Page 15 of Ewing

Ewing didn’t stick around. He knew that as soon as she was fired up, he’d start laughing, and that would get him into trouble as well. Making his way to the baby’s room, he picked up little Billy and kissed his face. It surprised him when he kept trying to turn his head to the right, looking in the corner.

“Can you see someone there, little buddy?” He turned him around so that he could look in the corner better. “Who do you see? Someone coming to visit you?”

He didn’t have any idea why, but he thought perhaps that he was seeing a ghost. When he’d spoken to the other women about how sometimes it looked like Billy was staring at someone and cooed a great deal. Even for him being just an infant, he was sure that was it. He didn’t want to freak anyone else out, so he kept that part to himself.

“You tell whomever that is that you’re going to be a good boy for them and talk to them whenever they come around.” Billy turned to him, looking into his eyes. It was then that he thought that Billy could understand him. And he also knew that whomever it was he was having a conversation with was going to be some lost family member that he’d missed. Perhaps his mom or dad had come to see him.

He wanted to think that after all this time his parents were still around. And the thought of them looking over his children made him feel particularly good about life in general. He also hoped that Grannie and Grandda were about as well. It would have tickled them both to no end to see such a little fighter living on their mountain top.

He’d heard all his life that babies could see and hear things that adults didn’t. It wouldn’t surprise him in the least bit that Billy could do all kinds of things. They had only just realized that by helping him stay alive, they had inadvertently changed him into a bear. It was fine by the family, but he did worry that if anyone had come for him, they’d be pissed off about it. But now he didn’t have to worry about it at all. Billy was their son, and they were going to show him how to be the best bear cub there was.

“You tell them, or it whatever they are, that you’re well loved and taken care of. There is no point in haunting us because we have you and your sisters taken well care of.” Kissing the little man on the forehead, he looked into the corner, too. “Whoever you are, if you’re here, I love this little boy with all that I am, and I won’t have you scaring him or making him do things that he shouldn’t be doing. He’s my son, and I will protect him with my life, even if I have to go to the ends of the earth to find you and make you pay for upsetting him.”

Chapter 7

By the end of the year, things were going as well as they expected them to. The kids, all of them, were growing up so fast, and Billy was crawling now. As soon as someone put him on the floor, the little boy was off getting his toys from the toy box or hanging out with one of his sisters. Even they were doing well with having him around under foot nowadays.

Ewing didn’t worry about the family. Theirs nor his brothers’ families. They were all doing well and he thought that with all that was going on, he felt as if Trinity had been born to the mountain and that she’d been in his life forever. It was a wonderful feeling, having hearth and home, and he couldn’t have been more thrilled when the tree was up in their living room, and the kids were experiencing their first Christmas with them.

Thanksgiving had been a wonderful holiday. They’d celebrated at Mark’s home, and the faeries had made it their job to make sure that everyone had what they wanted to eat and drink. The turkey, a fresh bird, had made a huge hit, and the girls—or perhaps they didn’t know—didn’t seem to mind that they were eating Rocky the Turkey. Ewing wasn’t going to spoil their fun with the meal, but he was sure that they’d be asking questions after he seemingly disappeared from the pen.

There were still men surrounding the area that had been used for the killing spree. As it turned out, twenty-six men and women had been arrested in the sting to get those who had actually done the killing taken care of. Without the help of Sunny, they might never have had any luck in bringing them to justice. It did bother the townspeople to know that their own mayor had been a part of the group that enjoyed—sickly—killing off teenage girls when he had four of his own.

“I just heard from the prison. Ben is dead. They said that it looks as if he took his own life, but I feel that they have that wrong. I’m betting that they didn’t look all that hard in finding out if he’d been murdered. Just one less thing that needed to be worried about is what I think.” Trinity told Ewing that she would tell the girls later as they were at the pack house today making gifts for the family. “I have a few of the ornaments that we made when Grannie would send us there for a few days. I thought it was because she wanted some quiet time but the more I miss my kids for being there, the more I realize that she was helping us get to know other groups of shifters better. Did I tell you that I love you today? I do.”

“And I love you so much.” She pulled the next batch of cookies out of the oven. Before they were even on the cooling rack that she had out, the faeries were decorating them. They were beautifully done. He’d say that for them. “The kids and I baked our cookies yesterday and decorated them. This batch is just for the faeries. I’ve never seen even a child have as much fun as they seem to be having. And they look picture perfect, too.”

“I did see that you showed them what cookies looked like. Do they know that they can branch out, too? Make their own designs.” She only had to hand him one of the cookies that he guessed the faeries had decorated on their own. It was so thick with icing and sprinkles that he doubted that it would taste all that good. And he’d bet anything that it weighed about a pound, too. Putting it back in the cookie jar with the others, he sat down and watched the cookies being made. “So, can I have one?”

“Sure, but just so you know, you’re going to have to try everyone of them that is in here decorating. To make sure that you get the best cookie they’ve made.” Sometimes, like a great deal of late, he thought that having such competitive creatures around would get him into trouble. Of course, that’s what he had Trinity for. To keep him from weighing a ton by now as well. “I do have some water in the kettle if you’d like some tea. I could use a nice cup of it but without sugar. Things are just too sweet around here for me to think that I need anything else.”

After enjoying a cup of tea each, he did get to have a cookie without the frosting. It had brokenwhen Trinity had dropped it onto the cooling racks and he said he’d eat it. He was really glad that he was losing the war with himself not to grab one and have one.

While cleaning up the kitchen after the cookies were all decorated, he helped box up the newly made cookies into containers to give away. The faerie queen, namely Sunny, was going to get a lot of them because of who she was to the little people, but they’d also have more than enough to give to the families that came around singing carols over the next few nights.

Each faerie was able to take one of their creations home with them to have the sugar fix. He didn’t know if they got the zoomies like the kids did when they got too much sugar or not. And didn’t want to be around them if they did.

Dinner was just going to be the two of them, and they decided that it would be just as easy for them to grill out a couple of steaks. There were potatoes put in the already hot oven, and the bread that had been made just this morning was going to accompany their meal. Cookies would be for dessert.

They had a television in the living room. It was a huge one that took up most of the upper wall space over the fireplace. After making a fire for the two of them, they sat in the relatively dark room but for the lights on the Christmas tree. The faeries had helped decorate it as well, and he was glad to see that the lights, colorful ones, were the perfect light for their big room.

“I heard from my parents. They’re coming, but my brothers aren’t. To be honest with you, I’m glad that they’re not. They can smoke pot at home and have no trouble trying to have some when they’re out, too. Mom said that they couldn’t wait to spend some time with the kids and that they had gone overboard with gifts for them all. I told her that we’d done the same thing, it was their first Christmas together, and they all went all out in all the Cross homes.”

“Did you talk to them about moving here?” She told Ewing that she’d not had to. Her mom had mentioned that now that they had grandchildren, it was time they got out of that big house and got something smaller and closer to them. “Good. I’m also glad that they don’t have any problem with treating them all the same, either. Just like us, they think of them as nothing but blood children. I’m happy about the fact that we don’t have to browbeat them into spending time with them. I don’t know who has more fun, them or the kids.”

“I will say this. They were never like this when I was a kid. It was more survival of the fittest around them. Now they’re getting down on the floor and having a good time with them. I never thought that they’d have this much fun. And my dad, he loves them to pieces.” He noticed, too, that Billy was a big hit with the older couple as well. “I almost forgot to tell you. The shop, A Cross to Bear, will be closed after the new year to have the flooring replaced. I hadn’t realized how worn it was until I nearly lost my footing when I tripped on a carpet snag. The men said that it should only take a couple of weeks, and by then the painters will be able to get their job finished as well. Also, the new roof. Are you sure your brothers are all right with spending that much money on the building?”

“That was Grannie’s pride and joy. I’m betting that any one of them would spend twice that much on it just to have it looking good. Also, you said that you were going to hire more help to have more than one checkout lane. I love that idea and when I brought it up to the others, they said they liked it as well.” They talked about this and that, and Ewing could feel himself falling asleep.

The room was warm and cozy. The fire was soothing to his senses. When he felt himself completely drift all, he welcomed it with open arms. Christ, he’d been exhausted all week and was glad for some downtime while the children were away.

Billy was cooing in the middle of the floor when he opened his eyes. He wasn’t sure what woke him up but he was glad that he could enjoy the little boy talking and cooing to someone in the corner of the room. He’d been delighted and surprised that none of the children bothered the tree. No ornaments had been spilled off it, nor had there been any paper wrestling when they were trying to be sneaky.

“Hey, big boy. What’s going on?” He looked at him and smiled. It was all he needed to be able to power through the day when he thought about what a simple smile could do for him. “Are you talking to someone?”

He looked around the living room and especially hard at the places that Billy seemed to bestaring at the most. When he came to him, crawling on his hands and knees, he picked him up and put him on his chest. He laid his head on him and closed his eyes. Ewing decided to join him in a little longer nap.

When he woke up the second time, not only was Billy still on his chest but he was still sleeping as well. He’d gotten to the point that he was taking baby food now, and the doctors couldn’t believe how well he was doing after having such a scare when he’d been tiny. And he had been a tiny little man, too.