Back in the party room, I see they’ve brought out the food. Someone, probably my mother, has made all of my favorite things. I wonder if this is how they always celebrate the day, because I didn’t think she’d been given the precise details about who the special guest was.
“No one is going to answer that question,” Nate says, coming up behind me, stealing my other hand. “I see you found your sister.”
“I sure did. I was just taking her back to our parents,” I say as Aubrey lets go of my hand and runs off. “Or just bringing her back to the party I guess.”
“So, any idea how long I’m going to have you here? I’m trying to figure out a way to keep you from going back.”
“That would be interesting, but if I don’t go back and create our children with you, I have a feeling they’d disappear. As far as how long you have, you know I don’t know. I could leave at any second or be here a year.
“I don’t know the exact spell that was used, and have been having too much fun seeing how things have turned out to try to come up with my own to counteract it. I’m not one hundred percent sure I could do anything. Eva said in the past she was on her way and would fix things.”
“I know. And I believe me she does, but I wasn’t sure if the time it took for you to come out of it is the same as the time you were away,” he says. “We could have years in this reality before you’re taken away.”
“Did someone mention my name,” I hear the she-devil herself say from behind us.
I turn around to face her. Liam is standing with her, holding her hand, which keeps my gaze for a second. My eyes zoom to her very round stomach and then over to Liam.
“Please tell me you weren’t stupid enough to procreate with the devil,” I say to him. “You know nothing good is going to come out of the womb, right? Have you had ultrasounds done? If you have, I’m sure the little picture you get showed the baby’s horns.”
I smile brightly at them both. I’m happy for Liam, but I can’t help worry about how neurotic the baby will be with Eva for a mom.
“You hush,” Eva says, smacking my shoulder playfully. “Do you really think any of your eight kids are angels?”
“Every single one of them are perfect angels, don’t you know. I didn’t know you could even have children.”
“In reality you still don’t, do you?” she asks, cackling at her hilarious joke. “When you get back, you’ll remember everything from your time here, but you don’t really know if this is for sure what the future holds for you. For all you know, this is just a world the warlocks put together to torment you.”
“Do you know the answer to those thoughts?” I ask. I’d been so busy going with the flow that I hadn’t thought about the events going on around me that closely.
“You know if I did, I wouldn’t tell you. It would ruin all your fun back in the past.” She smiles at me with her usual evil smile.
“I’m telling you, Liam, that baby is for sure going to come out with horns. Are you ready to have two of them living with you? If it’s a girl, you’re basically a dead man. There’s no surviving two of them.”
“We already have a little boy, and he seems to be adjusting well,” he tells me with a smirk. “His horns haven’t grown in yet, but I check his head daily for bumps.”
“Say it ain’t so.” I cover my eyes and shake my head. “That’s just so wrong.”
“No, it isn’t, Mama.” Aisling comes over to stand with us. “She helps make babies, so it’s only right for her to have her own. Plus, Aunt Eva and Uncle Liam love each other very much; it’s natural for them to share that love with their children.”
“Nathaniel, I really think you’ve been letting our child spend too much time with her crazy Aunt Eva. She’s defending her against me. That just isn’t right.”
“I’ll make sure their time together is limited in the future,” he replies, squeezing my hand. I don’t buy his words for a second.
“Aunt Eva, tell Mama we aren’t letting her learn anything about the future,” Aisling says. “I’ve been trying to get her to understand that all day.”
“That’s right, sweetie, we aren’t going to let her find anything that will change the path she’s on.”
“See, Mama, I told you she would side with me,” Aisling says before skipping off to rejoin the kids. She doesn’t care about any part of the conversation to come. She just wanted to make sure I heard she was right.
“From the mouths of babes. Do you happen to know how much more time I have?” I ask.
After Nate voiced the question, I wanted to find an answer to it. I know getting Eva to answer a question with a straight answer was impossible, but I enjoy torturing myself by listening to her unhelpful replies.
“You know spell time and real time don’t ever coincide. Are you sure you want a countdown clock on the only chance you may have to see your youngest children?”
I look over to where the kids are playing. “If I’m going to die in my time, I’ll be happy just knowing they made it. I’ve seen them and know they’ll be okay. Too much interaction may change the way I do things in the past.”
“Good, I’m glad to see you have your head on straight. I know, like the time you visited your past, that you don’t spend more than a day here. I can’t tell you exactly how much longer you have, but the ball is about over Cinderella,” she informs me.
“That has to be the first straight answer you’ve given me, at least that I remember. Thank you for that. Now, why don’t you go over and get some food. You look kind of hungry. Are you eating for three?” I ask jokingly.
“You’re so rude sometimes Avery Belle. You’re lucky I actually am hungry,” she says, steering Liam towards the food.
“She never changes, does she?” I ask rhetorically.
“So we don’t have much time left,” Nate says. “What do you want to do?”
“Are Romeo and Juliet still around in this future?” I ask.
“I’m pretty sure I saw them running around yesterday, so yeah they should be here,” he replies. I don’t particularly like the uncertainty in his voice.
“Can we go play with them for a little while? I’m sure you were hoping to head to the bedroom, but past me and you still haven’t played in bed the way you’d want to.”
“I know, but I also know it won’t be long until we do. Come on, let’s go see if the dogs are in their room. I’m surprised they aren’t running around trying to pick up table scraps.”
We head upstairs, leaving the party guests to continue their celebration of me coming for a visit. I wonder if this timeline will continue on after I leave or how exactly it works. That has always been a portion of science that if I think about it hard enough, it scrambles my brain cells.
We find our little pups in their room fast asleep. “How can they sleep with all the noise downstairs?” I ask.
“Those two can fall asleep in the middle of running around the yard. Sometimes I think they’re narcoleptic.”
Hearing us close by, Juliet lifts her little head to see who’s talking. Initially, I get the feeling she’s annoyed about being bothered. When she sees us standing there, she barks and runs towards me. She immediately rolls on her back so I can give her a belly rub. Her barking wakes Romeo and he does the same thing.
“Well, I don’t think they forgot me,” I say to Nate while rubbing both doggy bellies. “Who are my pretty puppies, huh? Are you guys my pretty puppies? What trouble have you two gotten in while I’ve been gone?”
“No one can forget you, my little butterfly.”
The dogs get up, and since I’m knelt down to the ground, they start licking my face. It makes me laugh, being coated in dog slobber. I’m going to need another shower to undo the shower they provide.
“So, no hints on what I’m going to see when I come to back in the past?” I question. I know the answer already, but maybe he’ll let something slip.
“You never stop trying, I’ll give you that. I will say more time has passed than the other time one o
f these spells hit you. No hints on how long, but it’s more than a few days, and it wasn’t any easier on me.”
“I was really hoping less time had passed. More days means we missed our wedding date.”
“I’m sure we’ll still have it sometime, but you’re right, it isn’t March second. Do you mind if we go to our bedroom and just lay down for a while?” Nate asks. “Holding you is one of the things I miss most. Knowing you’ll be leaving soon, it’s all I want to do.”
“Sure. I know how much you like to spoon,” I say, giving each dog a big kiss, then standing up to leave with Nate.
I thought we were heading to his room, where I landed this morning, but he guides me to my side of the suite and settles us into the bed there. I don’t smell anything musty, so I wonder if someone got around to changing the bed sheets every once in a while.
“There’s so much I want to say, but I think our daughter would hate me for the rest of my life if she knew I told you,” he says.
“How would she know?” I ask.
“You’ve met her, she knows everything. Just promise me when you get back that you think before you act. Take in the whole situation before jumping to conclusions,” he tells me.
“Any certain situations you want to warn me about?”
“I wish, but knowing what’s going to happen probably won’t change things that much. There’s just one key moment that I really want you to stop and count to ten before you do anything. Believe me, you’ll know when that moment is.”
“How soon after I return does this moment happen?” I ask.
“Can’t say,” he says, taking a big whiff of my scent. “You’re going to leave me soon.”
“Why do you say that? I haven’t started blacking out.”
“You just don’t feel quite as solid as you did earlier. I really needed this, you here today. I’ve been so lost and the uniques still look towards me as a leader because of you, but I haven’t had anything to give back to them.”
“I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around all this. Maybe this is the future, maybe this is just some alternate reality stuff. If this is the future, I’m going to try my hardest to take the little cryptic advice I’ve received while here and make it so this isn’t permanent. Aisling said earlier there was something special about our bond that means you can always talk to me. You’ll have to try that when I leave this timeline or whatever this is.”
“That’s an idea. If you don’t answer, I bet I can do a pretty good impersonation of you. ‘No.’ How’s that?” he asks, and I can tell he’s smiling behind me.
“It is my favorite word. That and banana, so if you just say those two things a bunch of times, I’m sure everyone will think it’s really me,” I start drawing little patterns on his arm that’s wrapped around me. “You know, Vinnie in this time did something to my head and took DNA. I don’t know what he’s cooking up, but it may be another option if you start missing me again.”
“We’ll see what he can do. I love you, Avery. Have a safe trip back home.”
“I love you, too,” I say, but before I can say more I feel the haze finally, and drift off, hopefully back to my reality.
CHAPTER 18
You hear the darnedest things when people don't know you're there