Page 24 of Renaissance Bear

Chapter 12

When Jon said 'rally the troops,' Alis had not expected to end up back at his family's pub surrounded by roughly nine thousand men and women who were all cut from the same basic template that Jon and Laurie were. She didn't know what shehadexpected, but definitely not that.

The pub itself was amazing. Log cabin walls, a high peaked roof, rooms that were clearly later additions, but only because they had little plaques above the doors announcing the year that room had opened. The main bar stretched down the long central room, which had a small but full-blown stage at one end and a variety of booths along a wall and more movable seating in the central area. The Colorado state flag, high on the rafters, was flanked by a host of new Pride flags and the American flag. It was a huge open welcoming space, and it appeared to be entirely filled by Jon's family, who were all talking at full, outraged volume.

Alis thought she might need to blow her cover and call Jasmine for moral support. She'd never been surrounded by so many blonds in her life. Dark blond, bright blond, honey blond,medium blond, strawberry blond, bearded blond, justblond. The only ones who weren't blond were clearly partners, which gave Alis a sort of semi-hysterical sense of relief. At least if this sizzling connection with Jon wasn't just a passing fancy, she wouldn't be expected to bleach her hair.

They were also all shockingly tall. Alis and Jazz were both about five ten, which usually made them visibly taller than the norm for women. In this bar full of Torbens, she was average, maybe even slightly on the short side. She said, "Is it something in the water?" out loud, not expecting anyone—even Jon, who was right beside her, talking to another Torben—to hear her.

Somebody on her other side laughed, though, and Alis turned toward a blonde woman just a couple inches taller than she, who said, "The height or the blondness?"

"Either! How did you know that's what I meant?"

"Because that's how everybody reacts when they end up in this madhouse for the first time. We've got some cousins growing up in Alaska and they're all just as tall and blond, so I don't think it's the water. I'm Ashley." Ashley offered a hand. "We're a lot, I know. At least youaretall. My girlfriend is five four when she tries really hard."

"I assume she savages the ankles of anyone who gives her a hard time about that." Alis shook Ashley's hand gratefully as the other woman laughed.

"Ah, yes, I see you've met her. Sorry about all this. We all got your name but you've got twenty-two to remember."

"Is that how many people are in here? I was trying to count and came up with eight hundred. You're—you're the pub manager, aren't you? Jon mentioned you. He says you kick ass."

Ashley, who was one of the honey blondes but whose skin was a much tawnier brown than most of the other Torbens', beamed. "I am, and I do, and thank you for telling me he said that. I've been doing this for about eight months and I love it butmy God those boys are hard to wrangle. Well, Jon's shaped up. Laurie, though." She rolled her eyes. "Good thing he's cute."

"You're all cute," Alis said. "You all look alike. Friendly blond giants. My god, you're all golden retrievers."

Ashley laughed aloud again. "No. Not quite. But yeah, the family stamp is heavy on this crowd. The good thing about it is when people see one of us coming they know they're going to have to deal with the whole clan if things go sideways. Which it sounds like they're going to." Her dark brown eyes narrowed. "I can't believe somebody is threatening the faire. Mac, over there—" She pointed at a group of tall blonds, any one of whom could be 'Mac'—is a lawyer, though, and she's going to file an injunction at the courthouse tomorrow as soon as it opens, and Uncle Dave is in real estate, so he's already on the job there, as you can see."

That suggested Uncle Dave was the guy on the phone. Mac being a woman narrowed it down to only two of the people in the group of five, which was something. Alis blurted, "How are you allrelated?" in either shock or awe. She wasn't sure which.

"Exactly, or in general?"

"In general. I don't think I could remember exactly. There are just so many of you. How is it even possible for there tobethat many of you?"

"Right. My dad has three brothers and two sisters. Most of them have at least two kids. Several have…more. And a bunch of us have partners and or kids now, so the numbers add up really fast. This is really only about two-thirds of us, and Jon got my mom and dad down off the mountain for this, so it's a big deal."

'Got them off the mountain' was more than Alis could deal with. She skipped that part, asking, "And Jon is your…?" instead.

"First cousin. His dad and my dad are brothers."

"Okay. That'll do me for now. Man. I have one sister and two cousins. How do you keep everybody straight?"

Ashley, without missing a beat, said, "Oh, they totally failed to keep us all straight. After all, I did mention my girlfriend," and Alis laughed. Ashley looked pleased with herself, but also shook her head. "Just keeping the cousins straight isn't that hard, but now that they're starting to have kids I'm beginning to lose track. I do now understand why the teachers just used to yell, 'Torben!' when they wanted me, though. The oldest of them had taught Dad's generation so by the time it got to me and Jon and Laurie they'd already had like fifteen Torbens go through and remembering everybody's first name was a lost cause."

"Thank you," Alis said, not sure she was kidding. "I'm going to just steal that trick."

Ashley grinned. "You'll get used to us. I'll introduce you to Penny when she's in town next and you two can commiserate."

"Oh, I'm only here through next weekend."

Ashley's eyebrows rose. "Really?"

"Well, yes. I've got another faire the week after that, out in Seattle. It's the first time I've ever gotten this far west and I'm trying to make the most of it."

Ashley said, "Huh," like that was genuinely surprising news. "Well, I guess Renaissance will always be ready to welcome you back, because I think your presence is going to be the catalyst that lets us save our faire."

"Somebody would have heard about the fairgrounds being sold," Alis protested, but Ashley shook her head.

"Somebody alreadyshouldhave heard about it, is the thing. Nothing goes under the radar in a town this small. So the fact that they've gotten as far as filing paperwork without anybody knowing means they're somehow keeping a really tight lid on it, and I think it might actually have been too late if you hadn't spread the word."

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