CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

id you hear me roar like the Father of Cats?” Li’l Pater asked me.

“That was you?”

He nodded, then whapped his tail on the ground to make that pat-pat-pat sound we’d heard after the panther’s scream.

“Guess you saved the day,” I told him.

“Bet you’re glad I came along now.”

“Better than glad,” I said, and I meant it.

Both fairy courts had departed and we were alone in the meadow now, just Aunt Lillian and us Dillard girls, the Apple Tree Man, and Li’l Pater. My sisters didn’t know what to make of this pair of fairy people, but they were taking it in good stride. I suppose with everything they’d already seen today, spending time with a little cat man and a fellow who looked more like a tree than a man was pretty tame. Heck, Grace and Ruth were already tussling in the grass with Li’l Pater like he was some long-lost friend, paying no mind to the rest of us.

But while I was grateful for the help the pair of them had given us, I was pretty much done with fairylands and the people in them. I went over to where the Apple Tree Man and Aunt Lillian were talking.

“I want to go home,” I told him. “I purely hate it here.”

“Of course,” the Apple Tree Man said. “But you know, you’ve only seen the worst this place has to offer. There is far more laughter and glory in this land than could ever be represented by feuding fairy courts.”

What happened to how dangerous it was for ordinary folks to cross over here? I wondered. But I didn’t press him on it. I got the sense he wasn’t talking to me anyway, but to Aunt Lillian. I don’t know why I didn’t see this coming, but as soon as she put her hand on his arm I knew that she’d be staying.

“I won’t be coming back,” she said.

“I guess I knew that,” I said, “but that doesn’t make it any easier.”

“I know. But I’ve got a chance here.…” She shot a glance at the Apple Tree Man and I had to smile. “I guess I just need to take it.”

I didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t my place to steal this moment of happiness, but I was going to miss her something terrible.

“I made arrangements sometime back with my lawyer,” she went on, “for everything to go to you. I was thinking of it as an inheritance, but now… I suppose it’s a gift. You’re the only one I know who will take care of all I hold dear. I just have to come back and stop by his office to sign it over to you and make it official.”

Now I really didn’t know what to say.

“What?” Laurel asked. “You mean you’re giving her that ramshackle old homestead?”

Bess elbowed her in the side.

“Sorry,” Laurel muttered.

But Aunt Lillian didn’t take offense.