Emmalyn smiled at Hellen. “I do love him, so damn much.”
“I know you do,” Hellen said.
“Turns out all I needed all this time was Barron. Here I was thinking I was so strong and mighty, and all I needed to beeverything I could be, was Barron. Gotta keep him on his toes, though. Or he’ll think there’s something wrong with me.”
Hellen laughed. “Everything in true Em fashion. In the meantime, you do realize you’ll never, ever have to worry about being alone again. You’ll never have to face anything again without his support. You got your mate.”
Emmalyn looked spellbound at Hellen, then slowly a huge smile curved her lips. “I did, didn’t I?”
“Yes. And he’s got you. It must be a wonderful feeling.”
“It’s the best feeling.”
~~~
Hellen left Barron and Emmalyn to spend a little time alone before Emmalyn's parents arrived, as Barron so clearly thought they would. Taking her time, walking back to her own home and taking in the sounds and smells of home, the sound of a child’s laughter caught her attention. She stopped on the road out in front of Havoc’s house and smiled while watching Harley having an animated conversation on the wide side porch with what was apparently her imaginary friend. She laughed to herself, finding her niece delightful.
Changing direction, she was almost all the way up the grandly designed stairs leading to the wraparound porch when she caught Harley’s attention.
“Aunt Hellen!” Harley screeched, rushing over to wait for Hellen to take the last three steps to be on porch level.
“Harley!” Hellen screeched right back at her.
“I been waiting, and waiting, and waiting some more for you to come home. Why do you stay gone so long?”
“It’s my job. I have to be out there protecting all the wild animals and make sure everything is safe out there.”
“It must be a lot of animals out there.”
“Why do you say that?” Hellen asked.
“It takes you forever.”
Hellen laughed, then realized what she’d thought was a toy draped over Harley’s shoulder wasn’t a toy. It was an iguana. “What is that on your shoulder?”
“That’s my friend. His name is Gerald.”
Hellen looked at the large lizard. His upper body was easily the size of two grown men’s hands, and his tail twice as long. He was a bright tangerine color mixed with whites and ivories. His eyes were a deep orange and his claws an ivory color. Hellen looked suspiciously at the reptile. “So, how long have you had Gerald?”
“A while now. He’s my best friend. I tell him everything.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Where’d he come from?”
“Daddy got him for me because where he was living they weren’t very nice to him and he was kind of skinny.”
“The people weren’t nice to him?” Hellen asked, ready to send some officers to investigate the place. You had to have certain regulations met in order to maintain an exotic animal license, especially if you were a registered breeder.
“No, the other iguanas. He doesn’t see so good, and he didn’t get very much food and they picked on him. Daddy saw him in the pet store in New Orleans and brought him home for me. He really likes me. I give him lots to eat and he gets to lie in the sunshine, and nobody picks on him. He’s really getting fat, too.”
“I see that. He’s really a beautiful iguana.”
“See, Gerald. I told you you were pretty,” Harley said.
Hellen watched as the large, though spectacularly strikingly colored iguana, lifted his head in response to his name, thensnuggled it back onto the little girl’s shoulder. He obviously was bonded to Harley.
