Marrying Her: The Keeping Her Christmas Wedding (The Keeping Her Series Book 5) (7 page)

Clytie cleared her
throat.  “Sara, I didn’t know you were coming or I would have warned you about Demon’s
family visiting.”  Not that she had known they would be, but it sounded good. 
She cleared her throat when her sister still looked flummoxed.  “Let me introduce
everybody.”

“My sister Sara and her
daughter Jordan.”  She pointed at the two and then turned to the rest of the
room, going in order from left to right, “Shawn and Cleo, Lucas and his m . . .”
She stuttered a little here and went with it, “Miley.  The young men at the
island are Liam and Ian, and you already know Cassandra’s men, Ben and Mac. 
And Roxy is flipping pancakes.”  She smiled at the little girl who was too busy
concentrating on her all-important pancake flip to be bothered.

Sara looked at everyone
and her brow scrunched at the many ranges of looks and colorings. No one looked
like Demon, though they were all larger than life.  “You are all related to
Demon?”  She almost choked on the name, but managed to get it out for once.

“We had the privilege of
serving with Demon in the military, so we consider him a brother.”  That from
Lucas in his grumbly voice of authority.

“I see.”  Sara’s voice
was hesitant but she didn’t
see
, not really.  She turned and spoke
directly to Demon which had never happened before that Clytie could recall.  “You
have a beautiful house,” she said simply and Demon acknowledged her with a nod.

“Have you had some news?”
Clytie asked, jumping to the obvious conclusion.  The tightening of her voice
had Demon moving to her side.  She snuggled into his arms gratefully.

“No,” Jordan was quick to
say, giving her aunt a small encouraging smile.  “I wanted to come see you, and
mom decided she had to come along.”  From Jordan’s rolling of the eyes and her
tone, she was not in favor of this addition to her visit, and Clytie wondered
at the reasons behind it.  She doubted it was sisterly affection.  More likely,
she had figured she needed to come and see what her daughter was being exposed
to.

“Well, you’re always
welcome,” Clytie said, willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.  Luckily,
she didn’t think Sara heard Demon’s low snort at her words.  She elbowed him
anyway.

“We were just about to
talk about the wedding,” Cassie said out of the blue, which had every eye going
to her, including Clytie’s sister’s.  Then Jordan being as smart as a tack
turned and caught the flash of bling on Clytie’s hand.  “Aunt Clytie, you and
Demon are getting married?  So cool!”  The excitement in her voice was
contagious and Clytie smiled, even with the absolute silence coming from her
sister.

“I didn’t realize you
were thinking of getting married,” Sara said into the hubbub that followed. 
Her eyes stated clearly how she felt about being the last to know.

Clytie shrugged her
shoulders.  “I admit the first time he asked me I said ‘no’,” she smiled at
Demon a teasing light in her eyes. “But he eventually wore me down.  Eventually,
as in this morning,” she added with obvious irony.  “I have no idea how
everyone here knew about it before I did.”  She looked pointedly up at Demon.  “Care
to explain just when you sent out an all-points bulletin for a wedding that I
did not agree to until,” she looked at the clock above the oven, “about two
hours ago?”

Demon growled and then
turned narrowed eyes to Ben who shrugged and winked at her.

“I had faith,” Ben said
with a wicked smile, then his eyes turned back to his mate and narrowed
ominously as he watched Roxy slop yet more pancake batter around.  His teeth
clenched and his smile turned brittle, his accusing eyes were all for his
mate.  “I think that about covers the morning breakfast needs,” he muttered and
came around to take the spatula from Roxy’s hands.  He smacked his mate’s ass
as he went by – hard, if her squeak was any indication.

Roxy looked at the big
piles of steaming pancakes, then back at the bowl that still had some mix in
it.  “No, Uncle Ben, I still have some to make.”  She gave Ben big eyes, and
Clytie had to bite her lip when he sighed and handed her back her spatula.

“Why don’t I just pour it
on the floor right now,” he mumbled, but he said it low and trained his
displeasure where it belonged.  On his mate.

Cassie smiled big right
in his face and headed around the island towards the rest of the women.  She
seemed to think there was safety in numbers.  Ben watched her go, but stayed
beside Roxy to help her finish destroying his kitchen.  Mac caught her before
she made it all the way to Clytie and said something that took the smile off
her face and put a distinctly nervous look in her eyes.  She looked from Mac to
Ben and blushed so hard Clytie could see it from where she stood in the family
room.  Then she cleared her throat and leaned up and said something to Mac that
had his eyes flashing and his seldom seen smile tipping across his lips.

“Holy crap,” Jordan
whispered beside her, obviously catching the exchange and feeling the heat
Cassie and her mates generated.  She had seen it before but that did not lessen
the impact one bit.

“Tell me about it,”
Clytie whispered back, and felt Demon bend down so his lips were right at her
ears.

“You want to invite your
sister to sit and eat with us or do we stall?”  The question told her exactly
how much Demon did not like Sara, and how hard he was trying to stay on his
best behavior.  Anyone else he did not like, and he would have already insulted
them and kicked them to the curb.  She turned fully into his body and gave him
a hug.  Then turned just her eyes to look at her sister, her head still resting
on Demon’s heart, his hand in her hair and across her back.

“Do you want to have
breakfast with us?  We can talk about the wedding.”

Sara looked from her to
the hulking brute holding her so tenderly, and a look of regret crossed her
face.  Real regret.  “I can’t actually.  I just wanted to drop Jordan off.” 
Neither of them mentioned that Jordan had her own car and came and went on a
regular basis, at least she had before the Oklahoma trip that kept her away for
the last few weeks.  “I have to get to the Dragonfly.”  Then her voice turned
tentative.  “Maybe some other time?”

Clytie smiled at her
sister.  “Any time,” she said quietly.  Clytie let go of Demon and started to
step toward her sister.  “I’ll walk you out.”

“No,” she said quickly,
and Clytie stopped moving.  “You have guests, and important things to talk
about.  I know the way.”  Then she smiled at Clytie, and then the rest of the
room.  “It was nice to finally meet Demon’s family,” she said.  With a parting
nod to Demon, another first, and a few last words from her daughter and
assurances from Clytie that she would have a ride home, she turned and left. 
Mac nodded at Demon, kissed Cassie’s hair, and then disappeared behind Sara.
Clytie knew he would see her out and Sara would never realize she had company.

“Now,” Cassie said
slapping her hands together and rubbing them, a decidedly greedy sparkle in her
eyes, and a playful twist to her lips, “Let’s plan this bitch.”

It was after breakfast
and sometime later that Miley asked Clytie to take a walk with her.   They
headed out to the back and around the stone path to the garden that Clytie and
Cassandra had started last spring.  Cut back and ready for winter now.  The wind
that whipped through the pine trees had a bite to it that stung the nose, and
made her eyes water.  She loved fall, the crunch of the leaves beneath her
boots and the way the wind whipped about and chilled her after the long summer
heat.

“I’m not sure how to put
this, other than to just say it,” Miley started, her voice tentative as they
walked the path towards the wild woods.  “You know I’m a healer?” she asked and
stopped so that Clytie had to stop and face her as well.

“I do,” Clytie smiled at
her.  “I think of all the amazing things I’ve seen and heard since I met Demon,
that is the coolest.”  She smiled at Miley trying to put her at ease.  They had
an ease of friendship since Lucas brought Miley home the first time.  So, this
lack of comfort on her part was making Clytie a little worried.

“Thank you,” Miley took a
deep breath.  “As a healer I can sense things about others.”

Clytie tipped her head
and studied the careful look on the other woman’s face.  “Are you going to tell
me I am sick and have only a few days to live fully and marry the love of my
life before I die?”

“What?  No!”  Miley
looked appalled.

“Good,” Clytie laughed.  “For
a second it felt like we were transported to a Lifetime movie.”  She shook her
head smiling at Miley.  “Just say it.  Whatever it is you are trying so hard
not to say.”

“Do you know you’re pregnant?”

Well, she had not
expected that.  Clytie immediately felt every muscle in her body lock up and
she was suddenly needing a great deal more air.  “Come again?”

“So, that would be a no,
you didn’t know then?”  Miley gave her big eyes and then smiled.  “You are most
definitely with child.”

“Whhhah?”  She tried to
form a word, any word, but it took her a moment to get her tongue off the roof
of her mouth and then she just settled for what she could give.  “Huh?”

Miley laughed and hugged
her, and Clytie was not ashamed to admit she clung to the poor woman like a
barnacle.  She may have even whimpered a few times, but then it hit her, what
it meant, the words she had been speaking.  She felt her eyes fill with tears
for what felt like the umpteenth time that day.  “I’m going to have Demon’s
baby.”

It wasn’t a question, but
Miley caught the joy shining in her wet eyes and her own started to fill.  She
smiled, and then laughed a little shakily, wiping the tears that fell from
Clytie’s cheeks.  “Yes.  You are going to have Demon’s baby.”

Then the enormity of the
situation hit her.  “I think I’m going to throw up.”

Miley laughed again.  “It
might be a little early for morning sickness.”

Clytie looked up at that
and narrowed her eyes, momentarily distracted from her worries.  “How early? 
Can you tell how far along I am.”

Miley looked her over
carefully, her eyes going somewhere Clytie could not see.  Then she came back,
blinking away whatever she had seen and met Clytie’s eyes.  “A week maybe . . .” 
She squeezed Clytie’s hand.  “I don’t know enough about pregnancy tests to know
if you would test positive yet or not, but you should probably see a doctor
pretty quickly.”

Clytie moved away from
her friend and stared off into the forest surrounding their home – a home she
had come to love.  She touched her belly and felt her usual belly bump that
Demon never seemed to mind.  The thought made her smile and she stuck out her
belly as far as she could and wondered what it was going to feel like.  She
blew out a soft sigh and turned back to Miley.  “Do you think the pack would
mind having Christmas here this year?”

Miley tilted her head and
studied the soft look on Clytie’s face.  “I don’t think they would, no. Not for
you.  What are you thinking?”

“That I’m going to give
Demon a Christmas he will never forget.”

“You want to get married
on Christmas Day?” Miley asked thinking on it.

“No,” Clytie shined a
smile at her that had the other woman smiling back.  “Christmas Eve day
actually.  But I would like the pack to stay and celebrate Christmas here this
year.”  She swallowed the lump of emotion in her throat.  “I want to give Demon
his present with his family all around, with presents and a tree and all the
things he never had as a boy, and then I want to give him his real gift.”  She
ended with a caress over her belly, wondering if the baby could feel how much
it was already loved.  Then she lost her smile and looked up because Miley had
not answered.  She was crying and Clytie hurried to reassure her.  “If it’s too
much to ask don’t . . .”

Miley stopped her by
putting her hand over the one Clytie still held on her belly.  “I think that
would be beautiful, and while I can’t speak for everyone, Lucas, Ian, Liam, and
I will be here and I’ll spread the word to the others.”  Miley squeezed the
hand she held.  “You aren’t going to tell Demon yet?”

“Or anyone else,” Clytie
made a face.  “I would tell my cousin but Cassie is the worst liar on the
planet.”

Miley laughed.  “Then I’ll
keep your secret and help in whatever way I can.  And keep in mind you could be
showing before then, some people do at 10 weeks.”

Clytie felt hesitant over
her next question but it had to be asked.  “Can you tell if he or she is
healthy?”

Miley smiled
reassuringly.  “I can say right now all is as it should be, and I promise to
keep checking whenever I am close.”

Clytie blew out a
breath.  “Thank you for that.  I know thirty-four is not really old to have a
child but you never can tell.”

“I can,” Miley said with
a laugh.  “Shifters are hard to kill even in the womb; their ability to heal
anything makes it almost impossible to have birth defects or pretty much
anything else humans usually have to worry about.  Trust me, you have nothing
to worry about on that score.”

Clytie felt all the blood
drain from her face.  “Shifters?” she whispered, because it had just hit her.
Her baby was going to change shape at some point into a wolf.  She was suddenly
feeling a little dizzy.  “I think I need to sit down.”

“Oops,” Miley took hold
of her arm and led her on wobbly knees to a bench that sat beside Roxy’s playground. 
“Guess you didn’t think of that?”

“No,” Clytie breathed as
much as she could with the panic hitting her blood stream, “I didn’t think of
that.”

Miley sat with her and
rubbed her shoulders and just let her think as she came to grips with giving
birth to a shape-shifter.  What would be different?  Would she crave raw meat
or howl at the moon?  Would the child, whether boy or girl, resent having a
human mother?  The worries piled into her mind as she wondered and worried
about not being what her child needed.  Then she realized what she was staring
at and not seeing – Roxy’s playground – and she calmed.  “Roxy doesn’t shift
yet,” she said aloud and Miley answered her as if it was a question.

“No,” she agreed.  “Generally
it’s not until puberty that the shift happens the first time.”

“Roxy’s a wolf and we’re
doing okay by her.”  She needed to say it out loud before the rest of her panic
disappeared.

“You are doing more than
okay with her,” Miley said softly finally understanding her panic.  “You are a
fantastic mother, and will be amazing with this one, too.”

She turned to meet Miley’s
steadfast eyes, straightened her shoulders, and finally smiled, her confidence
returning.  “I’m going to be a great mother.”

Miley laughed.  “You
already are.”

“Okay,” Clytie blew out a
breath.  “Now tell me how we keep this a secret from highly sensitive super
protective shape-shifters trained to notice everything.”

Miley opened her mouth
and then closed it, then repeated the process twice more.  “I got nothin’.”

“We’re going to need help,”
Clytie muttered, putting her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands.

“Lucas.”

“Help who will not
immediately tell Demon or assign a security detail.”

Miley went back to
thinking.

“Someone who is both
sneaky and can lie through his teeth.”  Clytie pursed her lips.

“Ben,” Miley said
quickly.

“And will not immediately
tell Demon, or use it as an inside joke to drive me batty with insinuations for
the next nine months.”

Miley put her chin in her
hands and her elbows on her knees.

“Logan?” Clytie asked,
her eyes narrowed in thought.

“He would be perfect but
at present he is off chasing down a mysterious woman he says is his mate.”

“Really?” Clytie breathed
immediately distracted by that thought.  Then she caught the tone of Miley’s
voice.  “You don’t think she’s his mate?”

“I have no idea.  I doubt
Logan would be wrong about this; I just hope she is worthy of him, that’s all. 
He deserves to be happy.”

“Hmm,” Clytie said
thinking of the alpha wolf in all his slim hipped, slow talking glory.  She did
not blame Miley for her overprotective tone.  She understood the sentiment
entirely.  She waved Logan and his mate away from her thoughts with an effort. 
She would think about it later, maybe find out if Demon knew anything about the
mystery woman.  “Okay, so who do we have left that is a great liar, will not
immediately tell Demon, or build a wall of men around us, and can help us
without driving us crazy at the same time?”

They both looked at each
other and after a moment they smiled in perfect understanding.  “He’s not here.” 
Clytie pointed out.

“But he will be.  Lucas
said he would be finishing up the San Francisco security upgrades within a day
or so, and join us here.

“You think he’ll do it?”

Miley smiled big.  “He
will, especially if we both ask him.  He will adore having inside information
that no one else has, and he has the security and computer skills to make sure
you get to see your doctor and anything else you need without anyone else being
the wiser.”

“It could work.”

Miley smiled big.  “It
will work.”  Then she shrugged.  “At least it’s the best chance we have for
success.”

Clytie smiled back
gamely.  “Small though the chance might be.”

***

Eli showed up three days
later, and while wedding plans were progressing, it was obvious that not one of
the men expected it to be put off for quite so long.  None of the women blinked
at the delay, but for men apparently two months was like dog years.  When
Cassandra, trying to be helpful, explained about human weddings sometimes
taking years to plan and arrange, they all got this incredulous look on their
faces and shared a look between them that clearly stated how ridiculous they
found human behavior, but they said nothing.  Demon did not have their
restraint.

“We are not waiting a
fucking year to get married,” he grumbled, his glare expressing his emphatic
denial at the very thought.

Clytie sighed long and
deep.  “Of course not.  I want my wedding on Christmas Eve day, which is less
than eight weeks, and I would like to invite the whole pack to stay for
Christmas with us.”

Before anyone said
anything, Miley jumped in.  “I already told her that while I could not vouch
for the entire pack, myself, Lucas, Ian, and Liam would be here.”

“Is that what you told
her?” Lucas asked, eying his mate with a definite male arrogance in his gaze.

“Well,
I
will be
here,” she said, her own eyes conveying a deeper meaning.

Lucas laughed.

Wow, he does arrogant
really well,
Clytie thought and then turned to find his
mate apparently did not appreciate it.

Miley narrowed her eyes
at him in warning, her color heightening, and Clytie could see she was grinding
her teeth.  “Yes, Viking,
I will be here.”

Lucas gave his mate a
particularly annoying eyebrow lift and then turned, unexpectedly smiling at
Clytie.  Miley was all set to speak when he beat her to it and took the wind
right out of her sails.  “We would be delighted to spend this Christmas here
with the pack.”  He looked at Cleo and Shawn.

They made eye contact and
Shawn shrugged deferring the decision.  “Sure, why not.” Cleo said. “It just
means I have an excuse to spoil Roxy this year.”

Roxy squealed her happiness
from her place at the table doing homework.  Clytie had been sitting with her
until the wedding talk escalated.  Now she looked around and realized she was
standing in almost a perfect line with the women facing off against the men
across from them.  She didn’t remember it happening, but she was thankful for
both Cassie and Miley’s support. Of course, they were outnumbered and outgunned
facing off against SEAL team Lionsgate.  Cloe and Shawn were the only ones to
the side of the issue, probably because Cleo was less interested in wedding talk
than the rest of them raised human.  And Ian and Liam had gone into the city to
get into who knows what kind of trouble with the women there.