A Cross to Bear (23 page)

“Thank you, Michael.”

He finished his glass and took her hand. “Come on. Let’s go see your father.”

Michael and Gabby rode to the retirement home in a dark SUV. Gabby found herself so nervous that she could barely sit still. When they pulled up and parked near the main entrance, Jamya Phillips was waiting for them.

She opened her arms wide when Gabby got out of the SUV and took her up in a big motherly hug. “Oh, child, you gave Jamya a good scare.”

Gabby was touched by her concern. “I missed you too, Jamya.”

The plump woman kissed her forehead and turned to give Michael a hug as well. “You must be dying to see your father. Come with me; he’s just finished his morning therapy session.”

The three went to Gabby’s father’s room and found him standing next to the window like a statue.

“General Cross, you’ve got company,” said Jamya.

Gabby’s father turned and regarded them all with a suspicious glare. “Who are you? What do you want?”

“This is Gabriella, your daughter,” said Jamya.

Gabby’s father eyed her up and down. As was most often the case, there was no light of recognition in his face. “Who’s the werewolf?” he asked, which didn’t seem to surprise Michael.

“Father,” said Gabby, walking to join him by the window. “I know that you don’t recognize me, but that’s only because you were cursed by a witch. I can lift the curse if you will let me.”

His scowl deepened, and his eyes traced across the floor in thought. “Witch?”

Now that she knew what to look for, Gabby saw the signs of the spell that afflicted her father. The shimmering phantom of swirling light sat upon his head like a crown, its snaking tendrils burrowing into his skull.

She lifted her hand cautiously, and her father tensed, head bowed, eyes darting around the floor. He did not move to stop her, however, and Gabby placed her hand on the top of his head and gently nullified the spell. It shattered into a thousand points of light and drifted toward the ceiling like rising steam.

Then it was gone.

Nicholas blinked. His eyes became alert and clear. He looked up at Gabby and smiled wide, his eyes dancing with light. “My Gabs. Is that you?”

Gabby was strangled by emotion. “Hello, Daddy.”

Her father pulled her in and hugged her tight. “I missed you so much, Gabriella.”

“I missed you too.”

Nicholas Cross held his daughter at arm’s length so that he could take in the sight of her. “You’ve grown into such a strong woman. Your mother would be so proud.”

“Thank you,” said Gabby, overwhelmed with warmth and love and joy.

Her father looked to Michael and Jamya, as if just noticing them. “Michael,” he said with a nod.

“It is good to have you back, sir,” said Michael.

“Father, do you remember . . . about Maggy?”

He nodded solemnly. “I remember everything before and since the witch’s curse.”

“I killed him,” she said. “I killed the vampire who took Gabby and Mother. It’s all over now.”

“You killed Victor?” said Nicholas, astonished. He looked to her with a newfound respect and admiration. “If that is the case, it is not over. On the contrary, my brave girl, it has just begun.”

Nicholas Cross checked out of the retirement home for good that day. Michael brought him and Gabby back to Maggy’s and took his leave.

“I’m sorry for everything that happened,” she said at the door.

A stretch limo pulled up behind him, and he offered her a warm smile. “So am I. But you have avenged your kin, and one of my greatest foes has been eliminated. It is good to have you with us, Gabriella Cross.”

“Thank you, Michael.”

“I will see you soon,” he said, walking away. “We have much to discuss.”

Gabby returned to the house and found her father standing in the living room, holding a photo of Maggy and Gabby from when they had gone hiking two years before.

“She was one of a kind,” he said without looking up.

“Yes, she was.”

General Cross put the photo down and walked into the kitchen to stand beside Gabby at the island. He stroked her hair and face with his hand. “Aw, Gabby, but we didn’t want you to have to endure this life.”

“What life? Do you think that knowing that monsters lurk in the dark is worse than growing up without your parents?”

“Gabby . . .”

“I’m not done,” she said, straightening. “I don’t know why you all thought me too weak to deal with all of this, but I’m not! I can handle myself. I was given a gift by my mother, and I plan on using it. Neither you nor Michael is going to stop me.”

Her father smiled at her with shimmering tears welling in his eyes. “That’s my girl.”

***

Gabby and her father spent the day catching up over good food and wine. They laughed, they cried, and they shared stories of the past and plans for the future.

That night Gabby fell asleep with a smile on her face, feeling more content and safe than she ever had.

In the morning after breakfast, Gabby told her father that she had some things to attend to. She got into the Nova and headed to her old house to confront Derek. When she pulled in, she found an unfamiliar car in the driveway. Derek’s truck was parked beside it. She got out and knocked on the door. To her surprise, she wasn’t at all nervous, but rather, she found herself eager to see the look on his face.

The door opened, and a skinny blonde dressed in nothing but one of Derek’s T-shirts answered the door. A light of recognition crossed the woman’s face, and her jaw dropped. “Derek!” she screeched over her shoulder.

“What a shocker,” said Gabby cheerfully. “I have to thank you, Jolene. If you hadn’t fucked my husband and left your panties in his truck, it would have taken me longer to realize what a douche bag Derek really is.”

“Derek!” Jolene yelled, louder this time.

The sound of stomping feet came from inside the house.

“What?”

Jolene moved to the side, and when Derek saw Gabby, he froze. She savored the dumbfounded dipshit look he gave her.

“Hello, honey,” she said with a smile, and pushed the door—and Jolene—to the side.

He blinked back to reality and stumbled over his words. “Gabs . . . I thought . . . but you . . . where the hell have you been?”

“I was kidnapped by a vampire,” she said as she strode through the threshold and walked up to him between the kitchen and living room.

She got right up in his face and put her hands on her hips, grinning at him.

Derek looked her up and down. She had plans to jog later in the day and now wore tight-fitting pink Under Armour pants and a matching short-sleeve shirt with a white zip-up hoodie. He looked confused and turned on all at the same time. The last time he had seen Gabby, she had been forty pounds heavier.

“I’m here for my shit. Where is it?”

“Huh?” he said, looking as though he didn’t understand English. Then he shook his head and threw up his hands. “Wait, Gabby. What the hell happened to you? I’ve been worried sick.”

“Excuse me?” said Jolene from the door.

“I bet,” said Gabby with a laugh.

Derek looked over her shoulder at Jolene apprehensively and whispered to Gabby, “This isn’t what it looks like.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Jolene insisted, and started across the room like a skanky meth head on
The Jerry Springer Show
, all flailing arms and running mouth.

Gabby turned around as she approached and punched Jolene in the face while the woman was in midcurse.

Jolene was snoring before she hit the floor. The big T-shirt that she was wearing hiked up her back when she landed, revealing a bony bare ass and a tramp stamp of a bull’s-eye.

“Wow,” said Gabby. “Now that is classy.”

“Jesus Christ, Gabs!” Derek bent to check on Jolene, but the woman was out for the count.

“She needed a time-out. Let her sleep it off and show me where you put my shit.”

Derek let out a frustrated breath and shot up straight, looming over Gabby. He grabbed her arms and gave her a little shake. “I don’t know what the fuck has gotten into—”

What would Maggy do?

Before he could finish his sentence, Gabby brought both hands up between his arms and broke his contact as she grabbed his meaty shoulders and quickly head-butted him in the nose.

Derek cried out with surprise and backpedaled five feet before hitting the back of the sofa and flipping ass over tea kettle.

Gabby smiled to herself and walked to the living room to stand over a swearing and sputtering Derek.

“Where. Is. My. Stuff?” she asked again.

He held his nose tight to stop the bleeding, but it wasn’t working all too well.

“You crazy fucking bitch!” Derek screamed, and lunged to grab her.

Gabby dodged to the side gracefully and kicked him in the side of the head as he fumbled to compensate for her speed. The big man took the blow like a champ. He was thoroughly infuriated now and seething with rage. He had abandoned trying to stop the bleeding and now whirled on her, mouth and beard covered in blood, eyes wide with rage.

A big, meaty fist came at her from the right, and she blocked it with her left arm and punched him in the throat with her right. Derek made a strangled sound, and Gabby leaped straight up and kicked him square in the jaw. He hit the floor hard and stayed there.

Gabby wiped her hands against each other and checked to be sure no blood had gotten on her clothes. Finding none, she took a moment to redo her ponytail.

“You two relax. I’ll find my shit myself.”

Eventually Gabby found a stack of boxes with her name on them in the garage and started loading up the car. As she returned for the last box, her cat Mitzy leapt down from the rafters, startling her.

“Mitzy!” said Gabby, picking her up and giving her a hug.

The cat purred happily, offering no protest when Gabby put her in the car.

Inside the house, she could hear the sounds of Jolene and Derek arguing heatedly. When she moved to the driver side to get in the car, the front door burst open. A bloody-nosed Jolene stormed out of the house and glared at Gabby before marching like a queen bitch to her car and peeling out.

Derek ran out of the house and chased after her across the lawn, screaming his apologies.

Gabby could only shake her head and laugh. She got in the Nova and put on her sunglasses. “Oh, by the way. I’m divorcing you. Good-bye, Derek!” she yelled out the open passenger window.

She left him standing stunned and bleeding on the grass and peeled out across the lawn, kicking up clumps of grass and gravel that forced him to duck and cover.

As Derek faded in the rearview, Gabby popped in a CD and sang at the top of her lungs along with Aretha Franklin.

Gabby returned home feeling on top of the world. However, when she pulled up, she found Quip and her father talking in the driveway. Worse yet, they appeared to have been sharing a laugh.

She got out and slammed the door. “I see that you’ve met Quip.”

Her father nodded. “Yes, I’ve invited him to dinner. We’ve much to catch up on.”

“Huh?”

“The last time I remember seeing Quip, he was just a little kid.”

“Great,” said Gabby, scowling at them both.

Her father didn’t miss the tension. “I’m going to start prepping food. Why don’t you two have a little chat?”

Gabby and Quip stood staring at each other, both with their arms crossed and hips cocked to the side.

“Don’t look at me like that,” said Quip with a sassy shake of his head.

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t deserve your petty anger.”

“Really?”

“Really. Look, Gabs, I’m not your enemy here. Understand? Whether you want to admit it or not, I’ve had your back this entire time. You can be all pissy and shit if you want, but you’re wasting your time.”

“Is that so?” said Gabby.

“Mmm-hmm.”

Gabby stared him down, but she couldn’t stay angry at him for long. She knew that she was being petty. “So what’s your story?” she asked. “If you hung out with my sister, you must belong to the Otherworld.”

“I’m a witch, babe. My family has known yours for decades.”

“Of course you are,” said Gabby with a surrendering sigh.

Quip opened his arms. “Friends?”

Gabby shook her head and laughed. “One condition.”

“What’s that?” Quip asked, arms still opened to her.

“Don’t ever fucking lie to me again.”

“Deal.”

They hugged it out and went inside, where a plethora of wonderful aromas waited.

***

Dinner was followed by a dessert of crème brûlée and coffee with Baileys and fresh whipped cream. Gabby learned about Quip’s coven, which consisted of the entire staff of the Inner Goddess, and his family’s relationship to Gabby’s family. As it turned out, Quip’s and Gabby’s mothers had started the coven in the eighties.

“So why didn’t the coven do anything when Maggy was killed?” Gabby asked, pushing aside her finished dessert.

“We did,” said Quip, sitting across the table from her. “But you up and got yourself kidnapped by Victor before we could intervene. I told you to stay put and not do anything stupid.”

Gabby conceded the point with a nod, not wanting to argue. “So what now?” she asked them both. “I’ve got this power. What do I do with it? There must be other . . . creatures like Victor.”

“More than you can imagine,” said her father with a look of concern. “The vampires will be after you now, Gabs. Not to mention a myriad of others.”

“Let them come. They have no power in my presence.”

“Gabs, this isn’t a game. You could get hurt . . . killed.”

“I’m well aware of the risks, Dad. But I was dead for years before I realized my gift. I think that it’s high time I carry on the family business. And I would like your help. Both of you.”

“You’re going to do this whether I agree or not, aren’t you?” her father asked.

Gabby nodded.

“Just as stubborn as your mother.”

She grinned mischievously.

A long sigh escaped him, and he looked to Quip.

“Don’t look at me, daddy-o. I’m with Gabby,” said Quip. “We could use someone like her on our side. You’ve been out of the game for a long time; you don’t know how bad it’s gotten out there.”