Chapter Seven

 

They had a full day ahead of them. Grant took them into town to shop, and also, reluctantly, bought them the Kitchen Sink pizza at Greasy Gus. He even ate a slice, although he shot dirty looks at Celeste in between every bite.

Then he sat down with Celeste and Jeffrey and talked to them about werewolves. He told them they’d managed to stay hidden from humans by living in remote, heavily forested areas. They never travelled off pack land during a full moon, because on the full moon they were compelled to shift, and their mind was taken over by their beasts. Of course, from time to time humans spotted a werewolf and lived to tell – that was where the legends of werewolves came from. But as long as humans believed that they were just legends, then werewolves were still safe.

Late that afternoon, while Grant and Celeste sat in the enormous parlor practicing their stories with his lawyers, Pete and Reynaldo, Mandy took Jeffrey to the pool to teach him how to swim.

When the doorbell rang, Grant frowned suspiciously. “We’re not expecting anyone. Better not be anyone from my former pack, or I’m going to have me a new wolfskin rug.”

He and Celeste went to the front door and opened it. A short, plump woman with a round face and an ingratiating smile stood on the doorway, holding a wicker basket full of fruit.

“Hi, I’m Marian, your next door neighbor,” she said.

“There are no houses near us,” Grant said evenly.

“Oh, well, I live a little ways down the road.”

As she stepped into the foyer without being invited, Celeste looked at her, trying to figure out how she knew her.

“You look familiar,” she said with a frown. Something about the woman made her uneasy.

From somewhere in the back of the house, they heard Mandy yelling, “Not a good time!” What was that all about?

“Who is that?” Marian asked.

“It’s our nanny. Where have we met?” Celeste persisted.

“I’m sure we’ve never met before.”

“Really not a good time!” Mandy yelled louder. There was a crash, and something shattered.

Marian’s eyes widened. “What was that?”

Celeste ignored her question. “I’m good with faces. I know! You look exactly like the Child Protective Services case worker who trespassed in my house and tried to kidnap my child a few days ago.”

Instead of looking offended, Marian’s smile grew even wider and faker. Right. Something was off.

Marian tried to sidle past Celeste. “Is that so?” She was looking over Celeste’s shoulder, trying to see into the rest of the house.

Grant walked right in front of her to block her. “Excuse me. Where I come from, we don’t go barreling into the houses of perfect strangers without being invited.”

Marian tittered, a high, shrill sound. “Oh, goodness me, I was just so curious about this house. It’s the biggest house in Somerville, did you know that? It’s sat empty for a while and I just wanted—” she tried to side-step past him. He moved again, still standing in front of her. .

“You don’t take a hint, do you? Answer my wife’s question. How are you related to Rhona Millhouse?” He started walking right towards her, forcing her to back up.

She never stopped smiling. “Well, gosh, she’s my sister, didn’t I say so?”

“No, you very deliberately avoided answering my wife when she asked you. So she sent you here to spy on us?”

Marian’s smile vanished. What a relief. That clown rictus was downright scary. “This is a small town, and we like to get to know our neighbors. Do you come from a dangerous neighborhood? You must come from a very dangerous place if this is how they treat people. Probably not safe for children— Is that a wolf cub?”

Jeffrey, in cub form, came racing into the room, with Mandy still in her bathing suit, chasing him.

Marian screamed.

Jeffrey ran around the room in circles with Mandy running after him. Then he paused, lifted his leg and peed – right on Marian’s leg, soaking her pantyhose.

Then he ran out of the room, with Mandy still in hot pursuit. Celeste bolted out of the room after them.

“What is going on here? This place is a zoo!” Marian wailed, and rushed out of the house. Grant slammed and locked the door behind her, and went to find his son.

Half an hour later, a police car pulled up in front of their house, responding to a complaint of a child who was in danger because of a vicious dog in the house. Grant invited him in and let him search the entire house until he was satisfied with Grant’s story – a stray dog had wandered in briefly, but then it had run off again.

* * * * *

Dinner on the patio was luscious tender steak and mashed potatoes with butter and gravy. Jeffrey cleaned his plate and begged for seconds. Pete and Reynaldo, who were staying with them in one of the mansion’s guest wings, had thirds and fourths. Apparently werewolves loved meat.

“Do you want to say anything to Grant?” Celeste prodded.

Jeffrey glanced at Celeste.

“It was okay,” he said.

She coughed into her hand. “Golden Rule.”

He looked at her, baffled.

She replied with a frown. “If you worked really hard to make something for somebody, would you want them to say it was just okay?”

He sighed and looked at Grant. “Dinner was very good,” he said. “I guess you didn’t lie about that.”

“Thank you,” Grant said in a formal, polite tone.

It was pretty adorable to see this big, strong man – a werewolf, no less – being so polite and gentle with his little boy. Who would have imagined that storybook monsters who were perfectly capable of flipping a car – as Mandy had demonstrated earlier – could be so sweet? She felt something soften and melt inside her as she watched Grant interacting with Jeffrey, even getting the kid to crack a smile. She hadn’t heard what he’d said, but had a dark suspicion it had something to do with peeing on ladies from CPS. Those two were going to be a menace. She’d have to watch out for— But no. She wasn’t going to be staying. As soon as Jeffrey felt safe with Grant, knew he could trust him, she’d be hitting the road again. And it looked like Grant might win Jeffrey over faster than she’d expected. The thought made her feel unexpectedly hollow inside. She told herself firmly it was for the best. She couldn’t have Grant. Couldn’t let herself want him.

After dinner, Pete and Reynaldo went off to play pool in the game room, and Grant, Mandy and Celeste sat in the media room and watched a DVR of the Wild Kratts on a projection screen that took up an entire wall.

When the movie was over, Jeffrey stood up, and a silver butter knife fell out of his pocket. He went still and looked at Grant fearfully.

“I wasn’t stealing,” he said defensively.

“Of course you weren’t,” Grant said. “It’s yours. It’s not stealing if it’s yours.”

“How is it mine?” Jeffrey looked at him with suspicion.

“You are my son. You are part of my pack. Whatever is mine, is yours.”

Jeffrey just stared at him, unsure of what to say. He glanced fearfully at Celeste.

“He’s right,” Celeste assured him. “Maybe just ask next time, if you want something.”

Grant bent down, picked up the knife, and handed it to him. “You can sleep with it if you want. Your mother and I are going to bed soon, so you’re going to sleep in the room next to Mandy’s. There’s a door connecting your rooms.”

Jeffrey growled. “I’m sleeping with my mother.”

Grant sighed. “Here’s the thing, little man. You know that nasty lady you peed on earlier? She’s spying on us. I have some very fancy binoculars; I looked out my bedroom window and I saw a house down the road from us. Half a mile away. She was looking out her window, watching us with a telescope.”

“Son of a…” Celeste stopped herself right before she swore.

“Bitch?” Jeffrey finished helpfully.

Grant cleared his throat. “Anyway. What that means is, your mother and I have to pretend to be a real married couple. That means she has to sleep in my bedroom. Remember what we talked about earlier? How we have to tell a little fib, because if the judge thinks we’re really married, they’re less likely to try to take you away?”

Jeffrey stiffened.

“Nobody is taking you away from me,” Grant told him. “Ever.”

“What about my mom?” Jeffrey prodded him.

“Nobody is taking you from her either.”

Celeste kept the smile pasted on her face. This was getting harder and harder. Would she be able to do the right thing after they won their court case? Would she be able to leave Jeffrey with people who actually knew how to care for a child?

“Anyway,” Grant explained, “real married people sleep in the same bedroom, and their kids sleep in their own bedroom. We have to make it look good. The mean lady has a view of our bedroom window, I’m afraid.”

Jeffrey reluctantly let them go. As they walked off, Celeste heard him saying to Mandy, “When they leave me tonight, I guess you’ll be my new mom. But when you leave me, who will be my mom then?”

Celeste thought she’d choke. “I am not leaving you!” she called out to him. “And neither is Grant!”

“Nobody is leaving you,” Mandy said. “If you want, I’ll sleep in your room. There’s a couch in there.”

Celeste let out a long, shuddering breath as they walked to their room. “This is all so messed up,” she said. “Everything that he’s been through. Us lying to him. Should I go back and sleep in his room tonight?”

He sighed. “That lady really is spying on us. At the very least we need to stand in front of the bedroom window and let her see us. Then we can pull the shades, and you can sneak downstairs if you want. At some point he has to get used to sleeping on his own.”

“I know.”

They turned on a lamp in their bedroom and stood in front of the window, facing each other.

“What should we do now?” she asked.

“Well, I could kiss you.”

Celeste tipped her head back up to look into his gorgeous face. “Eww, gross. Boy cooties.”

“I know.” Grant rolled his eyes with an exaggerated comic look. “Kissing a girl. Nasty. We’ll just do it long enough to convince her that we’re legit. We’ll do it for Jeffrey.”

Well, if it was for Jeffrey…

Her heart stuttered in her chest as Grant leaned in and she closed her eyes and just let herself feel. He pressed his lips against hers, firmly and sweetly, and she melted into his embrace. Of their own accord, her hands came up and she wound her fingers into the curls at the nape of his neck.

When his hand wandered down her spine to cup her derriere, she gasped and pressed closer against him, and he took advantage of her parted lips to slide his tongue against hers with sinful skill.

His hands slid under her clothes.

“For our son,” he murmured into her ear, and she was too distracted to argue with him. Or maybe she didn’t want to. Jeffrey, Grant, people who cared about her, a family to wake up to every morning… Maybe there was a part of her that wished this fairytale were her real life.