A/N: Woot, I'm really happy to have finished BHE and start this one. I can play with my protagonist's mind…although it's technically my mind…but whatever.

××Ø××

Because it was Saturday the bookshop closed early and I sped home. I was in no mood to deal with rush hour traffic.

Parking the car in the driveway I practically flew into the house; feeling incredibly nervous for some reason unknown to me.

"Hey, Nick," Rob called to me, he was parked in front of my T.V. with Ithilwen in his lap fooling around with some puzzle he had found in his attic.

"Darn thing won't fit!" Ithilwen said with frustration, trying to press a puzzle piece into the eye of a very scary looking clown.

Rob grabbed a random puzzle piece out of the container and pressed it into the Clown of Doom's eye. It fit perfectly.

Ithilwen put her hands on her hips and shook her head in a dramatic attempt to do that, "I don't know how he does it," She muttered with a heaving sigh, rolling her eyes heavenwards.

Rob and I looked at each other with twin looks of amusement. Trying to contain our laughter.

"Oh by the way, the babysitter said her great Aunt Jillian or something got sick so she had to leave; so she called the me," Rob said.

I raised an eyebrow, "'Kay…" I always kept his number on the fridge in case I couldn't be reached. A certain someone had thrown my cell phone in the birdbath several days ago and I was waiting for the one I had ordered over eBay.

"Oh mom guess what!" Ithilwen looked up.

Plopping myself on the floor cushion I looked up at her, "What?"

"Someone called while you were away and they told me to leave a message for you. They said they had a website that they needed to be decorated and that they were willing to pay for you and Sissy (short for Cecilia) to do it!" She said.

My daughter shared my enthusiasm for computers and had even done several small things for my business. She was also my unofficial secretary if I was out and someone needed to leave a message concerning the business.

"Cool, what was the number?" I asked, grabbing the phone off the table in the kitchen and returning to the living room.

"Uhh 1-334-555-7989, they said to call a sap, by the way, what's a sap?" She asked, her big blue eyes full of curiosity.

"A sap?" I repeated, "Oh, you mean ASAP. It means that they need you to call as soon as possible."

"Oh, cool," She said with a shrug and returned to her puzzle.

Rob shook his head, "She's too cute to be human."

Oh how close you are my friend.

I nearly had to laugh at the irony, "Yeah, I wonder sometimes." I dialed the number

"Derby's Gardening Service," A nasal woman answered the phone.

"Hello, my name is Nicolette DuPont from Lemony-Fresh Layouts. My secretary said you had left a message saying you were in need of our services," I began, assuming my normal business tone.

In case your wondering, my daughter came up with the name of our business. A little lame, perhaps. But it stuck in your head.

"Oh, yeah. Let me put you through to Mister Locklear," The woman said.

A little click signaled the woman had put me on hold.

Rob gave me a thumb's up and that "I'm on FYAH!" Sign.

"Mrs. DuPont?" A deep, male voice enquired.

That voice sounded oddly familiar.

Grabbing a notebook and a pen, I replied, "Yes, this is she. Someone from your business contacted me saying they needed a website."

"Yes, Derby's Gardening service is in need of a website. Now, I really know nothing of computers, so I was wondering if you could secure a website, make a layout and all that."

We continued talking and I realized that the man really had no experience describing things. In fact if I didn't know better he sounded like he was trying to evade my questions.

Finally he convinced me to have a meeting with him at some dinky little drive-in restaurant twenty miles from where I worked.

After finally hanging up the phone, I muttered, "Idiot."
Rob covered his mouth, "Manners, Nicolette Leona! What would the Queen think?"

That was Rob's kind of sense of humor. He could be very queer (no pun intended) at times.

"Leona?" Ithilwen asked with a laugh.

I ruffled her hair.

"Hey by the way, some guy stopped here a few minutes before you pulled up," Rob covered Ithilwen's ears, "And he was dead sexy, too!"

Gah, gay men were so gross at times.

Releasing Ithilwen's ears, Rob resumed, "He left a number for you to call, I wrote it down." He handed me a torn piece of paper.

Apparently I'm popular with the opposite sex today.

Grabbing the phone I dialed the number.

A prerecorded message repeated this back to me, "You've been selected to do a scavenger hunt especially sponsored by the," The line became full static, "…Big prize…go too…" It became clearer then, "Library and rent Dolores by Algernon Charles Swinburn. You'll get your next clue from there."

Casting the phone an incredulous look I pressed the "OFF" button and hung the phone up.

Rob looked over, "What?"

"Some scavenger hunt. They say I get a big prize if I find all the clues or whatever," I said with a dismissive wave of my hand."

"Oh cool! Mom, can we do it? Please?" Ithilwen asked, her eyes wide.

Rob grinned and popped some Skittles into his mouth, "Yeah, c'mon. You and me are free for today and tomorrow 'cause of Labor Day. Besides if the prize is cash will split it."

"Whatever, but you're driving," I said.

"What did the first clue say to do?" Ithilwen asked.

I grinned and stretched back out, "It said to go to the library and rent Dolores by Algernon Charles Swinburn and that the rest would be explained when I got it."

"Hey, you want to go right now? I got nothing to do, and you, Miss Little Prim and Proper Mother, have nothing to do on a Saturday. So why not?" Rob asked.

"Okay, fine! You guys can do it, I'll just follow along, someone needs to make sure you guys stay in line," I said sternly. But really, I was secretly interested.

"Cool! I'll go put on my shoes!" Ithilwen cried and ran to her room.

××Ø××

Soon we found ourselves at the library. Ithilwen was sitting on my lap as I thumbed through a very ancient looking version of Dolores by Algernon Charles Swinburn.

"So, what does it say?" Ithilwen asked for the umpteenth time.

"Hold on!" I repeated.

In red marker, a passage was underlined:

"For the crown of our life as it closes
Is darkness, the fruit there of dust;
No thorns go as deep as the rose's,
And love is more cruel than lust.
Time turns the old days to derision,
Our loves into corpses or wives;
And marriage and death and division
Make barren our lives…"

"Ooh, someone needs a Prozac!" Rob said with sarcasm.

I slapped him playfully, "Knock it off. I think it's sweet. In a Gothic way."

Rob rolled his eyes, "Whatever. But what does it mean?"

"I'm not sure…" I replied, biting my lip in thought.

"Where do we go whenever we die?" I asked him.

He looked up, "Huh?"

"No, stay with me here, and what do people do at our funeral?" I asked him.

"Bad talk you and say we were embezzling?" He offered.

I gave him a stony look. "Marriage, roses, death, dust…" I muttered under my breath.

"A church!" Rob yelped and managed to receive several stern looks from various people around the library.

Ithilwen raised an eyebrow, "What are you guys talking about?"

"I'll explain it on the way to the church, tally ho!" Rob cried (and managed to receive more looks) as he picked up Anna and jogged to the parking lot.

Shaking my head I followed behind them.

Sometimes I didn't know which was the bigger child.

××Ø××

A/N: I know, this chapter is kind of boring and weird but I wouldn't include it unless it served some purpose! You would make a writer very happy if you pressed that little review button! And if you don't I'm hitting you with a stick!