Kelpie (Come Love a Fey) (12 page)

Leith
got out of the car and came around to open my door.  I gave him a suspicious
look.  He grinned down at me.  “What?  This is what I’m supposed to do isn’t
it?”

I
rolled my eyes.  “You’ve been watching too many dating shows.  I need to show
you some guy channels.”

He
laughed.  “You’re still mad?”

I
got out and shut my own door.  Leith flanked me as I made my way up the
sidewalk to the front door.  The house was old, but the peeling paint had been
touched up recently.  Doing upkeep on the place kept Dad busy now that he was
retired. 

“It’s
fine,” I said tiredly.  “I know you were trying to help.  I just don’t know how
to explain you to them.”

His
eyes twinkled.  “Tell them the truth?”

I
shook my head and opened the door.  His version of the truth and mine were two
completely different things.  “Mom, Dad… we’re here.”  I hung my purse on a
coat hook by the door and took my shoes off.  Leith followed suit, wiggling his
long sock feet with pleasure. 

The
air was heavy with the scent of baking, and I took a deep breath, trying to
brace myself.  The old house was tidy as ever and I noticed a new rug hiding
the worn spot in the carpet.  A cupboard door banged and voices carried to us
from the kitchen.

“Come
on in.”  I gestured to Leith and he followed me toward the big kitchen in the
back of the house.  Mom was just finishing the mashed potatoes, and she turned
to me with a warm smile.  That smile faltered for a moment when she laid eyes
on Leith.  Then it returned ten times brighter.  I couldn’t blame her.  Even I
had to admit he was something to behold.

“I’m
so glad you decided to come,” Mom said happily, floating over to give me a
hug.  I embraced her tall, thin frame.  The scent of herbs and growing things
wafted from her graying blonde hair.

She
stepped back and held out a hand to Leith.  “So you’re the young man I spoke
with earlier?”

He
nodded.  “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”  He shook her hand and a sly smile
flitted over his face. 

I
narrowed my eyes at him, but didn’t comment.  He was thinking something weird,
I just knew it.  Dad came in the back, letting the screen door bang shut behind
him.  He was wearing a flannel

He
brandished a five-gallon bucket and his craggy face split into a grin.  “Hi,
Ada.  The potatoes are good this year.  We’ll have lots of extra if you want to
take some home.”

He
nodded a greeting to Leith and kicked off his old work boots before nudging Mom
out of the way so he could wash his hands.  I went and took a stack of plates
from Mom and started setting the table.  Dad banged around under the sink,
looking for the scrub brush.  “So what happened to Noah?”  His voice was matter
of fact.

I
set the last plate down and went to the silverware drawer.  “Nice to see you
too, Dad.”

Mom
frowned at his back.  “Alan, really!  Was that called for?”

Leith
only laughed.  “He was weak, so she dumped him.”  Both my parents nodded, and I
scowled at them. 

Leith
took the silverware and nudged me aside so he could reach the table.  I crossed
my arms and gave them all a mutinous look.  “We are not talking about this.”

Dad
went to wipe his hands on the dishtowel.  “What did I say?  I was just
wondering why you finally traded up.”  Mom swatted at him and he beat a hasty
retreat. 

I
sighed and went to get some glasses out of the cupboard.  I turned around to
find Mom openly staring at Leith as he made his way around the table, carefully
laying out the silverware.  I couldn’t blame her.  Since the circumstances were
odd, I tried really hard not to notice Leith as a man but I had to admit, it
was
damned
hard.  A lock of dark, shiny hair fell across his forehead
and he absently brushed it away, intent on his task.  I met my mother’s eyes,
and blushed.

Clearing
my throat, I went the table and set the glasses down with a thump.  Leith
looked up and smiled.  He seemed to think something was funny.  I narrowed my
eyes at him in warning.

Dinner
was casual, as always.  Dad came back in wearing cleaner, if still rather worn,
clothes.  Despite his earlier comment, he was polite to Leith.  They talked
about gardening and he seemed content.  I listened, a little in awe of my
houseguest.  I had no idea he knew how to grow potatoes, or when to sow and
harvest every plant known to man.

Mom
was utterly taken with Leith, and she watched him eagerly as he took in the
angels and fairies that adorned every horizontal surface in the kitchen.  She
couldn’t get away with it elsewhere, but the kitchen was her domain so she went
all out.

After
dinner, Mom brought out black raspberry pie.  Dad and I grinned like little
kids when she put our slices on plates.  Leith dug in with gusto.  I handed him
a napkin and he looked up at me in surprise.  Suppressing a smile, I rolled my
eyes and reached over to wipe the whipped cream off the tip of his long nose. 

Mom
laughed at us.  “So Leith, where are you from?”

I
paused, my mouth full of pie.  Leith smiled and nodded at the cutesy fairy
perched on a shelf behind her.  “I’ve spent most of my life in Scotland, and a
good deal of time here in America, but I was born in Faerie.  The same as all
my kin.”

I
swallowed hard and gave him a warning look.  “Don’t start that crap,” I hissed
in his ear.

He
gave me an innocent look.  “But Jeanie sees the truth.  She’s not nearly as
blind as you are.”

Mom
laughed.  “Oh that explains it!”  She exclaimed.  “You’re one of the fairy
folk.”  She beamed at me.  “That’s why you found him in the woods.  Its good
luck to catch a fairy you know.”  Apparently, he had already told her how we
met.

I
put my face in my hands and shook my head, defeated.  The nuts were ganging up
on me.  Dad patted me on the shoulder in sympathy and took his pie into the
den, leaving his only daughter to fend for herself.  The Jeopardy theme song blared
to life from the other room. 
Coward
.

I
lifted my head to take another bite of my pie.  Mom gave Leith a conspiring look
before turning her attention back to me.  “I’m glad you ditched Noah,” she said
gravely.  “He was nice guy, but he was no good for you.”  I looked at her and
stuffed more pie in my mouth.

Leith
glanced between us then, scooted the whipped cream container closer to his
plate.  “You should listen to your mother more often,” he said casually.  “She
has a gift.  She can see things clearly.”  He dipped a graceful finger in the
whipped cream and popped it in his mouth, closing his eyes in bliss.

I
stood and took my plate to the sink, turning my back on the both of them. 
“Mom, Leith and I are not dating, so you can just stop scheming right now.”

She
pouted and I ignored her.  She turned her pretty, brown eyes on Leith.  “Can
you believe my ungrateful daughter?  She’s never going to give me
grandchildren!”

“Mom! 
Knock it off.”  My face flamed.

Leith
chuckled.  “It’s no use.  I promised her that I wouldn’t touch her.”  He said
it jokingly, but his dark eyes skimmed my body from head to foot, making my
skin tingle.  He turned back to mom with a wink.  “Now if she were to make some
sort of advance toward me, I just wouldn’t be able to refuse.  You’ve raised
quite a woman.”

I
rolled my eyes.  “Not going to happen.  I like my men sane and gainfully
employed.”

He
ignored me, as usual.  Leaning his elbows on the table, he looked at Mom
curiously.  “Of course, you realize any grandchildren I could give you wouldn’t
be entirely human?”

She
nodded.  “Fairy grandchildren.  Wouldn’t that be wonderful?”

I
gathered up the dishes and returned to my station at the sink.  It was no use
trying to reason with them now.  They were both in la-la land.  I filled the
sink with soap and water and started washing the dishes, removing myself from
their conversation.

“Now
Leith,” Mom said gravely.  “Tell me true.  What are your intentions with my daughter? 
Are you Seelie or Unseelie?”  My ears perked up.  Leith had used those words
before. 

“What
does that even mean- Seelie or Unseelie?”  I pitched my voice lightly and kept
my eyes on the dishes, lest they think I was genuinely interested in their
nonsense. 

Mom
piped up, probably thrilled that I was taking part.  “You know this Ada; I read
enough fairy stories to you when you were young.”  Her tone was lightly
chastising.  “The Unseelie are the evil fairies.  The ones that play tricks on
poor, unsuspecting humans.”

There
was a scraping sound and I glanced over to find that Leith had polished off the
whipped cream.  He was using a spoon to get at the last bit.  “Well,” he paused
as if really considering this.  “I suppose you could argue that all fey have
the potential to be terrible creatures.  Some of us just choose to behave
ourselves.  But then, you could say the same of humans.”

She
shook her head, the light glinting on her shiny silver hair.  “Now, now, don’t
try to talk in circles.  I’m onto your tricks, you know.”  She glanced at me
seriously.  “Never take a fairy’s words at face value,” she warned.  “They
often don’t mean what you think they do.”

Leith
leaned back in his chair and put his arms behind his head.  “I’ve slept for a
long time.  When I was last awake, the rift between the fey and the humans was
at its worst.  Faerie was beginning to split.  Many of the Unseelie court were
driven Underhill.  They chose to remove themselves from the humans, so they
retreated, hiding themselves away.  Then there were those like myself that
lived in the woodlands and wilds of the world.  We didn’t interact much with
humans-not nearly as much as brownies or gnomes, say- but couldn’t remove
ourselves from the places that were our homes.  Some jokingly refer to our
place here as Overhill.”

I
put a cup in the drainer to dry and glanced over my shoulder at my Mom.  She
was enraptured.  I shook my head and picked up another glass.

Leith’s
voice took on a sad note.  He was really getting into this storytelling thing. 
“As in any conflict there were extremes at each side, and there were those in
the middle.  I started out in the middle ground.  I didn’t care about humans, and
I didn’t care about fey supremacy.”  He gave a short laugh.  “My uncle was at
the extreme end of the Unseelie court.  He and his followers believed that
humans should be exterminated before they could do more damage to the fey- and
the earth.”

I
got a towel and turned to lean against the sink, watching Leith while I dried
my hands.  His features had lost their playfulness.  Instead, he looked lean,
sharp, and so very dark.

“For
some reason, the creatures of the woodlands began to turn to me for advice and
guidance- maybe because of my ability to walk among both races.  I never
fashioned myself a leader of any sort, but some began to call me master.”  He
sat up and shrugged, breaking the spell, his face once again pleasant.  “And
then I woke up in Ada’s tent in the middle of the woods somewhere with her making
very
un-ladylike advances toward me.”  He ran a hand through his messy
hair and gave a self-deprecating shrug.

I
snorted indignantly.  “Ha.” 
Who
was making the advances?  I remembered
bits and pieces of that night- certain massive, throbbing bits and pieces- and
thought I just might die of mortification on the spot.

Mom
was quiet.  She picked up her plate and his spoon and brought them to me.  “Ada. 
You are mixed up in something very serious.  You need to stop pretending it’s
all some silly game,” she said quietly.  She gave Leith and I a bright smile. 
“I’m going to go check up on Alan.  He’s probably dozed off by now.”  Then she
breezed out of the kitchen.

I
ran my hands over my face, tired.  “You shouldn’t encourage her.  That’s just
cruel.”  But I was having trouble hanging on to my skepticism.

I
jumped when Leith spoke from right in front of me.  God, he moved like a cat.  I
should put a bell on him.  “I was serious about Jeanie,” he said levelly.  “Sometimes
being in the presence of fey can enhance a human’s natural abilities.  She
really can see through my glamour, to some extent.  It may be that she has a
garden gnome or a house sprite of some sort hereabouts.”  He shrugged.  “I
think she can see people’s character more clearly than most humans.  You should
listen to her.”

I
looked into his eyes, lost.  Thanks to Mom’s comments, I was having a hard time
seeing homeless whacko.  Right now, all I could see was a compellingly
attractive man.  He smiled softly, reaching out to touch my cheek, and I leaned
toward him.  The kitchen door banged open and I jerked back guiltily.

I
woke up late, but
I was in no rush to get out the door.  Leith quietly put a couple pieces of
bread in the toaster.  I watched him from the corner of my eye as I poured my
orange juice.  My mind was warring with my instincts.  Even the way he made
toast was graceful, otherworldly.  Could it be possible that he really wasn’t
human?  Every time I even started to consider the possibility, I felt dizzy.