Chapter Seventy Four

...

"What do you think the boys are going to do?" Ida asked, holding the door handle tight as Anita drove.

Anita concentrated for a moment as she followed Honey's minivan down the highway, muttering about knights and bishops under her breath. "Probably eat their weight in cookies," she said. "Heidi, those cookies are for everyone," she added, glancing in the rear view mirror.

Heidi pouted and closed the container's lid reluctantly.

"It's not just the boys; Jewel's with them today too. She doesn't like massages," Anita added, flicking her indicator on as Honey turned right.

"Oh, okay. So, is she really, y'know, with Craig and Grant?" Ida asked.

"Yes."

Ida hummed. "They'd better treat Craig right; I've known that child since before he was born and they'll have to deal with me if he's hurt."

"They won't hurt Craig, Mrs. Spattle. Grant promised," Heidi said.

"When did he promise that?" Anita asked curiously.

"After my birthday party," she replied, shrugging. "I said they couldn't hurt my brother or I'd hurt them."

"You think of Craig as your brother?" Ida asked.

Heidi nodded firmly, confused by the question. "They're all my brothers and sisters; I always wanted more, but my parents weren't real parents," she said, shrugging again.

Ida looked between Anita and Heidi curiously, but by the tight expression on Anita's face, she decided to leave the questions for later. Maybe after they were relaxed by the massage, she mused.

When they pulled into the spa's parking lot, Edith, Hyacinth, Babs, and Frieda looked to be having a very heated discussion with their arms waving and expressions fierce.

"What on earth's going on here?" Anita murmured as she parked the car.

Getting out of the car and heading to their friends, Heidi smiled at Layla and tucked the cookie container under her arm to sign hello and ask what was going on. Layla signed hello back and added a brief explanation.

"Oh. Wow."

"What's happening?" Ida asked.

"Sarah and Jared got married when they were on holiday," Heidi replied. "Can I have a cookie now, Anita?"

"Offer them around first. They might calm the others down," Anita added.

Heidi figured one of Zach's cookie was worth the risk of facing four angry women. Before she could step forward, Honey blocked her and moved between them.

"Ladies, can you all take a deep breath? I'd like to remind you that a wedding is about the people getting married, not their parents. You still have the opportunity to plan the ceremony and reception, so why not work on something you can actually control, rather than something that's already happened?" Honey added. "Mum, Hyacinth, you're not even the bride or groom's parents here."

Hyacinth glared. "I've known Jared since he was three years old, that gives me a right - "

"Really? You'd believe that if this was a court case?" Honey interrupted, scoffing.

Her jaw clenched, Hyacinth looked away and didn't respond.

"Mum, are you going to calm down, or are you going to traumatise Heidi further?" Honey asked pointedly, stepping aside to reveal Heidi standing there awkwardly.

Frieda's fierce expression fell. "Oh, I'm sorry, dear. Are you all right?" she asked anxiously.

Heidi nodded briefly, not convincing anyone, and then opened the container and offered the cookies to them. Reluctant, the women took one each, and Heidi turned to offer Honey, Sarah, Layla, Anita, and Ida the cookies as well. She took one for herself before they were all gone.

"Oh, are those Zach's cookies?" Craig asked, waving from where Grant had parked his car.

"You can't know that from there!" Layla said.

"I have a special relationship with those cookies. I've dreamt about them," Craig said seriously as he crossed the lot. "Hey, little sis," he said, signing to her and winking.

Heidi snorted and rolled her eyes. Grant shook his head and kissed Craig's cheek before signing to Heidi. Babs laughed, almost choking on a piece of cookie.

"What?" Ida asked.

"Grant called Heidi a girl scout and said cookie season's early," Layla said.

"Hey, everyone. Ooh, cookies," Wendy said, signing to ask Heidi if she could have one.

Heidi nodded with a smile, then offered the container to Tilda, Wendy's mother.

"Thank you," Tilda said, taking a cookie.

"All right, Heids. Container's empty, so let's get the day started," Craig said, grinning before he shoved a whole cookie into his mouth.

"You're going to be sick," Grant said.

"Nah, I've got a stomach of steel," Craig said around the cookie.

Ida rolled her eyes at the familiar joke.

Heidi put the container in Anita's car and signed to Craig, her mouth full. Craig signed back to her, then showed her his pale blue fingernails. She scrunched her nose and signed back, nodding approvingly when his nails changed to purple.

"All right, let's hope they have purple," Craig said as he took Grant's hand and headed into the spa.

"I feel like we missed something important; you feel that tension?" Grant asked quietly.

"Feel it? I could practically eat it. I'll ask Lay when we're inside," Craig said.

"Y'know, when you said they'd be pissed, I honestly didn't think they'd be this pissed," Sarah muttered to Honey.

"All-consuming rage is hard to articulate. You're lucky Heidi got the cookies; they'll actually be calm halfway through the day now instead of the end of it."

"Oh, thank fuck. I was going to hide in the bathroom."

Honey snorted. "You would've been found sooner than you'd like. Now, let me see that ring."

Sarah held her hand out. "Jared's grandmother gave him the ring. He surprised me by getting it re-sized while I was having a massage. Up until that point, I was wearing a piece of string. I didn't even know he'd brought the ring on the holiday."

"A piece of string?" Babel asked.

Sarah was surprised at her mother-in-law's curious and calm tone. "Uh, yeah. It was something Jared had in his pocket; we honestly hadn't planned on eloping."

Even more surprising than curious and calm was Babel's laughter. "Oh, my dear girl. You might not have planned on it, but Jared certainly did. I proposed to his father with a piece of string to represent us being stronger together than individually. And as a bit of a gimmick because we could say that we literally tied the knot," Babel added with another laugh.

Sarah laughed. "I can't believe it; Jared said the same thing that night. Oh, I'm so tickling him for that."

"It's a shame your father had to work, Wendy. Sonny would have liked the water feature," Tilda said, nodding to the waterfall trickling over a stone wall and down into a pond.

Wendy grinned. "I think you mean lucky; Dad probably would've tried to modify it and we'd end up with a monsoon indoors."

Tilda laughed. "Well, that too. You certainly can't fault him for his enthusiasm."

"Welcome back, Frieda! You brought your friends, as promised! It is lovely to meet you all," a woman said with a broad and welcoming smile. "Honey, you're finally back! It's been too long, we've missed you. Oh, and Esme had her baby girl, as you said she would. Nine pounds; we have plenty of photos," the woman assured them.

"Vesela, as always, you're a delight to see. Let me introduce you to everyone," Frieda said, turning to introduce them all. "Everyone, this is Vesela, the most cheerful woman to cross the sea by boat while dealing with both seasickness and morning sickness."

"It was only a few months," Vesela waved off with a smile. "Now, we have a group of fifteen booked for a mani-pedi; you're all here, yes? Good. Then massages, with two lucky people having a couple's massage?"

"That's us," Grant said for himself and Craig.

"We're getting a couple's massage?" Craig asked, frowning.

"Surprise," Grant said, kissing his cheek.

"I'll go check the chairs are ready; why don't you choose your nail polish colours?" Vesela suggested as she headed past the foyer's water feature to the back rooms.

"There'd better be apple juice in that room for you," Ida said sternly.

"Non-alcoholic sparkling champagne," Grant replied.

"Waste of good champagne, if you ask me," Edith muttered under her breath to Hyacinth, who nodded in agreement.

"Don't worry, Mrs. S. I still have a vivid recollection of the photo album you gave me last year," Craig said, shuddering.

"What photo album?" Layla asked curiously.

"High-res images of how underage drinking affects brains, bodies, and powers. None of it's pretty," Ida added.

"You know that guy who can teleport? He got caught in a car hood. He had to get a kidney replaced because the engine..." Craig paled and looked like he was fighting the urge to puke.

"Yeah, keep thinking of that. With your power, there's no way you'd come out of it unscathed," Ida said, equal parts concerned and stern.

"While we're on that topic: practise teleporting short distances first, okay?" Honey added.

Craig just nodded. Wendy looked curious about the conversation, but realised that Heidi wasn't with the group and looked around to find her.

"Craig, I found purple," Heidi called out from the selection of nail polishes.

"Ooh, I like that green," Layla said, seeing a colour as she approached.

They spent a few minutes choosing colours and comparing the shades. By the time they all had a colour, Vesela had returned to announce their chairs were ready. Heidi bounced on the balls of her feet, stopping herself from running forward. Anita took her hand, Heidi grinning up at her with an electric blue polish in her other hand.

"Is that your only colour?" Vesela asked as they passed.

Heidi frowned. "I can have more?"

"If you want," Vesela confirmed with a broad smile.

Heidi looked up at Anita with wide eyes. She nodded and let go of Heidi's hand with a smile. Heidi grinned brightly and hurried back to the nail polish selection.

Vesela waited for Heidi to return, ushering her into the room filled with massage chairs and foot spas, eight on either side of the room. Craig was already seated in a chair, a blissful expression on his face as the massage pad worked on his back and his feet soaked in warm water, his hands resting in small curved containers to soften his cuticles and nails.

"What colour did you get, Heidi?" Layla asked, her eyes widening when Heidi held up five nail polish colours.

"One on each finger and toe?" Wendy asked, signing.

Heidi grinned and nodded, signing rainbow as well.

"I can't wait to see them, little sis," Craig said, Heidi beaming back at him.

Anita smiled at their interaction, trying not to laugh when she saw the smitten expression on Grant's face. She closed her eyes, letting herself relax as the chair massaged her. Despite promising herself to relax, Anita found her thoughts turning to various chess strategies.

"I can see you thinking, Anita," Honey called across from her.

"I'm not," Anita lied.

Frieda laughed and reached across to pat her forearm. "You're allowed to think about the chess match, dear. Just don't let the thoughts consume you."

"Easier said than done," she replied, trying to redirect her thoughts and returning to the chess match instead; the floor's black and white pattern didn't help things.

"Just you wait; Esme will work wonders on you," Edith promised.

"You won't even know what a pawn is after five minutes," Hyacinth added with a grin.

"That would be a miracle," Anita muttered.

Vesela returned to the room with fourteen employees, some waving to Frieda, Hyacinth, Edith, and Honey. They each moved to one of the fifteen customers, sitting in front of them and getting started.

"Hello, Heidi. I'm Spyridoula. You can call me Spyro, if you'd like," a woman said, smiling as she sat in front of her.

Heidi bit her lip, shy with the stranger.

"These are lovely colours; do you want them in any order?" Spyro asked.

Heidi signed in response, too shy to speak.

Spyro smiled and signed back. "Now I see why Frieda wanted me to do your nails. My Uncle Stavros is deaf as a doornail, though he says the doornail's as deaf as him," she said, winking.

Heidi giggled.

"Don't worry, Anita dear. I made sure Spyridoula would be careful with her. I want Heidi to enjoy herself," Frieda said, smiling.

Relief unfurled in her chest and Anita nodded in response. "Thank you, Frieda."

"Oh, it's my pleasure, dear. Which colour did you choose?" Frieda asked.

Anita showed her the black and white nail polishes. "They're just for fun. I'll probably go back to red after the championships. What colour did you get?"

"They have a lovely metallic silver that will suit the dress I have for the museum's gala."

"Oh, that's a nice colour. I thought you were going shopping for a dress?"

"Oh, no. I have enough formal clothes to last me years of galas. This is for the children. We plan on spoiling them silly," Frieda said. Edith and Hyacinth both nodded in agreement.

"Adam and I have been finding pictures for the twins' suits. I know it's black tie, but can they wear charcoal grey?" Craig asked across the room.

"Of course, dear. They're babies, no one's going to berate them for wearing grey instead of black," Edith said.

"Aw, yes. Grant, remind me to text Adam after this," Craig said, looking to his wet fingers.

Grant nodded. "The black suits were cute though."

"One of each?"

"Honey, my baby is on the screen," Esme said proudly, nodding to the television screen.

"Oh, look at her. She's gorgeous, Esme."

Babel, Frieda, Edith, and Hyacinth immediately started asking Esme questions about her baby, oohing and ahhing over the baby pictures that were displaying.

"What colour are you getting, Wendy?" Layla asked, smiling at her.

"Sky blue. It sparkles," she said with a grin. "Did you end up getting that green?"

"I found a darker one. Forest green, I think it's called. Frieda said it'd last long enough for the museum's gala."

"Oh, nice. Have you thought about what style dress you want?"

"Something simple since I plan on wearing it again. It's ridiculous to buy things with the intent on wearing them once," Layla said, frowning. "What about you?"

Wendy grinned. "Something tight and revealing. I plan on making Donny drool for at least two straight minutes."

"So are you going to surprise him with the dress, or is he going to help you pick it out?" Layla asked.

"I'm not sure yet. I think he might be busy getting fitted for his suit, so it might end up being a surprise. What about you and Warren?"

"He's getting a suit fitted, so he'll be surprised too. Why don't we help each other decide instead?" Layla offered.

"Sounds good to me. I'll need shoes and jewellery too. Oh, and my hair. I'll have to do something fancy with it."

"Frieda's taking me to a hairdresser before the gala to get it professionally done. My mother helped with the curls for Homecoming last year," Layla added, smiling sadly.

"Well, they looked amazing," Wendy said with a warm smile.

"Thanks. Would you like to come? I can ask Frieda," Layla offered.

"If it doesn't take up too much time, that would be amazing. I usually lose patience halfway through and then I create a storm and my hair's ruined anyway," Wendy admitted, laughing.

Heidi's peals of laughter had everyone looking to her. Spyro was scrubbing the sole of her foot with a pumice stone, tickling Heidi and making her laugh and squirm in the seat.

"Done. Ready for the next foot?" Spyro asked, grinning.

Breathless, her cheeks red, and eyes bright, Heidi nodded.

Her laughter made the others smile. After Spyro had finished, she set Heidi's foot back in the spa and took her other foot out, starting to clip and buff her nails carefully.

Wendy and Layla returned to their conversation about the upcoming gala. Next to them, Grant and Craig were talking about their own suits, the suits for Elijah and Elliot, and the dress they thought Jewel might wear.

"There's going to be citizens; Jewel'd wear something long-sleeve, right?" Craig asked.

Grant shrugged. "Maybe, but if she's trying to get work and recognition as Gemstone, she might not care."

"Ooh, good point. Do you think Jewel can send photos of the dresses to us?"

"We'll have to ask nicely," Grant replied, grinning.

Ida turned her attention back to the conversation around her, glad that Craig and Grant looked to be ridiculously in love with each other. Grant looked at Craig the way he deserved: smitten and awed at the same time. Craig had blushed more in the past hour than Ida had seen in the last seventeen years, but she could see the same expression on his face when he looked at Grant as well. If Jewel looked at either of them with even half their intensity, then Ida knew that Craig would be well-loved indeed.

...

"Grant?" Craig said, waiting until they were alone in the massage room, their massages finished, his body feeling loose and warm.

"Yeah, babe?" Grant asked from his massage table, his voice thick and verging on sleep.

"We need to do this at home later," Craig said.

Grant lifted his head to frown over at Craig, then grinned when he saw the blush on his cheeks. "Liked it, did you, babe?"

Craig nodded. "I had to shift so I wouldn't moan," he admitted.

Grant made himself sit up, rolling his shoulders before standing and walking to Craig, kissing his lips. "I'll make sure you get a happy ending, okay?"

Craig whimpered, the noise quiet against Grant's mouth. "Okay."

Grant kissed him one more time, slow and luxurious, drawing out a few more of Craig's delicious noises before stepping back. "We've got facials now."

"We can stay here," Craig said hopefully. "You're not wearing a belt," he added, glancing to Grant's partially tented towel and his cheeks reddening.

Laughing, Grant kissed Craig's palm. "Good try, babe. Come on, we have facials, and then we can go pick up Jewel and make out."

Craig sighed.

There was a knock at the door. "Would you like water or tea?" Vesela asked.

"Tea, please. We'll be right out," Grant added.

"No rush, please relax," Vesela said.

Craig went behind his partition to change back into his clothes. Before he slipped a shirt on, he took a photo of himself in his jeans, shirtless, and his face with several red marks from the massage table. Sending the photo to Jewel, he added a caption: Grant doesn't want to make out with me :(

Jewel's reply came almost a moment later: aww, I'd totally make out with you!

Her next text was six lines of heart-eyed emoticons.

Craig grinned and slipped his shirt on, tugging the material over his oil-warmed body.

By the time he was dressed, Jewel had sent another message, a photo of Elijah and Elliot sleeping and each cuddling a plush elephant toy. Craig smiled at the sight of his nephews, replying with several coloured hearts and heart-eyed emoticons.

"Ready, babe?" Grant asked.

"Yeah, ready," Craig said, stopping short as he came out from behind the screen to see Grant leaning against the massage table, dressed only in his jeans.

"You sent the photo to both of us, not just Jewel," Grant said, grinning.

Craig blinked, his brain stuck on the definition of Grant's shoulders, his pecs, his abs, the lithe muscles in his biceps and the V of his hips. The soft glow from the candles seemed to make everything warmer and the residue from the massage oil added an extra shine to Grant's body. Wordless and still stunned, Craig continued to take the sight of him in, trying to commit every line and curve to memory.

Grant frowned as he straightened and crossed the room to cup Craig's cheek. "I think I broke you, babe."

Craig's eyes closed at the touch of Grant's hand on his skin, and he tilted his head gently to rest in Grant's palm completely. He felt a light touch of lips against his own, and Craig followed Grant's lips for another kiss and another and another.

"I'll always want to make out with you, babe. Don't ever think that I don't," Grant murmured as he pulled away.

Another knock at the door had them pulling apart, and Craig licked his lips. "We're coming!"

"Please clean up after yourselves."

Grant laughed. "We'll be out in a minute," he called, pulling his shirt on. "Ready, babe?"

Craig nodded and took Grant's hand, his pink, yellow, and blue nails bright even in the dimly lit room. "Ready."

Grant smiled and kissed his hand before they left, Vesela waiting with their cups of tea.

...

"Those facials were wonderful. I don't think I've ever felt so relaxed," Anita said, touching her face with a wistful sigh. "Thank you for the lovely day out, Frieda. I - ahh!" Anita stopped short with a scream, her hand pressed to her chest when she saw the kitchen bench full of those creepy little train model people.

"Anita?" Heidi asked, eyes wide as she tried to see what was wrong.

"I hate those things. Richard!" Anita called, shuddering and turning away from the kitchen, trying to calm her racing heart.

Nina frowned from the wooden figures to Anita, who she could tell was feeling real fear, and put a hand on her shoulder, gently easing her emotions. "It's all right, Anita. It's not real."

"I know. I know, but I still... Richard knows not to leave them where I can see them," she said, letting Nina guide her to the lounge room.

"Are you okay, Anita?" Heidi asked, sitting beside her and taking her hand, a spark of electricity against Anita's skin.

"Fine. I just... don't like those figurines," she said. "Sorry for scaring you, dear."

Heidi shook her head. "I wasn't scared. I was worried for you," she said with a firm nod.

"I'm all right now. Thank you."

"Oh, hello, Annie. You're home earlier than I expected," Richard said, smiling. His smile faded when he saw Anita's expression. "Are you all right?"

"She walked into the kitchen. Your little... dolls are in there," Nina said.

"Oh? Oh. Oh, shit. Sorry, Annie. I'll put them away right now. Sorry," he said again, kissing her forehead gently before going to the kitchen, calling for Ethan and Zach to help him.

"Want me to set them on fire?" Warren asked from the doorway.

Anita laughed. "No, thank you, Warren. It might actually be worse if they're on fire. Tiny creepy screams," she said with a horrified shudder.

Nina hurried to ease Anita's emotions again.

"Hey, hippie. Nice nails," Warren said, seeing the green shine to the dark colour in the daylight.

Layla smiled and kissed him in greeting. "Thanks."

"Oh, hey, you're all home. I hope you don't mind, but I put Victor in the guest room. He was pooped. Elijah and Elliot have been playing safari with me for the last few hours," Jewel said, cooing at the twins in her arms, each of them holding a giraffe and elephant tightly.

"That's nice, dear. Victor hasn't been sleeping much lately, he needs it where and when he can," Edith said, taking Elijah and kissing Elliot's cheek.

"He's been having nightmares about Cara," Honey said, frowning. "Craig, you might need to stay home tonight. Practice with Nina's power," she added.

Craig nodded. "All right."

"It doesn't mean you can't go with Grant and Jewel now. Just be home for... seven," Honey said. "You'll get dinner then. Edith's cooking."

"Oh, nice. Thanks, Edith," Craig said, grinning as he kissed her cheek and then took Elliot from Jewel, kissing and making babbling noises at his nephew.

"Ooh, nice nails, Craig," Jewel said.

"Thanks. Did you see Grant's?"

Grant grinned and held up his hand with pink, purple, and blue nails. Jewel smiled brightly and hugged him tightly, kissing Craig so she wouldn't crush Elliot between them.

"I'm assuming you're Jewel?" Ida asked.

"Yes. Mrs. Spattle?" Jewel said.

"Call me Ida, dear."

"I don't get to call you Ida, Mrs. S."

"That's because you like calling me 'Mrs. S,'" she replied.

Craig laughed. "Good point. Oh, hey Zach. Any more cookies left? They were awesome."

"Not unless you're willing to pay for them," Zach said, picking at a blue splatter of paint on his hand.

"How much?" Hyacinth asked.

"Huh?"

Ethan grabbed Zach's hand so he'd pay attention.

"How much for the cookies, dear?" Hyacinth asked.

"Oh. I was gonna sell them for, like, three bucks."

Hyacinth pulled out her wallet and handed a five dollar note to him. "Sell them for five. They're worth it."

Zach still looked a little confused so Ethan smiled and took the note from Hyacinth. "We'll get a pack for you."

"A pack? I thought it was five for one cookie?"

"You'd pay five bucks for one cookie? It's just choc chip, not even a fancy one," Zach said incredulously.

Ethan went to grab a wrapped pack for Hyacinth, returning to give it to her.

"Oh, you'll definitely want to sell these for more than three dollars. Offer samples and people would pay through their nose," Hyacinth said.

"Can they just pay through their wallet instead? Oh, Heids, look at you!"

Heidi grinned and showed Zach her nails proudly, a rainbow of assorted colours on her nails. She signed and then wiggled her toes in her sandals so he'd see her toenails too.

"Did you have fun?" Ethan asked.

Heidi nodded firmly. She noticed that Hyacinth had a pack of cookies. "Can I have more, too?"

"Sure. Come on," Zach said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to lead her to the kitchen.

"I hid some for you," Ethan said, following after them.

"You look nice, Ma," Adam said, smiling at her relaxed expression and red nails.

"Thank you. You look... like you had a paint war," Ida said, blinking in surprise at the sight of her son covered in smears of paint.

Adam shrugged. "Da kept wiping the paint off his fingers onto me. I got him back."

"Oh, dear. Curtis?" Ida called, her eyes widening when Curtis came into the lounge room.

His whole face was covered in splatters of paint, as though Adam had flicked the paint brushes at Curtis for five minutes straight.

"This is your son's fault. He said it was an accident. I've been scrubbing for an hour."

"I'm your son too, Da. Besides, it was an accident," Adam lied, grinning.

"How'd it go?" Jared asked Sarah quietly.

Sarah looked at him, her eyes narrowed, then she grinned and started to tickle him. Jared's squeals of laughter had everyone looking to them, Babel laughing at her son's predicament. "When were you going to tell me you'd planned on proposing?" Sarah asked.

"Next year on our anniversary," Jared said, finally pulling away from his wife's reach. "It was supposed to be a romantic story, not resulting in tickling."

Honey laughed. "You sap. Come on, I'll drive you home. Babs, you're okay to drive home?"

"Oh, why don't you stay for dinner, Babs?" Frieda offered. "Layla and Warren are leaving me all alone," she added.

"That would be lovely. Thank you," Babel replied with a warm smile.

"They've already left, actually," Donny said, having seen Layla and Warren leaving quietly a few minutes ago.

Nina sighed. "Well, looks like I'm on my own, too."

"Not anymore, dear. Come to dinner. Anyone else?" Frieda asked brightly. "Tilda, you'll join us, won't you?"

"Sonny should be home soon, so I might head off. Next time though, definitely. Thank you for the offer," Tilda said with a smile.

"Not a problem, dear. Have a nice night. You too, Wendy and Donny," Frieda added, seeing them heading to the door.

"How come they can sneak out and we can't?" Wendy muttered.

"Bye," Donny called over his shoulder as Wendy led him to her car.

Others made plans to join Frieda for dinner, some people left for their own homes. Richard went upstairs to wake Victor when Elliot and Elijah started crying for attention after Craig left with Grant and Jewel.

Half an hour, Anita and Richard were alone with their three children. Richard kissed Anita and hugged her close. "Sorry about the figurines, Annie."

"You're making it up to me later," she muttered, breathing shakily as she thought of the creepy things. "How was your day? Have fun?"

"Yeah, lots of fun. Ethan hasn't shown an interest in my trains since he was a kid, but today, he was suggesting adjustments. He thinks the basement might be big enough to do a whole replica of Maxville, even with the pool going in. Ethan spent hours measuring and Zach even sketched a few designs. He's getting better at drawing, I'll show you the designs later," Richard said, kissing her cheek and hugging her again.

Anita could guess why they wanted a full-scale replica of Maxville, but didn't voice her thoughts. She closed her eyes, hugged her husband, and let herself calm down in his arms.

...

Later that night, Anita woke with a sweat-drenched start, a cry dying just behind her lips.

Stupid chess pieces turning into creepy little wooden faceless people, she thought to herself, shuddering.

Beside her, Richard was sound asleep. Anita's mouth was dry and she was desperate for a drink, but couldn't bring herself to go downstairs to the kitchen.

What if one of those creepy little dolls had been forgotten and was still sitting on the bench? Worse, what if those creepy little people had moved on their own? What if they were waiting for her to come downstairs, to stare at her with their creepy faceless faces?

"You're being ridiculous," Anita muttered to herself.

She was more rational than this and besides, she was taller than those creepy little people. She could just stomp on one of them if it happened to be there.

Her mind made up and her throat dry, Anita got out of bed, careful not to wake Richard. Walking out of her room, she briefly considered asking one of the kids to go down to the kitchen with her. They could turn the light on and check the kitchen was clear. They wouldn't judge her, all three had had their own nightmares and irrational fears, and they'd do it if she asked, Anita knew this.

Passing by Ethan and Zach's room, she heard soft moans and hurried past that bit faster. Heidi was fast asleep in her room, the lights a soft blue glow as she dreamed peacefully. Anita was loathe to wake her, especially since she knew Heidi had had a bad sleep the night before, the lights pulsing an angry red that resulted in at least three strings of lights bursting.

"You're a grown ass woman. Now move," Anita demanded of herself softly.

She couldn't stop her nerves from making her imagination run wild though, and Anita found she was trembling as she reached the staircase. Stopping short, Anita held a hand to her chest, tears in her eyes as she saw a set of string lights winding their way down the staircase railing and glowing Heidi's soft blue colour.

Emboldened, Anita descended the stairs and went to the kitchen, smiling at the rope lights that Richard had added to the architraves, all of them glowing softly and keeping her fears at bay.

...

End of the seventy-fourth chapter.