“We should have known.”
Morgana stood and began pacing. “If the article goes out, questions will be raised, and our cover could be blown. Or at least ended.” Which might not be so bad, but the mission was still unfinished.
“What do you mean?” Gareth asked.
“Well, we need it in place. We can’t exactly stay around here if Father loses the campaign before The Council has made their decision.”
“Why not?” His curiosity was flooding the bond, making her stop to think.
“Because despite the developments, this is still a small town.”
“You guys don’t need to have a reason to be here. You still ‘live’ here.” He used his hands to create air quotations around the word ‘live.’ “You can still stick around.”
Morgana tilted her head and thought aloud, “But won’t it seem odd?” She wasn’t used to staying in one place too long. The idea they would or even could felt strange.
“The best way to overcome the small-town mentality is to rise above it. Hold your head high like it doesn’t affect you,” said Ava.
“Good, sound advice.” Oscar waved his whiskey glass in her direction.
Ava looked down at her hands. “Thank you, Mr. V, but Dad still wants to run the story. If I don’t write it, then Janet certainly will. Then the small-town mentality will go into overdrive.”
Everyone grimaced.
“Yes, Dad wouldn’t want to run a story like the one she would write on the front page—a scandal about you having an affair on Mrs. Van Wilden resulting in bastard children. But The Oak Wood Hills Daily isn’t a trashy tabloid. So, if I could arrange an interview with you, Mr. Van Wilden, at least I can make it sound less like a scandalous story about illegitimate love children and more about a heartfelt sob story of an estranged family reuniting.”
Oscar nodded. “Yes, Ava, you’re right. We can use part truths to our advantage. You know it can be several decades between when I see any of my children, Morgana included. We’ll need to shorten the time we’ve spent apart to the one decade only, to make it appear more human-like.”
Ava clapped her hands in delight, “Don’t worry, I’ll make it appear all legit.”
“Thank you, Ava. I’ll confer with Phyllis to see if we can set up an interview time this week.”
“Of course. But we’ll need to lock down the interview fast. There’s talk from Mayor Coleman’s camp about looking into your past about how old you and Mrs. Van Wilden are to have had Morgana as well. They think it may be a teenage pregnancy for you both to have an eighteen-year-old daughter.”
“How do they know I don’t have a great plastic surgeon?” Vivienne said dryly.
Ava shrugged. “Well, I can only assume that’s why they haven’t looked into it yet.”
Oscar rubbed his chin. “If they start looking into our past, they might learn something worse than information derailing a campaign. They could discover vampires exist.”
“Do you really think they would go that far?” Gareth asked.
“We can’t take the risk. We’ll need to alert The Council. They usually have layers of false pasts and identities ready to release for this type of thing.”
“It’s not the first time we’ve had to get ourselves out of a vampire inquisition,” said Morgana.
Oscar gave her a grim smile. “Ah, yes, the vampire-hunter days.”
“Yes, but back in the days when humans believed vampires existed and tried to hunt us down, they didn’t have the technology they have today,” Vivienne added. “Like nuclear weapons.” She exchanged a sad look with Morgana.
Gareth turned his head to her, and she mouthed, ‘I’ll tell you later.’ The last thing she needed was to delve into her grief over Ohana’s death again.
Gareth nodded and squeezed her hand. She let out a huge breath. At least he wasn’t angry with her for not telling him straight away. He must be giving her time to reveal all her secrets as she asked.
Ava brightened a little. “So how do we handle it from here?”
“I’ll go down to the campaign office and talk to Phyllis about the interview.” Oscar stood. “Then I’ll let you take our statements, Ava.” He looked at his family. “Will you come with me, my dear?” Oscar held his hand out to his wife. “To keep me calm through the bond.”
Vivienne smiled and took his hand. “Of course, my dear. Besides, we wouldn’t want Phyllis getting the wrong idea again.” Vivienne winked.
Morgana’s stomach turned over, but she laughed regardless.
“I felt that,” Gareth breathed in her ear, loud enough so only she could hear. She grinned. Gareth could always make her laugh.
“You’re never too old to be disgusted by the idea of your parents having sex,” she whispered back.
***
The door to Oscar’s office was shut, but Oscar and Phyllis’ voices traveled through so even the humans could hear them.
“I still don’t understand why I was never informed about your other children in the first place?” Phyllis shrilled. “I’m your campaign manager, after all.”
“Once again, I apologize, Phyllis. I’ve been so estranged from them I didn’t think they were a part of my life anymore.” He repeated his earlier words.
To Morgana, her father’s voice was tinged with sadness. He must be thinking more about Mariza than her brothers.
Phyllis sighed. “We should be grateful it has taken this long for the news to break publicly.”
Her mother leaned over to her. “I don’t think Phyllis is in love with your father anymore,” she whispered in her ear so only she could hear.
Morgana looked sharply at her mother. “You knew?” she whispered back.
Vivienne laughed softly. “Of course, I knew. Even a human could see it.”
Morgana chuckled. She heard footsteps as Ernie, one of the other young interns, walked over carrying a cup of tea. He set it down in front of Vivienne.
“There you go, Mrs. Van Wilden.”
“Thank you, Ernie.” Vivienne gave him a genuine smile, her face lighting up.
Ernie blushed. “Anything for the candidate’s wife.” He looked over at Oscar’s office.
“What’s going on in there?”
“Oscar is telling Phyllis about his skeletons.” Vivienne mused, taking a sip of tea.
“Careful, Mrs. Van Wilden, it’s still a bit hot,” Ernie told her.
Vivienne’s eyes widened. “Yes, it seems I have burned my tongue.”
Morgana covered her mouth with her hand, stifling a giggle, knowing the tea wouldn’t have affected her mother at all, but poor Ernie looked so worried.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Van Wilden,” he said, rubbing his hands on his chinos.
“It’s fine, dear.” Vivienne waved him away. “I should have waited. I needed to calm my nerves.” She leaned forward dropping her voice, “You know because Oscar could lose the election now.”
Ernie nodded his head vigorously. “Yeah, it doesn’t look good for Mr. V. I mean, Mr. Van Wilden,” he added hastily.
Oscar’s door flew open, and Phyllis stormed out. She barely looked at Vivienne or Morgana.
“Ernie, get Ava Hayes from the paper on the line,” she snapped, her toadlike face purple with anger. “Set up an interview with her and Mr. Van Wilden. We need to do some damage control over this situation.”
“Yes, Phyllis,” Ernie stammered as he hurried away to his desk.
“Well, I suppose you’re happy now,” she spat at Vivienne before turning on her heel, stomping back to her office.
Vivienne and Morgana glanced at each other before bursting into fits of laughter.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The next morning, Morgana pretended she wasn’t watching her father’s office when Ava walked out, looking quite the professional reporter in her gray pantsuit, closing her notepad.
“Thank you, Mr. Van Wilden, I’ll be in touch.” She gave him a polite smile, offering her hand to him.
Oscar shook her hand. “
Please, Ava, how many times do I need to tell you to call me Oscar,” he told her warmly.
Ava smiled before dropping her voice. “I’m trying to appear professional, Mr. V.”
Morgana stifled a laugh, and she felt Gareth’s amusement. Even Oscar had mirth in his eyes. The humorous moment was lost when Phyllis hurried over, teetering on her sea-green suede heels. “I hope due to your personal connection to Mr. Van Wilden, you will paint his indiscretions in a good light.”
Ava looked affronted. “I may be a friend to the Van Wildens, but I’m also a professional journalist with high moral standards. I’m not the gossip columnist looking to spin part truths to sell papers. I will write the truth.”
Phyllis’s eyes blazed, and her top lip curled.
“But,” Ava continued, “Oscar’s past has nothing scandalous in it to write about. He was married with children before and, unfortunately, his wife died. His children, until Mariza’s arrival, were estranged from their father. That’s why he never mentions them, too painful.”
Morgana’s lips twitched as she tried not to smile. Ava was lying. She was spinning half-truths to cover for them.
Oscar smiled widely, looking on with amusement at Ava.
“Very well, then,” Phyllis said through a fake smile. Her matching green suit jacket made her look more frog-like today, rather than a toad.
“Goodbye, Phyllis, Mr. Van Wilden.” Ava turned to her and Gareth giving them a quick wink before leaving the campaign office.
“Oscar, we need to go over the details for the public appearance you will be doing to counterattack any fallout from this article,” Phyllis huffed, turning on her heel.
“Yes, of course.” Oscar winked at them as well before following his campaign manager.
“At least your cover isn’t likely to be blown now,” Gareth murmured.
“Yes, that’s true,” Morgana mumbled under her breath. But she still didn’t know if that was a good or bad thing.
***
A day later, Morgana and Gareth walked hand in hand through the town center toward the campaign office. They’d stopped by the local café to buy a coffee for Morgana. People in the café held copies of The Oak Wood Hills Daily open in front of them as they read Ava’s article.
“Child Abandoner or Broken-Hearted Parent?”
Morgana discreetly glanced around gauging for reactions as she drank her latte. She didn’t know why she cared so much about the outcome of this article—maybe it was because her father cared so much about this campaign. And even though she grumbled a lot about it, they really did need the cover to successfully complete their mission.
“Do you think it will matter too much?” Gareth asked.
Morgana shrugged. She looked around, but no one seemed ready to run Oscar out of town yet. She lifted the Styrofoam cup to her mouth.
“You could always stay in town with me to finish out the mission. We can tell everyone we fell in love and shacked up.” He grinned and squeezed her hand.
She chuckled, almost choking on her hot liquid. “Isn’t that pretty much what we’re doing now, anyway?” After all, she’d spent the night at his house again.
Gareth chuckled.
They reached the campaign office, Gareth opening the door for her.
The thundering footsteps of Phyllis could be heard as they stepped inside.
Her eyes were cold and hard as she approached them. Forget toad-like, this was a snarling dragon greeting them today.
“Jesus, is she ever happy?” Gareth muttered under his breath.
Morgana bit her lip to stop the laugh threatening to escape.
“Did you get them?” Phyllis snapped. “The papers?”
Gareth slapped his palm to his forehead, and Morgana groaned inwardly. The sole reason they had walked to the office today was to pick up the newspapers with Ava’s article. They’d been too distracted watching others buy their copies.
“I must have left them in the car, be right back.” Gareth darted out of the office while Morgana gave a fake smile to Phyllis before moving toward her desk.
Phyllis crossed her arms and tapped her foot while watching the office door.
Gareth was back within minutes with a pile of papers tucked under his arm. “There you go.” He gave them to her with a flourish, winking at Morgana.
Phyllis snatched the papers off him and tucked most of them under her arm while trying to read one of them.
“Did anyone see you?” Morgana asked quietly so only Gareth could hear.
Gareth walked over to her and leaned over to whisper in her ear. “Nah. I’ve picked up a few new tricks.”
Morgana leaned back and arched an eyebrow. “Oh, are you also doing the stealth training with Mother?”
“On and off.”
Their attention was drawn away when they felt Oscar arriving, then saw him appear right behind Phyllis. “How did I fare?” he asked, looking over the campaign manager’s shoulder.
“Oh, Oscar,” Phyllis said startled, clutching at her chest, her face brightening.
But Oscar was ignoring her reaction as he scanned the article. “Ava has done exactly what she said she’d do. I seem to be coming across as quite the broken-hearted parent.”
Phyllis’ heart beat faster, and she had a pleased look on her face—most likely from the proximity of being near him. The faint musk of her arousal was hitting their noses.
Oscar cleared his throat and stepped back.
She was fanning herself with the folded newspaper. “Still, we should go ahead with the publicity event.”
“Because it’s also a good cause,” Oscar said sternly, keeping his distance.
“Of course.” She turned to Gareth and Morgana and said, “I expect you both to be there.” She eyed Gareth up and down with disdain. “And dress nicely.”
Gareth looked down at his chinos and red flannel shirt. “What’s wrong with these?”
“Just be there,” Phyllis huffed, lifting her chin and marching into her office.
Oscar chuckled, winking at them both before entering his office.
“What event is she talking about?” Gareth turned to Morgana.
The shrilling of phones ringing erupted around them. “I’ll tell you about it later. We should answer these.” Morgana turned away, biting her lips again to keep from laughing.
Gareth leaned over, placing his palms flat on top of her desk, “I don’t like this amusement coming through the bond.”
Morgana lifted her finger to silence him, so she could answer the phones.
“Dammit, Morgana. What event?”
Chapter Thirty
Gareth ground his teeth, flashing a fake smile at the cameras. He hadn’t believed Morgana when she’d told him Phyllis wanted to use their relationship for publicity purposes to help deter the scandal about Oscar’s older children. The two young interns who found love while working on the candidate for the mayor’s campaign—one of them happened to be the candidate’s daughter—the perfect heart-warming story.
Gareth wanted to gag.
Morgana smiled and giggled for the cameras, dazzling the reporters, of course. His girlfriend was gorgeous, her long brown hair falling in soft curls down her back. Her sleeveless, white-silk blouse and layered lilac skirt flared out around her knees as she moved.
“You’re good at this faking thing, aren’t you?” he growled into her ear.
“Who says I’m faking being happy in love?” she responded playfully.
His smile turned into a genuine one.
“How long do we have to stand here?” I’d rather get stabbed by a stake again than stand around posing for much longer.
“A few more seconds, Mr. Lloyd,” Phyllis grumbled at him, then turned a bright, happy smile toward the reporters.
He could feel Oscar and Vivienne arriving. Now the cameras moved toward them. Ava gave them a wink before walking over to greet Oscar and Vivienne.
“Everyone should stand together so we can get happy family shots,” Phyllis told
them.
Gareth refrained from rolling his eyes. He could feel amusement through the bond. “Glad you find it funny,” he mumbled to Morgana under his breath.
Morgana bit her lips to stop herself from laughing.
Phyllis eyed them both.
“Fine.” Gareth placed a hand on Morgana’s lower back, guiding her over.
“If you had told me dating the candidate for mayor’s daughter involved wearing suits and posing for cameras, I would have never asked you out,” he mock growled.
This time Morgana did laugh out loud. She twirled around, stopping them both. Leaning in close, she grasped the lapels of his suit jacket. “I’ll make it up to you,” she whispered in a sultry tone.
“Wear the red pumps.” He pressed his growing erection into her hip, earning another giggle from her.
But they both froze at the same time when they felt the presence of the new vampire arriving.
Her. His motherfucking or in this case mother-attacking creator.
His dick went flaccid, and he was pretty sure his balls crawled up into his stomach.
“Shit, what’s she doing here?” Morgana looked over her shoulder.
“Hasn’t she gotten her bank account topped up yet?” he growled.
Oscar’s greeting to the reporters faltered, and Vivienne stiffened beside him.
Mariza was behind the group of reporters making her way over to them. Oscar shook his head slightly, waving his hand. Gareth’s creator stopped, still a good hundred feet from reaching them, looking away, her shoulders slumped. Gareth felt childish, but a little bit satisfied at seeing that.
“Right, shall we go inside?” Phyllis asked the reporters and patrons, who thankfully hadn’t noticed Mariza’s arrival.
Morgana kept her eye on her sister as Gareth led her inside.
***
Morgana had never seen the appeal of owning a pet before mainly because she moved around so much with her missions and having a pet didn’t seem practical.
But now, watching a small dog lick Gareth’s face, even she thought it was adorable.
The Van Wilden Chronicles Box Set Books 1-3 Page 35