Bigfootloose and Finn Fancy Free (55 page)

“Everyone, a moment please,” Vee said, calling for the audience's attention. “I wanted to thank you all for coming.” Her voice thickened, and Pete put a hand on her back as she continued. “And thank you for sharing your wonderful stories and thoughts about my brother. I think he'd say ‘I pity the fool who didn't know me.' And he'd be right to. In a few minutes, we'll let people get up here and say any last—”

“Wait,” Pete said, and blushed.

“Pete?” Vee asked with a worried expression. “What is it?”

He glanced at me, and I gave him an encouraging nod, and then began making my way toward Dawn. Pete turned back to Vee. “I just, I wanted to ask you,” he said, and waved toward Zeke, “while we have both our families here, uh—”

Pete dropped to one knee, and pulled a ring box out of his pocket. Vee's eyes went wide and her hand covered her mouth as Pete opened the box, his hands trembling. Even from here I could recognize the black-and-silver pattern of Mother's engagement ring.

“I love you,” Pete said. “You're the best girl—or, uh, woman—that I've ever met. Well, except my mother. And no offense, Sammy, or Mattie, or—not that you're not as good as my mother, Vee, or uh—what I mean is, there's no other woman I would want to paint with, or run on the beach with, or climb trees with, or, well, spend my life with, than you and—” He pushed the ring up toward Vee. “Will you marry me?”

Vee laughed, and tears ran down her face as she nodded vigorously. “Yes. Yes, of course, yes.”

Pete beamed, stood up, and lifted Vee in a passionate kiss.

The gathered crowd cheered. I reached Dawn. She smiled at me, and I kissed her, long and with all my heart behind it.

“I love you,” I said as we parted.

“I love you, too, you big dork,” she replied.

Then we both grinned up at Pete and Vee as they blushed and smiled ear-to-ear at the continued applause and congratulations of the crowd.

I felt like I'd cried a river in the last few days. I wished more of those tears had been happy tears, like the ones that flowed freely now. I wiped at my face with the handily provided handkerchief.

As I lowered it, words formed on the cloth.

With an uneasy feeling, I stretched out the handkerchief between my hands so the words could be read clearly.

You helped the feybloods and their masters. But war is coming, boy. Get wise and start fighting for your own people, or go down with the enemy. GG

Gavriel Gramaraye. My grandfather. Alive and still stalking me.

*Ah, bat's breath.*

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

RANDY HENDERSON
is the grand prize winner of the Writers of the Future Award for 2014, a Clarion West graduate, and a member of SFWA and Codex. His fiction has appeared in
Penumbra, Escape Pod,
and
Realms of Fantasy,
and has been included in anthologies. Find him online at
www.randy-henderson.com
. Or sign up for email updates
here
.

    

 

TOR BOOKS BY
RANDY HENDERSON

Finn Fancy Necromancy

Bigfootloose and Finn Fancy Free

 

Thank you for buying this

Tom Doherty Associates ebook.

 

To receive special offers, bonus content,

and info on new releases and other great reads,

sign up for our newsletters.

 

Or visit us online at

us.macmillan.com/newslettersignup

 

For email updates on the author, click
here
.

 

CONTENTS

Title Page

Copyright Notice

Dedication

Acknowledgments

  
1:
Once Bitten Twice Shy

  
2:
Looking for a New Love

  
3:
Don't You Want Me, Baby

  
4:
Wanted Dead or Alive

  
5:
Sign O the Times

  
6:
Every Rose Has Its Thorn

  
7:
Didn't We Almost Have It All

  
8:
Notorious

  
9:
Bad

10:
New Sensation

11:
The Way It Is

12:
(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party)

13:
My Prerogative

14:
Keep Your Hands to Yourself

15:
If You Don't Know Me by Now

16:
Who's That Girl

17:
It Takes Two

18:
Heart and Soul

19:
I Know You Got Soul

20:
Don't Dream It's Over

21:
Miss You Much

22:
Paradise City

23:
Eternal Flame

24:
Janie's Got a Gun

25:
I Won't Back Down

26:
The End of the Innocence

27:
Devil Inside

28:
Wild Thing

29:
Giving You the Best That I Got

30:
With or Without You

31:
Lips Like Sugar

32:
Sowing the Seeds of Love

33:
Rhythm Is Gonna Get You

34:
Back to Life

35:
(I Just) Died in Your Arms

36:
It's the End of the World as We Know It

Epilogue

About the Author

Tor Books by Randy Henderson

Copyright

 

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

BIGFOOTLOOSE AND FINN FANCY FREE

Copyright © 2016 by Randy Henderson

All rights reserved.

Cover art by Tomislav Tomic

A Tor Book

Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC

175 Fifth Avenue

New York, NY 10010

www.tor-forge.com

Tor
®
is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.

The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

ISBN 978-0-7653-7810-1 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-4668-5914-2 (e-book)

e-ISBN 9781466859142

Our e-books may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by e-mail at
[email protected]
.

First Edition: February 2016