Cordray stopped in her room long enough to straighten her hair and makeup, and to turn a steam iron on the skirt of her dress, and then she hurried off to check on Aiden and Null, finding them in the downstairs bathroom.
Null waited outside, in the hall, roaring quietly like he was practicing for a part as a bear in a play for The Jungle Book.
Then she looked in the bathroom and nearly went into shock.
“What’s going on in here?” Cordray stared in horror at the purple, blue, and pink shimmering mess of glitter powder in the bathroom. It covered everything. The marble floor, the counter, the cabinets, even the toilet. Hell, it was in the toilet. No surface was spared. The air even sparkled.
But what sparkled most was little Aiden. Her plump cheeks, her hands, her hair, her dress, her tiny Mary Janes. There wasn’t a body part or piece of clothing that didn’t shimmer.
Josie was busily trying to wipe up what had spilled out of the small canisters now sitting half empty beside the sink. “It seems Aiden had a little trouble with the glitter.”
“A little?” Cordray’s gaze swept the toddler from foot to head, then from ceiling to floor in the bathroom. “There’s glitter on the ceiling, Jo.”
She knelt in front of Aiden, rubbing her fingers over the little girl’s face. It was no use. The multicolored-pastel shimmer wasn’t coming off without a thorough shower and about a month’s worth of scrubbing. “What did you do, Aiden?”
“I’m sowwy.” Tears dropped to her cheeks. “I just wanted to look pwetty.”
“Oh, sweetie, you’re pretty enough just as you are.” Cordray dusted her fingers through Aiden’s blond hair. They came out sparkling.
“I wanted to be a faiwy pwincess.” She wiped away her tears, smearing more sparkly powder on her face and eyelids. Now even her long blond eyelashes sparkled.
The wedding was set to start in less than forty-five minutes. Aiden was the flower girl. She couldn’t very well walk down the aisle tossing rose petals looking like a glitter bomb had gone off in her hand. Cordray grabbed a stack of washcloths and began wetting them down and streaking them over Aiden’s face, desperately trying to clean her up as Josie played backup.
“Oh, honey, you look like a Cullen.”
Josie stopped scrubbing and shot her a weird look. “A what?”
“A Cullen. You know, from Twilight.”
Josie broke out in a fit of giggles. “Oh my God, she does.” She laughed harder. “She’s a pastel Cullen.”
“What’s a Cullen?” Aiden asked in her little-girl voice.
“Just a character in a book, sweetie. A comical, sparkly character.”
But Cordray had to give the author props. She’d found a new take on an old trope. Authors usually depicted vampires either as evil creatures from hell who hunted humans and drained them of blood or as gruesome scientific experiments gone terribly wrong. Cordray was kind of impartial to The Lost Boys, though. The sexy-vamp vibe Kiefer Sutherland rocked in that movie was pretty close to the mark. Make him less of a bad guy who didn’t need to kill the humans he fed from, and you had a reasonable likeness to the real thing.
Cordray got back to scrubbing down Aiden’s arms for all the good it did. She felt like all she was doing was spreading the powder around, not actually removing it.
“Holy hell! It’s like Tinkerbell threw up in here!”
Cordray turned to find Micah staring into the bathroom like the walls were alive, his eyes wide, mouth gaping.
“Shouldn’t you be standing at the head of an aisle or practicing your vows or something?” she snapped.
“Cool out, Cruella. I was just on my way and thought I’d check to see how things were coming along in here first.” His gaze took a tour around the shimmering bathroom. “Let me guess, there was a bit of an accident with the glitter.”
She stood and took a step back. “Oh, you’re astute. Did your superior investigative skills give you that one?”
“Maybe.”
Aiden sniffled, and Cordray turned to see that the little girl was crying again. “Great, Micah, I’d just gotten her to stop crying.”
Risking the sanctity of his tuxedo, Micah entered the bathroom, pushed past her, and crouched in front of Aiden as Josie backed away to give him space. “Hey, now, why are you crying, cutie-pie? There’s no need to cry.”
All Cordray could envision was Micah’s tux getting covered in shimmering dust. “Micah, you’re going to get glitter all over your tux—”
He rudely thrust his open palm toward her face. “Me and my tux are fine, C.” He withdrew his hand and wiped his thumb over Aiden’s cheeks, clearing away her tears. “So, what’s wrong, superstar. Talk to me. Why the tears?”
Aiden tucked her chin against her chest. “I’m sowwy.”
“Sorry? For what?”
“For wooning your big day.”
“She means ruining,” Cordray said.
“I don’t need a translator, C.” Micah slashed her a back-off glance.
Cordray huffed and took a step back, crossing her arms. “Fine, whatever. It’s not my tux.”
But inside, Cordray was mortified. Cordray had told both Aiden and Null how special today was for Micah and Sam, and that she wanted them to be on their best behavior. Not that she’d ever worried about that before. The twins were usually well-behaved. But this mess? Wow. This could blow the whole deal.
Aiden blubbered and sniffled some more. Micah grabbed a tissue, dabbed away her tears, and wiped her nose. “This?” Micah tossed the tissue in the trash can and waved his hand around the room. “This is nothing.” He took Aiden’s tiny hands in his.
Aiden seemed to shrink more into herself. “I just wanted to be a pwincess.”
“A fairy princess,” Josie added quietly from the side.
“A fairy princess?” Micah said, his voice filled with exaggerated excitement. “Why didn’t you say so? I think that sounds awesome.” He picked up the small canister of glitter powder and the makeup brush beside it, dabbing it in the powder.
Cordray nearly went into a meltdown. “Micah, no. You can’t—”
“Sure I can. It’s my wedding day. I can do whatever I want.”
“Actually, it’s Sam’s wedding day.”
The fiery look he gave her nearly burned her.
She held up her hands. “Fine. Have it your way. You’re the one marrying her, not me. It’s you who’ll feel her wrath.”
He rolled his eyes. “Her wrath? Please.” He turned away and went back to swirling the brush in the powder. “Don’t go thinking you know my bride better than I do, C. You’ll just end up looking foolish.” He snorted softly. “Make that more foolish.” He tapped off the excess powder and extended the brush toward Aiden’s face.
Josie went on full alert. “What are you doing?”
Micah swiped the brush across Aiden’s cheek, leaving a fresh deposit of pink shimmer on her tiny face. “If our little superstar is going to be a fairy princess, we’d better make her the best damn fairy princess that ever was, right?” He tapped Aiden’s slender forearm, then dipped the brush into the glitter again. “Hold out your arms there, superstar. Let’s make sure we don’t miss a spot.”
Aiden giggled and thrust her arms out in front of her, stamping her tiny feet.
Micah swished the brush down her arms and hands, then looked from Josie to Cordray as if daring them to stop him. “Am I right?” His eyes narrowed before he added, “You know I am.”
“Uh . . .” Josie stared white-faced at Cordray as Micah returned to dipping, dabbing, and brushing glitter all over Aiden, who giggled and pranced as Micah coated every inch of her with glitter dust. All Cordray and Josie could do was stare, speechless.
When Micah finished, Aiden shimmered from head to toe like a mythical being out of The Lord of the Rings. Flecks of glitter sparkled all over Micah’s tuxedo.
He set the canister and brush on the counter, stood, and dusted off his hands. “There.” He gave Cordray a proud smile. “She’s perfect.” He high-fived Aiden, told her he’d see her shortly, reminded her to twirl the way all fairies do in the mystical woods, and then turned and walked off like he owned the world, high-fiving Null—who was still roaring quietly—as he passed him.
Cordray exchanged glances with Josie while Aiden danced, twirled, and giggled in front of the full-length mirror, waving an imaginary wand, lost in her own little magical world.
“Sam’s going to kill us,” Josie said.
Cordray sighed, then grinned at how happy Aiden was. “Actually, I think she’ll love it.”
“You do?”
“Wouldn’t you?” She nodded toward little Aiden. “Look at how happy she is.” Cordray hadn’t seen the little girl this happy in a long time. “She’s kind of adorable.”
Josie caressed her swollen stomach and smiled. “You’re right. Sam’s going to love it. If nothing else, it’ll sure make the day memorable.”
She and Josie watched Aiden continue doing her fairy dance for a few more seconds, then Cordray leaned toward Josie and said quietly, “You know, I really hate to admit this, because you know how much I detest Micah, but that asshole is going to make a terrific father.”
Josie slowly nodded. “Yes, I do believe he will.”
And so would Trace.
Cordray caressed her flat stomach. Before long, she and Sam would look like Josie. A year from now, the halls of AKM would ring with gurgling, suckling young.
A new generation.
One little Aiden and Null would be a part of.
She continued watching Aiden dance and twirl, and for the first time in centuries, she was excited for the future.