103 This Is Your Home

Ruby wasn't in a good mood. Being the only one awake during daylight hours had been hard in the decades that Flora was gone. She was so used to cultivating their greenhouses together that she had hardly been able to bear stepping foot inside either one of them for a while once she was gone.

She still got melancholy about it sometimes, like now. The witch covens all kept in contact with each other so she had a general idea of where Flora had gone over the years if she visited one because of the gossip mill.

The first thing she did after leaving home was head straight to their old hometown looking for answers. Blair had told her what actually happened with the Cromwell coven before she moved on making her way east.

Last Ruby heard she was living in Michigan. That had been thirteen years ago.

She tried not to think about her wayward cousin too much because all it did was depress her. She had a good life here. Her husband and son adored her, she never had to worry about money, and she was able to be herself freely on their property because of the blood barrier. There really wasn't anything to complain about.

She finished up harvesting the apples growing in one of the greenhouses and wondered if she should make an apple pie tomorrow. She would be the only one eating it but that didn't matter; by this point she was used to cooking for one.

The sun was setting so Vesper should be waking up soon. Ash was out at the moment picking up more blood pills for the two of them so Ruby was the only one outside.

When she heard someone calling her name she thought she was hallucinating at first. "Ruby! Hey, Ruby, turn around!"

She nearly dropped the basket of apples when she recognized the voice. She set the basket down and turned toward the sound of the noise and spotted her cousin waving to her from a few dozen yards away.

Frozen in shock, Ruby ended up nearly being knocked out of the sky by the force of Flora's hug. "What are you doing here?"

The younger fairy pulled away and played with her hair sheepishly. "I've been away from home too long, haven't I? I really didn't mean for things to go on this long…I stopped being upset about what happened ages ago but I ended up meeting some people and got distracted.

"If you're still upset with me for leaving I'll totally understand. I really wanted to introduce my boyfriend to my family though so I came home without warning. I'm sorry, Ruby. I acted immaturely. I know it's too much for me to hope that things could be the way they were before but—"

She shook her head as she cut her cousin off. "No, it's not. You will always have a place here if you want it. This is your home."

Flora was obviously touched but before she could say anything else she remembered the fairy that was with her and slapped a hand to her forehead. "Ah, I'm so stupid! Ruby, this is my boyfriend Dylan Rivers. Dylan, this is my cousin Ruby who is also basically my mom."

A water fairy smiled nervously and waved as he approached. "Nice to meet you, ma'am."

She laughed, unable to help wondering what exactly Flora had told him about her that made him feel the need to be so polite. "No need to 'ma'am' me; that makes me feel old. Why don't you two come on in and set your bags down? My son Vesper should be awake soon and I'm sure he'll be happy to see you."

"How is Ves?" Flora asked wistfully. "He was so little when I left."

"He missed you a lot at first but we all did. He's doing great; he has a real knack for magic!"

The trio of fairies headed into the castle and a small blur launched itself at Ruby's leg as they made it back to Flora's old room. She smiled and reached down to pet her son's cute little head.

"Hey baby. Guess who came to see us?"

Vesper blinked up at his mother sleepily for a moment but he was wide awake once he caught sight of Flora. She looked exactly like he remembered her and he changed the target of his affection immediately.

"Flora! You came back!" he exclaimed happily. "I knew you would!"

"Of course I did; I missed you too much," she said affectionately as she also mussed up his hair. "Come say hi to my boyfriend Dylan."

Dylan had obviously been warned beforehand about who he would be meeting because he seemed curious but not terribly shocked at the sight of the little vampire eying him. He had probably never seen a vampire before but Vesper had definitely never seen a water fairy.

The two of them were sizing each other up when Ash's voice sounded from downstairs. "Ruuuubyyyy I'm baaaaack! Where are you?"

"Up here!" she hollered back at him.

He walked up the stairs and his face broke into a stunned yet warm smile when he saw Flora. He immediately went over to hug her. "Well isn't this a nice surprise! I'm so glad you're home."

"Me too. Thanks," Flora said a bit shyly. She pulled back and introduced him and Dylan. "This is Ash; Ruby's husband and essentially my second dad. Ash, this is my boyfriend Dylan. He really wanted to meet you guys so here we are."

Ruby wondered exactly how much of that was true. Did he want to meet her family before or after finding out how unusual they were?

Whatever the case, Flora obviously wasn't ashamed of them anymore because she brought someone important to her here and showed him her family's unspeakable secret. She must really trust him.

"Why don't we go down to the kitchen and get something to eat?" Ruby suggested. "I was about to make dinner when you caught me anyway. What sounds good, Flora?"

She seemed surprised that her cousin cared about her opinion considering she showed up uninvited after running away from home for a couple decades. "…could we have spaghetti with your famous meat sauce?"

Ruby beamed at her. That had always been one of Flora's favorites. "Absolutely."