“I’m so sorry. You let me know when you want me to come over, then.”
“I will.”
“How’s Grandma doing?”
“Raging at David on my behalf but fine otherwise.”
“Well, as much as I hate to hear it, I’m not surprised. If he finally found someone, it’s understandable.” There was a pause, then: “He’s not a royal anyway. Maybe you’ll be better off with someone who’s …” Another pause, like she wasn’t sure what kind of reception this line of discussion would get. She plowed ahead though. “Who’s like you.”
Elizabeth wasn’t bothered by the whole royal thing, not that anyone from the territory who was a royal was interested in her. And she wasn’t interested in anyone like that either. But it did worry her that Sheri said “if” he finally found someone. Did Sheri have doubts about Elizabeth’s story?
“Right,” she said, playing along, hoping that Sheri bought it. “I don’t know what I saw in a newly turned wolf anyway. He would have been nothing but heartache, and having kids by him would mean our offspring wouldn’t be royals. Why would I do that to my own children?”
“Exactly. I’ll let you get to your meal and I’ll talk to you later. Feel better.”
“Thanks, Sheri.” Elizabeth was already feeling much better. She served up the hash on a platter and took it in to her grandma. She was still eating well and had an iron stomach, Elizabeth thought, which she was thankful for.
“Did Sheri take it hook, line, and sinker?” Grandma asked.
“I think so. And because she thinks that will somehow make everything all right with the pack concerning me, she’ll spread the word. Not because she’s a gossip or anything.”
“Hopefully it will throw Kintail and the pack off the track. They’ll figure you’ll have nowhere else to go. You won’t want to join Cameron’s pack now since you’d have to see David with his new wolf mate all the time.” She held a fork full of hash suspended in front of her mouth. “Whose idea was it?”
“Mine. I suddenly figured out what might work. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it earlier.”
“Well, it’s an excellent plan,” Grandma said.
They finished eating and watched a wild thriller—her grandma’s favorite kind of movie. When it was done, Elizabeth kissed her good night. “Love you, Grandma. Call me if you need anything.”
“I will, dear. Love you too.”
* * *
Three days later, in the middle of the night, Elizabeth heard a noise coming from her grandmother’s room and went to check on her to see if she needed anything. She pushed open the door, listening to the quiet darkness within. Her grandmother had died peacefully in her sleep.
Tears ran in tracks down Elizabeth’s face as the reality of her grandma’s death pierced her heart. But like Grandma had told her, when the time came, she had to bury her sorrow for the moment and put a plan of action in place right away.
Elizabeth dried her eyes and called David, waking him from sleep. “David, Grandma’s gone.” Her voice cracked with emotion.
“Oh God, Elizabeth, I’m so sorry. How are you doing?”
“I don’t know. I mean, I have expected this forever, and yet, it’s never seemed real to me. Even now, I can’t believe it. But”—the tears flowed again, unchecked—“Grandma died peacefully in her sleep, at home, just like she wanted, and she would tell me to get my butt in gear and get going. So that’s what I’m going to do.”
“I’ll get ahold of Amelia right away and get a flight out as soon as I can. If she can’t do it, maybe her brother can. I already have a bag packed. Did you tell everyone in your pack that I had mated Candy?”
“I told Sheri. She would have told the rest of the pack.”
“Okay, good.”
“I’ll call to have my grandmother’s body picked up. I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think they’ll do anything…with her…” Her voice went soft, nearly a whisper, as she struggled to say the words. “With her body until morning at least.”
“Elizabeth, honey, it’ll be okay. I promise.” His heartbreak for her came through in every word. “Don’t think about that right now. I’ll call you back as soon as I know what time we are leaving and when we’ll get in, and we’ll go from there.”
“Okay.” She sniffed. “At least the waxing gibbous moon phase is here, so you won’t have a problem with shifting for a while. And it’s summer.” She sighed through her tears. “No moon and no snow. I swear my grandmother planned it that way. I love you so much.”
“I love you too. Your grandma was a great woman. For the time I got to know her—even though it was just on Skype—I loved her and miss her too. It’s time for us to be together now though.”
“I know she wanted this for me, for us. I know she did. She knew how much I wanted to be with you. I love you. I’ll talk to you soon.”
Then Elizabeth ended the call so she could take care of her grandmother, one last time.
Chapter 3
Hating to hear her feeling so destitute after her grandmother died and unable to hug Elizabeth like he wanted to, David was immediately on the phone to Amelia, waking her. He didn’t waste time with niceties. “Hey, it’s on.”
Amelia responded like he hadn’t just awoken her from a dead sleep. “Elizabeth’s grandmother died.”
“Yes.”
“Okay, I’m calling my mom to have her get ahold of a couple of standby pilots to take Slade’s and my flights for the next couple of days. I’ve already talked to Slade about going with us so we can switch off on flying. We always have a bag packed for emergency flights so we’re ready to leave at a moment’s notice. This is definitely an emergency rescue mission. I’ll take care of the flight plan. We’ll be going to Winnipeg, refuel, and then to Calgary, which is two hours from there. And another three hours from Calgary to Yellowknife. Are you sure that the business with being mated to ‘Candy’ was enough to have Kintail call off his watchdogs?”
“We won’t know for sure until we get there. I’ll rent a car and pick her up at some place we can agree on, someplace not anywhere near the airport so they won’t think she’s taking off. We’ll meet you back at the airport after that.”
“Okay.”
Then he called Elizabeth back. “How are you doing?”
“I wish you were here already. What’s the plan?”