Page 23 of Liam

It doesn’t take us long to get to the field the Crows use for this event. Slowing to a stop, I roll down the window of the car so I can speak to Sam, Ben, and Alec, who are manning the gate.

“Evening, lads,” I greet them.

Sam comes up to the window, “Hi, Liam, you guys look awesome. Dad said to tell you to park with the rest of the family. If you go past that line of cars right to the end, you’ll see a privateaccess only sign. One of the Temple brothers should be there. They’ll let you in.”

“Thanks, Sam. Johnny and JoJo are in the cars behind me.”

“I’ll let them know to follow you,” Sam assures me, stepping back. Following his directions, I find the private parking, with either Brice or Booker Temple waving at me. I’ve still not figured out how to tell them apart.

“Wow,” Ally whispers softly from the back seat as she looks out over the sea of well-lit tents. It has a decidedly carnival atmosphere.

“Wow indeed,” Sera agrees, her face pressed against the window much like my nieces.

“Do they do this every year?” she wants to know.

“No, this is only the third year they have been doing this,” I reply, stopping the car in the space that I was shown. “They started this in 2003, I think, as a way to raise funds for the village or the local schools.”

“Amazing.”

“You girls ready to go and get some treats and play some games?” I ask, meeting Ally and Jeanie’s eyes in the rearview mirror.

They both beam happy smiles, nodding their heads.

“Good, grab the shields and swords and let’s go wow the masses with your costumes. You’re safe enough here, girls, but if at any time you’re worried, you come and find me or any of the adults that you know. Okay?”

“Okay, Uncle Liam,” they both agree, opening their doors as Sera’s squad walks over to us, followed by Johnny, Maya, and their children.

“Here, girls, I made you these in case it got cold,” JoJo says, holding up two capes. She swirled each one around the girls’ shoulders and did them up with a toggle clasp. “They’ve got hoods, so if you get cold, you can pull them up.”

Ally and Jeanie throw their arms around JoJo, “Thanks, Aunt JoJo, these are so pretty,” Jeanie tells her. “Our costumes are so awesome this year. I’m glad you all came with Aunt Sera.”

“Aw, honey, you’re welcome. I love doing stuff like this,” JoJo assures her. “Just think what we can do next year with a whole year to plan.”

Sera wears a soft smile as she watches JoJo with Jeanie and Ally. Wrapping my arm around her shoulders, I press a kiss to Sera’s temple. “She’s in a good place to heal, baby. We’ll get her there.”

Turning her head towards me, Sera presses a kiss to my lips, “We will. I think this move is the best thing that’s happened to all of us.”

“You guys look fantastic,” Brice/Booker says as he walks towards us.

“Thanks, Booker,” Ally smiles. Booker it was then—how the hell she knew which twin he was, I’d like to know.

“Follow that rope path and you’ll come out by the booth that Bren, Carly, and Bella are running. The pub is a bit farther in, and there are rides close to that,” he tells the rest of us.

“Right, let’s go,” Johnny says, taking Emy from Maya as he and Maya start walking down the path as directed. It’s all well-lit, so it’s easy to see where we’re going. It doesn’t take us long to get to the first booth.

They’ve set it up so that booths selling goods are on one side, and down the other side are decorated cars with tables full of chocolate and sweets for the kids to do trick or treating from.

“How amazing is this,” Ange says as we all look around, and I have to agree with them.

“Where do you girls want to start?” I ask Ally and Jeanie, who are both looking a little shell-shocked at the sheer volume of people, tables, and stalls.

“I tell you what,” Sera says, wrapping an arm around Ally’s shoulder. “Let’s start at the top here and work our way down. You girls stop us when you see something you want to do or if there’s a ride you want to take. Jeanie, you stick with your Uncle Liam.”

That’s what we do. As a group, we walk down together, stopping when the girls see something that interests them. Finally, they are relaxed enough to enjoy themselves. I’d have thought that Sera’s girls squad would have got bored following along beside us, but it seemed that they’d taken the girls under their wing and were more than happy to spoil them with small trinkets they bought from various booths.

We’d wended our way down until we’d hit the small funfair. Our first stop was the bumper cars. I knew from experience that I wouldn’t fit, but that didn’t stop the girls. They each jumped into a car, with JoJo and Sera taking Ally and Jeanie with them. I knew straight away this was going to get messy; none of them took any prisoners. I had to hand it to them, though; they didn’t go for anyone outside of our group.

I was outright laughing when the cars came to a stop and everyone else who had been riding the bumper cars at the same time as them got out. I wasn’t too worried, as almost all were laughing at their antics. Jeanie and Ally got out and walked towards me with wide smiles.

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