Meg felt like a whale. She was trying to get things ready for the picnic and felt like she was moving through molasses. Finally, she gave up and sat in the chair to catch her breath.
“Ginny, how do women cope?” she asked.
“I don’t know. Never made it that far, nor had twins. I do know that we’ve always had family around to help,” said Ginny.
“I appreciate it. If it wasn’t for ‘Solda helping around the house and Bitty at the office, we’d all be in trouble. I don’t know if I’m going to make it another 2-3 months though,” Meg said.
“You’ll be fine. Mom always said this point was the roughest. Halfway despondency she called it. Plus, all the tension of the attacks and the court case has had everyone on edge. When was the last time that Luc fully shifted?” Ginny asked trying to change the subject just a little.
“Oh geeze… I think the last time was just after Buster’s funeral. What’s that, over two months ago if not longer?” said Meg.
“Exactly. None of us have. We’ve been too wary and nervous to even dare shift. And, to be honest it puts us all on edge. You may not shift, but haven’t you missed waking up wrapped in that big old furball?” Ginny asked.
“Meg thought about it. “Yeah, I have. You must feel like part of you is caged,” she said.
“Oh yeah. It shows up in dreams. If we wait much longer though, some of us will go crazy. It is part of the reason we use to live far away from people,” Ginny said.
“I can understand that. What did people in the military do though? People like Buster?” asked Meg. They’d been sorting some of Buster’s stuff. Boxing and preserving things as well as reading the diary.
“We’ve been fighters for a long time. Berserkers were most likely shifters. Battle rage and all that. As for modern military… Don’t laugh, but a lot of them were in K-9 corps. Only thing is, one shifter would be the handler and the other would be the dog. Others went crazy. If you go through the records and look at cases where someone slaughtered people with their bare hands, you probably have a shifter who lost it. Or, someone who walked out of a battlefield with his uniform shredded, bloody and dazed, but not a mark on him, he probably shifted mid battle and when he came to, didn’t have a clue,” said Ginny.
“Okay. Some of that makes sense. I can see the whole K-9 thing too. Have you found what Buster did yet?” asked Meg.
“No. He had two sets of diaries. I’m only in the first one as he wrote in the Metis dialect,” said Ginny.
“Okay. At this picnic, I take it that since it is up on Jeff’s land that most of you are going to shift?” asked Meg.
“Yes. Jeff has something like 500 acres. Heavy forest. It’s registered as a wolf rescue, so no one thinks twice about seeing wolves running. I know I’m looking forward to it,” said Ginny.
“And us mere mortals will just sit around?” asked Meg.
“Meg, you’ll get to meet most of the wives and kids as well as some you already know. I think that there are five or six pregnant, so you’ll feel right at home. Don’t worry about it,” said Ginny knowing that Meg was nervous. It was the first really big celebration she’d been at since meeting Luc.
“I’ve been trying not to worry. Will Angie and George be there?” Meg asked.
“No. They have their hands full up at the B&B, and to be honest, I don’t know if they will come home,” said Ginny.
“You think they’ll stay?” asked Meg.
“Yeah, I do. George has never been comfortable in the city. And you tell me, have you ever seen or heard Angie happier?” asked Ginny.
“No. Even with the house sold and money in the bank, they haven’t moved.,” said Meg.
Ginny nodded and finished up the salad they’d been making. She put the lid on the big plastic bowl and then stuck it in the fridge. Ginny quickly wiped down the counters and got them both a glass of iced tea. They had almost finished when Luc bounced into the kitchen. He was dressed in old jeans, flip flops and a worn teeshirt.
“You ladies ready to go?” he asked.
“No, but lets do it anyway,” said Meg.
They packed up the car and headed for Jeff’s.
*
Angie and George stood back and looked at the small landscape they had created. Two maple trees, shrubs, bark mulch, flowers and a couple of rocks. Last of all, a small plaque. It read:
This garden is in honor of Brian Davy and Buster.
Sam’s Best Friends
“I think it’s time we let her come out and look before she explodes,” said Angie.
“I agree. Plus we all need to talk,” said George.
Angie nodded and George went off to get Sam. He came back a moment later and Sam took a good look at the garden she had only seen from the window. It was full of local flowers and shrubs. The two trees which would flame red in the autumn were the only foreigners. Then she saw the plaque and the tears began to run down her face.
“Oh you two,” she said.
Angie wrapped her arms around the older woman and held her while they both cried. George stood behind the two of them with an arm around each. After a moment, Sam looked up at George.
“Thank you George. Thank you for everything,” she said. “Couldn’t have done it without you.”
“You’re welcome,” said George.
“And I take it you two will be off back to the city in the morning?” said Sam.
“Well, that’s up to you,” said Angie.
“What in the hell kinda answer is that?” asked Sam sounding more like herself.
“When we went to the city the other day, we had a good look around. Did some shopping and a lot of thinking. We decided that we really didn’t want to be city dwellers anymore. So, Will you let us partner with you on the B&B?” asked George.