Chapter 8

Years later

Marshall looked out over the crowd of his family, and it was quite the crowd that had come to see his son’s graduation from college. Tad was graduating with honors, and he felt like every one of those honors could be broken down into the family. They had all raised him when he’d been nothing more than a child. Looking down at his granddaughter, him being the first grandfather of all the men of the kiss, he kissed her tiny forehead and laughed at her frowny face when he did. Pulling back the blanket that covered her from head to toe, he wasn’t surprised to find, like other children here today, she had on the tiniest little set of noise-canceling headphones that he’d ever seen.

“Your momma must surely love you, tiny one. Grandpa loves you so very much, too.” Someone sat down beside him, but not before kissing him on the cheek. He could smell her, Emma. Margaret Jane’s momma. He looked at her. “Don’t be thinking that you’re taking her from me. As soon as my thirty minutes are up, she goes to Grandma Meggie.”

“Uncle Hamish told me that you were hogging her and wouldn’t allow anyone else to hold her. I told him that he had to wait his time like everyone else did.” She laughed. “I even told him that if he messes with me, I’ll pull out his fangs and stab him to death with them.”

Marshall laughed, startling MJ. She put up a fuss but settled down again. Lauder used to say that to Hamish all the time. He wasn’t sure, but she might well be still threatening him with the same death.

Emma had graduated from high school and studied at home for most of her college education. Since she worked for the firm that they all worked for now, she was able to take tests that made it possible for her to be able to graduate, too, but much earlier than her brother. Then, at her party, she’d met her mate, and they were married soon after.

Marshall didn’t like that. Him having to give up his little girl so soon. But she made it clear that he was to allow her to marry Alan, or she’d run off and marry him anyway, and he’d not see their children. It was difficult, but in the end, Meggie told him that she’d go with her if she ran. That settled it up quickly, and a month later, they were having the wedding of the century.

He didn’t care for that either. He wanted her to have a plain ordinary wedding so she’d be too disappointed to marry Alan. But again, his lovely mate had put down her foot, telling him that he was childish and that he’d better straighten his ass up, or she’d be making his life hell.

She never said what she would be doing to make his life hell, but he’d been married to her for just over a hundred years now and was as terrified of her now as he’d been back when he’d first met her. Maybe a bit more so.

The auditorium was filling up now. There were a lot of humans there that he’d gotten to know over Tad’s six years of college. He’d been studying to be a doctor, of all things, and had gotten a doctorate in medicine. Tad could speak seven languages, thanks to how he was raised. And he could read ten more. Several of those he wouldn’t ever tell anyone about. He knew bear, vampire and a few others that made him very special to this family. Tad also kept the books for the firm, the ones that said who had lived and died since the beginning of their times on earth. A lot of the males and one female in the family, being older than dirt, as Tad was fond of saying, were considered to be ancients as they were nearly as old as the dirt they walked on.

“How do you feel?” He wanted to snarl at Becka when she leaned in and simply took Margaret Jane from him. But he knew better. Over her years working with the faeries she had gained a great deal of magic that none of them had. “I’ll give her back to you, Marshall. I just wanted to give her a bit more magic. She’ll need everything that she had when she meets her mate.”

“Why do you say that? And he’d best not be lurking around the corner, Becka. I’m in no mood to lose another one of my family. Emma was hard enough.” His daughter kissed him on the cheek again and took the baby from Becka. She, in turn, handed her back to him. “See? She knows she has enough magic.”

“She also knew that I’d already given it to her. Why are you so selfish with her? You get to take her home with you nightly, don’t you?” he didn’t even glance at Emma, not sure what she’d told anyone yet. “Ah. So you’ve found yourself a home, have you? Good. Marshall and Meggie were spoiling you too much. If you would have come to the other world and lived with me, you’d be so happy.”

“I’m happy where we are. And yes, Alan and I found us a house. It’s on the back of the property that mom and dad live on.” Becka winked at him. He had a feeling that she’d known that as well. “Aunt Becka, what did you do to my daughter this time. You know that I love it when you share but I think she’s about bursting at the seams now with all the magic that has been bestowed upon her.”

“Oh, she’ll need that and more. I believe this one will be the person that everyone turns to when her grandda retires. It’s doubtful that Meggie will ever retire, but we can only hope someday she gets tired of running around.”

“Never.” Marshall looked at the doors and didn’t see Meggie yet. “I thought that she would have been here by now. This thing starts in about an hour.”

Meggie was always running late nowadays. Her new job was taking up more time than she wanted it to, but she loved it, so she wouldn’t dare quit. He loved her, so of course, he wanted what she did.

“I heard from her just before we got here. She said that she’s coming in soon and that there was a mix-up in her travel arrangements. I think perhaps heads are going to roll before she gets here. I know that she’s been looking forward to this as much as we all are.” Emma grinned, a look that he’d found both endearing and scary when she’d been a child. “Maybe she’ll embarrass my brother, and we’ll have to have a pity party for him.”

“You don’t mean that.” She shook her head and took MJ when she started to fuss. “She’s just sick of all these people touching her. You’ll notice that I wasn’t touching her but just holding her. She needs her nap.”

“You mean you need your nap. I’ve never seen a grown man that can fall asleep like you do, Dad. You can sit down, put your feet up, and bam, you’re out. I’m so glad that MJ has gotten the same thing from you. After her bottle, she’s out like a light. Thank you for that.” He laughed to himself. There wasn’t any way that MJ received any of his traits, and he was sure that Emma knew it. They weren’t blood at all, but he was thrilled that she spoke as if they were. “Also, Dad, can you help Alan finish putting the final touches on the playhouse? I don’t think she’ll be using it anytime soon, but he had to put it up.”

“Because, like me, he wants things ready when they need them. He’s a good man, as much as I hate to say that. Where is he anyway?” She told him that he was on his way and that he had to pick up something on his way here. “He’d better not be late. They can’t start this thing without Meggie, but he’ll be locked out if he tries to come in late.”

“He knows that.” She looked at the doors when he did. “There he is now. And Dad, you’d better be nice to him. I know you love him but he thinks that you don’t. All right?”

“Yes, all right. Your mother told me the same thing that I was giving him a complex with the way that I teased him. He’s much too serious if you ask me. He needs to learn to relax.”

“Says the man who came here to this kiss with a rod the size of a house up his ass.” Becka laughed at her own joke and told them she was going to find her seat. As she was walking away, Marshall, sure that she couldn’t see him, he flipped her off and smiled that he’d gotten away with it. He should have known better. He had belly cramps so bad that he knew it was all on her. “You’d better fart or you’ll explode, dear Marshall.”

“I hate you right now.” He couldn’t embarrass himself by letting go. He thought about blaming it on the baby, but the way he was feeling right now, it would have killed her to have gas the way that he did. “You’re going to have to take this away, Becka, please?”

“You owe me then.” He said he’d gladly owe her just so he’d not die right here. “I’ll have to think of something really dangerous for you. Maybe you can fart like this when the party is going on. Before I forget to tell you again, you’re going to have to have a talk with Alan. He’s being approached by some very bad men, and he’s afraid for his family. They want him to get a video of one of you guys shifting. He doesn’t even care which group either.”

“Why hasn’t he come to me before now?” She didn’t have to answer him. He knew it was because the man was terrified of him. “I’ll be nicer to him too. I’ve taken it too far if he’s that afraid of me and still willing to take on these men without telling me about them. You’re right. Again.”

“I’ll take that as a payment. I so love it when you have to admit that I was right over and over. Don’t you just love it?” He said that he’s had better times, yes. “Good. And your wife just landed. Her and that damned chopper. I wish that they’d given her something less noisy. But she does love to make an entrance.”

Meggie had gotten really good at making an entrance, too. She had done her country proud as both an officer in the Army and also in the White House. Serving two terms as president and two as vice president had made her a household name all over the world. She’d done everything that was needed to make sure that the country was where it needed to be right now. Progressing.

When she walked into the large arena, with secret service men surrounding her, the entire room stood up and clapped. Making her way to the podium, she was going to be the guest speaker today. He felt his heart swell with pride. She was his mate, his wife his everything. And he couldn’t have been more in love with her than he was right now. Christ, she was wonderful.

“Please have a seat.” It took about ten minutes for everyone to stop clapping and to have a seat. “Please, I’m only here because my son is graduating, and I wanted to say a few words to the kids to hopefully get them on the right path.”

When everyone was seated, the graduating class came in. Tad was first as he was the valedictorian. When he made his way up to the podium with his mom, he realized that he was crying. There, right there with him was the very reason that he was alive today. Family.

The two of them hugged tightly when they got together. Whatever they were saying to each other wasn’t caught on the microphone. He thought perhaps Meggie had done that, but he didn’t care. They were the very picture of love standing there, holding onto each other, and he’d not have it any other way.

After Meggie gave her speech, short and to the point like she did when she was in the White House, he laughed when she said that she missed the food and all the parties. When he knew better, that was the worst part of being there was the parties that they were required to attend. She made her way to him with her guards in tow.

“I love you, Meggie Mine.” She kissed him on his mouth and took the baby from Emma. “Are you all right?”

“Yes. Later, okay?” He said that he could wait forever for her, but he was there for her. “I love you dearly. Now, let’s pay attention here.” She looked at him again. “I can’t wait. I want you to know that I’ve been asked to run for president again. However, I put your name in the hat instead.”

If she expected him to pay attention after that, she was surely mistaken. He liked the job all right when there was no pressure, but to be the man in the White House, the one in charge? Nope, it wasn’t going to happen.

~*~

Tad looked around the room and realized that his speech was crap. Not only was it nothing that he wanted to say, but it wasn’t even close to what was going on in his mind. Putting his notes down, turning them over so he’d not be tempted to read them, he smiled.

“As most of you know, I’m from a fairly large family.” Hamish could be heard telling him that he had the best. “Thanks, Uncle Hamish. And speaking of him, I’d like to give you a little bit of information about my uncle.

“He, like the others in my family, was always there for me. But in a different way than even my parents knew about. He was my confidant. The man that I went to when I had heavy decisions to make. Some might ask why I’d go to him and not my parents? It’s because they would have moved heaven and earth to make sure that I had whatever I was pondering about right in my lap. Uncle Hamish would be the advocate that I needed. And my Aunt Lauder would slap me around and make sure that I did what was correct. Sometimes, I’d have to remind myself that they both loved me when they would not literally smack me around, but I was able to work things out with them there.”

He cleared his throat, thinking about his family. “My Uncle Warren and Aunt Robin were the people that I went to when I needed just to hang out. While with them I learned how to think not just outside of the box but to also think about what the box could do for me as well. I learned humility from them. And at an awkward age, I learned that it was all right to wake up with my head so full of sex that I didn’t know what to do with it and that someday, I’d cherish what they taught me about doing the right thing with those thoughts. Mostly to let them go and know that they were a part of growing up.” People laughed, just as he wanted them to.

“I have an Uncle Murray that I love to the moon and back. He alone taught me that not every bully can change, though they might, though he told me that sometimes those who didn’t change could become better people. A nicer one, too. However, it was my Aunt Rosie who taught me how to keep myself safe and how to fight when there was no other choice. Sometimes, she told me that you have to bloody a few lips before someone understands that you’re fine with taking care of yourself.” He looked at his Uncle Warren and Aunt Ruby.

“I got my idea to be a doctor from my Uncle Warren and Aunt Ruby. It was them who helped me study, knowing that, again, my parents would have given me the answers instead of making me work for them. I became dependent on my Aunt Ruby for the same reason. She is still the best person to go to when I have a clinical question. It was she who made sure that because of my childhood, I could still be the best man that I could be. I’ll get to my parents in a moment here and why I needed the extra care.”

He watched his sister, Emma. She’d been his rock, but he wasn’t going to embarrass her. Alan, her husband, was going to have to talk to Dad soon and he hoped that they both were able to get over their fear of each other. Dad wanted to keep Alan on his toes so that he’d keep Emma safe, and for some reason, Alan wanted to prove himself to Dad. Why? He didn’t know. He didn’t have a family yet.

“I don’t get to see my aunt Becka and Uncle Brad all that much. But their son and daughters were my babysitters when my parents went out. They would take us to their home and we’d get to ride their ponies as well as hang out with people that we might not have ever been able to before.” The ponies he was sure his family knew were unicorns, and hanging out with dragons and other creatures gave him a sense of appreciation for nature that he might not have had. “They taught me the meaning of magic. And that it was in every living thing in the world. Aunt Becka also taught me to care for myself and protect myself from monsters in the dark by telling me that I forever had a friend that would keep me safe.”

His faerie was named Donut, and he still, to this day, depended on her to make sure that he was doing the right thing. She also had made it easier for him to go to college away from home by taking him there once a week so that he could be with his parents and sister.

“My childhood and my family. What can I say about them that everyone in the world already knows about my mom and dad. As you know, I grew up in the White House. I spent most of my teenage years hanging out with Secret Service men and women who knew somehow just what I was up to with sneaking out. I will forever be grateful for them allowing me to drive around the parking lots to learn how to drive before I killed someone on the streets. Thank you for that.” Some of the men and women who were forever with him as a president’s son still hung out with him to this day.

“Now I’d like to talk about my parents. But I don’t want to forget, too, my sister. Emma, I love you with all my heart, and I hope you know that you still owe me forty cents for the card game that we used to play.” While looking at her, he recounted the day that they came to be with Mom and Dad. “Our biological mother was killed by our biological father when I was only just two years old, and my sister was but an infant as old as her own little girl. He wanted her to do his bidding, and when she tried to leave him, he killed her. I don’t mean for that to be something that brings the house down, but I know that without that terrible event happening, neither Emma nor I would have survived. Not with them, I don’t believe. I’m ever so grateful for my parents stepping in and making sure that we had a good home and a good education. My parents, Marshall and Meggie Morton, gave us love, understanding, and discipline. Without their support, I would never have been where I am today. Emma wouldn’t have been able to find a good husband in Alan and certainly not have had the best little niece of all time. MJ, named for my mom, is the cutest baby of all time.” He wiped at a tear that had formed and decided enough about his family. “I am who I am because they believed in the fact that it takes a village to raise a child, or in this case, children. Without them, I’d be nothing but another statistic in the world we have now.”

Gathering up his notes, he was happy that he’d not gone over too much on the speech that he’d been asked to give. Now, he needed to bring it all together like his dad used to tell him about the family.

“I want to say to my classmates who are here today to be given your awards and diplomas. The world as a whole is a scary place. That sometimes, it’s all right to lean on others and to make sure that someone is in your corner. While some of us will go out and become doctors and nurses, politicians, and teachers, we all have to remember where we came from. Home it’s the only place that we can always depend on to keep us not just humble for also warm with love. I know that I’m one of the luckier people in that I have so much in the way of extended family, but I also know that if I had screwed up, they would have pounced on me like a wet dog and beat my bottom.” He cleared his throat when his dad yelled from the seats that he was damned right. “I love you very much, too, Dad.”

After getting his diploma, and everyone got pictures, he was happy when the man that he’d hired to take a family photo was able to get them all in one shot. There were others, too, pictures that he would treasure for the rest of his life. And while Dwayne was there, with the family around, they asked for pictures of their own family. Which he was sure going to happen. The man, a classmate, was going to be making a killing out of his family today, and he couldn’t have been happier for him.

The party, of course, was a blast. There was all sorts of food to be eaten as well as drinks. Tad had ever acquired a taste for beer, which he thought stemmed more from his family not drinking than anything else. The tub of beer was enchanted so that if you weren’t old enough to drink, all you were able to pull out was a bottle of water. He knew that a lot of people were disappointed but he knew too that they’d be safe going home. No accidents going to happen after this one.

“Son.” Dad hugged him. Much like the shifter that he was, the wolf seemed to be just there so that he could see him, too. “I want you to know that I’m so very proud of you. And that I love you to pieces.”

“I love you, too, Dad.” He pulled a long swallow on the bottle of water that he wanted and looked at his dad. “I’ve been meaning to ask you this for a long time. Why didn’t you and mom have any kids of your own? I mean, I know that you consider Emma and I your actual kids and you’ve never made any kind of big deal about it. But why not?”

Dad looked out over the lawn where the party was being held on their land at home. Emma and Alan were living in the big house near everyone, and he had rooms there as well. Mom and Dad, he knew, still stayed in DC, where they had good friends and worked. He loved them for that.

“We wanted to have children. Nothing was stopping us from having them but when your mom was elected as president, we both decided that it would be the wrong time for her to be having children. Not that she couldn’t have run the country while pregnant, but she didn’t want anyone to think that she wasn’t doing right by them. After her two terms, then two terms as vice president to William Johnston, we decided that you and Emma were too old to bring a baby into the family. You were already twenty when we left the big house, and it was enough to have the two of you. We did foster a lot of children those first few years but after that, after leaving there, it seemed that we had better things to do.” Tad asked him if he regretted mom being president. “Never. I was never jealous, either, as some tabloids said. She was brilliant for the job, and like with you and your sister, I couldn’t have been happier about the work that she was doing. And still is.”

“I bet that she’ll be working in some capacity just the same as the other women in this family. Even Aunt Rosie, being as kick-ass as she is, fell apart when one of her children was hurt. Remember Callie’s accident? I do. Mostly because of the pain that Aunt Rosie had.”

Callie, his cousin, had been horseback riding one afternoon, and the horse had been startled, and she was tossed from his back. There were other incidents like that one. Where cousins would be hurt, and the women would fall apart more than the men. He and Emma had been hurt a few times as well. But they, like always come together when needed.

“When were you going to tell me?” He looked at his dad, just for a second, not knowing what he was talking about. “You smell of her. I didn’t know who until the party started. Lisa Daniels will be good for you, I believe.”

“She wouldn’t allow me to tell you today. She said that this was our day, the day that I was celebrating my graduation. I want to. I want to shout to the world that I’ve found my mate, but we’re keeping in on the downlow, as Mable is so fond of saying.” Dad stood up and told him to come with him. “She’s not going to like this, Dad. You know that, don’t you?” When Dad winked at him, Mom just appeared out of nowhere to stand next to them when he asked for Lisa to come to him.

Lisa was embarrassed easily, and now was no different. As soon as she was standing on the hay bales that she’d been sitting on, Dad cleared his throat and then whistled. The quiet fell over the people, which was both deafening as it was scary that one person could command so much.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, you too, Hamish, I want to announce that Lisa Daniels, Tad’s mate, has come here today to meet all his family.” Dad laughed when Lisa turned her face into his chest. He already loved her even though they’d only been together for a week. “Please make her feel welcome and a part of this family.”

Emma hugged him first, telling him that she’d told him that Dad would do this. Then, she only had to remind him of the first time that she’d met Alan. While they were all standing around, being congratulated too, Mom hugged him and Lisa tightly.

Holding her hand, Lisa and he were walking around to the people in the crowd when he realized that they were giving wedding gifts in the form of money to Lisa. She’s tried her best to give it back but to no avail. Realizing that it was much too late for them to have a normal life, he found his mom and kissed her on the cheek. She had been carrying around the rings that she and Dad had used when they were first married. Mom handed them over to him then, and he got down on one knee, and right there in front of everyone there, he cleared his throat.

“Lisa Marie Daniels Morton, will you consent to becoming my wife for all time? To not be too mad at me when I mess up. Will you have children with me—something that we forgot to address and I’m sorry about that. Will you marry me right now, on this day of celebration with all my family around? Please?” She asked him what he was doing. “Honey, I kinda thought that would be obvious. Will you marry me?”

“Get up, you fool.” He stayed where he was and slipped the ring onto her finger, telling her that she had to say yes now. “All right, I give up. Yes, I’ll marry you, but I want you to know that for as long as we live, I’m going to tease you about kneeling down in mud to propose to me.”

Laughing, telling her he didn’t care, he slipped the ring all the way up to her knuckle and considered himself very lucky. It was just like he said before. Family was everything, and he was going to get as much out of it as he could.