Bad Nerd Rising (27 page)

“Thanks, Emma,” Tia said
wryly. “I’ll send her a mail bomb.”

The others laughed, and she
liked how Aleksi placed his hand at the small of her back. “I
assume you’re all in exuberant spirits because you’re finished with
the cleanup?”

Tia sent him a wry look.
“Of course we’re finished. It took us two hours and ten minutes.
These of no faith should have trusted me,” she said with a
sniff.

“Yeah, like anyone does
that,” Nick inserted and she poked him. Years of practice helped
him dance out of her reach, but she still managed to swat
him.

“Your mother has gray hair,
doesn’t she?” Maria asked, staring at the pair of them thoughtfully
as they filtered out of Aleksi’s office and into the
hallway.

“Of course not. Although
she is thrilled to have full use of her foot again.”

“She tripped over Nick’s
cat and broke her foot while at his house,” Tia informed
them.

“I have no memory of that,”
Nick denied.

“Of course you don’t. You
were the poster child for night of the zombie walkers.”

“Zombie walkers?” Aleksi echoed, a quizzical
look on his face.

“Yes. Nick wasn’t sleeping, barely eating,
barely existing in between nannies.”

“Why was that?” Maria
asked.

“He has four kids, from age
fourteen to nearly seven. And no one to help him keep the house,
kids, and his job going.”

Maria turned ashen and her
hand fluttered to her throat. Tia nodded. “We all took shifts
trying to help with the laundry, cleaning, and cooking.”

“I have no memory of that,”
Nick repeated. He shoved a hand through his hair.

“I’ve lost entire weekends at your
house.”

Nick nodded. “Most of the
family has.”

“What happened?” Helena
asked, and tilted her head. Her gorgeous face should have held
interest for Nick, but Tia knew he was totally in love with his
wife, Macy.

“I put an ad on the
internet for my own nanny, since the agencies in town weren’t
answering my calls. The brave woman who answered the ad is now my
wife.” [
Macy’s Parade
– Book 6 – The Morrison Family Series
]

“How did that happen?” Jorge asked.

“She came to work for
me—”

Tia cut him off.
“Straightened the house out, made some new rules, organized
everything, bought the kids new clothes, cooks like a
dream—”

Nick finished up the
explanation. “Got up with the kids at night so I could sleep a full
night, and applied to veterinary school.”

“What?” Maria exclaimed as
they strolled down the hallway that led to the dining
room.

“Taking care of Nick’s
house and family wasn’t enough of a challenge for her. She also
attends vet school fulltime.”

“We hired a daily
housekeeper, who incidentally, has moved in.” Nick flicked her
nose.

“She did? We thought she
might. Your house is so mixed up and crazy and she’s got General
Emma potential.”

“How is that?” Jorge
asked.

“Mrs. McKinley is very good at giving
orders,” Tia said.

Nick shuddered. “And she
has the power to back them up.”

“How does she do so?”
Aleksi asked. They entered the dining area and he seated her, while
Jorge seated Helena, and Nick assisted Maria.

“She’s bigger than me,” Nick said with a
goofy grin, which made them all chuckle.

“He’s not joking, either.
She’s scary, gets the job done, and has been exactly what your
house needed,” Tia stated in heartfelt tones.

“She’s the first person to come along,
besides Macy, who actually seems to enjoy her job.”

“Of course she enjoys it, if she’s in
charge,” Maria scoffed.

“She is,” she and Nick said together.

“The kids love her, Macy
loves her, I love her. We’re very lucky to have found her,” Nick
said, his voice adamant.

“Yes, you were. Although, I
can’t imagine just anyone blossoming in your house. It’d take a
certain person. Like Mrs. McKinley.” Tia tilted her head and stared
at Nick.

He wrinkled his nose at
her. “I almost didn’t survive my house,” he reminded
her.

She laughed. “True. Night
of the Zombie Man, you were.”

“Without Graham, I’d have never survived our
four children, either,” Maria said.

“Did you have to work?”
Nick asked.

“No,” she said and
shuddered as one of the palace staff members set a plate in front
of her. “Thank you, Hans.”

“You are welcome, Maria,”
the man replied before placing a plate in front of Nick.

“Thanks, Hans,” Nick
spoofed, and Hans, not missing a beat, said, “You are welcome,
Tia’s brother.”

“Hans, this is Nick. He’s a
pest,” Tia said by way of introduction.

“I imagine he’ll get on quite well here,
then,” Hans said.

***

Aleksi, replete with lunch
and having snagged Tia, and even managed to steal a kiss, answered
the phone. He had to lunge across his desk, but he caught the
call.

“Aleksi?” his aunt asked.

“Hello, Loletta. How is
Mother?”

“She’s responding well to
the treatments.” She sounded distant, or tired, or something he
couldn’t quite figure out.

“That’s good, right?” What
was wrong with his aunt?

“It’s excellent. The
doctors are very encouraged. Already, she seems more like herself.
In only a week.” He pictured her chewing on her
thumbnail.

“What’s bothering you?”
Might as well come right out and ask her. He would never be subtle
enough to coax the information out of her.

“I’m not sure,” she answered, sounding
truthful.

“That doesn’t help.”

“I know. It’s been
frustrating me all day.”

“Are you still worried about that
secret?”

“I think so. I believe
that’s why I’m so restless and unsettled. She’s responding to the
treatment, and seems more herself, but she’s rather
morose.”

“Has she had another
therapy session since I spoke to her?”

“Yes. One today, before her
treatment. She appreciates your daily calls, by the
way.”

“She’s my mother,” Aleksi
answered absently, distracted by his aunt’s concerns. “Did you sit
in on her therapy session?”

“Of course not. Neither she
nor the therapist would allow me. The therapist feels confident she
can treat your mother, but it will take time.”

Aleksi frowned at the wall.
What was going through his aunt’s head then? Why was she so
concerned?

“Can I do something here to
help?”

He heard her expel a
breath, one that sounded frustrated. “No. I’m not even certain how
I can help. Much less figure out how to instruct you.”

“Do you know when she’ll be
coming home?”

“No. Although she has made
a few comments about how she needs to come home.”

Aleksi frowned. “She hasn’t
said anything to me. Why would Mother say that?”

“I don’t know. That could
also be what’s bothering me.”

He heard his mother say something in the
background.

“I have to go, love, but
I’ll try to keep you posted. At this point I’m rather confused.”
Her voice was dry.

“I’ll be here.”

***

“Tia, I’ve been thinking,”
Helena said, sliding onto the stool beside her. Tia was still
thinking about Nick and Emerson, who volunteered to take Nick
sightseeing. Even though she had been here longer, she still hadn’t
seen much of the place.

Tia glanced at her friend.
“About what?”

“The wells. You know how
we’ve seen some unusual growth for some of them?”

“Yes,” she answered and nodded.

“Well every one of them is located in the
old section of town.”

That made her pause.
“
All
of the
unusual wells?” Clarification first, theory second.

“Yes. I checked them all,
and compared them to a list of the pipes that are scheduled to be
replaced. They match perfectly.”

“That makes sense,” Tia said, and stared at
the bench top.

“It does?”

Maria and Jorge, who apparently had
overheard their conversation, drifted over to perch on the
remaining stools.

“How?” Jorge asked.

Tia’s mind raced as more of
this situation started to make sense. “Because the lead would
inhibit some bacteria, except for hearty growers. Think about it.
These unusual species we’re seeing don’t normally grow in water,
because they’re inhibited by the normal flora. But if something
inhibited the normal flora, it would give them opportunity to
flourish they wouldn’t normally have.”

“Of course. We know at
least three of the types do grow well in leaded conditions,” Maria
said and pointed to three different bacterial names on the sheet in
front of Helena.

“This might be the final answer to the
puzzle,” Tia said.

“How?” Helena asked. Her
forehead furrowed.

“We discovered why well
twenty-six has so much growth. That’s been fixed. The wells on
either side are normal, but those pipes are also new and therefore
lead free. We know twenty-six made some people sick. Now we know
that some of these other illnesses are because of the lead, not
bacteria.”

“You don’t think these odd bacteria didn’t
contribute to the illness?” Jorge asked.

“No. If you look at them,
they’re still found in nature, they’re not unusual. A normal person
wouldn’t even cough because of them. What alarmed me was that I
thought they might be contributing to the illnesses the hospital
reported to us.”

“But it was the lead instead,” Maria
said.

“Right. These bacteria,
while unusual, aren’t harmful. Unless that person is
immunocompromised, and even then, maybe a case of the runs is all
they’d experience.”

“Runs? Nice one, Morrison,”
Helena said with a grin.

“Thanks,” Tia said and
returned the cheeky grin. She noticed Helena glowed, despite their
conversation. It looked like her romance with Maria’s son was going
well. She hoped so. Helena deserved the happiness that radiated
from her. Tia wondered if Maria and Graham knew about the
relationship.

“Should we continue to test these wells?”
Jorge asked.

“Yes. We need to do this
for at least the week we stated. But we might need to increase
testing to two weeks. Especially with those pipes that are to be
replaced.”

“Well twenty-six has been treated, right?”
Maria asked.

“Not yet. A crew plans to
start the treatment at four o’clock today.” Tia glanced at her
notes to confirm her facts. “Remind me, I need to be
there.”

“Why four
o’clock?”

“Because I asked them to give the cleaning
agents we used time to evaporate, and dissipate before they
actually treat the well.”

“No point in cross contaminating, if we can
help it,” Jorge said.

“Right. Also, I wanted
anything we missed to have time to drip into the well, that way
when they do treat, they can clean
everything
up.”

“How long will the treatment last?”

“As long as it takes,” Tia answered.

“That means we’ll be
testing that well for ages yet,” Helena said.

“Yes, but I think Anson is perfectly capable
of testing it regularly.”

“You’re going to set him up with his own
little testing lab?” Maria asked with a smile.

“That’s what I hoped. He
can do it, he’d love it, and it would take the burden off all of
you.”

“You’re leaving?”

“Well, I do have a job in
America. I’m only here as a consultant.”

The other three blinked at
her and then each other.

“What?” she asked suspiciously.

“We all thought there was a
romance going on between you and Aleksi,” Maria said, not quite
meeting her eyes.

“What?” Tia exclaimed. How
had they known? She and Aleksi had been extremely
discreet.

“We see how he looks at
you,” Jorge said. The fact that
Jorge
had noticed made her eyes
bulge.

“And your lips were
definitely swollen when you arrived back,
late
, from lunch today,” Helena
inserted triumphantly.

They all beamed at her, while her heart
sank.

If they hadn’t been able to
keep their secret kisses from her lab staff, it probably meant they
hadn’t kept it from the palace staff either.

That meant all of Rurikstan
knew about her and Aleksi.

Nick was probably the sole
person here who didn’t know, and since he was touring the place
with Emerson, he’d soon blast into the knowledge loop.

Tears prickled. If the
entire principality knew, then why had they said
nothing?

How would she be able to look Aleksi in the
eyes after this without blushing?

Her cheeks heated now. Then
an alarming thought occurred to her. What if Aleksi just wanted to
kiss her, keep her happily occupied while she was here, but
secretly couldn’t wait for her to leave?