“So how did the two of you meet?” I asked. “I’m assuming it wasn’t over a potluck dinner at the farm.”
Lisa giggled and relaxed a bit, leaning into Evan’s shoulder as they sat on the branch. “I found him in the dinosaur exhibit. Right by a huge stuffed sabertooth cat.”
“We went to different schools,” Evan interrupted. “Never met each other. But one day we ended up going downtown to the Royal Ontario Museum for a field trip. A couple of classes from a bunch of schools all packed onto the same set of buses headed down to the city.” He turned and smiled at Lisa. “I saw her hanging out with a few of her friends and knew she was my soul mate. Walked over and introduced myself, wowed her girl posse and they all took off, leaving her with me.” His chest puffed out. “She looked at me and I was done for.”
I couldn’t help smiling.
Lisa took up the tale. “I knew he was family so I figured it’d be okay to talk to him. Didn’t even occur to me to ask for his last name. I got his phone number after we had lunch together.” She took his hand and squeezed it. “I was all bold and brassy about asking for his number but inside I was all terrified and shaking that he’d say no, that he didn’t like me that much after all.”
“As if.” Evan placed a light kiss on her cheek.
“When did your parents find out?” I asked.
Evan spoke first. “We started texting back and forth as soon as we got back home trying to arrange a get-together.”
Lisa interrupted. “There’s a mall in Barrie that my friends go to all the time to hang out. We met there a few times with our school buddies, sort of chaperoning us.” She gave me a sheepish smile. “Playing it safe. Can’t ever be too careful these days.”
Evan took up the story. “So we’re running up the phone bills with the texting, as you can guess. My mother looked at the cell phone records and saw me making all these text messages to a number. We were getting close to maxing our calling plan out so she checked out who I was calling.” He shook his head. “She freaked when she realized Lisa was a Middleston. Screamed and yelled about how she killed my grandmother.”
“Which I didn’t,” Lisa muttered.
“Wait. Neither of you knew about the feud?” I pointed at each in turn. “No daily roll call of your mortal enemies, no mantra about spilling blood for blood?”
Lisa shrugged. “Sure, Dad talked a lot about it. Told me the Chandlers fixed it all up, picked a field with a rabbit warren nearby to make sure Grandma would be at a disadvantage. She trips, falls and dies and it’s all the Chandlers’ fault.” She squeezed Evan’s hand. “I told him it was an accident.”
“The story I got told was that Maureen Middleston didn’t want to fight but Laura Chandler goaded her on so much that she went into a rage and didn’t see where she was going,” Evan said. “When Laura ran to get help she broke her leg by tripping over one of those same holes. Be pretty stupid to get caught by your own plan.” He looked at me. “I’m not saying my grandmother wasn’t partially responsible but that’s in the past. I’m not running my life based on old bones.”
“You’re pretty mature for your age.” I winced as I pulled up one leg, tucking it under me. “Most young men would be intimidated by their mother acting that way.”
“My older brother, he’s the dedicated one.” Evan rolled his eyes. “Dale, he thinks we’re at war. Mom and he never stop whining about the business, who screwed who and how to screw the Middlestons and their friends. But he’s a mama’s boy. Gets himself all buffed up, works out and talks tough but I know he’s a pussy.”
Both Lisa and I winced at the word.
Evan flushed. “Sorry, ladies.”
“How aggressive is your mother?” I asked, giving Evan a way out of his faux pas. “Is she likely to send your brother after you or Lisa if her enforcer can’t pull it off by himself?”
“Not if she’s smart,” he snarled. “Michael knows he can’t take me in a fight. He might be older but I’m faster.”
“And your mother?” I prompted. “Could she get into it beside McCallister, back him up?”
He shook his head. “She’s getting older and more tired with every brawl. There’s been a few challenges over the years, mostly from family friends who don’t want to lose money for what they see as history.” He spotted my frown and continued. “She’s been nitpicking at the Middlestons for years, undercutting them where she can. My dad ran a construction company, so she tries to poach contracts from the Middlestons. Problem is, now we’re running on fumes ’cause she keeps losing money on the deals.”
“Wait a minute.” I waded through the confusion in my mind. “So Mary Chandler is your mom’s married name? She married into the family?”
It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Red’s version of events but I needed verification.
Evan sighed. “Nope. Before Laura Chandler died she made both of her daughters promise to keep the Chandler name even if they got married, continue the bloodline. My dad’s name is Farmington and he was the sole one who used it to the day he died.”
My head buzzing, I turned to Lisa. “And your dad works in construction. Does he have any brothers?” It wasn’t just to make idle conversation. I needed to know the potential number of Felis we could be facing if Jake decided to bring everyone to the party to get his daughter back.
“He’s an only child,” Lisa said. “He’s got plenty of friends, though, and crib brothers.” She scrunched up her face. “Like Eddie. He’s a nice guy but I know he’s done some nasty things in the past for my dad.”
I rubbed my face with both palms, keenly aware of maintaining my balance. I’d gotten some information but the cold hard truth was that if we were facing one or one hundred angry Felis it didn’t matter—it’d still be too many for me and these kids to handle.
“How passionate is your dad about this feud?”
Lisa shrugged. “Told me and my sisters we weren’t ever to talk to a Chandler, be in the same room as a Chandler, the usual babble. I hear him cursing once in awhile, when he’s gotten screwed out of a contract from Chandler or her buddies. But he’s not as fanatical as Evan’s mother, I think.”
“Fanatical enough to send Eddie after you.” I pointed out.
“That’s because he’s afraid he’ll lose face with the family if he lets me go, especially without putting up a fight.”
I had to give it to Lisa. I hadn’t even thought of that.
“How did he take it when he figured out who your new boyfriend was?”
Lisa rolled her eyes. “He ranted and raved, stomped around and told me I was to never see him again. As if he could really enforce that.”
I didn’t think it was the right time to point out her father could, with ease, make it happen.
We fell silent. It wasn’t an uneasy silence but the type that goes before a fight when you remember all those old prayers from your youth.
“I know ’bout you,” Evan whispered as we crouched low on the branches. “Your mate is a human, right?”
“Yep.” I sniffed the air. The hunters were out there but keeping their distance. Bran’s scent was louder, stronger as he paced around the base of the tree. The enforcers were waiting for the right time to charge us and that could be soon.
I scented other kids around us, hiding in the trees or huddled in the bushes. Bran was keeping any other couples from attempting to climb into the tree, something I made a mental note to thank him graciously for later. Last thing we needed was more potential victims added into the mix.
“So,” Lisa paused, “what’s it like with a human?”
I licked my lips before answering. “Fun.”
She frowned and looked at Evan before looking back at me. “Fun? But he’s not, you know—” She rocked from side to side, suddenly shy. “One of us. Family.”