Chapter 57
The familiar rumble of Phillip's big truck was heard as he and Freya returned from her driving lesson.
A minute or so later he and Freya's towering form came through the front door.
Straightening up again, she was grinning hugely, she'd had a lot of fun.
In their hands, was the tell tale evidence that they had left the ranch to go visit the local filling station for a soft drink.
Mia frowned at her father and said, "I hope you two didn't spoil your appetites, we cooked a lot of food! And who drove the truck while it was off the ranch?"
Freya and Phillip looked at each other and smirked sheepishly.
"Daaad?! Did you let Freya drive the truck off the ranch?"
Phillip put on his most innocent 'butter wouldn't melt in my mouth' look and said, "Welll, we figured no one would think Freya was too young to be driving. So, we took a chance and..."
Mia sighed and rubbed her forehead, "You're like a little kid, dad, honestly!"
Phillip merely shrugged and remarked, "Freya was having so much fun, I just let her drive as much as she wanted to. Besides,"
He grinned, "Lookit the size of her, d'you honestly think I could wrestle anything away from her, or that anyone would think she's underage?"
Phillip smiled at his oldest daughter, "Relax Mia, no one cared and Freya handled the truck beautifully, her flying experience came in real handy in that regard. Of course, the young lady behind the counter stared a bit when we came into the store at the filling station."
"I can imagine, she does react quite easily." commented Mia.
Phillip chuckled at the memory of their first visit to get slushies at the filling station and the girl's reaction upon seeing several lamias inside her store all at once, getting slushies and snackables.
Phillip had thought her eyes would pop out of her head at first, then he wondered if she was going to start hyperventilating until she finally calmed down, put on a brave smile and thanked them for coming as he paid for their drinks.
"Well, to be fair, we did give her quite the first time seeing a lamia experience." Commented Mia.
Phillip shrugged and replied, "Freya does stand out, being so tall and looking like someone out of Norse mythology. Patty handled it in stride, although I know she wanted to ask how tall she was."
Freya, having returned from her search for Roger, asked, "Wa is Roger asleep oot by th' barbecue?"
Mia smiled at the young giantess and replied, "He had a few beers with George and fell asleep. We figured he was pretty tired so I covered him up."
Freya sighed and muttered, "He'll dae 'at, he'll tire heemself oot an' th' moment he can relax...oot loch a licht he gaes!"
She sighed and said, "Ah'm gang tae rest up a bit afore dinner, Ah'll be in uir room."
"Don't get too relaxed dear, we'll be eating in about half an hour." commented Mia as Freya's towering form strode down the hallway to their bedroom, she gave a thumb's up sign to acknowledge Mia's comment before ducking through the door to their room.
The next half hour got a little hectic as everyone started getting ready for the feast.
Rachel and her family arrived and she brought her own contribution, freshly made tamales and mole` sauce to cover them with.
Her husband, Keith grinned and declared he'd brought himself and his own two little appetites.
Rachel simply rolled her eyes and said, "Go find George and make yourself useful."
Keith grinned at his wife and sauntered off to find George.
Mia greeted Rachel with a big hug and graciously accepted her tamales and mole' sauce, while Rachel remarked, "Surely you didn't think I would just show up with only an appetite, that's my husband's trick!"
Afterwards, Rachel glanced around and asked, "So, where's Roger and Freya? I've hardly seen them since they first met almost four years ago,"
She paused, "My God, where did the time go?"
"You've been busy with us and you live in Phoenix?" Offered Mia.
"True that, still, I should've kept better tabs on them. From what Roger's told me, they've established quite the little enclave up there in Oregon. What with the giant wolf and the wood wife now living with them, not to mention the library project and the acquisition of a library of Jotun literature and historical documents, they've been pretty busy up there." Remarked Rachel.
"So I've heard" Replied Mia, "Roger's kept us up to speed with his comings and goings and since they got that plane and Freya got her pilot's license, I'm a little surprised they haven't flown down here before."
Rachel chuckled and commented, "That plane costs big money to fly. Aviation gas runs about 4 bucks a gallon and that plane can easily take 3,000 gallons to fill up. They only flew it down here because someone else picked up the fuel costs, otherwise they would've flown commercially to save money and poor Freya would've had to adapt to the seats."
"Anyway, back to my question...Where are they?"
Mia smiled and replied, "Freya's lying down for a few minutes and Roger's conked out, out by the barbecue. He and George got into a cooler full of beers and he fell asleep in a chair, I just covered him up and left him there."
"Ah"
By the time Roger woke up it was early evening, much of the food had already been eaten and everyone was sitting about, enjoying the tryptophan high and sipping at their drinks.
He went into the kitchen and downed a big glass of water before doing anything else, then entered the living room where the dining tables had been set up.
From behind him he heard Rachel's voice, "Welcome to the land of the living, sleepyhead!"
And turned in time to receive a big hug from Rachel, his boss.
They squeezed each other briefly and upon separating, Rachel said amiably, "I thought you were gonna sleep through the party... It's good to see you again!"
Roger smiled and replied, "I damn near did sleep through the party...I guess I was more tired than I thought I was."
Rachel raised one well groomed eyebrow and said drily, "You sure it wasn't the beers you drank with George?"
Roger laughed and retorted, "That piss water? I've been drinking Jotun ale for the last few years, that sex-in-a-canoe beer shouldn't've fazed me. No honey, I was tired!"
"Sex-in-a-canoe beer?" Asked Rachel in her innocence.
"Yes, it's 'fucking near water' beer!" replied Roger with a grin.
Keith had joined them and heard that last exchange, whereupon he burst out laughing and declared, "I haven't heard it put that way before, that's funny!"
As he and Roger shook hands, he asked, "So you've been drinking this 'Jotun ale'? How is it?"
Roger grinned, "It is not for the faint of heart or weak of liver. Freya's great uncle Old Harald brews it up for their seasonal feasts, although lately he's brewed large enough batches for me to coax him into filling a small cask or two of it for me to take home with me.
"He uses fresh mountain spring water tapped right out of the mountain, I'm not sure where he gets the rest of his ingredients but the combination makes for a tasty brew."
Roger glanced around, "So, where is Freya?"
Rachel smiled, "Still conked out in her room I guess."
Roger shrugged and remarked, "I'll bet she was as tired as I was. We were up before 5 A.M. Getting the plane ready, then there was the flight getting here. Flying a plane is a lot different than flying in a plane."
"How so?" asked Keith.
"For one thing, there's all those instruments to watch, engines to monitor, oil temperature gauges, pressure gauges, fuel reserves, a shit ton of things to keep an eye on."
Roger smiled,"Passengers have no idea of how busy it can be in a cockpit, while they're deciding which movie to watch."
Excusing himself, Roger went to find Freya.
Entering their room, he found her stretched out on one of the beds, her feet hanging off the end of the bed.
Roger smiled slightly and thought, "Poor kid, living in a world that's too small for her. Thank goodness she has her gardens to play in."
He gently tugged on one of her size 18 feet and said softly,"Freya...Freya, it's time to get up...Everyone's here and there's food to eat."
She smiled in her sleep and smacked her well formed lips.
Roger, as if seeing her for the first time, suddenly realized that Freya had become a beautiful young woman without him realizing it.
Seemingly overnight she had gone from a gangly, awkward girl-child with a shy smile to a poised, confident, beautiful young woman ready to take on the world.
She yawned hugely and scratched herself, then her bright blue eyes fluttered open and she was back to being the gangly girl-child he was so familiar with.
The poised, confident beauty had slipped back into her future self again.
She sat up and blinked a few times, then she asked,"Hoo lang hae ye been awake? Last Ah saw ay ye, ye waur oot loch a licht, oot by th' barbecue."
"About 15-20 minutes or so, let's get something to eat, before everything's gone."
Not bothering to put on her shoes, Freya padded silently behind Roger out to the dining area where she met Rachel's family for the first time.
Keith grinned as he shook hands with the young giantess, towering nearly a foot and a half over him. "It's a pleasure to meet you Freya."
She smiled in reply.
12 year old Kevin gawked at her, he was only about 5 foot six and just entering his growth spurt towards his adult size.
He stammered, "H..How, old are you?"
Freya smiled, "Ah jist turned thirt'een an' ah'm gang intae th' eighth grade thes faa."
Kevin looked like he wanted to ask what she said when Rachel said, "Freya's a Jotun, that's the way she talks, they all talk that way."
Mary, being the more forthright of the two, stepped right up and extended her hand,
"Hi! I'm Mary, pleased to meet you. Don't mind my dumb brother, he's actually okay once you get to know him."
Freya smiled at the self confident ten year old and replied, "It's okay, me brothers ur th' same way. Ah dornt mind."
Mary grinned and asked, "How many brothers do you have?"
Freya replied amiably, "Four, an' Ah'm th' yoongest ay fife kids. Three ay me brothers ur married an' hae kids ay their own."
Roger cleared his throat and said, "Let us grab a bite to eat and we can visit later."
They headed to the long side board where all the food was laid out, grabbed a couple of plates and served themselves.
Roger took some of the tri-tip, a baked potato and an ear of roasted corn for starters. A couple of Rachel's tamales smothered with mole` and a big glass of water completed his pickings.
Freya essentially doubled up his choices and they sat down to eat.
Kevin noted the foaming glass of beer in front of Freya and remarked, "How come she gets to drink beer and we can't?"
Rachel, without skipping a beat replied, "Because I say you can't young man. Besides, Freya's people customarily drink beer or ale with their evening meals."
"Oh." muttered Kevin as he nursed his cola drink between bites.
"So, what's on the agenda for tomorrow?" asked Roger.
Rachel's reply surprised him,"We're all going to the airshow...All of us."
Glancing over at the smiling faces of Mia and her family, Roger asked hesitantly, "All of you? As in everyone here?"
Rachel grinned and said, "I did say that didn't I? Yes, all of us here."
"Hooo boy, does Tom know of this?"
"Of course he does, in fact he suggested it." replied Rachel.
Roger chuckled, "The Phoenix, Arizona labor day weekend air show is never gonna forget this!"
He smiled, "What time do we leave in the morning?"
George quipped, "We're leaving at 7 A.M. So don't be thinking about laying around and scratching all morning."
"Perish the thought, " Retorted Roger, "The trick is going to be waking up a certain sleepyhead before then."
Freya stuck out her tongue at him, not bothering to respond to his remarks while she was noshing.
After dinner, a video game console was brought out and the adults watched while the older children, Freya included, waged war on hapless monsters in the game.
Roger found himself with a lap full of young lamias looking at him with adoring eyes while he talked to them.
A the limits of his hearing, he heard Ayesha say to Phillip, "Roger would've made a good husband for one of our girls, look at how Mia's kids have taken to him!"
Roger felt his cheeks start to redden, then he chuckled at Phillip's reply, "You already have him married off to Freya, don't tell me you've changed your mind?"
Ayesha's retort caused his cheeks to flush again, "Oh, don't you worry dearest, he's still going to marry Freya, I'm just saying he would've made a good husband had he still been a virgin...The girls love him like an uncle, that's all."
Roger quietly thanked his lucky stars that Henri DuValliere was not there to tease him about Ayesha's remarks.