Page 91 of Welcome to Fae Cafe

“To… Katherine.”

Thelma only sighed. “Oh, Cress. You don’t understand. Katherine had to watch her parents die in front of her. I won’t be another loved one she has to watch. I’ll be a soft passing memory for her. A recollection of good times, not bad ones. That’s what I’ll be for Katherine, and Lily, and Greyson, too.” Her hand came out of her coat pocket around three letters.

Cress closed his eyes. He knew those letters.

Thelma put the letters against his chest and held them there until he took them.

“If this is what you want,” he said.

“It is. Now quit being such a whiny baby, and let’s go sit on that bench.” Thelma smiled as she limped off to a bench by the sidewalk. She brushed aside sand and watery snow before taking a seat.

After a moment, Cress marched up the beach and sat down beside her.

Thelma rested her head on his shoulder. “Now, tell me what it was like to grow up in a place where everyone always wanted to trick you,” she said.

Cress folded his arms with the letters peeking out from his elbow. “It was terrible. I had a vicious queene for a mother who wanted to both destroy me and keep me around at the same time. She pitted others against me, hired assassins to kill me, and played mind games to see if I would survive.”

“What a life that must have been. Obviously it wasn’t the life you wanted?”

“No.”

“What life did you want then?” Thelma’s voice was quiet, barely a whisper.

Cress studied the peaceful lake as he thought about it. The quietness reminded him of violet grass fields, jade-leafed trees with unusual personalities in their trunks, and warm weather in a gold-spun straw hut. “I wanted a life with my real mother.” His throat bobbed. “I just wanted a faeborn life that was simple.”

At first, he thought Thelma was thinking about all he’d said. He waited for a response, but as the minutes ticked by and he didn’t get one, he turned his ear to catch her rhythm. His heart slid a little deeper into his chest.

Thelma Lewis’s rhythm was no more.

Cress remained there, arms folded. A tear slid down his cheek. After a moment, he reached over and took the old woman’s hand, even though she didn’t hold it back. A low, quiet sob lifted in his throat, a sign of utter weakness he didn’t shew away.

There on the beach, he cried for the old woman. He cried for the loss he knew Kate Kole would feel. He cried for the mother who was taken away from him. And he cried for the simple life he’d never been allowed to have.

31

Kate Kole and All the Burnt Cookies

Short increments of late-morning sunshine chased the snow away. Loud chatter filled the café, along with the smell of fresh-pressed coffee beans and warm community. Chairs squeaked, cutlery clapped together, people sipped, and occasionally a chorus of laughter erupted from one of the groups. Shayne’s new mugs decorated the bistro tables, along with Christmas garland and pinecone centrepieces Lily had made. Kate snapped a photo of it all for Fae Café’s social media page.

“Taste this,” Dranian said in his deep, drone voice. He held a mug filled with cinnamon-smelling milk toward Kate’s mouth. “It’s meant to mimic Yule gingerbread.”

“Why can’t you try it yourself?” Kate asked as she took it and sipped.

“Fairies don’t eat bread.”

Kate nearly hissed out the drink as she laughed. “Gingerbread isn’t real bread,” she said, handing it back to him. “And I love this. Add it to the menu.”

Dranian looked into the mug for a few moments. Then he slowly, hesitantly, brought it to his lips to try it.

“Seriously, where in the faeborn-cursed Corners is Cress?” Mor marched out of the kitchen. “The fool instructed me not to leave, so I can’t go out and look for him without being punished…” His voice drifted off as the café bell clinked and the door swished open.

A gust of chilly air rushed in. Cress followed it.

Shanye stopped what he was doing and eyed the fae Prince. “What’s gotten into him?”

“Has something happened?” Mor asked Cress. It was more of a demand than a question.

Cress lifted his head to look at Kate. Envelopes were in his fist. After several seconds of staring in silence, he took one out and held it toward her. “I promise, I didn’t try and take her from you,” he said.

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