Page 69 of Up In Flames

Nina

The wedding ceremony is simple. We do it in the MFD garages. The oil-slick cement is transformed by the new florist from Harleysville, whose last name is also Dean (no relation), into a magical fairyland. Flowered arches, urns of roses, and likely every pink or white bloom in the entire state of North Carolina, or maybe even the Eastern Seaboard, set the stage around an enormous pink rug with a white runner.

The mayor hears our vows. It’s all like a dream, and I’m so high, I can’t even see the ground.

After Sampson slips a diamond eternity band on my finger, after I slip a plain gold one on his, after we kiss and seal our vows, we move on to our reception.

Which is held in the middle of the road. Mossburg has shut down Main Street and lined the entire downtown with half-tents, also decorated with twinkly fairy lights and flowers. All the restaurants have contributed food, and my idea for a simple ceremony has become a town-wide festival instead. Children run wild. Adults sway to the music of a few volunteer bands. People dance, sing, drink, eat, and are generally merry. It’s the most perfect blending of humanity I’ve ever seen.

And it’s not for me. It’s for Sampson, a being who is barely human, and yet, I wasn’t wrong when I said that he’s the most human of us all. There’s so much love for him in this town, so much respect, that it bleeds into other old enmities and heals them, like the pair of feuding neighbors who now sit with their heads together in quiet conversation, or the current school bully who finds himself wielding a rope so two adorable girls can jump.

Mrs. Baggins and her husband come up to congratulate us. The small woman gives me a hug and whispers in my ear. “I knew you were the one for Sam. I told him I had a girl for him that loved jelly donuts, but I didn’t even have to introduce you. Fate did that for me.”

Sampson glances at me. There’s fire in his eyes every time he looks at me. But that’s okay. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.

I went up in flames the first time I saw my giant.

And nothing is going to douse them again.

CHAPTER 24

Two Years Later

Sampson

Priscilla bounces on my shoulder. I’ve got one hand wrapped around her small waist, holding her in place as I cut the ends of the stems she picks out by pointing, and place them in the vase I’m arranging. I’ve got more down days than I used to, but everyone at MFD insists that new fathers need time with their babies.

Okay, so Priscilla is three years old, but she’s new to us. And she’s perfect. The moment the door opened at the group home and she came in holding the hand of the director, my heart cracked into two separate pieces. Nina holds one half. My little girl holds the other.

“When is Mommy coming back?” my daughter whines, then yawns. She hates naps, but she still needs them. Getting her down is more work than putting out raging flames.

“Soon. She just went into Charlotte to meet with her agent.”

“About the giant book?”

“About the book about giants, yeah. And guess what? She’s going to use me as her main character. What do you think about that?” But my breath catches. She can’t know what giants are, other than the fact that she feels sorry for the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk. I think he reminds her of me, but anyway, I’m planting seeds. One day, I’ll explain what I am, and on that day, I don’t want my species to be a complete shock to her.

“Oh. Then he’s a good giant. That’s okay, then. She usually writes about bad vampires.”

“How do you know that?”

Priscilla shrugs. “Nicholas told me at Auntie Mari’s birthday party.”

“Well, you’re right. This giant is good, and he loves his daughter very much.” In a swift move, I lean over and catch her up into the air before I begin to blow raspberries over her stomach.

She’s still dissolved into giggles and screams when the doorbell rings. Instantly, I freeze and look daggers through the door. Too bad ex-ray vision isn’t among my angelic gifts. It’s why there’s a doorman downstairs now, paid for with far too many of my trust dollars, but worth every penny, except that Xy always manages to evade him, so I’m not sure what I’m paying for. We’re going to have a discussion soon. I need my women protected when I’m off fighting fires.

Sure enough, Xy is on the other side of the door. He’s taken to haunting the place. “Hey, princess,” he says, hunkering down and addressing Priscilla. “Look what Uncle Xy brought you.” He extends his arm, a doll in his hand.

And my heart nearly stops dead when my daughter runs to him and plucks it from his hand. She’s so close to his evil. It could reach out and grab her down to the pits. I’ve warned him about talking to her, seeing her, even thinking about her, but he’s a sadistic bastard.

If he’s picturing her as roast over a fire, I’m truly going to kill him.

“Too small. I’d throw her back,” he says under his breath, reading my mind. He winks to let me know he’s toying with me.

Asshole. And that’s not a swear word. It’s a noun that is what he is.

“Say thank you and go play with her in your room, okay, sweetheart? Daddy needs to talk to Mr. Tull.”