“They’re not papier-mâché, Ted. Dig your hands in,” Mia instructed as she turned around.
He moved his hands over the feathers and stopped where they had become one with Mia’s body. “This is impossible,” he said, sliding his hands under the wings, caressing the back underneath. “The sword would stay here until you needed it. Oh God, Mia, may you never have to use that.”
“I’m not exactly looking forward to it. But it does have its uses.”
“Extend a wing, please?” he asked.
Mia did so. He moved around her body, paying attention again to where it connected to her skin. “Are they heavy? Does this hurt you?”
“No and no,” she said. “When I first took off, it hurt like hell. Fortunately, there was Sariel to stop me from doing it wrong. I guess I should have asked Judy when I first got them, but I wanted to tell you first before even using them.”
“I appreciate the thought, but, baby, wow.”
Mia turned around and brought the wings back in. She left the tattoos to move over her back. “Does this make me a freak in your eyes, Ted?”
“No!” he said excitedly. “I know you’ve been brought up to think that anything outside the norm is somehow flawed, but I’ve always seen the beauty in the differences that people have. In the beginning, it was your hair; it was a wicked white, and your eyes were such a unique color of green. And then I got distracted by your tits, but I am a man after all. And now, Mia, you’re fierce yet soft. The feathers feel like… well, feathers, but not like Angelo’s feathers. The wings are not the same either. They are similar to Sariel’s but still different. And you smell different, kind of breezy.”
Mia laughed. “Breezy?”
“Sweet like the wind moving over the grain after a summer’s rain shower,” he said, remembering Kansas.
Mia touched his face and saw the fields and smiled. “We need to go back there for a visit soon.”
“I would love that, Mia. I do get homesick now and again.”
“You sacrificed so much to be with me.”
“I remember you being willing to leave the hollow and come live with me in Kansas.”
“Yes, but that’s different. Wherever you go is home to me because, Ted, you are my home.”
“You mean that, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“You’d leave Murphy?”
“Yes.”
“Do you mean that?”
“Yes. Here put your hand here,” she instructed, guiding his hand to her temple. “Ask me something, and I’ll lie to you.”
“My holey socks have disappeared. Did you throw them away?”
“I mended them and put them in your drawer.”
Ted felt the grinding of her jaw.
“What happened to my socks?”
“I stuffed them in a chew toy and gave it to Maggie.”
Ted felt nothing.
“That’s amazing. Not about my lucky socks, but how long have you known about this?”
“Ralph found it one time when I was being questioned about the Jell-O in his white buck shoes.”
Ted shook his head. “Tell me.”
“I hated those shoes, so once when he was visiting, I filled them with lime Jell-O.”
“How old were you?”
“Eight. He was holding my face, looking me in the eye and found me out.”
“So Ralph’s known how to tell if you were lying since you were eight?”
“Yes, that, and the slap on my butt convinced me not to lie to him again.”
“Oh wow, so the great prankster has a way of being found out.”
“Yes. Now ask me about Murphy,” Mia insisted.
Ted lowered his hand. “Mia, I’m not sure that’s right. Murphy has been a part of you for so long.”
Mia grabbed his hands and held them to her face.
Ted didn’t want to, but he saw how determined Mia was. “Mia, if I asked you to leave Murphy, would you?”
“Yes, Ted, I would.”
He was flabbergasted. He held on. “Do you love Stephen Murphy?”
“Yes, Ted, I do.”
“But you love me more?”
“I love you, and I would leave Stephen Murphy if you asked me to,” she answered freely.
“No, I asked you if you were in love with me, Mia.”
“Yes, Ted, I am.”
“Do you love me more than Stephen Murphy?”
Mia thought a moment and smiled.
“Yes, Ted, I do.”
“Oh my god,” he said, pulling away.
Mia watched him, confused by his reaction. He had staggered to the kitchen counter and put a hand on it to steady himself.
“Are you going to barf?” Mia asked, wetting a towel with water. She guided him to the couch and pushed him down. She sat next to him and applied the cloth to his forehead. “You’re starting to give me a complex.”
“You don’t understand,” Ted said. “I married you knowing you loved Murphy, that I would always be second. It was alright with me because, Mia, I wanted you so much. I knew I could make you love me. As time went on, and I saw how you protected him and sacrificed your life for him, I knew that I better just be glad to have what I could have of you.”
“My connection to Murph is complex, but it isn’t a romantic relationship. I would also sacrifice my life for your great-aunt Mildred. It’s who I am. Sure, I care for Murph, but you’re my husband. I wouldn’t have risked my life the other night flying to bring you home if I didn’t love you so much. You hurt me. Wounded me deeper than that witch tree thorn. Roumain knew how to get to me. He knew the single most fear I have, and he used it. I’m afraid of losing you.”
“I’m sorry, Mia.”
“Gee, if I knew you were going to get sick by showing you my tell, I would have kept it secret.”
“I guess this is why we’re here. No Cid to overhear. No Murphy to Whitneyize me.”
“Whitneyize?” Mia asked.
“Whit not only ripped Morris Steel into pieces, but he smashed him into bits too small to pick up. Poor Tom had to burn the place to make sure we didn’t miss anything. We call it Whitneyizing.”
Mia sat back amazed. “He did have a temper, but whoa.”
“Okay, can we get back
