Chapter 46
I Do Not Own Claymore
Freya finally interjected, "Ah dornt mean tae be rude but, we did talk abit gang tae play some hoops."
Roger smiled and said, "Sorry about the gab fest, go on and play. Come home when you feel like it. The party starts at six!"
The four of them trooped out the door, leaving Roger alone with Anita, Anna and Sheila.
Dena had not surfaced yet nor had Sasha stirred herself from her happy place in the front parlour.
Roger rubbed his hands together and grinned, "Shall we set up the party decorations? Ladies?"
Anita held up her hands and said, "No way, Freya's waay too big for me to annoy with a prank and I want to live to adulthood!"
Anna smiled and politely shook her head in a 'no'.
Roger glanced at Sheila with a pleading look in his eyes and she laughed before replying, "Not me my friend, I don't know her all that well yet. You want to prank her, go right ahead, it's your funeral!"
Shrugging, Roger commented, "Spoilsports!"
Moments later, he said, "Can I get you guys to set up the barbecue at least?"
Anita smiled and replied, "I can do that much to help. Sorry, I just don't want to upset Freya, she gets enough BS at school from some of the other kids."
Roger frowned and remarked, "I can only protect her so much. Physically, she's stronger than any of her classmates...It's the snide remarks from the queen bee types she has to deal with."
Anita said ruefully, "I hear them too. Thank goodness they don't try to hit me anymore. The Taekwondo lessons I took came in really handy last year, but I still get the cheap shot remarks."
Anna smiled and said pleasantly, "You're a writer, you have quite the way with words...Why not apply some of those skills to your daily life at school. A devastating comeback can be quite effective."
Anita smiled and replied, "I'll take that into consideration, an epic verbal takedown of a queen bee is definitely overdue!"
Anita grinned at Roger, "You wanted us to set up a barbecue...Right?"
"Yes, that would be very nice. I'll set up the decorations and the table and you guys can get the fire going...The charcoal is out by the barbecue already." replied Roger.
The ladies went outside to get the barbecue going and Roger set to work.
With the ladies now out of the house, Roger got out the decorations he had squirreled away.
Contrary to her fears they were not a bunch of silly gags, they were ones he had chosen thoughtfully.
He first hung the banner declaring "Happy Birthday Freya!" across the dining room above where Freya's chair was placed, next he set out the party favors and little noisemakers at each place setting along the large dining room table.
Dena came into the room about this time and insisted on helping him set everything else up and before long they were finished.
Glancing at the clock, Roger noted that he had about two more hours before the other guests would be arriving for the party.
He smiled at his tiny helper and said, "Many of her friends have not seen you or Sasha before. Are you willing to let them see you, or would you rather remain unseen?"
Dena's adorable little face looked thoughtful and after a few moments, she said, "Ah woods raither we remained hidden frae view fer noo. Ah troost ye an' th' others Ah allow tae see me. These fowk Ah dunnae ken an' dornt troost."
Roger nodded in agreement and remarked, "I don't blame you dear. If you wish, you two can go up to the library and I'll save you some of the cake I got for the party."
Dena grinned at him and scampered out of the room, her pipsqueak of a voice calling for Sasha.
He took one last look at his decorative efforts and smiled, "Freya will love this."
He said to himself before leaving the dining room to see about a barbecue.
The smell of grilling meats drew him closer and as he rounded the corner, Roger saw Sheila's towering form standing at the grill with tongs in hand.
The grill was laden with a variety of meats and a bubbling pot held the beans, while lying amid the coals were several foil wrapped bundles of vegetables and a few potatoes slowly baking.
Sheila grinned at him and said merrily, "I usually do all the cooking when I get together with my sisters at Miria's, I was always the most domestic one of us."
Roger smiled and remarked, "You won't hear any complaints from me, I don't mind one bit...I did finish up decorating the dining room for the party."
He thought for a few moments and remarked, "I should go warm up the large oven, to keep the food hot. The rest of the guests should be arriving around six."
Rest of the guests?" Queried Anita.
"I invited several girls from the volleyball team Freya plays with and a couple of the neighbors."
"Ah"
Anna smiled and said, "I do wish to see what you did in the dining room."
Sheila asked, "If you're going into the house, could you take some of the meat I've already cooked with you please? That'd be giving me more room to play with here."
Anna grinned at her towering friend and picked up the bowl filled with freshly grilled meats and some foil wrapped veggies.
Roger stepped forward and declared, "Allow me!" and he took the bowl from Anna as they headed back into the house.
Once back inside, Roger lit the large oven, set it on low and began putting the cooked items into a couple of large, shallow pans.
Anna meanwhile, inspected his efforts at decorating for a young woman's birthday party.
A few minutes later, she came back into the kitchen and remarked, "You did a nice job, it's subtle and tasteful. We had thought you might try to embarrass her or something."
Roger smiled at Anna and replied," Freya is very important to me. Yes, I'll tease her about some things, but on a such an important day like today? Not a chance. She only gets to become a young woman once and I'll be damned if I'm going to ruin it for her."
He winked at her and quipped, "Besides, she could easily kick my ass!"
They went back outside and the four of them continued tending the barbecue, shuttling freshly cooked food into the house and placing more food on the grill.
Sheila meanwhile, kept wielding the tongs with a pleasant smile on her lovely face, she was enjoying herself.
The six o'clock hour was rapidly approaching, some of the guests had arrived a bit early and were being entertained by Anna and Anita who were staging an impromptu dramatic reading of one of Anna's more popular novels.
One of the guests from the volleyball team, Emma Schmidt, a towering girl with black hair, fair skin and standing nearly seven feet tall remarked, "You guys sure know this material, this is one of my favorite novels by this author!"
Anna smiled and replied cheerfully, "Thank you, I enjoyed writing this one a lot!"
Emma looked at her in surprise, then the light of comprehension clicked on in her blue eyes and she exclaimed,"Oh my God! It is, you! I was thinking you looked so familiar to me...Do I feel stupid, or what?"
Anna chuckled and said gaily, "Stupid, you're not. You proved that by reading my books!"
Emma smiled and replied, "I like your books because unlike so many other books in that genre, your characters are so much more believable and the story itself rings true."
Anna smiled and said, "Thank you. I try to write books that I myself would want to read, books with a heart in them."
Anna paused a moment then declared, "Hold that thought, I'll be right back!"
Anna left the living room and returned a couple of minutes later with a book in her hand, she stepped up to the tall brunette and handed it to her while saying, "This is for you, it is my thanks for your support."
Emma took the book, glanced at it, looked inside and said happily, "It's your latest book! And you signed it? Thank you so much!"
She impulsively hugged Anna who barely came up to her bosom, as Emma stood six foot ten inches tall and was one of the tallest non Jotun people Roger had ever seen.
Anna laughed and said gaily, "Getting hugged by you is like getting hugged by Freya, you're both so tall!"
The towering fangirl giggled and blushed freely at Anna's remarks.
Right about when Roger was getting ready to go looking for Freya, she came strolling up the hill from the rec center with her friends in tow.
Entering the house by the back kitchen door, Freya stopped short when she realized that in addition to her school friends, half of the Portland Pilots women's volleyball team was also there and Roger was standing there with a big grin on his rugged face.
In one voice, they called out, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" and there was a staccato of party poppers going off and confetti flying everywhere.
Freya stood there with a gobsmacked look on her pretty face as she realized she had been had.
Her friends had deliberately kept her down at the rec center playing a feverishly paced game of basketball with a couple of the girls from the Portland Pilots who just 'happened to be there'.
She looked over at Roger who merely smiled at her and winked.
"A'hm sae gonna get ye fur thes!"
She vowed as she stepped over to him and they embraced quite fondly.
Roger murmured, "Happy birthday sweetheart."
He felt her long arms snuggle him closely against her swelling bosom as she murmured, "Thenk ye, thes is a verra nice surprise."
"It's my pleasure baby girl."
Separating again, Freya smiled at the gathering of her friends and said happily, "Thenk ye aw fur camin' today."
She looked around at the decorations Roger had put up in her absence, grinned and remarked, "Ye aw must've conspired tae keep me ootwith ay th' hoose sae Roger coods dae aw thes!"
She dabbed at her bright blue eyes and said happily, "Ah loove ye guys, one an' aw!"
Lorna chimed in with, "We had a lot of fun planning all this, we had to be really careful not to let the secret out, so some of you guys got lied to I'm afraid. Please forgive us if we didn't include all of you in this."
She smiled at all of them and placed her hands together as she bowed.
Roger grinned at everybody, "The food is all ready, it is in the kitchen, it is self serve, so feel free to dig in but remember, there is cake and ice cream to follow so leave some room!"
Soon, everyone was seated around the formal dining room table and busily engaged in making the food disappear.
The girls from the volleyball team acquitted themselves quite nicely when it came to eating hearty and put quite a dent in the food supply.
To further aid in diminishing the likelihood of left overs, Roger insisted that each guest got a plate of food as they left for home.
The next morning while every one else was sleeping, Roger got up early and was quietly taking down the decorations.
He smiled to himself, the party had been a success and Freya was now officially a teenager, albeit a very tall one.
He was nearly finished cleaning up when Sheila came strolling into the kitchen wearing a jogging outfit that did little to conceal her athletic figure.
"Going for a run?" He asked his towering guest.
"Of course! I get restless if I can't get out and exert myself."
She grinned and said amiably, "I've had fun playing basketball with Freya, it's nice to be able to mix it up with someone who's fairly strong and can challenge me."
"I've enjoyed the fact that, you have been able to tire her out. Freya has so much energy and she doesn't really get too many challenges down here. I feel a little guilty about not being able to keep up with her physically, but then I remember what she is and our age differences." Replied Roger.
Sheila smiled and said quietly, "I am going to have go back soon, I can only goof off so long and my job called and asked when I'm coming back."
Roger chuckled and remarked, "I'm a little surprised you have a job, wouldn't you have quite the fortune hidden away by now? Not that I'm prying or anything."
"I have plenty of money, I keep a job mostly to keep busy, I don't have a lot of special talents other than my height and looks, which I can't really cash in on because like my other sisters, we strive to keep a low profile in order to survive."
Roger smiled and said honestly, "It's kind of a shame really, I've only met two of you claymores and I enjoyed getting to know both of you and yes, you are simply amazing looking, no matter what you're wearing or not wearing. I might add."
Sheila just smiled and remarked coyly, "I'm glad you enjoyed the show. Very few men get to see me in the nude unless I'm inviting them into my bed. You are one of the very few exceptions."
"So, when do you leave?"
"I'm leaving this coming Friday, that leaves me some time to enjoy another bowl of that delicious ramen soup!"
Roger grinned and said cheerfully, "It's a date then!"
Friday came all too quickly and Roger was driving Sheila to the airport, riding with them was Anna and Freya.
Dena was at home keeping an eye on the house and Sasha out of trouble...Presumably.
He pulled up in front of the terminal and they all piled out of the van briefly to exchange a flurry of hugs, kisses and 'fare-thee-wells'.
It was quite a sight to the other travelers with Freya towering over everybody there, Sheila with her fitness model looks, long flaxen hair and silvery gray eyes.
Anna and Roger by comparison seemed almost too plain by comparison to Freya and Sheila.
With a final hug from Sheila and a sweet parting kiss, Roger said cheerfully, "Don't be a stranger now, you know how to get in touch with us."
She smiled at him and replied, "How could I forget! Besides, I still owe you my story!"
"And I'm gonna hold you to it!" quipped Roger with a grin.
Stepping back, she picked up her carry on bag and quickly walked into the airport terminal before disappearing into the crowd.
Hopping back into the van, they left the airport and headed towards hearth and home.
On the way home, Anna said quietly, "So, when are we going to fetch those books from Canada?"
Roger looked up at the rear view mirror at her and replied, "We can leave next week actually. Freya's out of school for the summer, she usually goes up to Canada about this time anyway. I can take her this time in our big airplane instead of a borrowed floatplane, we can take a bunch of book boxes and start packing up the books for transportation."