Firestone (2 page)

Jeraine looked up when two strangers entered
the room. The man had dark skin and long dread locks. Even in an
expensive tailored suit, the man looked powerful and strong. In his
heart of hearts, Jeraine had always hoped to be like that man –
powerful, virile, and attractive. Except, of course, he didn’t want
to be so dark. Embarrassed at his own prejudice, he glanced at the
guitar he was playing.

The woman brushed past him and he looked up.
She was gorgeous, beyond beautiful. Her skin was light, not quite
white, but not quite black. She glowed with a kind of inner
radiance. The only other woman Jeraine had seen do this was
Tanesha’s mother, Yvonne. When Jeraine looked up, the woman smiled
at him.

“
It’s a pleasure to meet
you, Jeraine,” the woman said. Jeraine’s brain felt fuzzy and warm.
He smiled at her. “I’m Fand. Your music is very popular in our
land.”

She smiled at Jeraine again and he felt as
if he was in the presence of royalty. Instinctively, he reached for
her hand and kissed it.

“
Ma’am,” he
said.

She gave him a sweet smile. In his fuzzy
state, he beamed, but his logical mind, the one who went to AA
meetings, told him that something was not quite right. He needed to
stay on his game.

“
Manannán?” Jill’s father
walked toward the strangers. “No, it can’t be.”

“
Perses!” Manannán said.
“My old friend.”

“
I can’t believe my eyes!”
Perses said. “It’s been an age!
How . . .?”

The men hugged each other.

“
Where have you been?”
Perses asked.

“
Where have you been?”
Manannán laughed. “You remember Fand.”

“
Ma’am,” Perses dropped to
one knee. She held a hand out to him which he kissed. She nodded to
him and he stood. “You are as lovely as always. Please come meet my
princess, Anjelika. She’s here with her father. We are waiting for
our youngest to have her children.”

“
Jill is your child?” Fand
asked. “Actually . . . she has your strength and
clarity of sight. Of course, she is your child, of
course.”

“
She looks like her
mother,” Perses said. “Anjelika is of the healers, East Slav, from
Rus.”

“
Our son is her mate,”
Manannán said.

“
Husband,” Perses
corrected. Manannán nodded. “Now that you say it, he does carry
your look.”

Manannán smiled at Jill’s father as if they
were old friends.

“
It’s wonderful to see
someone from the old days,” Manannán said.

The men hugged again.

“
Come, let’s get caught
up,” Perses said. “Queen Fand? Will you honor me by meeting my
wife?”

“
Of course,” Fand said.
“But you need not call me Queen. This is a free land.”

Perses smiled at her, and she beamed.

“
I like being Fand,” she
said. “It’s refreshing.”

Perses glanced at the two lovely young
attendants following the queen. He smiled at her pretense and they
all went into the alcove where Jill’s mother and grandfather were
sitting.

“
Ok, that was weird,” Mike
said as he sat down next to Jeraine.

“
Did you look these guys
up?” Jeraine asked in a low tone.

“
After Val told me about
them,” Mike said. He nodded to where Valerie was nursing Jackie and
chatting with Tink. “Queen Fand is the queen of the
fairies.”

“
And Manannán?” Jeraine
asked in a low tone.

“
He’s a God,” Mike said.
“He’s supposed to be the first ruler of the Isle of Man, but most
Irish and Scottish stories say he’s a God.”

A burst of laughter came from the alcove
where Jill’s parents were sitting.

“
Your dad greeted him as
a . . .” Jeraine nodded to finish the
sentence.

“
Friend,” Mike said. “I
know.”

“
What’s that make your
dad?” Jeraine asked.

Mike shook his head. They both looked over
at the alcove for a moment.

“
Ah shit,” Jeraine said,
under his breath. “What’s that guy doing here?”

Mike looked around to see what Jeraine was
talking about. Jeraine gestured to his right. A tall, medium dark
skinned man came into the room. The man looked like a male model.
He had a small waist and broad muscular shoulders. He moved with
the ease of a dancer. He wore his hair clipped tight to his head.
Looking around the room, he smiled at Yvonne’s friend Abi and
Tanesha’s father Rodney. Abi gestured him over to talk to them.

“
Who is that?” Mike said
under his breath.

“
Tanesha’s lab partner,”
Jeraine said.

“
Shit,” Mike said.
“
I
want to fuck
him.”

“
I know,” Jeraine said.
“She says there’s nothing going on
but . . .”

They turned to look at him. Sam came over to
shake his hand. As if they were old friends, the lab partner put
his arm around Sam. The lab partner looked at Jeraine and smiled.
He glanced at Yvonne and nodded. Holding his hand out, he walked
over to Jeraine.

“
You’re Tanesha’s man,”
the lab partner said.

“
Husband,” Jeraine said.
“She’s
my
wife.”

The handsome man’s amber-colored eyes seemed
to laugh at Jeraine’s claim. Jeraine stopped playing long enough to
shake the intruder’s hand and went back to his guitar strings.

“
I’m Finegal,” the lab
partner said. “Most people call me Fin.”

Jeraine nodded.

“
Tanesha wanted to study
today,” Fin said. “But I see there’s more going on.”

“
You know Yvonne?” Jeraine
asked.

“
Abi and I have been
friends for . . .,” Fin smiled,
“ . . . a long time.”

Jeraine scowled at him, and Fin smiled.

“
Fin?” Jacob asked, when
he came out of the room. Jacob hugged the lab partner. “I barely
recognize you. You’re so… tall and… gorgeous.”

“
It’s the altitude,” Fin
said.

Jacob laughed.

“
Glad you could make it,”
Jacob said. “Jill asked me to get her some ice chips, so I
…”

“
How do you know Tanesha’s
lab partner?” Jeraine asked.

“
You’re
Tanesha’s lab partner?” Jacob laughed. Fin
nodded. “Jeraine, this is my brother. We met him on our recent
travels.”

“
How is Jill?” Fin
asked.

“
Ice chips,” Jacob jumped
into action and Fin laughed. Jacob got some ice chips and went back
into the room where Jill was in labor.

“
So you’re Jake’s
brother?” Mike’s voice betrayed his suspicion. “On his mother’s
side? Or . . .?”

“
You are a Titan’s son,
Michael Roper,” Fin said. “Surely you understand what’s going on
here.”

Mike squinted at the man. He smiled. Mike
felt compelled to nod. He gave the man a deep scowl.

“
Tanesha?” Fin turned back
to Jeraine.

“
She’s in with her girl,
Jill,” Jeraine said. “She is not going to do a damned thing until
her girl doesn’t need her, so you may as well leave. It’s going to
be a while. I can have her call you.”

Fin sat down next to Jeraine.

“
This gives us a chance to
get to know each other,” Fin said.

“
So you can take Tanesha
from me?” The words popped out of Jeraine’s mouth before he thought
of them. Even Mike looked surprised at his honesty.

“
If you’re so worried,
maybe you should be a better partner,” Fin’s voice was
mild.

“
I’m trying!” Jeraine said
through his teeth.

“
Then you have nothing to
worry about,” Fin said. “Anyway, I’m no threat to your
union.”

“
Why’s that?” Jeraine
asked.

“
It’s hard to explain,”
Fin said. “Now tell me this. How can you speak and play at the same
time?”

Even though Jeraine knew he was being
manipulated, the man’s attention was soothing to Jeraine’s jangled
nerves. His usual headache eased and he answered Fin’s question. In
a few moments, they were talking and laughing like old friends.

From across the room, Abi smiled.

“
Is that your man?” Yvonne
whispered.

Abi turned to look at her. Abi’s eyes seemed
to assess Yvonne, as if she was wondering what Yvonne could
understand or hear.

“
I think Yvie deserves to
hear the truth,” Rodney said.

Abi looked at Rodney for a moment, before
turning to Yvonne.

“
Prince Fin belongs to no
woman,” Abi said. “But yes, he is, as you say, the love of my life.
We have a child together.”

“
You have a child?” Yvonne
asked. “Why, you can’t be more than eighteen years old!”

“
Looks are deceiving,
Yvie,” Rodney said. “She’s a fairy.”

Yvonne looked like she was going to laugh,
but looking into Rodney’s face, she saw that he was dead
serious.

“
Um,” Yvonne said. She
looked at Abi again. “I guess, you can’t be eighteen since we’ve
been such good friends for such a long time. Um. When do I get to
meet your child?”

Abi looked at Yvonne, glanced at Rodney, and
then looked across the room at Fin.

“
You already have,” Abi
turned to smile at Yvonne. “Her name was Ne Ne.”

Yvonne’s mouth dropped open.

“
My Ne Ne?” Yvonne asked.
“Rodney did you . . .?”

“
Abi told me,” Rodney
said.

“
But Tannie said Ne Ne
died,” Yvonne said. “Fairies can’t die!”

“
Fairies can die,” Abi
said. “We just live a much longer life than you.”

“
But Ne
Ne . . .” Yvonne started.

“
She’s a librarian where I
come from,” Abi said. “She had to . . . retire from
life here.”

Yvonne’s brow furrowed as she thought
through what Abi was saying.

“
But Tannie
said . . .” Yvonne started again.

“
Tanesha doesn’t know,”
Abi said. “Did you ever notice that Ne Ne never seemed to
age?”

Yvonne nodded.

“
That you never seem to
age?” Abi kept her voice soothing with an edge of
kindness.

“
I can’t remember what I
look like one day to the next,” Yvonne smiled.

Abi looked at Rodney.

“
You haven’t aged a day
since we were twenty,” Rodney said. Yvonne turned in her seat to
look at him. He placed his hand over her heart. “Here, in your
heart, but not in your face or body.”

“
You are a sweet, sweet
man,” Yvonne said. “You always know how to say just the
right . . .”

“
He’s telling you a
truth,” Abi said.

“
Oh,” Yvonne said. “But
how can that be? Ne Ne might have been your child, but
I’m . . .”

“
Her daughter,” Abi
said.

“
No,” Yvonne shook her
head vehemently. “As much as I’d like that to be true, my mother
is . . .”

“
Ne Ne,” Abi said. “There
was another child, a girl, born from a rape of the woman who claims
to be your mother, Tanesha’s gran. The child didn’t survive and it
broke the woman’s mind in two. Ne Ne was with child at the same
time. She chose to pass her child off as her friend’s child in an
effort to help her friend.”

“
Why?” Yvonne
asked.

“
Can you think of no
reason?” Abi asked.

“
That woman hates me,”
Yvonne said. “Ne Ne loved me so much
and . . .”

Yvonne’s eyes well with tears.

“
Might I see her again?”
Yvonne asked.

Abi smiled.

“
Who is my father?” Yvonne
asked.

“
Someone she loved very
much,” Abi said. “She’s yet to love another.”

“
Am I a fairy
too?”

“
Yes,” Abi lied. “You and
Ne Ne, you are Fin’s only living family. His family was
killed . . .”

Abi smiled.

“
That’s a horrible story
for another day,” Abi said. “Not today, when we are welcoming new
members to our family, our fairy tribe.”

Yvonne smiled. She held her hand out to
Rodney and he took it. They looked over to where Jeraine and Fin
were talking.

“
Does he love you?” Yvonne
asked in a low tone. “Treat you well?”

“
Yes,” Abi smiled. “He’s
allowed me to spend all this time with you.”

“
You’re my grandmother,”
Yvonne said.

Abi smiled.

“
Will I get fairy powers?”
Yvonne asked.

“
More than you already
have?” Abi asked. “Would you really like that?”

“
No.” Shaking her head,
Yvonne laughed.

Abi smiled at Yvonne.

“
Why did all of
that . . . happen?” Yvonne whispered.

“
He wanted your fairy
power,” Abi said. “I’m sorry. It’s my fault really. It never
occurred to me. I discounted the human need to own and destroy what
is precious.”

“
I met you right after,”
Yvonne nodded.

“
Yes,” Abi said. “I came
as soon as we knew. There was little I could do
but . . . help.”