile was warm and friendly. “Actually, when they were younger, Griffin was the one who got into more trouble and Maya was the quiet one who put bandages on her dolls and kept to herself.”
“Oh, so you always wanted to be in the medical field, huh?” Cillian poked Maya’s side, smiling. “That sounds about right.”
“She always wanted to mother all of the kids in the neighborhood,” Katherine explained. “She bossed them around and bandaged them, told them they were going to hurt themselves if they weren’t careful and didn’t stop hopping around like monkeys. It was very cute.”
“That’s not exactly how I remember it,” Griffin said dryly, resting his hand on my knee.
“Then, when they became teenagers, things switched a bit,” Katherine continued. “Griffin became more reliable and less prone to trouble, and Maya became more rebellious. She was a holy terror for a few years there.”
“Mother!” Maya’s cheeks flushed with color, scandalized.
“Was that how it was with your children?” Katherine asked Dad. “Of course, you had a lot more to contend with than I did.”
“They were all monsters at every age,” Dad replied calmly, ignoring my pointed glare. “The boys beat the stuffing out of each other whether they were young or teenagers. They still do it occasionally. Aisling was smaller, but she could kick and bite with the best of them.”
I pressed my lips together to keep from saying something hateful. Griffin rubbed the back of my neck, grinning as he watched my father explain what living in a house with five children was like.
“They were all close in age, so it was like a scene from The Hunger Games every night,” Dad added. “The boys ate an entire cow whenever we had steak. Aisling could eat almost that much, and she always had her friend Jerry over, so it was as if we had six children.”
“Yes, I’ve heard about Jerry.” Katherine looked delighted. “I can’t wait to meet him.”
“He never disappoints,” Dad said. “Aidan texted that he’s finished up for the day and he’s swinging by to pick Jerry up before heading over.”
Grim Holiday (Aisling Grimlock Book 6) Page 6