“So I’d have to be twenty-four at least.”
“I can live with that.”
Charley laid her head against him and let happiness engulf her.
Charley led Wyatt back into her house to the sounds of laughter, conversation and general carrying on. Her family, safe again, brought forth a smile. She kept her hand in his as she made her way, with him in tow, to the living room.
Chase stood in the middle of the room, his arms stretched wide, in mid-storytelling, or so she gathered from his animated gestures and tempered pitch of his voice.
“Mornin’,” she said.
Chase whirled. He jumped over the coffee table in his bid for a morning hug.
Cael jumped from his spot at the end of the couch. “Wow, Wyatt. What happened to your nose?”
Laughter and chuckles passed through, some hidden behind hands, others left to spray sound through the air.
“Uh, would you believe me if I said I ran into a door?”
“Not in a million years.” A smile infused Cael’s voice.
James tilted his head left and right. “Charley got you, huh?”
“Yes, yes. Yes, she did.” Wyatt gave up. “The woman has a serious left hook, and since I thought she was a righty, I didn’t see it coming.” He stuffed his hands into his pockets.
Cael smirked. James hid a chuckle within a cough. “And you lived to tell us about it. That’s solid.” Cael fist- bumped Wyatt.
“Okay, children,” Charley said. “Enough about my indiscretions. How was the night?”
Noise bounded through the room. Lily suggested they dine on leftover breakfast as Chase continued his story.
She looked to Wyatt, drew in a long breath at his nod. “James?”
He turned his attention to her.
Charley signaled with her head to go back to the office.
He rose, and the trio moved out of sight of the dynamic super-boy’s storytelling.
Charley’s nerves danced more than when she’d been confronted with Wyatt on her own birthday. James could agree or deny her, and as much as she could and would pull rank, she didn’t want to hurt him. If they’d shared a birthday, she and James would have been more than friends, but his friendship mattered more to her than any other.
She took his hands in hers as Wyatt stepped back into the hallway and closed the door. “Okay, don’t get mad, but I have a plan for Friday.”
“Uh-oh.” James didn’t pull away. “I’m not liking closed doors and a sentence that starts with ‘don’t get mad’.”
“Actually, it started with ‘okay’.” Charley tried for a light chuckle and explained her idea about creating more than one Charley.
“Why am I going to get mad? The multiple-Charley idea is a good one, though I think Cael may just cringe with a practice session. Boy, that’ll be fun to see.” His hands squeezed hers with a gentleness he possessed-far beyond most she knew.
“Well, the plan kinda includes another person.”
“Okay, who? We’ll fly them in tonight, get ready for tomorrow and roll with it, though I think three of you is enough.”
She could see his wheels of thought turning-or a version at least. “We need Maggie.”
James let go of her hands. He backed up to the wall, crossed his arms. “No.”
“Hear me out-”
“No.”
“James, we need her to make this work. If they know what we can do, we have to be prepared for all possibilities. I can’t be the only me. Lily isn’t strong enough to hold it long, and Cael, sure, but Maggie will make us safer, and she can mimic animals if we need them. She’s the only one who can do what Chase apparently can.”
“No.”
Charley moved to him, her head barely reaching his shoulder. She laid one hand across his, but he pulled away.
“Don’t touch me.” He seethed through gritted teeth.
“James-”
“Don’t ‘James’ me, either. Don’t try it. I will not work with her.”
Charley willed a tear to form in the corner of her eye and looked back up at him. She saw when he took notice and blinked to push it over the rim to slide down her cheek. “It’s for Chase.” A low blow, but she’d use whatever she had in her arsenal.
“You can’t ask me to work with her.”
“I can James, and I will. She’s the only one we can trust with this, and you know that.”
He shook his head with force and turned around, then turned back. “What about Tiffany?”
“Too young.”
“Richie?”
“Are you kidding?” Charley asked.
James stalked to the door and halfway back. “Kelsey. She could do it.” He pointed at Charley.
“Kelsey blended last year with an NFL Football player.”
“Dammit!” James slammed his palms against his head. “Fine!” He grabbed Charley in a deep bear hug. “But you owe me… huge.”
“It’s for Chase. Just remember that, and since I’m like ninety-nine percent sure you’re both his parents, it’s about damn time she came back.” She brought her arms around him and snuggled in.
He’d have to come to terms with the revelation at some point. They’d all suspected, but confirmation through DNA test didn’t work quite the same way for mimcs.
“For Chase. Yeah. But only for him.”
“And we can find out for sure if he’s yours.”
“He’s all of ours.” James stalked to the door, yanked it open and swung his way out.
Wyatt slid inside after him. “I take it that didn’t go well?”
Charley sighed. “As well as I should have expected. I need to make a few phone calls, then I’d like some lunch. I’m starved, having stayed up much of the night.” She winked as she took the office chair and pulled her cell from her pocket. “Feel free to go hang out. I’ll be out in a few minutes.” She motioned to the door, not wanting to have the conversation with James’s ex in front of anyone.
Two double-decker turkey and bacon sandwiches topped with a dollop of some concoction of Lily’s and a tall, icy Coca-Cola later, Wyatt sat in the crook of the couch with Charley in his arms. Chase sat in front of a massive television, playing the latest in shoot-’em-up video games, while James and Cael studied blue prints of the arboretum.
With the exception of the environment, the scene reminded him of Montreal.
At the sound of the doorbell, Stuart came in, his arms loaded with bags from the grocery store. Sophie’d long since moved to her bedroom, but at Stuart’s arrival, she, too, peeked out from her hidden location.
“Wyatt?” Cael interrupted but took only Wyatt’s direct attention. “Did you get that trace or log on your call?”
He palmed his forehead. “Forgot, given the… ah…”
