Chapter Twenty-Three
Grace got up at the sound of the doorbell and waved at her mother. “I’ll get it. You just stay there and enjoy.”
The family had gathered on the back patio upon returning home. She, Beau, and her parents were talking and watching the children play in the yard, catching lightning bugs and blowing bubbles.
Beau yelled to bring back the pitcher of tea as she crossed through the front room, and she yelled back over her shoulder that she would as she pulled open the door.
When she saw who stood on the other side of the screen door, her happy bubble burst. Tad.
“What are you doing here?”
“You won’t take my calls so I came to talk about this.” He held a rolled-up bunch of papers in one hand.
“What’s that?”
“The divorce papers. I’m not going to sign this.”
“Yes, you are.”
“No. I’m not and we need to talk about this.”
“I don’t want to talk to you. I thought I made that clear. You can talk to my attorney or have your attorney talk to my attorney, but not to me.”
“You’re my wife and if I tell you we’re going to talk, then by God, we’re going to talk.”
Tad jerked open the door and took a step inside. He might have taken two if Beau hadn’t suddenly shown up beside Grace. “Everything okay, Grace?”
“No, actually it isn’t.” She glared at Tad. “I told him I don’t want to talk to him.”
“Well, maybe he didn’t hear you.” Beau looked down at Tad. “Grace doesn’t want to talk to you, so you should leave.”
“She’s my wife and will damn well do what I tell—“
The rest of his sentence was a garbled squeak that accompanied him taking a quick step backward. Grace bit back a smile. Beau’s growl was not near as bad as his bite, but it was darn sure unnerving. Tad was looking up at Beau like he had just come face-to-face with the big bad wolf and was trying hard not to show his fear.
“You’re going to want to watch your tone there, Tad. Grace doesn’t answer to you. She doesn’t answer to anyone but herself and if you think for a minute you can bully her then I’m standing here telling you that’s not going to happen because to get to her you’d have to go through me and believe me when I tell you that I’d really love for you to try.”
“I don’t know who you think you are, but I have rights and you—“
“Wrong.” Grace said. “You gave up those rights when you cheated. Now, like I said, have your attorney call my attorney but don’t come here again, Tad. You’re not welcome.”
“You’re a real bitch, you know that Grace? What kind of person, what kind of mother would deny her children the chance to see their father?”
“What makes you think they want to see you?”
“Because they're my kids and they love me?”
“Yes, children have a remarkable capacity for love, don’t they? And they have loved you their entire lives. A smile or kind word from you would light up their faces like a string of Christmas lights. At least, it once would. Now? To be honest, I’m not so sure.”
“You’re wrong. They love me. They want me. Why, Sherri would leave with me right now rather than stay with you.”
“Really? Why? So she could be an inconvenience for you and Amy, or whoever you end up with next? Or maybe you’d give up your evenings out and weekends away to stay home with her? Or not. Tell me how many times have you taken her calls?”
“Look, I can’t drop everything every time she calls, which is constant. I’ve got more important things to do than listen to a little brat—“
“Brat?”
Grace’s heart sank. She turned and knelt to put her hands on Sherri’s shoulders. “Honey, you should go back onto the porch with Gran and—“,
“You called me a brat.”
“Oh sweetie, you know I didn’t mean—“ Tad’s voice got all sticky sweet as he spoke to Sherri.
“Yes, you did. You never take my calls and when you call all you want to do is tell me about how busy you are and how you can’t come see us or we can’t come see you because you’re too busy. You don’t love us, Daddy. Not the way a daddy is supposed to. You choose Miss Amy over all of us.”
“Sherri, honey, that’s not true. I didn’t—“
“Yes, you did. I saw you and Miss Amy. And I was ugly to Mommy and said it was her fault we had to move here but it was your fault, Daddy. You didn’t love us so we had to come here.”
“Well, if you want to come home that bad maybe—“
“I don’t want to live with you no more, Daddy. I want to live here. You need to go back home and leave us alone. We’re a happy family. We don’t need you no more.” Sherri then looked at Grace. “We don’t need him no more, do we, Mommy?”
“No, baby, we sure don’t.” Grace stood to face Tad. “Time for you to go.”
“You won’t get away with this, Grace. I’ll take the kids from you. I’ll leave you broke and alone and—“
“Enough.” Beau interrupted in a quiet voice that was as menacing a sound as Grace had ever heard. “Listen to me, Mr. Finley, and listen well. You will agree to the terms of the divorce and will be grateful if Grace allows you any visitation with your children. You’ll do that because to do otherwise would simply be foolish. You might be a successful corporate attorney, but you’ve never gone up against the might of the Legacy family. We have the wealth and power to destroy you, and we can do it without much effort, before lunch. So, agree to the terms Grace has set out and go live your life. Now, say goodbye and get off the Summerfields’ porch.”
“Or what, you’ll hurt me?”
“No, I will.” Grace said quietly. “Go, Tad. There’s a storm brewing. You don’t want to get caught in it.
“There’s no—“ A tremendous crash of thunder had him jumping.
Sherri giggled and Grace smiled. “Goodbye, Tad.”
With that, she closed the door in his face and then knelt and looked at Sherri. “Good job on that thunder, girl.”
“Grandpa already taught us how. It’s a good trick, huh?”
“Indeed it is, but remember, magic is a private thing we don’t share with everyone. We only use it when we need it.”
“I know, Mommy, but we needed it. We needed Daddy to go back and live with Miss Amy so you and me and Theo can live here with Gran and Grandpa.” She looked up at Beau. “Maybe one day you can come and live here too, Mr. Beau.”
Beau smiled and scooped her up in his arms. “Now wouldn’t that be something?” He looked over Sherri’s head at Grace.
“It would indeed,” she agreed and smiled. “It surely would. But,” she looked at her daughter. “Right now, we need to have a family talk about what happened today so let’s go outside with Gran and Grandpa, okay?”
“Okay.”
Beau put Sherri down and she ran back through the house, headed for the porch. Once she was out of earshot, Beau took Grace’s hand. “I hope I didn’t overstep with Tad.”
“No, not at all. I’m glad you were here.” She put her arms around him and leaned into him. “What a day.”
“You can say that again.” He looked down at her as she pulled back. “Hey, I’m not all that accustomed to this paranormal stuff either, you know. Until last year, I thought I was just another ordinary Joe.”
“You’ve never been ordinary.”
“Thanks, but the point is, I understand that life has been a series of surprises for you since you got here. Some of them scary as hell and others—like your dad being alive—like a dream come true.”
“It’s just so unbelievable, Beau. You, all the Shifters and Daemons and Vampires and—and Fae. God, my dad is Fae? That makes me…”
“Grace. You’re the same person you’ve always been. Finding out you’re Kindred doesn’t change who you are.”
“Just what we can do, right? Oh God, Beau. Ily. We have to talk to my Dad about Ily now. We have to—“
“We will, Grace. We will. But she’s in hibernation and not in danger so why don’t we give your mom and dad a moment? They deserve some time for their reunion, don’t you think?”
“I do, but I don’t want to let Ily down and John Luke has to be just frantic with worry and—“
“And we can ease that worry.” Her father’s voice came from across the room.
“How?”
“Heal Ily, finish the formula, and reinforce the cloak to protect the children.”
“How do you know about all that?”
“Severin told me.”
“Well, you act like you’re talking about watering the lawn. It can’t be that simple.”
“Sure it can.”
“How? How do we finish the formula?”
“Do you have the ingredients?”
“I do, but Ily said something was wrong. The mystery element isn’t the same as what’s in the poison that’s killing the Weres.”
“Copper only.”
“That was in the recipe for the concoction you made for Beau’s mother. What did it mean?”
“Don’t you remember? You were with me many times when I made it. It was the only thing we made we didn’t use the regular distiller for.”
“Oh, my God, copper only!” Grace looked at Beau to explain. “He has a copper distiller.” She returned her attention to her dad. “I should’ve thought of that. So, if we distill in copper—“
“It changes the blood.”
“Oh God, Ily will be so—wait, how do we heal Ily? She’s the one who can figure out how to make an antidote.”
“Do you have the knife that was used to stab her?”
“Yes, at your shop.”
“Then we use it to create an antidote.”
“Again, you make it sound easy.”
Grayson laughed. “One day you’ll make it sound easy.”
“I wish.”
“It will happen. Your magic is strong. Be patient and it will happen.”
“How do you know my magic is strong?”
“Because you brought me back.”
“I did? No, I didn’t.”
“Yes. Well, you, your mother, and your children. You all did.”
“How?”
“You summoned the Light and it freed me from my self-imposed prison.”
“Oh, Dad, I’m so sorry. I thought you were…you know.”
“Dead. Yes, you had to believe that.”
“Did Ida know you were alive?” Beau asked.
“Yes. She helped me plan and execute the ruse.”
“But why?”
“It was necessary. The Dark Fae hold great power and the Light was not strong enough to move against them. If I were reported dead, the Darkness would think they’d won a victory and destroyed the Whitehorse line. It would give the Light time to plan and prepare.”
“Seems like there’s not much good that comes from that other realm,” Grace said. “So much hate and war.”
“It wasn’t always that way,” Grayson said. “One day, the Dark will diminish. It’s the way of things. Dark can never completely diminish Light, just as Light can never obliterate Darkness. Sometimes things get out of balance and there’s conflict and turmoil, but then there are those times when balance is achieved and then…well those are the times to treasure.
“Now, give your old dad a hug and relieve your mom. It’s time she and I had some time alone.”
Grace went into his arms and tears welled in her eyes. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you again. I missed you so much.”
“I missed you, Gracie. But we’re here together now. All of us, and I think we might all be headed toward balance.”
“I hope so. Good night, Dad.”
“’Night, honey.” Grayson looked over at Beau. “’Night, son.”
“Goodnight Mr. Grayson. Welcome home.”
Grayson smiled and left the room. A moment later Ida’s voice floated in. “Good night, all my babies. I love you. Sleep well.”
“’Night, Mama,” Grace called out and then looked at Beau. “Feel like helping me get the kids to bed?”
“Do we get to make out on the back porch hammock afterwards?”
She smiled. “You better believe it.”
“Then lead the way.”