Unraveling Mordecai - Marisa Maichel (top ten books of all time .TXT) 📗

CHAPTER FOUR – IN WHICH WE SINK LOWER

Finally, the family was together again. Sarah gave me some much-needed space, sensing my irritation with her. I felt guilty about being irritated with her, and I voiced my guilt to Alexander, who said that he’d been married countless times and got frustrated with every single one of his wives.
But my guilt and irritation were overwhelmed with my happiness that Remy was back. My life was almost complete, but I wasn’t quite happy with myself. Because I was attracted to Scarlett Hart.

A few days after that day, I encountered her yet again, this time at the library. I was returning a book on feminine magic and Stephen King’s latest novel when I saw her. She was at the café beside the small bookshop.
“Sorry, honey, your card was declined,” the girl behind the counter said.
“Shit,” Scarlett said in reply. “Never mind, then. Thanks, anyway.”
“I’ll pay for it,” I said, coming up behind her. Scarlett turned and saw me, then looked suspicious.
I handed the cashier some cash and she set the coffee on the counter.
“Why would you pay for me?” Scarlett asked, suspiciously.
“It’s called forgiveness,” I told her. She took the hot coffee and studied me.
“Did Sarah forgive me?”
“Oh, she forgave you a long time ago. What you did still gives her nightmares, but she forgave you. It took me a long time, but I’ve forgiven you, too. Here.” I pressed a few hundred dollars into her hand. When she saw the amount, her eyes welled up with tears.
“Damn you, Reese,” she said, wiping at her eyes. “Damn you and Sarah to hell.” But she took the money anyway and put the cash in her designer purse with the old leather handles.
I went back into the main library and picked out my next few books, found a DVD I’d been wanting to see, and went home.

“I saw Scarlett at the library,” I told Selena while she was feeding Cirino.
“What did she say to you?” she asked. Soft food dripped down the baby’s chin, and she scooped it up with a spoon.
“Bah,” he said. He was starting to look more like Sarah. He had the same button nose, the same color eyes, the same ears, and the same high cheekbones and heart-shaped face. Luckily, Michael hadn’t shown up since he’d been resurrected. He didn’t even ask for visits with the baby, which I was grateful for, and so was Sarah.
“Nothing much. I paid for her coffee when her card was rejected, and she asked me why I did it. I told her it was called forgiveness, and then she damned me to hell.”
“Sometimes when people make mistakes, it’s harder for them to forgive themselves than for other people to forgive them,” my sister said. “Did she accept your generosity?”
“Yes, but reluctantly. I’ve encountered her at least three times now since we graduated, all in recent days.
“You live in the same town. It was bound to happen.”
“I always assumed I would never see any of my classmates again. I know now that I was wrong. You’re right, it happens in a city this size.” I thought about Sarah, and wondered what she’d think of me handing Scarlett three hundred dollars. I didn’t know for sure how she’d feel about me being kind to her old enemy.
“There’s some good news,” Sarah said, walking into the kitchen. “Jamie Williams said he’s going to stay in North Hampton! He said he likes the city, and the quaint bookstores and coffee shops. He finds The Natural History Museum fascinating, and he wants to get to know me better!”
“Do you believe him?” I asked, cautiously.
“Well, yes and no,” she admitted. “North Hampton is no different than any other city. We’ve got crime here, bad people and stuff. I wonder what his real reason is?”
“It’s you, dear,” Selena told her.
Sarah looked at my sister and cocked her pretty head. “Me? Why? What’s so special about me?”
“Face it, honey, you’re quite the woman. You’re beautiful, smart, funny, and kind. I’m glad my brother’s marrying you.”
Sarah looked horrified. “Oh. Oh no. Not another one!”
“Another what?” I asked.
“Another admirer! I had plenty of them growing up, but ever since I started dating you, it’s like I can’t keep them away! It’s like I’m cursed or something!”
“Do I need to knock some people’s heads in?” I pounded my palm.
She grimaced. “If you could just stay close to me, that would be great. I can’t literally fight people in my condition. By the way, I heard what happened with Scarlett today.”
Now it was my turn to grimace. “Sarah, I-“
“I’m proud of you, Reese. You’re becoming more mature. You’re forgiving people.”
I was not expecting that. She never ceased to surprise me.
“Oh, yes. You’re not angry?”
“I was a little irritated at first, but I realized I was being childish. You were simply doing a nice thing for somebody else. That’s nice, in a world of greed and selfishness.”
Remy and Shadowfang walked into the room, and I bent down to pick up Shadow while Sarah picked up Remy.
“Kitty,” Cirino said, pointing at Shadow.
“That’s right,” Selena told him. “What does a kitty say?”
“Mew.”
“That’s right. You’re a fast learner. I wonder if it’s all the attention you receive, or Mother’s milk?”
“She’s still feeding him her milk?” I asked in disbelief.
“It’s a basic maternal instinct, Reese. He won’t drink cow’s milk right now, but he will drink vampire and human milk.”
“I wonder what vampire milk tastes like?” Shadowfang said, licking his lips.
“Probably super sour,” Remy said.
“You don’t want him to be four years old and still drinking breast milk,” I pointed out.
“I know, and Mother will wean him soon, I know she will. In the meantime, he drinks so much milk that we have to ration it.”
Remy climbed onto Sarah’s shoulders, and nibbled a lock of her hair. She sat down beside me and the cat jumped onto the table. Shadow leaped onto the table as well,
“I’m glad you’re back, kitty,” I said, scratching Remy’s chin.
“So am I,” Sarah agreed.
“Me, too,” Shadowfang echoed. “But you never gave us the full story. What really happened?”
Remy turned around and rolled on his back. “I smell peaches. Are you feeding the baby peaches?”
“Clearly he’s not going to tell us,” I said. “Were you really resurrected? Or did you even die at all?”
He didn’t say anything to that and leaped onto the kitchen counter instead and began sniffing a roast chicken. Spunk came into the kitch
“Where are the other dogs?” I asked.
“Groomer’s for Koda and Lola, vet for Scooter and Jasmine,” Selena explained. “Then we switch it out and Koda and Lola will be at the vet while Scooter and Jasmine will be at the groomer’s.”
“When will their training begin?”
“Next week. Jasmine will be able to tell when Sarah will have any issues with the pregnancy, and Koda will be able to sense seizures or any heart problems.”
“Why not just get one dog?”
“Because most service dogs are trained for only one or two things. Scooter is just an emotional support animal for Sabine, and Lola and Jasmine can’t be apart, or Lola mutilates herself.”
“What does she do to herself?”
“Chews her paws down to the bone,” Sarah explained. “Apparently, both Lola and Jasmine used to be bait dogs in a dogfighting ring, and they were rescued together as well.”
Sarah checked her watch, then said, “Shit, I’m going to be late.”
“Where are you going?” I asked her.
“Doctor’s appointment. Private stuff. It’s not about the baby. Don’t bother coming along. I’ll be back in an hour or so.”
She went up to her room, and when she emerged, she was wearing an olive green maternity dress and had put some fresh makeup on and ran a brush through her hair and tied it up in a ponytail. She wore flats on her feet.
“I’ll be back,” she said, standing up on her toes to kiss me.
“If you are not returned in the perfect condition that you are already in…..”
“You worry too much. I’ll only be gone an hour. Two at the most. I have to drop off some books at the library, too, and do some banking on my computer.”
She kissed me again, and then stepped outside.
“She didn’t have her computer with her,” I noted. “And our child…any doctor will know immediately that it’s not fully human. She’s hiding something.”
“It’s private, Reese,” Selena told me. “Leave her alone.”
“I can’t-she’s my fiancée. My mate. My future wife. I can’t just let her go and not know for sure.” I peeked out the window, and she was already driving away. I decided to follow her.

I took the Ferrari to follow her. She drove a less-than-familiar route-in the opposite direction of the hospital. Her eyes, focused on the road, occasionally trailed down to her stomach. My heart would have been pounding if I was alive. What was she up to? Why this place?
She soon pulled up to a gated neighborhood and typed in a code on the box. The same code as last time. I remembered this neighborhood. The home of the Kingdom of the North Hampton Fae.
She pulled up to the first house on the left, and then parked and got out of her car. She locked her car, then knocked on the door three times. A tall, dark man answered the door.
“Password?” he growled.
“Fowley,” she replied, which caused him to step aside and let her in.
Stomach sinking, I punched in the same code as she had, an odd combination of five numbers which I would later realize spelled out the word “fairy” in number code. I pulled up to the same house, parked, and got out. I went up to the door and knocked three times.
The same man opened the door. When he saw me, he scowled. “No vampires.”
“Fowley,” I said, resisting the urge to throttle him.
“No vampires,” he repeated.
“My wife is in there!”
“The cute brunette? She’s clearly one of us. I could smell the magic in her blood.”
“Please,” I begged. “She’s not safe here. Not without me.”
“No vampires.”
“What if I gave you something? Anything! Do you want money?”
I held out five Benjamins, and his eyes lit up. He snatched it greedily and counted it.
“Five minutes,” he grumbled.
“I need at least an hour.” I held out five more bills. He took them and smiled at the amount. He had sharp, yellow teeth that were caked with plaque and tartar.
“Thirty minutes.”
“Dude, that’s not cool! My mate is in there!”
“She will be safe with Fowley. He is head over heels for her.”
I growled and shoved past him. Man, he stunk. Clearly a troll in disguise, or maybe a goblin. No, goblins were shorter.
I followed the sound of voices to the basement, where I found an old wooden door with gold and silver handprints on it.
“Out of my way!”
A small man shoved past me, and then stood on his toes and pressed his palm against the gold handprint.
“What if you don’t have hands?” I asked.
He looked at me, disgusted. “Then you say the password. Who let a vampire in?”
I snuck in behind him and came across the same throne room I’d been in before. Fowley was on a throne made of wood and vines and flowers, the ground made of soft earth, and perched on the Elf’s head was a crown of daisies and gardenias and lilies. Sarah was beside him, her hands folded in front of her. When she saw me, she looked terrified.
“What is your name and your bidding?” Fowley