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Let's answer and create a few more questions, shall we?
Again, I own very little…but I do have a pre-order in for an autographed copy of The King so I'm pretty darn chipper!
Chapter 4
"Honey, I'm home!" Will called cheerfully, closing the door behind him. He fully expected to see his bride come bounding down the stairs or hall or from wherever she was working to at least give him a hug and a kiss.
He was met with silence.
Will removed his hat and coat and neatly placed them on the waiting hall tree, thinking L would hear his movements and come down the stairs. Again he was greeted with silence.
"L?" he called, listening for her tell-tale rapid heartbeat. He relaxed when he heard it upstairs and began to head that way.
Will figured L was just focused on first day tasks. She could get rather single-minded and be completely oblivious of the world around her so he was not worried that she had not responded immediately to his call.
Then he heard footsteps moving rapidly from Bella's bedroom to the bathroom. He heard a splash and then the toilet flush.
In a panic, Will ran up the stairs to find a rather green looking Liriope walking down the hall toward him. She wiped her hands absentmindedly on her skirt as she headed down the hall back toward Bella's room, not seeing him pop up the steps.
"Honey?" he asked worriedly, not sure where to touch or what to do. He had absolutely no experience with a sick female. At least none that he could remember from his human life.
"Oh, hello, Will," L replied weakly, turning and placing a kiss on her beloved's cheek.
"Are you alright?"
"Other than supper not quite sitting right and finding a half-decayed dead mouse under the bed in Bella's room, I'm right as rain. I know I grew up in the woods, but I cannot stand outdoor beasties inside! Why do you ask?" She looked up at him with her blue-green eyes showing no signs of trying to fool him.
"I called for you and I was concerned when there was no answer."
"Oh." L's cheeks flushed lightly in embarrassment.
"You usually are quite enthusiastic in our reunions, and I may have missed finding you downstairs when I arrived."
L smiled a little stronger and the color rapidly returned to her cheeks. Will let out a grateful sigh and pulled her closer for a more appropriate welcome. After a few minutes of enjoyable distraction, she pulled away and looked up at her husband.
"I'm a little out of sorts, I guess. Alice texted me that something's not quite right with this Experience," she explained, pulling her phone out of her pocket and rereading the message. "She and Bella are coming over in a few, and I was just finishing up my cleaning."
"Why Liriope Missouri … are you using … gasp … technology during an Experience?"
L immediately stuck out her tongue at her husband's teasing. Will returned her grin and tightened his hold around her waist, not letting her escape. While he was only a few inches taller than her five and a half feet, he liked the way her curves fit against his chest, though he noticed a little extra padding in that area. Not that he minded, of course. He was from a time and place that placed value on a strong and hearty woman.
The Cullens had told him about how prior to the Evermore Experience, L had aged as a side effect of her magic. He had seen it himself when they had met, not that it had mattered one bit to him. From the moment he first laid eyes on her, Liriope was who he wanted and who he would be with for the rest of eternity. Will had been as shocked as the others as the aging rapidly reversed itself after their first meeting. Perhaps this latest subtle enhancement was part of the charm. Or Alice and Rose and Esme had taken L shopping again at that fancy undergarment shop they seemed to enjoy.
Will was most enthusiastic after a girls shopping spree as well. Satin and lace were not commonplace on a horse farm in tidewater Virginia and his bride wore it quite nicely.
L felt her husband pull her a little closer and smiled. She snuggled into him and smiled into his shoulder.
"Hi," she whispered, placing a light peck on his throat. "Welcome home."
"Good to be home. So what's with the phone?"
"Alice told me to and you know you never bet against Alice."
Will barked a laugh, earning a wider smile from L.
"I'm only teasing you."
"I know. I'm trying to tease you back."
"Hmmm. So did you ladies go to that provocative agent shop in London or something?" he asked, subtly adjusting himself.
"Provocative a… Oh!" L blushed deeply, remembering how embarrassed she'd been the last time she had gone undergarment shopping with her family. "No. Why?"
"You just seem a little more …" Will trailed off, unsure how to say her breasts seemed larger.
"A little more what?"
The two heard a car coming down the quiet street and Liriope bolted for Bella's room since it faced the street. Will sighed, thankful that he did not have to continue the conversation, remembering a prior discussion with Emmett where he was informed in no uncertain terms that modern ladies did not appreciate comments that involved larger, bigger, and a myriad of other similar synonyms.
Will wrapped his arms around L's waist and rested his head atop her shoulder as they watched through the open window as Edward drove the Model-T town car at a seat-grabbing 35 miles per hour and stopped right in front of 321 Meyer.
Edward safely parked the car, leapt out of the car and dashed at human speed around to Bella's side to open the door for her. She nodded a thank you and let him escort her to the front door.
Alice remained in the back seat of the car, her mind spinning through all the information she had gathered and all of the possibilities of what was going on. She had spent a good deal of the drive trying to speak to Edward through her thoughts. It had been their special bond for decades, the mind reader and the prognosticator. Yet for the entire drive to Meyer Lane, he had not reacted in the slightest.
Alice wondered if vampires could get migraines because her head was starting to ache and when she looked up at the house and saw Will and L looking out the window, she would have sworn she saw a hazy aura surrounding them. She blinked a few times and the image disappeared just as the couple turned to head downstairs to meet Bella and Edward at the door.
Edward hesitated by the door as Bella turned to thank him for the ride home.
"May I call upon you tomorrow?" he asked quietly.
Bella smiled genuinely and nodded.
"I would like that very much. I am sure either my cousin or her husband can be here to chaperone us."
"I will see if I can get away from work early and come by."
"I will look forward to your call. Let me introduce you to my family."
As if on cue, the front door swung open and a grinning L stood there, her hands on her hips, looking back and forth between Bella and Edward.
"Well, hello there!" she announced a little too loudly, earning a wince from Bella. "Did you two enjoy your visit this afternoon?"
Edward flushed red and jumped back a bit from Bella who threw a glare at her completely oblivious cousin. L totally ignored Bella and smiled broadly at Edward, completely unaware to what had happened at the Paulina Street home.
Per normal, Will placed a welcoming kiss on Alice's cheek as she passed him on her way into the house. He turned to give one to Bella but stopped short when he heard a low, rumbling growl. His eyes widened as he realized the sound was coming from Edward who stood with clenched hands, glaring at the older man.
"Is there a problem here?" Will asked in a low, quiet voice, staring straight up at Edward who towered over him.
Mine. Only. Mine.
Edward suddenly realized the sound was coming from him and his hands flew immediately to his throat.
"I will … I will see you tomorrow, Miss Swan," Edward stuttered before turning and walking quickly down the way to his car.
"What the world was that all about?" L demanded as she watched Edward crank the Model T and hurry away. "I mean, the growl was sexy as hell, but he's seen Will kiss you hello before."
"No idea. That was totally unnecessary," Bella muttered through gritted teeth as she watched her husband disappear down the street.
"Maybe he's completely into the story and is going to play the jealous lover," L smiled before turning and heading for the living room.
"So, how did it go?" she called.
"It was interesting," Bella hedged.
L stopped and spun around, her brow furrowed in confusion.
"Interesting?"
"Where ever did you find such a close copy of Edward's mother?" Alice asked, removing her hat and placing it on the hall tree next to Will's. "That woman is exactly like the picture he has."
L stared at Alice and Bella as if they had grown third eyes.
"What woman?" she demanded. "You told me not to find someone so I didn't."
Bella and Alice exchanged a look.
"There's someone in the house on Paulina that looks exactly like Elizabeth Masen," Bella finally said.
"That's impossible," L blustered, turning toward the living room, leaving the others to follow her.
"Now, Liriope," Will said gently, following his wife. "If Alice and Bella say they saw someone that looks exactly like Elizabeth Masen, you need to believe them."
"But how?" L demanded. "Zafrina's good but her talent goes no further than a mind game. There's no physical manifestation. At least there never has been in the past."
"I think we need to get the others here so we only have to repeat this once," Bella said.
"Fine," L huffed, muttering about how she should have rebuilt the house to include a large gathering area and how vampires might not mind standing like statues but hybrids really liked a comfy place to sit every now and then.
"She really does not take well to things not going as planned, does she?" Will murmured quietly to Alice who shook her head as she quickly sent a text out to the others.
L stopped short and spun around, her eyes flashing angrily.
"But her hearing is just fine, thank you very much William Lawrence."
He held up his hands in surrender, knowing that her anger would burn out quickly and sure enough, before she could take a breath, L began to calm.
"Sorry. Sorry. I know this isn't your fault. I just have no idea where a visitor could have come from and how she knew what we were doing. Are you sure it was a person and not that y'all were pulled into Zafrina's enchantment?"
"I just spent three hours talking to the woman," Alice offered. "Elizabeth Masen is in that house."
"Well don't that beat all."
"Others will be here momentarily," Bella said, checking her phone.
"But he still wants to go sparkin' with Miss Bella, right?"
Alice and Bella nodded in answer to L's query.
"Because that is the whole purpose of this, you know. At least that's gone right."
"Has something else not gone right?" Will asked as he and Alice and Bella exchanged looks.
"Maybe," she dragged out, looking ashamed.
"Liriope Lawrence," Alice said warningly.
L quickly looked from one person and then to the other.
"We'll talk when the others get here," she said suddenly before dashing up the stairs, leaving the three wondering just what was going on.
~BE~
*Peers out from behind hands* Please don't kill me for ending this here…I'm almost caught up to what I've got pre-written, and I wanted to post today so…
I hope to keep up the weekly postings but if not, know I'll get more up as quickly as possible.
And keep the reviews and comments coming! I do so like knowing what y'all think!
DeJean