Firestone (36 page)

“
No,” Blane laughed. “I
couldn’t stand the throng that would appear.”

They laughed.

“
Shall we deal?” Blane
asked.

“
Sure,” Jacob said. “No
cheating.”

Each dealt out a game of solitaire with his
own pack of cards.

“
Whoever wins first
gets . . .?” Jacob asked.

“
We’ve always played for
who makes dinner,” Blane said. “No reason to stop now.”

“
You’re on!” Jacob
said.

“
Ready?” Blane
asked.

“
Ready.”

“
Go!” Blane
said.

And the ferocious game of competitive
solitaire began.

~~~~~~~~

Monday evening — 6:30 p.m.

“
Oh look, there’s
Heather,” Abi said.

She pointed to Heather’s car pulling up to
her mother’s house. Abi and Fin had arrived early. Rather than
being the first guests, they’d decided to wait in the car. Abi was
feeling nauseous anyway.

“
That’s her adopted
daughter,” Abi said. “They call her Tink, but she’s not an actual
fairy. I introduced her to Tinkerbell, but she doesn’t remember
it.”

“
And the boy?” Fin
asked.

“
They call him Mack,” Abi
said. “His name is Sam, after Sam Lipson.”

Fin nodded.

“
Yvonne and Rodney,” Abi
said. She pointed to Rodney’s truck as it pulled up. Rodney got out
and helped Jabari out of his car seat. “They still have
Jabari.”

“
Yes,” Fin said. “Did
Jeraine finish the transition plan with the social
worker?”

“
I think so.” Abi
nodded.

“
You mean, you weren’t
there meddling?” Fin grinned at her.

“
Maybe.” Abi smiled. She’d
spent much of the day in tiny fairy corps form “helping” Jeraine
with the transition arrangement.

“
What are we doing here?”
Fin asked.

“
We’re here to wake up
Heather’s mother,” Abi said.

“
You know only her
husband’s kiss can do that,” Fin said.

“
I know,
but . . .” Abi turned to look at Fin.

“
What are we doing here?”
Fin asked again.

“
I . . .”
Abi sighed. “I feel bad for Heather.”

“
Why?” Fin asked. “She’s
loved and happy. By all measures, her Blane will
recover.”

Abi nodded, but didn’t look at him.

“
There’s our girl,” Abi
said.

Jeraine and Tanesha pulled up to Heather’s
mother’s house in his Dart.

“
Shouldn’t
we . . .” Abi moved to get out of the
car.

Fin grabbed her arm. She turned to look at
him.

“
What’s going on?” Fin
asked.

“
Prince Finegal,
I . . .” Abi looked down.

“
Prince Finegal?” Fin’s
lips moved over the words. “What has happened?”

“
I . . .”
Abi started.

“
Abigail?” Fin asked. “I
have always enjoyed your honesty and you have enjoyed my
trust.”

“
Yes, my prince,” Abi
wouldn’t meet his eyes.

“
Speak!” Fin’s voice rose
with frustration.

She jerked at the command.

“
What is it?” Fin said in
a lower tone.

“
I . . .”
Abi nodded but didn’t meet his eyes. “I didn’t mean to and it just
kinda happened. I mean, the end of the war, and your mother back on
the throne, and your father returned, and we moved here, and
everything that’s gone on here . . . I mean, even
you’ve said that these people in Denver lead almost a soap opera
life, and I’m just here to help, and we’ve been really
active . . . I mean I’m teaching all these classes,
and you’re . . . so . . .
sexy . . . and we . . . well, we’ve
been . . . a lot.”

Abi took a deep breath. She nodded to
herself.

“
I just want you to know
that I didn’t plan it,” Abi said. She held up a finger. “I’d never
go behind your back. Ever.”

“
What are we talking
about?” Fin asked.

“
We’re going to have a
baby,” Abi said. She winced and hid her head.

“
And you’re like this
because . . .”

“
The girls said that you’d
be mad, and we don’t have a lot of money, and we agreed we’d
wait . . .”

“
Until you could have
another child,” Fin said. “I agreed to wait to have another child
until you were ready. That was the agreement we made. You and I
would be partners and have children together.
Clearly
, you’re ready to have
another child.”

“
Oh,” Abi said.

They sat in uncomfortable silence for a
moment.

“
You’re not mad?” Abi
asked.

“
Not in the slightest,”
Fin said. “I love Ne Ne and Yvonne. Tanesha is my best friend here,
quite possibly the best friend I’ve ever had. Another child will be
lovely.”

“
But we’ll have to go
back,” Abi said.

“
Why?” Fin
asked.

“
I don’t know,” Abi said.
“That’s what everyone said.”

“
There’s no war to fight.”
Fin shrugged. “Mother’s on the throne again. What would we do
there?”

“
Nothing,” Abi
mumbled.

“
So, what’s the problem?”
Fin asked.

“
I thought you’d be mad,”
Abi said.

“
I’m not,” Fin
said.

“
Why is that?” Abi
asked.

“
Was I mad the last time?”
Fin asked.

“
Yes,” Abi said. “You
yelled and screamed about how your progeny dies
and . . .”

Fin hugged Abi and whispered, “I’m
sorry.”

“
But
why . . .?” Abi asked.

“
I was scared,” Fin
said.

“
And now?” Abi
asked.

“
We have all of these nice
people to share our good news with,” Fin said.

“
Really?” Abi
asked.

“
Of course,” Fin said.
“Shall we?”

Abi nodded. Fin got out of the driver’s seat
and went around the car to Abi’s door. He opened her door and held
her when she got out of the car. Holding hands, they went to the
door of Heather’s mother’s home. Abi knocked, and Heather
answered.

“
Come in!” Heather
said.

She stepped back, and they went inside.

Monday evening — 6:45 p.m.

“
Sweetie?” Alma Fontaine
asked as she entered the small kitchen. Heather’s mother’s voice
rose with sticky-sweet irritation.

Heather looked up from the salad she was
making.

“
Mom,” Heather
said.

Heather kept her tone flat and neutral. Her
quick scan of her mother told her that her mother was upset.

“
Sweetie?” Heather’s
mother repeated. She put her hand on Heather’s shoulder.

“
What?” Heather
asked.

Alma leaned in so that her mouth was just an
inch from Heather’s ear. Heather heard her mother breathe for a
moment. Heather had to restrain herself from slapping her mother’s
face.

“
What’s going on, Mom?”
Heather asked. She moved to face her mother.

“
Why are there all
these . . .?” Alma stopped talking.

The woman batted her eyes for a moment.
Heather internally cringed. She knew her mother was prejudice. She
hadn’t realized that everyone she’d invited was African American
until they’d all arrived.

“
These what?” Heather kept
her voice gruff to indicate she didn’t want to hear any of her
mother’s bigotry.

“
Never mind,” Alma
said.

“
You may as well spit it
out,” Heather said. “You’re going to say it anyway. ‘Why did you
invite all these
black people,
Heather?’ ‘Why don’t you know anyone of our
own
race
,
Heather?’ ‘What’s wrong with
white
people
, Heather?’ Well, you know what,
Mom? I didn’t notice when I invited them. In fact, I didn’t even
think about it until I realized you would
freak out
.”

“
Well, of course you
didn’t notice.” Her mother shook her head. “You’re so like your
father. It’s eerie.”

“
Whatever,” Heather said.
“These people are my friends. You wanted to be supportive. Now’s
your chance. Be supportive.”

“
I just don’t know why you
had to invite all these
fairies
, that’s all,” Alma said.
“You know fairies always have their own agenda. If they do
something for you, it’s just because it happens to coincide with
something they want.”

Heather’s mouth fell open with surprise. Her
mother sniffed at her, grabbed a bowl of chips, and left the
kitchen. Heather’s mouth rounded out the word “fairies.” She shook
her head and looked toward the doorway where her mother had
disappeared. Tanesha appeared in the doorway.

“
You look weirded out,”
Tanesha said.

“
My mother just asked me
why there are so many fairies here,” Heather said.

“
Fairies?” Tanesha
asked.

“
Fairies,” Heather
said.

“
That’s definitely weird,”
Tanesha said.

Heather nodded.

“
You want to hear one
weirder?” Heather asked.

Tanesha nodded.

“
She told me that if
fairies do something for you, it’s because it happens to coincide
with something they want,” Heather said.

“
What Jake says,” Tanesha
said.

Heather nodded.

“
You think she’s
really . . .?” Tanesha asked.

Heather shrugged.

“
Come on,” Tanesha said.
“No moping in the kitchen. Abi’s starting a game of
Twister.”

“
Twister?” Heather
asked.

“
Fairies.” Tanesha
shrugged.

Tanesha picked up the salad Heather had made
and nodded out the door.

“
You
think . . .?” Heather started.

Tanesha shrugged and nodded again toward the
outer room. Heather bobbed her head and went out of the
kitchen.

“
Fairies,” Tanesha
mouthed, and followed Heather.

~~~~~~~~

Monday evening — 7:05 p.m.

Heather laughed and reached over Tanesha.
They had entered into a Twister challenge with Yvonne and Abi. So
far, they’d mostly laughed and made fools of themselves. Jeraine
had Jabari sleeping against his chest while he talked to Rodney.
Tink played with Mack in a corner of the room. Fin was taking
pictures of the Twister game with Abi’s phone for her Facebook
page.

Alma came in from the kitchen and sat next
to Fin.

“
Prince Finegal,” Alma
said.

“
Psyche,” Fin said in a
low tone.

“
What are you
doing . . .” Alma gestured with her hands,
“ . . .here?”

Fin squinted at her.

“
The last time we met, you
were living in your mother’s queendom as a member of her court,”
Alma said in a low tone. “Three children? Lovely wife?”

“
Killed by the
Christians,” Fin said, and cleared his throat.

“
And Princess Sinè?” Alma
asked.

“
The same,” Fin said, in a
deep croak. “We fought for more than a thousand years. Every
day.”

“
The war that just ended,”
Alma said.

Fin’s eyes flicked to her. Tanesha had told
him that Heather’s mother was a selfish, bitter woman consumed with
resentment. She was not that today. Fin saw the beautiful, charming
woman she’d been hiding beneath all of her dowdy makeup and ugly
clothing. As if she could hear his thoughts, she nodded.

“
My daughter went,” Alma
said. “Isle of Man. With Perses’s daughter, Jillian.”

“
Yes, Jacob lifted the
curse,” Fin said. “My mother is back on the throne, and my father
is at her side. Order restored to our world.”

“
Yes, I heard,” Alma said.
“That must be a relief.”

“
For everyone,” Fin
said.

“
I’m sorry to hear about
Princess Sinè,” Alma said. “I always liked her.”

“
It’s been a few thousand
years,” Fin said.

“
But I’d bet it doesn’t
hurt any less,” Alma said.

Fin nodded. Abi said something, and he
looked up. He smiled at her and took a photo of her and Yvonne
playing Twister.

“
And this one?” Alma
gestured to Abi. “She’s no member of the court.”

“
Fairy corps,” Fin
said.

“
I’d bet your mother hates
her,” Alma said.

Fin looked at her.

“
Mother-in-laws.” Alma
shrugged.

“
My mother’s been in
pieces for the better part of an age,” Fin said. “She has no say or
sway over my decisions. Abi and I are very happy.”

“
Children?” Alma
asked.

“
One and one on the way,”
Fin said. Fin nodded in Yvonne’s direction. “My
granddaughter.”