Astounding
A week of surprises can't make you immune to more.
"Ah! There's no place like home," Marianne murmurs happily as she opens the front door.
Bog hums his agreement as he carries their luggage into the living room. It was different traveling to Marianne's hometown now that she didn't live there and three days had felt like forever.
At least with Annabelle's return, Marianne doesn't have to stay longer to help with the moving. A blessing since he knows that it would feel like an eternity to be separated from her for so long.
He chuckles as a song resonates through his mind at the thought. Feeling playful, he places his left hand over his heart while offering his right hand toward Marianne.
"To thee I'll return, overburdened with care. The heart's dearest solace will smile on me there," he sings.
"No more from that cottage again will I roam," Marianne continues before chuckling. "It's funny. Before five years ago, I had a thirst for adventure but when Mom left, I buried it under my work. It was still there but I was afraid of it...until I met you."
"I make you thirst for adventure, do I?" Bog questions.
"You are my adventure," she purrs, wrapping her arms around his waist. "And now I have no desire to roam anywhere where you aren't."
Capturing his wife's offered lips, Bog moans in delight as Marianne's hands wander across his back. He groans for a different reason when he hears gagging. He reluctantly pulls back from Marianne's embrace to glare at his younger brother's form situated in the kitchen door.
"What are you doing here?" Bog growls.
"You asked me to take care of the horses, remember? As well as making sure that the concrete cures properly," A.C. comments.
"Let me rephrase that then. What are you still doing here?" Bog asks.
"This cake was about to expire," A.C. mentions, shoving a piece of cake into his mouth.
"He's too curious to wait," Maya remarks, walking out of the kitchen with her own piece of cake. "How'd your trip go? Oh, wait! How'd the wedding go? Was it perfect? Did anything surprising happen? Did anyone obje..."
Bog's irritation at his siblings disappears as Maya bites the hand that is covering her mouth and he joins Marianne in her laughter as A.C. retaliates by smearing the cake's frosting across her face. Maya's attempt to do the same is thwarted by her older brother's six-six height but the five-foot-four woman's determination knows no bounds and the older pair laughs harder as A.C. tries to shake the clinging parasite off his back.
"I didn't do anything bad or make any mistakes," A.C. swears. "I finished all the work you left for me to do and I also delivered Mrs Roxton's car to her now that she returned. To which I had to sit through an hour of her showing me pictures of her newborn grandsons."
"How is the younger Mrs Roxton doing?" Marianne questions.
"She's doing good," Maya answers, sipping from her glass of fruit punch. "Cora said that her sister is very grateful that her mother-in-law stayed the extra two weeks to help them out with the triplets. It's a good thing she went into labor before she left but the women are annoyed by the side effect of pleasing the Star Wars fans of their family with the boys being born on May fourth. Mrs Roxton threatened her son with bodily harm when he suggested naming one of her grandsons Anakin. He still had a victory by naming the little guys Luke, Han, and Ben."
Bog holds his hands up in defense at Marianne's glare directed toward him. He may like Star Wars but he isn't that crazy a fan.
"Oh, and all my sorority sisters are thrilled by the work you did on Mrs Roxton's car," Maya continues. "They want to know when you'll start accepting work from other areas."
"Not anytime soon," A.C. mutters. "We're going to be more swamped when Foret Lodge opens next week."
"Don't worry, A.C," Marianne soothes. "Dawn and Sunny are planning on waiting before they open a garage in Valeburg. They decided that it would be easier to snuff out the Valeburg competition if they build up a good reputation with the Valeburg citizens first, so they're going to work in Sombreville's Blacktop Butterfly once they get back from their trip."
"Which will save Marianne from lifting and bending too much," Bog comments.
"I get to do all the paperwork. Yippee," Marianne deadpans, grinning at the laughter.
"We're gone for a full day and two half days and they act as if we abandoned them," Bog huffs, brushing the demanding Goblin. "They weren't even this bad when I spent those four days visiting you after Valentine's."
"Apparently, they don't think that going to my sister's wedding was a good enough reason to be gone," Marianne chuckles as she brushes Fairy.
"We did more than just go to the wedding, remember? I'm very glad that those three don't like snow or Sombreville would be overrun with meddling troublemakers," he remarks.
Marianne laughs with him as she leads Fairy back to her stall. It really was an eventful few days being back in her hometown. They didn't even get the chance to relax once they stepped off the plane and into Charles Craig's cab. The sneaky driver had driven them straight to the city park with excuses about avoiding construction and some such nonsense. It wasn't until they noticed the large crowd gathered did they know that they've been tricked.
Rose, Ivy, and Violet had thrown them a surprise post-wedding party that somehow got nearly every client to The Blacktop Butterfly invited, as well as all the kids she taught the automotive program to. Dawn, of course, had known what they were up to and had encouraged them in revenge for not being able to throw a going-away party before she moved in March.
"I'd say that I can't believe that they did all that but I'd be lying," Marianne comments. "I am shocked by the turnout, though. So many people showed up to congratulate us and I may have only met them a few times."
"You make a lasting impression," Bog murmurs, giving her a kiss before leading Goblin to his own stall. "Though, about the gifts..."
"The girls swore that they said on the invitations that gifts were not expected and they even showed me a copy of the invitation to prove it," she mentions. "However, they didn't discourage anyone who said they wanted to get us something."
"That is obvious," he chuckles. "It's a good thing your parents suggested bringing everything up with them when they drive up here. Money is easy to transport, baby items are not."
The scheming blonde had also provided the triplets a copy of Marianne and Bog's baby list, courtesy of Maya, who had procured the copy from her position as a participant of Sombreville's event committee. The surprise post-wedding party had turned into a surprise baby shower before it finally ended around sunset.
They would have overslept the following morning if it wasn't for the supernova that was her mother. Annabelle had gotten them fed and dressed shortly after sunrise before kicking Bog and her dad out of the house for the girls to spend some quality time together before the wedding at noon. The men were only too happy to escape the inevitable pampering.
"By the way, I forgot to ask before but who was that guy who made the crude remark at the wedding reception of at least Dawn waiting before having a baby?" Bog questions.
"More like you were laughing too hard about Sunny's older brothers escorting the idiot out the hard way," Marianne quips, snickering at her husband's innocent expression. "That was Thompson, who used to be Dad's assistant until he was demoted four years ago when Dad overheard him complaining about me, a little girl, helping Dad out with business matters instead of him, a man. Dad might actually fire him this time, which is kind of a pity because he is a good worker...whenever his sexist views doesn't cause a problem."
"I'm quite sure you said something about that before," he mutters as he holds the back door open for her. "Oh, wait, I remember! Isn't that the guy you dated for a little while until you realized that he thought a woman's only place was at home to serve her husband?"
"That's him," she affirms. "I guess I dated fools so that I wouldn't get attached to them before I met my king. My king, who is so much more a man than those little boys ever were."
"Flatterer," Bog chuckles before giving her a lingering kiss.
"You two are so sweet," Griselda coos, laughing as the pair quickly separate.
"Mom! Wh...what are you doing here?" Bog groans.
"I thought that I'd have you two to come over for dinner since you two are probably tired from everything that has happened," Griselda comments.
"You could've have called," Bog mutters.
"Phone calls are too easy to ignore," Griselda remarks. "Well, let's get going or the food will get cold."
Bog sighs in exasperation as his mother insists on having Marianne ride with her before dragging his poor wife out the front door. No doubt she wants to hear every single detail of the surprise parties and of the wedding.
He chuckles as he follows his mother's green VW Beetle toward his parent's home. Whatever was being said had both women talking animatedly, even as they pull into the driveway with him close behind. The conversation becomes silent as he exits his truck and he raises an eyebrow as his mother quickly scurries into the large cabin.
"Do I want to know what you talked about with my mother?" Bog asks.
"Well...uh...you know how our parents were talking on Sunday about when we were young," Marianne starts.
"The embarrassing anecdotes that dominated dinner loud enough for everyone to hear? No, I don't believe I know," he mumbles.
"Anyway," she chuckles. "I talked to your parents about something from their stories. I mean, I know we have a lot on our hands right now but I was thinking that it might not be a bad idea. So I asked them what they thought and they said that they would check things out for me. We don't have much stuff left to get thanks to the Sombreville's baby-care gifting and the surprise baby shower. Plus, your parents have already mentioned that they would help us if we need it. You don't have to agree if you..."
"Marianne, it's alright," Bog murmurs, caressing her lips with his silencing finger. "I trust your judgment."
"That's a pity because I was beginning to hope we could keep her," Loch remarks.
Bog turns to his approaching father before dropping his attention to the small figure walking beside him. Marianne's hand on his arm breaks him out of his shocked silence.
"She looks like Amber," Bog breathes.
"This is Dragonfly," Loch explains, leaning down to pet the apricot Standard Poodle puppy. "I contacted the Deetzs after Marianne asked us about Amber on Monday and while they had originally wanted to keep Dragonfly for breeding, Fredrick said that there is no one better to have Amber's great-great-great-granddaughter than you."
Brushing away the tears falling from his blue eyes, Bog kneels down to run a hand through the curly coat of his childhood friend's descendant.
Tea Blend.