Page 58 of Princess Seeks Dragon
Chapter Eighteen: Graham
“Hi, Mr. Minegold. Goodto see you. Hi, Robbie. Hi, Jesse. Oh, Genesis, I heard you got married—to a human, no less!” I greet the three vampires and the gargoyle as they approach the stand, then shake hands all around. Angela’s off getting us something to eat, heading over with Libby to get Chinese takeaway from the Jade Forest.
“It’s Mother’s Day this Sunday. Got to get my daughter-in-laws something. This is Charlotte’s first Mother’s Day as a mother, you see,” Mr. Minegold says with a proud look at Robbie. “A boy.”
“And Sophie and I had a girl! Father of two, can you believe it?” Jesse whips out his phone.
“Melinda and I are waiting a while,” Genesis proclaims, but his phone comes out, too. I’m lost in a sea of baby pictures and wedding pictures that would melt a heart of stone. Fortunately, I have a dragon’s heart, and I can get away with a few manly sniffs.
“I’ve got happy news myself, but I couldn’t get hold of Ian and my mother to let them know, so mum’s the word,” I say in a hushed voice.
“That brunette beauty? Ahh, I thought so. I am getting a sixth sense about these things. Whenever someone new moves in near Pine Crest Avenue or stays at Country Pines, I mentally prepare my welcome wagon,” Mr. Minegold says, picking up a deep black flower. “What’s this, Graham?”
“A New York Night Single Hellebore, Mr. Minegold. Sophie would love it. Now, for Charlotte, I think something brighter. Take a look at this new crossbreed phlox,” I direct Robbie’s attention to a spray of pink and white flowers.
“Excuse me. Excuse me, have you seen this woman?”
My attention turns and tingles at the words. The older man holding out a phone seems distraught, his voice frazzled, bordering on hysterical. Mr. Minegold and his “sons” stiffen beside me. Genesis gives me a quizzical look and moves away, back to his stand in the third row of stalls, closest to the pine forest that borders the lot. He can’t change form, and I suppose he thinks it’s safer not to be spotted by the man. Sometimes those teetering on the brink between madness and sanity see more than the average eye.
“Ohh. Um. I think I have seen her somewhere here tonight.” A kindly woman that I don’t know scans the crowd and guides the old man away as he clutches at her elbow.
“Thank you! Thank you, where?”
“Is she lost? Is this your daughter?”
“My daughter-in-law.”
“I don’t... I don’t like this.” I rub my chest. My gut feels off.
“Jesse, go get a look at that screen,” Minegold instructs.
“I... Rob, watch the stand for me?” I ask, voice barely audible. I look back to the third row and see Genesis talking to Milo, the big minotaur metalworker with a stand beside his. Libby isn’t with them. Angela isn’t with them.
They’re still getting food, just across the street, down the far side of the lot, I tell myself, breaking into a slow jog. I shouldn’t have let Angela out of my sight.
But there she is. She’s in my sight now, coming along arm in arm with the very pregnant Libby. Each of them carries a big brown bag with a printed Chinese dragon on it, a Lung. Maybe it’s a lucky omen. A sign that I’m being paranoid.
“There she is, sir. That’s your daughter-in-law coming across the lot with that blonde lady.”
“What?” I gasp.
Everything happens at once.
The doddering and distressed old man straightens up and strides ahead, iron in his spine as he leaves the helpful older woman behind him. “Miss Argento,” he calls out.
Angela freezes, and I break into a run. For all I know, I plow through people and knock over stands and stalls. Angela is all I see.
