The Child

Chapter 7

I pull up to Marie’s cabin a little before 11, as promised. Marie is out front working in the flower bed pulling weeds. Ollie is next to her throwing dirt at Brutus, laughing. Brutus doesn’t look impressed. I get out of the truck, walk over to the crew.

“Good morning, everyone,” I greet them, leaning down to pet Brutus on his back. Ollie comes teetering up to me, showing me all the dirt on his hands.

“Orn,” the toddler says. I look at Marie, confused. She laughs as she stands up.

“He says morning,” she stands on her tip toes and gives me a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Give us a couple minutes to clean up then we will be ready to go.” She wipes her dirty hands on her pants, then picks Ollie up. She shakes her head as she looks at the mess he made. I follow her to the front door, opening it for her. I signal Brutus to come in, but he huffs and lays down by the porch swing. I shrug my shoulders, shutting the door.

I hear whimpering from the second bedroom. I peek through the doorway, watching Marie wipe down Ollie with a wet wash cloth. He tries to pull away, but she has an iron grip on him. After a little while, Ollie is dressed and ready to go.

“Can you watch Ollie while I get ready?” She bats her thick eyelashes at me.

“Anything for you, my angel.” I flash her a big smile. I take the wiggling toddler out of her arms, walking towards the living room. I hear her door shut. I put Oliver down, sit down next to him and pick up some of his books. I see one that seems interesting, opening the cover. As I start reading to him, he crawls into my lap, laying his head on my chest. He looks at the pictures and points at something every now and then. I make it through 3 books before I hear the bedroom door open.

“That is the cutest thing I have ever seen!” Marie is gushing at the sight.

“Figured we would have some male bonding time while you got ready,” I laugh. She flashes me her beautiful smile and grabs her purse.

“I hope you don’t mind if we stop and eat first. I don’t have any food in the house.”

“It’s ok, I know the perfect spot,” I say, trying to reassure her that she isn’t bothering me.

“First things first, I need to get the base of Ollie’s car seat into your truck,” she says as she turns to walk out the door. Brutus comes through the door and lays down on the couch. I pick Oliver up, trailing behind his mom. I see her in the back of my truck, her luscious ass hanging out the side of the door as she clips the base in. I want nothing more than to go and grab it. Sadly, Ollie was in my arms.

“c**k blocked,” my dragon snickers in my head. I roll my eyes and block the link for the millionth time in our life.

“All done.” She smiles and reaches for Ollie.

“Can you be a sweetheart and grab his car seat for me, please?”

“At your service, my lady.” I hand Ollie over to her. I grab her free hand and kiss her fingers gently causing her to blush. I run into the house and grab the car seat next to the door.

“Be a good boy while we are gone, Brutus,” I chuckle when he wags his tail. I already know he will be on his best behavior. I lock the door from the inside and shut it.

Marie hands me the toddler again, buckling the seat into the base. Next she puts Ollie in the car seat, strapping him in tight. She runs to her trunk then throws the stroller in the truck bed.

“You better not drive like an asshole, or I’ll make your life a living hell,” she threatens me with ease.

“Yeah, I know. Precious cargo in the back seat,” I laugh helping her into the truck. I hop in the driver seat and turn on the ignition.

“The great adventure continues,” she smiles at me.

“The great adventure?” I flashed my eyebrow at her.

“Yeah, my dad says it when we are going somewhere new,” she explains.

“Did you guys go to a lot of new places together?”

“When I was younger we traveled all over the states and Europe. One of my favorite places is Italy. There was a coven there where I learned how to turn fireballs into ice, like I showed you. In fact, the women there taught me how to fight. I miss it so much. I hope to take Ollie there one day.”

“I love Italy, too. Maybe we can go there together. I plan on traveling a lot with my mate. I have been all over the world by myself, but it always was lonely. I would love to have someone special with me this time,” I say to her with hope in my voice.

“That would be the ultimate adventure!” She giggles.

“How old are you, anyways?” She asks.

“Don’t worry about it. How old are you?” I laugh, trying to avoid the question.

“23. Now I am worried about it. Come on, how old?”

“Why don’t you guess?”

“35?” I shake my head.

“57?” I shake my head again.

“Try 563,” I say, getting nervous. I look at her and her mouth is on the floor.

“You are lying!” She nervously laughs.

“I am may things, but I am not a liar. I lived in these mountains my whole life. Most of the supernatural world thinks dragons never lived in America until the late 1800s but we have been here a lot longer than they realize.” I tried to explain carefully.

“Well now, most of the supernatural community thinks dragons are dead.”

“Touché. There are tons of us. We are just really good at hiding. You just have to know where to look.” She nods her head.

“Makes sense. But why did you show me that you are a dragon?”

“Because I trust you, and I have waited 563 long years for you to come into my life.”

“Oh!” She gets quiet and starts looking out the window, almost like she is in deep thought.

We finally make it to town, pulling up to one of my favorite lunch time spots. It was a little sandwich shop, with seats outside. The sign above says Margo’s Place in neon letters. I hop down out of the truck, jog over to let Marie out of the other side. I grab her delicate hand and guide her to the ground. I then open the back door, take the straps off Ollie then pick him up. Marie reaches for him but I shake my head.

“I can carry him. Like I said before, you deserve a break.”

“Thank you,” she blushes, as she swipes her hair behind her ear. I hold out my free arm, she wraps her arm around it gently as I guide her into the restaurant.

Marie

We walk through the doors into the cutest little sandwich shop. It was busy with the lunch rush. I didn’t realize how many people lived here.

“Joseph, over here!” I see a petite lady with long black hair and green eyes waving Joey over. I trail behind Joey and Ollie as they walk up to the beautiful woman.

“Mom, what are you doing here?” Joey looks shocked to see his mom.

“I am eating, of course. Some of us require food in order to survive.” I smile at her snappy response. She stands and walks over to me, grabbing my hands in hers.

“You must be Marie! Aren’t you the prettiest little thing.” I blush at the compliment.

“Marie, this is my mother, Gwen. This is my aunt Margo’s sandwich shop.” He explains so I am in the loop. I am in shock. Gwen doesn’t look older than her early 40’s. It was hard to believe she is older than 600 years old.

“And who is this handsome little guy?” Gwen questions as she lifts Ollie out of Joey’s arms. Ollie giggles and grabs her gold necklace, playing with the heart shaped locket connected to it.

“This is Oliver. Sorry, he likes shiny things,” I say quickly, slightly embarrassed.

“All the babies in our family love this necklace. I don’t know what is is, but they all seem drawn to it.” Gwen pushed Ollie’s bangs back, giving him a look over.

“He looks just like you! He is going to be a little heartbreaker when he gets older. Come on Oliver, let’s go see if aunt Margo can find you something to eat. I am sure you’re hungry.” Before I know it, Gwen whisks Ollie off to the counter. I hesitate letting them leave, but Joey laughs.

“It’s ok, my mom loves kids. Enjoy the break for a moment,” Joey insists.

“Let’s go look at the menu. I bet you are hungry.” Joey wraps his arm around my waist and leads me to the counter. I see a woman who looks very similar to Gwen come out from the back of the restaurant with a plate in her hand. She follows Gwen and Ollie to the table. She sets the plate on the table, then grabs a high chair for Oliver. Once everyone is situated at the table, she comes back to the counter.

“How about a little sugar for your favorite aunt,” Margo says as she leans over the counter and pushes her cheek out for a kiss. Joey leans over, giving her a quick kiss.

“Now tell me who this beautiful flower is!”

“This is Marie, and the little boy is Oliver.”

“Well it’s a pleasure, Marie. So what can I get you two?”

“I will take a Cubano sandwich and some plain chips, please,” I ask politely. I make sure to be on my best behavior because I want to make a good impression on his family.

“Make that two, auntie,” Joey says. He turns to me, smiling.

“Aunt Margo makes the best Cubanos in the country. They are my favorite.” Joey explains.

“Coming right up. Have a seat and I’ll bring them out to you.”

“Thank you so much,” I say politely, then turn to go sit across from Gwen. When we return to the table Ollie is chewing on a carrot stick. I look at his lunch, cut up hot dog with carrot and celery sticks. It was incredibly sweet that Gwen cut up his food for him. In that moment, I knew she would be a good person to have around.

“So Marie, what do you think of our little slice of heaven, so far?”

“I love it here. I have always been drawn to the mountains. This is where I feel most at peace.”

“Oh wonderful! Now that you are here, you have to come to Sunday night dinner with Joseph. The whole family gets together every Sunday night. There’s lots of food and fun. I have a couple grandkids around Oliver’s age, so he would have fun playing with them.”

“That sounds fantastic,” I smile brightly at the offer.

“Here’s your food,” Margo comes out of nowhere, putting a plate in front of me. It smells wonderful.

“And it’s on the house for my favorite nephew,” Margo says, reaching over, pinching Joey’s cheek lightly. He blushes, then takes a bite of his sandwich. As we eat, Gwen tells me embarrassing stories of Joey growing up, making me practically choke from laughing so hard. I look over at Joey, he doesn’t look amused.

I take my last bite and look out the window. There, staring at me, is the man from the rest stop. I get an uneasy feeling in my stomach.