Page 62 of Demon and the Raven

“I’ve heard that before too,” Toby commented. “But it doesn’t make any sense. Food would have to get out of your stomach and enter your bloodstream, and that sounds bad.”

“It sounds like the waitress didn’t know what she was talking about,” I assured them.

They both looked at me skeptically.

“Let’s make muffins and have cheese and bread and grapes and cherries.”

Toby’s eyes got huge. “You have cherries?” he asked excitedly.

“Of course I have cherries for you. Mr. Wingate makes sure I always have some because he knows you love them.”

He gave a little whoop of joy that made JJ giggle, and dashed to the refrigerator. The shout of happiness when he found them where they always were made me smile. The warm breeze weaving through the kitchen let me know that my cottage enjoyed the little boy’s mirth as well. I knew it loved both kids, given how often things like colored pencils and magnifying glasses, step ladders and blocks showed up out of the blue.

“Thank you for loving them,” I whispered, and lo and behold, some of Troy’s lavender honey that I had been missing for a couple of days was carried to the table with the cherries.

“Can we have biscuits with honey too?” JJ asked me.

“Of course you can.” I went to grab what I needed for those.

A little after five, the three of us were feasting when Amanda returned with Lorne. He greeted the cottage warmly and then crossed the floor to me. I got a quick kiss, and then he went directly to the bedroom to change. Amanda came into the kitchen and immediately asked JJ to smear some honey on a biscuit for her.

“I’ll make it really good for you, Mom.”

She smiled as she watched her baby, and then Toby presented her with her lavender, eucalyptus, sage, and daisy bouquet.

“Oh, sweetheart, I love it.”

He beamed with pride.

Once Lorne reappeared, he walked over and went to one knee by Toby’s chair. When Toby turned and hugged him, I saw how Amanda was looking at the man I loved, like she was terribly fond of him as well. So many people grabbed Toby because he was gentle and quiet, but Lorne always let the child make the decision to embrace or not.

Amanda’s youngest was next, and when Lorne went to the other side of the table, he repeated his movement, taking a knee, and JJ flung themself at Lorne the same way they did with their father and me, knowing that we were more than happy to receive hugs however JJ was in the mood to give them. Other people in their life, their grandfather, Eddie’s dad, as well as Eddie’s brothers, sisters, and their husbands, all told JJ to slow down, be careful, and take it easy. And then they wondered why JJ shook hands now. Yet another reason that Amanda was not enamored of her husband’s family.

“Nice of you to kill dinner for me,” she grumbled, looking at the spread.

“We’re eating broccoli.” JJ showed her, dipping a floret into homemade ranch dressing.

“And carrots and baby tomatoes,” Toby chimed in as he speared one with his fork.

“This little feast makes zero sense,” she told me. “But I don’t care. You guys keep eating, watch something on your tablet, and the grown-ups are going to talk for a bit.”

“May I have a biscuit with honey too?” Lorne asked JJ.

“Yes, you can. I’ll make it for you, Uncle Lorne.”

“Thank you, buddy.”

As I had always been Uncle Xan, and now Lorne lived with me, of course he’d become Uncle Lorne very quickly. Since he had a niece who already called him the same thing, he was good with it.

The three of us went over to the couch and leaned around the coffee table as JJ delivered biscuits with honey on dessert plates with cloth napkins. Toby was right behind his sibling with two glasses of mint iced tea, one for his mother and one for his uncle. Moments later, I got a glass of ice water with berries in it that we’d made earlier.

“The service in this establishment is excellent,” Lorne commented as the kids left, laughing because he was so funny.

“It certainly is,” Amanda agreed, taking a bite. “If I live to be a thousand, my biscuits will never be as fluffy or flaky as yours.”

I waggled my eyebrows for her.

“It really is your magic because I have your recipe and follow it to the letter.”