Page 119 of Oh No! There's an Incubus in my Hot Spring
Her bottom lip trembles and a tear slips down her cheek. She nods, closing her eyes.
I pull her into my arms and let her cry for a while. I don’t know how long it’s going to take her to accept him, but I love her, too, and we’ll figure it out.
“I guess there goes my chance at grandbabies,” she mumbles.
I pat her back with a secretive smile. “I’ll give you lots of grandkitties. How about that?”
“Noooo,” she wails. “It’s not the same.”
I laugh, using my magic to bring a box of tissues over to us. She gasps and jumps when she sees it hovering there in front of her.
“Miracles,” she says firmly, and tugs out a tissue.
She sits upright and blows her nose.
“What happened to her?” she asks. “The woman in the story who cursed him?”
“She moved into town to start the Silver Mountain Resort and had a child.”
My mom’s shrewd gaze snaps to me and she grabs another tissue. “A child?”
I smirk and nod.
Slowly, a grin spreads over her lips. “A child…”
“Don’t go getting baby crazy on me. I’m not ready.”
“Ay! Not ready?” She puts her hands on her hips. “I had you when I was twenty-six and I wish it would’ve been twenty-two.”
“Women can safely have children into their early forties,” I say.
“Forty! I can’t wait four more years for a grandchild! I’ll be too old to play with her!”
I laugh. “Don’t worry, we’ll make sure you stay nice and spry. Daily soaks and healing sessions.”
“What are you talking about?” she asks.
“Come on.” I stand up and walk toward the side French doors that lead to our little yard.
I open the doors and point to the mother-in-law cabin we built into the side of the mountain. Large flagstones are set into the ground to create a pathway from our apartment to hers, and there’s a wood fence making a yard around them both.
“One bedroom, one bathroom, kitchen, and living room. You’re free to stay there whenever you want.”
“Sylvia,” she whispers, then goes on in a rambling stream of Spanish. “It’s wonderful. You did this for me?”
“No, Apollo did,” I say. “It was even his idea. He wants to have his family close.”
He’d mentioned making her a room in the main apartment and I vetoed that faster than he could blink. But having her close will be nice. Just not so close she can hear the things that he does to me.
“When can I move in?” she asks with a teary-eyed grin.
I hold up another tissue. “Are you ready for five feet of snow?”
She grimaces. “No.”
“Then how about May?”
She giggles. “That sounds nice. Maybe I can rent out my place while I’m here and make some extra money.”
