no matter how long it took. Centuries, if necessary.
They were fifteen feet from the barn door when the muttering stopped.
“Who’s there?” called Carl. “If it’s you kids again, I won’t give out any more warnings. I will call the police!”
“Go,” whispered Mary, pulling her arm away from Tucker. “I’m fine.”
“I’ll be a millisecond away.”
“I know.”
Tucker whipped around the corner of the barn, into the darkness cast by the overhang, his mate’s reflex blaring orders in his mind to return to Mary. To touch her and guard her. But mentally, he knew two things to be true and he reminded himself of them now. One, his father wouldn’t do anyone harm, let alone a fragile girl with a walking stick. And two, he could move like lightning to stand between Mary and harm.
Perhaps because he was home and this place reminded him of being human more than anywhere else, Tucker took a deep—albeit unnecessary—breath. And watched the barn door roll open, his father stepping out into the light cast from inside.
Carl drew up short upon spying Mary in the darkness and Tucker’s insides did the same at the sight of his father, thirteen years older. He’d always been a wiry man, the opposite of Tucker, but he was even thinner now, his hair verging on full gray, instead of the burnished coppery red Tucker remembered. Glasses perched on the edge of his nose and he looked through them now, his mouth poised to ask a question, but nothing coming out.
Mary smiled broadly and held out her pillow case. “Trick or treat!”
Chapter 14
Mary calmed completely as soon as Tucker’s father’s footsteps thudded to a stop some distance in front of her. Not in the same way a sense of rightness and safety had clutched her by the bones when she encountered Tucker for the first time. The nature of this was more…fond. Carl’s signature was slightly chaotic, yes, but there was love woven into the disorder. Pain, too.
Bracing herself, she tucked her walking stick under one arm and held out of her pillow case. “Trick or treat.”
Silence passed. “It isn’t Halloween,” Tucker’s father explained slowly, then she heard a muffled clapping sounds, as if he was patting his clothing or pockets. “Is it? I tend to lose track of time when I’m working on something and I’m always working on…well, that’s boring, isn’t it? Well, now. Look at that crown sparkle. You’re dressed as a…blind ghost princess?”
“Just a ghost princess. I’m always blind.”
“Oh, my dear,” he muttered sympathetically. “Then I fear that you’ve veered off course. And I don’t have any candy. Unless you count peppermints.”
“I’ve never had a peppermint.”
“Really?” She heard some rustling and the whine of a metal box opening. Footsteps coming closer. “Hand me the pillow case and hold out your hand.”
Mary liked this man.
This whole situation bordered on absurd—even to Mary—but he’d adapted immediately. He hadn’t even acted awkward when she told him she was blind. Just accepted it as a part of her, the way Tucker had done. It put her at immediate ease.
She smiled when he shook out a couple of mints into her waiting palm, closing her fingers around them and noting the smooth disc shapes.
“It’s usually not a good idea to take loose candy from strangers.”
“I’ll only do it this one time. I promise.”
He chuckled. “Is there someone I should call to drive you home? It’s awful late to be out walking…alone.” Silence drifted by on the breeze. “You are alone, aren’t you? I don’t mean to insult you, miss, but it seems unlikely that you’d end up all the way out here unless there was a good reason. And I’ve had some problems over the years with kids…poking fun.”
Her heart lurched. “I’m not here for that.”
Several more beats passed, probably as he judged whether or not he could trust that she was telling the truth. “In that case,” he said finally, “it’s nice to have the company.”
Mary wanted desperately to remove the sheet, so he could see her face and know she was genuine, but without the crown, her radiance would give her away and force Tucker out into the open when he wasn’t prepared to come face to face with his father. “You’re out awfully late, too. It sounded like you were working on something?”
“Oh, yes. A new satellite. This one…this one is going to be the winner.” Confidence faded from his tone as he spoke, then he fell silent altogether. “I’m guessing you’re not from town or just visiting or you