Chapter 8
Carla was so glad to see that her daughter was all right that she wept for an hour. Touching her wasn’t enough. She had to hold her and hug her as well. What made her the happiest was that Wynter allowed her to do that. And on some level, she thought that Wynter needed the comfort as much as she did.
“When I saw that on the news, I nearly had a heart attack.” Wynter told her that she had nearly done so too. “They’re saying that it could have been a great deal worse. Judge McIntosh was interviewed right after you called me. He said that it was because of you and the Manning men that everyone is all right.”
“I felt him there.” Carla knew that too. Her daughter had some abilities that she’d not had before since she’d met up with Tristan. “Oh, before I forget, Tristan and I were married in the judge’s chambers. He said that he didn’t want to lie to the people that put him into office, so we had to do it then. I thought sometime later we could have a little ceremony here. What do you think?”
“I think that you’re married. And while I would have loved for you to have had a large wedding with all the trimmings, I think that it would hurt me more because your dad wasn’t here to give you away.” Wynter hugged her again. “Oh Wynter. To think this is the third time that I could have lost you. I don’t like that feeling, in case you decide to take on any more mad men.”
“I won’t, trust me on that one. I don’t think I have it in me.” They sat on the couch together, while Wynter told her that she’d had her file wiped clean. “I don’t even have to say that I was arrested, which I shouldn’t have been in the first place. I think he said something about a judgment, but since I didn’t make it that far in college, I’ll have to refer you to Hudson if you want information about it.”
“I’m just happy that you’re home. And safe.” Carla remembered something and got up to get it. “This came for you just after you left. It was sent by courier. Isn’t that the address of the man that we rented from? How on earth did he know you were married?”
“It is. I wonder what he wants. As for being married, most people think that we were already.” Carla had had to sign for it, and Wynter told her that she shouldn’t do that. “You might be caught up in something serious. I saw that while I was waiting on my hearing. You’d not believe what the person was in trouble for.” Wynter’s mouth dropped open. “He’s suing us.”
“Who is?” Wynter handed her the letter. “He’s suing us for back rent and damages? We didn’t even get out things out of that place. How does...he knows you’re married. To a Manning. The little bastard is suing you because he thinks he can get a quick buck from you and your very wealthy husband. Why, I should go there and give him a piece of my mind.”
“You’re right about that. I’m going to right now.”
Wynter had a full head of steam going by the time they were out in the car. While it was funny in a scary sort of way, Carla was afraid that the man on the receiving end of her anger wasn’t going to be long for this world.
“Do you think this is a good idea? Perhaps we should just call him first.” She went with Wynter because she thought one of them should have the chance to call Tristan if they got into deep trouble. Or at least when Wynter did. “I know, we should tell someone where we’re going.”
“So they can talk me out of it?” Carla nodded as Wynter took a turn much too fast for her comfort. “Tristan will try and take over. Not that he’s done that before, but I’m going to deal with this man if it’s the last thing— Holy fuck.”
Carla bumped her head on the dashboard. Not hard, but enough to know that when Wynter slammed on the brakes, she was happy that it was a new car with a good braking system. Looking at Grace standing there with Mickey, wives of Lincoln and Lucas, she wondered if someone had told them that they’d been hell bent for leather going out of town.
“We’re going with you.”
They didn’t even wait for an answer. Not that either of them asked to go, but Carla had to admit she was glad that they were going with them. Mickey asked where they were going.
“The landlord that took all our things has decided that we incurred damages to the house. Not to mention, he did take all of our things.”
Grace asked the address. After telling her, she pulled out her phone. Carla hoped that cooler heads were going to keep them all four out of jail.
After hanging up, Grace said that Timothy Chase didn’t own that house any longer—Tristan did. He had no more right to sue her than he did to make it with a goat.
“Not that I’d put that by him. He’d have to be a real fool to think that you’d not know that.” The car started to slow down. Grace laughed. “I’m assuming that you didn’t know.”
“No, I didn’t.” Now that they were going a reasonable speed, Carla felt better. “I think Tristan might have said something about it, but I was too busy trying to keep his hands off me. Are you sure that I can’t go there and beat the man to death?”
“Wynter. What a thing to say.” She looked back at Grace. “And don’t think I didn’t hear that goat reference either. My goodness. How did you guys know that we were leaving town to deal with this?”
“We didn’t.” Carla turned to look at Mickey as she continued. “We were just going to have some lunch, and saw you guys coming at us like the hell hounds were after you. Christ, I was so glad you stopped when you did—I thought for sure I was going to pee myself.”
They decided to have lunch and talk about the holidays coming up. Carla was looking forward to them. To have a houseful of family around, no matter what they could turn into, was going to be so much fun. Not even after she was married had they had a large holiday gathering. Carla had already picked out the place she was going to put her little tree.
Before they even got a chance to get to their seats, the rest of the women showed up. The six of them, Carla thought, made an odd group. It tickled her that she wasn’t even the oldest of them. Winnie, she was to understand, was a great deal older than all of them put together.
“Your dad never cared for colored lights. I loved them. They always seemed to be so festive to me. But I gave into him. He was the one that worked all day long, and I gave into it. I wish we’d have traded off or something. I think that would have been so much more fun, don’t you girls?” They were awaiting their food to be delivered when they started talking. “He also only wanted red or green paper. No designs on it. It was difficult to find just plain green or red paper, let me tell you.”
“I never bothered with a tree.” Carla asked Ginger why not. “I didn’t want to bother with spending the money on one, for starters. And I usually worked during the holidays. Double time was much better than having to put a tree up and take it down. I know that my sister is planning a big holiday with her children and her new husband. I’m so happy for her. She deserves it.”
“I didn’t bother either. It was like you said, too much work put into it when I wasn’t even home most of the time.” Carla liked Mickey. The story about her grandfather naming her after the famous baseball player was nice. “My family, they weren’t all that keen on me being alive anyway. My mom and my sister are in prison still. Beth died not too long ago from cancer.”
“I’m so sorry to hear that.” Mickey waved her off and said that she was fine now. Carla looked at Carson. “Did you have a nice holiday to remember?”
“Not so much. I had a job that was happy to work me to death, and then things started to fall apart there until I met Cooper. And let me tell you, he was not a joy to be around. I still, to this day, cannot believe that we finally made some headway into falling in love.” She grinned, and Carla could see her joy there. “We have the most wonderful family. I cannot wait to put presents under the tree and watch the kids open them.”
“Don’t ask me about the holidays. I was around before there was a reason to celebrate. And even if I hadn’t been sort of working myself to death like the others, I was in prison for a while too. Thanks to that levelheaded man, Cooper.” Wi
nnie laughed too. “He wasn’t my favorite person for a long time. Still isn’t sometimes.”
She wasn’t sure that Winnie was telling the truth. But it looked as if none of them had had a good life—at least not before meeting their mates. Carla was glad now that she’d gotten her butt in gear and started making them gifts. There was money now, thanks to her daughter, but Carla enjoyed making gifts rather than buying them. It gave her a special feeling to know that someone received a gift that she’d made especially for them.
The lunch lasted for nearly three hours. They’d been finished eating for some time, but sat around talking like they’d needed it. She knew that she had. Having friends was something that she’d not had, not even when she was younger.
“Why is that?” She looked at Carson when she spoke. “We can all read your mind, and when you suddenly got sad on us, we wanted to know. You don’t think you have any friends.”
“Perhaps now I do. Before coming here, I didn’t socialize. Not only because there was very little money to do so, but getting out and being one of those women that I saw in town all the time wasn’t me. You know that kind. They have several drinks with their meal, then drive home to have the nanny or someone fix dinner for everyone. Not even time, I guess, to bathe their own children when they needed it. That, to me, was sad. It was much easier for me to stay at home and do my own thing.”
“Mom makes the most incredible things with some material.” Carla felt her face heat up at Wynter’s words. “I never got a chill when I was snuggled under one of her blankets. She made nearly all my clothing for me. One year, she made all the costumes for the winter play. It was the best show we’d ever put on, I heard one teacher say.”
“I just found something that I loved to do. I can rarely go by a fabric store or a yarn store without just popping in for a moment. It’s nice now to be able to get what I want, even if it’s not on sale.” Mickey asked if she’d made the one that was on her bed. “Yes, I did. I’d forgotten that you came over to see my new home. I made the curtains too. And in the winter evenings, Wynter and I would make rag rugs. They were so nice, and last forever too.”
“You’ll have to see one of the faerie houses. I bet you could teach them a thing or two about putting a blanket together. Most of the ones I’ve seen are just potato sacks spread over their ticking mattress. I know they love to create things. They make all their own furniture. Did you know that?” Winnie told her about the stained-glass windows that some of them were making. “You should really do it. I’m betting they’ll love you forever.”
“I have always wanted to do stained-glass. I never learned. Another one of those projects that took more money than we had.” Wynter told her that she should learn it now. “Oh, I’m too old to learn anything new. But I will see about helping the faeries. They do so much for me that I’d be so happy to be able to return the favor.”
“Mom, you’re going to live forever. You have plenty of time to learn all sorts of things now.” Carla burst out laughing. She did have time. And the money. “I’m to understand that there is a consignment place opening up in town. Maybe you can take some of the things you’ve made now to have some of your own money. I’m going to work.”
“We all do.” Carla said that she’d not known that. Carson nodded. “Yes. We maybe as rich as anyone on the planet, but we’re not a lazy lot. We have so many things going on at once that it’s hard to keep track of them all. I think Hudson has about five things running right now. And Cooper has his hands into a lot of things too. Plus taking care of the dragons when they need help.”
“I need to keep busy.” They all nodded at her. “If I’m going to live forever, as I’ve been told, I need to find something that I’ll enjoy, I think.”
As they were finally leaving, Mickey stopped her. She was telling her of some of the things she had going that she could use a helping hand with. Before they were in the car, each of them had asked for her to come by and offer up some advice. Carla thought that she might enjoy being around for a very long time. With friends and family like this, there wasn’t any way that she could go wrong.
~*~
Tristan was happy for the start of the weekend. He had a lot of things to take care of, and he never seemed to have time for it. In just a few more weeks they’d be off for Christmas break, and he thought that he was looking forward to it more than the kids were.
Closing up his briefcase, Tristan had started for the door when he saw a kid in the back of the classroom. “Can I help you with something?” She didn’t answer him. “Are you in my class? I don’t think I know your name.”
“Stephan White.” Oh, well, she was a he, and Tristan remembered him now that he was standing up. “I thought you’d already left for the weekend. I was just looking to see if I’d left my gloves behind.”
They both looked, but he had a feeling that there hadn’t been any gloves on the kid for a while now. His hands were chapped and red. He wanted to ask him what he really wanted when he discovered the blanket and pillow in the coat closet.
“I’m not going to tell on you. Nor am I going to be angry. But are you living here on the weekends?” Stephan nodded. “Please look at me.”
“I don’t have anywhere to go. My mom died a few months ago, and my dad, he took off in the car after it started getting cold. I let Susie in after I know that everything is clear. She sleeps in here and I watch for the janitor. I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t want her to get sick again.”
“You did the right thing.” Stephan looked at him as if he didn’t believe him. “I’m going to do something that is probably going to make you afraid of me. I’m going to take you and your sister to my house. Where is she?”
“In the bathroom. Why would you do that?” Several things came to Tristan’s mind, one of which was that he was being set up. “Here she comes now.”
But as soon as he saw Susie, he knew that he wasn’t. These kids really did need help. They were both fragile looking, almost like they hadn’t had a decent meal in about a year. While they were clean looking, he knew that they weren’t. It only just occurred to him that the boy had been wearing the same two shirts since he’d started teaching here.
Susie didn’t say a word, and that worried him, but she did look to her brother for every question that Tristan asked them. Once he got them into his car, terrified that some big hulking man was going to come out and scream at him for taking the kids, Tristan had to breathe in and out for several minutes just to calm himself. He wasn’t afraid. He was actually excited.
Talking to Wynter on the way home, he told her what he’d done.
I’m glad you did. I’ll have rooms ready for them. He thanked her. Tristan, will we be in trouble for this? Not that I care, but I don’t want anyone coming back and saying we kidnapped them.
I don’t think you’re going to think that once you see them. Honey, I feel like they really need us. Not just for us to take care of them over the weekend either. She asked him if he meant that they should keep them. I do. I’m going to have Winnie meet us at the house.
She’s here. We’ve been talking about what I can do as a dragon. Cooper asked her to talk to me. He had forgotten about that. I’m going to talk to Timbit and ask him to make something extra for them. I don’t know what they might eat, but I’m sure that he can whip up anything they might want.
This was true. Timbit, named after the donuts that he loved so much, was a fae, something that few new. But when Wynter said that he could whip it up, she meant that literally. He used magic to do a great many things with their meals.
Pulling into the driveway a few minutes later, he was glad to see Wynter out waiting for them. She hustled the children into the house while he got his briefcase out of the trunk. By the time he’d arrived in the house, Wynter was directing all the staff into different things to help the kids out.
“I’ve never actually witnessed someone going from just plain woman to Mom so quickly before. Do you suppose that she’ll be able to let
them go if I find their father?” He asked Winnie if she’d been looking. “Yes. I can make him dead if you’d like. Not by my hand, but someone else’s. He’s on his way back here to sell her.”
“You mean Susie?” Winnie nodded, and looked at the little girl as she went up the steps. “No, that’s not going to happen. She’s only about eight years old. He— Who would you need to call to make that happen? I’m all for it, and I’m sure that Wynter will be as well.”
“Good. I’m not going to use her as bait, as the police have asked. He’s actually trying to sell her off to an undercover. But I can shift into her and see what he has in mind. There are some sick fuckers out there, Tristan. I don’t know if you’re aware of that or not.”
“I knew that, but it’s hitting closer to home right now.” She nodded and moved off to the kitchen. Tristan would bet anything that the deal going down would be the end of Mr. White. There was no room in this world for sick people that would sell an eight-year-old little girl off. Especially his own child.
Tristan went up to find out what was going on with the kids. Stephan needed a shower. At twelve, he was beginning to have the odors of an adult. He’d never noticed it on the kid, but he wanted him to have a full shower. He found Wynter in one of the bedrooms looking for something for Susie to put on after her bath. Wynter was crying.
Pulling her into his arms, he held her as she tried hard not to cry where anyone could hear her. He knew that she was hurting for the children. With that, Tristan almost didn’t want to tell her about what was going to happen to the little girl when the father returned. After telling her, Tristan backed away from her anger.
“Are you telling me—?” She lowered her voice. “Are you telling me that the son of a bitch that left his children out in the cold was going to profit off that child in there? She doesn’t even have a decent pair of panties, Tristan. Stephan rinses them out for her nightly. They’re so full of holes they’re only panties because of the elastic on them.”
Tristan: The Manning Dragons ― Paranormal Dragon Shifter Romance Page 10