Chapter Twelve

It took a while for the paperwork to be sorted and for Aaron to be old enough to travel, but after nearly a year, Margaret and her budding family made their way to London. It felt almost surreal, as she stepped through the doors of her family home for the first time in years. It was if it belonged to someone else. She realized that this was no longer her home. She had put it all behind her for another life.

“This place is beautiful,” Angus marveled as he looked around.

“It used to be,” she replied.

“What do you mean? It still is,” he told her.

“No. It is a nice building, but it is empty now. It has no life. When my parents and I lived here, there were laughter and parties. Friends came by for tea. It is merely an empty shell now.”

“It could be that way again, if you want. I know that the farm wasn’t your first choice of lifestyles,” he told her.

“I’ve gotten used to it,” she replied.

“Getting used to something and enjoying it are two different things, Margaret.”

“You love your farm. I wouldn’t dream of asking you to leave it.”

“And I wouldn’t dream of asking you to stay there when it’s not the sort of life you were meant to have.”

“You can’t tell me that you would want to live in a place like this? Surrounded by snotty people who have never done a hard day’s work in their life?”

“I wouldn’t care as long as I had you by my side.”

“Thing is, I don’t think I could ever live here again, Angus. I don’t want Aaron to grow up among these arrogant, vapid people who know so little about real life. I love our farm, but I don’t know if you are truly happy with that life. You ran away to that place just as I did. Perhaps you want to go home, too?”

“No. I don’t want to go home. I left it behind a long time ago and have no desire to ever go back. My home now is wherever you are. Whether that is on a farm or here in London, I don’t care. As long as I have you and Aaron with me, I’m at home.”

“Then I think I’d like to go back to Montana.”

“That is what we’ll do then,” he told her, kissing her on the cheek.

Aaron babbled and pulled at her hair, knotting it up in his tiny fists. Angus laughed as he untangled it and took the playful child into his arms. Margaret walked about the house, surprised to find that so many items were exactly as they had been left by her family, despite it having been in the hands of someone else for so long. It only spoke to how little they had cared about anything beyond the money they could put in their hands. Of course, for the most part, Margaret couldn’t really say she held a lot of attachment for many of the things present herself.

“I think we will stay here a few days and sort some things out before we go home,” she told him.

“Take all the time you need,” he told her.

For the next few days, the couple enjoyed the sights and sounds of London. Angus had never visited and found it incredibly interesting. For Margaret, it hadn’t changed much, but she did find it much more enjoyable to be sharing it with a family of her own. It was nice to have a family again after having been on her own for so long before meeting Angus. In just under a week, they had done all they needed and were ready to return to the Americas again.

After shipping some items to America that were sentimental in nature, she sold it to family friends and they departed Europe, returning home to Montana where they resumed their life as simple farmers. There was little difference in their lives now and before other than they had more money in the bank and thus, far fewer worries. Instead of toiling in the fields for long hours, they were able to carve out a much smaller garden for personal use and allot more of the property to raising cattle, which was far less work than growing and selling crops.

Of course, the best part of it all was now being able to give back more to the community around them. They were able to assist those who had helped them when they had nothing. Many of their neighbors had struggled to make the repairs from the tornado that had occurred now almost two years ago. Margaret and Angus were more than happy to provide lumber and other materials to get them back up to par so that they could create more profit, rather than pouring their meager earnings back into the property. They were able to purchase and deliver dry goods that would help them all through the coming winter.

While many would see it as charity, most saw it as gratitude for help in less fortunate times. So many of their neighbors had pulled from their pantries what were already scarce resources and given to them when they themselves had so little to do so with. Now that they were able to return the favor, they did so wholeheartedly.

Of course, as time went on, Margaret began to note something about Angus. Each year, she felt older. She looked older, but he never seemed to change. After fifteen years of marriage, she had begun to have fine lines around her eyes and even a gray hair here and there. Still, Angus looked the same age he had when they had initially met. It was in noticing this that she learned yet another secret about her husband that he had been loath to discuss and it saddened her deeply.

“Why is it that I get older and you stay the same? You are so lucky to not have these awful lines and white hairs sprouting from your scalp.” She laughed.

Angus looked at her, obviously not thrilled with the statement. At first, she didn’t realize that her playful teasing about his lack of aging was anything of consequence, but the expression on his face told her that she might be onto something she hadn’t expected.

“I just don’t age like humans,” he said finally, his eyes cast downward.

“What do you mean, you don’t age like humans?”

“The aging process of a dragon shifter just follows a different scale of time,” he told her.

“That doesn’t make sense. The children are all aging just as they should, given their human ages.”

“Yes. Dragon shifters, even those with human parents, all age similarly to humans until they reach an age of maturity. Then, they begin to age more slowly and the older they get, the slower that aging process becomes.”

“Are you somehow immortal?” she asked, feeling saddened by what she knew this would mean.

“No, not immortal. Dragons die eventually, like all other things. It just takes longer.”

“How much longer?”

“I don’t know.”

“I think you do.”

“It depends on a variety of factors, just like with humans.”

“Give me a rough idea.”

“I can’t. Some dragons live for hundreds of years. There have been those that have lived for thousands of years.”

“So, basically, even if you live on the lesser end of that scale, you’ll still outlive me by many years.”

“Yes.”

“Will you take another wife when I’m gone?”

“What? No. Of course not!”

“You could, you know,” Margaret said, though the words pained her.

She felt on the edge of tears knowing she would die long before him, long before her children. It was the first time since she had found out what he truly was that she had felt like such an inferior being to him. The thought of him going on and loving another was devastating, but she had to accept that such a thing might happen and it was important to tell him it was okay, despite how she might feel.

“We are not having this conversation.”

“We have to. I just found out that you will have time for a completely new life after I’ve gotten old, gray and gone on to my grave. You may even have enough time for several lifetimes past me. I can’t expect you to spent hundreds or thousands of years alone!”

“Margaret, if you died tomorrow, I would spend however long I am left on this earth pining for you. I would miss you until the day I was finally able to join you in the heavens.”

“I’m not saying you shouldn’t miss me. Of course, you should miss me, but you could go on. That’s all I’m saying.”

“I have you now, and that is all that matters to me. I’ll love you until we part and then I’ll wait to love you again when we are together once more.”

“Even when I’m old and gray? Will you still love me when you are this young, beautiful, vital creature and I am an old hag?”

“You could never be an old hag. You will be just as beautiful to me when you are ninety as you are right now.”

“You say that now, but just wait you wait and see!”

“You just wait and see,” he told her. “Margaret, I love you with all my heart and soul. This chance marriage of ours is the best thing that has ever happened to me. Getting a letter from you all those years ago saying that you wanted to discuss marriage terms with me might have seemed cold and businesslike at the time, but the sparks I felt when I first laid eyes on you changed everything and I’ve never looked back.”

“I’ve never looked back, either, Angus.”

“Not even when you found out what I was?”

“Not even then. I might have been a bit bewildered by it, but I didn’t regret a single thing.”

“Then don’t start doubting us now. We will be just fine, however long we have together. And when you are gone, there will never be anyone to replace you. I promise you that.”

“I don’t want you to be sad and lonely.”

“Well, you best just live as long as you can. You’re it for me, Margaret. The only one there will ever be. I will never court another. I will never marry another. I will live with your memory in my heart and use that to get me through the years until we can hold one another again.”

“I love you, Angus.”

“I love you, too.”

Margaret didn’t really know how she felt about all of this now, but he was right about one thing. It did no good to discuss it any further. When her time came, she would have to go and he would be left behind. She would have to take comfort in the fact that he would at least have the kids to keep him company and hope that would be enough for him. Otherwise, it could be a very long wait for him until he joined her on the other side.

It was the last time either of them spoke about it. Margaret couldn’t help but think about it from time to time, but she refused to let it inhabit her head and her heart to the point that she found it hard to enjoy what they had together during the time they had left. It wasn’t as if she could change it anyway.

Time seemed to fly, as only five years later, Margaret and Angus stood in front of the large white church they had donated the money to build and prepared to go inside with three of their four children. The fourth, the oldest, Aaron Paul was already inside waiting for them. It was a sad day for Margaret, for today she would officially have to let go of her eldest son.

“Are you ready, my love?” Angus asked as a single tear fell down her face.

“As ready as I could ever be for this,” she replied.

“I know this is hard for you, Margaret. I can see your pain, but you know it is just another chapter in life. Everyone goes through it at some point and it is just our time,” Angus told her.

“I know, Angus. I know. It is just so hard. I never considered that one day I would have to give up my first-born son. It is too soon. I haven’t had enough time with him,” she told him.

“You will have more time with him down the road. I’m sure of that. No one could ever doubt just how much you love Aaron Paul and I pity anyone who would ever try to say otherwise,” he told her.

“You’re right. I know you are right. Let’s get this done then,” she told him.

Angus took her hand and guided her up the steps. Their two other sons and daughter followed behind them quietly as the church doors opened and they stepped inside. There were flowers everywhere and Margaret stopped to smell a large bouquet near the entrance, drawing strength from the fragrance. She looked down the end of the aisle and said a silent prayer as Aaron Paul smiled broadly back at her, watching her walk toward him and be seated on the front pew. He stepped out of place for a moment and kissed her on the cheek.

“I love you, Mom. You will always be my first love,” he told her, wiping a single tear from her cheek.

“I love you, too, son,” she replied as he patted his father on the shoulder and then returned to his place. Margaret turned back toward the doors of the church as the organ player began to play and watched her soon-to-be daughter-in-law standing nervously at the open doors while her bridesmaids walked ahead of her down the aisle. Finally, the wedding march began and she walked slowly toward the front of the church.

Margaret beamed at the woman who would take her son away. She was a good girl and Margaret loved her, but this was only the beginning. Soon, the other three would follow suit and marry their own loves, leaving her and Angus alone in a house that had slowly seen addition after addition to accommodate their growing family. It was the beginning of yet another episode in their lives, but she knew that there were still more wonderful memories to come as grandchildren were born and played with the descendants of Dog, who had long since passed, but left behind several generations to see this family through for years to come.

The sun was shining and everything seemed right with the world as the family and their friends left the church to return home. Margaret felt a sense of happiness and sadness as her son and his new wife traveled in the opposite direction to their new home, a small white cottage that he and his father had been building in the months prior to the wedding, along with the help of several fellow parishioners. It wouldn’t be long before the other children followed suit, marrying off and leaving to start their own families. They’d have little need for their parents anymore after that.

Of course, there was still a lot of life left to live and years down the road, Margaret had come to appreciate once again having the solitude of just herself and Angus in the house. They had spent the hard years of raising very different children in a world that would never accept them for what they truly were.

Then, the world seem to come apart at the seams as they were awakened late one night by a young lady shrieking on their front porch. Angus had brought her inside and sat her down, trying to calm her as Margaret got dressed and made her way downstairs.

“My mother! She’s being attacked by coyotes!”

Angus groaned. For as long as they had been here, the coyotes had been a nuisance, always showing up and creating problems when least expected. Angus despised them, even more so since they had come back for Dog and taken his life long after they seemed to be no threat anymore.

“Where is she?” he asked.

“Down the road. They came out of nowhere. We were trying to get into town before daylight, to take some meat to the markets there and they descended on us! They came from nowhere and attacked the wagon, overturned it and took the meat. Then several of them attacked my mother. Oh, God! Oh, God! What if she’s dead already?”

“Just stay here,” Angus told her, retrieving his rifle and charging out the door.

The girl sat sobbing on the sofa as Margaret tried to calm her down without much luck. It was only when Angus returned, with her mother cradled in his arms that she started to come around, though the sight of all the blood on her mother’s dress didn’t do much for her hysteria. Still, she seemed more in shock than hysteria now as she sat looking on while Angus and Margaret did what they could to look at her mother’s wounds.

“I can’t believe coyotes did this to a woman. Isn’t it rare for them to attack humans?” Margaret asked.

“They’ll attack anything if they are hungry and the smell of meat only drove them to want more. The thing is, they weren’t coyotes. They were wolves.”

“Wolves?”

“Yes. They were still there when I arrived and I had to shoot several of them to get the ones attacking her to let go and run away.”

The woman moaned as they pulled back the material clinging to her wounds and looked at the bites and cuts that littered her body. Angus shook his head.

“Get some wet cloths and do what you can to clean these up and bandage them. She needs a doctor.”

“There’s no way you’ll find a doctor to get to her at this time of night, and I don’t know that she can make a trip into town with so many bleeding wounds.”

“We will have to risk it. Otherwise, she’s not going to make it.”

“What about the wolves? What if they come back?”

“They won’t. I ran them away.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Margaret, what I know is that if I don’t try to get this woman to a doctor right away, she is going to die here in our living room. Clean up what you can and stop whatever blood you can with bandages while I hook up the wagon.”

Margaret was frightened. She knew that if it came right down to it, wolves were no match for his dragon, but he risked showing himself to a stranger if he shifted with her in the wagon. Either way, it was a bad situation for him, for them. Discovery of any of her family as a dragon could create dire consequences, something she had always known but rarely worried about. They were careful when shifting, even when the children were younger and Angus had been training them to use their powers. It had been a surprise to both of them to find that their children all possessed the same additional power to shifting. Each of them were able to move objects just by willing them to do as they wanted.

By the time Angus returned from hooking up the wagon, Margaret had managed to bandage up the worst of the damage the wolves had created. The girl had looked on, mesmerized and frightened, if the expression on her face was any indication of her thoughts. When Angus picked up her mother to take her out, the girl stood to go with them.

“No. I think it might be best if you stay here,” he told her.

Both she and Margaret looked at him curiously. Why would he not want her to go with him to take her mother to the doctor? He looked at Margaret as if to tell her not to question him and she knew he had his reasons. Turning to the girl, she motioned for her to sit back down.

“Let him get her tended to while you stay here and rest. You can stretch out on the sofa and get a bit of sleep while you wait if you can see fit to do so. There is nothing you can do beyond what you already have. You got her help. Angus will take good care of her.”

“I don’t want her to be alone,” the girl protested.

“There are wolves out there that are apparently not afraid to take on humans and your mother has the scent of blood on her. It is going to be enough for me to protect her if they decide to come back. I don’t need two of you to worry about if that happens,” he told her curtly.

Margaret knew that there was more to it than that, but she had been married to Angus long enough to realize she shouldn’t ask. He would explain when he could. In the meantime, perhaps,s she could calm the daughter and get her to sleep while he did what he needed to in order to save her mother. When the girl continued to protest, Angus lost his patience with her, catching even Margaret by surprise.

“Listen. I don’t have time to stand here and argue with you. Your mother is hurt. She is in pain and she is in danger of not making it if I don’t get her some help soon. You need to stay here with my wife and rest. I will come back for you once I have your mother taken care of and daylight removes the threat of night creatures that seem to have crossed the line between staying in the shadows and making themselves very much apparent.”

He didn’t wait for an answer, lifting her mother up and carrying her to the door. Margaret stood and opened it for him, kissing him quietly on the cheek and telling him to be careful before he disappeared into the night. She watched out the window as the wagon pulled away, carrying him and the woman into the darkness that fell in their shadow and swallowed them whole.

After a bit more cajoling and a bit of hot tea, she managed to settle the young girl down and get her to sleep for a bit. With her snoring lightly on the sofa, Margaret busied herself in the kitchen getting things ready for breakfast. The sun would be coming up soon and Angus would return to have breakfast and get on with their day, which would now probably include taking the young woman back into town.

It didn’t seem like much time had passed when she heard the sound of footsteps on the front porch. Thinking it was Angus, she rushed to the front door and opened it, only to find herself staring into the large bared teeth of an extraordinarily large wolf. Margaret gasped and attempted to slam the front door, but the beast threw his weight against it, pushing back against her as she struggled to get it closed. She was surprised when she found herself joined by the girl, who as pushing with all her might to get it shut. Between the two of them, they managed to get it closed, protecting them from the wolf on the other side.

Then, the howls began. They seemed to be all around them as they huddled together in the center of the room. After a few minutes, the banging of the door began as the wolf seemed to be throwing its weight against it repeatedly, trying to get inside. The girl began to cry again as they feared the worst. Margaret stood frozen in fear as the howling increased and the door shook on its frame, then she snapped out of it, realizing she had to do something.

“Come on,” she told the girl, grabbing a nearby kerosene lantern and heading toward the cellar door.

They hurriedly descended the steps, pushing the dogs inside the door and closing themselves up before the crack of the front door sounded above them. Margaret could hear the sound of feet running about the houses. Growls filled the air above them as they cowered behind the cellar door. It was only a matter of time before the demon dogs burst through that one, as well. Their own dogs hid in a corner, knowing their barking would only bring more trouble, apparently. Margaret was grateful for their silence, as barking would have been bound to bring them to the door much faster. The longer it took the dogs to realize they were there, the longer they had to survive and hope for help.

Margaret listened closely as the four legged creatures seemed to stop. There was silence for a bit and then she could hear voices. Was Angus home? And if so, who was he talking to up there? Where had the wolves gone? She continued to listen, cautioning the girl to remain quiet as the voices came closer to the door. Someone was jiggling the handle.

“Are you in there, witch?” the man said.

Margaret glanced at the girl, puzzled. The girl looked more terrified than ever as someone continued to try to break into the door.

“I know you are in there. We saw the man leave with your mother, but you didn’t leave. Are you hiding from us in there? Do you think hiding in a cellar will save you?”

Tears were falling down the girl’s face as the door began to rattle again, someone still attempting to force their way in. After a while, it stopped and voices could be heard outside again.

“The sun is coming up. We need to get out of here before we are seen. Burn everything. She can stay in there and die in the blaze.”

Margaret’s blood ran cold. They were going to burn them out! This was crazy. She had no idea what was going on. She could hear their footsteps as they walked away from the door. Turning toward the girl, she whispered to her.

“What do they want? Why did they call you a witch?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know who they are. I thought there were wolves up there, not men.”

“I thought the same,” Margaret replied.

The smell of smoke drifting in from somewhere above. Margaret panicked. They really were setting the place ablaze and she was helpless to stop it. She heard the front door open and the sound of Angus’s voice yelling. She was now even more frightened by what they might do to him as he walked in on them unexpectedly. This was a nightmare!

She was still trying to process what was happening when she heard the sounds of the front door slamming and footsteps running through the house toward it, there were shouts at first, followed by a man screaming and then dogs snarling and growling. It all seemed like madness as she and the girl clung to one another in the cellar. They covered their faces with their skirts in an effort to keep out the smoke, but it crept up into their nostrils and their eyes, stinging them with its heat.

“What is happening?” the girl rasped through the thick fabric of her skirt.

Margaret shook her head to indicate that she had no idea either. Then she heard the hideous sound of the dragon’s screech. She realized that Angus had lured the men outside and shifted. It was the only explanation for the noise, but what about the wolves? Where had they come from and why were they with the men? Was it possible that the men were using them to rob? Perhaps they had trained them. It was all not going to matter very shortly as the smoke grew thicker around them.

Margaret reached for the girl’s hands, pulling her down to lie on the floor. She remembered being told that once that if there was a fire you should like flat, try to get under the smoke. It might work for a while, but if Angus didn’t come soon, they would be lost to the fire and not even his dragon could save them. The sounds continued outside for a while and then all fell silent. Her head felt hazy and she could see that the girl was growing weaker, as well.

She was barely aware of what happened next, as the flooring above them seemed to be torn away violently. They fire lapped at the edges as boards were ripped apart from where they had been nailed to the surrounding walls. Margaret blinked upward as she became aware of two large talons reaching into the now open space and wrapping around her, pulling her free. Her body was floating over the ground for a moment and then she was laying in the grass. A moment later, the girl was being dropped beside her.

“Angus,” she breathed and then he was gone, his powerful dragon disappearing into the night sky.

Margaret collapsed back into the coolness of the grass beneath her. She could see the flicker and feel the heat of a the nearby fire but couldn’t bring herself to look at it. Then she could hear Angus speaking to her. She looked up to find him kneeling beside her to make sure she was okay before picking her up to hold her in his arms. Glancing over his shoulder, she could see the girl, sitting up and staring at something nearby.

Margaret turned toward the house to find it fully engulfed in flames. On the ground, nearby were the forms of several wolves and a man. None of this made any sense to her at all.

“Our home,” she said weakly.

“Is just four walls. We are one another’s home and we will be just fine,” he told her.

“Those men. I don’t know where they came from,” she muttered in her continued confusion.

“Don’t worry about that now. You are safe and that is all that matters, my love. Everything else can be fixed.”

Margaret reached for him, holding onto him for dear life as their home burned to the ground. After some time, neighbors began to show up, whispering among themselves as the flames took everything. One of them knew the girl and wrapped her in a blanket that they had brought, then put her in their carriage as the dawn began to shed more light on the carnage that had unfolded here.