Portals (33 page)

Khadentok gave him a suspicious look, but the three blinked out of sight. Jones closed his eyes, and I knew he was closing his defenses once more.

“Lovely people, weren’t they?” asked Reo. The tension in the room relaxed.

“We didn’t find out why they kidnapped Daria and shot Reo. Not that they would have told us the truth anyway,” said Thulu. I was glad someone else felt cheated of a resolution.

Belus looked thoughtful. “However, we found out a great deal. And they now know they cannot win any war. This will suffice for now, and we will continue to monitor the situation. While you may not have had all your questions answered, the larger situation affecting your people as a whole has been addressed. This is not a bad thing.” He smiled his understanding at us.

Jones crossed to the bar. “Would anyone care for a drink?”

Most of the people in the room declined and asked for portals or to be teleported out.

“I just wish we had found out who shot Reo.” I said. The shooting bothered me, and my mind kept coming back to it. There was something we weren’t getting, but I had no idea what.

“It was probably one of their people here in San Francisco. We may never know exactly who it was. Nor does it really matter. Once all of their people have been removed from Earth, the threat will be gone.” Sloane sounded certain.

That should have put me at ease, but it didn’t. I suspected Sloane was right and we’d never know who it was or why they shot Reo, but it bothered me all the same.

The whole thing felt anti-climactic and unsatisfying as far as resolutions went. Not that I wanted a big battle or anything. Still, it made me cranky, and I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, but it was time to go back to our lives. I was ready for something mundane. Even laundry would be a nice change. Knowing who shot Reo would just have to remain a mystery.

At least Sloane was probably right and the rogue daemons weren’t a threat. Belus and Aela had made some very telling points, and I hadn’t felt any big plans to destroy us from the three. Not that I was banking on that, but I wasn’t bothered by that aspect. Something else was nagging at me, but it wasn’t the three who had just left.

I shook it off as Thulu asked if I was ready to leave. I was. We had a child to retrieve and barbeque to prepare for the next day.

We made our goodbyes to the others and asked Jones for a portal. Within seconds we were back home. Alone. It was quiet, only the ticking clock on the mantle and the distant sound of city traffic to break the silence. I breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

“You okay?” Thulu asked.

“Yeah, just happy to be home.”

“Let’s go pick up our boy shall we?” he dimpled at me. It had been a while since I’d seen that and I realized that I missed seeing those dimples. Not that I would have admitted it.

“Well, we could take advantage of the peace and quiet. And alone time.” I said, looking up at him through my lashes.

“Why, yes, La Fi. We could do that.”

Alone time can be so very awesome when one spends it just right. Thulu and I were experts at that.

Traffic was getting heavy as we drove to Erik’s later that day. Thulu’s sisters, Becca and Jude, were at the house when we arrived, helping Erik clean before the barbeque. The advantage of a gigantic family is that someone always has your back.

Carter ran to be hugged as soon as we hit the door. I was happy to oblige him before handing him to Thulu for the same treatment. Seemingly satisfied with his hugs, he went back to playing checkers with Becca’s daughter, Kalie. Jenna and Sophie were both there, Jenna yelling encouragement to both sides. Carter dutifully passed on the cheers for Kalie, since she could neither hear, nor see Jenna.

I smiled with relief that Carter didn’t seem the worse for having so little attention from me and Thulu the last few days.

We pitched in and it wasn’t long before everything was ready for the Thulukan horde that would descend the next day.

No one particularly wanted to go home so we ordered in pizzas. Soon other family members drifted in, which meant more pizzas had to be ordered.

Ally and Brent arrived and I heard squeals from all the kids to alert us. It sounded different from the usual greeting, so I wandered to the door to see Ally holding a small animal crate. She’d brought another of her patients with her.

Jenna did somersaults in the air, something I hadn’t seen before, and squealed along with the living children. It was very noisy, and I resisted the urge to put my fingers in my ears.

Thulu stood beside me and leaned over. “Is it like this for you a lot?”

I nodded.

“I knew it got loud, but it really does add to the noise level, doesn’t it.”

“Oh, yeah, it does indeed.”

Ally smiled as she saw us and motioned with her head for us to follow her into the family room. Brent took off in search of Erik.

Carter squealed as Ally set the cage down and opened it to reveal a grey ball of fur.

“Oh, it’s the puppy, Mama,” he said looking at me.

I looked suspiciously at Ally, who only smiled in return. “This is Treya. She’s about five months old and is one of the dogs rescued from that puppy mill they raided last week. We aren’t sure what happened to her, but somehow her front leg was broken and it didn’t heal right. They simply put her in a cage to keep her for breeding.”

The kids all crowded round the pup, who seemed quite placid with all the attention. Ally allowed them a few minutes to pet and make a big deal over her before shooing them outside while we had grownup talk. She stood the puppy on the sofa, and I could see that she favored her left front leg. It was crooked.

But it was the face that caught my attention. “Oh good lord, Ally, it’s a poodle.”

“Yes, La Fi, she’s a poodle.”

“You are not going to pawn some foo-foo dog off on me. No how, no way.”

“Now, La Fi, that is completely unfair. First of all, have I ever pawned off any dog on you?”

“Not for lack of trying!” I turned to Thulu, who raised his hands and said, “I’m staying out of this one, ladies.” He was dimpling again. I didn’t find it quite as charming as I had earlier that day.

“Traitor,” I mumbled under my breath.

He simply laughed, sat on the sofa and picked up the dog, who promptly licked his face and snuggled in. I sighed and sat next to him.

Ally smiled indulgently. “Actually poodles are quite intelligent. They don’t shed and have no odor. They were originally hunting dogs.”

“I see. And exactly what is that” I pointed at the puppy. “supposed to hunt?”

Ally shrugged. “No idea, but she’s a little love. And she’s dealing with her leg really well. I’m tempted to re-break it, but the break was done when she was quite young. I’m afraid it would cause more problems.” She reached out to pet the small head.

“She’s a rather small miniature, so she’ll stay under twenty pounds, probably around fifteen.”

The puppy had moved over to investigate me. I rolled my eyes as she sniffed delicately at my arm. She tentatively put a paw on my leg and hopped off Thulu’s lap and onto mine. I made no move to pet her, though. They weren’t going to sucker me in that easily.

She sat on my lap and looked up, head tilted to one side. I saw trusting, dark brown eyes. And instantly was lost. I didn’t even think before I picked her up and cuddled her to me. Carter was right. She was unbelievably soft, her fur was like crushed velvet. She was just the sweetest little thing I’d ever seen. I wondered why I’d never had a dog before. What was wrong with me? Everyone should have a dog.

I was lost in that bonding for several minutes. When I looked up from Treya, it was to see Thulu watching me with a big grin and Ally with tears in her eyes.

“I knew she was yours the moment I saw her,” she said.

I opened my mouth to say something several times, but nothing came out. Finally, I sighed and accepted the inevitable. We had a live dog. And I adored her beyond belief.

“I brought her toys and her bowls and some food. It’s in the car.” Ally came over to sit on my other side, giving me a giant hug.

“She’s had her shots, been spayed and everything else is fine with her. Only her leg is an issue.”

I petted the small puppy who yawned hugely and snuggled into my arms.

Thulu left and soon came back with Carter.

Carter saw me holding the puppy and perhaps his empathic abilities kicked in because he squeaked out, “We get to keep her?” and climbed up onto the sofa to pet her.

“We get to keep her,” I said as I reluctantly handed her to him. He was very gentle with her, cooing and talking to her.

Thulu smiled at me. “Have I mentioned lately how much I love you?”

I just smiled back. We left Carter talking softly to the puppy while we went outside to get Treya’s things from Ally’s car. When she opened the back of her SUV, my mouth dropped. She had toys, a doggie bed, puppy food and several books on poodles and raising puppies. Her own smile was quite smug.

“Too bad you aren’t prepared for this, Ally.” I said sarcastically.

She just laughed, a delighted tinkly laugh that I always loved. I sighed and started handing packages to Thulu and Brent, who had followed us. We got everything transferred to our own SUV and headed back into the house to collect Carter.

We had shopping to do before we went home, so we made our goodbyes and collected Treya, securing her in her crate. Ally assured me she’d be fine in the car, as long as we kept the windows cracked a little bit. She did caution us to not take too long.

I decided I didn’t want to chance it. I’d heard the news stories for years about people who left their pets and children in cars during summer. The heat of the day might be gone, but I started a list for Thulu. At the store, Thulu took Carter with him, while I remained in the car. When Thulu came back, I strapped Carter into his seat and helped Thulu unload bags into the car.

At home, we reversed the process and unloaded groceries, boy and puppy. Jenna and Parker were home and Parker said that things were pretty calm. Jenna had already alerted him to the new puppy and he watched Treya with interest as we carried in her crate.

Ally had recommended we keep her crate in Carter’s room, so she could sleep in it until she was used to her new home.

Parker and Jenna drifted in to get a closer look as I let Treya out of the crate and set her on the kitchen floor. She turned around in circles for a bit sniffing the air.

“She’s a little beauty,” said Parker. “Look at the shape of her head. Hey, what happened to her leg?”

I told him about the break when she’d been younger. “And I kind of thought her head was a bit too big for her body,” I admitted. “But I love her anyway.”

Parker looked up in surprise, but before he spoke I realized that Treya was looking right at him, her little head cocked to one side.

“Thulu, do you see this?”

“See what?” he asked as he brought in the last of the bags.

“I think the puppy can see Parker.”

Parker had drifted down to the floor and sat cross-legged a few feet away from Treya, who kept sniffing, perhaps enticed by Parker’s popcorn smell. Jenna followed his example and held out her hand to the puppy who actually went over and sniffed it. Sophie went right up to Treya who backed away before cautiously inching forward again. I sat down in the booth, surprise making my jaw drop.

“I believe you’re right. Apparently Ally was right and this really is the dog for us.”

I stood up and scooped up the little furball.

“Is that right, Treya?  You see the dead, too? What a good girl you are.” I hugged her gently to me, before relinquishing her to the others. I was smiling again as I put away groceries, got Carter bathed and settled in bed, Treya’s crate on the floor next to him.

Thulu and I went to work on the food for the barbeque the next day. We sliced veggies, cooked the ingredients for the potato salad and I got the marinade ready for my Burgers à la Fi. We sipped wine and just enjoyed the evening.

Before we went to bed, Thulu went upstairs and brought Treya down for a trip outside.

She was pretty sleepy and I’d thought new puppies whined, but she didn’t. She settled in as if she were meant to be with us. Which she was. Sometimes life is just too good to be believed. And, of course, it never lasts.