“Marlie, this is James, my husband,” she introduced me to a tall, dark and incredibly handsome man. When he stood up, he overpowered me, being at ...east a foot and a half taller than me. He made my knees weak and I felt like I was going to fall to the ground, but I stood still. “And this is his friend, Lenny.” “Nice to meet you both,” I said with a smile. I sat down on the couch next to Lenny, Shelly sitting across from us with her husband, her legs wrapped up over him. We all began to drink,. She was looking a little fearful so on the second trip to the barn, I touched her shoulder to get her attention. "Kira, look at me." Which she did, "Do you think that either your grandma or I will let anything happen to you?"Looking down, she mumbled a "No." Then don't worry. We'll all be fine." I said with as much confidence as I could project. She gave me a small smile and ran out the door."I'm going to have to rest for a bit, it's been a long day and digging those damn graves took a lot out. "I know you, could see howhard you've been working when I checked your results. It was easy. Howare you settling in?" I'm loving it. The staff know me. I've been in that store for years.Even before we met. I inherited it from Claire so I knew it would be ingood shape."I looked at my best friend through the glass. Claire's career had beenpretty much frozen by Lyn in the aftermath of what had happened. Jo wasone of my first decisions when I returned to the company. My very firstwas getting Claire. .. internal assistants. Again, how many did you bring with you?”“Uh, there are thirteen of us.”“Excellent, almost a full house. This is delightful news. We’ve been waiting years for this. It’s been, what, over a century?”“Uh, we’re in a bit of a rush. We’re being hunted.”“Ahh. I’m prepared to assist. Gather everyone here. As soon as they’re ready we can depart. Normally I’d advise leaving your climbing gear, but since everyone is present, there’s no need to return.”“Betty?” Xi called, fumbling.