Wainwrights and Wrongs

[Cheezey]

Chapter 12

The heat of summer warmed up Brindleton Bay, but even though the Wainwrights lived close to the beach, they did not go there as often as one might expect.  Blair went more than her parents, now that she was into scouts and there were activities there sometimes, and a couple of times she went with a friend or a child her age that Boyd and Susan hoped was a friend she was making.  They, however, spent more of their non-working summer days puttering out back in the nicer weather, at least before it got too hot.

Susan set up a rather industrial work bench for the robotics projects she brought home from work to tinker with, and Blair put up her scouting board beside it on nice days since it took up so much space in her small bedroom.  She liked having something out there to work on like her parents did with that and their plants.  Those needed daily watering on the hot days, and to Susan and Boyd’s relief, the garlic seemed to be working.  As far as they knew, Vladislaus had not returned.

Summer had its share of festivals, too, although not in Brindleton Bay.  The beach and the pet-friendly park were its biggest tourist draws, and despite Jonathan’s suggestion that they get a big dog to ward off Vladislaus or other intruders, they had not seriously entertained that idea.  Susan knew that she would be the one primarily cleaning up after it, even if Blair probably would promise to help if she knew they were considering it to sway them in favor of a new furry friend.  However, their house was too small for a big dog to expend its energy in during poor weather or to keep inside during long days when they were at work and school, and neither Boyd nor Susan relished the thought of having to take a dog for long exercise walks, especially in that kind of weather.  They did not even want to exercise in it themselves.  Or in any other weather, really, but that was another subject entirely.



One festival they went to was the Festival of Youth over in Mt. Komorebi.  That was a special weekend trip to celebrate Blair earning a scouting badge, and it was funded by Grandpa Patrick and Grandma Maureen.  They were getting up there in age, but Patrick had been frugal most of his life, so they had savings for splurges like that.  As someone who had a deep love of learning about other cultures, Maureen was thrilled to give their only granddaughter an opportunity to visit a foreign festival, even if it had to be a short trip.  Due to Boyd and Susan’s finances and work schedules, they could not afford to take more than a day off work, so they just flew out for the festival day and came right back, but Blair still had a wonderful time.

She participated in the science demonstrations and had fun experimenting at the chemistry station.  She spent so much time at them she missed her chance to go on the Voidcritter hunt, but she was able to meet Yamachan and get a capsule from him.  Plus, her time at the chemistry station gave her credit toward her science badge for scouts, and she was proud of that.



Another activity she had fun with was the arts and crafts demonstration.  There were several stations set up for kids to make crafts they could take home.  Although Blair did not tend to draw or color all that often at home, she enjoyed art class in school and had fun making pretty and colorful things, especially with glitter glue!  When she brought it home, she could show it to her scout leader and get credit for working on her art badge, too.



Since it was a children’s festival, there was not a whole lot for Boyd and Susan to do there other than hang around, talk, watch her have fun, and enjoy the food and drink.  “This must be what the Romance Festival was like for her, downing glass after glass of Sakura tea and looking at the flowers.  Except we’re stuffing our faces and watching Yamachan’s epic dance moves.”

“He’s pretty spry for a big green thing.  I’m not sure I could maneuver that well in that costume.”

“I hope he has fans inside it in this heat.”  Susan fanned her face before taking another bite of her ice cream crepe.  “These are pretty good.  You should try one.”

“Maybe after I’m done with this.”  He ate a bit more and looked over at Blair at the arts and crafts station, who was now finishing up.  When she saw her parents looking, she held up her creation, beaming with excitement.  Boyd gave her a thumbs-up.  “That’s quite a collage she made.  I can see it glittering from here.”

“Oh, goody.  Glitter.  The shiny gift that never stops giving.”  Still, Susan was happy to see Blair so obviously proud of herself.



Before the festival was over, Blair also tried some of the unique food.  Although she really liked the Tri-Color Dango, her favorite was the ice cream crepe.  That was so good that she ate it too fast and got a brain freeze, which she said emphatically should not be able to happen when it was this hot out.

“You’d think it would work that way, sweetie, but the hot weather actually makes it more likely,” Susan explained.  “It’s because your warm body is reacting to the sudden presence of so much of something so cold inside it.”

Blair winced through her brain freeze.  “Well, that stinks.  If you’re hot, it should be happy to get something cold.”

“Sadly, our bodies go by the rule that sometimes there can be too much of a good thing.”  Boyd held her crepe for her while she rubbed her temples.  “Hang in there.  It’ll pass soon.”



Despite that, Blair still had a great time at the festival and even talked her parents into getting a snack packed up to go that they could enjoy later.  It was starting to rain as the festival wrapped up, anyway, and they had to get back to the airport.  Boyd and Susan wished they could have stayed for a longer vacation and been able to see more of Mt. Komorebi.  It looked like a beautiful and interesting place, but they both had work the next day, so sleeping on the plane home it was.  They were grateful that they had the chance to take the short trip, regardless.

As they boarded the plane for the flight home, Blair was already sleepy.  She was only up for about the first ten minutes of the flight before conking out, while Boyd kicked the seat back the small distance it would go and dozed.  He had the task of keeping Blair’s craft, an artsy collage of paper plates, construction paper, paint, macaroni, googly eyes, and glitter, safe on his lap so she could hang it on the wall once they got home.  When they tried to put it in the compartment above the seat, Blair protested, “It’ll get all messed up in there!”  Boyd volunteered to hold it knowing how Susan would grouse about the inevitable glitter transfer onto her clothes, while he just planned to brush it off and chuck the clothes in the laundry when he got home.  There were far fouler substances than glitter in the environment if one really thought about it, anyway.

Susan had the task of safekeeping the snacks at her feet, and in retrospect, she was glad she did.  Not only was she more tired than she thought she should be after that day at the festival, but her stomach was churning, and she had to nibble on crackers to keep from throwing up.  I hope that Salmon Nigiri I ate wasn’t out in that heat too long.  Both food poisoning and airplane bathrooms were miserable, as far as she was concerned, and a combination of the two was something she never wanted to experience.

Thankfully, she made it through the flight home without having to bolt to the bathroom.  She, Boyd, and Blair all got home late and quite tired, but having enjoyed their trip.  Susan went straight to bed after telling her family good night, while Boyd tacked Blair’s artsy masterpiece on the wall above the table for her before they turned in as well.



Outside, a frustrated Vladislaus Straud emerged from the shadows of their front yard.  He came that night hoping to feast upon Susan’s plasma again, but it seemed that Lady Luck turned into the fickle Miss Fortune once again.  The house was dark when he arrived, and he assumed they were sleeping until he approached the door, wincing at the foul stench of that accursed garlic plant.  Then he heard someone coming and slipped into the shadows of the nearby trees only to see the Wainwright family coming home.

So, they had been out and not sleeping.  Perhaps he would wait for them to go to bed, then.  Another half hour or hour was nothing to an immortal such as him.  He had waited longer for delectable meals.

In anticipation, he inhaled to catch Susan’s scent to whet his appetite, but he discovered that it had changed.  The predatory and gleeful look on his face changed to one of annoyance.  Susan Wainwright was off the menu, at least for a little while.  He did not bite those in her condition.  Much like feeding upon children, most civilized vampires considered that taboo, Vladislaus included.  He would have to wait longer to taste her again, it seemed.  But perhaps there was a bright side.  That fine plasma of hers might pass on to that one as he was certain it had her daughter, who was growing more by the day.  More gourmet fare was never a bad thing, even if he had to be more patient than he liked being for it.

And maybe by then, those disgusting reeking plants by the door would be either gone or died back.  Perhaps the Wainwrights would even think he forgot about them and abandon their silly futile attempts at safeguarding their little home.  Oh, and after that long, Susan Wainwright would be even more delicious.



Vladislaus was right that Boyd and Susan had no idea he was lurking around and waiting.  Although they were not naïve enough to assume he had given up entirely, they were starting to believe that the garlic plants at the door gave a strong enough hint, and aroma, to keep him out.  Susan had not received any more creepy messages, and while there was a part of Boyd that lamented that he never got to zap the fanged jerk with his freeze ray at least once, truthfully, he was glad he never had to confront him.  He had learned enough about vampires recently to know that things could go catastrophically wrong with a miscalculation or a bad turn of luck, and he was anxious enough that he could imagine those scenarios in detail.

He was the first up the following morning, and he took some of the leftover festival food for breakfast.  He had not slept well on the plane, and he only got a few hours of sleep after getting home.  He would need a lot of coffee to handle a full workday after that, and while coffee was an odd pairing for that type of leftovers, Boyd did not have Susan’s snooty palate.



She got up shortly after him and emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later looking even more worn out.  “The leftovers are on the counter if you want them,” he called over from where he was eating on the couch.

Susan grimaced as her stomach roiled at the mere thought.  “Thanks, but no.”  She threw some of Blair’s animal crackers in a bowl and called it good.

She side-eyed Boyd’s plate as she sat down.  “I don’t know if I’d trust that if I were you.  That festival salmon did a number on me, and I ate that at the festival.  This stuff was out the whole time we were traveling.”  She nibbled gingerly on a cracker.  “I still feel awful.”

“That sucks,” he sympathized.  “But this tastes fine.  I think I’ll be okay.  Sorry you’re still so sick, though.  You okay to go to work?  Maybe you should take a sick day.”

“Right after a weekend vacation?  It’d look like I was calling out over a hangover.”

“I don’t think anyone would think that about you.  You’re a hard worker and don’t call off much.”

She was starting to feel a little better as she ate a couple more crackers.  “Maybe not, but you never know.  Besides, I’ve got stuff I need to review that’s on a deadline.  I might work from home today if the boss doesn’t mind, though. If it’s not food poisoning and I caught some stomach bug, I’m not going to spread it to everyone there, and I really don’t feel like driving.”



Blair came out and joined them a few minutes later.  She piled some leftovers on a plate for breakfast before going back to the fridge and downing some chocolate milk straight from the bottle.

“Blair!  What have I told you about that?” Susan snapped when she caught it out of the corner of her eye.

Blair set it down guiltily and got a paper towel to wipe it off.  “But I’ve seen Daddy do it.”

Susan shot Boyd a look.  “And Daddy knows better.  So do you.”

“I’m sorry.”

“All right, but please don’t do that again.”  She turned to Boyd.  “You, either.”

He gave her a sheepish apologetic smile.  “Yes, dear.”



Blair sat down at the table with her parents to eat her breakfast before school, and Boyd turned to her.  “Sorry about setting that bad example for you.  Mom’s right.  It really is bad manners, and I shouldn’t have done it, either.  Our mouths do host a lot of potentially nasty communicable microbes.”

She swallowed the bite of food in her mouth.  “Does that mean germs?”

“Yes.  Very good,” Susan praised her.  “And I apologize for snapping, but it’s a rude thing to do.  Plus, stuff from your mouth getting into it would not only be gross, but it could also make the milk spoil, and I’ve already had enough of spoiled food.”

“Aw, are you still feeling sick from the fish?”

“A little, yes.  I take it you’re fine, like your Dad?”

“Uh-huh.  But I hope you feel better.”

Susan could not help but smile a bit.  Despite the occasional misstep, Blair really was a sweet little girl.  “Thank you, sweetie.  You have a good day at school today.  I’ve got to go call the boss about working from home now.”



Susan felt better as the day went on, although what she thought was the food poisoning seemed to linger and flare up on and off throughout the week, even after she went back to work on site.  It was annoying, but she toughed through it.  Sometimes that sort of thing could really mess up one’s system, she lamented, and she made sure to eat some extra probiotic yogurt and stay hydrated until it passed.



Boyd’s stomach, however, was still just fine.  The lab sent him and some of his colleagues into San Myshuno for a symposium one day, and after it was over, they hit the nearby food stands for dinner.  He knew the spice festival was coming to town before the end of summer, and he was curious if he would be up to the challenge.  He liked spicy food, and he had what he thought was a reasonable tolerance for hot peppers and things like wasabi.  He decided to try one of the city’s famous spicy curry dishes.

“We aren’t kidding when we say it’s hot,” the attendant warned him when he ordered it.  “You sure you’re up to it?”

“Oh, I like a challenge.”

“Hey, look.  Boyd’s going to burn his tongue off,” one of his co-workers, Supriya, joked from the nearby table where they were all seated.  She was eating a decidedly safer taco.

“Hope you have that freeze ray handy,” Kalamainu’u chimed in with a smirk.

“I may regret this later, but I want to try it.  I need practice for the spice festival, anyway.  Better to find out now if I even have a chance.”

“Good luck,” Supriya said, while Kalamainu’u just gave him a thumbs-up.



To say the curry was “hot” was, what Boyd discovered the hard way and would later describe it as while regaling the tale of this mishap, an understatement of gargantuan proportions.

The first bite was hot, and the second even hotter.  Then it kicked in more.  And more.  His tastebuds felt like they were individually exploding, while his throat tingled with what he could only imagine a dragon would feel if it swallowed its own fiery belch.  He coughed.  He sputtered.  He doubled over, and he could have sworn he breathed actual fire, it was so hot.

His co-workers were a mixture of amused and horrified, but at least Kalamainu’u brought him a soda in a mostly futile attempt to ease his suffering.

The food stand worker watched with a sympathetic but jaded expression that indicated that while he felt bad for him, it was something he had seen many times before and would inevitably see again.  “Sorry, dude.  I tried to warn ya.”

Boyd could only choke out half-syllables, but he appreciated the sentiment anyway.  He just hoped the hellfire would be over soon.  Eventually, the sensation calmed enough for him to speak in a defeated, raspy tone.  “I guess I’m more of a spice newbie than I thought.”

“You think you’ll be all right?” asked Supriya.

“Ask me tomorrow after it tries to come out,” he muttered in a raspy tone, much to his co-workers’ amusement.

But at least two good things came from the experience, he told himself.  One, he knew where he stood on the San Myshuno spice competitor hierarchy, and it was nowhere near where he thought.  And two, now he had a vague idea of how to make curry.  While his life was flashing before his eyes in burning spicy agony, something in his screaming mind parsed and memorized how to recreate the culinary formula that tried to kill him.  It was amazing how the brain worked sometimes.

[Cheezey]

Chapter 13

Although Boyd recovered from the curry experience quickly, Susan was still suffering the ill effects of what she thought was the festival food in Mt. Komorebi.  Even though she should have been over it by now, she was still feeling tired and nauseous on and off, especially in the mornings.  Today was especially awful.  She woke up feeling so sick that she had to run to the bathroom only to dry heave miserably.



On top of that, she had felt uncomfortably bloated the past several days.  At first, she chalked that up to PMS on top of being ill, but she should have gotten some relief from that once her time of the month came.  Unfortunately, she was late, by more days than she could ever recall being except when she discovered that she was pregnant with Blair.

When that first occurred to her, she dismissed the possibility.  She had been on birth control for years and it was reliable.  While she had missed a pill around the time she was bitten that she had not noticed until the next day and another several days later, that was unusual for her and only because she was so busy and stressed.  She almost always took it right on schedule.  Besides, even with missed pills it was still supposed to work almost as well, especially if they were made up.  It only lowered the effectiveness by a marginal percentage.

Unfortunately, she could not help but think of something Boyd liked to counter her with when she tried to use statistics like that to reassure his worries when his anxiety flared.  “I played a lot of tabletop RPGs as a teenager, and if I learned one thing, it’s that you don’t count on not getting statistically unlikely rolls.”

Susan sighed.  Unlikely as it was, a simple test would either confirm or deny the possibility.  She was well within the window for the test to be accurate.  Luckily, she had one for just such a situation, and after checking the date to make sure it was not expired, she took it.



“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!”

It was positive.

She could practically hear Boyd’s RPG analogy word for word in her head.



Suddenly, how she had been feeling made a lot more sense.  When she was pregnant with Blair, she had a lot of nausea early on, as well as feeling tired almost all the time.  The only reason she had not suspected sooner was because she was recovering from the blood loss after Vladislaus bit her, and it was perfectly normal to assume being more tired than normal or a little queasy was from that.  Food poisoning from seafood at a hot summer festival was also a reasonable thing to assume when a bad wave of nausea hit right after.

She supposed it probably happened around the time of the Romance Festival.  That was the week she missed a couple of pills, and it was the morning after said festival that she noticed she had missed the one from the previous day.  But she had taken it right away and did not think much of it.  It had never been an issue before on the rare occasion she forgot one, although she supposed maybe they were a bit more careful about backup prevention those times.  Still, it was low odds to get pregnant while on it at all, even with a couple of missed doses.  It made her wonder if the Sakura tea had a fertility enhancing component or something, but she had no idea if it really did.  She would have to look it up to know for sure, but it did not matter at this point anyway.

“Guess that answers the question of whether to have more kids or work on our degrees,” she mused aloud, more caught off guard than upset about it.  A surprise baby was inconvenient, but not necessarily unwelcome.  She and Boyd had been considering having another child, although she would have preferred to have more room in the house for said baby first.  Blair’s room was barely big enough for her as it was, and a baby would make it even more cramped.  Saving money for adding onto the house had to become their number one priority now.



When she came out of the bathroom, she saw that Boyd and Blair were both up and already dressed.  “Good morning!  I’m glad you’re out because we’ve got a line forming,” he quipped, and then noticed the odd look on her face.  “Oh, no.  Are you okay?  Sick again?”

“Yeah, I… this morning was a doozy.  Sorry to hold you up.  But before either of you go in for any bathroom business, there’s something I need to talk to you about in there.”

“Oh no.  What broke now?” he groaned.

“Nothing’s broken, and it’ll only take a minute.”  Susan turned to Blair.  “Sorry, sweetie.”

“It’s okay.  I can hold it a little longer.”  She crossed her legs.



All sorts of possibilities raced through Boyd’s mind as he followed Susan into the bathroom, but not the one she was about to spring on him.  “Don’t worry.”  She closed the door behind her.  “I just didn’t want to talk about this in front of Blair, at least not right away.  There’s some good news and some bad news.  What do you want first?”

“Well, a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, as the saying goes, so let’s hear the good news first.”

“How apt that you would quote Mary Poppins for this.  Because the good news is, aside from nothing being broken, I figured out I don’t have the world’s longest lasting stomach bug from food poisoning.”

“Oh?”

He raised an eyebrow as she handed him the positive pregnancy test.  “It’s morning sickness.  Pregnancy nausea.  We’re going to have another baby.”

His eyes widened in stunned surprise.  “We—I—what?”  He looked at the test, then at her.  “Wow.  I never would’ve thought, because—”



“I know.  I didn’t think it, either.  I was sure I was just tired from the blood loss of Vladislaus attacking me, and that I was sick from bad seafood.  Even when I was late, I honestly figured it was my system just out of whack from all that.  I took the test to rule an unlikely pregnancy out.  I never expected it to be positive.  I only missed two pills and they weren’t even in a row.”

“Wow.”  Boyd shook his head, but he was smiling.  “Those critical failures can get you any time.”

Susan could not help but laugh.  “I knew you were going to say something like that.  That’s why you never like playing the odds.”

“Yes, but on the other side, I always hope for that natural 20 every time I buy a lottery ticket.”  He drew her close and embraced her.  “We’ll make it work.  Small house and all.”

“We’re going to have to prioritize adding more space to the house.  The baby could sleep in our room at first, but after that, poor Blair’s going to be really cramped having her little brother or sister in there with her.  Getting a bunk bed will only save so much room.”

“Speaking of Blair, we should probably let the poor kid in here to pee.  We can tell her the big news later, after we’ve had a chance to figure out a few more things like due dates and where we might set up what.”  His smile broadened.  “I think she’ll be thrilled to have a little sibling to play with.  Truth be told, I’m happy, too.  Surprise timing and everything.”

“So am I.”  She mirrored his smile and smooched him before leaving the bathroom together.



Since there was not much time left before work or school, and they did not want her distracted by the news while she was learning, Boyd and Susan decided to wait until that evening to tell Blair.  It gave them more time to think things over, too, although work was busy enough that they could only think about it sporadically throughout the day.  Boyd got home from work later than Susan, and when he did, Blair asked him to play a chess game with her since Susan was busy making them some macaroni and cheese for dinner.  Since it was hotter than plumbobs outside, Boyd changed into shorts before joining Blair on the back patio.

“Thanks for playing with me.  I can get credit for playing chess games if an adult signs the slip saying I really played.”

“For scouting?”

“No.  For school.”  She moved her pawn on the board.

“Extra credit, huh?  I guess that means we’ll be seeing lots of A’s come report card time.”

“I hope so,” she said cheerfully.  “But I’m doing good in scouts, too!”  She pointed to her board.  “See all my badge progress?”

He nodded, impressed, as she made her next chess move.  “Yeah.  You’re really knocking them out.  Great job!”  He chuckled.  “Great job at knocking out my pawn there, too.  But I’m afraid you left your knight open to this with that move.”  He brought his bishop across the board in a diagonal move she had not seen.

“Oh, poo.”

“It’s all right.  That’s how you learn.  You’ve got to be a little sneaky in these games to win them.”



Susan came out onto the patio with them.  “Sorry to interrupt your game, but dinner’s done.  A feast of macaroni and cheese, with a side of some steamed veggies for all.”

“Steamed veggies?  You got out a second pot?”

“Your mother gave us a steamer for one of our housewarming gifts.  I figured it was high time I used it, and those veggies have been in the freezer for ages.”  She made a face.  “If they’re overdone, I apologize, but I added some extra butter in case I messed them up.  Besides, important that I eat healthy now.”

“Because you’ve been sick a while and need them to get better?” Blair guessed.

She gave Boyd a nod to let him know she was going to break the news, and he nodded back.  “No.  As it turns out, I didn’t get sick from eating bad salmon at the festival.  I didn’t know it then, but my system was adjusting because I’m going to have a baby.  You’re going to be a big sister soon.  What do you think of that?”



“Wow!  Neat!  I get to be a big sister!”  She looked at her mother.  “Your tummy doesn’t look very big yet.”

“Well, the baby is still very small inside.  Hopefully, my tummy won’t get that big until the baby does.  Though if the baby makes me crave sweets and cheese the way I did when I had you in there, it easily could,” she teased.

“So how come the baby makes you throw up a lot then?  Is it because it doesn’t like the food you’re eating?  Is that why you have to eat vegetables now?”

Both Boyd and Susan thought it was cute and impressive how she was trying to logically piece together the biological mysteries without even being old enough for a health class where she would have learned about reproduction in school.  Blair was such a bright girl, and it made them both proud.  “I have to eat the vegetables because they’re full of nutrients that help the baby grow and me stay strong.  We all should probably eat them more often, because it’s healthy and everyone needs that to grow, but sometimes Mom and Dad take shortcuts after a long day of work when a pizza sounds a lot better than cooking.”

“You can get pizza with vegetables on it.”

“That is an option,” Boyd noted with a smile.  “But tonight I think we should head on in and eat the macaroni and vegetables Mom cooked for us after a long workday.  We can talk more about the new baby at dinner, if you want.”

“Yeah!” Blair bounded to her feet and started firing questions at Susan as they made their way in.  “When are you going to have the baby?  Do you know?  And will it be a brother or sister, or do you not find that out until later?  ‘cause I know you don’t have to wait until it’s born because Katie at school said her mom’s having a baby, and they know it’s a boy and she’s mad because she wanted a sister…”



Once Blair knew, it was time to share their news with the rest of the family.  Susan wanted to tell her parents in person, so they drove out to San Myshuno for a visit.  “So, what’s going on that you wanted to talk to us about?” Maureen asked after they arrived and said hello.  “Your father and I couldn’t stop speculating.  I hope it’s good news.  We could use it.”

Although she wondered what her parents were worried about, she hoped that since they were so eager for more grandchildren that it would alleviate whatever it was.  “I hope you’ll think so.  You and Dad are going to be grandparents again.”

Maureen beamed from ear to ear and her voice rose on a high and excited note of joy.  “Oh, how wonderful!  Patrick, did you hear that?” she called over to him in the other room.

“I did!  Congratulations!”  Patrick was at his computer when they arrived, and at his age, it took him a minute to shut down and get up from the chair.  He was immediately roadblocked by Blair, who ran in to greet him.



She was so excited that she was nearly bouncing.  “I’m going to be a big sister soon, Grandpa!”

“Yes, you are, and I’m sure you’ll be a great one.”  He hugged her.  “My goodness!  You’re getting so big.  I could swear you’ve grown just since your birthday.”

“That’s because I’m eating more vegetables now, like Mom said she’s going to so the baby can grow.”

“Well, good.  That’s very important.  Maybe now that your Mom has learned that, you can pass that recommendation on to your Uncle Jonathan, since I hear he’s been living on coffee, donuts, and take-out ever since he moved out.  Dr. Grandpa here always recommended a healthy diet,” he remarked as they joined the others in the living room.



“And unfortunately, now that I’ve heard your good news, I have to head out to the hospital,” Patrick lamented to Boyd and Susan as he grabbed his coat.  “I got an urgent message just before you got here.  I’m glad I didn’t miss you, but I can’t stay longer.  I’m sorry.  I’m very happy for all of you, though, and I can’t wait to hear all the details later, even though I’m sure Maureen will tell me all about it the second I get back.”  He cast his wife a fond smile.

“As if you wouldn’t hound me if I didn’t.”

“Susan, Blair, Boyd, you all take care of yourselves, you especially, Susan.  It was nice seeing you even if it was just for a couple of minutes.  Oh, and Maureen, maybe you can take this chance to tell your daughter about what what’s going on.  She should know, especially now.”  He gave his wife a pointed look, and she frowned, obviously disagreeing and not pleased to be put on the spot like that.  That did not faze him, though, and he opened the door.  “Hopefully I’ll see you all again soon.”  With that, he waved and headed out.

“Bye,” they called after him, while Boyd sat in the empty seat on the couch.

“So he’s still on call, huh?  Wow.  It never fails to impress me that not only did he never retire, but he’s still going at that pace.  Now I know where Susan gets it from.”

“That’s my Patrick.  Workaholic Supreme,” Maureen remarked, and turned to Susan.  “So, tell me about the baby.”



“I will, after you tell me whatever it is that Dad wants you to tell me that you obviously don’t.”

Maureen put up a hand in protest.  “Pshaw.  I told him I didn’t want to worry you kids with this.  I don’t think it’s as dire as he thinks it is.”  She glanced at Blair, looking at her with wide-eyed concern.  “It’s okay, honey.  Please don’t worry.”  She turned to Susan.  “You, either.  Especially now.  Stress isn’t good for a baby.”

“You dodging the question isn’t making me worry less or not stress about it.  So, please, tell me what’s going on.”

“You know we’re here for you if you need us, Maureen.”

She sighed.  “All right.  I’ve been having some pain for a while, so I went to get it checked out.  Doctor ordered some imaging, they found masses.  Only a few, small, but still, they wanted them biopsied.  Came back malignant, and due to where they are, and other factors that make surgery a bad risk for me, inoperable.”

“Mom!  You weren’t going to tell us this?”  Susan gasped, while Boyd tried not to appear overly worried as Blair looked from her mother to her grandmother to him.

“They’re little.  And just because they’re inoperable doesn’t mean they’re not treatable.  They’ve got me on medicine for it.”

“Chemo, you mean.”  There was heavy emotion in Susan’s voice despite her trying to keep it even.

Maureen sighed again.  “See, this is why I didn’t want you to burden you kids with it.  It’s probably not…” she searched for better phrasing than “terminal,” “as bad as it could be.”



“And you weren’t going to tell us?!”  Susan was beside herself.  “Does Jonathan know?”

“No.  I didn’t want any of you worrying about me when you have your own things going on.  His job is dangerous enough as it is.  He doesn’t need the added distraction of worrying about his mother’s probably treatable cancer.  And neither did you, with your jobs and your family, now growing with a new member.  I didn’t want to stress you or make you think about… bad outcomes.”

“Grandma, do you mean dying?”

“Oh, honey…”

“Maureen, something like that’s not too much for us,” Boyd cut in, hoping to divert the subject off that unpleasant possibility for Blair’s sake.  “We’d rather know so we can help you if you need it.”

“From two hours away in Brindleton Bay?  My doctors are here and I’m certainly not going to drag you out here to the city to take me for a treatment in a hospital when I’m perfectly capable of calling a taxi and getting around just fine.”

Susan was not appeased.  “Calling a taxi?  Don’t you and Dad still have a car?  Or are you telling me that either A) he has it out too often for you to use reliably, or B) you can’t drive yourself anymore?  Because I thought Dad took the subway to the hospital since it’s faster, and if you can’t drive or take the subway, that sounds serious enough to tell me and Jonathan about.  And don’t even think about telling me not to tell him, because if you don’t, I will.  Dad’s right.  We should know.”



She stood up to get a glass of water.  “The medication is what makes me too woozy to drive, not the can—condition.  The doctors say the medicine is helping.  I’ll tell Jonathan, since I knew once one of you found out, you’d immediately tell the other, but please let me do it.”

Blair also stood.  “But you’re going to be okay, right, Grandma?”



She pulled her into a big and reassuring hug.  “I’m kicking its tail with all I’ve got.  My doctors are the best in the business, your Grandpa’s made sure of that, and I see them whenever I need to.  My medicine is very good too, and I make sure I take it every day.  I’ve got to stick around for you and that little brother or sister of yours that’s coming, after all.”

Blair felt a little better, but she still noticed what all the adults were saying, or rather, not saying or promising, was that for sure she would be all right.  “Make sure you eat your vegetables.  That’ll help you stay healthy.”

“Oh, you bet I will, kiddo.  A big old heap of them every day.  Maybe an extra helping just because you asked me to.”  She smiled at her.  “And you’re the best medicine anyone could ask for.”

“I love you, Grandma.”

“I love you too, sweetie.  More than the whole world.”



Susan came over and hugged her mother as well, trying hard to stay optimistic.  “I love you, too.  We all do.  Please take care of yourself and don’t keep anything else from us.  I’d rather know, even if there’s nothing I can do to help or make it better, than be left out of the loop.  I’m sure I can speak for Jonathan on this when I say he’d say the same thing, too.  Only probably with a lot more profanity.”



Maureen smiled despite the heaviness of the situation.  “An unfortunate habit he picked up at Britechester, and I imagine the police station is conducive to it as well.”  She looked Susan over, her eyes lingering on her belly for a moment before she met her gaze again.  “Now you do the same and take care of yourself.  Don’t overwork or burn the candle at both ends like you do entirely too often.  My grandbaby needs a mom who gets enough rest.  That goes for you, too, Boyd, and you, future big sister.  Take care of yourselves and keep your eyes on your stubborn mom here and make sure she does that.  Don’t let her play tough lady.”

“Stubborn and playing ‘tough lady,’ huh?  Gee, I can’t imagine where I got that from.”

“Touché.  I love you, Susie, and I can’t wait to see you all again and meet my new grandbaby.”

“I love you, too, Mom.”

[Cheezey]

Chapter 14

Susan and Boyd already had plans to meet up with Jonathan later that day to share their news, and when they did, they got a table together at Hogan’s Burger Bar.  He texted them shortly beforehand to ask if it was okay if Maaike joined them, since they were hanging out anyway.  The Wainwrights were curious just how often the two of them kept company and what was going on between them.  Susan and Maaike were friends, but she had only casually mentioned hanging out with Jonathan “a few times” since Blair’s birthday.  Susan planned to ask once the more serious topics were out of the way.

“Nice to see you guys.  I got a call from Mom a little while ago, so I guess I don’t have to ask why you wanted to meet up so you could tell me something important.”

“Oh, and thanks for being cool with me coming along,” Maaike said.  “Like Jonathan said, we were hanging out anyway and it’s been a while since I got to see you anywhere but online.”

“I’ve been pretty busy, and it’s fine.  Now I don’t have to type it all up for you over messenger.  Though I’m surprised you’re sitting at opposite ends of the table if you’re hanging out together,” she teased.  “His jokes finally get that old after all the ‘hanging out’ you’ve been doing?”

“Hey!  She loves my sense of humor, unlike you, you humorless nerd.”

Blair giggled at the exchange as she doodled on her placemat.  “I think you’re funny, Uncle Jonathan.”

“That’s because you have great taste, Blairy-bear.”

“It’s not him, I promise,” Maaike said.  “I just prefer this side of the table and the rest of you sat first, that’s all.”

“We could switch if you want,” Boyd offered, but Maaike shook her head.

“No need.  It’s fine.”



“So, if this wasn’t originally about Mom, what is going on?  Is Mr. Creepy Fangstalker bothering you again?”  He knew that Susan had told at least an abridged version of it to Maaike since she had once brought it up to him while they were together.

“Who’s Mr. Creepy Fangstalker?” asked Blair.  “That sounds like a bad guy from a cartoon.”

“The online loser who was giving me a hard time, so you’re not that far off,” Susan replied, hoping that Jonathan would get the hint that she would rather not get into the particulars of that in front of Blair.  “It’s just a goofy nickname your uncle came up with for him.  Remember how I told you there was someone who won’t leave me alone even though I told him to buzz off, and why I reminded you recently that you should never talk to strangers who might say they know me or your dad?”

“Oh, yeah.  The one you said hated garlic, so you put those plants by the door to show him you mean it.”

“That’s the one,” Boyd said.

Susan returned her attention to Jonathan.  “This isn’t about him.  Thankfully, I haven’t gotten any more messages or noticed any signs of him lurking around.  I guess he found someone else to bother.”

“That’s good at least.”

“Yeah, what a creepy weirdo.  Glad he’s not bothering you anymore,” Maaike added.



“You and me both.  I hope it’s over with, especially considering,” she smiled as she looked from her brother to Maaike, “I just found out I’m pregnant.  That’s what I invited you out to tell you, because I wanted to let you and Mom and Dad all know in person.  I’m having a baby.”

“Oh, wow!  That’s awesome!  Congratulations, you two!”

“Thanks,” Boyd replied to Maaike.  “We’re pretty excited about it.”



“Yeah, I bet!  That’s great!  Another niece or nephew to spoil.”  He turned to Blair.  “I’ll have to teach you all about what it’s like to be the older kid.  It comes with certain perks, like ruthlessly teasing the younger one.”

Susan rolled her eyes.  “Oh, and that whole four minutes makes such a huge difference.  Just remember, Blair, that with such great power comes great responsibility.  Big sister sets a big example.  I wouldn’t necessarily always follow Uncle Jonathan’s.”

“No, she’ll follow Mom and Dad’s and quote Spider-Man to teach her little brother or sister life lessons.  Geek them out from the get-go.”

“Hey!”  Blair protested.  “I like Spider-Man.”

“So does he, apparently, or he wouldn’t know where that reference came from,” Boyd pointed out.

Deflecting that, Jonathan returned to the original subject.  “Anyway, that’s cool.  I’m happy for you.  I’ve got to say, that was not what I was expecting.”  He smirked at Susan and Boyd both, but mostly his sister.  “I kind of get the feeling you didn’t, either, huh?”



“I believe the answer to that falls squarely in the realm of ‘none of your business,’” Susan replied coolly, and sipped at her sparkling water.

“Aha.  So, yes.”

“Oh, Jonathan, stop picking,” Maaike playfully admonished.  “I think it’s great.  You guys are good parents.”

“Thanks,” said Boyd.  “It’s fine.  One day he’ll get married and have kids, and we’ll have all sorts of noise-making, obnoxious toys to pass along to his kids, with all the love in the world from Aunt Susan and Uncle Boyd.”

“Noise-making and obnoxious should work.  Like repels like, after all.”

“Oh-ho!  Someone’s salty in her condition.  No wonder she’s chugging all that water.”



He took a swig of his beer and then set it down, resuming a more serious mood.  “Seriously, though, congrats.  It’s nice to hear some good news after what Mom hit us with this morning.  I can’t believe she didn’t want to tell us that.”

“I’m just glad Dad ratted her out.  She’s obviously been dealing with this for a while and never said a word to either of us.  I know she didn’t want us to worry, but I’m hurt anyway.  Even if we can’t help with day-to-day stuff from Brindleton Bay or Evergreen Harbor, she ought to know we care and would support her whenever she needs it, even if it’s just to talk.”

“Yeah.  I’m surprised Dad didn’t at least drop a hint before now, but I guess he didn’t want to stress or upset her more by going behind her back.  I bet he’s getting an earful now, though.”

“No doubt.”  Susan sighed.  “Hopefully her doctors are right, and the chemo is as effective as she said.”  She left it unsaid that she was not one hundred percent sure her mother had not played up the odds for their sake, especially young Blair’s, but there was no way to know for sure without reading her mind.  She just hoped that her father would correct any misconceptions once she got a chance to ask him directly about it.



“Here’s hoping.  I’ll keep you in the loop if I hear anything new from them,” Jonathan promised.

“Thanks.  We appreciate that.  She might be more forthcoming with you if anything changes since she knows Susan’s pregnant now and will probably worry about the effect of stress on her and the baby.”

“Eh, maybe, maybe not.  Remember, I have a dangerous job she doesn’t want to distract me from.”  He rolled his eyes.  “Frankly, I think Mom doesn’t want to admit to herself how vulnerable she is.  I’m sure she believes what she’s telling us.  For what it’s worth, I think if it got to a certain point, Dad would say to heck with your pride, that’s a load of llama turds if she got too stubborn, and he’d tell us himself.  So for now, let’s try and stay optimistic.”



“I hope you’re…”  Susan’s voice trailed off as her stomach roiled in that all too familiar and awful way again.  Oh, no.  Not now, not here, in public!

“Susan, are you okay?” asked Maaike.

“Pregnancy nausea.  At least when I thought it was food poisoning, I could hope it’d be over sooner than this,” she groaned, while Boyd gave her a sympathetic look.

“Oh, no.  I’m sorry, honey.”

“It’s okay.  I—I’ve got to go,” she blurted out, and bolted toward the bathroom.

Blair felt bad for her as she watched her leave.  “I guess the baby didn’t like the chili.”



By the time they got home, Susan’s nausea subsided.  Blair went into her room to play, while Susan and Boyd took the opportunity to talk privately.  “Today sure didn’t go as planned.”

“Nothing about this pregnancy has, including the baby itself.”     

“Heh.  I could’ve smacked Jonathan for that rude comment in front of both Blair and Maaike.  If we didn’t have the same parents, I’d swear he was raised in a barn sometimes.”  She flopped onto the couch, and Boyd sat with her.



“Humor’s just how he deals with things, I think.  Especially now that he’s a cop and sees the worst of what simkind has to offer on a near-daily basis.”

“I just wish he could come up with a less annoying coping mechanism than bad jokes.  Like, I don’t know, drinking.  Or eating junk food.  Or even knitting.”  She let out a tired breath.  “I’m kidding, at least about the drinking and overeating, though there are times I’d be happy to shove a donut in his pie hole to shut him up.  As for the knitting, I don’t think it’d be his thing, but maybe it’d benefit him to try it anyway.  I get that he’s worried about Mom.  I am, too.  I can’t believe she didn’t tell us she has inoperable cancer.”

“Yeah, that was… wow.  Poor Maureen.  I hope the doctors are right about her prognosis and the chemo will be enough.  I know she said she’d fight it, but that and radiation are hard on even young people, let alone ones her age.”



“Yes, I’m aware.”  There was an obvious shift in her voice, and Boyd immediately felt awful for saying it.

“I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean—”

“I know.  It’s all right.  That’s your coping mechanism.  Anxious catastrophizing.”  She smiled faintly.  “I know you love her, too.”

“I do.  She’s a great lady.  Much like her daughter.”

Susan sniffled.  “We never even got to tell your parents about the baby yet, before we were hit with this.”



“Yeah.”  That time it was Boyd’s tone that turned sad and introspective.

“What are you thinking?”

“I don’t,” he frowned and pushed his glasses up where they had slid down, “I don’t want to make this sound like I’m downplaying the situation with your mom or making this all about me, so if it comes out that way, I’m sorry.  It’s not what I mean at all.”  He sighed.  “But this thing with your mom and finding out she’s sick is just another reminder that our parents are all really getting old and, well, I didn’t think of mine that way quite as starkly until today.  I don’t want Blair’s birthday to be the last time I ever see them in person.  Messenger and video chat and phone calls are nice, but…”

“You were reminded of their own mortality.  I get it.”

“I promised them when they moved to Sulani that we’d get out there and visit sometime.  They’ve invited us a bunch of times, but we still haven’t gone.  Because we’ve been working or busy with this and that.  Life, basically.  And now we’ve got a baby on the way and have to save even more money.”  He met her eyes.  “But at least as far as I know they’re still healthy.  Just old.  I’m sure they’ve got plenty of time left, and I don’t want to take away from what’s going on with Maureen.”



“Once the baby’s born, travel and vacations are going to be near impossible.  Traveling with a baby is a lot different than traveling with a kid Blair’s age.  Plus, it’ll be even more expensive, and the older this baby and Blair get, the more urgent the need for more space, either in this house or to move to a bigger one, will be.”

“I know.”

“So… maybe if we want to see your parents, we go ahead and use the vacation time we’ve got and go see them now.”



“Now?  With your mom so sick, and you pregnant and not feeling so great with it?”

“Yes.  Let’s get real.  There’s not going to be a better time anytime soon.  I’m only going to get more pregnant from here on out, and if I could survive the flights to Mt. Komorebi, I can manage a round trip to Sulani.  At least this time I’ll know I’m pregnant and not be caught by surprise.  I’ll take some ginger ale and crackers with me on the plane.”  She smiled.  “It’s only fair.  I got to tell my family in person about the new addition to the family.  You should get a chance to tell yours.”

“That’ll be a good chunk of our savings.”

“Myra told us we were welcome to stay with her and Stuart if we visited and that they have a spare bedroom.  It might not be five-star, but it’ll save on a hotel or rental.  We can make it a short trip so we don’t lose all of our vacation, and maybe go on a red-eye flight to and from to save on airfare.”

Boyd loved the idea, but he was still concerned about the logistics.  “Are you sure you’re up to that?  What about your mom?”



“We’d only be taking a short trip, and Jonathan will be around if she needs one of us.  Hopefully, her doctors are right and she’s getting better with the chemo, anyway.  She is really excited about the baby, and the positive feelings and motivation from that might jumpstart her system in good way to fight it even harder.  More to live for.”

“It sounds great.  I know Mom and Dad will love the idea.  I’d just have to call them to say when we want to go, and they’d be ready for us.”

“Then let’s do it.  As soon as we can.  We’ll get the time off work, arrange it with the school in advance to excuse any days Blair needs off, and we’ll go.  We can tell them about their new incoming grandchild ourselves, in Sulani.  Besides, I’ve always wanted to visit the islands, anyway, and Blair will get a chance to see yet another new culture.  Then she can tell my mom all about it, and that’ll thrill her, too.  You know how much my mom loves travel and culture and stories.  She’d love to hear all about a trip to Sulani from Blair.  It’d perk her right up.”

“All right.  You convinced me.”  Boyd smiled.  “Let’s do this.”

[Cheezey]

Chapter 15

A few calls and some online booking later, the Wainwrights’ trip to Sulani was planned, and within a few days, they were there.  The flight there was not nearly as bad for Susan as the trip home from Mt. Komorebi was, and aside from some passing queasiness, she was fine.

Stuart and Myra had a modest, but nice home on the main island of Ohan’ali Town.  It was not beachfront, but the next best thing to it, with a beach on the island’s bay just across the road and a short walk from it.  It was a small two-bedroom house.  The guest bedroom only had one twin bed in it, but they had an air mattress and a couch, and Boyd was fine with sleeping on the former while Blair took the latter so Susan could have the bed.  The tropical breezes were delightful and the view, while not postcard-perfect, was still lovely with all the flowering trees and bushes, and the flowing fronds on the palms.  It truly felt like paradise.



“Mom!  It’s great to see you again.  This place is amazing.  I can see why you and Dad are so happy here.”  Boyd gave her a big warm hug.

“It’s wonderful you were finally able to come and visit!  We’ve wanted the three of you to come ever since we moved.”

“I know.  I’m glad we could finally make it.  There’s just been a lot going on, you know?”

“I do.”  She patted his back affectionately.



Susan, Blair, and Stuart came in from outside and Boyd greeted his father warmly.  “Thanks for having us down here, Dad.  Like I just told Mom, I love the house.”

Blair hugged her grandmother and then flopped down in the rocking chair.  “I love these!  They’re fun!”  She started rocking hard.  “Wheee!”

Myra looked over with a stern expression that Boyd remembered well from growing up with her, one that was a mix of genuine concern and her innate distaste for chaos.  “Careful, honey.  Don’t go so fast that you fall over.  This wood floor packs a wallop.”

“Yeah, and the hospital’s not a tourist spot I think any of you want to see,” Stuart added.

“Okay, I’ll be careful!”

Susan sat down at the table with Myra to chat.  “Your house is even more lovely than you said.  What a place to retire and relax!”

“Oh, we absolutely love it here.  The only thing we regret about moving is that we don’t get to see you two and little Blair as often anymore.”  She glanced over at Blair, pleased that she toned the rocking down from a nine to about a seven.  It was still faster and harder than she liked, but acceptable enough.  “Although she’s not so little anymore.  Getting bigger all the time.  I can tell she’s grown since we saw her on her birthday.”

Stuart looked over at Blair proudly.  “Getting good grades, too, your father’s been telling us?”

“Yup!  I got mostly A’s.”

“That’s wonderful, dear,” Myra praised her.  “Keep up that great work.”



Susan admired the view out the front window and then turned back to Myra.  “Having it be summer all the time must be nice, but do you miss the snow at all around the winter holidays?”

Blair stopped rocking and looked around curiously.  “Yeah, there’s no fireplace or chimney!  We don’t have one, either, but we put up a gas one out on the patio so Father Winter can find us.  But since it’s never winter here, can you even have Winterfest?  Does Father Winter come if it’s not winter outside?”

“Actually, the seasons do change here,” Myra explained.  “Winter in Sulani is a rainy season that’s not quite as hot as summer, and there are a lot of storms.  On the nice days it’s still warm enough to go to the beach if you want, though.”

Stuart took it upon himself to explain the Father Winter mystery.  “As for good old Father Winter, well, even he likes a tropical break sometimes.  If you put up one of those temporary fireplaces like your parents do, he’ll still come.  He just prefers a cold glass of milk instead of a hot cider to go with those cookies.”

Myra returned her attention to Susan.  “As for your question, absolutely not.  I had enough ice and snow and cold before coming here to last me forever.  Just let me put up lights on a palm tree and put a paper snowflake or a candy cane in my drink so I can sip it while watching my tropical sunset, and I’m good.”



Myra lowered her voice as she continued their conversation.  “By the way, your mother told me what’s going on with her.  When you posted on SimBook that you were coming, she sent me a private message.  She told me she wouldn’t have mentioned it since she hates worrying people, but she was afraid Blair might say or ask us something while she was here, and she didn’t want us to have to feel like we were prying by asking you.  I’m so sorry.  She’s a wonderful lady.  I told her that Stuart and I both hope for the best for her.”

“Thanks.  Mom’s tough, so we’re trying to stay optimistic.”

“She also said she hoped you three would have a wonderful vacation here and that you might have a surprise for us, but I couldn’t get her to drop any hints as to what.  So, I have to admit, we’re dying of curiosity.  Aren’t we, honey?”  She looked over at Stuart, and then at Boyd in anticipation.



Boyd sat at the table with his mother, while Blair came over, too.  “Yeah, I think we can tell them now that we’re here.”

“Boyd wanted you to find out in person, like my parents and brother did.”

“Susan’s pregnant,” Boyd announced with a happy smile.  “You’re going to have another grandchild soon.”



“Wow!  Wonderful!” Stuart exclaimed.  “I’m not going to lie.  We were hoping that’s what it was.  What great news!”

“I know!  I can’t wait to be a big sister!” Blair added proudly.

“I’ll bet you can’t!  It’s very exciting.”  Myra grinned as she sprang to her feet.



“I’d say this calls for a celebration. How about we all change into our swimsuits and head on down to the beach?  The water’s divine this time of day.”

“Ooh, I like the beach!” said Blair.  “I go down to the one by our house all the time.  I’m really good at building sandcastles now.”

“I look forward to seeing your architectural skills then,” Stuart told his granddaughter with a smile.  “Let’s go.”



Sulani’s beaches were every bit as beautiful as advertised, and Blair was amazed.  “Wow.  The water’s so blue and pretty!  Like a swimming pool instead of the ocean.”

“That’s what it looks like out here everywhere,” Myra explained.  “Pretty neat, huh?”

“Yeah!  But I think I’m going to build a sandcastle first.  And hunt for seashells!  I bet there’s lots of pretty and different ones here than at home.”  She ran off to find an ideal spot for it.



“You made sure she got enough sunblock on, right?” Stuart asked Boyd.  “She’s got our pale genes.  Down here in the tropics, she’ll burn in two seconds flat without it.”

“Don’t worry, Dad.  I made sure.  I know how fast we burn.”

“Yes, but you haven’t been down here in the sun yet.  It happens a lot faster than up in Brindleton Bay, even in the heat of summer.”  He paused and looked him over.  “I hope you’ve got enough on.”

“So do I.  I already get enough incidental irradiation at the lab.”

“I wish you wouldn’t be so flippant about things like that.  I’m sure I don’t have to tell you now of all times that cancer is a serious health risk.  I’m not too old to worry about you, you know.”

Boyd groaned.  When his father was around, it was one of the rare times he was not the biggest worrywart in the group.  While he knew on some level that was where he got it from, and that he would probably be like that with his own kids someday—to which Susan would point out he was well on his way, if he had said such—he liked to think he would never be that overt about it.  Even when he was as old as his father.

“I’m good, Dad.  Really.  SPF Exponential Protection.”  As he said it, it occurred to him that if Vladislaus ever came back, Sulani would probably be a good place to escape a vampire.  If his own pale mortal plumbob could burn that quickly, a vampire would be miserable in it.  But thankfully, Vladislaus had not shown up for a while.  Hopefully, it would stay that way.



Meanwhile, Susan basked in the natural beauty of the tropical beach.  “Oh, wow.  Pictures just don’t do this place justice.  What a perfect place to relax.”

“You should go take a dip in the water.  Those floats out there belong to the beach if you want to relax on one.  They’re free for anyone here at the beach to use if you don’t have your own.  If you’re feeling adventurous, you can also go snorkeling out there by the reef.  There’s some gorgeous sea life down there.”

She looked out at the buoy Myra pointed to, and while that sounded nice, it also looked like a longer swim than she felt like taking just then.  “Maybe tomorrow if we get a chance.  I don’t think I’m up to much more than a relaxing dip right now.”



Myra was right.  The water was delightful, and so was the warm sun on her back, aching a bit from pregnancy.  The wade was refreshing, and much like Blair, she could not help but marvel at how different the waters of Sulani looked compared to Brindleton Bay.  Knowing it was one thing but seeing it with her own eyes was another.

She saw Blair working on her sandcastle and thought that if she wanted to go looking for shells later, perhaps she would join her.  Normally she hated exercise, but that was hardly like the torture of a gym, and a stroll in the fresh air would be good for the baby anyway.



Boyd ventured farther out into the bay.  He, too, was impressed by how clear the water was and how easy it was to see far down into deep water compared to the waters back home.  He considered snorkeling around the reef, but once he swam partway out, he decided he did not feel like swimming all the way back to get gear just to have swim back out even farther again.  Maybe if they hit the beach tomorrow.  Today, he would just relax on a float in paradise.



After leaving the beach, they went back to Stuart and Myra’s house to relax for the rest of the night.  Blair excitedly told Susan all about the seashells she found while building her sandcastle, and the turtle she discovered while digging one out.  “It was cool!  I wish we could’ve kept it.”

“I’m sure it was neat, but pets are a big responsibility, and reptiles require a lot of care.  They can’t handle changes in temperature and need heat lamps.  One from here in Sulani would have a lot of trouble surviving without that in Brindleton Bay in any season other than summer.  Taking animals from the wild can also be very risky.  They’re used to their environment, their home, and taking them out of it can upset them.  They also might carry germs that are dangerous to us.  If you ever seriously wanted a pet turtle, you ought to get one meant to be a pet.  A turtle would also need a special diet you would have to get from there, and its terrarium would have to be cleaned a lot.  You couldn’t just leave it out with a food bowl like a dog or cat.”

“I could clean it.”



Susan had no doubt she meant it in the moment and probably would take care of a pet when she thought of it, but Blair was still a child, and would need reminding and supervision to make sure everything was done properly.  Susan also knew that she would likely be the one doing that, especially the cleaning, unless she made a point of it to Boyd.  He only cleaned things voluntarily when they were either more inconvenient or dangerous than not cleaning them, and even then, only as much as necessary.  More than once when he had not found enough clean dishes, he only washed exactly what he needed to get through the meal or snack while leaving the rest.



Boyd’s parents prepared a traditional island kava bowl for them to enjoy that evening.  Neither Boyd nor Susan had ever tried the drink before, and they were curious about it.

Up close, however, Susan side-eyed the bowl.  “It smells rather… earthy.”  It was the nicest way to say it smelled like mud without offending either Stuart or Myra.  Although the former was out on the patio lighting the grill and the other was in the bathroom, the windows were open, and she had no idea how sharp either’s hearing still was.

“But I’ve heard that it can make you feel out of this world,” Boyd remarked with a smirk.

“Yes.  And your parents drink it.”  That amused Susan.  Myra Wainwright was one of the most strait-laced individuals she had ever met, and although she did like a nectar or juice cocktail on occasion, Susan had never seen her more than slightly tipsy.  Stuart, while less uptight in general, was also rather high-strung and nervous.  Imagining either of them regularly indulging in something with psychoactive properties was quite the mental image.

“Well, they did say they were going to relax when they moved to the islands.  Apparently, they meant it.”

“Can I try it?” asked Blair.

“No.  It’s strictly an adult drink,” Susan replied, while Boyd nodded with her.

“Sorry.  It’s not for kids.  I don’t want to risk it making you sick.”



“Your dad’s right,” Stuart said as he came back into the kitchen and got himself a cup.  “But we’ve got plenty of fruit juice and soda in the fridge for you if you want.  We’ve even got some special island flavors like pineapple and coconut.  And on that note, the grill’s almost ready if you want to bring out dinner, Myra.”

“Great!  We’ll get our kava and go.”  Myra took a drink, while Boyd raised his hand in a toast.

“Sounds good.  Down the hatch!”  He made a face as he tasted it, much to his father’s amusement.

“Little weird the first time?”

“It’s, uh, unique.”

“What does it taste like?” Susan asked.

He took another sip and swallowed it down, hoping that perhaps his first impression was wrong, but it was not.  “Like if you put some spice in potting soil and added water.  Sorry, Mom.  No offense.”

That time it was his parents’ turn to be amused.  “None taken.  It’s not popular for its taste,” Myra said.

“It is nice and relaxing, though,” said Stuart.  “You’ve just got to get used to it.”



That cinched it for Susan.  “Thank you, but no.  I’ll pass.  My stomach’s already on a hair-trigger from the baby.”

Stuart nodded.  “Understandable.  It’s probably not the best thing to have much of during pregnancy anyway, but we didn’t figure a little cup would hurt if you had your heart set on trying it as a part of the island experience.”

Myra opened the fridge and pulled out some carrot sticks and dip.  “Here, Susan.  I made this to go with dinner.  It’s a local recipe that one of our neighbors taught me.  It’s great with vegetables.”

“Mom’s eating more vegetables now, so that’s good,” Blair announced.

“You make sure you eat a few too, dear.  It’s nutritious for a growing girl.”  Myra patted her on the head affectionately as she got her second cup of kava, and the family headed outside to the patio to enjoy the rest of their tropical evening in paradise.

[Cheezey]

Chapter 16

While the Wainwrights enjoyed the sun in Sulani, a certain creature of the night that they did not miss at all decided to drop in on some of his fellow vampires for a surprise visit.  Although they did not know it, Boyd and Susan would have been amused to know that Caleb and Lilith Vatore were hardly thrilled by Vladislaus suddenly showing up in their living room, either.

“Good evening,” Vladislaus announced dramatically, with just a touch of sarcasm, as he took form from his black traveling mist.

Both Caleb and Lilith rolled their eyes.  “It was,” he muttered as he paused his tune on the pipe organ, while Lilith sighed from the chess table where she was practicing her moves.



“Hi, Vlad.  I know it’s been centuries since you’ve been a mortal and society’s a lot less formal than it used to be, but it is still considered polite to knock, you know.”

Caleb was a little more direct, and he stood up to face their unwanted visitor.  “Why are you here?”

Vladislaus tsk-ed.  “You lecture me on manners when your brother greets me so rudely, Lilith.  Perhaps you should give him a refresher course as well.”  He straightened and looked at each of them.  “Even though we have our differences, occasionally I like to see how my two favorite disappointments are doing.  We are vampire family and neighbors, after all.”



Caleb threw up a sarcastic hand as he sat with Lilith at the chess table.  “Excuse me.  Lilith may have the misfortune of being yours, but I’m Missy’s disappointment, thank you very much.”



“Which makes you my grand-disappointment, but I didn’t think it was necessary to quibble over ranking.  I still wonder what she was thinking when she turned you, but at least she properly understands and embraces our dark gift.”

Lilith sighed again.  “So is that why you came?  To start another pointless argument about living what you think is a proper vampire lifestyle as opposed to what we do?”

“I’d like to think trying to reason with you two isn’t pointless, but perhaps I’m too optimistic when it comes to that.  Regardless, as the master vampire of the area, I’ll keep trying, futile as it might be.  One of these decades, you might finally wake up and truly appreciate the gift you’ve been given.”



“Given,” Lilith repeated wistfully.  “You didn’t even ask until I was dying from your bite.  ‘Don’t be afraid.  Take my gift and live forever,’ were your exact words.  What was I supposed to do?  Of course I didn’t want to die.”

“And look at you now.  So many years later, and here you are.  A true dark beauty of the night with enviable power, despite your lackluster subsistence diet.  Though I can tell you at least occasionally dine on real plasma.  You’ve got a more robust look about you than your misguided guilt-wracked brother and his starvation fare of plasma packs and the occasional begged sip from a mortal friend.”  He shot Caleb a disappointed look before returning his attention to her.  “Have you ever thought about how if I hadn’t turned you, what your life would be like now?  How your lovely black hair would be graying, and your once strong and youthful body would be giving way to the pains and ailments of age?  I spared you all of that, granted you youthful immortality and all our amazing powers, and you still look at it as more of a curse than a gift.  I’ll never understand.”



Caleb stood and gripped his head in frustration.  “Of course you don’t understand.  You’re a crusty old psychopath who only turned her because you wanted to teach me a lesson.  Because I had a ‘bad attitude’ after Missy turned me, and you didn’t like what I had to say when you two tried to convince me to start thinking of the people around me as an all-night buffet instead of human beings.”

“Please stop flattering yourself.  You insult your sister with such egotistical statements.  I chose Lilith just as much for her own merits as I did hoping that a companion you knew and loved would help you adjust better and get over this pathetic whiny teenager phase you seem perpetually stuck in.  I could’ve easily left her as a mortal to feed on throughout her life if I only wanted to antagonize you.  Her plasma was quite delectable, after all.”  He flashed her a knowing fanged smile.  “But no, it was her natural charm, creativity, vibrance, and beauty that ultimately made me decide to give her the dark gift.  I knew she’d be a fine addition to the vampire community, at least once she gets over these naïve and misguided notions you both have.  I have high standards for my vampire offspring.  Unlike Missy, my preferred prospects generally aren’t the ‘interesting’ rebels and thugs that hang out in nightclubs.”



“Ooh.  I’m hurt.  Truly.  I’d say I’m sorry I’m not up to your impeccable standards, but I’m not.  Maybe I prefer not to take life advice from a vampire who doesn’t even bother to change up his coats more than once a century.”  He sniffed.  “Speaking of, you might want to upgrade that old mansion of yours with a new washing machine one of these nights.  It’s got that old-vampire-musty smell that’s rather passé nowadays.”

Vladislaus feigned a yawn and rolled his eyes.  “Petty insults again?  You disappoint me.  Even more than usual.  Though after our last duel at high moon which you lost so embarrassingly, I suppose that’s the only way you feel you can get the better of me.  Perhaps if you dined on a mortal once in a while and exercised the powers Missy and I taught you, you’d give me more of a challenge.”

Caleb snarled irritably.  “If you want another round, we can go outside right now.”



Lilith stood and gave them an imploring look.  “Come on.  Let’s not do this, please.”

“Fine,” Caleb grumbled.

“You don’t need to worry, my dear.  I’d rather not have to put your brother in his place again, anyway.  I came here hoping to better our relationship, not worsen it.  It’s a shame you’re not more open to that yet, but I’m pleased to see progress in you both.”  He smiled smugly.  “Lilith, I hear you’ve been charming some young fellows, and I can tell you dined on at least one of them a time or two.  As I said before, you’ve got that healthy glow of a properly nourished vampire.  That’s good.  Embrace that rush and feeling.  Hunt more often.  It’s one of the finest pleasures in our life.”

“I don’t know who in the vampire rumor mill told you that, and it’s not really your business, but I only feed on mortals that give me consent.”

“That’s your choice, but you’re unnecessarily limiting yourself with such rules.  There are plenty of mortals you could feed well on who’ll survive just fine afterward.  If you’re that concerned about their feelings, just use your powers to make them numb or forget what happened.”

Caleb shook his head and looked at Lilith.  “Like I said.  Psychopath.”  He turned back to Vladislaus.  “It’s not a character flaw to care about causing mortals pain.”

Vladislaus scoffed.  “Of course not.  If you carelessly cause them too much pain, that’s when they get together and dig out the garlic and stakes, and that’s quite annoying.  I never said to make it hard on yourselves, for plasma’s sake.  But all this angst you have over the ethics of taking your proper place on the food chain is ridiculous.  You’ll be much happier when you finally let that go.”  He gave him a creepily paternal and encouraging look.  “Despite what you think, I believe you have potential.  You should live up to it someday.”



“Thanks for the advice, but I’m living just fine.  I don’t think Lilith and I are the ones that have to worry about the townsfolk coming over with torches and pitchforks to storm our castle and stake our plumbobs.”

“Seriously,” Lilith added.  “Speaking of which, what did you do over in Brindleton Bay to get a geared-up scientist to come over here poking around the neighborhood looking for ‘specimens’ in the vicinity of your mansion?”



His attention snapped to Lilith so fast that a mortal witnessing it would have been unnerved, especially by the way his eyes lit up with predatory interest.  “A scientist from Brindleton Bay?  Who?  Was it Susan Wainwright?”

“No.  It was a man.  Same last name, though.  His name was Boyd, and he was wearing some rather interesting headgear that he said was scientific equipment.”

“What was he doing?  When was this?”

“Looking for specimens, from what I was told.  It was a while ago.  Sometime last spring.  I wasn’t the one who saw him, but he dropped your name, and he was spotted poking around the square near your driveway.  Is he a friend of yours?”  She smiled coyly.  “You’re not the only one who hears things through the vampire rumor mill.”  She left off that her source was Caleb, partly because she wanted to find out more about whatever it was that happened before she volunteered any more information, and partly because it was fun watching Vladislaus get ruffled.

“Looks like you made such an impression that they want to stick you in a lab and study you,” Caleb quipped.  “Nice going.”

“That’s not the lab.  It’s personal.  Boyd Wainwright is Susan’s husband.  She’s my latest drink of choice in their neck of the woods. A lovely young woman and a brilliant engineer who has absolutely delectable plasma.  I’d say to try it yourself sometime, but it’s clear we don’t share the same tastes.  She’s gotten pregnant since I last fed on her, anyway, so she’s off the menu for a little while.  She’d make a fine vampire herself, but unfortunately, she’s not terribly receptive to my charms, so I haven’t been able to talk reasonably with her about considering the dark gift.”

“My, I can’t imagine someone not being receptive to your many charms.”

Vladislaus frowned at Lilith.  “Sarcasm of your brother’s caliber doesn’t become you, my child.  Anyway, Susan and her husband seem to think they can keep me from enjoying her plasma with garlic plants around their home and silly science tricks like freeze rays.”  He sneered.  “All the good that did him when I put him under to drink from sweet Susan.  He probably came here thinking he could find some scientific way to stop me.  Fool.  If he keeps this nonsense up and annoys me too much, I’ll bite him out of spite, over-caffeinated plasma or not.”



Lilith paced across the floor, shaking her head, while Caleb regarded Vladislaus with incredulous disgust.  “So, you bit her against her will, probably after breaking into her house to do it, and you’re bent out of shape that they’re trying to stop you?  Are you for real?  Of course they hate your guts and they’re looking for ways to stop you.  Who wouldn’t?  In the mortal world, doing something like that would land you in jail for assault and probably stalking.”

“Technically, he stalked me back and threatened me with a deadly weapon, if you want to debate mortal law,” Vladislaus retorted sourly.  “Perhaps we should ask Missy for her opinion.  She is taking those night classes for a law degree.”

Lilith turned to Vladislaus.  “You said Susan was pregnant.  Do she and her husband have any other children?”

“One.  A little girl.  And before you assume the worst of me, no, of course I never bit her, nor would I until she’s grown.  But I can smell that she has her mother’s plasma.  She’ll be delicious one day, too.”

“Did it ever occur to you that they might not just be upset about you biting Susan, but also afraid for their kids?  They don’t know you’re only after her.”

“They would, if Susan would just let me talk to her instead of blocking me every time I send her a message or throwing me off her property and planting garlic, and even bringing her oaf of a brother over to stand guard!  As if a mere mortal policeman could stop me anyway, if I was determined.  Sadly, he doesn’t have the scent of a plasma as delicious as hers, or I might’ve added him to my list even if he does live all the way in Evergreen Harbor.”



“What?  Great going, Vlad.  Maybe we don’t have anything to fear from a couple of scientists, but the vampire community definitely doesn’t need this kind of PR,” Caleb ranted.  “That’s the kind of thing that’ll filter straight out of the regular vampire rumor mill right into the community as a whole.  Not just in Brindleton Bay, where this Wainwright family has probably already warned their neighbors to lock their doors and plant garlic gardens, but also with her Evergreen Harbor cop brother who’s now likely got you on some kind of predator watch list.  Truly spectacular vampire subtlety there.  That’s some Kat Cave level plum, and she’s the one who went full dark form and bit two guys that **ed her off right in the middle of a crowded night club and brought cops and ambulances all onto the scene.”

“She was never apprehended, and frankly, despite her brutish behavior, Kat’s a far more respectable vampire in many ways than you.  You shouldn’t throw stones.”

Lilith tried to reason with him.  “Look, why don’t you just leave this family alone?  Susan’s pregnant anyway, and there are plenty of mortals you can feed on with a lot less trouble.  You could find one in just about any club on any night of the week.”

“My dear, while I’m proud of you for finally indulging in real plasma more regularly, you hardly have my discriminating palate yet.  What you describe is like a mortal subsisting on fast food and microwave meals.  I prefer fresh plasma with certain flavor profiles that one can only discover through years of proper hunting and sampling.  Perhaps one day you’ll discover what it’s like to find an incredible flavor that stands out from the others, a favorite taste that whets your appetite more so than average fare.  You wouldn’t so easily write off a good source of it over an inconvenience, either, if you understood what a delightful find it was.”

“Now you sound like an addict making excuses,” Caleb argued.  “You don’t care who you hurt or who gets in your way as long as you get your fix.  Real classy, master vampire.  Nice example.”



“I’ve had about enough of your disrespect tonight, boy, especially after I came here trying to make amends with you.  You may not be my direct offspring, but I’d be more than happy to show you your place again if you want to test me.”

“You mean after you blew into my house without an invitation and started an argument?”

Lilith groaned in frustration while Vladislaus and Caleb kept going.

“How about this, Vlad?  I’ll agree to disagree with you on our lifestyles if you agree to stop giving me crap about mine and stop riling up the mortals into thinking that everyone in the vampire community is like you.  How about that?”

Vladislaus snarled a bit, but he otherwise retained his composure as he answered in a thinly controlled tone.  “Very well. I can see we’re not going to make the headway I hoped we might tonight, but such is life when dealing with someone as stubborn and misguided as you.  Enjoy your swamp and plasma fruit subsistence and I’ll savor my quality fare.  Keep wracking yourself with concern for the mortals all you want if it helps you sleep through the day.  But I’ll warn you now, don’t let it interfere with my dining.  I only promised not to teach you a lesson tonight, here in your and Lilith’s home.  Don’t push me, or you’ll find out just how powerful a vampire I am.  Again.”



“Okay.  Fine,” Caleb snarled back.  “Can we wrap up this little family reunion now?  I think we’ve all had enough of each other for tonight.”

“Yes.  I’d say so.  I’d tell you good hunting as I bid you farewell, but I wouldn’t want to offend your delicate sensibilities.  Lilith, dear, if you choose to venture out tonight, I hope you find some decent fare amongst your pickings.  Good night.”



With that, Vladislaus dis-apparated into a black mist and left the Vatore house.



“Wow.  That was… something,” muttered Lilith.

“Yeah.  Something very annoying.”

“That’s Vlad for you.”

“He’s got a lot of nerve, just poofing in here out of nowhere and trying to browbeat us again into acting like him.  What a llama.”

“Again, that’s Vlad,” Lilith agreed with a mixture of sarcasm and resignation that took on a note of concern as she continued.  “I feel bad for that couple over in Brindleton Bay.  When you first told me about that guy, I thought maybe he was just a bit loopy and heard rumors about Vlad and wanted to study him or something.  But after hearing what happened, I can’t blame him for wanting to find out more about him.”

“No.  Me neither.  Though that hat…  Wow.  I wish you’d seen it.  It was hilariously ridiculous.”

“What was it supposed to be for?”

“I have no idea, but it sure wasn’t fashion.”  He chuckled.  “It’s a shame because he seemed all right other than being a little weird.  But if he shows up here again, we should warn him to back off from Vlad.”

“And tell him to plant a lot more garlic, because it’s obvious that Vlad’s going to go right back to trying to drink from this poor Susan woman once her baby is born.”

Caleb nodded sympathetically.  “Lucky her.”

[Auranaris]

In my games, MCCC loves pairing Lilith and Vlad, so it’s funny to me seeing them as rivals when I’m now used to them being a very odd husband/wife pair. Their kids on the other hand... *shudder*

Great chapter as always, I loved hearing about Boyd’s visit from Edward Caleb’s POV.

[Cheezey]

In my games, MCCC loves pairing Lilith and Vlad, so it’s funny to me seeing them as rivals when I’m now used to them being a very odd husband/wife pair. Their kids on the other hand... *shudder*

I didn't realize I had MCCC settings only pushing adult sims into marriage at first, so none of my vampires got auto-paired, and by the time I changed it, I put a bunch of the Maxis gallery vampires in the world in this save, so that is a pairing I did not see yet.  I can imagine the Vlad/Lilith children, though!  Vlad's got some, we'll say, unique features.

Great chapter as always, I loved hearing about Boyd’s visit from Edward Caleb’s POV.

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it.  I had fun writing these guys.

Chapter 17

Back in the tropical sun of Sulani, the Wainwrights were making the limited time of their short vacation count.  The next day was their only full one before they had to go home again.  They wanted to see some of the area’s unique landmarks, so bright and early, Myra and Stuart took them to the neighboring island of Mua Pel’am, which was the least developed and populated.  The first thing they saw was an old, preserved shipwreck from times past when that island was used as a port for the less-than-legal seafaring commerce such as smuggling and pirating.

“It’s not so much a tourist spot as it is a local curiosity,” Stuart told them.  “It’s not on any travel brochures because it’s privately owned and they don’t want tourists traipsing all over it, but it’s worth a look from the property line and some pictures.”

“Absolutely.”  Susan snapped some pictures on her smartphone.  “This is the sort of thing my mother goes nuts for.  Thanks for showing it to us.”

“Yeah!  I can’t wait to tell them at school that I saw a real pirate ship in the islands,” Blair gushed.



Next, they visited the island’s magnificent waterfall.  Although there were several beautiful waterfalls in Sulani, this one was the largest and arguably the most impressive.  It poured out from the inside of an old volcanic mountain into a lovely little cove that spilled into the ocean.  They took pictures of that, too.

“Wow!  Are you allowed to swim in there?” asked Blair.

Myra looked around for a sign.  “I’m not sure.  It’s not posted that you can’t, and I’m sure there are those that do, but I imagine they don’t like or encourage it.  A lot of Mua Pel’am’s natural areas like this are ecologically protected areas.”

“It’s probably got a very particular ecosystem,” Boyd mused as he knelt by the water to look in.  “You’ve got volcanic rock and minerals in abundance here, fresh water filtered through all that, pouring right into a brackish pond connected to the ocean.  There are most likely several native species in there, microbial and larger, that need a careful balance of those conditions to survive and thrive.  Too many sweaty tourist feet could throw that right off, especially if they drag foreign microbes in with them.”

Blair joined her father by the water’s edge.  “Don’t you know a mermaid at work, Dad?  I bet she’d know.”

“You’ve got a mermaid up in Brindleton Bay?”  Stuart and Myra eyed him with surprise.

“Well, it is a coastal town, and the lab loves it when occult life states seek us out instead of vice versa.”

“What made her want to be a scientist?”

“If you ask her, she says it’s insatiable curiosity.  Whether that’s for science and the desire to contribute knowledge for the better welfare of mermaid-kind, or for her to find out what we know about mermaid-kind and report it back to the mermaid community, or both, is anyone’s guess.  Kalamainu’u’s got a bit of a testy streak, and I don’t mean the experimental kind, so I’ve never pressed the small talk that far with her.  We get along fine as co-workers, though.  She let me freeze the fins off her once in a freeze ray experiment.  It turns out that mermaids, despite primarily settling in tropical locales, are remarkably cold-resistant, although they don’t like it any more than we normal humans do.”



After the waterfall, they visited a set of ancient caves in the volcanic mountain it poured down from.  According to Myra, said caves were not natural, but constructed, and wove a complex maze that went deep inside the mountain.  “They were old and abandoned—mostly—long before the island’s recorded history.”

“What do you mean by ‘mostly’?” Boyd asked.

“Back in the days of that old pirate ship, they were used for smuggling and hiding goods and outlaws.  Illicit trading.  Things like that.  But that hasn’t gone on for some time and they didn’t build them.  Just squatted in them.”

“Clearly someone built them, though.  That’s not a natural design,” Susan mused as she took more pictures to show her mother.

“Folks from around here will tell you everything from island spirits to mermaids to aliens might’ve built them.  No one knows for sure.  There are those that say that island spirits still dwell in them and control the animal life like the bats that live in them.  If you’re good to the island, supposedly they’ll like and maybe even reward you with some of their secrets.  If not, you might either get driven out or have something unfortunate happen to you.  The stories go that the pirates and smugglers that hid there made deals with whoever it was, be it spirits, mermaids, or whatnot, to stay on their good side.”

“But you shouldn’t go poking in there,” Stuart warned them with a sharp look.  “There are no professional tours, and spirits or not, caving is dangerous.  Even someone with the right gear and experience could get themselves seriously injured or killed.”  He looked at Blair.  “That goes double for you, young lady.  I don’t want you even thinking about that.”

While Blair seemed a little disappointed, Susan took her hand.  “Don’t worry.  Curious as I am about what might be in there, I’m not about to go traipsing through the dark and bat guano to find out.  And neither is Blair.”

“No way,” Boyd agreed, and glanced down at Blair.  “Besides, I’m sure they taught you in scouts to always be careful and not do anything dangerous while you’re exploring and learning, right?”

“Yeah.”  She stared at the entrance and the carvings in the mountain, and then at the mural on the wall.  “That’s pretty.  Who made that?”

Stuart shrugged.  “That’s another thing nobody knows for sure.  Nobody’s ever been seen putting it there, and whenever anyone’s tried to remove it, it just reappears.  It supposedly changes, fades, and reappears all on its own.  Island spirits are usually what people say do it, though I’ve also heard people say it’s merfolk or aliens.”

Susan turned to Boyd.  “Another question for Kalamainu’u, perhaps?”

“Message me the picture of it and I’ll ask her sometime.”



Their last stop on Mua Pel’am was literally the hottest destination there—the peak of the active volcano.  For obvious safety reasons, tourists were only allowed to get so close, and even that was a long walk up the mountain in increasingly intolerable heat and unpleasant odors from the volcano’s gases.  That did not bother Blair much, although she commented on how hot and stinky it was, but like most children, she had a lot of energy despite that.  Boyd was embarrassed to realize that he was not moving much faster than his elderly parents in that heat, but he rationalized that he was just not used to Sulani’s ambient heat like they were, so that plus the volcano was just too much for him to adjust to all at once.  The trek was even rougher on Susan, but she blamed it on being pregnant on top of the heat and air quality.  Surely, she was not that out of shape.

That hot hike to the top was worth it, though.  The volcano was a breathtaking sight, a reminder of how fierce, deadly, and unforgiving the natural forces of the world could be.  They took several pictures of it, and before they left, Boyd picked up a couple of interesting volcanic rocks as souvenirs.



After leaving Mua Pel’am, they stopped on the other main island of Sulani, Lani St. Taz, for lunch on the beach.  Sand Simoleon Beach was bigger than the one by Stuart and Myra’s home, with a few more amenities and lovely, but different, views.  The food stand there offered a nice selection of traditional island fare, although Susan chose a pork dish rather than any of the fresh seafood.  Even though it turned out to be pregnancy and not summer-heat sushi that made her feel so ill recently, her stomach still roiled at the thought of food stand fish.  She supposed it would take a little while for her brain to disconnect that association, although Blair’s idea that “maybe the baby just doesn’t like seafood,” was also possible.



They relaxed at the beach until sunset, which was particularly gorgeous sight there.  Blair played in the water and built a sand sculpture that afternoon, while Boyd did some beachcombing and found a few seashells and trinkets.  His parents relaxed up on the deck, with his father wandering off for a fresh juice from the food stand once or twice, while Susan enjoyed the fresh air and seaside views from a cozy lounge chair.  After all that hiking earlier, it was just what her aching back and sore feet needed.



After the beach, they returned to Ohan’ali Town.  It was their last night in Sulani, and the neighborhood was having a roast at the barbecue pit pavilion near Stuart and Myra’s house.  “That’s a real taste of island culture that you shouldn’t miss while you’re here,” Myra told them, so they decided to have dinner there.

Susan inhaled the aroma from the pit, which was covered in thick leaves to hold in the heat and, from what Stuart had said, the flavor.  “It smells good.  What all is in it?”

“Some kind of pork, I think,” another tourist, Jaime Silversweater, told her.  “I didn’t catch the name of the recipe, but I agree.  It smells great.  I’ve never been to one of these before.  I take it you haven’t, either?”

“No.  I’m here with my family visiting my in-laws and this is our first time, too.”



Nearby in the crowd, another tourist struck up a conversation with Boyd after overhearing Susan and Jaime chatting.  “I’m glad I’m not the only one trying this for the first time.  I didn’t want to say anything embarrassing as an obvious tourist and stand out too much, especially since my new husband didn’t come with me.  He wanted to go on evening run on the beach while I just wanted to come here and eat and relax,” Katrina Caliente Flex remarked.

“I don’t blame you.  I’d much rather eat tasty island food than go running anytime,” chuckled Boyd.

“If it’s as good as everyone says, I’ll take him home a plate since I’m sure he’ll work up an appetite.  He always does.  And he’d better,” she said on a coy note.  “This is our honeymoon, after all.”



Just as the food was ready and Susan was about to grab herself a plate, Stuart suddenly panicked and called her over.  “Susan!”

“Stuart?  What’s wrong?”

“It just occurred to me that no one checks the food temperature of these pits.  They get hot enough to cook the pork, but I’m not sure if they get every part of it to a temperature that’ll kill all the bacteria that might affect an unborn baby.  You know, like listeria or something!  This isn’t a regulated inspected restaurant or anything, just a neighborhood thing done by the locals…”  His voice rose and he spoke faster as he became even more anxious.  “Maybe you shouldn’t eat any of it.  Maybe we should go home and get you something we know for sure is okay.  For the baby’s sake.”

Susan was caught off-guard, especially since the night before he had not even been worried about the kava, but she was also used to it.  Boyd got sudden out of the blue panicked fears, too, and it did not take a psychology degree to figure out that he got it from his father, who was a generation more seasoned in it.  Whether it was from nature or nurture she did not know, since she knew little about Stuart’s upbringing beyond what she’d gleaned in her years with Boyd and the brief time she had lived with him and his parents, but regardless, it seemed to be a family trait.  “It’ll be fine.  Listeria is found in raw and cold food for the most part.  Deli meats, soft cheese, things like that.  What they’re serving here is cooked.  I wouldn’t eat anything I suspected could be risky for the baby, I promise.”

“But what if they didn’t wash their hands?  What if they used that public bathroom over there and didn’t wash their hands?!”

Susan wished he had not put that little seed in her mind when all she wanted was to enjoy some authentic island food, but she refrained from saying such, since she planned to eat some of it anyway.  “I’m sure it’s fine, Stuart.  Really.  Try not to worry.  I ate plenty of takeout when I was pregnant with Blair, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of those kitchens that I never saw had something nasty going on during busy shifts.  Blair turned out fine despite that.”

He bit his lip, unconvinced.  “Maybe you were just lucky.”

“Just take a deep breath and try not to worry about it.  It’ll be fine.  That pit is very hot.  I could feel it when I was standing by it, and I’m not going to eat anything that looks undercooked.  Besides, you and Myra have gone to these before, right?  You’ve never gotten sick from it, have you?”

“Well, no, but…”



Blair overheard the exchange and ran over to her grandmother, concerned.  “Grandpa seems really upset.  Is the food okay?  Nobody else is worried.”

Myra knelt down and hugged her.  “It’s fine, honey.  Your grandpa’s just a worrywart.  I love him, but that’s how he is sometimes.  He hasn’t been feeling too well lately and he always gets more of these worried spells when he’s not 100%.  Just try to remember that he loves you all and he doesn’t want your mom to get sick or anything to happen to the baby.  Unfortunately, his imagination’s running wild about scary things that can happen, and it’s getting the better of him right now.”

Blair nodded, reassured.  “Daddy gets like that sometimes, too.”

“Your daddy got that from him, I’m afraid.  But it’ll pass.  It always does.  Like I said, Grandpa’s just been more tired lately and that doesn’t help.”

“Maybe he should go to bed early and he’ll feel better.”

“Between you and me, I try to keep on him to do that, but Grandpa doesn’t always listen to me.  Much like I’m sure your dad sometimes doesn’t to your mom.  So, how about you do like me and her and try not to worry about it either, okay?  Let’s go and get ourselves some of that tasty food, and maybe that’ll help Grandpa realize that it’s just fine.”

“Okay.”



Stuart did eventually calm down, although after his panic attack, he was too tired to eat, so Myra decided to go with him back to the house to rest.  “You three stay here and have fun,” she told them as she grabbed a couple of plates to go.  “We’ll see you later.”

The meal was worth sticking around for.  The island food was delicious, and the kava, well, Boyd would not say it was any tastier than what his mother made, but it was certainly stronger.  He was nice and relaxed after just one cup of that with his kalua pork.

“Any kava left over here?” another tourist, Cortez Swartz, asked as he came over.

“Plenty.”  Boyd gestured with his fork.  “Knock yourself out.”

He chuckled as he poured himself some.  “That was the plan.”

“I wouldn’t want to knock myself out,” Blair remarked after he went off to talk to someone else.  “I’m on vacation, so I want to stay up late!”  She took a big bite of her pork plate, while Boyd smiled at her innocent exuberance.

“Well, we’re doing a pretty good job of it tonight.  It’s after 10 and the party’s still going strong.”

Their conversation was interrupted when Susan called over to them.  “Boyd!  Blair!  Come here!”  She waved excitedly.

Blair looked up, still chewing, while Boyd stood.  “You go ahead and work on your dinner.  I’ll see what your mom wants.”



Susan was grinning from ear to ear.  “I just felt the baby move!  For real.  No mistaking it for indigestion this time.”  She had thought she felt small flutters and movements a few times already, but this was the first time she was positive it was that and not her imagination or something mimicking it.  She patted her stomach.  “See if you can feel it.”

Equally excited, Boyd put his hands on her stomach, and a moment later, he felt it, too.  “Oh, yeah.”  His smile mirrored hers.  “Definitely.  That’s a baby kick.”

“It’s so great to finally feel him moving!”

He raised an eyebrow.  “He?”

“Or she.  I don’t know.  It’s just the first pronoun that popped in there.  You know the doctors haven’t done that ultrasound yet.”

“I was just curious if you had a flash of mother’s intuition or something.”

“Cool as that would be, I doubt it.  I’m about as psychic as a rock.”

“Well, some rocks are said to have metaphysical properties.  Heck, that mural over there on Mua Pel’am supposedly draws itself.”

“Maybe so, but unless I’m channeling the island spirits without realizing it, I don’t think my hunches one way or another are anything to count on.  Remember how long it took me to even suspect this baby was on the way.”

“I blame Vlad for that.”

“So do I, and he certainly deserves it.  But still.”  She looked over at Blair and shook her head at herself.  “I’m so maternal that I just now realized that Blair didn’t come with you.”



“That’s because I told her to go ahead and finish eating, and I’d go see what you wanted.  It didn’t occur to you because you already knew she was fine since I was with her before I came over.  You know I’d never leave her behind if she wasn’t.  You’re a fine mom, especially considering what you were excited about was your other baby.  Sounds pretty maternal to me.  But go ahead and call her over if you want.”

“Well, I can’t feel the baby moving now, so there’s no need to bother her.  Looks like she’s done eating and poking around in the sand anyway.”

“Maybe she’ll find something neat.”

“As long as it’s not another turtle she wants to keep.”

“Don’t want a pet turtle joining our growing family, too, huh?” he teased.

“I think the baby and Blair will keep us busy enough.”

“Probably.”  Boyd smooched her.  “We should head back soon and get some sleep.  Blair wants to go to the beach again tomorrow before we head back to the airport.”

“I know, and it’ll be fun.  It’s a shame we couldn’t enjoy the islands on more of a relaxed schedule, but at least we were able to come.  I’m glad we did.”

“Me, too.”



Stuart and Myra were still up when they got back to the house.  Susan decided to take a shower before bed, while Myra tidied up in the kitchen and Boyd and Blair relaxed in the living room with Stuart.

 “Are you feeling any better, Dad?”

“Yes.  I didn’t mean to upset anyone before,” he said as he relaxed in the rocker.  “I’d just hate to see Susan get sick and it affect the baby, that’s all.”

“I get it, but I’m sure that food was more than hot enough.  I couldn’t tell you an exact temperature, but I’ve worked around enough lab equipment to know about what range that pit was radiating at just from standing near it.  Any microbes you’d need to worry about were properly incinerated.”

“And if Daddy’s not worried, you shouldn’t be, Grandpa.  He worries about everything!” Blair piped up from the couch, where she was playing a tablet game before bed.

Boyd could not help but chuckle at her honest call-out, while Stuart smiled at her.  “Well, just remember, we only worry because we care.”

“I know.  But I think the baby liked the cookout food, since it moved around so much Mommy could feel it. It started kicking again while we were walking home and I got to feel it, too.”

“So I heard!  That’s great.  I’m glad the baby’s also enjoying your vacation here.”



They got up bright and early the next morning so that they could spend a few hours at the beach before their flight home.  Myra made them all a hearty breakfast, and after enough time to properly digest, they headed over.  Blair had fun splashing around on the giant floats the beach provided, and imagined she was a mermaid princess swimming around with a friendly sea monster who helped keep her underwater kingdom safe.



Boyd grabbed a snorkel and flippers and swam out to the reef to check out the sea life.  He was not an avid swimmer or experienced at snorkeling, but he got the hang of it after a couple of adjustments.  Swimming out that far tired him out, but the beauty of the ocean life up close was worth it.  It was fascinating to see it firsthand.



Had she not been pregnant, Susan would have joined him.  But once she waded out neck-deep and swam a few strokes, she realized that she was too tired to swim all the way out there, snorkel, and then swim back.  Not only would it wear her out and probably leave her sore, but the airline seats in the economy section were far from the most comfortable.  Lovely and fascinating as she was certain the reef was, she did not want to pay for it the whole the flight home.  Instead, she admired the island’s beauty on a stroll along the beach.

Ideally, she and Boyd would be successful enough in a few more years to have more vacation time for a longer stay, and she could try some snorkeling then.  Maybe when both of their kids were old enough to appreciate a vacation in the islands, she mused as she picked up a lovely seashell half-buried in the sand.



She did not stay entirely beachside, though.  While she was not up to swimming and snorkeling, she did feel energetic enough for a little casual boating, especially since Stuart and Myra were happily keeping an eye on Blair.  She hopped into one of the beach’s boats and sailed around the cove enjoying the scenery from a different perspective, and took more pictures to show her mother when they got back.



After Blair got out of the water, she sat down with her grandfather to play a game of chess at the beachside chess table.  He was impressed at her skill.  “You’re very good at this.  You must play with your friends a lot, huh?”

“Mostly Mom and Dad.  I don’t have a lot of friends.  At least not that come over and play games or anything.”

He was surprised.  “You don’t?  How come?  I can’t imagine that the other kids don’t like you.”

She shrugged.  “I don’t know.  It’s not that I don’t like them, or they’re mean or anything.”

“What about at school or in your scout troop?  You don’t have friends there?”

“I talk to kids at school and scouts, but I don’t have like a best friend or anyone who asks me to come over or do stuff after or on weekends, except for birthday parties and stuff where they invite a lot of people from class.”

“Have you ever asked them?  Maybe some of them are shy, or they think you’re shy and don’t know you want to be friends with them.”

“I don’t know what to say sometimes, and sometimes I just like to read or do other stuff than what the other kids are doing.  But it’s not because I don’t like them.  Sometimes I just like being by myself.”

“Probably because that’s what you’re used to being an only child until now.  But if there are other kids you like, maybe you could ask them to come over sometime and play games or go to the beach or watch movies with you.  Something like that.  You might have fun and make a best friend.”

“Maybe.  I’m not sure who, though.  Lots of kids already have best friends.”

“Ah, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be friends with you, too.  Maybe if you make friends with someone who already has other friends, you might also like them.  You never know if you don’t try.”

“I guess,” she said thoughtfully as she made her move.



All too soon, their time at the beach—and vacation—came to an end.  They headed back to Stuart and Myra’s house to pack up and go home.  “I hate having to leave so soon.  It was great seeing you again and visiting you here,” Boyd told them.

“Yes, it really was a lovely trip.  Too short,” Susan agreed.

“It was, but you know you’re welcome back anytime,” said Stuart.

“Are you going to come and visit us sometime, too?” Blair asked from over at the couch.  She had just changed out of her swimsuit and was stuffing it into her bag.

“We hope so, honey,” Myra replied.  “We’re thinking we might try to come up around Harvestfest.”

“Yay!  That’ll be cool.”

While Susan also would have been happy to host them, she could not help but think that she would rather see them on almost any other holiday.  Myra was a perfectionist about many things, and as she had learned on previous Harvestfests with Boyd’s parents, her Harvestfest turkey dinner being free of flaws was one of them.  Novice cook that Susan was, she did not want the stress of Myra hovering over her shoulder while it was being prepared to add to the hassle of cooking such a big meal, nor her criticism should something go wrong and it not be up to par.  She loved her in-laws, but she also wanted their visit to be a fun memory.  “Not Winterfest?” Susan suggested in the hopes of changing their mind.  “You know how much Blair loves that, and it’ll be the baby’s first.”

“No.  I’d rather come for Harvestfest.  We want to see the baby as soon as we can after it’s born, and I’m not leaving my tropics in the winter now that I’m here.  Fall up there will be colder than I’m used to now as it is.  Besides, aside from seeing you three and the baby, I’d love a good old-fashioned homemade turkey dinner.  A well-cooked turkey is something I can’t get here unless I make it myself.”

“Well, that’ll be wonderful if you can make it then, or anytime.”  Boyd hugged each of them.  “Guess we’d better get changed and get going.  Thanks again for having us.  I love you.”

“We love you, too,” Myra said.

“Take care of yourselves and let us know the minute our next grandchild comes into the world.  We can’t wait!”

Boyd and Susan both smiled.  “Will do.”

[Cheezey]

Chapter 18

After their vacation, the Wainwrights got right back to their regular grind of work and school.  With the baby’s due date looming and both their house and their budget still small, they had no time to waste.  Luckily, their time off work had been paid, and Blair was a good enough student that a little bit of missed time did not trip her up.  She easily made up the lessons she missed, and her grades were unaffected. 

They still managed to have some fun, however. Even though some called her a workaholic, Susan believed that all work and no play made for a dull life.  When her mother messaged her an invitation to come and see them in San Myshuno for the Humor and Hijinks Festival and catch up after their Sulani trip, she eagerly accepted.

Blair was excited, too.  “The Humor and Hijinks Festival?  I heard about that at school!  You get to join teams of nice pranks and mischief pranks, and each team gets points by doing them, especially to someone on the other team.”

“What side would you join?” Boyd asked, already knowing the answer.

“Nice, of course.”  She stood proudly.  “Sim Scouts help people.  They don’t pick on them.”  She paused and then added, “But it’d still be fair to mischief prank someone who already got you or someone on your team.  I just wouldn’t start it.”

“Definitely the nice side, taking the high road like that.  I’m sure they’ll be happy to have you on their team.”

“What about you, Dad?  Will you be on the nice team, too?”

“By the way, Uncle Jonathan is coming to visit, too, with Maaike,” Susan interjected.  Although both Jonathan and Maaike had admitted there was something going on between them, neither professed it to be anything serious.  Susan suspected they were downplaying it, however.  It seemed to her that they were spending a lot of time together, and neither ever mentioned any other romantic interests.

“Oooh!  I want Uncle Jonathan on my team.  He’s really good at pranks!”

“Yes, he’s definitely more the pranksters type,” Susan remarked, while Boyd smirked.

“Tell you what, Blair.  If he joins the pranksters, I’ll join you on the nice team, but if he joins nice?  I’m going prankster.  I still owe him payback for a toilet explosion, and I’m not above playing dirty.”

Blair giggled.  “What about you, Mom?”

Susan just smiled.  “We’ll see.”



On the day of the festival, they went early so there was time to visit with Susan’s parents beforehand.  They met up with Patrick, Maureen, and Jonathan, who was already there, in the square outside of her parents’ apartment building.  The summer weather was delightful that day, and no one felt like staying inside.

When they arrived, Susan noticed right away how much her mother was showing the wear of her illness.  Maureen had always been the type to style her hair before going out, but that day she wore a wrap, despite the summer heat.  It broke her heart to think about her mother losing her hair to those awful treatments, and how it must make her feel.  Despite that, however, Maureen was upbeat and thrilled to see them.

“I’m glad you made it out here, sweetie.”  She gave Susan a big hug.  “Oooh.  That baby bump is making this a reach.  Are you sure you don’t have twins in there?”



“I’m sure, Mom,” she replied as they sat down at a nearby table with Blair and Jonathan.  “The ultrasound confirmed that.  Just one.  Sorry to disappoint you.”  She shot a look at her brother.  “And if you even think about making some stupid fat joke, I will personally go buy a drink from the tea stand and dump it on your head.”

Jonathan snorted, amused.  “I wouldn’t dream of it.  If I was going to make a joke, it would be about the baby mooning you during the whole ultrasound just so you couldn’t find out if it’s a boy or a girl.  Getting one over on you already, now that kid’s got style.”

Blair giggled.  “Maybe the baby will want to join our team when we go to the festival when it’s older!”

“It’s all right.  We don’t mind being surprised,” Boyd said, while Susan gave her brother an unimpressed look.

“Speaking of surprises, where’s Maaike?  I thought she was coming with you.”

“She’s coming later for the festival.  She wanted to give us some family time.”

“That was thoughtful of her.  She’s a nice girl.  I like her,” said Patrick.

“Yes.  I’m glad you two are spending so much time together.  Maybe someday she’ll qualify as family,” Maureen hinted with a smile at Jonathan.

“Aw, Mom, really?”  He squirmed in his seat, but Maureen was unfazed.

“Oh, pardon an old lady for hoping she’ll get a chance to see both her kids happily married.”



“Very subtle, Mom,” Jonathan replied dryly.  “I promise, you’ll be the first to know if I decide to get married, and you’ll have a front seat at the wedding.  That’s all I’m going to say.”

Susan could tell that what he did not want to say was that he, like her, understood that perhaps she was nagging hopefully because she knew she might not have much time left.  That broke her heart, too, but she knew that even if it was true, her mother would never admit it until it was too late to put on a brave front anymore.  “So, how are you feeling, Mom?”

“Yeah, can I get you a tea or anything to eat?” Boyd offered.  “This stuff is great.”  He sipped at the cup he bought.

“No, not right now, but thank you.  I took my medicine a little while ago and it makes me nauseous if I try to eat or drink too soon after it.  Another fun side effect besides this.”  She patted her wrap and looked at Blair.  “That medicine’s so strong that it knocks my hair out along with the cancer cells.  I’m just glad it leaves my teeth alone, so I can still eat when I feel better.”

“Aw, that stinks.  Will it grow back?”

“If I stop taking it, but the doctor’s orders say not to do that.”

“Not if we want you to get better,” Patrick agreed softly.



Blair got up and gave her a hug.  “It’s okay, Grandma.  It doesn’t matter if you have hair or not.  We love you no matter what you look like, and the scarf is pretty.  I like it.”

“Oh, you’re such a sweetheart.”  She held her tight for a moment.



“Blair, why don’t you give Grandma the gift you brought her now?” Boyd suggested.

“Oh, yeah!”  Blair handed her grandmother a gift box that Susan had helped her put together.  “I hope you like it.”

“I’m sure I will.”  She opened it and saw several seashells and a bead and seashell necklace that Blair had picked out from a souvenir shop.  “How lovely!”  She admired each piece.  “Did you find all these shells yourself?”

“Uh-huh!” she replied proudly.

“You must’ve done a lot of beachcombing.  I love them.  I’m going to put them out on my dresser and show them off.  And think of you every time I wear this pretty necklace.”  She smiled at her.  “Thank you so much.  That was very generous of you.”

“I’m glad you like it.”

“I love it.”



After that, Blair got out her tablet and showed her grandparents the various pictures they took on their trip.  Boyd and Susan had added their own pictures to it so Blair could show them all off at once.  She eagerly told them all about their adventures, from going to the beaches to seeing the pirate ship, the caves with the magical mural that changed on its own, the hot stinky volcano, and the barbecue pit they cooked food in leaves at.



They had a nice visit, but after a couple of hours, Maureen became too tired to hide it anymore.  “I’m sorry.  I just need to go and nap for a little while.”

“Mom.  You don’t need to apologize for that,” Susan assured her.

“Yeah.  We don’t want you overdoing it just for us,” Jonathan added.  “Go and get all the rest you need.”

“I just… I was sure a couple of hours out here would be fine.”

“Seriously, Mom, it’s okay.  This is the city.  We’ll find something fun to do until it’s time for the festival.”

“Blair-y Bear could probably kill two hours in that giant toy store downtown alone,” Jonathan suggested.

“I know.  I’m just disappointed.  I was really looking forward to this.”

“Hey, we’d rather have you be okay.  Don’t force yourself to come to the festival if you’re not up to it, either.  None of us will be upset if you don’t make it.  Seriously.  We understand.”

Susan nodded with her brother, understanding but heartbroken knowing how miserable her mother must feel to make that call.  “Just take it easy and get your rest.  We love you.”



Unfortunately, by the time the Humor and Hijinks festival started, Maureen was still not up to coming out again, so she and Patrick stayed at their apartment while Boyd, Susan, and Blair met up with Jonathan and Maaike at the festival.  Susan was disappointed, but more worried than upset.  She feared her mother was in far worse shape than she had been letting on, and it hurt to think about losing her.  Still, she tried not to let that get to her too much and did her best to enjoy the festival despite it.  Neither she nor Boyd, who had also noticed how frail Maureen seemed, wanted to upset Blair when there was nothing they could do to change the situation anyway.

Luckily, Blair had a blast at the toy store that Jonathan suggested they visit, and they spent an hour at the park afterward until the festival started that evening.  Maaike and Jonathan arrived shortly before they did, and they met up with them right away.  “Wow, Susan, look at you!”  Maaike had not seen her in person since she told her she was pregnant, before she was showing.  “How are you and the baby doing?”

“Pretty well, thanks.”  She smiled.  “It’s kicking now, actually.”

“Really?”

“Yup.  Go ahead and say hi.”  She tapped her tummy, and Maaike leaned over to feel and talk to it.

“Hey there, little one.  You excited for some festival fun with Mommy?  Maybe some hijinks tea or some of that excellent spicy sausage they have in the booth over there?  You should definitely put in an order for at least one of those.”

“Hijinks tea, huh?  Is that the prankster side?  Is Jonathan bringing you over to the dark side with him?”

She chuckled.  “Oh, no.  I’m respectfully declining to participate in that madness, on either side.  I’m merely observing.  I feel like neutral people-watching during this will give me all sorts of inspiration for my writing.  As for Jonathan, he’s going light side.  He wants to team up with Blair.”

“Great.  Let the whoopee cushions and corny jokes begin,” Susan quipped.  “I think I’ll take a page from your book and sit this one out with you and just people watch.”



While Susan went to the tiki bar to get herself a neutral club soda, Blair helped herself to the first serving of light tea while Boyd, Maaike, and Jonathan grabbed something to eat.  Boyd chose another spicy dish, pho this time, to see if his tolerance for spicy foods improved since the last incident.  He was still determined to try that spice festival contest someday.  “I think you’ll like it,” Maaike told him.  “Very unique flavor, and the way they make it here, definitely spicy enough to test your tolerance.”

“I hope so.  That experience on the work trip was rather humbling.”

“You better eat a lot of that stuff if you want to compete in the spice festival,” Jonathan chimed in.  “Some of those contestants have iron stomachs.”

“Are you trying it?”

“Nah.  Not tonight.  I want the other team to feel the burn, not me.”  He looked over.  “I hear you’re planning to pay me back for the toilet.”

“Blair ratted me out, huh?”

“Hey, she’s on the nice team.  She warned me.  You should be proud you’ve raised such a kind-hearted daughter.”

“And you just couldn’t wait to rub it in,” Maaike teased, while Jonathan just grinned, unashamed.

“You know it.”



With her light tea in hand, Blair decided to check out what else was going on while her parents finished eating.  She wasn’t hungry yet, since she had a big ice cream sundae at an ice cream shop by the toy store earlier, and she spotted some fireworks being set off.  Her parents only insisted that she stay nearby and be careful around strangers, the usual safety rules, and they were not all that far away while she watched the pretty blue fountain crackle and spark.

What neither she nor her parents realized, however, was that someone else was there watching.

Vladislaus Straud had not gone to the festival looking for Susan, since he still considered her off-limits due to her pregnancy.  He was in search of new prospective meals after a visit with his fledgling, Miss Hell, or as those who were close to her called her, Missy, who lived in San Myshuno.  Since the festival was an evening and nighttime event, and there were often interesting travelers and tourists at such places, he hoped that someone there would have tasty plasma for him to enjoy.

Shortly after he arrived, he noticed a scent reminiscent of Susan’s.  He quickly tracked it down, excited that he might have found yet another mortal with her amazing flavor profile.  He snarled in frustration when he realized it was her preteen daughter, Blair.  She did have similar plasma to her mother, but even though she had grown, she was still far too young to dine upon.  Vladislaus cursed fate for being so cruel, putting both her and her pregnant mother, who he spotted nearby getting up from a table with her husband, right in front of him when he could drink from neither.



Unaware of who was lurking nearby, Susan and Boyd discarded their plates and went to check out the swag stand while Maaike kept an eye on Blair and Jonathan took the plunge with his light tea.

“Hold up.  You’re leaving me in the dust.”  Boyd half-jogged to catch up with Susan after hitting a water fountain to cool his mouth.  The pho had not burned as badly as the curry, but it was still a challenge to finish.

“Feeling any better?”

“A little.  Guess I’ve still got work to do on my spice tolerance.  The restaurants in Brindleton Bay don’t do spicy as hot as they do here in the city.”

When they reached the kiosk, Boyd realized he recognized the man in line in front of them.  He never expected to run into Caleb Vatore in San Myshuno, and he wondered if he should say anything or not, especially with Susan there.  She was the one who had pointed out they might not want to get themselves on the radar of even more vampires, if indeed he was one and not just Vladislaus’ neighbor.



It was a moot point, however, since Caleb also recognized him.  He turned around with a curious smile and addressed Boyd.  “Hey.  We’ve met before, haven’t we?  I’m Caleb Vatore, from Moonlight Falls.”  He extended his hand.

Boyd nodded, nervous as he hoped he was not making a grave miscalculation as he shook the man’s hand.  Grave.  Really?  Did you have to think of it with that word?  His thoughts rambled anxiously as he answered.  “Oh.  Yes.  Hi.  Boyd Wainwright.”

“The scientist from Brindleton Bay.  I was right.”  He smirked.  “Took me a moment without that interesting hat.”

“Yeah, well, um, that’s not something I wear every day.”



Susan turned around.  “Oh, that’s right.  You did wear that in public.”

“As you can see, my wife is a fan, too.”  Boyd adjusted his glasses and gave her a pointed look.  “Susan, this is Caleb Vatore, from Moonlight Falls.  Caleb, my wife, Susan.”

Caleb regarded her with a charming smile and handshake.  “Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.”  Susan tried to keep the anxiousness out of her voice now that she knew who he was and how they had met.  Caleb seemed personable enough, certainly not creepy like Vladislaus, but she could not help but notice that his hand seemed a bit cool for a warm summer evening, especially with him wearing a long coat like that.  She supposed it was possible he was a nightclub goth type in the city for a little evening fun like they were, but given where he was from…  “Moonlight Falls is a good drive from San Myshuno.  I hope you weren’t stuck in that construction traffic on the interstate today like we were.”

“Oh, no.  I came last night and stayed over with a friend.  Far fewer idiots on the road in the middle of the night.”

“True enough.”  She had hoped if he said he was out driving in the summer sun like they were, it would make it less likely that he was a vampire, but unfortunately, his answer had the opposite effect.



While she changed the subject to the merchandise on the swag stand, Boyd felt a tap on the shoulder.  He turned and saw a black-haired woman with heavy dark makeup and a goth look to her as well.  He hoped it was just his nerves making him paranoid, but his first thought was, Another vampire?

“Hi.  I’m Caleb’s sister, Lilith.  I’m sorry to interrupt, and I know you don’t know me, but Caleb told me about meeting you, and I think you and your wife—”

It was then that Susan and Caleb turned around, too.

“—ought to look and see who’s lurking around your daughter over there.  I don’t think your friend watching her realizes.”



Boyd and Susan both whirled around and gaped in horror when they saw Blair happily telling jokes to Maaike at a nearby table while Vladislaus stood only a few feet behind her.  Although he was facing a different way, there was a distinct vibe that he was watching her from a side glance.  “Oh, my Watcher!” Boyd gasped.  It was like the vampires were crawling out of the cement tonight, and of course Vladislaus had to be one of them.  “What the plum?!”

Meanwhile, Caleb ranted to Lilith.  “What is he thinking?  He said he wasn’t doing this, that the kid was off-limits!”

Susan did not have the time to process the implications of that, that apparently Caleb and Lilith Vatore knew more about them than either thought, and that they had discussed something about them with Vladislaus.  All she wanted was to get Blair away from him as fast as possible, so she hurried over.



Boyd was right behind her, until what Caleb said to his sister sank in.  With Susan already getting Blair, the horrifying realization that not only were the Vatores probably vampires, but they knew who Blair was and had said something to Vladislaus about him and his family, got bumped to the top of his paranoia priority list.  He spun around and turned from one to the other with a wild look in his eyes.  “What do you mean ‘off-limits’?  How do you even know who my daughter is?!”

“It wasn’t hard to figure out.  You were just with her before you and your wife came up to the swag booth.  When I was looking for Caleb, I saw you come up and start talking to him.”

Caleb met his eyes.  “Look, you obviously know who and what Vlad is.  I’m sure someone as smart as you also figured out that I am, too.  So is she.  We’re not concerned about keeping that a secret from you at this point.  But we’re not the ones you need to worry about.”

“We’re not exactly fans of Vlad’s,” Lilith added.  “I can tell you that whole long story sometime if you’d like, but for right now, a while back we had a discussion with Vlad where your visit to Moonlight Falls came up.  We totally understand why he’s got you so upset, and I want to say first off that not all of us are like that.”

“Yeah, he’s one of a kind,” Caleb scoffed.

“And while some of us draw our lines at what’s acceptable a little farther than others, overall, it’s an accepted thing in our community that children and anyone who’s pregnant is to be left alone.  Even Vlad.  But I wouldn’t put it past him to keep sniffing around Susan or some of you to try and get closer to her for after she has her baby since he does seem a bit fixated on her at the moment.”

“No.  Oh no.  That’s not going to happen.  I won’t let it.”  Boyd’s heart pounded with renewed panic.  Come sunrise, I’ll go and ice the llama into next week in whatever musty old coffin he sleeps in! He lurched forward, toward Susan, but Caleb put a hand on his shoulder and stopped him.



“That’s a bad idea.  Don’t.”

Boyd’s eyes widened, and Lilith said gently, “Yes, we can read minds somewhat.  Especially when you’re flipping out.  Whatever you’re planning, it’s not going to end well.  Please don’t.  He’s very powerful.”

“You and Susan just keep doing what you’ve been doing to protect yourselves and Blair and your baby.  We can deal with Vlad if it comes to that.”

“I’m sure you’re skeptical, but we mean it.  You can trust us.  Just please don’t pick a fight with Vlad.  You, Susan, or your friends.”

“Or your cop brother-in-law,” added Caleb.  “We won’t let him hurt your family.  Seriously.”

“We’ll keep an eye on him for you.  This isn’t the first time we’ve stepped in for someone Vlad was out of line with.” Lilith assured him.  “When he acts like this, it makes the whole community look bad.  Besides, we like having interesting friends outside of it.  And for the record, neither Caleb nor I drink without consent.  Ever.”

Boyd looked over at Susan, now in conversation with Blair and Maaike by the table.

“Thanks.  I—I want to believe you,” he said anxiously.  “Regardless, thank you for letting us know he was here.”  He turned to Lilith.  “It’s nice to meet you.  I’d like to be friends.  But right now, I’ve got to go to Susan and Blair, and I want to say something to Vlad out here in the open, even if I can’t freeze his fangs off like he deserves.”

“Reasoning with Vlad in a situation like this is usually a lost cause, but good luck,” said Caleb.  “Just be careful.  He’s never taken being told ‘no’ well, and he usually takes it as a challenge.”

“Figured that out already, but noted.  Thanks.”



Susan reached Blair just as Boyd started demanding answers from the Vatores.  Thankfully, Blair was unharmed and unaware, but Susan’s stomach was in knots anyway as she spoke in as calm a voice as she could manage.  “Blair, honey, I need you to listen to me.  You too, Maaike.”

“I was just telling her some jokes—”

“You’re not in trouble.  You remember that creepy weirdo that was bothering me a while back?  He’s here at the festival right now staring at you two through the crowd.  He’s been watching you.  Our acquaintances over there by the booth noticed and told us.”

Maaike’s easygoing expression changed to alarm.  “Oh, no!  Where?”

Susan gestured to Vladislaus.  “The guy in the long black trench coat and sun umbrella.”

Blair looked over and then back at her mother with wide eyes.  She had not even noticed him, despite his odd wear.  There were a lot of goofily dressed people at the festival, including a man who looked like Father Winter in a tropical outfit.  She had assumed it was just part of them being funny.  But she had only seen a close-up picture of Vlaislaus’ face from the online profile a while back when her mother first warned her about him.  “Mr. Creepy Fangstalker,” she murmured.  “Wow.  He really does look creepy.”

“Plum, yeah.  Pardon my language,” Maaike agreed.  Like Blair, she had only seen the close-up face picture of Vladislaus and had not recognized him from far away.  “Sorry, Susan.  I had no idea.  I did notice the weird outfit, but thought it was someone hyping up the whole ‘evil prankster’ image for effect.”

“I didn’t think you did.  I just want you to be safe.  Especially you,” she said to Blair.  “Please go and hug your dad now and tell him you’re okay.”  She wondered why Boyd had not come over with her, but since he was talking with the Vatores in what looked like an intense discussion, she imagined it must be something relevant to the Vladislaus situation, and she turned back to Maaike.  “By the way, where’d my brother go?  I’d really like it if a duly trained law enforcement officer was at the table, if you know what I mean.”

“Sorry.  I was going to tell you when you came back.  He had to leave.  Work called him in.  They found a body over at the docks in Evergreen Harbor, and he’s one of the detectives on call.  It looked suspicious, so it’s high priority.”

Susan sighed.  “Great.  We’ve got hijinks all around, apparently.  Just not very humorous ones.”



When Boyd saw Blair heading his way, he came to greet her with Lilith and Caleb behind him.  The Vatores sat at a nearby table while Boyd accepted her hug.  “Mom said you were worried about me because of Mr. Creepy Fangstalker.”

He could not help but smile, both with relief and how adorable it was hearing her sweet and innocent voice using Jonathan’s snarky nickname for Vladislaus.  “A little.  I’m glad you’re all right.”

Caleb and Lilith were also amused by the moniker.  “Sounds like good old Vlad made an impression on you, too,” Lilith greeted her with a friendly smile.  “My name’s Lilith.”

“And I’m Caleb,” he volunteered in an equally warm tone.

“They know him from their town.  They were telling me about him.  They’re not like him, though.  They’re pretty cool.”

“Hi.  I’m Blair.”  She smiled at them, but due to her natural introversion, stayed near Boyd and Susan, as she joined them.

“And I’m Susan,” she introduced herself to Lilith.  “We didn’t get a chance to properly meet, but thank you for telling us he was there.  I’m sure Boyd told you he’s… been a problem.”

“No problem.  We know how he is.  I’m sorry he’s been bothering you.  You seem like a very nice family.  It’s nice to meet you.”



After relocating away from Vladislaus, who seemingly vanished into the crowd after the Vatores showed up, the Wainwrights did their best to enjoy the rest of the Humor and Hijinks festival.  They introduced Maaike to Caleb and Lilith, and the group of them spent some time talking about the festival and fun things related to it while avoiding the unpleasant subject of Vladislaus except tangentially.  Although they wanted to hear more later, they did not want his creepy shadow falling over the rest of the festival, so to speak, so Boyd and Susan agreed to meet with Caleb and Lilith another time for that discussion.  They found the Vatores to be pleasant company, even knowing what they were, and neither got any bad vibes from them.  While they were not ready to blindly trust any vampire, it was a relief to feel hope that nice ones were out there, and that they did not like Vladislaus, either.

Although it was a bit of a late start and he had missed his chance to pay Jonathan back for the exploding toilet, Boyd decided to join the pranksters side anyway.  He was hardly in a light side mood knowing Vladislaus was creeping around, and he figured some “Sith nectar,” as he dubbed it, might inspire him on how they might deal with him better than the “Jedi juice” would.

Blair was back to her cheerful self in no time and told several silly jokes while they tried more festival food.  She was so giddy, in fact, that she could not help but laugh when poor Susan finally tried some of the grilled spicy sausages only to find out they were too spicy for her.  It felt like flames were coming out of her nose and mouth.  “You said it was ‘a little hot,’ Maaike!  Not the fires of Mordor!”



Later, they gathered around to watch the festival fireworks.  But during one round, not long after Caleb and Lilith wandered off to check out something in one of the booths, a familiar face popped up nearby again.  It was not that Vladislaus was afraid of his disappointment daughter and grand-disappointment son.  Such a thought was laughable.  No, he simply was not in the mood to hear more of their blathering goody-goody boo-hoo feeding on mortals is bad drivel.  Besides, that fashionably dressed Lobo fellow he dined on after luring him off the trodden path had been quite delicious for a hot summer evening in the city.  That light tea added a lovely floral undertone to his robust plasma, and it was clear he enjoyed a steady diet of gourmet mortal fare.  One of taste usually tasted good, was Vladislaus’ rule.  He was not Susan Wainwright, but he was the next best thing with her unavailable, and even better, the Vatores were too preoccupied with her and her family to stop him from enjoying him.  Now that Vladislaus had eaten, however, there was no reason not to go see how Susan and her family were doing…

The Wainwrights did not notice Vladislaus right away.  They were bedazzled by the fireworks, and their eyes were on the sky more than the crowd.  But during one of the intense bursts of light, one that illuminated the throb of Susan’s pulse in her neck to his keen eyesight, Vladislaus could not help but lick his fangs at the thought of tasting it once more.

It was then that Susan felt a chill run up her spine.  She looked down from the sky and glanced around the crowd until she locked eyes with him just for a moment, and he grinned with delight.  Horrified, she looked away.  “Boyd!  He’s back.”  She said it loudly enough to make sure Boyd, Blair, and Maaike all heard.

“Plum!”  Boyd looked wildly to see where he was, and if Caleb or Lilith were around, while Maaike hurried over to offer support.



But Vladislaus had already woven through the crowd at vampiric speed to reach Susan’s side.  “Susan.  A pleasure to see you again, and looking so robust and healthy, too.”

“I have nothing to say to you.  Leave me alone,” she seethed icily, and looked down at Blair, whose hand she squeezed tightly in reassurance.  Blair went silent, frightened, while Maaike put her hands on her shoulders and Boyd stepped in front of his daughter as a shield.

Vladislaus ignored them and focused intently on Susan, or more specifically, her turned neck.  “Now, there’s no need to be that way.  I merely came to offer my congratulations on the impending addition to your family.  Though it is good to see you again up close and personal like this.”



Before he could get another word out, Boyd erupted, shaking with emotion.  “Get the hell away from her, from all of us!  Right now.  This your last warning!”

Vladislaus was not intimidated, but he was somewhat taken aback by his outburst off the bat.  “My.  I’d have expected an educated and logical man of science like you would at least introduce himself before threatening me in the middle of a public festival.”  He sniffed.  “Perhaps that mischief potion reacts more potently with all that caffeine you drink.”

Boyd glowered back sarcastically.  “Hello, Vlad.  Boyd Wainwright.  Susan’s husband.  Not nice to meet you.  Now, get away from my wife and daughter and Maaike and leave them alone like they asked.”

He chortled.  “That’s a bit more like it.”

“I don’t know what you think you’re going to accomplish here, and you’ve got a lot of nerve after what you did to me,” Susan added frostily.  “I’ll be [darn]ed if I let you get near my daughter or my baby or—”

“Amusing choice of words, considering that some call the dark gift I can give being [darn]ed.  Don’t tempt me too much, now,” he replied with a leer.  “We’re not supposed to bite those in your condition, and your husband there might get the wrong idea.” *

“Oh, I’m sure I have exactly the right idea about you,” snapped Boyd.  “Now get lost.”

“Or what?  You’ll sic the Vatores on me?”  He snorted derisively.  “Terrifying thought.  Truly.”  He rolled his eyes.  “The only thing I dread from them is having to endure another one of their long whiny diatribes.  Did they happen to mention who made them?  Where they came from?  No?  I didn’t think so.  Regardless, befriend them or not, I don’t care.  Perhaps you should.  Maybe seeing what I can offer from their perspective might bring one of you around.”  He glanced at Susan and then Boyd.  “Even you.  Believe it or not, I don’t see you as a rival.  I don’t want your dear Susan as a lover.  A meal, a companion, a protégé, certainly, but far be it from me to come between your mortal affections.  Perhaps if we talked through all this unpleasantness, we could all be friends.”  He looked at Maaike.  “You as well.  A pleasure to meet you.”

Before Maaike could answer, Susan grabbed Blair’s hands.  “Come on.  We’re done here.  We’re going home.”  She gave Vladislaus a hard look.  “For the last time, we are not and never will be ‘friends,’ especially not after you assaulted and stalked me!  Now, leave me alone, and leave my family and friends alone, or you’ll find out the hard way just what Boyd and I can come up with together to make you regret it.”



They turned to leave, but before they got too far, Vladislaus apparated in a mist behind Susan, Boyd, and Blair for a last word.  “Have a good evening and… see you soon.”


*The board's filter censors the harsher version of "darn," and this is the first time I haven't been able to find a better censor dialogue workaround for a specific banned word! Sorry about how silly that reads!

[Cheezey]

Chapter 19

Despite his ominous parting words, the Wainwrights did not see Vladislaus again in the days following the festival.  They were grateful for that since they had other serious matters on their minds.  The baby’s due date was drawing closer, and Susan felt like that third trimester was taking forever.  The summer temperature seemed to be set permanently on sweltering, and even though they had air conditioning, it felt like no match for the brutal humidity in Brindleton Bay that year.  It also did not help that her back ached no matter what she did or how she sat or slept.

Boyd was busy doing not only what he normally did around the house, but also the housework that Susan usually did but was too uncomfortable to do as pregnant as she was.  Those chores mostly involved cleaning, which he hated with a passion and avoided like the plague, which was why she usually did it.

Blair was excited about the new addition to the family and being a big sister, but she had some mixed feelings once the baby’s things started piling up in her already small room.  She knew she had to share it, but she was also used to it being her private space, and it was hard to adjust.  That evening, she ended up leaving her toys behind out of frustration and came out to the living room to watch TV while Boyd was in there assembling a bassinet and distracting her with all the commotion.



Later, after he finished and grabbed a snack and Blair went to bed, Susan was still achy and uncomfortable.  She paced for a few minutes and was about to ask Boyd to give her a back rub when her phone rang.

She was surprised it was her mother’s number, especially at that hour, and immediately got a bad feeling.

“Mom?”



“Hi, sweetie.  I’m sorry to bother you so late, but I wanted to let you know what’s going on so you wouldn’t worry if you had trouble reaching me.”  Although Maureen sounded cheerful as usual, Susan noticed immediately how weak her voice was.

“Mom?  What’s wrong?  What’s going on?”

She paused and took a deep, and what sounded to Susan like labored, breath.  “I’ve been having some more pain and a spell or two, so the doctors here at the clinic had me come in, and now they’re about to send me off to the hospital.”  She halted again, like she was faint or tired.  “Your father will have my phone if I’m not in my room, but we might have to silence or turn them off depending on what’s going on.  But I didn’t want you to panic if you tried and didn’t get us.”



Although she was glad to know, Susan could not help but be alarmed.  If her mother was being admitted to the hospital and was calling them so late about it rather than waiting until the morning, then her “spell or two” had to be rather serious.  “Oh, Mom.  How bad is it?  Do you need us to come down there?”

“Absolutely not.  You and the baby need your rest, not to spend the middle of the night on the freeway rushing to sit in an uncomfortable hospital chair while they poke my veins and run labs.”

“You sound pretty worn out, and if you or Dad need us—”

“No.  Get your sleep.  I’ll call you in the morning.  Hopefully they’ll be letting me out of there by then anyway, and that’d be a big exhausting night for you that I don’t want to put you through.”

“I’d still be willing to do it.”

“I know you would, sweetie, and I love you, but no.  Don’t.  You and Boyd and Blair all need your sleep, and if you tried driving here alone as pregnant as you are to let them sleep, I’d worry more about you than me.  And before you even ask, I’m going to tell Jonathan the same thing, so don’t you go calling him and plotting to send him or come up here together or anything.  He needs his rest, too.  I’ll tell you what.  If they say in the morning I’m stuck here another day, then I’ll take you up on that.  Deal?”

Susan frowned hesitantly.  “All right.  If you insist.”

“I do.  I love you, Susie.  Have a good night, and please don’t worry about me.  I’m in good hands.”

“I know.  Good luck.  I love you.  So do Blair and Boyd.”

“I know it, and I love them, too.  Good night.”

“Good night.  Please call me first thing and let me know how it went, okay?”

“Will do.  Love you.”

“Love you, too, Mom.  Bye.”



“There.  I called the kids,” Maureen told Patrick after she had a similar conversation with Jonathan.  He had also tried to insist on coming to see her, but she knew he had been putting extra time in on that recent murder investigation in Evergreen Harbor.  That was wrapping up now that they had enough evidence to make an arrest and send it off to the prosecutor, and it had certainly helped his career, but the hours he put in had been exhausting.  Still, right after he got off the phone, he messaged Susan.  They debated disregarding what she said and going anyway, but they decided if they did show up and she got upset with worry, it would be no good for her health anyhow, so they reluctantly chose to wait until they heard from her.

“I’m glad.”  Patrick gave Maureen a wan smile as they embraced.

“I know you’re worried, but I don’t think I’m that close.  They say you have an intuition about when these things are going to happen, you know.”

“As a doctor I’ve seen that, yes, but I’ve also seen enough patients who stubbornly ignored their limits.  I love you, but you’re option B.  I know the odds.”

“What I know is I love you and the kids, and that means more to me than any odds.  I’m going to stick around until Grim drags me out.”  She gave him a playful look.  “And with all due respect, my dear, you’re an excellent doctor, but you’re not an oncologist.”

“No, but I’m an excellent enough doctor to have made sure you have best oncologists in the business, and I’m wise enough to listen to what they have to say.  I’m all for the power of positive thinking, and for you staying around as long as you can dodge old Grim, but I also know that a little caution slows him down.”  He stroked her cheek fondly.

“I love you, Patrick.”  She took a labored breath.  “And whatever these tests say, I promise to accept and level with the kids.  I know I don’t have long.  But you know me.  I’m stubborn to the end and I’ll keep going as long as I can to be with you.”

“I know, and I’m nagging you because I love you.  Now sit down on that bed and rest while I check on the status of that transport.  They should be here any minute.”

She chuckled.  “Yes, doctor dearest.”



Unfortunately, Patrick was right, and Maureen was weaker and sicker than she believed.  Far more.  Seconds after he left to check with the clinic staff, Maureen felt an overwhelming dizziness and shortness of breath on her way to the bed.  She collapsed to the floor unconscious within seconds, and that was how Patrick found her when he returned.  “Maureen, I… oh no.  No.”  His voice caught in his throat.  Immediately he knew, both in his heart and soul, before he even knelt to examine her and confirm it medically.  She was gone.

“Oh, Maureen.  You weren’t supposed to… like this… alone… not even in your sleep?”  Tears filled his eyes as he rambled in grief.



The aura of death was already in the room.  Patrick was no medium or spellcaster or occultist, but during his long years as a doctor he had developed a sense about death, and he had felt Grim’s presence more than once.  This would be the first time he ever spoke with him, though.

“She lived a long and rich life, full of love and happiness.  It was her time.  Do not blame yourself for her unwillingness to accept such.”

“I tried to tell her.  I knew what her doctors were saying.  Days at best, but maybe not even that.  They tried to tell her, too.”  His voice cracked as the tears flowed.

“You loved her enough to tell her hard truths.  She listened enough to make those calls tonight when you insisted.”  Grim paused.  “It was her destiny to leave this world today.  I first came for her two hours ago.  You were in the ambulance, pleading with her to call your children when you got here.” He looked at Patrick, and although he could not see Grim’s shadowed features, he knew they held a measure of sympathy.

“You waited.  Thank you.”

The hooded figure only nodded.  “You, too, have lived a long and rich life, and once your business in this world is finished, you will be reunited with her once more.  Take comfort that until then, she will reunite with loved ones that passed before her, and she no longer suffers the pains of mortality and the disease that ravaged her.  She was in more pain than she told any of you.”

“I know,” Patrick sobbed as he broke down completely.  “I know.”



It was in the early hours of the morning that Susan got the call she was waiting for.  When she saw it was her father’s number and not her mother’s, she knew it was not good.

“I’m sorry, Susie,” he finished after relaying the news with as much emotional strength as he had left.

“Oh, Dad.  You have nothing to apologize for.”  Susan fought the lump in her throat as her own grief welled up inside.  “I know how Mom was.  I knew, too.  She was sicker than she ever admitted.  I may not be a doctor, but I have eyes and ears.  I could tell.”

“It was so bad.  She downplayed it for me, too.  Kept pushing, despite how bad I knew she felt.”

“Of course she did.  That’s how she was.  Always trying to tough it out no matter what.  I just wish Jonathan and I’d—”

“No.  You’d never have made it in time.”

“You wouldn’t have been alone last night.”

“Don’t take this wrong, Susie, but I’m glad I was.”

“I understand,” she said softly, lapsing into silence as she came to grips with the reality of her mother’s death.  “Do you want us to come today and help you with… arrangements?”  She could not bring herself to say the word “funeral” yet.  “Or just support?”

“Come when you can, but please don’t rush.”  He smiled ruefully on the other end.  “Your mother never would’ve wanted you getting into an accident or going into a stressed early labor on her account, and I can handle things for whatever time it reasonably takes.”

“I’ll tell Boyd and Blair and we’ll be out there as soon as possible,” she promised.



As soon as she got off the phone, she called Boyd in from the back patio where he was watering their plants.  He could tell right away from her demeanor that something terrible had just happened, and he followed her inside.  “Susan?  What’s wrong?”

“Dad called.  Mom’s gone.  She—she didn’t make it through the night.”  Her voice choked up again as she told him.

“Oh, no.  Oh, Susan.  I’m so sorry.”  He pulled her close and hugged her.  “Poor Maureen.”

“I know she was really sick, and I shouldn’t be surprised, but…”

“But she’s your mom and you love her.  We all do.  Of course you hoped for the best.”  He held her tightly as she cried.

“I can’t believe she’s really gone.”

He stroked her back.  “I know.  Just let it out.”



After a good cry, Susan collected herself enough to talk again.  “I told Dad we’d be out to see him soon.  He said not to rush, but I don’t think he should be alone for too long, and I haven’t even gotten to talk to Jonathan yet.  I know he’ll try, but I also know how his job is.”

“Sure.  We can go whenever you’re ready.”

“Okay.”  She took a steadying breath.  “Now we’ve got to break the news to Blair that her grandma’s gone.”

“She still in her room playing?”

Susan nodded.  “I thought it would be better if I told you first rather than hit you both with it at once.”

“I’ll go get her.”



Susan took a moment to compose herself while Boyd told Blair she needed to come out so they could talk to her about something important.  She joined Susan in the kitchen while Boyd stood nearby.  “What’s going on?”

“Sweetie, I’m afraid I have some bad news for you.  Remember when we told you when you got up that Grandma Maureen was in the hospital, and I was waiting to hear from your grandpa about maybe going to see her there today?”

She nodded.

“He just called.  Unfortunately, Grandma was much sicker than they thought.  They did all they could, but she didn’t make it.”

Tears filled her eyes as she realized what her mother was telling her.  “You mean Grandma died?”

“Yes, honey.  I’m sorry.”  Susan choked up as she answered, and Blair also started to cry.

“We’re never going to see her again.”

“No.  Not in this life.”  She tried to keep her composure as best she could.  “We’re just going to have to try and remember all the good times we had with her and how much we loved her, and how much she loved all of us.  Especially you.  She loved you so much.”

Blair cried harder.  “I wish I could’ve said goodbye!”

“Me, too, sweetie.”  Susan pulled her into a consoling hug.  “Me, too.”



Afterward, Blair looked up and put her hands on her mother’s pregnant belly.  “Grandma never got a chance to meet the baby.”

“No.  But she loved him or her, too.”

“Maybe someday you can tell your little brother or sister about her, and all the nice times you had with her,” Boyd suggested gently.

“That would make her very happy,” Susan agreed.  “Especially if you told them about the stuff she showed you and things did with her in the city.  All the museums and the different foods you tried, and the trip to Mt. Komorebi she arranged for us.  She loved traveling and learning about art and culture.”

“Yeah.  Grandma liked to do fun and neat things.”

“She did.  And now we’ve got to make a trip to help Grandpa Patrick with her funeral arrangements.  I know you’ve never been to one before, but remember, even though it’ll be sad and hard in some ways, it’ll also help give us all closure, and the chance to say goodbye that we missed in person.  It’ll also let us pay our respects and honor her memory, so it’s important to be strong and try to get through it.  Grandpa Patrick’s going to need all our love and support, which is why I want us to go and be there for him and help him however we can.  The actual funeral probably won’t be for a day or two, but we’re going to leave today so we can do that.”

“We’ll call your school and let them know you won’t be back until that’s done, so don’t worry about that,” added Boyd.  “But we have to go soon, so gather up what you want to take with you for a few days and start packing.”



They arrived later that day, along with Jonathan, who also came to be with the family and to help plan the funeral.  Although Maureen loved the city and in life, her aspiration was to move and retire there to enjoy all it had to offer, she wanted to be buried in Willow Creek.  Years ago, she and Patrick purchased cemetery plots there back when Susan and Jonathan were still children.  When they updated their wills years later, even after moving, they kept those plots.  “The cherry tree in that part of the cemetery is gorgeous, and it’s so peaceful near the water and all the birds that flock there,” she had said when Patrick asked her about it.  “So beautiful and relaxing.  When our time comes, I imagine we’ll have had enough excitement and hustle and bustle of the city and a newfound appreciation for that peace and quiet.”

They honored that and laid her to rest the following morning.  After the family and friends that attended the burial said their goodbyes, they returned to San Myshuno for the memorial service Patrick hosted there for her.



“Everything’s been lovely, Dad.  Mom would be touched,” Susan told her father at said service.

“I like to think so,” he replied, hugging her.  “She may have done her darndest to stick around for as long as she could, but I don’t think she had many regrets.”  He cast his gaze downward onto her pregnant belly.  “Except not getting to meet her second grandchild.  Oh, she fought tooth and nail hoping for at least one chance to hold that baby.”

“I wish she could’ve, but unfortunately, he or she isn’t in a big rush to get here.”  She put a hand on her baby bump.  “Not even due for another few weeks yet.”

“Well, if it meant not being a preemie with all the risks that can pose, I have no doubt she’d rather the baby come on time and healthy even if she had to miss out.  Regardless, I promise I’ll do my best to stick around for the big arrival, even if I don’t know what the heck I’m going to do with myself without Maureen to come home to.  I’ll probably just throw myself into my work to keep my mind off it.  It’s always given me a sense of purpose, and it’ll save me from brooding in that empty apartment.”

“Just don’t work too hard.  I know how much you burned yourself out taking care of Mom.  I wonder how well you took care of yourself during all that.”

“Hah.  Now you’re starting to sound like your mother.”

Susan could not help but smile.  “I’ll take that as a compliment.”



Jonathan noticed Blair standing by herself for a while and went over to check on her.  “Hey, Blair-y Bear.  How are you holding up?  You okay?”

“I just miss Grandma and… I don’t know a lot of these people.”

He nodded understandingly.  Blair had become more introverted as she grew up, and funerals were tough even without being surrounded by strangers.  Many of those who came to the service were Maureen’s local friends that members of the family from out of town barely knew or did not know at all.  “I get you.  Your grandma sure made a lot of friends here in San Myshuno, didn’t she?  I don’t know them, either.  A bunch are from her bingo club, I think.  But it’s nice to know how many people cared about her.”

“Yeah,” Blair agreed.

“Want to go over the bar and grab a soda?  Maybe you can tell me about some of the cool stuff you’ve been up to, and we can catch up.  It’s been a while since I’ve seen my favorite niece.”



“I’m your only niece so far,” she pointed out, although his suggestion put her more at ease.  “Besides, what if the baby turns out to be a girl?”

He grinned.  “Well, I bet Maaike that it’d be a boy, and if I lose, I’ve got to treat her to a full day in the spa over in Newcrest.  So I’m confident that your position’s still safe.  Besides, even if you did have a sister, I know you’d be cool with it being a tie.  But do me a favor and root for me anyway.  Spas are expensive, and Maaike likes the royal treatment.”

“That makes me want to root for a girl,” Susan interjected from the table nearby where she sat with their father.  “I also know that Blair would accept a tie with grace, and I’d love to see you have to fork out on that bet.”

“Yeah, but I have a much a higher precedent of being right than you, dear sister, so good luck with that!”

“Hmph.  You wish,” Susan retorted, while Blair giggled.

“What do you think, Grandpa?”

Patrick wisely dodged the issue of which of his children was right more often and went back to the baby gender debate.  “About the baby?  I have no idea, since, as your uncle once so eloquently put it, he or she was mooning the probe during the ultrasound making it so they couldn’t tell, and they never got a second.”

“Our insurance said they’d only cover it if it was medically necessary, which it wasn’t, and we need to save money, so…”

“Oh, I understand.  The important thing is the baby is healthy, boy or girl.  As for Jonathan’s bet, I’ve got no doubt he’ll make good if he loses, though now I’m curious what he stands to win if he’s right.”



“I have to supply him with either a home-cooked meal or spring for takeout of his choice every day for two weeks,” Maaike informed them before he could answer, but he quickly chimed in from over at the bar where he just sat down with Blair.

“It’s her fault.  She spoiled me.  I used to be cool with fast food and cheap beer until she started playing food snob on me and pointing out how much it sucks.  She’s not even a foodie, just too hoity-toity for microwave meals and McSims.”

“That’s because McSims is terrible unless you’ve already had too much of that cheap EAPA, which is also terrible.”

“After a long shift, as long as it’s cold and not flat, I don’t care.  Or at least that’s how I used to be, until someone started making me better stuff every so often.  Because she was horrified I only had leftover pizza and boxed mac and cheese and no vegetables on hand.”

“No vegetables at all, Uncle Jonathan?  That’s not healthy.  I don’t like them that much, either, but I know you’re supposed to eat them every day anyway.  I always eat the ones in school lunches, unless they’re super soggy or gross or something.”

“Exactly, Blair,” Maaike agreed before continuing.  “Anyway, since I apparently ‘spoiled’ him by cooking him a couple of halfway decent meals and buying him better than a bargain brand beer as a surprise on occasion, he made me doing that for him for two weeks his win condition on the baby bet.”

“Maybe he’s just looking for an excuse to keep you in town for two weeks straight,” Boyd teased.  Although Jonathan and Maaike were officially in a relationship that was getting more serious, they kept it a mystery just how serious it was.  Maaike still lived in Windenburg, but her writing work was rather portable, so she often stayed with Jonathan for long weekends and the occasional longer visit.

Patrick noticed them exchange looks that implied that Boyd was more right than either Jonathan or Maaike was going to own up to.  “Now that’s something that would’ve made your mother very happy,” he remarked with a happy, but wistful smile.



As the memorial continued, the mood shifted from lighthearted to somber, back and forth as they shared fond thoughts and memories while remembering the sad reason for the occasion.  They knew that Maureen would have been honored and touched at the turnout and outpouring of affection, but at the same time, her absence was heavily felt by all of those who loved her.  Susan had already cried many tears, but she knew that as soon as she was alone and would not feel compelled to put up a strong façade for everyone else, she would fall apart again.  Even though her mother had been elderly and sick, and she knew this time was coming soon, it did not make it any easier now that it had.

It did not help that she was also worried about her father.  The remarks she made earlier had not been made lightly.  Patrick had always been a hard worker, and he was still working as a doctor at the hospital long after many his age would have retired.  It was only her mother’s illness and the need to help care for her that had him slow that down at all, and now that he had admitted he planned to throw himself back into it as a way to deal with his grief, Susan was more than a little concerned about the toll it would take on him.  Her mother had looked out for him in ways he never did for himself, like kindly nagging him to get enough sleep or putting healthy meals in front of him as soon as he got home from work, or even dragging him out for a night of fun when he desperately needed it but found excuses not to.  Now he no longer had that support and was actively grieving it.  Alone.  Far from both her and Jonathan other than what they could offer over the phone, occasional visits, or social media.



But he was insistent that he could handle it all himself, even as he insisted that she and Boyd head home that night as things wrapped up.

“It’s fine, Susan.  Really.  Go.  You’ve already spent so much time here, and it’s a long drive.  All three of you need the rest.”  The hour was late, and now that the service was over and most guests had left, he was encouraging her to head out and let him wrap things up with the staff so that she, Boyd, and Blair could return to Brindleton Bay that night.

“We could stay another day and help.  It is a holiday weekend after all.”

“With traffic that will only get worse, especially between here and Brindleton Bay.  Do you really want to sit in that for half the day tomorrow when you could make it in a couple hours tonight?  With you and Blair actually able to get a little sleep instead of spending hours during the heat of the day listening to Boyd go on about how much he hates city driving for an extended play?” he replied on a semi-wry note.  “You and Jonathan and the rest of you have already done more than enough and have been an incredible amount of help.  You’ve all been wonderful.  Go on home and rest and try to do something fun over the holiday weekend after all of this.  You deserve it, and frankly, it’s what your mother would’ve wanted, and you know it.”

“She would, but she also wouldn’t want you overdoing it, either, and you know that,” Susan countered.  “So promise me you won’t, on pain of invoking her disapproval on the other side however she chooses to show it, if you do, and I’ll agree.  How about that?”

Patrick chortled.  “Fair enough.  You sure did inherit her stubbornness, though.  Both of you did.”  He glanced over at Jonathan.  “Did you hear, Jonathan?  I talked your sister into going home tonight.  You said if I managed it, you would.”



“You used me as leverage, Dad?” Susan was somewhat incredulous as her brother stood up.

“To be fair, I only agreed because I also know how stubborn you can be.”

“Thanks,” Susan said flatly, while Boyd chuckled.

“So I guess we are heading back tonight then.  Are you sure there’s nothing else we can do to help out, Patrick?  We really don’t mind…”

“Really, there’s not, but thank you,” he insisted kindly.  “The only thing I need are hugs from all of you, especially my granddaughter here.”  He gave Blair a fond look.  “And promises that you’ll all drive safely this late.”

“Daddy always does.”  Blair hugged her grandfather tightly.  “He just doesn’t like the city.  But he doesn’t drive crazy or anything.  Just yells at the crazy drivers in it.”

“That’s okay.  He can follow Jonathan to the freeway and take advantage of the he’s-a-cop aura he leaves behind him,” teased Maaike.

Susan raised an eyebrow.  “I thought that was commonly referred to as a ‘lead foot.’”

“Hey.  Stuff it,” he said, grabbing his suit jacket.  “I’m a professional.  I don’t tell you how to engineer, don’t you tell me how to traffic law.”

Patrick just smiled as he let Blair go and stood, listening to his children bicker playfully as they all prepared to leave.  It was hard watching them go, his family and the girl he hoped his son was considering adding to it someday, because having them all there had made these past days so much easier.  But he was sincere in that he wanted them to go on with their lives and not dote on him or mope around in Maureen’s memory.  Not only was that what Maureen would have wanted, it was what he wanted as well.  It would take time, of course, but there were still things to live for and focus on.  The impending arrival of the grandchild she never got to meet, for starters.  Yes, he would tell her all about that baby, and about Blair and how she will have grown, and all about whatever will have happened since in Susan and Jonathan’s lives when the time eventually comes that he finally sees her again, one day, on the other side.

[Cheezey]

Happy holidays to those of you still following this story!



Those of you who have read my Sims 3 story know I usually try and do a holiday picture of my sims for fun and show where the active family is at.  Since the story had just started last year, I didn't, so this is the first time for this one.

Of course, the story is still in summertime, technically, but I dressed it up like it was Winterfest time in game and put them in festive outfits, pregnant Susan and all. I bet she's thrilled with me in that outfit, though I'm sure the belt is just decorative and plenty comfortable for a sim in her third trimester.

I worked on this story all through November and have a ton of content to post for it in the near future. I should have the first new chapter up later this week. I meant to have it up sooner, but the holidays have kept me busy. Thanks to all of you who have been following the story and reading! Hope you've had a great holiday season.

[Cheezey]

Chapter 20

Returning from Maureen’s funeral was hard on everyone, especially Susan.  Not only was she grieving her mother, but she was physically uncomfortable from the late stages of pregnancy, and the heat and humidity in Brindleton Bay were still unbearable.  Air conditioning helped, but only so much.  They did receive some sympathy cards and gifts in the mail from those who had been unable to attend her funeral, like Boyd’s parents, which was nice. 



However, one such gift they received was decidedly dark and unwelcome.  Susan recoiled in rage and disgust the instant she touched the package and read the label.  “The flipping nerve!  How dare he.”  She shouted a couple more forbidden words and stormed over to the garlic plant to check if there was any ready to harvest yet.  She hoped there was and fantasized about swallowing a clove of it and exhaling a disgusting load of garlic breath into his ugly face if he dared to show it.  “He’s lucky I’m not my brother, or I’d be crass enough to hope he came late enough to fart it,” she snapped angrily afterward.



Blair had heard her mother angrily ranting outside and came out to see what was going on just in time to hear her last outburst.  “Mom, who are you mad enough to fart at?”

Susan just finished harvesting the one ripe bulb of garlic and stood.  “Mr. Creepy Fangstalker had the gall to send a sympathy card and flowers for your grandmother’s funeral, like he’s one of our friends or something.  He didn’t even know her.  He doesn’t even know me, but he acts like he does.  Like he’s my friend, or worse.”  She grimaced. 

“Worse?  You mean like when he bit you?”

She nodded and cast an anxious glance around their remote property that had no visible neighbors, just trees and mountains and hills that led down to the shore.  Even though it was broad daylight, talking about Vladislaus put her on edge and made her feel like her paranoid husband about being watched sometimes when they were not alone in the house.  “He made it clear that he wanted to turn me into one of his kind and even hinted that he would be all right with turning your father if I wanted him changed, too.  And even though he said he didn’t want me as a girlfriend or to interfere with my marriage to your dad, let’s just say I get the vibe that he’s full of more crap about that than the pooper scoopers in the dog park on competition day.”

“Why would you want him when he’s like a thousand years older than both Grandpa Patrick and Grandpa Stuart?  He should find someone his own age.  Or at least closer.”  She paused.  “And not married and with a family like you.  What a weirdo.  I bet that’s why the other vampires don’t like him, either.”

Susan could not help but smile despite her otherwise foul mood.  “Well, I don’t how many other vampires since the only other ones we know are Caleb and Lilith, but I’m sure we can’t be the only ones that think he’s a creep.  Do me a favor and find your dad, okay?  I’d like to tell him what’s going on.”

“Okay.”



“So, check this out.” 

Susan had Boyd join her at the table where she had Vladislaus’ gift on display next to the garlic she brought in.  It was a bouquet of black roses with sprigs of tiny white accent flowers with a card that read, “Dearest Susan, My deepest sympathies on the painful loss of your mother. The pain of the passing of mortal loved ones is a grievous wound that only time will heal, but you are a beautiful legacy to her memory every day you remain in this world.”

“I was mad enough when I saw the package, then I read the card.  What a manipulative piece of—”

“Susan, he’s… by the Watcher, he’s just got no shame.”  Boyd was beyond even being angry at that point.  He was frightened and upset.  “Now he’s using your grief to try and get you to, what, convert to being a vampire in honor of your mom or something?  Right after the baby is born, I guess?  I can’t figure it out.  It’s not like he can bite you now without hurting the baby!  It doesn’t make any sense!”

“It doesn’t make any sense because he’s a lunatic.  A sociopath!  Whatever!  I’m an engineer, not a psychologist, but I don’t need a psych degree to figure out that whatever it is, he’s not firing on all cylinders upstairs when it comes to functioning in normal society.  Even for a vampire, he’s apparently maladjusted, or the Vatores wouldn’t be playing damage control for him.”

“Obviously I can’t stop him from stalking you, much as I wish I could, but would you like me to get rid of those flowers at least so you don’t have to look at them?  They might make half decent fertilizer for the Sixam mosquito trap out back.”



“At least then something useful might come from all this plum,” Susan said on half-choked note as she started to cry.

“Aw, honey.”  Boyd came over and comforted her.  “I’m sorry.  I hate that I’m not better at coming up with a solution for any of this.  For stopping him.  For someone who’s watched so many monster and sci-fi movies and studied this stuff, you’d think I could.”

Susan sniffled.  “The problem is Vlad’s a real monster, and you’re someone with an actual soul and conscience.  If you were someone that could seriously go off and stake that llama in his sleep, I’m not sure I could stay with you.”

“To be fair, I only said I’d deep-freeze him.  Theoretically, a vampire could live through that.  Just not comfortably, and he couldn’t move for a really, really, really long time.  And that was right after he hurt you and I was afraid he was coming back to do it again and maybe go for Blair and me, too.  Kind of proactive self-defense.  But no.  You know I don’t want to hurt anyone, Susan.  Not even Vlad.  It just sucks feeling so helpless while he screws with you like this and keeps hurting you and not being able to help you.  I’ve never been the guy who’s got to be Mr. Tough Guy.  Let’s face it.  I’d suck at that, being Mr. Couch Potato, and we both know how fast my plumbob would get kicked if I felt like I had to tell you what to do or that I was the ‘man in the house’ or in charge here,” he teased.  “But when you’re seeing the love of your life harassed and hurt by someone like Vlad and there seems to be jack plum you can do to help, it gets old.  So I spout off a little.  That’s all.”



“Oh, Boyd, I know that.  We’ll figure something out.  We always do.  And since I know deep down you probably are worried, at least a little, that the stupid llama’s manipulations might start working and I might start thinking just a little that maybe I might want to be a vampire… that I might decide down the line to ditch you and Blair and the baby to run off with Vlad… don’t.  Okay?”

“I—”

“I know you and I know how paranoid you are.  I also know that you dreamt that last night.  Because you screamed about it in your sleep.”

Boyd winced, embarrassed.  “I did?”

“You’ve always had nightmares.”

“I know.  Long before I knew you.”  He shrugged.  “Anxiety sucks, and so does Vlad.”

“Yeah, well, there’s a trigger for you.  I don’t even have it, and he gives me nightmares, so I get it.  But I promise.  That’s so not ever going to happen.  I will never, ever, ever, ever leave you for Mr. Creepy Fangstalker Vladislaus Straud.”

He half-chuckled.  “Rational me didn’t really believe you would, but my brain likes hearing you say it anyway.  Thank you.”



Despite the shadows of grief and Vladislaus hanging over them, the Wainwrights managed to have some fun on Leisure Day weekend anyway.  Although their home in Brindleton Bay would’ve been considered a prime vacation destination for such a summer holiday, being so close to the boardwalk, neither Susan nor Boyd felt like hosting any cookouts or hauling coolers and towels down to the beach themselves.  So, when Susan read an advertisement online that the Arid Ridge pool over in one of Oasis Springs’ swankier neighborhoods was sponsoring a family Leisure Day party for children to meet new friends from other towns, it seemed like the perfect solution. 

“That’s not even all that far from where I work,” Boyd remarked.  “I wonder if I’ll see anyone I know there.”

“I already know Evie Delgato.  I go to school with her, and she told everyone she’s going to the fireworks show and plans to eat a ton of cotton candy on Leisure Day.”

“Won’t her dentist be thrilled,” chortled Susan.

“He won’t know if she brushes her teeth like she’s supposed to, right?”

At that, Boyd chuckled.  “She’s not wrong.  Too bright for her own good, perhaps, but not wrong.”

“That’s probably what our parents said about both of us at that age, too.”



As it turned out, Blair did not know any of the children at the pool party in Oasis Springs, which at first intimidated her.  Loner that she was, making new friends was hard and being outgoing did not come naturally to her.  But luckily, many other children were, and Blair’s innate kindness and good nature made it easy for others to like her once they struck up a conversation and got past her initial hesitation and introversion. 

She spent most of the afternoon with a fun and outgoing boy from Copperdale, Jayden, a funny girl from Willow Creek, Olivia, and a cheery and upbeat boy from Evergreen Harbor, Gideon.  It was Gideon who she first broke the ice with, when she found out that he was from the same town her Uncle Jonathan was, although when she asked, he had never met him.  Then, Olivia cracked a fart joke after a man nearby stood up from a seat when his wet bathing suit stuck to it, and it made a sound that sounded just like one.  They all shared a big laugh and then decided to get some ice cream as a group.  Afterward, they went swimming together.



While Blair played with the kids, Boyd and Susan tried to relax and unwind themselves.  Boyd grabbed himself a freshly cooked burger off the grill while Susan treated herself to a decadent chocolate ice cream cone on that hot summer day.

Unfortunately, she felt self-conscious almost immediately after she turned around and noticed how large her pregnant belly was, and there she was, adding to it, eating a mountain of ice cream.  It probably would not have even appealed half as much if it was not as hot as a furnace out and that llama Vladislaus had not stressed her into the red zone on top of already being at her wit’s end from losing her mother while being a few weeks short of delivering her second child.  But it sure did look tasty, especially with all of that whipped cream and those sprinkles, baby belly or not.  She awkwardly settled onto the stool at the tiki bar with a sigh, glad it was in the shade.  Oasis Springs wasn’t as humid as Brindleton Bay, but by the Watcher, it was even hotter.  At least Brindleton Bay had sea breezes.



Boyd finished his burger while waiting on line for his beer, which he had in his hand when he caught back up with Susan, still working on her ice cream cone.  “Might have to get one of those after I finish this.”

“They are pretty good,” she admitted despite her self-consciousness.  “Though I feel like I should’ve worn a more loose-fitting bathing suit if I was going to be out in public eating like this, this pregnant.  These skinny kids around here are making me feel huge.”

Boyd scoffed.  “That’s because they have metabolisms that run like turbo engines while they’re growing like that.  You know that.  You’re not really worried about how you look, are you?  You’re gorgeous.  Anyone rude or stupid enough to say something about your swimsuit or what you’re eating deserves to get that ice cream cone where the sun doesn’t shine anyway.”

“I know, but… bleh.  It doesn’t help that I don’t feel great being all big and off balance like this on a good day, and this heat sucks.  I love the baby, but I’m looking forward to having him or her on the outside.”

“Maybe after we eat, we should get in the pool.  Float around in the relaxing water.”

Susan sighed.  “If the shallow end’s got stairs that are easy to get in and out of.  I’m not up to climbing on ladders like this.  The bar stools are awkward enough.”

“I didn’t look that close.  But if not, maybe sit on the edge and dip your feet?”

“I take it you’re going in?”

“If I can find a spot where the kids aren’t consistently being too rowdy.”

As if on cue, a train of pre-teens, including Blair, ran by laughing and splashing before jumping in the corner near the deep end in a line of loud splashing cannonballs.  “Ha.  Good luck with that.”

“Yeah.  I’ll probably need another beer first.  But hey, at least Blair’s having a good time.  Glad to see that.”

“Me too,” Susan agreed, and popped the last of her ice cream cone into her mouth.



It did take another beer, and a trip to the bathroom to alleviate the effects of said beers, but Boyd eventually found a quiet spot in the pool to relax and take the edge off the summer heat. Even remembered the Ultra-Waterproof SPF 100+, he thought confidently, as his anxiety tried to remind him to worry about a sunburn, but failed to trigger that particular panic.  Luckily, Blair being as pale as he was made him plan for that contingency before they even left, because he already knew from working in Oasis Springs how bad the sun could get there.  Future Sim Labs had a lot of outdoor equipment that was used, maintained, and calibrated year-round, not to mention several experimental sampling areas on the grounds.

Boyd could hear the children playing nearby and the chatter of other parents like Eric Lewis and Hilary Laurent talking amongst themselves, but it faded into a pleasant blur of white noise that mingled with the splashing of the cool water as he floated in it.  It lulled him into a pleasant state of much-needed relaxation as the sun warmed his skin from above and the water cooled him from below, putting him into a delightful floaty and soothing equilibrium.



Susan had more trouble unwinding.  Her pregnancy denied her the assistance of any beer, juice, or nectar, and even though there were other options, carrying any drink over to the pool made getting up and down that much more awkward in her heavily pregnant state.  She walked over to the shallow end and sat on the edge, simply dipping her legs into the water up to her calves.  It was enough to cool her off and take the edge off the hot sun, although she had to slide forward a bit onto the reflective white plastic edging and splash water onto the hot cement behind her to cool it down under her rear end just a touch first.

A few minutes later, a woman sat down beside her.  “This heat is absolutely soul-crushing, isn’t it?” she said as she fanned herself with her hand.

“Especially eight and a half months pregnant, yes,” Susan agreed with a wan smile as she turned toward her.  She looked very familiar, and then realized what it was about her that made her seem that way.  The woman looked very much like the actress Judith Ward.  Of course, she probably wasn’t, because what would a big-time movie star like Judith Ward be doing at a kid’s Leisure Day pool party in Oasis Springs that wasn’t some highly publicized charity event? 

She nodded, glancing at her belly.  “I thought you might be a kindred spirit in that sense, as I had one very recently myself.”  She patted her belly proudly.  “Doesn’t look it thanks to my first-class spa team and a lot of excruciating work, but oh, yes.  I sympathize with how you must feel, dear.”  She paused dramatically and lowered her voice.  “I imagine you’ve probably recognized me by now?”  She slid her sunglasses down over her nose and eyed her pointedly.

Susan was shocked as she realized it was Judith Ward.  The news of her daughter Jazmin’s birth had been a blitz over social media recently.  “Wait, you are Judith Ward?  I thought you looked like her, but I didn’t think—”

She beamed at the properly awed recognition.  “Mmm-hmm.  I’m incognito.  Hiding out unannounced for Leisure Day.  I just cannot deal with another day of the paparazzi following me around right now.  They’re worse than ever since the baby’s been born.  Deshawn took her to the islands to meet his cousins over the holiday while I tucked myself away in secret.  Even gave my staff a weekend vacation aside from one dear trusted driver who volunteered to tote me around in secret for holiday pay and a very pricey bottle of Champs Les Sims nectar.  The press saw me hop on the plane with Deshawn and the baby, but they never saw me duck out the other side undercover.  It’s been wonderful being away from those vultures.”

“I bet.  They sound very annoying.  I imagine having fans constantly coming up to you gets a bit old, too.  Even if it is for a nicer reason.”

“Ugh, honey, you have no idea.”  She let out a beleaguered breath.  “I don’t mind fans, of course.  The non-psycho and non-weird ones, anyway.  I like the polite ones.  But so many of them have no concept of personal space or boundaries.  Or hygiene.”  She fanned herself again, making a disgusted face. “And those tabloid trash reporters, well, they can all go die in a fire as far as I’m concerned.”

“Not so much the reporters, though they sound awful, but I do understand about the creepy weirdos.”  Susan thought foully of Vladislaus.

Judith looked her over.  “A pretty girl like you?  Hmm, yes, I imagine you probably have had your share of men that can’t take no for an answer.  Ugh.  So many of them are so terrible, aren’t they?  I hope your baby’s father isn’t trash.  You’re far too pretty to settle for that.”

“No, he’s good.  Wonderful, actually.”  Susan smiled.  “He’s here with our daughter.  That’s her over there.  The blond girl with the pigtails on the diving board.”

Judith glanced over and nodded.  “Cute kid.  Glad you’ve got a decent man, then.  Hold onto him, at least as long as he stays that way.”  Judith stretched and stared up into the sun.  “I might even keep mine this time if he proves worthy in the long run.  None of the others have, but you never know.  Supposedly there are good ones out there, and now I’ve got a baby with this one.  He’s nice, decent-looking, and manageable.  Not famous.  No ego.  No old money.  That’s where I went wrong before.”  She took a deep breath.  “Well, it was nice talking to you, er… I don’t think I got your name.”

“Susan.”

“Susan.  It was a pleasure talking to you, Susan.  Good luck with your baby, and congratulations.  Enjoy the rest of the party.  Oh, and if you don’t mind, please don’t mention…?”  She gave her a dramatic, imploring look.

“I won’t.”

“You’re a dear.  Thank you so much.  Have a wonderful Leisure Day.”



After Boyd got out of the pool to treat himself to an ice cream, he also noticed how much the woman that had been talking to Susan resembled Judith Ward.  Once he finished his cone, he stopped by to jokingly ask if she got an autograph before she left as he, too, did not think it was actually Judith Ward but just someone at the party that bore a strong resemblance to her.  Blair was coming over to ask her parents if it was okay if she got an ice cream—spotting her dad get one made her want one, too!—and she overheard the conversation.

“Your new friend sure looks a lot like Judith Ward.  You’re not making friends with the rich and famous on the sly, are you?  And if you are, I hope you at least got an autograph if you’re not going to introduce me.”

Susan smirked.  “What would you do if I was?”

“If you were making pals with Judith Ward?”  Boyd snorted.  “I’d be surprised someone like her was slumming it here in Oasis Springs, even if this is a country club neighborhood.  I’m no expert on celebrity gossip, but isn’t she one of the ones that that supposedly never leaves the uptown gated communities or VIP areas and is supposed to be such a mega-snob that the tabloids love knocking her down a peg when they can?”

“Yeah, Judith Ward’s been married like five times or something,” Blair chimed in. 

“Something like that, yeah,” said Susan.

“You’d think getting it wrong that many times would be a wake-up call that the problem might not just be your bad taste,” Boyd quipped.  “Especially when they all ended in divorce court.  I don’t think any of them died, did they?”

“No.  I don’t think so.”

“Maybe crusty old Vlad should try her for a challenge.”

“Did you really meet her?  Was she here at our pool party?” Blair looked around trying to spot the blond woman in the red bathing suit, who was now wearing a wide-brimmed hat and sipping a drink from a coconut-shaped glass at the bar. 



With a gleam in her eye, Susan smiled at each of them in turn as she answered.  “Hypothetically speaking, if Judith Ward was here at a public party like this, especially without her own baby and baby’s father given that it’s a family kind of event, and she wasn’t here for a promotional appearance or a charity function or something, she probably wouldn’t want to be recognized or for it to get around that she was.  After all, I’m sure she gets followed by paparazzi and nagged by annoying fans everywhere she goes.”

Boyd caught on immediately and was intrigued.  “A big star like her?  I’m sure.  That’s got to get really old after a while.”

“So if, hypothetically, she came somewhere unexpected like this, it would probably be to get away from all that so she just can go out somewhere different and simply relax and do Leisure Day like a regular person.  Not a celebrity.  Otherwise she’d have just gone to some exclusive VIP club or beach or stayed at her own mansion.  So, on the very slim odds that someone like Judith Ward even would come here for Leisure Day…”

“Oh, we’d certainly never ruin it for her by bothering her or telling anyone we thought we might’ve seen her.  That would be rude!” Boyd agreed.

“Very rude indeed,” agreed Susan.



Blair also caught on and sat down with her parents.  “Right.  I wouldn’t say anything to anyone, either.  I’d keep it to just us.”  She lowered her voice so only Boyd and Susan could hear.  “But just between us, was it her?”

Susan grinned.  “It sure was.”

Blair beamed and shook with excitement.  “That’s really cool!  Also, can I have some ice cream?”

“Sure, that’s fine,” Boyd told her before turning to Susan.  “So did miss undercover superstar say anything interesting?” asked Boyd.

“Only if you count hearing a five-star celebrity complain like the stereotypical middle-aged woman who’s had enough plum from bad relationships to last a lifetime entertaining.  I guess it just goes to prove that there are things in life that are the same for everyone and that no amount of money, fame, talent, or looks can buy in the end.”

“Didn’t she just have a baby?  I wonder why she didn’t want to spend Leisure Day with them.  I can’t imagine she doesn’t have a nanny changing diapers or doing the inconvenient stuff for her.  I’m guessing the complaints you heard were why the current husband’s not around, though?”

“Oh, she didn’t marry the baby’s father yet, but she did say she was considering it.  That she thinks this one might be a keeper.  She didn’t go into specifics, but her complaints were more general, like about all the bad apples that preceded him.”

“So the sixth time will be the charm, huh?  Well, good luck to her with that, and him, with her track record,” said Boyd.  “Especially for their kid’s sake.”

Blair’s eyes lit up.  “Hey!  Her baby’s going to be almost the same age as my little brother or sister.  Do you think they’ll ever meet?”

“I doubt any kid of Judith Ward’s will ever see the public school system,” Boyd scoffed.  “Plus, we’re not exactly local to Del Sol Valley.”

“Not to mention that a casual poolside chat aside, her usual crowd isn’t engineers and scientists.  Unless they’re working on her movie sets, and then, well, they’re not usually her friends from what I’ve heard.”

“Aw, that’s too bad.  It’d be cool to go to school with someone who had a movie star for a mom.”

“Guess you and your new brother or sister will just have to settle for going to school with us as your dorky parents, then,” Boyd said, and patted Blair’s head as they stood and picked up their towels.

She giggled, but Susan took umbrage to his statement and thwapped him on the rump despite her awkward eight and a half months pregnant gait.  “Hey!  Speak for yourself, dork.”

“Sorry, honey.  You know I didn’t mean it like that.  Love you.”

“I love you, too, but still.  For shame.  I’ll have you know that my new totally not a Del Sol Valley star did say I was too pretty to put up with a husband that wasn’t, in her words, ‘trash,’” she informed him on a playfully haughty note.  “So you better watch your step, mister!”

“Yes, my beautiful and certainly not dorky even though she loves all the same geeky things I do engineer dear,” Boyd replied wryly.

“Mmm-hmm.  Better, but I think you still owe Blair an ice cream and now me a cream cola for the original remark.  So how about you go get in line?”

“Fair enough.”



It was evening by the time they returned to Brindleton Bay.  The pool party did not feature fireworks, and while Oasis Springs did, it was later in the evening than they wanted to stay out of town.  They decided to head home instead since they could see some of the professional ones set off at the beach from their property without having to deal with the crowds at the boardwalk, and where they lived was remote enough that they could set off a few of their own without having to worry about neighborhood code violations.

Blair loved fireworks and sparklers, like most kids her age.  She danced around the patio burning through sparkler after sparkler, trying one of every color.  Meanwhile, Susan paced around trying not to be visibly annoyed by the smell.  While she was glad Blair was enjoying herself, she did not particularly relish that sulfur gunpowder chemical odor on a good day and while pregnant, her nose was more sensitive than ever.  It was bad enough when it was a necessary evil at work, but on a “fun” holiday it was doubly annoying.  However, Blair was having fun, and there had been so many bad and depressing things happening lately that she did not want to ruin it for her.  So, she kept her irritation to herself and hoped that one of the sea breezes would pick up and waft it away faster.



Boyd did not care in the least and, in a weird way, liked the chemical smells.  Not so much that he huffed fumes deliberately, but they evoked the feeling of being involved in interesting experiments.  Besides, fireworks were explosives and those were simultaneously terrifying and fascinating for someone like him.  As a scientist and someone with an interest in chemistry, fireworks were not just pretty lights, but impressive displays of combustion, which were always things of beauty.  As someone with anxiety who tended to imagine worst-case scenarios, however, they were also dangerous and nerve-wracking.  Still, he insisted on lighting them himself.  After all, if something was going to go wrong, he would rather be the one to get injured as opposed to his pregnant wife or young daughter.  He tried to ignore the voice in his head that whispered, what if a spark flies up onto the roof and lights it on fire, even though that was super unlikely considering he had it a safe distance from the house anyway.  Unless, of course, a freak gust of wind came up and blew it right into the house.  Even though that should not really happen, either, and would be highly unlikely given the shape of the mountains and the trees around them.  But it was not technically impossible.  Because few things in the universe were one hundred percent impossible…

“Dad?”

Blair’s voice cut through his internal monologue as he knelt next to the Roman candle.  “Oh, right.  Just double-checking the fuse was on securely.  It’s fine.”  He lit it and stood back with her and Susan, inwardly telling his brain to stuff it and just enjoy the show as the pretty green lights flashed out of it, high and perfectly safe against the dark summer night around them.



They were still hanging out on the back patio enjoying Leisure Day evening when Boyd got a surprise call from his mother.  “Heh.  Wonder what she wants this late.”

“Maybe she’s just calling to say happy Leisure Day,” Blair suggested.  “She and Grandpa Stuart both posted on my Social Bunny wall this morning.”  Although most kids Blair’s age did not have Social Bunny accounts as they were technically too young, Boyd and Susan bent the rules and allowed her to fudge her age in her profile and have one until she was old enough so she could keep in touch with her grandparents in Sulani on there.  Blair was well-behaved and mature enough to handle it, in their opinion, and they had strict rules in place to ensure her safety.  She was not allowed to give out personal information or accept strange requests, and they monitored her activity to make sure she stayed out of trouble and danger.

“Mine, too.”  For Susan it was a bittersweet reminder that her own mother was no longer there to post, even if she could have.  Her father hadn’t, either, but he did not have a Social Bunny account yet, if he would ever get one.  It had been hard enough to get him and her mother on SimBook back when it first started.  Like many older folks new to social media, they had required much tech help and coaching, mostly from her, since Jonathan “helpfully” bounced anything that required more than a quick “reboot the app or phone” or “you got logged out again” or “no, that’s a scammer” to her or Boyd. 

“Yup, and mine, but you could be right.”  Boyd smirked and added just before taking the call, “Maybe they had a bit of the old kava and it made ‘em chatty at the end of the day.”

Susan snerked at that, while Boyd stood up and answered.  “Hey, Mom.  Happy Leisure Day.  How’s it going?”



“I—I wish it was.”  Myra’s voice was choked with grief.  “I’m sorry.  I don’t know how else to tell you this, but your father’s gone.  He’s dead.”  She broke down into uncontrollable sobs as she finished saying the words.

[Cheezey]

Chapter 21

Completely and totally shocked, Boyd felt as though the wind had been knocked out of him.  His father was dead?  But how?  Why?  He had been just fine as far as he knew.  Sure, he was old, but he had seemed all right in Sulani, other than that night he got a little tired and had a panic attack.  But his father had anxiety just like him for as long as Boyd could remember, and his mother had only implied he hadn’t been feeling well as if he’d had a cold or something.  He had been fine whenever they spoke since, and, like Blair pointed out, had even posted cheerfully on all their social media this morning.  It didn’t make any sense.

“What?”  His voice was barely above a whisper as he took two steps away from Susan and Blair, who were chatting happily, unaware.  “Mom?  Oh, my Watcher.  What happened?”



Myra composed herself just enough to relate the tale.  “Oh, Boyd.  We’d had this wonderful day.  Slept in, posted to you and Blair and Susan and our friends on Social Bunny and SimBook, had brunch over at the pavilion where the neighborhood was doing a get-together, and spent some time at the beach… Stuart seemed a little tired, maybe more than usual, but nothing that struck me as off for him.  Not during the day.  I thought he might be coming down with something when he said he wanted to lie down for a nap this afternoon, and I asked him, but he swore to me he was fine.  I swear to you on the Watcher’s name, Boyd, he did.  You know I wouldn’t let him get by with not taking care of himself.”  Her voice was grief-stricken and shaky, and clearly guilt-wracked, even though Boyd knew without a doubt that his fastidious mother would have never let any visible sign of a serious illness in her beloved husband pass unchecked without marching orders to a doctor.

“Of course I know that, Mom.  I’m sure you did everything you could.”

“I did.  I swear I did.  If I’d had any inkling, I’d have called an ambulance the first time he told me he was tired,” she sobbed.  “Anyway, when he got up, he said he was feeling better, even wanted to eat.  So we sat down and had a snack.  Talked about going for a walk down to the beach later, down to the docks at sunset to watch it over the ocean and staying out to see if anyone was going to shoot off fireworks.  Sounded great to me.”  Her voice wavered again.  “Then we went to leave, and he just wasn’t up to it.  Just said no, not tonight.  Said he thought he overdid it fixing the gutters yesterday—I told him to take a break, but he wouldn’t listen!  Said he just wanted it done and over with,” she choked, “and pulled his shoulder.  Because his arm hurt.  And he was tired.  So was going to go to bed early.  Apologized a lot for letting me down.  I told him it wasn’t a letdown, just not to hurt himself again and he promised he wouldn’t and… and then he went to sleep.”

She cried a little more and continued.  “Then I’d just changed for the night and was brushing my teeth when I heard him get up.  Figured he couldn’t sleep.  I was going to see how he was feeling when I heard the thump.  I came out and found him collapsed on the living room floor,” she said, crying hard again.

Boyd swallowed the lump building in his throat as tears came to his eyes.  “Aw, Dad,” he whispered.



“He was still breathing then, but I couldn’t get him to wake up.  I called an ambulance, and it was the longest minutes of my life waiting for them.  But then his chest stopped moving, and I couldn’t find his pulse.  And they weren’t there yet,” she wailed.  “I took CPR and first aid.  You know I kept my certs good.  I’ve always been proud of that.  I tried to bring him back.  I promise you I did, I tried so hard!  But I couldn’t.  Maybe I’m too old and weak myself.  The compressions, oh, I put everything I had into it for as long as I could.  I really did…”  She was crying even harder now.  “But he still didn’t breathe!  There was no pulse.  Nothing!  No matter what I did!  And the ambulance still wasn’t there!”

Boyd deliberately distanced himself from Susan and Blair so that they wouldn’t hear what was going on until he had the full story.  “I know you did everything you could, Mom.  Don’t blame yourself.”

“I love your father so much, I just can’t… I’m sorry, Stuart.  I’m sorry I couldn’t save you!”

“I’m sure he doesn’t blame you, either.”

“Watcher forgive me, I hope not!  I begged him, you know.  I begged him not to take him when he came.”

“The EMT, you mean?”  It was hard hearing his normally prim, collected perfectionist mother fall apart like that, and he regretted that she was going through so much shock and grief alone all the way in Sulani.



“No.  Old Grim himself!” she shouted back through ragged tears.

That surprised Boyd.  While sightings of the Grim Reaper were not uncommon around deaths, interactions that were more than brief glimpses were generally with either the psychically attuned, supernatural experience eager, or ones otherwise ‘near the veil’ themselves, so to speak.  It did not sit well with him knowing that, since his mother had never fit into the first two categories.  “What do you mean?”

“I mean when the Reaper came for your father and pulled out his tablet of names, I faced his black void of a face, got down on my knees, and begged him not to take him.  Told him how hard I tried to revive him and how much I loved him and wanted him to stay.  How it had to be a mistake!  How it couldn’t possibly be his time.  There was no illness, no accident, no reason!  So please, he just couldn’t take him yet!  That whatever we needed, I needed, to do, to keep him here, I would!  Please!”

“And what did he say?”

“What do you think he said?  He’s dead, isn’t he?”  She snapped back bitterly, and then sobbed.  “I’m sorry.  I shouldn’t be hateful to you.  It’s not your fault.”  She took a breath.  “He just said ‘No.  It’s his time.’  I said it couldn’t be, and he just said it again.  ‘It’s his time,’ and then he said, ‘It comes for us all, whether we’re ready or not, whether we expect it or not.’  Then he said Stuart lived a long, rich, and full life in this world, but it was over, and made it clear that there was nothing I could say or do to change it.”

Boyd closed his eyes on the other end of the line.  “Then you literally did everything you could, Mom.  You have nothing to apologize for, especially to Dad or yourself.”



“But I should’ve been able to save him!  There’s no reason!  They said it was probably a heart attack, but… but he didn’t even have heart disease, not even high cholesterol or blood pressure!  He was in good enough shape to clean gutters yesterday!  If I’d known that was why he was tired, what that pain in his arm was… I’d have taken him… I’d have called…”  She fell into soft sobs.  “I should’ve been able to save him.”  She let the phone drop limply by her side for a moment as she grieved.

“Mom, please.  It’s okay.  Look, I’ll book a flight right now and get on a plane first thing and—”



She picked it up again and turned around with firm energy, as if her pragmatism temporarily locked her grief into a closet so she could function.  “No.  I’ll be fine,” she insisted.  “I can take care of things.  Susan could have that baby any day now.  The living need you more than the dead, and I’d hate for you to be down here in the islands fussing over me while I make arrangements if Susan goes into labor.  I’d never forgive myself if you miss your second child’s birth because you were worried your poor old mother couldn’t handle some paperwork.”

“Mom, I know you can do paperwork.  I just hate for you to be alone at a time like this, without any of us even there to hug you.”

“I have friends here for that.  Besides, you know as well as I do that your father would’ve absolutely hated the idea of you upending yourselves and stressing out to get here to say goodbye after he’s already gone.”

“You could come here.”

“I… any trip’s a bit much to think of right now.  At the very least I’ll need to arrange some things here.  But I’ll call you as soon as I have any more information.”

Boyd frowned on the other end as the reality of the situation sank in deeper and deeper.  “Okay.  If you’re sure.”

“I’m sure.  And please tell Blair and Susan for me.  I—I just can’t go over it all again right now.  I’m sorry.”

“Of course, Mom.  Whatever you need.  Just take care of yourself, and please, call if you need anything.  Anything at all.  I love you.”

“I love you too.  All of you.”  With that, she hung up.



“Aw, I won’t go that far,” Blair argued with her mother.  “I’ll bring a flashlight.  I know from scouting how to be careful.  There’s nothing bad in the woods and I wouldn’t go near the cliffs or waterfall.”

“No.  It’s dangerous.  Stay on the lawn.”

“Sometimes I swear you still treat me like I’m five,” she pouted.

Sometimes I think creeps like Vlad are lurking in the bushes, and I don’t want you anywhere near him.  But I don’t want to say that and give him the satisfaction of hearing it if he actually is, Susan thought sourly.  Truth be told, she was not thrilled at the idea of Blair poking around the woods in the dark alone without Vladislaus around, either, even if she did believe Blair would be careful.  “Well, the reason you made it past five is that your parents have the caution of adults, and at times you still have all the caution of a five-year-old.  That is to say, not enough.  If you had a buddy, that would be one thing, but you don’t.  So humor me and stay in the yard, please.”

“Okay, fine.”  She scampered off to play while Susan looked over at Boyd, who had just got off the phone.

“So what did she want?”

“I need to talk to you for a minute.”



Immediately, she could tell something dreadful was wrong.  “Boyd?  What’s going on?”

“Dad’s dead,” Boyd said, still in a half state of disbelief.

Susan’s eyes went wide with shock.  “What?”

“Dad died tonight.  That’s what she was calling about.”

“Oh, my Watcher!  How on Earth…?  What happened?”

He related the story of what his mother told him as he tried not to break down himself.  “I can’t believe he’s gone.  He was… he was fine!  None of us knew he was even sick or at risk of something like this.  Other than just being old.”

“Poor Stuart, and Myra.  She’s, wow, from what you’ve said, she’s probably not holding up as well as she’d like us to believe.”

“She saw Grim and begged him, Susan.”  Boyd swallowed back a sick feeling and eyed her with dread.  “You know what that means.”



She could tell what he was worrying about and tried to stave it off so as not to add to the stress and grief he was already experiencing.  “It means she was emotionally distraught and desperate for any chance to save the love of her life, and it was strong enough to draw the reaper to manifest to her like someone more psychically sensitive.  That’s all.”

“Or—”

“That’s why.  You know as well as I do that your mother’s never been able to take ‘no’ well for an answer.  It shouldn’t surprise you that it even extends to Grim.”  Although what Boyd was thinking occurred to Susan as well, she was not going to let him entertain that on top of the shock of his father’s sudden death.

“Maybe.  I hope so.  Because Mom, oh Watcher.  She shouldn’t be by herself.  None of us knew Dad was so close.  Even Dad didn’t know.”

“In a way, that’s good.  He didn’t have time to dwell on anything.  To worry and fear his time was running out.  Stuart was a lot like you that way.  He worried so much about so many things.  At least Grim spared him that, a death that had him worrying constantly about when he’d show up.  Instead, he let him live out his final days in an island paradise with your mother up until the last with nothing ailing him worse than a sore shoulder that he thought was from cleaning a gutter and feeling like he needed a nap.”

Boyd took a heavy breath.  “That’s true.  I just wish I’d had a chance to say goodbye, or some hint that it was even coming.  So that my last interaction with him wouldn’t have been casual like of a graphic he left me on Social Bunny.”  His lips trembled.  “So I could’ve said I loved him and that I’d miss him one last time.”

“Oh, Boyd.”  Susan pulled him into a tight hug.  “If I learned one thing from losing Mom, it’s that there’s never enough that could’ve been said that last time, or enough warning.  Never.  Because no one’s ever truly ready to lose someone they love forever.”



After a minute to collect himself, Boyd called Blair over and broke the news to her.  She took it hard, too.  “Grandpa!” she sobbed.  “It’s not fair!  Why now?  He wasn’t even sick, was he?”

“No,” said Boyd.  “Not that anyone knew of.”

“This didn’t have anything to do with how Grandma said he got tired sometimes, did it?  When we were in Sulani she said that the night he got upset at the festival and went home early.”

“No.  That was just your Grandpa’s nerves acting up.  Like your dad’s sometimes do,” Susan explained.  “And your Grandpa took some stronger medicine for it.”

“That maybe in retrospect he shouldn’t have been mixing with kava, but maybe he never told his doctors that,” Boyd muttered.

“Or Myra,” Susan added after overhearing, but she, too, kept that out of Blair’s earshot.

“But heart attacks can be like that, and that’s probably what it was from the sound of things.  Until now, there wasn’t a history of that on his side of the family that I’m aware of, but I know if he did have risk factors, my mom would’ve made darn sure he stuck to whatever the doctor told him to do.  You know your grandma.”  He gave Blair a reassuring smile, as much for her sake as for his own since saying the words aloud helped him work through it, too.  “She loves us, but she also doesn’t let anyone get by with any nonsense.  Not me, not you, not even Grandpa Stuart.”

Blair cried.  “I’m really going to miss him.”

“Me, too.”  Boyd hugged her tightly.  “Me, too.”



Susan gave her a comforting hug as well.  “It’s hard.  I know.  We just lost Grandma Maureen and now we’ve lost Grandpa Stuart.  Life is giving us a good wallop right now, isn’t it?  Go ahead and cry as much as you need to.”

She did, holding onto her mother tightly for several moments before straightening back up.  “Is there going to be a funeral in Sulani like the one we had in San Myshuno for Grandma Maureen?  Or is Grandma Myra coming here to have one with us for him?”

“We don’t know yet,” Boyd answered.  “I’ll find that out when I talk to Mom again.  Probably tomorrow, after she’s had a chance to get whatever rest she can.”

“Is she going to be okay all alone there?”

“We’ll do our best to make sure she is,” Susan said.

“I’m going to keep calling her to make sure she is, and I’m going to send messages to some of her local friends and make sure they check up on her since we can’t be there in person,” Boyd assured her.  “It’s not a good idea for your mom to travel this close to having the baby, and as much as I’d like to go and help, I don’t want to be away from you two if the baby comes.”

Blair nodded and looked up at the sky.  “I can’t believe he’s really gone.  I wonder if he and Grandma Maureen can see each other now.  If they can be friends there.”

Susan and Boyd exchanged wan smiles.  “I’d like to think so,” Susan said.

“Musician that Dad was, he’s probably playing for their choir, and Maureen’s probably dancing to the music.”

“Oh, yes.  She loved to dance.”  Before she got too sick to do it, anyway, Susan thought on a bittersweet note.  At least in the afterlife, she would be free of that.



The Wainwrights dealt with their grief the best they could in the following days.  Losing two grandparents so close together was hard on Blair.  Although she had friends at school and in scouts, they were more playmates and friendly acquaintances than close best friend types that she would talk about serious issues with at any length.  She kept many things to herself, although privately she vented some of her pent-up emotion to her oversized stuffed pal Uni, an imaginary companion from her younger days of childhood.  Although she no longer believed Uni was real in the same sense she used to, Uni was still comforting, and it felt to her like her old friend was listening and was someone she could talk to that wasn’t her parents, that understood.



Boyd and Susan noticed that Blair was writing in her journal more often, which they were glad to see.  They respected her privacy, so they had no idea what she was writing about, but there were times she became emotional while doing so, so it was clear that she was working through some of her feelings in a healthy way.



Boyd was like Blair in that he largely kept his feelings to himself, aside from what he privately expressed to Susan, but he tried to keep that to a minimum.  Although she was nothing but loving and supportive, he felt guilty burdening her with too much.  Not only had she just lost her own mother, but the baby was coming in the very near future, and with that happy arrival would come the dreadful fear of Vladislaus returning to feed on her.  He was not about to add to her stress if he could avoid it.

Instead, he helped his stressed mother, who he was also worried about, by assisting her with tracking down and notifying distant relatives and family friends over social media of the sad news.



The more he talked to her, the more he worried about her.  It was clear that losing his father had affected his mother down to her very core.  While he could tell she was still competent, it was obvious that she was grieving hard and having trouble coping with the stress of losing her husband of so many years.

As it turned out, Stuart did die of a sudden heart attack.  Although he had not had any warning signs or risk factors other than a lifetime of high stress that came with an anxiety disorder, in retrospect, there had been some subtle and less common indicators that his health was not as good as they might have thought.  Much of it he had brushed off as manifestations of his stress or minor aches and pains of old age, and although there was no way to know for certain, Myra wondered if there were aches and pains he never told her about.  Oddly, at times his hypochondria would kick into reverse and frighten him away from doctors if he feared whatever they might tell him was bad enough.

“Which means you need to watch yourself, Boyd.  You’re just like him that way, you know.”  Myra’s grief-stricken voice took on its motherly nagging tone.  “You stress over everything.  It eats away at your body over time.  Not to mention you’ve never been great at taking care of yourself as far as eating right and exercise compared to him.  Not even from his younger days at the orchestra.  All that caffeine’s not good for your heart, you know.”

“I’ll keep it in mind, but really, I’m fine.”

“You’re my only child.  I love you.  I don’t want anything to happen to you before your time.  You’re still young, but there’s a family history now.  Remember that.  Tell your doctors and watch that blood pressure and cholesterol.”

He rolled his eyes.  “I will.”

“And for the love of the Watcher, try to control that stress.”

“Now that’s a tall order.”



Myra took a deep breath.  “Speaking of which, I’d like to go over your father’s final wishes and will with you.  Obviously, being our only child, you’re his heir after me.  As far as estates go, we set ours up the same back when we moved to Sulani.  The first one of us to go left everything to the other.  Then, when the surviving one of us goes, everything we have goes to you.  If, Watcher forbid, something happens to you first, it would be split evenly amongst the children you have.  So, fifty/fifty between Blair and your unborn baby now.  If you were gone and they were still underage, but Susan was alive, it would be held in trust for her to manage until they came of age.  If they were of age—”

“Mom, you’re still alive.  You don’t need to go into this level of detail.  You inherit everything of Dad’s.  You’re his wife.  I got it.  I can have an estate lawyer go over the rest with me years later after you’re gone.”

She frowned.  “Please don’t take that cavalier tone.  I’m discussing a serious matter, and as losing your father so suddenly exemplifies, any of us could go at any time!”  She became tearful and upset.  “You and Susan should consider what might happen to your children if the worst happened.  Are you certain the state would put them with family?  What close family is there that could care for them other than Jonathan?  Patrick and I are both too old to raise small children, as much as we love Blair and that baby.”



Boyd had not thought about that since he had not given serious thought to him and Susan suddenly dying and leaving Blair and their as-yet unborn child orphans.  For someone who doesn’t want me to stress and worry, Mom sure is great at giving me fodder for it, Boyd mused irritably.  “I’ll talk to her about it.  But okay.  It makes sense.  If for some reason you die but I’ve died before you, Blair and the baby will inherit whatever assets you have.”

“That’s correct,” said Myra.  “Now, about the burial.  It’ll be a split burial.”

“A split burial?”

“Yes.  You see, he really came to love the islands, so he wanted to be cremated and have his ashes spread at sea here.”

“Okay…”

“But he also wanted to be buried in accordance with the Jacoban beliefs he was raised with.  So he also wanted his ashes given rites by a Jacoban priest and interred for rest in an urn on sanctified ground to be certain his soul could properly rest and cross over.  Hence the split.”

“Wow.  Uh, all right.  So, how do we want to arrange that?”



Myra switched to speaker as she pulled up some information on her phone.  “A Jacoban priest here will bless his cremated remains in the urn, which I will then take out into the sea during a funeral service here for him.  That’ll allow his friends here a chance to pay their respects and say goodbye as well.  Besides, lots of his friends here are native islanders and either worship or at least pay homage to the island spirits.  Stuart enjoyed the island lifestyle in our years here and respected it.  The sea also calmed his nerves.  It’s why he wanted a part of him to stay here.”

“Okay, I get that.”

“So, during that ceremony, I’ll spread half of his ashes out in the ocean and bring the rest back to the shore in the urn.  I’ll keep that here until I bring it back the week before Harvestfest, a little earlier than I originally planned to come up, and see you and meet the baby.  It can be the same trip, but a little longer, for both a sad and happy occasion.  We can do the final memorial for him at the Jacoban chapel over in Henford-on-Bagley that we were married in and that you and Susan were married in.  Then we’ll have the urn interred with rites.”

Boyd raised an eyebrow on the other end.  “Jacoban priests are usually real sticklers for tradition.  They won’t balk at the half-the-ashes months later thing?”

“I’ve already talked to them.  The priests at St. Cobblebottom know our family.  They’re fine with it.  Your father was a good Watcher-fearing man.”

“You made a big donation, didn’t you?”

Myra frowned.  “I’d ask forgiveness for that glibness if I were you.  The Watcher listens when they’re the subject of the conversation, you know.”

“Okay.  I’m sorry, Watcher.  No offense meant,” he said to mollify her.  “Though I don’t remember you being this devout since I was a kid, Mom.”

Her voice fell to a forlorn whisper.  “I’ve got to find answers somewhere, Boyd.”



While Boyd helped his mother deal with his father’s death, Susan channeled some of her grief over her father-in-law by doubling down on spending time with her own father.  She had already been worried about how he was doing with coping by throwing himself into his work to distraction after losing her mother.  Every time she talked to Patrick, he assured her he was fine, but after Stuart died and Susan saw how much Myra was struggling, she wanted to check up on him more personally.  She decided to pay him a surprise visit, and after a spur of the moment message to Jonathan, who, as it turned out, had the day off, they went over to his apartment the same day.

They were glad they did.  To say his apartment was depressing was an understatement.  While Patrick had not let the place utterly fall apart, it was clear that he was doing little more than sleeping, dressing, showering, and occasionally eating takeout, watching TV, or using the computer there.  It was not dirty in the sense that he was not washing his dishes, taking out the trash, or doing his laundry, but it was obvious he had not gotten around to dusting or vacuuming or doing some of the deeper cleaning chores that had usually been the sorts of things that Maureen did.  Even after she got sick, she kept as busy as she could up until the very end.  She never liked being idle and had kept her home sparkling clean.

Although Susan found cleaning a tedious chore and rather disliked it, especially as pregnant as she was, she could not bear to see her parents’ apartment like that.  She got out the mop herself and got to work cleaning it up for him.

Patrick sighed when she insisted on doing so.  “You really don’t have to do that for me.  I’m a big boy.  I’ve just been busy.  I’ll get to it sooner or later, or I can do it now if it’s bothering you that much.”

“It’s not a big deal, Dad.  I can tell you’re overwhelmed with everything going on.  I can help you out.  Besides, all this dust isn’t good for you.”

He chortled.  “Who’s the doctor here, Susie?  I really was going to get to that soon.  Just haven’t had the time.”



When he arrived, Jonathan brought a crock with a hearty home-cooked casserole that Maaike made.  It was a good thing he did, since their father’s refrigerator was bare of almost everything aside from milk, condiments, and a couple of frozen dinners.  “Dad, your fridge looks like mine used to before Maaike started spoiling me.”  He tapped the crock.  “Which means you should like this.  A monster three-cheese sausage ziti casserole that reheats really well.”  He joined his father and Susan at the kitchen table, which held a monstrous pile of junk mail and bills—not in default, but all close to due—that mingled close to a file box full of other important papers like tax and medical records.  “Aw, heck, Dad.  This is why we do stuff online these days.  You can just pay and track that stuff with your phone or computer and not have to deal with a lot of that paperwork.”

“Those are mostly things going to the estate lawyer.  The medical bills are… well, let’s just say that even though we have decent coverage and I make a good salary, cancer treatments are very expensive, and insurance will do anything they can to not cover them.”

“What a bunch of vultures,” Susan muttered.  “She’s barely cold in the ground.”

“Well, I’ve never been a fan of insurance companies on either side of the practice, or the billing system’s inequities,” he said on a weary and resigned note.  “I’m just glad we had the means to help her for as long as we did.”

“Just don’t work too hard, Dad,” added Jonathan.  “You look tired.  You sure you’re getting enough sleep?”



He kindly waved aside that concern.  “I’m fine.  Just worked a couple of long shifts the last few days, that’s all.  You know how that is.  And I miss your mother, of course.”  He sighed.  “I won’t lie.  That hasn’t gotten easier, and I miss her like you wouldn’t believe.  She made this whole place brighter just being here.”

“She sure did,” Jonathan agreed, while Susan nodded with him.

“Absolutely.  Just please don’t overdo it.  She wouldn’t want you running yourself ragged.”

“I’m not.  I promise.”  He paused.  “Which reminds me, Susan, I know I messaged you and Boyd and Myra already, but I’m very sorry about Stuart.  How terrible.  He was a fine man.  How are all of you holding up?”

Jonathan nodded with him.  “Yeah.  I imagine Blair-y Bear’s got to be pretty torn up, and I’m sure it’s rough on Boyd.”

“We’re all hanging in there, but yeah, it’s hard.  Blair’s a trooper.  She’s upset, of course.  It’s hard losing your grandparents and she loves all of you.”  She gave her father a pointed look.  “So take care of yourself,” she reiterated before getting back on topic, “but I think she’s dealing with it healthily.  I’ve seen her writing in her journal when she’s sad.  As for Boyd, well, he’s stressed.  Stuart’s death was a real shock because no one expected it.  He didn’t have any history of heart problems or illness or anything, so it was very sudden, and it threw him for a loop.  It threw Myra for an even bigger one, and with Boyd being her only immediate family, she’s leaning on him pretty heavily.  He’s doing what he can, but she insisted he stay with me and Blair in Brindleton Bay and she won’t leave Sulani, so there’s all this back and forth with long distance arrangements.  He’s very worried about her, too.  He won’t talk about it past a certain point, though, because he doesn’t want to stress me out.”

At that, Jonathan chortled.  “I know he’s thinking about you and the baby and it’s a credit to him, so I mean this in all fondness, but that’s funny.  You’ve got nerves of steel compared to his nerves of tin foil hat.  But seriously, sorry you guys are having such a rough time, and about Stuart, too.  It sucks.  Keep me posted on the arrangements.”

“Of course.”

[Cheezey]

Chapter 22

When the time for Stuart’s funeral in Sulani came, Boyd regretted that he could not be there for it, but Susan still had not had the baby yet, so a trip to Sulani was out of the question for her.  She tried telling Boyd to go anyway, but as much as a part of him wanted to be there to say goodbye to his dead father in the islands, he could not justify it to himself, not when his living wife might very well need him in Brindleton Bay.  Myra agreed with that sentiment even more strongly, and did her best to allay his concerns, insisting that everything would be fine and that she would take care of all the arrangements locally.  So, with a regretful conscience, Boyd sent his long-distance love and condolences, well-wishes, and support when the ceremony took place.  The rest of the family sent their flowers and gifts as a long-distance presence as well, and on a beautiful Sulani afternoon, Myra boarded a boat and spread half of her beloved husband’s blessed ashes across the sparkling ocean waters that he loved so much in the golden years of his life.

“Float in peace, Stuart.  Now a part of you will always be here, just like you always wanted.  Enjoy those beautiful sea sunrises and sunsets.  One day, I’ll see them with you again.”  She sniffled as she affixed the seal of the urn back into place and murmured, closing her eyes in reverence, “Jacob guide you.”



After the ceremony, she called Boyd.  “It was the perfect day.”  Her eyes were filled with bittersweet tears.  “The sun shining brightly, no clouds, soft breezes.  Not too hot, not too cool.  The sort of day that makes this place feel like paradise.  The perfect day to welcome your father to the sea, really.”

“I’m glad to hear it, Mom.  It sounds like what he would’ve wanted.  I wish I could’ve been there.”

“I know.  But as much as I’d have loved to have you with me, and even though it wasn’t necessary, I’m glad you stayed with Susan and Blair.  It really is a long and expensive trip, and even though she didn’t go into sudden labor, she very well could’ve on a plane trip.  I know you’re saving your money and have so much else going on.  It’s for the best that you stayed.  Your father knows you all love him, and you’ll have a chance to say goodbye and pay your respects in person at the memorial in Henford-on-Bagley anyhow.  He understands.”

“I like to think he would.  I hope he would.  I’d never want Dad to think I didn’t care.”

“I know he does.  He told me as much.”



Boyd was not quite sure he heard her right.  “He told you?”

“Yes.”  She stated it matter-of-factly, as though a conversation with her dead husband was perfectly normal.

“Uh, when did he tell you this, Mom?”  He wondered if perhaps she was inferring something from a conversation they once had about such a topic while they were setting up their wills or final wishes.

“I’ve spoken with him, Boyd,” she said on a defensive note.  “He… visits me on occasion.  Briefly, since they returned the urn.  To comfort me.  He knows how much I miss him.  He’s heard me playing his violin.  Or trying, anyway.”  She chuckled.  “Oh, I’m absolutely terrible at it.  I never learned a note, you know, so I sound like a dying cat plucking at it.  I probably woke him up with the blasted noise, and you know how much he hated bad playing.  And he’s seen me toasting two kavas when it’s just me and not the two of us.  I still pour two cups and set one by his chair at sunset because I can’t bear to leave it empty.  Maybe it’s because the burial’s not final yet.  But I don’t mind.  Knowing he’s here sometimes brings me a little peace.”  Her voice choked up.  “He worries about you too, you know.  That doesn’t go away entirely on the other side, it seems.  But it’s not the same.  He looks so much more at peace other than being concerned about us.  So please, let’s not give him cause.  He worried so much in life.  We should let him rest.”

Boyd drew a sharp breath and tried to think of a tactful way to phrase what he was thinking, which was if his father was haunting a family member out of concern, perhaps it was not him he was concerned about.  “Mom, maybe keeping that urn in the house isn’t helping.  Maybe it’s… a little too much of an everyday reminder for you right now.  What about that priest that blessed it before you spread the ashes?  Maybe they could hold onto it until the memorial, say another blessing and help Dad rest properly?”



“I don’t think that’s necessary.  Your father’s fine.  He’s happy on the other side.  I know he is.  Besides, I like seeing him.  It makes me happy knowing he’s still watching over us in a way.”

“But that’s not exactly resting, is it?  You just said you wanted him to rest peacefully and not worry.”

“You don’t understand, Boyd.”

Boyd bit his lip.  He could tell from the edge creeping into her tone that his mother was getting argumentative, but in a way that was out of character for her.  Myra Wainwright had always been a coolly logical type, sharp and biting when upset, not emotional the way she was now.  It was unnerving to hear her like that, and it made Boyd hesitant to push too hard.  Obviously, her grief was affecting her deeply and he was out of his depth on how to handle it.  The last thing he wanted to do was make it worse.  “Okay, Mom.  I just want you to be happy.  That’s all.”

“I’m fine.  You don’t need to worry about me.”

“I do worry about you.  You just lost Dad, and I know how hard that has to be.  I know how lost I’d be without Susan, and we’ve seen up close and personal how hard losing Maureen hit Patrick.  We don’t have to be there in person to know it’s got to be just as tough on you, and you’re far away in Sulani, away from all of us.  So, yes, we’re worried.”

“I appreciate that.  I really do, and I love you too.  All of you.  Of course, I miss your father terribly and it’s hard getting through the day without him.  But I’m getting by because I have to.  Because even though he’s gone, I’m still here and there must be some reason for that, even if I can’t fathom what that reason must be.  Why the Watcher would take him now, out of the blue, with no warning, and leave me behind without him.  Maybe I’m being taught some harsh lesson, although I can’t imagine what sin he could’ve committed egregious enough to warrant being struck down so suddenly,” she finished on a teary note.

“I don’t think it’s that, Mom,” Boyd tried to reassure her, although his own fears were acting up hearing his usually quite rational and down-to-earth mother go on like that.  “This kind of thing does happen, especially to people your age.  It sucks, and Dad definitely didn’t deserve it, but I think it had more to do with nature and bad luck than any kind of divine retribution.”

“That would mean it was just senseless and random.  That he was taken from us, and I was left to live the rest of my life without him for no reason at all.”  She choked out a sob.  “I feel like that’s even worse.”



“Aw, Mom,” he said gently.

“I’m tired, sweetheart.  I think I’m going to lie down.”

“That sounds good.  You should get some rest.  I love you.”

“I love you too, and I’ll talk to you soon.”

“All right.  Take care.”  He sighed after the call ended.  “So, that was Mom.”

Susan nodded from the couch where she was watching a movie with Blair.  “Did I overhear that right?”

“Did you hear that Mom’s been having regular chats with Dad’s dearly departed spirit?”

“So I did hear it right.”

“Grandma Myra’s been talking to Grandpa Stuart’s ghost?”

“I don’t know, honey,” Susan said with a shrug.

“It’s theoretically possible.  Paranormal experiences are a documented thing and we’ve studied them in the lab.  However, what qualifies as a genuine one can sometimes be hard to determine depending on one’s emotional state at the time.”

“What do you mean?” Blair asked.

“He means that it’s hard to say if it’s really his ghost visiting her, or if she’s just imagining it because she misses him so much that she’s seeing him because she wants to.”

“Oh.”  Blair cast her eyes down.  “Poor Grandma Myra.  Do you think she’s gone crazy?”

“No, not crazy,” Boyd assured her.  “Just depressed.  Sometimes grief can really throw us for a loop, even the sanest and most level-headed of us.  They were married a very long time, and when you lose someone like that, it can be hard to cope.”

“And she lost him very suddenly,” Susan added.  “It was a very big shock.  Not like when Grandma Maureen died.  Grandpa Patrick was sad, but a part of him knew it was coming, and he had time to prepare himself for the eventuality of it.  He wasn’t caught off guard the same way.  It still hurt and it was still hard for him, but not in the same way.”

“Plus, different personalities react to stress differently.  Your Grandma Myra isn’t wired the same way as Grandpa Patrick, so to speak.  Some people can deal with grief better than others, and some may never really know how they might deal with something like that until it actually happens.  They might not ever know until they’re very old, like your Grandma Myra.”



“And when it does, all we can really do is try to be there for them and support them as best we can.  Which we will.”  Susan stood up and hugged Boyd.  “I know this is hard on you, too.  Try to hang in there and remember that she’s been through a big shock and hopefully, that will pass as she processes her grief.”

“I know it can do a number on you, but I’ve never seen Mom like this, Susan.  Never that I can remember.”

“She’s never lost her husband before.”

“Yeah, but still.  You know Mom.  She’s logical, she’s meticulous, she’s practical, she’s put-together.  Sure, I’d expect her to be sad and emotional and even more absent-minded or short-tempered, but this just feels off.  Especially the ghostly chats and the constant religious references.  My parents haven’t been more than what I’d call casual Jacobans since I was a kid, and even then, it was more a tradition or social thing than super devout faith.”



“It’s not all that uncommon for the elderly to ‘get right with the Watcher’ as Grim looms, so to speak.  Especially ones with a religious upbringing that have a brush with death or when someone close to them dies and reminds them their time is near.”

“I never noticed either of your parents do that, though.  Not even at the worst of what we saw of Maureen’s…”

“Mom and Dad were only Peteran in the sense that they got married in a Peteran church, and their families were both from that same background, but that’s about it.  If anything, Dad’s beliefs are what I’d call a practical man of medical science, someone who relies on skill, experience, and knowledge, but won’t look a gift miracle in the mouth if it graces him.  He finds such things fascinating, but he never pins much hope on them.  As for Mom, she believed in an afterlife and karma.”  Susan closed her eyes.  “Not sure I can agree on that.  She certainly deserved better karma than that awful disease.”

“What do you think about the ghost thing?  Think it’s wishful thinking, or do you think it could really be Dad?”

“I think it’s nice if he’s visiting.  It means he still loves Grandma enough to make sure she’s okay.”  Blair bent over and rubbed her eye as a piece of hair fell behind her sunglasses.  “I wonder if he’ll ever visit us.”

“I don’t know.  But if he doesn’t, I wouldn’t take it personally,” said Susan.  “I imagine it’d be because he knows we’re fine and he’s not worried about us.  He can tell from afar that we’re all right.”

“That makes sense, but I’d still like to see him again, as long as his ghost isn’t scary.”  Blair noticed her glasses were smudged now.  “Poo.  I’ve got to clean them now.”  She scampered off to the kitchen to get a paper towel, while Boyd frowned and continued Blair’s thought as he and Susan sat down together.



“Conversely, that means if he really is manifesting at Mom’s, it’s because he knows she isn’t fine, and because of that, he can’t rest despite that Jacoban blessing he got.  Either that, or, the blessing worked fine, he is perfectly at rest, and Mom’s just so around the bend with grief that she’s hallucinating visions of him to alleviate it.”

“Try not to go down that rabbit hole.  It’s impossible to know for sure, and regardless, the bottom line is the same—Myra’s grieving, and all we can do is whatever she’ll let us do for her.”

“Which isn’t much, especially all the way from here.  Until she comes up here for the memorial about all I can do is call and nag, which, if you’d asked me almost any time before now, I would’ve said was a great chance to finally turn the tables on her,” he quipped on a dark note.



“It’s a surprisingly empty and depressing victory, isn’t it?  I felt that with Mom and now Dad when I saw him last time.”  She stretched and stood, wincing a little as she clutched her lower back.  “And at least I can drive to San Myshuno and keep tabs on him and have Jonathan to help.  Though I suspect my father would envy your mother the distance of the islands after a couple hours of us ‘babying’ him.”

“Ha.  Now there’s a solution.  Being that he’s a doctor, we have him fly down there to escape you and Jonathan and give her a checkup, and then he picks her up and brings her back up to San Myshuno to clean his apartment for him.  From how you described it, Mom would take one look at it and be unable to stop herself from straightening it all up.  She’d be back to her old self in no time.”

“Great.  Then maybe they move past their grief and get remarried to each other, and we end up stepbrother and stepsister as well as husband and wife, and then Blair and the baby are… oh, boy.”

“Hey, speaking of the baby, I noticed you wincing a few times while we were talking.  Are you feeling okay?”

“Oh, I’m just tired, and my shoulders and back are aching again.”



“Hey, now that’s a problem I can actually fix, if you want a back rub.”

Susan smiled.  “I would love one.”



Unfortunately, not only would their tongue-in-cheek fanciful scenario never come to pass, but neither would their actual plans for Myra’s visit and Stuart’s memorial service.  Although they tried to remain optimistic about how she was doing, Boyd’s fears about his mother were not unfounded.  Back in Sulani, poor Myra was doing worse than any of them knew.

Losing Stuart so unexpectedly had been an emotional blow the likes of which she had never endured.  All her life she had been a fast-learning perfectionist, a genius, and an overachiever.  She was someone who got things done.  Someone who could fix things, or at the very least, understood and made sense of things.  Even when things were not perfect, or when mistakes were made, she understood why.  She learned from mistakes and accepted tough lessons.

But this lesson… this lesson was the very first she simply could. Not. Process.

Stuart had been anxious, yes.

He was old, yes.  Even in the average lifespan of a man who might meet a natural end.

However!

There was no family history or genetic predisposition to such things in Stuart’s family.

Nor was he already ill.  Oh, no.  She made sure of that.  She always cooked healthy, nutritious meals.

He also took the medicines he was supposed to take for his anxiety and mitigate his stress.



Not to mention the islands, their life in paradise, wasn’t that supposed to mitigate stress?  It seemed to her like he had been far less stressed since they moved to Sulani.  In fact, they had never been happier, and at Stuart’s last checkup, his doctor had said his stress levels and blood pressure seemed better than ever.

The kava?  Yes, she would admit that Stuart had a love of that.  Perhaps it was not the healthiest habit, but he was a grown man, and he had few vices.  She knew many who had far worse, who lived longer, who took worse care of themselves, and they were just fine!

Logically, Myra knew that organic illnesses had an element of randomness and could strike unfairly.  Life could be quite unfair, after all, and when he was growing up, she tried to teach Boyd that as early as she could to spare him from learning it for the first time more harshly later.  She supposed now was poor little Blair’s turn, as a double whammy.  First, her grandmother Maureen and her awful illness which she certainly did nothing to earn or deserve, although Myra had no idea if she had been at risk for it genetically or with prior lifestyle factors that might have made it more likely.  And now, her grandfather, who Myra knew bitterly well had odds that should have made his sudden and unexpected death near impossible.



All of that weighed on her, but what weighed on her the worst was the failure that Myra felt in herself.

She had been certified in CPR since she was a young woman.  She was proud knowing that if an emergency happened, she could save a life.  She had saved a life, once, long ago when someone collapsed in a restaurant she was at.  She was confident in her skills.  She never let that certification lapse and kept her skills sharp, even in her old age.

So, why hadn’t she been able to save him, then?  Why couldn’t she save Stuart, the love of her life?

The guilt ate at her like a gnawing rat, and she could not let it go.



“I miss you so much, Stuart.  I love you, and I’m sorry I let you down.”

It had become a morning ritual, how she would get up and greet the urn holding the remaining half of his ashes before she even got dressed beyond putting on her glasses.



She had trouble finding any joy in the activities she used to enjoy.  Although Myra had always had a gloomy streak to her personality, Stuart’s death amplified it, even beyond what was typical for someone who was grieving.  She tried to follow the standard advice for dealing with the loss of a loved one by doing such things, but she found no pleasure in them.  Things like walks on the beach, beachcombing, searching for shells, or observing wildlife or oddities, all things she used to find interesting and fun, just reminded her that she used to do them with him or talk about them with him.  Rather than distracting her or helping her work through it, they just made her feel his absence even more.



It was like that with her solo hobbies as well.  While she was not a published author like Maureen had been, Myra was a former teacher and still participated in some educational projects online that she was passionate about.  Or at least, she had been until Stuart died.  Afterward, she found it impossible to focus on them, even though he had never been involved in it with her.  She would start to work, but then notice his card holder, or remember that the background music was playing on his old vintage stereo, or have a thought about the times he would be playing violin instead, and then that would be it.

Taking the laptop anywhere else, to a beach or to a library, was no better, because inevitably something about the islands would make her think of him, because Sulani had been their retirement getaway.  There was nowhere on the islands she could go and not eventually think about Stuart.  It felt impossible.



She even tried some other advice she was given, which was to find some new hobbies and activities that neither she nor Stuart had ever tried before.  The logic was that there would be nothing to trigger memories of him, and that having to learn something new would take more of her attention than something old and familiar that she might do more on auto pilot, allowing her mind a chance to wander.  So, Myra hit the local craft store and decided to try the supposedly relaxing hobby of knitting.  With Susan having a baby soon, maybe she could make some cute baby blankets or booties or beanies or toys for it.  Certainly that would be a pleasant thing to focus on.

It only worked until she had to set it down, though.  Poor Myra’s enthusiasm was no match for her age, and her hands would cramp with arthritis before long.  As soon as she had to get up to take a pill for it, the proverbial spell would be broken, and she would fall back into her depressed funk.



After a short while, even her local friends started to worry about her.  She continued to dress all in black long after the burial at sea, far past when most would have returned to a normal routine.  She also kept Stuart’s urn in her living room rather than turning it over to the local Jacoban priest for temporary rest, as Boyd had suggested for her own mental well-being.  Her reasoning was that she was just going to bring it up to Henford-on-Bagley, where the chapel his final service would be held at and where his family was originally from, anyway, so why move it more than necessary?  Boyd suspected that it was more that she was unwilling to let it go, and had he been there to see her in person, that suspicion would have been confirmed.

In addition to keeping the urn in the house and speaking to it every morning, Myra also talked to it on and off throughout the day, as if Stuart could hear her.  If asked, she would say it gave her comfort, and was no different than speaking to him symbolically.  However, when combined with other things she was saying and doing, it was worrisome to those who knew her.  For instance, she was often seen around sunset on her front porch watching the sunset as she and Stuart always had, with two cups of kava out and his filled as well as hers.



Sometimes on those evenings, she could also be seen dancing to music that seemingly only she could hear, with the ghostly partner of her departed husband.  But those stories around the island were gossip and not everyone believed them, at least the part about Stuart’s spirit.  Only two people other than Myra ever claimed to see him, and one was a fanciful child that many dismissed as a not-terribly-credible witness, and the other was an older gentleman with eyesight that not been all that great in his younger days even in broad daylight, let alone twilight.



Myra was insistent that Stuart did visit her regularly and acted as though there was nothing out of the ordinary about it.  If questioned, she would point out that her son worked at a lab that had a paranormal research division that researched such phenomena, so naturally, such a thing was possible, ignoring how prior to Stuart’s death, she had been fairly skeptical of such experiences herself.  In fact, Myra was one of those types who would have asked the sorts of questions of someone that others asked of her now.

She would also make references to the afterlife and how happy she was that he was happy on the other side, but also still watching over her and the rest of the family, aware of how they all were.  Since he died, Myra had deeply immersed herself into the religion and its texts that she had all but ignored since her youth, perhaps to find answers and comfort in the spiritual where the logic and reason she had used to turn to had given her none.  A part of her believed that helped inspire Stuart’s spirit to visit her as well, and because that brought her such joy, she embraced it wholeheartedly.  Myra brightened like the sunrise whenever his ghost appeared to her.



But then she would crash like a tidal wave whenever he left, and she was alone once more.  Having him back for those brief moments were little slices of heaven.  Myra could almost forget that she was a lonely, miserable, grieving widow who had just lost the beloved husband that she could have and should have been able to save, but somehow failed to.  It was like waking up from a beautiful dream, only to find out that she was living in a cold and cruel nightmare that never ended.



Every day was supposed to get a little better.

Every day was supposed to get a little easier.

That’s what all the books said.

That’s what her friends said.

That’s even what the counselors on the sadness hotline said.  Don’t give up.  There’s so much to live for.

Certainly, there was.  There was her dear son.  She loved Boyd with all her heart, and she was so proud of him.  He was a genius scientist, had married a wonderful and equally brilliant wife, and they had an amazing, incredibly sweet, and bright daughter plus a baby on the way.  A part of her did want to be around to see Boyd and Susan succeed in their careers, to see Blair grow into a young woman, and to meet her second grandchild.  She truly did.

So why was it so hard to get out of bed in the morning to do it?



It seemed sudden and unexpected when seemingly-healthy-for-her-age Myra Wainwright collapsed on her way to get the mail that morning, but anyone who had been around her of late who had been paying close attention would not have been.  The official cause of death was that, like her husband, she perished from a heart attack.



Technically, that was not wrong, although those closest to her would call it something else.  They would say that poor Myra Wainwright died of a broken heart.  As much as she tried to keep going, to keep functioning, she simply could not cope with life anymore after losing her beloved husband of so many years.

This time, there was no one to see Grim as he came to bring her to the afterlife.  He preferred that.  It was easier when no one pleaded or disrupted his schedule.  Mortals did not understand his work.  Myra Wainwright had been one such individual.  Now that she was on the other end of it, he wondered if she did.  Her last days in trying to undo it had certainly been fraught with frustration and sadness.  It was a shame, he mused, that she had spent her final days in such a way.  She could have spent them with the living in the world she was soon to be leaving rather than trying so desperately to reconnect with the dead that she was going to rejoin sooner than she imagined.  But then again, perhaps that was what she wanted.  He could not fathom why, given what he typically imagined mortals wanted, but then again, mortals could be odd, even silly creatures at times.  Ah, well.  There was no time for further pondering.  Death must keep to his schedule, after all.

[Cheezey]

Author's Note: This chapter is very long with a lot of images, so I'm splitting it into two posts.

Chapter 23

It was with a pit of absolute dread roiling in his stomach that Boyd answered his phone shortly before dawn when a Sulani emergency services number called.  Susan also got out of bed when he exclaimed who it was as he answered.

“Hi… yes, this is Boyd Wainwright.”  He bit his lip and trembled.  “Yes, that’s my mother.”  He swallowed as his voice became shaky.  “And her address.  Oh, Watcher.”

He paused and listened.

“No.  Oh, no…”

There was another pause.

“You’re… you’re sure?”

He closed his eyes and sniffled.

“When?  What time?”

There was another pause as he listened to what had to have been an explanation.

“I see.”  His voice was barely a whisper.  “What happened?  Who—who found her?”

Another brief pause.

“Oh.  Yes, I think I met him once.  That’s a neighbor.  A friend of theirs.  Hers, I mean.  Mom and Dad’s.  But Dad, he, uh, died not long ago.  So, now it’s just her.  Was.”  He swallowed again as tears filled his eyes and he listened.  “Uh-huh.  Right, that’s the right address.  This number’s fine.  Thank you.”

There was one last pause as whoever was on the other end spoke.

“Okay.  Yes.  I appreciate it.  Thank you.”

He closed his eyes and hung up.



“Oh, Boyd.”  Susan came over immediately to comfort him.  Although she had only heard his side of the call, it was an easy guess what the news had been.  “I’m so sorry.  Your poor mother.  What happened?”

“They found her.  One of their neighbors, Makoa Kealoha.  We met him briefly at the pavilion that night we were there.  Apparently, she collapsed while going out to get the mail and he saw her while he was out on a walk.  She was already gone by the time he found her.”

“It must’ve been very sudden.”

“That’s what they said.  They think her heart just stopped, said the death certificate will say for sure when the coroner’s done checking her out.  There doesn’t appear to be anything suspicious, that it looked like an accident of any kind, or that she tried to hurt herself.”

Susan let out a low breath.  “Well, that last part is a relief.  I hoped something like that wouldn’t be it when I realized what was going on.  Although I didn’t think she was that depressed, sometimes you never know.  But still.  Wow.”

“Both of them, Susan.  Both gone.  I—I can’t believe it.”  He blinked tears out of his eyes.  “I just…” His voice trailed off as he sought the words but could not find them.

“I know saying it sucks is pretty hollow, but some things there just aren’t words for and that’s the best I’ve got,” she said softly, and pulled him into an embrace.  “I’m so sorry.”



He sobbed into her shoulder, grateful for the comfort, and then straightened back up as he became mindful once again of everything else going on.  “Thanks.  Especially considering all you’re dealing with on top of now having to comfort me.  Just losing your own mom, the baby, the fanged menace probably creeping around lurking and waiting for you to have it…”

“Hey, that’s what we’re here for, right?  To support each other when we need it?  Yes, things are beyond stressful right now and going plumbob shaped at a ridiculous pace, but we’ll manage.  We always have.”

“Poor Blair.  This is going to devastate her.  Losing two grandparents was bad enough, but losing three so close together?  That’s a lot of loss for an adult to process, let alone a girl her age.  Especially on top of adjusting to a new baby in the house before long.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if she acts out a bit, honestly.  We’ll just have to deal with that, too, if it happens.  Hopefully not.  She’s always been a resilient kid.”  Susan took a deep breath.  “It’s early still.  Let’s try to lie back down and rest, even if sleep is out of the question, and figure out how we’re going to handle all of this.”

“All right.”



Before they could take a step, Susan arched her back.  “Hold that thought.  The baby just woke up and decided to start tapdancing on my bladder.”

“Well, at least someone in our family’s having a good time.”  Boyd cracked a smile despite himself and gently patted her tummy.  “Thanks for not picking now to go into labor or anything, but maybe give your mother a break and keep the kicks gentle and off the vital organs?”

“Sure, that ought to do it.  Thanks,” Susan quipped dryly as she awkwardly headed toward the bathroom.



Later that morning, after Blair got up, they broke the news to her first thing.  Although it was a school day and they hated to send her off distracted, she had a right to know, and she would end up upset regardless of when they told her.  “Honey, we need to talk to you about something important.  I’m afraid it’s more bad news, though.”

Blair looked from her mother’s face to her father’s and knew it had to be serious.  “What bad news?”



Boyd pre-emptively put his arms on her shoulders as he told her.  “I got a call from emergency services in Sulani early this morning.  A neighbor found your Grandma Myra collapsed yesterday on her porch.  I’m afraid it was too late.  She passed.”

“Grandma Myra died?”  Her voice rose in a shocked squeak.

“I’m afraid so.”

“But… but…”  Blair couldn’t find the words to put to her grief, either, and she went limp in Boyd’s arms as she started to cry.

“I know, Blair.  I know.”

“It doesn’t make any sense!  Grandpa Stuart just died, too!  And Grandma Maureen!  Why are they all dying?!  It’s not fair!”

“No, it’s not, sweetheart.”  He hugged her as she cried harder, and then let her go as she stepped away.  Boyd then knelt on the floor himself, exhausted both physically and emotionally.



Blair looked up, still crying.  “What’d she die of?”

“They think it was her heart.  That it just stopped, probably a sudden attack like Grandpa Stuart’s,” Susan said from the kitchen.  The last thing she felt like doing was cooking, but they needed to eat.  On a day like today, she felt that Blair should be sent off to school with something warmer and heartier in her belly than a bowl of cereal, a cup of yogurt, or a granola bar with some milk.  It would be better for her and Boyd as well, since she suspected they would be busy all day figuring out arrangements, making calls, and sending lots of messages.

“But why?  Why would she have one, too?  She wasn’t sick, was she?  I thought she was healthy.”

Boyd shrugged, as he wished he had a concrete answer to that himself.  Perhaps the coroner’s report would say.  He suspected the truth was that a part of her simply lost the will to carry on after his father died, and eventually, her body obliged her mental state.  “We don’t know why.  Sometimes it just happens when you get old.  Officially, that’s what a lot of ‘old age’ dying is.  Your heart or some other organ just stops working.”

“But I didn’t think she was that old.  Like not a hundred or ancient or anything.  Nobody thought she was going to die of old age soon, right?”  She looked at her father, who shook his head.

“No.  I was just as surprised as you.  I thought she was fine.  She always took good care of herself and your grandpa.  Until all this happened, I felt like she’d be around forever.  Maybe even one of those record-breakers that made it to a hundred.  I thought for sure, unless she got sick, she’d be around until you were in high school at least, and long enough for the baby to grow up with a few memories of her.”

“It’s not fair,” Blair sniffled through fresh tears.  “How come stupid old crusty jerks like Fangstalker get to live to be ancient, and nice people like Grandma Myra and Grandma Maureen and Grandpa Stuart all die?  It’s a bunch of llama turds!”

Because Fangstalker is a twisted llama who traded his humanity and possibly his soul for immortality. He did not say that, however, just stood up and nodded with her.  “Can’t argue with you there.  But go on and get dressed for school, while I help your mom finish breakfast.  We don’t want you to be late.”

“Okay.”  She paused at her bedroom door.  “Do you think Grandpa Patrick will be okay?  He’s about as old as they were, isn’t he?”



Susan tried not to let it show how much that same question bothered her.  “Oh, gosh, sweetie, I hope so.”  She forced as much of an optimistic look as she could.  “He promised me he’d be here to hold the baby though, so there’s that.  He’s never broken a promise to me yet.”

“In that case, I hope you don’t have the baby for a long time.  No offense.”  Blair went into her room.

“None taken, but I hope she remembers that that one day far in the future when she’s third trimester pregnant and her back aches, and realizes how awkward a remark that actually was.”



“I’m sure she’ll remember she said it in grief and that her dear mother took it with grace.”  Boyd squeezed Susan’s shoulder and gave her a curious look.  “So, is that true what you told her about your dad?”

“What?  You think I’d lie to Blair?”

“Not lie per se, but maybe say something that was more in the spirit of something he said than perhaps word for word, so it would sound more comforting.”

“No.  Dad really did say that.  He promised me at Mom’s memorial that he’d do his best to be there for the big arrival after saying how hard Mom fought to try to stay that long.  I know he meant it.  I could see it in his eyes, how much he wanted to hold the baby, not just for himself, but for her, too.”

“Then hopefully you and Blair and Jonathan will get to keep him around a while longer, and the baby will get to meet at least one grandparent in person.”

“With any luck, he’ll stick around long enough for the baby to be old enough to remember him, too.  If I have anything to say about it, he will, anyway, and one thing Jonathan and I agree on is Dad’s well-being, so I have a firm ally in keeping tabs on him.  Now, if only I could get my dear brother to stop fobbing all of Dad’s tech issues off on us…”

“I’m sure he does that half to troll us.”

“And half because he legitimately doesn’t have the patience and sometimes the knowledge, but yes.  He does.”

Boyd let out a wistful chuckle.  “You know, a part of me will miss Mom and Dad’s tech fail calls.  It was fun, in a way, spending hours updating their tablets for them when we were there in Sulani.”  He thought about the trip again and the memories they had of it that were so much more precious now that they were gone.  “I’m glad we took that trip when we did.”

“Oh, me too.  We did it just in time.  I’m glad Blair will have those memories of her grandparents, even if the baby never got to more than in utero.”



Since Myra passed so soon after Stuart, and she never lived to make the trip to carry out his final wishes of the memorial service in Henford-on-Bagley, the Wainwrights arranged a service there to honor them together.  According to Myra’s friend Tanya, someone she met on the islands with a law degree that helped her and Stuart with their wills, Myra also wanted to be cremated and have her urn laid to rest with the urn containing half of Stuart’s ashes that came back to the mainland for final rest.  Unlike Stuart, she did not want the half burial at sea, only a traditional inurnment and Jacoban rites given.  “Not surprised Mom wanted that done by the book, so to speak,” Boyd said when he was told.  “She was a stickler for having things done in the right way.”

“Meaning hers,” Susan added with a knowing smirk, but Boyd was not offended by that.  Rather, it reminded him of how she had been most of her life, before his father died.  When she was acting like her normal self and not lost in a sea of grief and despair searching for meaning and reason.

The chapel in Henford-on-Bagley was like much of the historic old village, quaint and small by modern standards, but with an air of country charm to it.  The flowers in its yard lit up the old stone and stained-glass windows with vibrant color when in bloom, and its ancient graveyard, with some headstones dating back centuries, was rather serene.  Boyd’s father had grown up in that area, as Stuart’s grandparents once owned a now long-gone farm on the outskirts of the village, but his parents moved away from that area when Stuart was around Blair’s age.  Still, Stuart retained fond memories of the place throughout his life and his family attended services in that chapel whenever they visited the area.  Years later, he and Myra were married there, and a generation later, so were Boyd and Susan.  Even though Boyd did not consider himself religious in any significant sense, it had been a picturesque enough place for a wedding venue, and Susan had also liked it for that reason.  Now, it had become a place to say goodbye to their family members as well.



“Wow.  So this is the same place you got married, and Grandma Myra and Grandpa Stuart, too?”

“Yup.  Probably some great-grandparents down the line, too, but I never followed that ancestry stuff close enough to tell you for sure or who.  But a set of your great-great grandparents on Grandpa Stuart’s side owned a farm near this village generations ago.  Sometimes he told me about being there way back when he was your age and younger.  Milking cows and getting eggs from the hen house, helping his grandmother make cheese and bread and jam out of fruit from their orchard.”

“Just talking about all that farm work makes my back ache, not to mention my nose wrinkle.  Nothing like the lovely scent of manure flowing into your country kitchen to ruin it while you’re tiring your arms out kneading the dough for that fresh bread,” Susan mused.  “Though I will say that homemade farm-to-table stuff does taste fantastic.  There’s a reason these country artisan bakeries, delis, and markets do so well.”



Boyd turned to Blair.  “Maybe one day you’ll want to get married out here, too.  Carry on the family tradition.  Who knows?  You might even get your own farm and get back to the land.”

“I don’t know about that.  Shoveling cow poo every day doesn’t sound like fun.”

“Not to me, either, sweetie,” Susan agreed.  “The homesteading crowd can keep that.”

“The animals are cute, but I’d rather be a secret agent someday.  That sounds a lot more exciting.”  She looked around.  “This is a pretty place to get married, though!  Did Grandma Maureen and Grandpa Patrick get married here, too?”



“No.  Mom loved to travel, so they flew out to Tartosa and had both their wedding and honeymoon there.”

“Wow!  That sounds so romantic!”

“From how she told it, it was.  I’m sure Grandpa Patrick’s still got the wedding album on the bookshelf in their apartment.  Next time we’re over, we’ll have to ask him to get it out and show you the pictures.”

Boyd glanced over at the sidewalk leading from the parking area where Jonathan and Maaike were now heading their way.  “Speaking of which, here come Jonathan and Maaike.  Before anyone other than them gets here, we should probably head in and make sure everything’s ready for the service.  It starts in less than an hour.  I don’t want to disappoint Mom by flubbing up something important on the day we say goodbye to her and Dad.”

“I asked if they wouldn’t mind getting here early in case we needed help with anything, since Dad insisted on coming by himself rather than going to Jonathan’s and riding with them,” Susan reassured him before turning to Blair.  “Would you mind letting them know we just got here ourselves?  I want to talk to your father a moment before we go in.”

“Sure.”



Blair ran off to greet her Uncle Jonathan, while Susan put comforting hands on Boyd.  “Hey, I know this has been really stressful, but it’ll go fine.  For the absolute last-minute plum-storm this has been, we managed to plan out everything we know of that they wanted.  We went over their wills, what they told us, and what they told Tanya.  It was hard, it was awful, and it was sudden, especially losing both like that, but we’re honoring what they wanted.  They’ll be at peace, together, after this.”

“Yeah.  I like to believe that, and I admit the part of me that was raised Jacoban feels guilty daring to even consider doubting it right here under the Watcher’s eye.”  He took a steadying breath.  “Let’s go.”



Jonathan and Blair chatted on their way to the chapel while Maaike hurried inside to use the restroom after the long trip.  “How are you holding up, Blair-y Bear?  It really sucks about your other Grandma and Grandpa.  They were good people.  I’m sorry you lost them like this, so close together and all at once, just on top of losing your Grandma Maureen, too.”

“It really does suck,” she said softly.  “Sorry if you mind me talking like that, but you did first.”

“Nah.  I hear a lot worse at the station all the time, and besides, it’s the truth.  You can always be honest with me.  You know I’m not all uptight like your mom,” he teased on an understanding note.  “Seriously, though.  It’s hard losing people you love.  Just one is tough.  Three’s a heck of a thing to deal with.  If you ever do feel overwhelmed or need someone to talk to or like stuff’s getting to you, I want you to know, anytime, you can call me.  Or if you don’t want to talk to someone you know and just want to talk to someone like a counselor to get some advice in private that won’t go to your parents that’ll stay between you and them, all confidential, you just say the word and I’ll get you a number to call.  No questions asked.  I won’t even tell your mom and dad if you don’t want.  Just promise me if you do feel like you need some help or want to talk, you reach out, okay?”

She nodded.  “All right.”

“Good.  It’s important.”  He leaned in as they walked inside.  “And for the record, you can tell your mom and dad that, too.  I already did, but we both know how well your mom listens to me sometimes, so maybe you’ll have better luck.”

“I can try, but she doesn’t always listen to me, either.”

[Cheezey]

The funeral started with a Jacoban priest saying a blessing for Stuart and Myra for their passage to the afterlife and meeting the Watcher, since their urns were to be laid to rest on different grounds where the final burial rites would be given.  After that, Boyd gave a heartfelt eulogy for his parents.  The realization that he would be the one doing that, as well as being the executor of their estate, things that he always knew on some level and should have been obvious, was still difficult to come to terms with now that the moment had come.  He did not feel ready, or even like he was qualified, even though he was their only child, grown up, and on good terms with them.  Truthfully, he was not ready to say goodbye, even though they were gone, and the reality of having to do so hit him once more like a ton of bricks.  It was hard coming up with the words to summarize his parents’ lives, and the two best writers he would have gone to for help with such a task were no longer there to help him.  One was being eulogized herself, and the other had been Susan’s mother, who Susan had similarly thought was the one with the skills that could have helped her come up with the words to help describe the life she had lived and the void she left behind.

Still, with Susan’s help and some advice on polishing it up from Maaike, another excellent writer whom Susan suggested he ask, Boyd managed to do what he hoped was justice to his parents’ memory with heartfelt feeling making up for what he lacked in eloquence.  He loved his parents dearly, as much as they had driven him bonkers at times, and he would miss them more than he could say.



After the service, they held a celebration of life at the chapel honoring the deceased, since the burial rites would be performed the following day and with the immediate family only.

“I didn’t know you were allowed to drink the consecrated nectar,” Boyd’s work friend Jaron, who had come to pay his respects, remarked as Boyd helped himself to some.  “I thought that was just for the priests and why there was a bar downstairs where the rest of the food is.”

“If I remember the rules right, it’s technically okay for any Jacobans and I still technically count since I was raised one.”

Jaron chuckled.  “Got to love those technicalities.”

“Hey, how many times have they saved your plumbob at the lab?”

“That wasn’t a complaint.  Just an observation.”  He patted him on the shoulder.  “I don’t blame you with all the plum you’ve been going through.  I’m sorry about your losses, man.”

“Thanks.”



Downstairs, Susan chatted with Maaike and Jonathan in the chapel kitchen.  “Thanks for all your help lately.  I appreciate it.”

“Oh, no problem.  That’s what we’re here for,” said Maaike.

Susan glanced around.  “Did you see where Blair ran off to?  I don’t see her down here.”

“She’s outside,” Jonathan told her.  “A couple of local kids are playing in the square and churchyard and they were talking to her.  Figured you wouldn’t mind her doing something a little upbeat and maybe making some friends and getting her mind off stuff rather than sitting around on her tablet bored without any other kids around or just listening to a bunch of mopey adults reminisce about the grandparents she just lost.”

“No, as long as she doesn’t wander off.  You told her that, right?”

“Come on, she’s a smart girl.  She knows better than to run off with strangers.  But yeah, I made sure to remind her to be careful and stick around the chapel.”

“I also want her back here to eat something before too long, and not just cookies or a slice of cake.  She’s bad for that.”

“Kids just eating sweets.  Who’d have thunk it.”  Jonathan snorted and took a bite of his burger.  “Probably following the stellar example of you and her dad on your late-night computer dork game sessions.”

“You should talk, Mr. Cheap Beer and McSims,” Susan retorted huffily, while Maaike winced snootily.

“I got heartburn just hearing that.”

Jonathan, meanwhile, rolled his eyes again.  “I work an on-the-go first response job and don’t have a child to worry about emulating my fine example.  What’s your excuse?”



Although she found their back-and-forth amusing, Maaike could tell that Susan was not enjoying Jonathan’s needling nearly as much as he was, so she diplomatically stepped in.  “Speaking of children, the baby’s due any day now.  You getting any relief from those kicks?”

“Not too many.  The baby’s feet are almost as active as Jonathan’s mouth.”

“Oh, good.  Maybe you and Boyd will finally get off the couch and computer chairs and get some sun and exercise after it’s born, then,” Jonathan quipped back after swallowing a bite of burger.

Susan, however, just shot him an unimpressed look back.  “And much like his mouth, going strong right now.”

Maaike extended a hand toward her.  “Really?  May I?”

“Of course.  Aunt Maaike will always be welcome to hold the baby.”



Jonathan’s eyes went wide at that.  “Aunt Maaike?  Uh, what exactly have you been telling her?”

Before Maaike could answer, it was Susan’s turn to be smugly amused.  “Maaike is a dear friend and I thought it would be sweet if the baby could call her ‘Aunt’ as an honorary title.  Blair’s a bit old for it now, but if we’d met and been as close back when she was born, I’d have thought the same.  That’s all.  At least, I thought it was, until you reacted that way.  Is there something you would like to share, perhaps?” she asked sweetly, looking from Jonathan to Maaike.

Maaike just smiled back.  “Like you said, dear Jonathan’s mouth never stops running.  It’s one of his most endearing and frustrating traits all at once.”

“Well, I’m glad for his sake you see something in him.  He’s very lucky.”

“Oh, I know,” Maaike chuckled with her.  “But I like to think I am, too.  I’m going to go grab some nectar and check on Blair.”



After Maaike left, Jonathan put his now empty paper plate in the trash and gave Susan a look.  “That was super subtle.  I’m guessing stealth was never a specialty of yours in any of the computer games you and Boyd played over the years.”

“Since we’re theorizing about what positions in games we should play, I would say that you seem to be very good on defensive maneuvers, dear brother.  As I said, I was simply honoring my dear friend with a title that treats her like family.  Whether you wish to add her to it is entirely your business.  She hasn’t discussed that with me.  Close as we are, there’s a boundary there.  Once you two got involved, she told me because she cares about us both that she won’t discuss ‘conflict of interest’ things about you to me, or things that fall under the ‘TMI about my brother’ category.”

“Well, for the record, I love Maaike, that should be pretty flipping obvious, but I’m not ready to settle into marriage or anything.  My job, other plum, it’s too chaotic for that or kids right now.  She’s cool with that and understands.  I’ll tell you that much, she’d be okay with that, but keep that between us and maybe Boyd.  I’ve told Dad that, too.  So I’d appreciate no more nagging about it.  I love being an uncle and I’m good with babysitting when I can and helping out, but the pressure for marriage and kids, it’s not for me right now.  Especially not on top of losing Mom and worrying about Dad being all by himself and still adjusting to losing her.”

“Okay.  That’s fair.  I understand.  I’ve been worried about Dad, too.”  She sighed.  “And after what happened to Myra, it just goes to show how bad it can get when grief goes unchecked.  They say it was her heart, but…”

Jonathan nodded somberly.  “Yeah.  From everything you and Boyd told me, it sounds like she spiraled into a severe depressive episode and couldn’t cope after Stuart died.  Lots of people downplay the mind-body connection as kind of woo-woo, but it is a thing.  Which reminds me.  I told Blair and now I’m going to tell you again, and don’t worry, it’s not just you.  I’m going to nag Boyd before we go, too.  If you’re feeling overwhelmed, call one of those hotlines and talk to someone.  Or talk to each other, or call your doctor, or reach out in some way.  I don’t care how.  Just do it.  Especially poor Boyd, he’s higher strung than his dad’s old violin on a good day.”

“All right, but I am doing okay.”



He raised an eyebrow.  “Really?  Almost ready to have the baby at any minute, with two suddenly dead in-laws within a breath of each other not that long after Mom’s gone, while Dad’s struggling to cope with that, your husband grieving his parents, your daughter grieving three of her grandparents, and, oh, a creepy-ass vampire stalking you just waiting for you to have your baby so he can pounce on you and take an up close and personal nightcap?  You’re just fine with all of that?”

“Look, I’m not saying it’s been happy fun times, but I’m managing.  Yes, it’s hard.  Yes, I’ve wanted to yell and scream and cry.  I have, sometimes.  Boyd’s been there for me.  You joke about his anxiety, but you know he does his best with it.  Is it frustrating?  Sure.  But it is for him, too.  I see him every day living with it.”

“I’m not making light of it, Susan.  I know he’s dealing with it as best he can.  I’m just telling you as someone who studied psych in university and who uses it in my work all the time that I see a lot of plum.  Maybe perspectives you don’t.”

“Well, here’s one perspective.  If you want to keep both my and Boyd’s anxiety down, for the love of the Watcher, don’t bring up Vlad.”  She paused as she realized that perhaps invoking the Watcher in a chapel was a bit awkward, although it probably was one of the few places Vladislaus was unlikely to show up stalking her.  “I didn’t get a chance to tell you.  That llama had the gall to send me flowers after Mom died with a note that implied that I’d be a lovely memorial to her if I was immortal.”

Jonathan made a face.  “Wow.  That’s a whole load of creepy.  I’d like to say I’m surprised, but I told you, these types never get the hint.”



After chatting with Jaron over the consecrated nectar upstairs, Boyd sat down and chatted with Patrick.  “I’m so sorry for your losses,” Patrick told him on a heartfelt note.  “I can’t even imagine how hard this must be for you, losing them both so close together.”

“Thank you, and thanks for coming.  I know this was a long trip for you, all the way from San Myshuno, especially with your schedule and everything you’ve been through lately.”

“You’re family to me, too, and I considered both Stuart and Myra good friends.  They were wonderful people.  I’m glad to have known them both.  I’m sure Maureen greeted each of them on the other side with a warm smile and open arms.”

Boyd could not help but smile a little at that thought.  “She sure was a hugger once she got to know you.”

“Yes, she was!  I bet she’s showing them all the sights, whatever they are over there, right now.”

“No doubt.”  His voice trailed off from fond imagination at the thought to sad once more at the reminder that they were all gone.

“But we sure do miss them here all the same,” Patrick finished on the same thought.



After talking to Patrick, Boyd found himself drawn to the piano in the corner of the room.  He had not touched a piano in years.  Back when he was a child, his father signed him up for piano lessons hoping he would have the same talent and love of music that he did.  Sadly, he did not.  Whatever melodies Stuart heard in his mind that manifested into his musical genius, Boyd experienced in programming algorithms and mechanical hums.  While he had not been necessarily bad at trying to learn the piano, he had no innate passion for or interest in it, and thus was at best mediocre at it and quickly bored with it in favor of things that did captivate his attention.  Now, he sat on the bench and found himself plunking at the keys like he did when he was seven or eight, playing one of the handful of little kid’s songs that he had learned by rote before giving up.

“Did your father teach you that?” asked Tanya Velasquez, his parents’ friend and legal assistant from the islands that had flown to Henford-on-Bagley for the service.

“And he’s probably disappointed that I’m still this bad so many years later.”

She chuckled.  “I doubt that.  Stuart was very proud of you.  They both were.”

“When I was a kid, he wanted me to learn to play.  I never could get into it, though.”

“He told me that.  He said you always wanted to be on your computer and he never understood that, that they always ‘confounded him,’ but he was glad you liked them so much.  Especially after they were everywhere, because you always knew what you were doing on them.  He even said that whenever he and your mom got a new one or they acted up, they never had to hire one of those ‘geek squad people’ to get it working right because his son and daughter-in-law were the geek squad.”

Patrick overheard and laughed.  “Oh, yes.  It’s true.  They’ve saved our bacon I don’t know how many times.  Maureen and I were always helpless on that stuff, too.”

“Well, we’re just glad you came to us instead of paying those guys.  I always told Mom and Dad the same thing, even if it did result in some frustrating midnight calls when he did weird stuff on his tablet that was hard to explain and troubleshoot long-distance when I was half asleep.  Ugh.  And don’t even get me started on the scams, which I’m glad all of you managed to spot before they got you, even when you called us to make sure something was legit before doing anything and it turned out it was okay.  It still burns me how much even the legit ones get away with charging, though, and how they all target the old folks.  No offense, Patrick.”

“Oh, none taken.  I fully admit I’m old and clueless with computers and phones these days.  But I’m not too proud to keep trying to learn them from you, Susie, Jonathan, or even Blair.  She’s taught me a thing or two.  Even gotten me to play that bubble game of hers with her on occasion.”



While the adults socialized inside, Blair wandered the churchyard and gardens outside, looking at the flowers.  At first, she peeked around the cemetery, too, which was not all that creepy in the daylight.  Like Jonathan told Susan, there were some local kids playing around the area, but as an introvert, she hesitated to talk to them.  When they did not approach her, she left them alone and kept to herself.  After a while, one of the boys sat at a table and pulled out a book, and when she wandered nearby to look at the flowered archways, however, he spoke to her.  “Hi.  You’re not from around here, are you?  I don’t think I’ve seen you at school.”

She turned and faced him somewhat anxiously, like she always did at first when meeting someone new, even though he seemed nice enough.  “No.  I’m from Brindleton Bay.  I’m here for a funeral.  My grandma and grandpa died.”

He blinked in surprise.  “Wow.  They both did?  I’m sorry.  That stinks!  You must be really sad.  Was it an accident?”

She sat down with him.  “No.  It was old age.  My grandpa died first of a heart attack, back in Sulani where they lived.  But he was born here and wanted to have his funeral here and be buried here after he got cremated.  Then my grandma got really depressed and I guess died of a broken heart.”

“I didn’t know you could die of that.”

“Technically it was a heart attack, but they say it was because of stress and being so depressed and sad over Grandpa dying.”

“I’m really sorry.  That’s terrible.”

“Thank you,” Blair said softly, and lapsed into silence as she didn’t know what else to say.



“I’m Imran, by the way.  Imran Watson.”

“Nice to meet you.  My name’s Blair Wainwright.”

“Nice to meet you, too, Blair.”

“So how come you’re here?  Do you go to this chapel?”

“Nah, my family only goes to chapels if someone gets married there or has a funeral or something like that.  Or if they want to talk to the Watcher.  But they’re not Jacoban or anything.  I live over in Old New Henford, but my dad had to come into the village today to buy and sell some stuff at the garden shop.  And he brought a lot, so it’ll take a while, which is why I brought a book.  My big sister Rashidah went off to see her boyfriend and my other sister Maira’s over at the bakery finding out if they have free samples today.  She said she’d tell me if they did.  Want to go with us if they do?”

“Sorry.  I’m not allowed to leave the grounds.  My parents will worry about me.”

“Oh.  Okay.  I understand.”  Imran looked around.  “So are the other kids inside?”



“There aren’t any other kids,” said Blair.  “I’m an only child.”

“What about the rest of your family, though?  Like your cousins and stuff?  You don’t have any of them?”

“My grandma and grandpa that died only had my dad, and my uncle Jonathan on my mom’s side doesn’t have any kids yet.  He’s not married.”  She paused.  “He’s got a nice girlfriend, though.  Maaike.  She’s my mom’s best friend and we hope they will.  But they aren’t married yet.”

Imran was surprised by that.  “Wow.  Sometimes I wish I was an only child because my sisters drive me crazy.  I have a bunch of cousins, too, but they all live out of town, and I don’t see them that often.  Usually holidays and stuff and we send Winterfest cards.”

“I won’t be an only child that long, actually.  My mom is going to have a baby any day now, but the baby will be a lot younger than me.”

“But that sounds cool.  You could teach him or her stuff and show them things.”  He let out a little snort.  “Be in charge.  I never get to be in charge.  I’m the youngest and my sisters love to boss me around.  Maira’s not even that much older than me, either.  One whole grade ahead.  Whoopie.”

Blair giggled.  “That sounds like how my mom and Uncle Jonathan argue.  They’re twins, but he’s few minutes older than Mom and he always brings it up.”

“Well, you’re lucky, getting to be the older one, that’s for sure.”  He closed his book since he wasn’t reading anyway and was enjoying talking to Blair more.

She noticed and felt a bit guilty.  “I’m sorry if I stopped you from reading.”

“No, it’s okay.  You’re fun to talk to.  Besides, the sun’s going down and the light’s not great anyway.  Hey, do you like looking at the sunset and stars coming out?  We could do that, and it wouldn’t get you in trouble for leaving.”



“Sure!”  They found a comfortable spot in the grass near the walkway where Blair could both lie down and be comfortable without getting her funeral dress too dirty.  “Some of the stars are starting to come out, but some are planets.  Like Venus comes out around morning or evening, usually.  That’s why they call it the evening or morning star.  Do you know any of the planets or constellations?”

“Some of them.  I can find the Big Dipper and Little Dipper, and Orion, because the belt’s easy to figure out.  Looks like a box with the lid open.”

“I always thought it looked like a shopping cart,” said Blair.  “Your sunset here is pretty, but it looks a lot different than Brindleton Bay.  Have you ever seen it on the beach?”

“Not that beach.  But yeah, it’s nice by the ocean.”

“It’s so pretty there!  You should definitely go sometime!”

He looked over.  “Maybe I could come visit you.”

“Do you think you’d be allowed?”

“Probably.  I mean, as long as our parents said it was okay.  If you want to, that is.  We’re friends now, right?”

Blair smiled back at him happily.  “Yeah!  We’re friends!”

“Cool!  Then I’d like to come over sometime.  Maybe you could come visit me at the farm and see all our animals!  I’m really good with them.  I’ve even got a tame rooster named Skittles who only lets me pet him.”

“That’s neat.  I never petted a rooster before.  Just baby chicks at the big pet supply store in town when they get them in.”



Blair hung around with Imran for a while, and she even met his sister Maira briefly when she came by to inform him that sadly, the bakery was not handing out samples today.  Afterward, Maira left and went back to the town square while Imran stayed with Blair.  By the time Imran’s father found him and let him know he was done at the store and it was time to go home, he and Blair were getting along like longtime pals.

“It was cool meeting and hanging out with you.  Sorry again about your grandparents.”

“Thanks.  I probably should go back in now, anyway.  But it was nice meeting you, too!  Do you have Social Bunny?  I could add you on mine and we could chat there.”

He shook his head.  “My parents won’t let me until I’m older.  I’m allowed to text my friends, though.  Can I have your number?”

Blair thought for a moment and figured that would be okay, since even though they had just met, she and Imran were friends now, and she knew for a fact he really was her age.  It was no different than meeting someone new at school or scouts, except that he lived farther away.  “Sure.”  They exchanged numbers.  “I hope we’ll be able to hang out sometime.”

“Me too.  That’d be fun!  I better go now.  Bye!”

“Bye!”  Blair waved back, her heart a little heavier as she said goodbye to her new friend and her mind returned to the sad reason she was there in the first place.



An hour or so later, the last of the guests finished paying their respects, and it was just the Wainwrights and Jonathan and Maaike left.  The latter and Blair accompanied Patrick out to his car while Jonathan put away one of the chapel’s books that a guest had left out on a pew.  “The kitchen and dining area are all tidied up, too.  I let the priest know,” Susan said.  “We can head out whenever you’re ready, Boyd, but take your time if you need it.”

“I think I’m ready.  It’s weird.  It’s both hard to stay and leave if that makes sense.”

“It does,” Jonathan agreed.  “I felt like that at Mom’s service.  Staying was depressing, but leaving made it feel all real and final.  Also depressing.”

Boyd nodded.  “That about sums it up.”  He took a deep breath and looked up, staring at the stained glass.  He did not know if the Watcher was watching, but if they were, he sent up a simultaneous prayer that they got a break and an apology for any sin or offense he might have committed to cause the recent string of misfortunes.  Normally he did not worry about such things, but normally he was not standing in a Jacoban chapel, either, and his anxiety suggested that whether the Watcher was listening or not, it certainly could not hurt to offer an apology if one was needed.  “All right.  I think I’m good, or as good as I can be right now.”