Fighting Fate: Book 2 of the Warrior Chronicles (29 page)

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

Taryn was throwing what meager belongings she had into the distressed leather satchel she packed to go to England. Keeping her word didn’t mean she had to stay in Jesse’s house. As she recalled
he
was the one who originally wanted her to stay at Potter’s Woods. Now
she
was the one who thought that was a grand idea.

Pig-headed-black-hearted-bone-crushing-soul-stealing-black-knight…

Taryn would have gone on, but she ran out of adjectives. She’d work on it and add to the list later.

“You’re talking about my brother.”

Taryn whipped around, managing to knock her satchel off Jesse’s ridiculously large bed, and came face to face with a young girl with dark auburn hair and kind, but assessing, sherry gold eyes. She looked to be about ten, but the intelligence in her eyes and her calm demeanor made her seem years older.

Taryn still couldn’t lie worth a damn, so she didn’t try when she answered. “If you’re Daisy and Jesse’s your brother, then yes I was talking about him. I would have said more but I ran out of nasty words.” She should’ve probably stopped talking, but apparently her mouth didn’t know how. “I also think it’s his fault I’ve started talking to myself.”

Daisy came into the room and started to help Taryn repack. They were done in less than a minute.

“I could help you. We could make a list. For future reference, I mean. I find lists incredibly helpful. We can write down the ones you already have and add new ones as they come.” Daisy smiled encouragingly. “And I think you’re probably right. I get so mad at Jesse sometimes I talk to myself about it too. That’s definitely his fault.” Daisy nodded forcefully as she pulled her eyebrows together, emphasizing her certainty on the subject of brothers and fault and the two going hand-in-hand.

Well at least that was something positive about this day, Taryn thought.

Daisy grabbed Taryn’s hand in one of her small ones, and Taryn’s overstuffed satchel in the other. The kid might be tiny, but she was strong. “Come on. I’ll show you where to stay.” She turned those big brown-gold eyes up at Taryn and continued. “You’re coming to stay at the big house with me and mom and dad and Aunt Finn and Uncle Henry, right?”

Boy, this kid had her spinning in almost as many circles as Jesse did. Crazy must run in the family, Taryn thought. “Is Potter’s Woods the big house?”

“Technically Potter’s Woods is everything, but the big house is on it. Which is kinda funny ‘cause Jesse’s house is bigger than the big house.” Daisy pulled her down the stairs and out the door and then down the path to Taryn’s new home for the next month.

“After I show you to the room mom set up for you, she thought you may want to spend some time with us. Then we can start on the list.”

“What list?”

“The list of everything that’s wrong with Jesse, of course. That way you’ll never forget and all you’ll have to do is add to it. It’ll be fun. I bet mom and Aunt Finn will help too. Dad doesn’t like the list ‘cause one time we made one for him. So, he won’t help. But I bet we could get Uncle Shay to add a word or two.”

Taryn thought about the absurdity of that for about a tenth of a second, then smiled at her half sister whom she had no trouble loving immediately, crazy and all. “I like it. I’ll title it: The Never-Ending List of Things I Hate About Black Knights, May Their Armor Rust and Their Loyal Steeds Throw Them Then Step on Their Feet so They Have to Walk With a Limp and It’s Easier For Their Victims to Run Away.”

Daisy cocked her head up at Taryn, the splattering of light freckles across her nose and cheeks as she frowned made Taryn want to hug her. The sincerity in her words made Taryn want to kiss her.

“That’s kinda long for a title. Maybe you should just use something like: The Why Jesse Stinks List.” Daisy giggled.

Taryn laughed with Daisy giving her a quick hug and a kiss on the top of the head. “Stinky Black Knight List, it is.”

…

Mari wasn’t sure what she thought of the fact that Shay lived with Jesse. It was an incredibly large home and there was more than enough room for two families, but why didn’t Shay have his own place? It was weird enough staying in a home where she had to worry about Shay stepping out of one of six bathrooms wearing nothing but a towel slung low over his hips. She didn’t want to encounter Jesse like that. Mari swallowed hard, trying to will the heat of her ever-changing body away. One thought of her Sham naked and she was eighteen again and ready for action.

Peri-menopause must be flooding her with hormones designed to make her crazy, irrational and hyper-emotional. Knowing that she was nuts didn’t stop images of Shay, fresh from the shower, from burning into her brain.

The fact was she hadn’t encountered either one of them in the house since Shay first showed her to what he called her ‘room’, which was actually a suite with a small kitchenette, a full bath, a separate room for sleeping, and a sitting room, didn’t make the threat less real. Just in case her room wasn’t enough to attend to her needs and secure her privacy, she also had a sliding glass door that led to her own private patio. A patio with enough outdoor furniture to host an intimate garden dinner for twelve. On her second day there, Shay had a drafting table and art supplies delivered so she could continue sketching her jewelry designs. She wanted for nothing. Shay attended to all here needs, save one. And since that one just served to piss her off she didn’t put a name to it.

Damn the man and his courteous solicitude to bloody, everlasting hell.

She’d barely caught a glimpse of him in days. Shay spent all his time with Magnus, which she couldn’t really blame him for. A man had a right to get to know his son, and a son his father. She didn’t begrudge either of them that. Mari just couldn’t understand why she was being ignored by them both.

Because you insisted that Shay leave you alone.

She hated it when inner-self insisted on honesty. She could have left anytime. She stayed because of the unfinished business between her and Sham…
Shay
, Mari corrected herself. Sham died in her heart a long time ago. Magnus would forge his own path. She and Seamus had made sure he was strong, caring and kind. He was smart as a whip too, but he’d popped out that way and Mari didn’t think she had much to do with it beyond nurturing and challenging him every step of the way. Seamus had done the same.

Now, all three of the men in her life had abandoned her.

Even her father had gone to the dark side. Seamus spent his days helping out at Potter’s Woods. Reed Mohr set up a small smithy and Seamus kept busy crafting jewelry and daggers, items of refinement and war, for the benefit of the residents. Seamus gave minor tasks to many of the residents as he worked. They were thrilled and he was in his glory, lecturing and creating and flirting with every female who flocked to his demonstrations. Still, her father’s eyes lit with genuine affection every time Mary Campbell crossed his path, which was often.

Mari didn’t even get to see Seamus at night. He spent every evening with one or more of the men coming and going from Potters Woods. He played cards with a man Shay reverently referred to as Sensei, and Henry, husband to Finn, the most sensually beautiful woman Mari had ever seen. Sometimes Shay, Magnus, Jesse and Jordon would join them. Her father argued with Charlie, resident historian, poet and art critic over just about everything, including whether Shakespeare actually wrote the works attributed to him and whether he was bi-sexual.

In short, Seamus sparkled with life. In all her life, Mari had never seen her father so happy and carefree. The sounds of Magnus’s frequent deep laughter combined with images of her son’s ready smile haunted her too. Her men were happy, and she was miserable.

It was 9:00 a.m. and already she’d exhausted the sketching potential of the day. She just wasn’t creative when she was pissed-off and feeling sorry for herself; the latter she deplored on principle alone, the former she whole-heartedly embraced given its cause.

Mari looked at the quiet beauty of the late summer morning, the bees buzzing their last hurrah as they flit from one lush blossom to the next. She set down her cup of tepid tea and said to the universe, not caring whether said universe was actually listening: “Screw this.”

Then she got up, brushed herself off, picked up the credit card from the mantle Shay had left in case of ‘emergency’, and headed up to the big yellow house in the glen, leaving everything she brought with her behind.

It was time for a fresh start. And Mari intended to create some damage along the way to forging it.

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

Mari ran into Taryn and Daisy on the path that ran from Jesse and Shay’s house to Potter’s Woods. Mari was glad she had this opportunity to speak with Taryn. She nodded toward the satchel Daisy was valiantly struggling to keep on her thin shoulder as she pulled Taryn along the path.

Mari nodded toward the satchel and asked Taryn, “Are you moving?”

Taryn stopped, effectively stopping Daisy’s mission-march mid-stride. Taryn grabbed the satchel and threw it over her much larger shoulder with the ease of long habit. She smiled down at Daisy so the girl wouldn’t take offense. “Yes. I won’t stay in Jesse’s house anymore. I don’t feel like I belong there. Truth is, I feel like a prisoner that no one wants to talk to.”

Mari’s heart beat painfully in her chest. “I know the feeling.”

Daisy looked up at Mari. “Why don’t you move into the big house with Taryn? We have more than enough rooms. I love Uncle Shay and he’s always nice to me, but mom says he can be a colossal pain in the as-ah-bottom.”

Mari laughed. Taryn grinned. Daisy continued.

“Aunt Finn has a really nice workshop that’s like a cottage. She stays there when she’s mad at Uncle Henry, which she’s not now. So you could stay there if you’d rather be on your own, Mrs. Alexander.”

Mari’s heart melted. She liked this girl. She liked this place too. She liked that her father had the opportunity to show the residents how to craft jewelry. She liked Reed, who seemed to know Shay better than she did these days. She even liked Jesse, who went out of his way to make her feel comfortable. Unfortunately, she had no clue exactly how or what she felt for Shay, and what if anything she was going to do about it, once she figured what out what ‘it’ was.

“I’d like to stay anywhere Shay isn’t, but I need to be close to Magnus and my father. Thank you for your offer Daisy. Finn’s cottage sounds lovely.” Mari said sincerely.

“Magnus is hot. He’s nice too. Do you think it’s too early to ask him to marry me?”

Mari choked and Taryn laughed, an infectious sound that made Mari laugh too. She didn’t want to hurt Daisy’s feelings.

“Magnus is a nice person, and at the risk of sounding too proud, he is very handsome. It’s probably a wee bit soon to commit yourself to a lifetime with him just yet lass, don’t you think? Better to keep your options open than to settle for the first pretty face.”

“Did you keep your options open after you met Uncle Shay? I bet he was pretty way back then since he’s so good looking now.” Daisy was curious and open and not prying, yet the question lanced Mari’s heart so thoroughly that no fire on earth seemed capable of cauterizing it.

“No, lass. I didn’t.”

Daisy thought about that. Then she grew serious. “If I agree to keep my options open and I enjoy other boys’ company, can I ask Magnus to marry me when I grow up?”

“When do you think you’ll be all grown up?”

“I’ll be thirteen in a few days. I skipped two grades already so I should finish college when I’m nineteen. I’ll take two years to ‘sow my wild oats’ as uncle Shay says, even though I don’t like oats, but he’s insistent. So I’m thinking I’ll be all grown up and ready for Magnus to marry me by the time I’m twenty-one. Can I ask him then?”

Taryn whistled, obviously impressed with the logic of Daisy’s plan. Mari had to admit she was impressed as well. Magnus could do a lot worse, and many a sip was missed betwixt cup and lip in a decade, a very pivotal decade at that. It wouldn’t hurt to indulge Daisy. Mari didn’t want to step on Daisy’s almost thirteen year old heart. Besides, she was certain the girl would forget all about this conversation before she became a teenager.

“Yes, lass. When you’re all grown up you can ask with my blessing. Magnus would be lucky to have you.” Mari said, remembering that nothing would have kept her from Shay’s side when she was twelve or eighteen. Nearer to forty than thirty-five was a whole different matter.

None of the women had any idea where this conversation would ultimately lead them. Had they, at least two of them would have hit the rewind button. Mari shook off the feeling of foreboding trying to wrap its way around her shoulders.

“I think I’d like to stay in Finn’s cottage if that is acceptable. I’m not fit company at the moment.” Mari said to Daisy. Then she forced a smile and produced Shay’s emergency credit card. “But I intend to start feeling much better soon.” She wagged the card in the air. “Anyone up for a wee bit o’shopping?”

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

“You stole my credit card.”

Mari didn’t look up from her e-reader as she answered. “You left it for me to use.”

“In case of an emergency. Not to go on a shopping spree.”

“I was feeling an ‘emergent’ need.”

“To shop?”

“To punish you.”

Her honesty set him back. Her mood seemed as uncertain as the bland look on her face. Had she been a color, Shay would have defined her as medium beige. Usually she was a vibrant yellow or orange depending on her mood. Now he couldn’t hate neutral earth tones more. “Do you feel better now?”

Mari set the reader aside but remained curled into the chair Finn had made for herself. Shay couldn’t read her expression. He couldn’t tell if the slight narrowing of her green eyes and the crinkling of the half moons on the sides of her sensuous mouth signaled anger, mere displeasure or something more disturbing.