Hope Everlastin' Book 4 (45 page)

"Did I startle you?" she
asked.

"A wee." He removed the
blanket from his shoulders and was about to take it to her when she
gracefully held up a hand to stop him.

"I'm not cold. Thank you."
His dubious frown prompted her explanation, "I was born in late
fall, but consider myself a winter fairy. I'm the first. Hopefully,
not the last."

"I'm afraid I don't
understand."

"Fairies have always been
born in the spring." She laughed low. "MoNae decided to
experiment." She held up her hands and shrugged. "And here I
am."

"MoNae?" Roan asked
hesitantly.

"Mother Nature."

"Oh." Roan frowned.
Although the queen was friendly enough, he didn't know what to say
to her.

"I spoke to Deliah a short
while ago. She told me about the excitement you had here last
night."

Roan nodded. "Apparently, a
killer and his victim's spirit have decided to hang ‘round for a
while."

His dry tone brought added
life to her eyes. "Poor Roan. You try so hard to keep a sense of
balance, and so much works against you. I admire anyone who can
look into the face of change and not cringe."

"On the inside, I cringe a
great deal."

Her smile broadened. "You
and I both know how strong you are in mind, body, and constitution.
Deliah has caught me up on everything that has happened here since
her awakening in the root. Would you believe that she was once the
most timid of Reith's sisters?"

Roan shook his head, and
she sighed and looked heavenward, a wistful expression gracing her
features. "I'm so looking forward to the birth of her child." Her
gaze lowered to regard him. "I'm rambling. Forgive me."

Grinning a bit nervously,
Roan said, "Ye're entitled."

"Am I?"

"Aye, Yer
Majesty."

She sighed. "Call me Blue,
please. Royal titles are so syrupy, don't you think?"

An abrupt laugh burst from
Roan.

"Besides," she went on
merrily, "I'm not your queen, am I? So just think of me as one of
the guys."

"Right," he chuckled then
sobered. "I'll never forget wha' you did for Lannie."

She nodded, her eyes
downcast. When she looked up, she peered at him through the
thickness of her lowered black eyelashes. "Gratitude isn't
necessary."

After a moment, Roan closed
the distance and positioned himself next to her, his lower spine
braced against the top edge of the wall. "All right, Blue. I won't
bring it up again."

She smiled appreciatively
then widened her eyes and sniffed the air. "Someone's cooking
breakfast. Bacon."

"You can smell it from up
here?"

She nodded. "And it's my
worst weakness. Bacon, that is. Developed a hankering for it while
I was living in your world. Can't eat enough of the stuff, and
fairies normally don't eat meat or fish of any kind. Well, Deliah
has a fondness for hamburgers."

"Wha' do you
eat?"

"Me? I eat anything," she
said wryly. "Now, your ordinary fairy subsists on vegetation. Why,
I don't know. It has just always been that way. My cooks can do up
a mean root, let me tell you." She inhaled longingly through her
nostrils and flashed him a grin. "But nothing compares to
bacon."

"Is this a wee hint for an
invite to breakfast?" he asked, his eyes dancing with
laughter.

"Unqueenly of me, I know,"
she said with a mock grimace. "Besides craving bacon, I'm anxious
to begin work on the plans for the wedding. Because the ceremony
will be held outside of our realm, the magic required to do it up
proper will take several days to accumulate."

"Proper?"

She grinned mischievously.
"You don't think we're going to just dance around in a circle, do
you?"

A wary expression slipped
over Roan's face.

"Oh, my dear man," she
gushed, her playful mood tickling his curiosity, "are you in for a
treat! Briar Roses' wedding bash will look like a tea party with
the Mad Hatter when I'm through. You did see Walt Disney's Sleeping
Beauty, didn't you? She only had three fairies in her corner. Cute
little characters, but I guess the artists didn't know that fairies
never get chubby. How can they with what they eat? I'm excluding
myself because I don't follow their diet. Anyway, I really need a
bacon fix."

A burst of silence
followed, and Roan blinked in confusion. He wanted to press the
back of a hand to her brow, but instead asked, "Are you feelin’ a
wee jaggey? Feverish, perhaps?"

She looked at him almost
shyly. "I love the roll of an R on a Scot or Irish tongue." She
gestured excitedly as she went on, "It makes my blood sing and my
heart go pitter-patter like the wings of a—oops, I almost said
butterfly. Everyone knows there's no grander set of wings than
those of a fairy."

Amusement sparkled in
Roan's eyes as he nodded in agreement. "I think I should carry you
down for breakfast before you burst wi' good cheer."

"Carry me down from here?
Hell, no. I'll fly ahead and meet you at the drapes to the hall,
where, if you really don't mind, I'll borrow your arms to make my
entrance into the dining room."

"They'll remain attached to
me, won't they?"

"Your arms?" She chuckled.
"Of course. I just don't want to shake up the parents before the
right time makes itself known." A devilish gleam flashed in her
eyes. "By the way, Roan, your mother is planning to take over the
wedding."

Roan grunted.

"Don't worry. You know,
your parents really aren't bad people, Roan. They just got caught
up with the material trappings of life. I know for a fact they love
you. If you look deeply enough into their eyes you'll see how
ashamed they are of the past, and how much they need your
approval."

Peeved with her assessment
of his parents, Roan started for the steps, but she gently gripped
his arm, stopping him.

"I know you believe in
magic," she said softly, "but what you don't know is that most of
its elements come from the heart. Roan, you're emotionally starting
to reach out for your sister. Your parents deserve no
less.

"Yes, your mother is being
difficult, but you have it within you to bring out the woman she is
so afraid to let surface."

"My mither isn't afraid o'
anythin’."

"Ahh, you're wrong. Like
your father, she's afraid of many things. Failure, for
example."

Roan frowned. "O'
wha'?"

She looked upward and
sighed dreamily. "Of reaching for the stars and coming back
empty-handed." She lowered her gaze to see a troubled look in
Roan's eyes. "When your parents first wed, they were full of dreams
for their future. Ironically, their goals were centered on the
children they planned to bring into this world. But of course,
Roan, like too many people, they lost sight of what was really
important."

"Which was?"

"You and Taryn, of course,
and each other. They became so wrapped up in providing the best the
material world could offer, the family got lost. They always
thought there would be time to make up for not attending school
functions or having family gatherings, or to return for the son
they had left behind while in search for a better social position
in another country.

"They did plan to come back
for you, Roan, once they had settled in the States. But by that
time you had hardened your heart and wouldn't accept their phone
calls or their letters."

"They didn't call! And it
was years afore I received a letter!"

Blue sadly shook her head.
"Your aunt adored you. It was in your mother's thoughts last night,
whether Agnes had told you of her calls and letters."

"Aunt Aggie wouldn't
have...." He sank his teeth into his bottom lip for a moment. He
gulped back the emotions forming a ball inside his throat and
released a thready breath. "Damn me, could I have been wrong all
these years?"

Blue tugged on his arm
until he stepped close enough for her to reach out and place a hand
to his left cheek. "Not wrong, and not right. Confused. Humans have
easily created means to cross vast seas and the sky and land, but
know so little about bridging rifts in the heart. Don't let this
opportunity slip away from you, Roan. It may never come
again."

A tenuous grin ticked at
one corner of his mouth. "How does it feel to be so
wise?"

"Bor...ring."

He grinned in earnest and
released a purging sigh. "I guess it’s easier to see the problems
in ither's relationship than one's own."

A light frown appeared on
her brow.

"Blue, when you mentioned
'rift', I couldn't help but think o' the situation between you and
Reith."

A disparaging sound rattled
in her throat. "No comparison," she dismissed with a wave of a
hand.

"No?"

She eyed him peevishly
before forcing herself not to submit to the bait. "Meet you at the
drapes," she said. In the blink of an eye, she sprouted her wings
and reduced her size to four inches. She darted down the steps and
out of sight, leaving Roan to chuckle softly at her
evasiveness.

"Maybe someone should use a
bit o' magic on you," he murmured and headed down the narrow
stairway.

She was hovering by the
drapes to the exit when he arrived, human-sized at five-foot-five,
her wings causing a draft of cool air to circle in the immediate
area. Roan had his arms behind her while her wings retracted and
she began to drop. As he cradled her against his broad chest, she
winked up at him.

"Don't drop me," she
quipped.

Grinning, he asked as he
passed through the drapes, "How much bacon is this goin’ to cost
me?"

"Lots. By the way, fairies
believe in the exchange of gifts."

He started down the
staircase. "I'm afraid to ask."

"I have a gift for you and
Laura. A well-deserved gift, I might add." She smiled brightly. "So
I'll consider some bacon a fair exchange."

"Oh?" He paused on the half
landing and cocked an eyebrow. "Wha' kind o' gift?"

"You'll see. By the way, I
understand congratulations are in order, Daddy. Deliah only told me
because she's worried."

"Why worried?"

"All the stress you and
Laura have been under. And I agree. We simply can't have the new
laird and mistress stressed out, especially before the
wedding."

"I'll warn you right now,
Blue, I refuse to snort fairy dust."

The dining room door was
open when they reached it. Roan carried Blue into the room, smiling
in greeting to the faces turning in his direction. Laura, Beth, and
Winston were placing platters of food on the table. Reith came
through the kitchen door with a small tray of condiments. He gave a
start at seeing his wife and, after passing the tray to Winston,
hurried to meet Roan halfway to the table. Blue glowered at him
when he held out his arms, his gaze locked with Roan's.

"Don't you dare—" she
started to warn Roan, but she was in Reith's hold before she could
finish. She looked up to see gloating laughter in her husband's
eyes, and high color stole into her cheeks.

Roan walked to Laura,
planted a kiss on her cheek and told her he was going to fry up
extra bacon for Blue. While this was going on, Reith, his back to
those sitting at the table, said in a low voice to his wife, "Dinna
make a scene."

"Then be quick to find me a
seat!" she demanded in a hoarse whisper, her eyes flashing, daring
him to prolong their proximity.

"Do ye remember the last
time ye were in ma arms,
mo
banrighrean?"

Although his sensual tone
made her blood stir with longing, her anger could not so easily be
swayed. "I am not your queen," she whispered scathingly. "To be so,
you would first have to be a fairy, which you're not. Nor are you
considered human. You're but a nuisance trapped between my world
and this."

A brief wounded look
clouded Reith's features before he awarded her his most charming
smile. "Were I but a wee nuisance and no' o' any world, would ye be
tremblin’ so tellin’ly in ma arms?"

Before Blue could retaliate
with a stinging portion of her magic, Lachlan appeared at Reith's
side and smiled down at her.

"Good morn, and wha' a
grand one it is to have you wi' us for breakfast. Come along,
lad."

Barely able to conceal his
grin, Reith followed Lachlan to where he pulled out the chair at
the end of the table, a seat which was normally his. Reith lowered
Blue onto it then caught up her left hand and bestowed a kiss on it
before departing to help Roan in the kitchen.

Heat suffused Blue as she
stared at the others sitting around the elongated table. She
believed it would consume her, or worse, irrevocably melt away the
facade she had perfected during her years amongst mortals. All eyes
were on her, and if not for Deliah's look of sympathy she would
have flown from the room and not cared who she shocked in the
process.