Chapter 8

Sage sat in stunned silence. Except for the house that they gave to their son, everything else came to her. To care for their only great-granddaughter. She looked at Stone when he asked her something but for the life of her, she couldn’t understand what he was saying to her.

“Honey, you’re scaring me. Say something.” She nodded but still didn’t speak. Picking up the list of things that she now owned, all she could think about was that she was a millionaire several times over. And that wasn’t even counting the stocks and bonds that they left to her as well. “We can adopt Hailey now. Isn’t that good?”

She stared at him, not really understanding what he was telling her. As things began to settle around in her brain, she realized something else. That Earl knew that he was going to die soon and that he didn’t care to be around without his wife. It saddened her in so many ways. Then she looked at Stone.

“I would do the same should anything happen to you. I couldn’t go on living without you, and I’d die of a broken heart. Like…it’s like you’re my heart and soul, my life and my everything. I’m so very happy that you can’t die. I just don’t know what I’d do without you in my heart.” He kissed her, and she realized that they were the only two in the room. She asked him where the others had gone.

“Mr. Crank had some other things to do now that he’s told you about the will that the Danielsons had. He has some money for you too, he said. It’s quite a bit so he’s making sure that the bank that we bank at is aware of it. I didn’t think that you wanted to cash it out, but that’ll be up to you.” She asked him what amount, and he told her. “It’s to pay off any of their outstanding bills. It’s doubtful to me that you’ll need all that to pay things off. Mr. Crank said that they rarely left bills unpaid when they had the money.”

“There was a mention of the son, correct?” He told her what he got in the will and why. “So they weren’t very close then. That’s sad, but then I’m not very close to my own mother. She’s trying to make amends, but I’m not sure what her motives are. She’s never been someone that I could depend on.”

“That’s really sad. I’ve been able to depend on my family for everything.” When his cell phone rang, she got up to go to the window in the room they were in. There were children playing in the yards out from them, and she smiled when they seemed to be having a great time. The weather had turned warm and the kids were enjoying it as much as they could, it seemed.

“That was my dad. He wanted to make sure you were all right. He said that he’d heard about what was going on here, and he was worried about you.”

“I’m fine. Really, I am.” She turned and looked at him. “I want children with you. I don’t care if we have to adopt or not, but I’d like to have a houseful of little ones running around. I’ll tell them daily that I love them and make sure they know that they count. For us and everyone around them.”

“I’d like that too. We can get started as soon as you’re ovulating again.” Nodding, she told him that she’d stop taking the pill then. “It wouldn’t matter if you’re on the pill or not. I’m that powerful.” They both laughed, and he pulled her into his arms. “I love you so much, Sage. I can’t think of this world without you in it with me.”

They made their way back to the house. They were still going through boxes and decided to leave things in the garage until they could sort through things. It was so much fun. There were a couple of times that he got as many as six flats of junk for a buck. And he loved finding things that he’d not thought about in years. Setting aside the pipes that he’d found, he wondered if his dad had already gotten a start on cleaning up the ones that he’d purchased.

It was nearly noon when they decided that they’d take a break. He’d been able to unearth a lot of odds and ends that he thought that he could resell. It was fun sorting through things with Sage. Whenever she found something, she’d make a little squeal noise, and he’d have to go and see what she’d discovered. It was like a treasure hunt they were having in their own garage.

“Are you going to sell the paperweights?” He told her that he’d keep a couple of them because they weren’t any that he had already. “They’re so beautiful. I looked up how they’re made, and it’s amazing how much time it takes to make just one of them.”

They’d been doing that all morning. Once he would tell her what something that she’d found was, she’d look it up on her phone and see not only if it was worth anything but how it was made as well as the year that it was made in. Some of the things that she’d managed to get were very old and worth some money. But since neither of them needed the cash, she decided that she’d keep them around just because they went with the décor of the house.

After lunch, they decided to stop with the boxes and start to make a bigger list of the things that they needed. Hailey had been with them all morning, and she seemed to be having as much fun as they were. He could see her at an auction, having the time of her life and picking up a few items that she could turn over. It was wonderful to watch her face light up when she found something that she hadn’t found before.

“My dolls are cleaned up now. And Ms. Fitz ironed all the pretty little dresses that I have now.” They asked her if she wanted to put them in a room, the one next to hers, so that she could have a playroom. “No thanks. I think it’s wonderful that I can see everything that’s mine while in my room. I love all the doll furniture, too.”

“If you change your mind, let me know. We can have one of the rooms set up just for you to play with your things in.” She said that was fine with her. “I’m assuming that next weekend you’d like to go to another auction with us.”

He couldn’t have turned her down if his very life depended on it. Her eyes brightened up and her smile was enough that he could go on for years from the energy from it. Smiling to himself, Stone was going to make it a point to look up auctions for every weekend so he’d be able to see that bright smile of hers.

They were working in the house, making sure that there were things that Odell might want of his mother’s when his brothers came up the drive. He was excited and surprised that they had a large box in their truck that they came to ‘break in.’ The big screen television was not only put up, but they were having a good time watching a few games on the large sucker. The women showed up with bags of food, and they were all set for the afternoon. He was glad that the kids came over, too. It gave Hailey a chance to show off her new dolls. Even Jeffery’s daughters had a good time playing with them.

It was the best afternoon he’d spent in a while. Not only did they have good company but good food as well. When their parents showed up with pies and other desserts, they went at them like they’d not had a single thing to eat all day. Dad and Mom sat with them, watching television on the large ninety-five-inch television as well.

“We also came to help you move the desk in. I know that you got it delivered, but we thought that if you’re finished with it, we’d get it situated in the room for you guys.” He thanked Harman and the others for their help, and in no time at all, not only was the desk set up in the room, but the bookshelves were loaded after being put in place, as well as the new computer that they’d gotten just yesterday. It was great having family around.

Trying not to be upset with them, his parents brought up that they were ready to fade. They told them that they’d been around a great many decades and there was little to make them want to stick around anymore.

“The grandchildren are a great addition, but we’re both so tired.” It was the first time that he noticed that his parents were looking like they needed to rest. “We’ll be around, but not like we are now. It’s been a long time in coming but when you’ve been around as long as we have, it’s time to settle up our affairs and fade away.”

“I guess I can understand that, but I don’t have to like it.” Mom hugged him, telling him that she loved him. “What will we do without you around to give us the advice that we need? Tell us when we screw up.”

Mom laughed. But he could see the sadness in her face. It hurt him deep in his heart when she looked at him. As soon as she put her hand on his cheek, he turned into it so that he’d be able to kiss her.

“You all have mates now that can do that for us. And it’s time, honey. It’s been so long that I don’t remember the world like it was anymore. And I miss that. The bits and pieces of our life before will come to me hard, and I just want to find myself a place to cry with my memories. That feels like all I have now. Just memories that are of a world less complicated along with being a nicer place.” He told her that he loved her. “And I love you, too, my baby boy. What did I do before all of you came around? I’ll never know. My life has been wonderful as a mother to the six of you but I’m tired too. So tired that all I want to do is go to bed and now wake up again.”

That hurt him in his own heart. To think that he’d not be able to go and talk with his mom. To not be able to share a day with either of them. They’d been there his whole life, and to not have them around would leave such a void in his life. He just wasn’t sure that he could survive it.

“You’re going to be just fine, Stone. Better than the others, I think. You have a fresh life now, a mate and a daughter to keep you on your toes.” She kissed him on the cheek before looking at him. “I don’t want you to feel like we’re abandoning you. We’ll be around watching over you from time to time.”

“I want to understand but it’s difficult to. I will miss you more than I think I can put into words right now. I won’t be able to…Mom, Sage and I want to have a houseful of children. How will I know if I’m doing a good job with them if you’re not around? How will I know that I’ve taught them right? I’ll miss you both so much in just having you around to hug and to hold sometimes.”

“You have a wife, son. One that will keep you on your toes and will love you forever. We all knew that this day was coming, a day when we had enough. We’ve been talking about it for years about how much we needed rest.” He felt the tears burning down his cheeks. His own heart breaking for the day that was coming soon. But he also knew that he couldn’t be selfish. They’d been there for him all his life, and he was going to be there for them, as much as he could for them in this decision that they were making.

It couldn’t have been easy for them to decide that they’d had enough. Before Sage and Hailey came along, he was having the same feelings. He’d been bored with his life. The same kind of days that he’d had the weeks before. But now it was different, like he had a new outlook on life. Then, there was something that his dad had said to him before.

“There are no more changes in the world that we can be excited for. We’ve seen it all. From the new country to all the electronics that are now around. The world was taking small steps, it seemed, where there was something every day that was coming along. Something new was being discovered or improved. There is so little of that now going on that we’ve decided that we can’t take another change. It’s become just too much for us.”

His dad had been trying to tell him then that they were finished with this world and he couldn’t believe how much he missed them already and they were still around. His parents, like his brothers, were his life, and he couldn’t imagine a day without seeing them all, even if it was just for a few short minutes. But he also knew that they needed this more than he did them being miserable and hanging around when they wanted to be elsewhere. To be resting up for the next stage of their life. It was while he was sitting alone in the kitchen when Hailey came to talk to him.

“What does it mean to fade away?” She crawled up into his lap and cried. “I don’t want them to die. I don’t want them to leave me without any grandparents who love me and want me around. I don’t know what I’d do without Grandpa Charlie giving me nuggies. Or Grandma Luna showing me how to knit.”

He held her until she looked up at him. Christ, he thought, there was such love in his heart for this little girl that he didn’t know if he was going to have room for anyone else there. Kissing her on the nose had her giggle, and he tried his best to explain to her what fading meant.

“They don’t die so much as they become spirits of this world. We’ll even be able to see them on occasion, but they’ll forever be watching over us. Mom told me once that they’d be able to whisper in our ears when we needed it. To give us a hug, a tightening in our hearts when we’re thinking too hard on something. But the most important thing is, they’ll be around for us when we need them the most.” She asked him how that was different than dying. “I’m not sure, really. But I do think that knowing that they’re around forever for us is better than thinking that they’re going to just die and not be there at all.”

“You mean like my parents?” He said that he thought that it was like that. That humans believed that they died and that was the end.

“Shifters believe that they don’t die; they just fade. We also believe that they watch over babies when they come along. That they give us the boost, like I told you about. That they’re there for us even though we can’t see them, but know, within our hearts, that they’re keeping an eye on us all the time.” He thought that was the best way to live without not having them there, believing that they were around to guide them in their lives. “You know how sometimes you have a thought about doing something, but for whatever reason, you change your mind because it might have been something terrible or dangerous for you? Well, I believe with all my heart that that’s what our ancestors do for us. They keep us on the straight and narrow so that we’ll be there for them when they want to take a nice visit.”

Hailey laid her head on his shoulder and didn’t speak for some time. When she did, he could have kissed her for having a better outlook on things than he was having. He had only been focused on losing them when he should have been happy that they were still around for him all the time.

“It’s like blowing bubbles.” He didn’t ask her what she had meant but held her tightly. “When you blow a whole bunch of them and some of them land on the grass but don’t pop. That’s them, I’m betting, if you look really hard at the bubble, you can see them there, looking at you and wondering what you’re about. Isn’t that right, Dad?”

He nearly didn’t answer her. She’d never called him dad before. When he was able to get his tongue working with his mouth, he told her that he’d buy her bubbles so that whenever they needed to talk to Grandma and Grandpa, they could go into the yard and blow lots of bubbles that they’d be in.”

Stone went into the house to find Sage. She needed to hear this as well. That bubbles you blow with your breath would be like having your family right there in the beautifully colorful bubbles. He liked that more than he thought of anything to do with fading.

~*~

Charlie walked along the well-worn path. He knew it like the back of his hand but watched where he was stepping so as not to disturb the creatures that might well be on the same track as he was on. He just wanted to see his children. Today had been a hard day in that this was the anniversary of his fading from twenty-five years ago.

The woods that he was walking in were just as he remembered all those centuries ago when he’d met up with Roman, a man who would change his life forever. He had hated the man for leaving him but after a while, he began to marvel at the things he was able to see. And the boys that he had with his wife and mate Luna.

“Grandda, are you around?” The grown woman was sitting on the same log that he’d seen her on the last time he’d come to visit her. Little Hailey was now a grown woman with a family of her own. He watched as bubbles, he so loved watching them float through the air and land on the toe of his worn boot. “There you are. I knew you’d come.”

He reached out and ruffled her hair slightly. Touching one of the rainbow bubbles and making it pop had her giggling. As she laid the small child on the ground, he couldn’t have stopped himself from moving toward it had he been shot like the first time he was in this very same woods.

“I wanted you to meet your grandson. His name is Charles Wolf Griffin.” The little boy turned and looked at him and smiled. Reaching down to touch his little head, he was rewarded with a soft giggle from him and laughter from his mother. “He’s a good boy and full wolf. Stone couldn’t be more proud than if he’d delivered him himself. We’re going to call him Wolf because one of Edwin’s grandchildren is called Charles, too.”

“He’s so lovely. Just as handsome as you are beautiful, my child.” She was the only one that came to talk to him anymore. Or he to her. She had been talking to them and bringing them news since the day that he and Luna had faded. Then he’d go back and tell Luna if she didn’t come with him and they’d spread the news far and wide to the other Griffins that were with them.

Charlie had learned a few tricks so that she’d know that he was around. A breeze through the trees that would send leaves chasing each other. A branch would fall from the tree would allow her to know that he was thinking about her and her family. All were things that she’d noticed, and then she would tell him that she knew that he was around for her.

“Dad and Mom have gone on a trip—they’re traveling to another pack for Uncle Edwin. I think I told you how he had the biggest pack in the world, didn’t I? Anyway, Dad is excited to be doing this. He’s retired from teaching again and he said that this is the end of it. He’ll not go back. But we both know that it’s only a matter of time before he wants to go back and do it again.”

He had known that he was ready to retire again, but this time, he thought it might stick. Stone had grandchildren now, two of them, and more on the way. They—Sage and Stone had been, like his brother Harman, a person who helped kids out by taking them into their home for one reason or another.

Harman, too, had grandchildren but he loved to study things. Several times in his search for his next book, he’d been to places with his children and wife. It wasn’t normally a place that he’d go, calling it a family trip, but they enjoyed it so much, and the kids, most of them adults now, were well versed in several languages as well as how some of the other world lived.

All of his boys were doing well. Edwin loved being pack leader but had been training his son to be the next great one. Eddy had been ready to take over but fearful that when he did, his dad would fade away like they had. He doubted that would happen but he was proud of the young man all the same.

“Oh, I nearly forgot. Storm has been working with the ground with Aunt Grace. They’re replenishing some of the earth that had been damaged when the rains came through the other country. They do such great things together, her with Aunt Rain.” She blew some more bubbles that reminded him that he wasn’t sitting right there with her. “Did I tell you that I’ve found a way to make bubbles with flavor? They’re a huge hit right now. I even put on the bottle that they were a perfect way to talk to the dead. And how I knew long ago that I could call upon you when I just needed a little bit of reassurance.”

“I will be here with you forever, my heart.” When she inhaled sharply, he had a moment where he thought that she could hear him. When she told him that she was there for him as well, he had to smile and wipe at the little tears that would replenish the earth as much as his granddaughter did.

Charlie was just about at the end of his time with her. He couldn’t stay long—well, he could, but he’d be too worn out to talk to his life mate, Luna, about what they’d talked about. Hailey had told him about his other boys and their families. How much they were getting done for the earth and the packs around them. Even the little town was thriving better than it ever had and he was happy for that too.

“Grandda, I hope that you are well. And that you’re not taxing yourself too much. I wanted to also tell you how much I love you. Even though you weren’t that much a part of my life growing up, these times that we get together make such a wonderful addition to what I know about you. You have a kind and loving heart and I hope someday my children will be as kind and good to people as you and Grandma Luna had been.”

He made his way home, floating on the breeze that would take him back to his faerie garden, where he shared the magic with Luna. By the time that he had arrived, he was about as exhausted as he’d ever been but he wasn’t so depleted in his energy as he usually was when he returned from his trip.

“It’s the babe.” Charlie asked Luna what she meant. Not because he was questioning her, he knew that she was right on everything, but because he’d not understood what little Wolf had to do with him being more able to stay awake this time. “They’re full of a special kind of energy that we can feed off of. Not enough to exhaust him too, but enough that we can hang around longer than we should know better than to be.”

“I have a feeling that wasn’t meant as a compliment for me leaving you to yourself for a while.” She reached out and touched him on his cheek. He would swear that it felt as good to him as the first time they’d met. “I don’t tell you this enough, Luna love, but I love you with all that I am and more.”

“Good.” The same answer that she gave him when he said the same to her over the years. The love that he felt for this woman was beyond measure. And even though they didn’t speak daily, his love for Luna had grown and grown over the last few years because of the things that his granddaughter told him and they were able to share. “Tell me about the little baby.”

He did so, telling her how he watched him as he leaned down to see him. “I will tell you, love, he’s a good deal more alert than any of our boys were when they were just newborns. And a beautiful head of hair on his head like his father had. Bigger, too, she told me, by a whole pound. I bet in no time he’s as big as his daddy is now.”

They spoke about the other children that they’d had. Edwin had gone back in the army for a while because he’d been bored. Tony had been running for mayor of their little town again and would more than likely win because he kept the people in mind while working.

“Garfield is a big man on Wall Street, it seems. Not only is he keeping the family in money, but a whole lot of other people, too. Such a smart young man. He gets all that from you, I think?” Luna said that was the child that had taught her to read and write the most. “Yes, I can remember that. The three of us sitting around the table with a candle between us, learning to decipher words like we were. Numbers for me were a bit harder than they were for you if I remember correctly. I could get there eventually, but it would take me some figuring, I remember.”

They spoke about the things that they’d taught the grandchildren as well. There were two of them that could make her jam as good as she did. Also, two others who could read the trees and the weather so they’d be prepared for whatever came their way. Three times now, they’d had enough food and water to last out the weeks they’d be without electricity.

“She said that Jeffery was going to be able to keep them in the internet that no one could break into.” It has happened once. And that was enough. Someone had hacked into their computers and was able to start moving things around to suit themselves. Lucky for them, Rain was able to get their money back and fix things up for them so that they’d not be hacked into again. “Rain and Storm sure have kept our family safe from outsiders that I just don’t understand.”

“They’ve done more for the family than I think we ever did in all the years that we were around them.” Charlie had to agree with that. They’d been so powerful that there wasn’t any way that any of them were going to need anything from the world around them. Good thing, too, as they were there for not just the town but each other as well. He was very proud of his family and would brag about them for hours on end if he was given the chance.

The two of them talked about different things as they drifted through the woods. She didn’t join him very often but when she did, her laughter would make his heart sing with enjoyment. She was all he needed in the world, the before and after. The children and the grandchildren and beyond had been a blessing that they’d never dreamed of when the children were little. As they were floating to their garden again, he could see that someone had left them a beautiful family photo that he and Luna loved. They couldn’t take it with them when they traveled but knew that sometime soon, it would be replaced with another family picture that they’d treasure just as much.

As they settled down in their garden of flowers, his last thought was of his sons. He did surely miss them but knew that they were doing their best because they had taught them well. It was more than he could have hoped for as a father.