Marrying Her: The Keeping Her Christmas Wedding (The Keeping Her Series Book 5) (9 page)

Essie looked at her,
opened her mouth, and then cleared her old throat.  “Got any hooch?”

Clytie blinked at the old
woman and laughed, breaking the tension in the room.  “I don’t think so, would
beer work?”

Essie followed Clytie out
of the room in her stuttered step.  “It’ll do in a pinch,” she muttered.  Then
spoke lower, though not so low that everyone didn’t hear her anyway.  Even if
they really wished they hadn’t.  “Pretty sure I need fresh undies.  At my age
nothing works quite like it should, and it’s worse when some seven-foot-tall alpha
wolf and his tiny human mate put the fear of God in me.”  More than one person
in that kitchen grimaced.  “Glad to see my little Roxy is in good hands anyway.”

Cassandra had her hand
over her mouth as she watched the slow old lady walk out.  From the laughter in
her eyes, she was over her mad just that fast.  Ben gave a full body shudder
and buried his face in his mate’s hair.  She patted him on the head with her
free hand.

“Now I need a fucking
beer,” he muttered.

Demon grunted in
agreement.
  Fucking Bone Crusher clan.

“Whelp,” Eli said, his
good humor returning, “guess there’ll be one more for Thanksgiving.”  He took
his seat again, and his eyes found Crow still sitting frozen beside him while
more than one groan peppered the air.

“I heard that!”
Essie
screeched from somewhere in the house.

Eli laughed and thumped
Crow on his arm.  “How’s it feel to be claimed by not one but two beautiful
women?”

Crow looked at Eli and
then around the room where Cassie was back to teasing Ben with Mac at her back,
his hand in her hair, and talking like the world had not just changed for all
time.

Demon understood the look
and gave the boy what he could to get that look off his face.  “I don’t know
much about where you come from, and you don’t know me, but I know what it’s
like to eat shit daily until you think that’s all you deserve.  Something good
comes along, like these women, who want to give you sweet and good, and you
have to wonder when that good is going to disappear and you’ll be stuck eating
shit again.”  He bent down until he was right in the boy’s face. His eyes
flashed wolf gold and his words took on the consistency of steel. “You listen
to someone who knows.  You take the good you got coming, you protect it and
fucking appreciate it, and you come to the realization that your days of eating
shit
are over
.”

Having said what needed
to be said, Demon went looking for his mate.  After watching her turn all
mother wolf, he wasn’t going to take fucking no for an answer.  He needed some
quality time.  Now.

Eli broke the sudden
silence in the room as everyone watched Demon stomp out.  He turned to smile at
the kid again.  “I stand corrected.  How does it feel to be claimed by two
beautiful women, and one bad ass motherfucker of an alpha wolf?”

Crow drew in a deep
breath, his eyes bright in his face.  He looked around the room at everybody
who had stood up for him, most of whom were still acting like everything was
the same.  His eyes came back to Eli, more than a little confused.  When he
opened his mouth and nothing came out, Eli laughed and smacked him on the
shoulder, sending his thin body forward on his chair.  “Don’t worry about it
kid.  Not like you have a choice now anyway.”

Crow heard the words and
couldn’t decide. 
Was that a good or a bad thing?

Clytie did not expect
Thanksgiving to go off without a hitch.  Not with Essie, Eli, and Ben in the
same room.  You expected calm reason from Mac, or at least a calm silence, with
the occasionally scary or poignant statement from left field out of the
wolverine-shifter.  Demon liked to eat, even more so than most shape-shifters,
who it must be said could really put it away.  Roxy and Crow just seemed happy
to be clean and eating good food with people who were not going to make them
pay for it in some terrible way.  But put together the combination of Essie,
Eli, and especially Ben, and you knew it was likely to be a comedy of errors. 
It was guaranteed to be funny, true, but calm, not so much.  So it was with
some surprise that Clytie could look back on Thanksgiving as the last of the
truly calm days.  Before the coming of the Apocalypse. 

With December well under
way, her energy dragging, and her body beginning to change, including strange
cravings, occasionally unexplained sickness, and bigger boobs, the pack
descended en masse.  And, while Demon was enjoying her slight weight gain and worried
that she was under too much stress if it was making her physically ill,
Cassandra was getting suspicious.

The arrival of the rest
of the Lionsgate pack just one week from D-Day, except for Logan who a very
worried Miley said was still out hunting, had distracted Cassie somewhat, but
Clytie knew it couldn’t last.  If she didn’t tell her soon, she was liable to
guess and blurt it out at the worst possible moment anyway.  So with Miley at
her side, they took Cassie for a walk in the deep woods behind the house.  Eli
had the job of keeping everyone else away, and with so many shifters floating
about that was not an easy job.  To do it he called a meeting to discuss the
Logan situation, and Clytie asked Crow to help Roxy build a snowman in the
front yard.  Essie was taking a nap, so it was now or never. 

December had hit with a
vengeance, and everywhere you looked everything was thickly painted white, and icy. 
The tromp of their snow boots sunk with a crunch even on the cleared paths, but
they persevered.  Cassie was vibrating in her pink cashmere sweater and thermal-lined
jeans.  Her boots came to the knee and looked amazing.  Whereas Clytie felt
frumpy in her work jeans, and over-large sweatshirt with the wax drips on it. 
Her boots were the kind you slipped on and came to just her calves.  They were
oversized and looked good on no one but the Eskimos, but Clytie loved them. 
They had fake fur inside that felt heavenly right about now.  Cassandra had to
be freezing, but Miley had on black snow pants that hugged her perfect ass and were
tucked into brown leather boots.  Her sweater was siren red and a soft wool
that fell to her hips in an artless way.  Her sense of style was just too much
to take sometimes.  She always looked part Hollywood star, part girl next door.
Walking between them was its own kind of torture when Clytie felt short and
dumpy and was retaining water.

When they had tromped far
enough, they all turned and faced each other in a loose circle that looked like
the clandestine meeting that it was.

“What is going on?  I
know you Clytie and you . . .”

“I’m pregnant,” Clytie
threw it out there ,stopping her cousin’s tirade instantly.  She was just too
cold to draw this out.  “I’m keeping it a secret because I want to tell Demon
on Christmas morning.  I need your promise that you will not mention it to
anyone, even me until then.  I don’t want anyone overhearing and spilling the
beans.”  Clytie was getting it all out before the recriminations for not
telling her began.  She should have remembered who she was talking to.

“You’re going to have a
baby?”  The shock was quickly replaced by joy and a hiccup of Cassie’s breath. 
Clytie watched her swallow with difficulty and lick her lips.  “When?”

“End of July.”

Cassandra’s eyes started
to overflow and her hand went to cover her mouth.  Clytie could feel her emotions
and felt her own eyes fill.  She heard Miley sniffle beside her and they turned
to catch her wiping her own eyes.  But Cassie didn’t look anywhere but Clytie.  Then
she dropped the hand and her voice broke. “You’re going to have a baby.” Then
she put both hands on Clytie’s small belly and breathed deep.  “I’m going to be
an aunt.”  Her smile was blinding.  “Oh,” she gasped and looked from her to
Miley.  “We get to decorate a nursery, buy clothes.”

Clytie and Miley both
laughed.  “After the wedding,” Clytie reminded her.

“Right,” Cassie mumbled,
then brightened again.  She patted the belly she still touched and took a deep
breath.  “We have the final fittings tomorrow, so we need to make sure Jordan
can make it, and with the three of us, bride and bridesmaids are all accountable. 
Roxy already has her flower girl dress, but do we have any clue what the guys
are wearing?  Mac and Ben won’t discuss it.” Just like that she was off and
running.

Clytie laughed again, and
reminded her they had an agreement.  “I told the guys to wear whatever they
want.  I get to wear my wedding dress.  I don’t want them to be suffering the
whole time if they aren’t comfortable in formal wear; besides, we all know they
are going to look amazing in whatever they wear so why worry?”

Cassie gave her a head
shake and a narrow look.  “You know if you continue to be the nicest woman on
the planet the rest of us are going to feel inferior.”

Miley snorted in
agreement.  “I can tell you that if I ever decide I want to get married you can
be damn sure the guys will be in tuxedos.  Tasteful well-made tuxedos.”

Cassie pointed at Miley. 
“See, she knows; whose special day is this anyway?”

“Mine and Demon’s,”
Clytie said with a laugh while she pushed them back along the path home.

Cassie gave her a pitying
look, still shaking her head sadly and commiserating with Miley who was making
the same sad eyes at her.  “She has no clue.”

Miley sighed in over-dramatic
pity.  “Like a small defenseless bunny loose on the world.  Clueless.”

They were all laughing
and freezing cold when they burst into the house a short time later at a run.

***

Every man in the
conference room smiled as the sound wafted through the house.

Crow walked into the room
with Roxy’s dripping snow trailing him into the house.  “That human is back,”
he said blandly.

“That human?” Mac asked.

“The sister with the
stick up her ass, with the hot daughter.”

“
Smoking hot!
” Ian
agreed wholeheartedly from his seat in the back with Liam.   “Did she come,
too?”

“No,” Crow growled his
answer, clearly not liking Ian’s interest.

Demon growled at Ian on
the way to the door.  Crow he slapped upside the head as he walked by.  “Show
some respect, kid,” he grumbled on the way.  He pointed a big finger at Roxy’s
nose.  “Get out of those wet things before Clytie loses her mind.”  Then he
walked away to meet Clytie’s sister at the gate, assuming that the seven-year-old
would follow orders.  She watched him leave and then looked up at Crow.  “You
said I could have cocoa.”

“Yeah, I’ll get it.” 
Crow rubbed his head watching Demon walk out, and then turned to see everyone
else giving him the eye.  “What?”

Eli chuckled.  “Guess we
can call it a meeting anyway.  We got dick for information, but I’ll see what I
can find of Logan’s trail.”

Crow’s eyes sharpened. “Is
Logan missing?” he asked as casually as he could, but still managed to portray
his worry.

“He hasn’t checked in,
but he is hunting,” Lucas said, his eyes on Crow.  “Nobody in this room has any
doubt that Logan can take care of himself,” he shrugged, “but we’ll watch his
back all the same.”

Crow seemed to absorb
this, then he turned to lead Roxy to the kitchen and the promised bribe of hot
chocolate.

Sara was staring out the
window in the family room when Clytie walked in.  She had changed into dry
clothes and was thankful for it when Demon tracked her down and told her she
had company.

“The view is stunning,”
she said when she heard Clytie come in the room.

Clytie was noticing from
her open view of the kitchen that Roxy was sopping wet and sitting at the
kitchen island while Crow mixed something on the stove.  When she did not
answer her, Sara turned to follow her gaze to the two in the kitchen.  “Excuse
me, Sara, I need to see to my kids.  I’ll be quick.” She grabbed the throw off
the couch on the way through.

“Please tell me your
clothes under the top layer are at least dry.”  She started on removing Roxy’s boots
as soon as she was in range.

“Crow is making cocoa.”

“That’s nice, honey, but
what did I tell you about getting your clothes all wet and then walking around
in them?”

“I catch my death,” the
child repeated what she had heard.  Crow snorted from the stove, but ducked
back to his stirring when Clytie turned her narrowed eyes his way.

Clytie had the boots,
cold wet socks, and the jacket off.  She was thankful to see that at least the
outer wear had done its job.  Roxy’s t-shirt was dry, as were her long johns
once she got the snow pants off.  Meanwhile, Crow turned off the stove and
brought Roxy her cocoa.

“You want some, Clytie?” he
asked politely.

Clytie smiled at him
while she wrapped Roxy in the throw.  “No, thank you.”  She looked him over
carefully.  “Do you need to change?”

He smiled one of his rare
smiles at her worried look.  “Nah, Roxy was the one wallowing in it.  I just
watched.”

“Well, thank you for
that.  I know you wanted to attend the meeting about Logan.  I appreciate the
help.”

Crow shrugged.  “Don’t
think I missed much and Roxy’s cool, for a girl.”

Clytie gave them both one
more smile, directed Roxy to drink slowly, and returned across the big open
great room to her sister.  “Sorry about that.  Did you want some hot chocolate or
coffee?”

“I’m fine,” Sara said
looking from the children in the kitchen to her sister.  “You are good with
them.  I always wondered why you didn’t go into teaching or childcare with the
gift you have with children.  I know Jordan and Boone think the world of you.”

Clytie smiled at the
compliment, but studied her sister while they sat.  “Did something happen?”

Sara shook her head and
gave her own sad smile.  “I got the wedding invitation.”

Clytie tilted her head in
question.  “You already knew I was getting married.”

“In a week, on Christmas Eve.”

“Yes.”

Sara turned and laughed,
but not in a happy way, at the lack of understanding she saw on Clytie’s face. 
“You didn’t ask me to be in the wedding.  You didn’t ask me to look at wedding dresses,
or invitations, or flowers.  And I am going to assume, considering all that, I
am not in the wedding, even though my daughter is.”

Clytie opened her mouth,
finally understanding the look on her sister’s face. “Sara,” she started only
to have her sister interrupt her.

“Don’t apologize,” she started
and Clytie did not have the heart to tell her that was not her intention.  “I
know you have more than adequate reason to exclude me,” Sara continued, “starting
with the way I acted about your art.  Then Demon.  What happened in Oklahoma
was probably just icing on the cake.”  She shook her head and Clytie let her
talk, wondering where she was going with this and why.  Sara took a deep
breath, like she was gearing up for something hard.  “I came here to say I’m
sorry.  I’m sorry I took you for granted, and I’m sorry I could not give you
the same unconditional support that you always gave me.”  She looked Clytie in
the eyes and wiped her own.  “I think I got so used to you always being where
and what I needed that I felt abandoned when you decided to have a life of your
own.  I’m sorry for that, and for being so scared of losing you that I chased
you away myself.”

Clytie was sure she
looked as shocked as she felt.  She wanted to believe this turn around, but she
didn’t fully trust it.  But she could give her the benefit of the doubt.  She
took a deep breath and took her sister’s hand.  “You could never lose me,
Sara.  We may not be as close as we once were, but that doesn’t mean I don’t
love you.  You’re my sister.”  Clytie shook her head.  “I guess it just didn’t
occur to me you would want to be in the wedding.”

Sara flinched noticeably
and Clytie hated seeing it.  “I guess I deserve that.”

“Sara . . .” Clytie
started but had no clue what to say.  “I don’t know what to say,” she said
weakly.

Sara wiped her wet cheeks
and stood up from the couch.  “You don’t have to say anything. I said what I
came to say.  Except to tell you we will all be here for the wedding.”

Sara was heading for the
door before Clytie realized the abrupt heart-to-heart was at an end.

“Sara?” she called, and
her sister turned with a question in her eyes.  “I did have one thing I wanted
to ask you, but I didn’t know if it would be appropriate.”

“Yes?”

“Do you think if I asked
him, David would walk me down the aisle?”  Clytie shrugged sadly.  “He’s the
only one I think of when it comes up.”