Iron Master – Jennifer Ashley Page 0,53
the back, where four cubs were playing a noisy board game at the table, and the two youngest were engrossed in a separate venture that involved a lot of running and dodging around furniture.
In the middle of the dining room Shane roared, “Will you two stand still? It’s almost dinner time, so you four put all that stuff in the living room.”
“When’s Nell coming?” Donny demanded.
“Yeah,” Noelle chimed in. “We want Nell. We want Nell.”
The chant was taken up by the other cubs who began pounding on the table. “We want Nell!”
Shane jammed his hands over his ears. Peigi walked in, laughing. “Will I do, instead?”
Shrieks filled the air. There was a blur, and then six cubs were clinging to Peigi, each trying to climb higher up on her than the others.
Shane exhaled in relief and lowered his hands. “Thank the Goddess.”
Stuart entered behind her. “I’ve seen you do battle against hard men, Shane. A few cubs taking you down?”
“Stuart!” More shrieks. Noelle, Donny, and Kevin leapt from Peigi and ran to wrap arms around him. The other three remained with Peigi, kissing and hugging and beaming happy smiles at Stuart.
“About time you got home,” Noelle said loudly. “Where have you two been?”
“On an adventure,” Peigi answered, ruffling Hannah’s hair. “We’ll tell you all about it. Shane, you said something about dinner?”
“Mom’s bringing it. Or part of it.” Shane moved back to the kitchen, visibly relieved. Ben, who’d hung back while all the greeting went on, joined him. “I agree,” Shane went on. “About time you got home.”
“How long were we gone?” Stuart asked. He sounded curious, not alarmed.
“Five days,” Shane said. “Five very long days.”
“Five?” Peigi counted two. Three at most. One day to reach Texas by plane and on to New Orleans that night. They’d spent the next day at the haunted house and then gone out dancing in the evening. This had led them through the gate, where they’d spent half a day at most.
“Time difference,” Stuart said. He dislodged Donny but kept hold of the boy’s hand as they approached the kitchen. The other cubs let go and actually began to clean up the game at the table.
“Time difference?” Peigi asked.
Ben answered her. “It flows differently in Faerie. Either direction.”
“Oh.” Something cold formed in the pit of her stomach. They possibly could have been caught there for weeks, or months. She felt dizzy.
Stuart gave her a glance that said he’d explain more later and offered to help Shane prep dinner.
Peigi gave the three cubs she still held a tight hug before setting them down. They wouldn’t leave her side, so she joined in helping put away the board game, one that involved many colorful pieces.
“I don’t remember this one,” she said.
“Nell got it for us,” Patrick informed her. “Me and Lucinda are the best at it. We were winning.”
Noelle gave him an indulgent nod. “You were. Patrick and Lucinda are very smart.”
Noelle was definitely an alpha, praising the strengths of others and not finding them a challenge to herself.
Nell arrived, which entailed more screeching and shouting, including from Nell herself, who reamed out Stuart for keeping Peigi away so long, and Ben for taking his time fetching them back. Jaycee had called and told her all about it.
Shane pretended not to hear as he pan-fried burgers on the stove, or maybe he was so used to his mother yelling that it rolled off him.
In the middle of the chaos, Peigi excused herself to take a shower and returned in fresh clothes to find Stuart had done the same thing in the other bathroom. Peigi satisfied her hunger quickly then lingered at the table to make sure the cubs all had enough, and simply enjoyed being with them.
As the meal wore on, she noticed Ben had slipped away. Of course he had, before she could interrogate him. Or maybe she’d find a small tree had sprouted on the edge of her yard.
Shane and Nell departed after first helping clean up the meal and calm the cubs, never an easy task. But finally, finally, the cubs wound down, tired and unwinding now that Peigi and Stuart were back.
“You won’t leave again, will you?” Donny asked as Peigi straightened the covers on his bed and kissed him good night. She sensed the other two boys listening hard. “It’s just that the younger cubs were worried.”
He spoke with the nonchalance of an eight-year-old who was fine on his own.
Peigi stroked his hair then leaned to Patrick in the next bed,