“You’re older than even we are. Then Mary—I think she is the oldest. Did you know she has a list of people that are dependable? She’s going to share it with me when we have our meeting tomorrow.” Duncan said he did know about that. “I guess you would, having lived with her for so long. And you have to talk to Abe. He’s having trouble adjusting to having so many people around him. Mostly it’s a classroom thing, but he said he’d talk to you about something he wants. As much as I’d like to keep him home and teach him, I think he needs contact with others too much for me to give in to him.”
“I’ll work with him.” They were home then, and he turned to her. “I love you very much, Judith Castle. I want to say that to you all the time, and even that isn’t nearly as much as I want you to know it. You are my life and my heart and soul. Thank you for being the perfect person for me.”
“I love you, as well.” She eyed him. “I have a feeling you’re about to tell me what you’ve done. Is it bad? I don’t want to know. Just tell me how many people I have to murder to get you out of trouble.”
He opened the door. There were shouts of happy birthday from the crowd of people in the house. Closing the door on them, she glared at him.
“I swear to you, I had no idea it was going to be this big. When Mary pointed out what the date was, she figured that having you and the other birds a party would make it seem less like you guys lost my mom, and more like a rebirth of your lives. I swear to you, however. I didn’t have anything to do with the planning.”
Walking through the door, she could see the other birds. Going inside, she spoke to Duncan through their link.
You’re losing out. You know that, don’t you? He asked her what she meant. No afternoon sex for you. I’m talking never having any in the afternoon.
She felt his disappointment all the way across the room. Then his laughter. Standing with the other birds, she smiled, when what she really wanted to do was to knock some heads around for having this party.
Chapter 8
As soon as the party started to wind down, Duncan started cleaning up. It was busywork, really. He was debating on whether he should have told Judith as soon as the call came in, or if he, as he was doing, should have waited on the right moment to tell her. Either way, she wasn’t going to be happy with the news.
“Okay, spill it.” He turned and looked at his grandda when he spoke. “You’ve been as antsy as a cat that happened on a field of catnip. Tell me, or I’m going to send you to the woodshed. Do people do that anymore?”
“I don’t think they do. Too many cameras around where people will record it then send nasty messages about you abusing the kids. Even if it was just as innocent as you taking me out there to show me something.” Grandda said it was a strange world they lived in now. “You don’t know the half of it, I’m afraid. I heard from the hospital. Hanna has escaped. They think her brother snuck her and himself out before she was out of recovery.”
“She’s that orphan woman, isn’t she?” Duncan nodded. “That is a bad one, son. Really bad. You might should have told Jude when the call came in. I’d be careful of that sort of thing. Nothing can put a woman out faster than you thinking you might be protecting them when in truth, you’re afraid of them. I’m afraid of your grandma. She’s the sweetest thing ever created. But boy oh boy, when you piss her off, she’s like a nasty snake. Getting you where it hurts you the most.” Grandda shuddered and shook his head.
“I’ll tell her now.” Grandda told him he couldn’t, she was visiting the other birds. “They were all just here together. Why does she need to visit them now? Never mind. I don’t care. I’ll tell her as soon as I can. Meanwhile, I want you and Grandma to be careful when you go out. You are immortal, but that doesn’t mean she won’t hurt you in some way.”
“We’ll do that. You keep my great-grandkids safe too. They don’t know nothing about keeping themselves safe.” Duncan thought perhaps both his kids were better at keeping themselves safe than he was. It was their only mode of survival. “Also, while I’m talking to you. I was wondering if you were serious about your grandma and me living here. I sure do like being able to just walk into another room to have a talk with you and the others.”
“Grandda, I want you and Grandma here with all of my heart. Even Judith loves having you here. I know, too, that you and Abe have gotten a good relationship going. You can stay here for as long as you want. I promise you.” Grandda hugged him tightly. It was something he was getting used to, being hugged like he was being squeezed in half. “You can change anything you want around here too. We both are just so happy to have you here.”
“We’ll talk about changes. I was going to ask you, too, if you’d mind if we explored some of the old caves around here. I don’t think you’d mind, but you might have a safety reason for telling us no. We’d take the kids too if you think they’d like that.” He said the only cave he was sure they shouldn’t go in was the dark one at the top of the hill. “All right. Can I ask you
