Jedidiah: Dragon’s Savior – Ménage Erotic Fantasy (Dragon's Savior Book 2) (11 page)

“I’m not sure what to tell you. I’m guessing you know who I am and what I’m doing here.” The pot nodded at her. “This is sort of creepy. Do I have to bring a pot each time I come to see you now so we can talk?”

The little flowers that she’d planted moved this time. It was yarrow, Gobi had told her, and it would bloom to be a yellow so bright that it would blot out the sun. Now its stems were shaking in a perfect head-shaking motion.

“I see. So you can use whatever is here to answer me. I’m assuming it must be yes or no questions.” The plant nodded at her. “Okay. That could be hard, but not something we can’t work around.”

Lindsey looked beyond the small cemetery and then back at the headstone. “We have our home now. I’ve never had one before. I’ve been in apartments, of course. Do you know what those are?” The plant said that it did. “I guess even if you’ve been gone for a while, you would be able to keep up with things. Your sons, they come to talk to you as well, don’t they?”

When she had her answer, Lindsey leaned back against the post that held up the fence surrounding them. “I want to be a good wife to them both, you know? Keep them happy and safe. I also want a baby. Well, lots of them. But I don’t know…do you know if I’m going to be buried here when I pass?”

She watched the little plant as it moved. It was shaking its head at her, and she felt hurt that she’d not be buried in such a pretty place. When the voice drifted over her, it was soft and feminine, and Lindsey knew it was Mrs. Sally. “Forever,” it told her. Lindsey sat there thinking of what that word might mean for her.

“You’re telling me I’m not going to die?” This time it told her no. “I’m not going to die, or you’re telling me that I’m wrong?”

“Forever,” the voice told her again. Then it said, “You, forever.”

She was going to live forever. While this was good news, she supposed, she had all kinds of questions. Like living forever. What did it mean? She supposed that she’d be like Jed and the rest of them, sort of immortal. But would she get sick? Did she have to…she didn’t know, be careful of certain things? As she sat there contemplating what she’d just learned, Jacob came to sit beside her.

“You’re going to think I’m insane, but I think I just talked to your long dead wife.” He nodded. “You talk to her too.”

“I do.” He picked up the small pot that had been the beginning of her insanity. “She wishes you’d not think of yourself as insane. She said that you are as sane as she is.”

“You really do talk to her. And she was talking to me through these plants.” Jacob nodded and told her that his wife had been a white witch. “So, that’s why she can move them…and Essie, did she get her power from her too?”

“No. Essie is a faerie. One of the strongest we know of. And in all the years we’ve been around, there have been a great many of them coming and going.” He sat the little pot back on the dirt. “Sally wants you to finish telling her about your parents. She would like to know what you plan to do about them.”

“About them? I have no idea. I don’t want them to come here. I know that much.” And she didn’t either, although she’d only just realized that. “I love it here. And Jed and Zak…I have no idea why I think so, but these people will intrude on this, and I don’t want to share it with them. They might be the nicest people in the world. But they were never there for me, and right now I’ve decided that I don’t need them.”

“Sally said good for you.” Jacob sat up a little and began brushing the small leaves that had blown up on the grave and headstone since she’d been out there. “My Sally was the greatest woman I knew, or have since. You and Essie are good girls and I love you like my own, but my Sally, she would have made you feel very welcome. It was her way.”

“You have made me feel welcome and a part of your family.” He only nodded at her. “You miss her very much, don’t you?”

“I do. The biggest part of my heart lays here. I don’t think…if I had known how it would feel to be here without her, I’m not sure that I would have made myself known to them boys. I miss her something terrible.” Lindsey put her hand over his, and he looked at her. “You remind me of her a bit. Essie, too, but in a different way. And when you stood up to that monster today, nearly burst my heart with pride for you. Sally would have just loved to have been there too, she told me.”

“I love you, Jacob. More than…I’ve never had a dad before that I can remember. And the one that’s coming in a few days to see me, he might be nice too. But you are the only man, other than Jed and Zak, that I will ever love like this.” He took her hand to his mouth and kissed it noisily. “You did a great job, you and Mrs. Sally, in raising these men up to be kind and good. I don’t know what I would have done had they not saved me.”

“You would have done all right on your own. You already went and got away from that man, and over the next few weeks, they’ll find them other girls and give them some peace as well.” She nodded at him and helped him clean the debris off the grass. “You might think it’s silly, me doing this, but I can’t think of dirt being on her face and body. She was just perfect, and I want to keep her that way even now.”

Lindsey glanced over at the other headstone, the one that marked Jacob’s passing. The blanket had blown off earlier and she’d put it back, but he’d been loved as well, just as much as his wife. She wondered if he knew that. Or had his children ever told him how much they loved him? Lindsey knew that for as long as she lived—and according to Mrs. Sally that was going to be a good long time—she would tell the men in her life how much she loved them. And Essie too. Life was going to be surrounded by love from now on, even if she had to beat people into seeing it her way.

As they made their way back to the house, Jacob was telling her about seeing this house for the first time, and how much he’d been in awe of the number of rooms. He laughed as he told her how he’d never dreamed that he’d really have six sons, and that they’d be the hosts to such wonderful men too.

“That king was a good man. He was a might rushed when I spoke to him that night, but he made sure that everything was set to rights for us. And his boys too. Never wanted for a thing, we didn’t. Elbert was the best thing that could have been there for us when they started coming. And my Sally, she taught every one of us how to read and write. I could even add up a set of numbers if I’m pressed to do it. Yes, ma’am, life then was nothing like it is now. Not one bit. But I loved it all the same.”

Lindsey was still laughing when she entered the house, and knew right away that something had happened.

“Your family is here, all of them. They’re here, in town. And they want to meet you.” Lindsey sat down next to her men and thought about what Asher was telling her. “We won’t let them hurt you. You’re family now, and we’re going to show them that if they try any shit with you. You see if we don’t.”

She wasn’t worried so much about them hurting her as trying to take her away from all this. And she was damned if they were going to get away with it. Letting out a long breath, she looked at Jed and Zak.

“You’ll go with me?” They both nodded and told her that they all were going. “Good. I don’t know why, but I’m worried that they’ll try something, and I don’t want to have to go to prison. I just found out that I’m an immortal, and I don’t want to spend all that time behind a set of bars.”

Chapter 11

Millicent was not used to having to wait on anyone. People waited on her, not the other way around. And this office was beneath her. No one here seemed to realize that she was not their usual client. When the door beyond her opened, she huffed at her son and his wife.

“You are late.” Donald nodded at her, but Gabby—what a horrid name—only smiled. The last ten years had been both a blessing and a trial since she’d forbidden the woman to speak to her. And now that she wanted to hear her snipe and whine about how she’d been treated, she wouldn’t open her mouth. It didn’t stop Millicent from digging at her, however. “Wherever did you get that dress? Off the rack at some discount store? When we get back to the hotel, you will burn it. Or so help me, I will.”

Millicent wouldn’t do that, of course, but no one but her knew it. Gabby would do as she was told and even show her the ashes of her work if she asked her for them. The woman was just too easy now. Even after all these years as her daughter-in-law, Millicent, still hated the very ground that she walked on. And now this.

The granddaughter had been found. It wasn’t something that she’d ever thought would happen, and worse yet, by the time that she’d found out about her, the tests were already confirmed and there was no doubt as to who she was. Millicent was going to get to the bottom of this and heads were going to roll when she found out who had neglected to tell her about it. She knew that Donald was happy. But she was not.

The woman who had shown them into this shabby excuse for a waiting room came in a few minutes later. She asked them if they wanted anything to drink, and before she could tell the bitch to go away, Gabby ordered a glass of wine. It was barely five in the afternoon and she was drinking already. When the woman disappeared, Millicent turned to Gabby.

“Drunk again, are you?” Actually, she’d never seen either of them intoxicated since the disappearance of their child, and that rankled her too. There was little to nothing that she could hold over their heads anymore. When neither of them answered her, she decided to get as much information as she could about what the hell they were doing. “Where is it you’re taking me? I know that they think they found your child, but where did they dig this one up?”

“Ohio.” Her son. He’d been nasty to her for the last several years, and when she asked him what was going on, all he had said was, she should know. When nothing more was forthcoming, she turned and looked out the window. This had to stop.

Her money was gone. Every penny that she needed to live was given to her by Donald. And when she ran out, which was quite often, he would tell her to learn to spend better. Not him, of course, but his attorney. And that was happening more and more often lately. They only communicated through his lawyer.

To be honest with herself—and she seldom was with her or other people—she’d never had money. She’d appeared to have it, and that had suited her just fine until she’d been caught without the funds to cover her ass and her son had to bail her out. But he’d not done it graciously or without demands. The one that really made her tow the line was that she was never to come to their home on any occasion, nor was she to talk to the press. If she did, then everything would be gone.

Her husband had been the same demanding, mean kind of man. He’d had a lot of money too, and had always rubbed it in her face that she’d been as poor as a church mouse, and would die that way as well. She supposed that having an affair right at the beginning of her marriage to him and getting caught had embittered him toward her. But what did he expect her to do with all her free time if he wasn’t going to give her money?

The affairs had continued over the years. And when she’d gotten pregnant with Donald, her darling, loving husband had demanded a DNA test to make sure that the baby was his before he’d even pay the first bill. Then after it was proven that Donald was indeed his, he never touched her again, not even to hold her hand when they went to functions.

Millicent looked up when she heard them talking. Gabby was laughing at something that Donald had said, and he was glowing with it. Damned idiot. Didn’t he see what she was? A money whore. And the worst part of it was, there wasn’t a damned thing that Millicent could do about it. Not since the disappearance of that child.

“The attorney will see you now.” The same woman from before had come in to get them. Millicent stood up to follow, still trying to reason why she was here too, when the woman looked at her. “I’m sorry, miss. This is for family only.”

“I’m his mother.” No one moved, and she was sure that Donald was going to leave her behind. He’d done this entire thing to humiliate her again. “Tell them, Donald. This is my grandchild too.”

His short nod got her in, but she was seething when she was given a chair at the back of the room. Gabby sat up close to the desk, as did Donald, and she saw no reason why she should not be a part of this. It wasn’t the child anyway. She’d made sure of that.

“Well, Mr. Cartwright, I’m calling you in today because we have a positive match on the DNA.” Millicent stood up and everyone turned to her. “May I help you?”

“I don’t…are you sure it’s her? I mean, maybe she faked it. After all this time, it can’t be her.” Or it had better not be her. She’d gone to great lengths to make sure that the child was never heard from again. She wasn’t going to inherit her parents’ money, either. “I mean, things like this, mistakes on this sort of thing happen all the time, right?”

“There is no mistake. The woman known as Lindsey Decker is your daughter.” Gabby started crying and Donald held her. The lawyer continued, but Millicent was still trying to work out what had gone wrong. She’d paid that man a great deal of money, money that she’d never had, to get rid of the brat.

“When can we see her?” That was a good question Gabby asked, as much as she hated to admit it. Where the hell had she been hiding all this time, and why the fuck didn’t someone tell her? You’d think after twenty years someone would have said something.

Of course, had she waited a minute or two before killing the man who she had bargained with, she might have learned that he’d failed at killing the child. How hard could it have been to drop her off in the middle of a minority infested neighborhood and just leave her? Hell, she’d done it before and it wasn’t that difficult.

“The family…I’m to understand that she’s married to someone now. He and his family are due to arrive tonight.” Donald asked him who they were. “Their name is…let me see. I have is somewhere.”

As he searched his desk for the name, Millicent tried to think if the child would be able to remember her, or the man that had grabbed her from the house. She purposefully had drugged Donald and Gabby that night, and when the coast was clear, Landon had come in with his brother and they’d taken the drugged child and left with her. It was the last time she’d seen the brother or the girl. That might have just come back to bite her in the ass. When Millicent realized that the room was quiet, she looked around.

“Mother.”

She nodded and stood up as well. She had no idea what was going on, but right now her ass was tighter than a knot in a balloon. Her mind was racing all the way back to the hotel. She knew that she was staying in the same one as her son and Gabby, but was not sure where they were in the big place. And when the limo stopped and she was handed out, it took her several moments to realize that she wasn’t going to be going with them to meet the child. The limo that she’d been in disappeared as she stood there.

“Madam?”

She looked at the man dressed in a suit and tie. His name tag proclaimed him to be Theodore, but she really didn’t care who he was. She was embarrassed. Wanting to ask him where they had gone and why she wasn’t with them, she moved past him and stood at the door, waiting for him to open it for her. The lobby of the hotel wasn’t grand, but it was clean and fresh. Going up to her room, she wondered what she should do now. First and foremost she had to find out where her granddaughter was and who the hell she was with.

How many Landons could there be in this area? She looked in vain for a phone book, and was told by the front desk that they no longer carried them. How the hell did you not have a phonebook? Instead of her asking that question and no doubt getting an equally ridiculous answer, Millicent hung up and started to pace the room.

This was going to end badly for her. She’d not had a great track record of late, and this was going to tip the scales so that her son would cut her off completely. He’d been threatening her for months now. Her spending was too much. She’d lied to people about what she was worth. She’d ordered herself a new fur, and he’d gone through the ceiling when the bill had been sent to him instead of the post office box that she had things like that sent to. Not that she collected the mail that often, but it had helped her in a pinch. Now the child was back.

Millicent had never liked the girl. She’d seen her only the few times, and that had been more than enough. And then there had been this big to-do over her sixth birthday and Millicent not being invited. Before that, she’d been working on a plan—not a good one, but a plan all the same—to have her son and his wife killed so that she’d get it all. Then there was the talk, the one that her son insisted on having in his office with his secretary there…as a witness, he’d called her. Donald had told her that he was writing his own mother out of his will. That everything would go to the child.

“You mean if anything happens to you and Gabby, I’ll have the funds to raise her?” He’d shaken his head at her and told her no. “What do you mean, no? I’m her grandmother. I might not care to be called that, nor do I want all that much to do with the thing, but I am her grandmother, and if, God forbid, anything happens to the two of you, I can take her in and raise her in your home.”

“No. If anything happens to us, then she will become a ward of Margo and Aldo. They’ll take care of her and see that she gets all that she wants and needs. You’ll not have anything to do with her.” She asked him why she couldn’t do that for him. “Because, as you said, you don’t care for her, and I simply don’t trust you to do what’s right for her but only for yourself. You’d go through her money in no time, spending it on yourself, and Gabriella would be left with nothing.”

She couldn’t even deny it. It was not that she would have left the thing to starve. There were servants in his house, but to say it out loud and in front of that woman had been the final straw. It had taken her another year and a half to find someone to kidnap the brat, and then after all this time, she was showing up again.

Millicent wished now that she’d paid more attention to the attorney. Maybe she could have called them up and made them an offer to not show for this meeting. Or she could have gone to see the girl first and see if she knew who she was. It would be a longshot after all this time, but the way her luck was running, the girl would have said that she’d been there that night and so had the Landon men.

By the time she was dressed for dinner, she wasn’t sure if she could go through with this. She’d packed and unpacked twice in the time that her son had been gone, and decided that she’d have to see what fell. There wasn’t anywhere for her to go, but she counted on him not wanting to harm his mother. He might talk a lot, but Donald was her only son. And there was no way her only son would put her out in the cold.

Just as she was sitting down to her meal, a note was given to her. They’d been found, or at least the girl had been. Now she had to go and see to it that no one knew of her involvement in all this.

~~~

Lindsey was nervous. They’d all come with her to town, including Elbert and Jacob. As they sat in the upstairs banquet room that they’d reserved in the nice restaurant, all she could think about was she was doing just fine without her parents. Why on earth did they want to see her now?

“It’ll be all right. You’ll see.” She nodded at Jed, who had not left her side since they’d entered. Zak was close, too, but he seemed to be keeping an eye on things for her. Keeping her safe. Calm and safe was what she needed to be right now.

“I’ve spoken to Donald, your father.” Lindsey nodded at Asher as he took a seat. “If it makes you feel any better, he’s more nervous than you are. And your mother, Gabby, hasn’t stopped asking me if you were all right with this.”

“They don’t want to see me?” Asher told her that they really did. “I don’t know why. I mean, I’ve been this close to them for all this time and no one found me. Why now?”

“Because they never stopped looking.” Lindsey knew this. The attorney had told her the same thing a few days ago when he’d come to the house on another matter. “This will be fine. And if it’s not, we all get to have a nice meal, then we go home. It’s as simple as that.”

She nodded again at Asher, knowing that nothing was ever simple. There were simpletons, but never simple things. Things never seemed to happen just the way you’d think they would, and rarely did she come out on top. When the door opened, she nearly squeaked when a woman came in, but it was only the waitress. She was bringing in pitchers of water for the tables. Squeezing Jed’s hand, she stood up and moved around.

Lindsey knew some about her parents. Not a great deal. It had been her wish not to know much about them because if this worked out the way she thought it would, then there wasn’t a lot of point in knowing everything. Now as she looked out the window to the street below, she wished that she’d taken the time to read a little about them.

Below her a limo pulled up and a man got out of the front and opened the door to the rear. A man stepped out, and she watched as he straightened his tie before reaching into the car and helping a woman out. She had no idea if they were her parents or not. It was difficult to see him with his face turned away, but the woman she did know. It was just like that. Her memories of her parents came flooding back.