Page 35 of Jack of All Trades

“You weren’t ready, dear.” She looked at Maltin and said, “But I think you are now. The both of you.” Turning back to Jack, she finished, “After you take care of your personal problems.”

“Problems?”

Maltin knew what she meant. “Jack, she means, you know, our families.”

After giving him a wink, she left to head back to the desk, calling back to them, “I’ll check that out for you. Take it for as long as you need, dears.”

Maltin took the book and then took Jack’s hand. “We’ll only read this together. Understand?”

“Yes. I don’t think I could without you. I have a feeling I’ll need you. Does that make me completely pathetic?”

“Yes,” he teased.

Jack laughed a little too loudly, and two people walking by the stack shushed them.

Back at the warehouse, a stretch limo sat. “What the hell?” Jack asked.

Maltin’s laugh came more from relief than anything. “It’s someone very special and someone that knows how special he is.”

“Huh?”

Before he could explain, the driver got out and moved around to the back door, opening it. Maltin saw Jack waiting breathlessly. With a flourish that only his uncle could accomplish, wearing only the most expensive clothes money could buy, a man emerged from the limo's backseat, his arms stretched out to either side of him. “Malty! How are you, my beautiful nephew?”

Maltin went to Rodney Hilderbrand and received the hug. He was lifted off the ground as Rodney sang a chorus of guffaws. “Oh, it’s so good to see you!”

“You too, Rodney. You, too.” Maltin said once he was back on the ground.

“This must be your…mate?”

Before Jack could introduce himself, Rodney lifted him off the ground in another hug and more laughter rang out.

Maltin rushed over to them and begged his uncle, “Don’t…overly do it, Rodney. He’s a bit skittish from all this.”

Jack was pale and drawn but smiling, especially after Rodney pinched his cheek and said, “He’s a peach! If I weren’t the stud of a million beautiful ladies, I would definitely take him from you.”

“We’re fated mates, Rodney. I doubt that.”

“You must have forgotten your lineage, dear boy. Your mother so wooed your father that he no longer cared about his own fated mate.”

“One, I’m not a boy, and you’re a week younger than I am. Two, if he’d met his first, I wouldn’t be here, at least not as Trudy Hilderbrand’s son.”

“Pish, posh, my boy. Pish posh.”

Maltin finally introduced them properly. “Jack, this Broadway Show on two legs is my uncle. Rodney, this is my mate, Jack.”

“He’s a real peach. Too handsome for you, old boy.”

Jack laughed and reached out his hand to Rodney. “Nice to meet you.”

“Polite, too. Surprisingly, after being raised by those fobs, the Pengroves. They’re so stuck up; they can’t stand out in the rain for fear of drowning.”

Jack’s eyes lit on him. “What? You told him?”

“He’s my family, Jack. He’s also more powerful than any other witch I’ve ever seen or heard of.”

As Jack’s brows raised, he asked, “Really?”

“Yes. He’s accompanying us when we confront your family with the truth.” He turned to Rodney and warned, “And we’re only telling them. You’re here in case they try to hurt Jack. They’re going to learn their child died almost twenty-three years ago.”

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