“Still, are you sure you don’t want something fancier than City Hall? That’s not very romantic, you know.”
“This marriage isn’t about romance, it’s about partnership and family,” I reminded her before she tried to turn it into something it wasn’t. “Besides, Parker doesn’t want a church wedding anyway.” His views on that were crystal clear.
“If you say so.”
Poor Daphne, I hadn’t given her much as a way of living vicariously through me for the wedding planning business. “It’s just going to formalize things between us, like I said, make us a family. It’s not a romantic day at all.”
“Don’t be too sure about that,” she muttered, and my eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“Why, what do you know?”
“Nothing…” Daphne squirmed, realizing she’d said too much. “I’m just saying, you know Parker…”
“Yes, I do. And…?”
“And… maybe it’s not a romantic day for you, but it is for him.”
“Parker knows we’re not there yet.” At least, most of the time I thought so. But sometimes when we kissed… I wasn’t so sure what was holding me back.
“Then the two of you haven’t…”
“No, of course not.”
“Oh right, of course not. How silly of me to assume you’ve had sex with the guy you’re going to marry.” A roll of the eyes was given. “You’re telling me you don’t have the hots for Parker at all? How can you marry a guy who doesn’t do it for you?”
“I didn’t say I wasn’t attracted to Parker. He’s all kinds of sexy when he wants to be. But even if I wanted to, it’s hard to feel sexy myself when I look like I swallowed a basketball.”
“I bet you Parker doesn’t care.”
The way he looked at me sometimes I didn’t dispute that. “I’m not saying we won’t eventually, but it’ll probably be after the baby comes.” It felt like I said that to myself a lot lately, putting things off until the baby came, like a magical talisman for change.
“Then the two of you aren’t planning to, ah… consummate the marriage on your wedding night?”
“No,” I replied with more confidence than I felt. Did Parker have expectations in that area? He’d said he didn’t want to rush me… but we’d definitely grown a lot closer physically over the past few weeks.
“I still think you should…” Daphne’s advice went unspoken as Oriana and Matty arrived, letting themselves in without knocking. If nothing else I looked forward to a bit more privacy after I moved in with Parker.
“Oh good, you’re here.” I hauled myself up to my feet, watching in amusement as Mimsy immediately left her spot by my feet to bound up to Oriana with a squeak of greeting. Sometimes I thought she could communicate with the little cat from the way she spoke to her.
“You said you had some stuff for us?” Ever the opportunist, Matty’s eyes swept my apartment before lighting on the small stack of boxes by the bedroom. Since making the decision to combine households, there didn’t seem to be much reason for hanging onto some of the duplicates we’d end up with. I wasn’t ready to part with all of it yet, but Matty would inherit my fake leather couch and coffee table too.
With the baby coming in just a couple of months, I’d given notice to my landlord, and Parker had already helped me move over some of my winter sweaters and things I wouldn’t need to get into for a while.
“Right. They’re over there, help yourself. And anything you don’t want you can give to Goodwill.”
“Sweet, thanks, sis,” he grinned. Giving a sharp whistle, the door opened again and Bert and Hubie stepped in to help him with the stack. I waited for the demons to leave, a placid smile on my face until it was just us girls again.
“Are you enjoying your entourage, Oriana?”
“You mean the boys?” Her face registered understanding with a sunny smile. “Oh yes, they’re ever so helpful, you know. And Matty says they’ll be wonderful stage dressing once we’re on the circuit.”
“The circuit?” Daphne asked, trading a blank look with me.
“Yes, he says my talents would be best served there and I could help so many more people.”
A sneaking suspicion began to dawn on me as to what Matty had in mind. Oriana had gotten a job at the witchy store easily enough. Summer had a soft spot for the naïve witch (thank goodness, because she still hated me for freezing her last winter), letting her set up a small table in the corner to give readings. Oriana enjoyed it and it provided a safe place for her to spend most evenings. From what I understood, she was pretty popular and had a bunch of regulars already. It wasn’t much of a stretch to see Matty had bigger plans for her gifts though.
“I thought you were happy at the witchy store?”
“Yes, I love it there, but Matty says we have to go where the action is.”
“What kind of action?” Daphne’s brow furrowed in confusion.
“I confess, I don’t know.” Oriana scratched under Mimsy’s chin thoughtfully. “But he’s so excited, I can’t help but think it’ll be wonderful.”
“Yeah, I’m sure it’ll be great.” My eyes flicked down to where I could see Matty ordering the demon pair around on the street below. “Excuse me for a minute, ladies. I’ll go make sure they’re not having any trouble getting the boxes into the car. Daphne, why don’t you show her the dress you showed me.” Eager for the distraction, Daphne readily agreed, and I snuck out while their blonde heads bent together over the bridal magazine.
“Take a break, guys.” I dismissed the demons, gratified to see them scurry away without having to be told twice. “What do you have up your sleeve now?”
“Nothing,” Matty blinked, looking around guiltily. “You said I could take this stuff.”
“That’s not what I’m talking about. What’s this I hear about you taking Oriana on ‘the circuit’? Please don’t tell me you’re running away to join the circus!”
“Oh, that.” His shoulders relaxed visibly. “No, not the circus, Las Vegas!”
“Not that again…”
“It’s perfect. You’ve seen what she can do. No more of this nickel and dime stuff, Mercy, we’re taking it to the big time.”
“I’ve seen she isn’t the most… well adjusted person. Are you sure Las Vegas is the best environment for Oriana?”
“It’s the perfect environment for someone special like her.” His face lit up, convinced in the brilliance of his plan. “No one blinks an eye when a stage performer talks all kooky, they’ll assume it’s part of the show.”
“Part of the show. What exactly do you have in mind?”
Matty talked animatedly about the ideas he had for Madame Oriana and her stage show, featuring Bert and Hubie as part of the act. I have to admit, it did sound entertaining.
“I don’t know, Matty. I still think this is kinda risky. You don’t even know if there’s a market for a show like that in Vegas.”
“I’ve already talked to an agent, he sounded very interested.”
I let out a breath, surprised he’d gotten that far. My brother tended to be more talk than action. “So, you’re definitely doing this?”
“As soon as we can put something together, yeah.”
“And when were you going to tell me? I thought you wanted my couch and stuff, and now you’re moving to Vegas?”
“I didn’t want to say anything until I had a deal worked out.” More likely he didn’t want me to try and talk him out of it. “And the guys have all kinds of people they know in Vegas. We’re guaranteed a place to crash until we get settled.”
I shut my mouth without reminding him that any
friends
Bert or Hubie had in Vegas were likely to be demons as well. He was a big boy. I’d stopped trying to make his decisions for him a long time ago, no matter how idiotic I thought they were.
“I hope it turns out to be what you wanted,” I said finally, giving him a hug. “Are you still going to be here for the ceremony?”
“Oh yeah, we’ll be here next weekend. Ori would kill me if we left without giving you her blessing on your big day.”
“Good. Remember, mum’s the word to Mom, or Dad for that matter.”
“Yeah, I remember. I still think Mom’s gonna go completely mental when she finds out you didn’t invite her to the wedding.”
“Oh no, I’m pretty sure she’ll be distracted by finding out you ran off to Las Vegas without telling her,” I smiled sweetly. His uncomfortable look told me he hadn’t planned on sharing that with her either. “I’d better get back up there before they have this whole thing planned without me.” I glanced up at my window.
They were whispering together when I returned to my apartment, and I considered making myself dim to listen in on the conversation for a moment, but I wasn’t sure I could hide from Oriana entirely. It turned out I didn’t have to bother, as Daphne and Oriana happily filled me in on everything they’d talked about in my absence. It took me a good fifteen minutes to talk them out of the bachelorette party they’d cooked up between them.
Skillfully, I directed the conversation back to Oriana’s impending move to Las Vegas and they were both easily distracted enough to drop the subject before it inevitably returned to wedding plans. The last thing I wanted was a drunken pub crawl with me as the designated driver to celebrate my last night as a single woman. In fact, the more they chatted about the wedding, the more I wanted it to be over and done with. Maybe I could talk Parker into going down to City Hall with me alone and we could have a reception at the club afterwards?
I knew Parker would go along with it; he’d wanted to marry me the day after his proposal, and we didn’t need blood tests in the state of Washington. We could get married in less than an hour if we wanted to. Convinced in the brilliance of that idea, I let them make all the plans they wanted.
I didn’t get a chance to talk to Parker about it that night though. It was busier than usual at the club and whenever he was on the floor, it was to help out or to give me a break. After work he walked me to my car (which was running again after a ridiculously priced motor mount was replaced), and I was too distracted by his attempts to get me to follow him back to his place to talk about wedding stuff.
Resolving to talk to him about it the next day, I drove home, my mind spinning all sorts of happy scenarios as to how the next day would go. By the end of the day I’d be a married woman, and baby Bunny would have a real father. It was almost enough to make me turn the car around to talk to him about it that night, but the thought of surprising him with the idea was too much fun.
Nelo greeted me at the door and I should have noticed the nervous way he danced from side to side right away. I was distracted by sunny thoughts of the future, until he wouldn’t step out of the way to let me in.
“We have a guest…”
“What did we say about not letting guests into the house without my permission?” I asked, taking pains to keep the frustration out of my voice.
“He did not ask permission, Mistress, he simply…”
That meant it was probably an angel in there, maybe Remiel or… ugh, I hoped it wasn’t Nathanael. “Who’s in there, Nelo?” I looked past him, my mouth doing dry at the sight of Adam kicking back on my sofa.
Adam. Holy shit…
“I think I’m hallucinating…” I murmured, even as he rose with fluid grace, his handsome features unmistakable. Dressed in his trademark black denim jeans and a black t-shirt that stretched tight across his perfect body, I could only stand there, staring at him stupidly as he leaned against the back of my couch. His brilliant blue eyes, the same color as mine, swept over the swell of my belly.
“Long time no see,” he smirked.
Chapter Eighteen
I couldn’t say a word. Where would I even start?
“Mercy?” His brows drew together into a single dark line when I didn’t immediately run into his arms. I wasn’t convinced I hadn’t nodded off into a crazy dream somewhere between work and home, crashing my car into a ditch. It was incomprehensible to me that the real Adam could be standing in my living room looking like he’d just popped down to the corner store a half hour ago instead of disappearing for months.
“Wh…” My voice had no sound, and I licked my lips, trying again. “Why are you here?”
His eyes dropped to my abdomen, pausing for a drawn out moment. “I think I may have made a mistake.”
The mighty Adam admitting fault? After all that time had passed? A slew of retorts slipped past my tongue, none of them taking shape. Instead, a single word emerged, summing up exactly how I felt. “No.”
“I appreciate that, Merce, but I do have to take my share of the blame.” He fixed me with a lopsided grin and I just lost it.
“Your share?” I choked on the words. “Are you calling some of this debacle my fault?”
“Well, not exactly.” His brows twitched together again, not sure how to take my outburst. “But it takes two to tango, so it’s not entirely…” He swallowed uncomfortably (I imagined at noticing how I was doing my level best to set him on fire with the power of my brain). Sadly, I didn’t possess those powers, so I had to settle for words.
“You have fifteen seconds to tell me why you’re here.”
“Like I said…” He licked his lips, taking a step towards me. “I admit, I was a little hasty in leaving, but I think I’ve figured out how we can be together in a way.”
“In a way?” That I had to hear.
“Sure. It won’t be as good as what we had before, but there’s no reason for us to be completely apart, not when we can still see each other in the Ether.”
“The Ether,” I replied woodenly. “That’s your big idea for getting back together?” No apologies, no attempts to make anything up to me or find a way to raise our child together; he offered a Band-aid without addressing the wound.
“It makes perfect sense if you think about it. Especially without Azazael stalking you in there anymore.” He looked so pleased with himself for thinking of it. I had to clench my hand, fingernails digging little half moons into my palms, before I could speak without tearing his head off.
“Adam,” I said as calmly as I could manage. “I would like you to leave, right now.”
“But I just got here…”
“It’s too late.” That summed it up as simply as I could manage. Even though a traitorous part of me ached to run into his arms and beg him never to leave again, I couldn’t allow myself to be that weak. I deserved better, damn it, and I couldn’t let him smooth it all over like it didn’t matter.