“That’s a great idea. I’ve been paying on several storage lockers since—well, I don’t know how long. But keeping it on the off chance it may come back in style is stupid. Maybe I can use the money to get some things I really want. Not that I can think of what that would be right off the top of my head, but I could put it aside.”
They were shown to a large room and asked to have a seat less than thirty minutes after George won the bid. They didn’t know what was going on, but George didn’t like this, so he checked into the mind of the man who had spoken to him last week. When he came into the room, George decided to wait to be told rather than accuse them of some kind of under dealing when it came to his pots.
“We’ve had two of your teapots stolen, Mr. Manning.” George had known this, of course, but hearing it coming out of his mouth was altogether different. “We, of course, are devastated at the loss and will make it up to you in any way you see fit.”
“Can he see which teapots are left?” The man was falling all over himself to tell Milo that would be just wonderful. If he said “wonderful” once more, George was going to hit him in the mouth. As soon as the man was out the door, Milo turned to him. “They might not have taken the one you want. However, I’d make sure he knows how disappointed you are. This isn’t any way to run a business. It’s only been about a half-hour. I have to think it was an inside job.”
“You’re more than likely right on that. Someone just waiting on the off chance they could get them without paying for them. But why?” Milo shrugged. “I’m too upset to look. You do it before I rape the mind of every person in here.” Milo nodded to him as soon as Mr. Deaver came back into the room. His pot was still there, and it was all he could do not to take it and run. “Are you doing an investigation into this?”
“He doesn’t need to, George. He’s the one that took it. Mr. Deaver here is responsible for a lot of other theft in this place. Mostly it’s on groupings like the one you purchased, and he’ll help himself to one or two of the pieces and say they were stolen. When in actuality, they’re in his office right now, sitting on his desk. Aren’t they, Phillip?” Phillip started to back out of the room, and when he was at the doorway, Winnie was there to capture him. “These men are here to arrest him. The rest of his stash of stolen items is in his home. George paid for two more teapots that are in the office here.”
“Thanks, guys. I’ve been having reports run across my desk since I’ve been here. I had no idea it was anything more than just petty theft. This takes it to a whole new level with there being so many other things taken.” Winnie smiled at them both. “I love this gig, by the way. Helping out the police department for a little while.”
Deaver was read his rights and taken away. Right out the front door where everyone could see him being arrested.
Winnie was watching the police department while the man in charge of the place was on a two-week vacation. George thought she was having a good deal more fun than she should have been, but it was working out. George had a feeling that if the man didn’t return, his aunt would do the job for free. She was having so much fun.
“I think she’s enjoying this so much. She might live here too.” George thought the same thing. “What do you think she thinks is fun about it?”
“I don’t know. Also, I’m not sure others would think what she’s doing is called fun. I think crime is down by a great deal, not that there was much here anyway. And there have been fewer fights at the bars nightly.” Milo said that was what she was more than likely enjoying. The feel of accomplishment. “I think you might be right. Not many dragons are fucking up nowadays, and people, for the most part, still don’t believe in them. Maybe she’s just bored.”
“Could be.” An officer brought him in the final two teapots. Them being in person didn’t improve their looks at all. George thought they might be uglier now that he could see them. “Christ, what was I thinking?”
Open me. George looked at Milo and asked him if he’d heard it too. When he nodded, both of them sat down with the teapot between them. Take off this stuff so I can breathe again, Young George. I need my air.
The outside of the pot was polymer clay that had been baked at a very low temperature to make it seem harder than it really was. Carefully pulling the chunks away from the teapot, George could see that it was jade. Very old and very dark jade.
“George?” He sat back and looked at the piece when ninety percent of the clay was pulled free. “That’s a dragon. I don’t know if you can tell or not, but that looks like our grandma. Our Dad’s mother. Weren’t we told she was a jade-colored dragon?”
~*~
No one touched the teapot. It was beautifully done, Jamie thought. The way someone had etched the dragon into the entire pot, using her tail for the handle and her mouth for the spout, made her think whoever had done this had seen an actual dragon. Even the clawed feet that made up the pot’s footer was as realistic as anything she’d ever seen. Jamie had even nicked her finger on one of the claws that curved up and down on it.
The detail was exquisite. The colors of the carved areas were done in such a way it enhanced the three-dimensional dragon rather than take away from it. The writing on it, something that she had no idea how to read, was carved in the greatest detail she’d ever witnessed.
“I love the attention to detail on all of it. But the fact that they carved the dragon, so it looks more like it’s resting on the teapot rather than a part of it, is what makes me think someone knew what they were doing in hiding it. The gold tips of the scales makes her look like she’s resting after a long flight.” Jamie had to agree. The sole reason for hiding it in plain sight had to be very telling. She asked Xavier if it was true, that it was his mother. “I don’t know for certain. I will tell you I’ve not thought of my mom as much as I used to. It’s been longer than I care to think on at times. I was the youngest of the six, so I don’t have as many memories as the others do. But I do remember my uncle telling me once that there was a human that did carvings and that my mom had been asked to sit for him. I don’t know what it was she sat for, but I’m reasonably sure this could be her.”
The top of the lid had a broken egg, decorated with not just diamonds but emeralds as well. The gold used carefully had been used as highlights. The circle around the egg was where they found the smallest dragon just outside the broken shell of its birth. The tiniest slivers of emeralds in the larger dragon’s eyes seemed to be able to follow a person around the room. Winnie had even unearthed six equally beautiful teacups from the stash of Deaver that had golden rings around the cup’s rim to sit it level on any surface. No handles were on the cups, and it took her a few moments to realize they’d not been broken off but had never been on it.
Asking and being told that she could pick it up, she was surprised at how light it was. Not paperweight light, but not nearly as heavy as she had assumed it would be. Putting it back on the table, she asked George if he’d had any more conversations with it.
“Not yet. It told me it was finally free to breathe and that she’d talk to me later, but nothing more than that. How much do you think it’s really worth? Not that it matters—I’m just glad to have it.” George laughed a little. “You don’t seem surprised that I can talk to things.”
“Did Uncle Cooper say when he was coming by to see it? I mean, he’s the oldest. Maybe he has some insight on it.” Milo asked what he’d missed. “Oh, I told Jamie about your ability when we were talking one night.”
“He said he was on his way. That’s all he said.” George sat across from Milo as he continued. “You have no idea how much I want to make a cup of tea in this thing. Just to see it pour into one of the cups. And then taste it. I don’t know what I’m expecting it to taste like, but I’m hoping it’ll be as close to what this thing looks like in magnificence.”
“Why don’t you? I mean, it’s a teapot, right? You should do it.” George told Jamie he wanted Coop
er to see it first. That way, if it was his mom, he thought all of the brothers should have the first pot. Jamie was visibly impressed as she told George that. “Wow, that’s really sweet of you, George. Who would have thought you were a romantic like that?”
“Don’t get used to it. I’m trying to get brownie points to use later. Having an uncle king of your kind surely does put a damper on your life at times.” They were laughing when the front door was opened. As soon as they realized it was Cooper and Carson, each of them stood up. Even Jamie did. “Uncle Cooper, I found something today. Well, three weeks ago, but I didn’t get it until today. I wasn’t going to—” Someone cleared their throat. “I’m sorry. I’m just really nervous. Did your mom really pose for a man that did jade carvings? That’s important to know.”
“Yes. I don’t remember the man’s name, but yes, she did it. In exchange for her sitting for him, she was able to take as many sheep as she wished, so long as she didn’t take them all, to feed us boys with. I think there were times when that was all there was between us starving or not. Why do you ask?” George moved out of the way, and Cooper looked around the room before looking at the teapot. “Holy shit, George. Holy shit. It’s Mom. I’d know that carving anywhere. He brought it to the cave we were living in and showed it to us. It was so tiny to us then, nothing more than a speck in his palm. But that’s it.”
Cooper asked if he could touch it. “Yes, of course. I don’t know what the writing says at the bottom of it, but the cups were found by Aunt Winnie. She found them when someone tried to steal them—” He caught himself again. “It spoke to me. From the catalog. It begged me to pay any price to purchase it. Then it went silent other than to ask me to remove the polymer clay that was baked around it to hide it, I guess.”
“It says here….” Cooper had to sit down, and he held the teapot to his heart. “It says To my favorite dragon. I have named her Ava. That was my mother’s name from then on. Ava.” He wiped at the tears, and Jamie could feel her own eyes filling with unshed emotions. “Have you told the others yet? What did Xavier say about it?”
“He didn’t know.” Cooper turned to his younger brother and asked him about it. He said the same thing to his elder brother as he had to them. He just didn’t remember her. George continued. “I was just telling Jamie here that you and the others should be the ones that use it first. I want you to tell me in great detail how it tastes, too.”
They were laughing as Winnie and Hudson, now that he was there, gathered up the other uncles. Like Cooper, they were moved to tears at the sight of the little teapot, and Jamie had to go and get boxes of tissues for the family.
Jamie had learned to make tea the Chinese way when she’d been in college. One of her roommates had been from a very traditional family, and she’d learned from her great grandmother. She did that now to show them she had as much knowledge of the jade teapot as they did. Not their mother, of course, but of the pouring tea ritual.
When the tea was ready, she told Cooper, as head of the household back when it was just the six of them, and waited while he sipped the tea, holding the tiny looking cup in his big strong hands. He sat his cup down, having only taken a sip. Cooper burst into tears as soon as his brothers did the same with his cup.
“I’ll pay you ten times what you paid for it, George. I won’t take no for an answer, either. I would love to be able to pull this out when I need a pick me up, and share it with my family. On special occasions, of course. Ten times what you paid is a lot of money.” Milo laughed so hard it was difficult not to join him. “Have I missed something?”
“Ten times is a very reasonable amount, George. If nothing else, you should be happy he’s not making you hand it over.” Cooper said he’d not do that for any amount of money. Their uncle Lincoln said he was trying to make a point. That made Milo and George laugh all the harder. “I don’t see what is so funny.”
“You can have it for ten times what I paid for it, Uncle Cooper.” George, still fighting laughter, handed his uncle the bill of sale. “With the six teapots I got, that comes to five cents each. So you owe me fifty cents. I don’t know how much the cups were—they were brought here by Winnie when she found the other things in the man’s office—but they’re yours anyway. For the price of telling me how the tea tasted.”
They were all laughing then, and Cooper asked her if she’d make more tea for the others. She was glad now that she’d paid attention to her friend and remembered that rushing a good cup of tea was the same as rushing through a shitty job at painting. The art of it was lost.
They all had a cup of the delicious brew. Cooper didn’t sip the second time but stared into the cup. Jamie asked him if he could read tea leaves.
He smiled at her. “I can, but I don’t know how good at it I am. The last time I did it was when I was just a young dragon. The man who carved this gave each of us a cup and then read our leaves. Mine said that I was destined for great things. All my mind could think of was being like my father, king of all dragons. I guess it came true.” He dumped his leaves onto the surface of the table after drinking the tea and stared down at them. “It says I’m going to live a long and very fruitful life. That usually means children. That I’ll have enough good fortune that I will forever have a spark to light the fire and enough sense to get in out of the rain.” He looked at it harder. “I’m sorry, I read it wrong. It says I’ll have enough sense to know that water is the root of both evil and good. That’s about right, I think.”
They took turns having their leaves read by Cooper. He enjoyed it as much as the rest of them did. When it was time for supper, Cooper and Carson took them all out. Telling them not to get used to him being such a generous man, he hugged George to him.
“This is far and away the best thing that someone has given me and the rest of my brothers, George. I don’t know what to say about how you’ve made me feel.” George told him it would be his pleasure for him to just take it. That giving it to him had been his plan all along. “Thank you. I’ll make it up to you.”
“Before I forget.” Jamie stood next to Milo as he looked at his uncle. “I’ve been given a new job, as I’m sure you know from my mom. But she asked me to make sure I let you know what I’ve…what Jamie and I have done for this family. The ability to have children that aren’t dragons, but will have some of their traits, is now there for any of us second generation to have.”
No one moved. They did look at Milo like he had a second head or something. Finally, it was Xavier that stood up and thanked them. Then it was a free for all on all of them hugging the two of them. It was Finn that thanked him the most.
“A child of her own? You’ve no idea how much she’s been wanting one. Rachel has never said anything, but I can feel her sadness every night when she’s supposed to be sleeping. I don’t know what you did to make this happen, Milo and Jamie, but I owe you everything right now. There isn’t a thing I’d not do for you or even pay you for the happiness I feel right now.” Milo told them what they’d done and how Gem had told them what a wonderful job they’d done for her and her kind. “This is wonderful. You’ve no…well, I guess you do have an idea. That’s wonderful.”
“Also, we’re going to have a child too. A daughter.”
More cheers went up, and there was much hugging from everyone. Even though Xavier and Cindi knew, they acted like they were given the news for the first time ever. Jamie certainly did love this family and their ways of making a person feel so welcomed and a part of something larger than she’d ever had before.
After everyone left, she and Milo sat on the couch and enjoyed the evening air from the open doors in the living room. She didn’t need to have television to watch. No job was pressing her. All she had was her thoughts. Until the little boy and his accident of falling out of the tree returned to her mind.
She turned to tell Milo what she knew and found him sound asleep. Even his face was so relaxed that he had his mouth open, a
nd soft snores mingled with the sound of his heart as it beat in his chest. Jamie realized in that moment that she was indeed in love with Milo Manning and wondered why it had taken her so long to realize he was the most important person in her life. And would be forever.
When she snuggled up to him, he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer to his body. In seconds, less she thought, she was beginning to feel her own body relaxing. Soon she knew she’d be as asleep as he was.
Chapter 9
Milo didn’t move. His back was hurting from sitting in one position for so long, but the little boy in front of him, lying on the bed, needed his comfort, and he was going to give it to him. Jamie came into the room while he was adjusting his fingers that Caleb was holding onto.
“How’s he doing?” Milo, whispering as she had, told her how he’d woken up several times and spoken, but mostly it was about how much pain he was in. “I have given him a little extra in the way of meds up until now. But I need him to wake up so I can talk to him. Winnie does as well. All we have him listed as being a victim of right now is neglect. I’m sure you know as well as I do that it’s much more than that.”
“I do. I can’t read his mind right now. His pain is blocking out everything else. I do know that both his parents were in on this falling out of the tree shit.” She said that Winnie had told her the same thing. “He’s been holding my hand since he woke up the first time. He said it was making him feel like he could depend on me to make sure he was all right. Nothing about his parents, however. Not even to ask where they were. Where are they, by the way?”
“Daniel Merchant is sitting in jail right now for neglect by way of not bringing him in when he first fell, or whatever. Winnie is looking for his wife, Mary.” Milo asked her what she thought about what they’d talked about before. “Adopting him? Yes. I want to do it if this goes south the way I think it should. I guess your parents are going to be in sometime today to talk to him. Nothing earth-shattering, but just to talk to him about his life up until now.”
Milo: Xavier’s Hatchlings ― Paranormal Dragon Shifter Romance Page 12