CHAPTER 18

Dru’s doorbell rang. When Lucy opened it, the little Freedonian boy from the cheese festival was standing outside. He held a piglet in his hands.

“Hello, mother of Margo,” he said. “I am Niko. I present you with pig to confirm my engagement to your daughter.”

Lucy let out a loud, raucous laugh, but then her expression turned serious. “Hey… what now?” she said.

Margo came up behind her, noticing Niko standing on the front steps.

He raised his eyebrow at her and smiled. “Hello, my schmoopsie poo,” he cooed.

“Whoa! Hey!” Margo took a step back.

“He seems to think you’re engaged,” Lucy explained.

“What?” Margo was horrified. “We’re not engaged!”

“But you took bite of engagement cheese!” Niko cried.

“But I didn’t know it was engagement cheese!” Margo said. “And how is engagement cheese even a thing?”

She turned to Lucy, raising her eyebrows as if to say Help me out here! Lucy knew it was technically her fault. If she hadn’t insisted Margo go onstage at the cheese festival, this never would’ve happened.

“Look, Niko,” Lucy tried. “You seem like a very nice boy. With a very nice pig. But you are not engaged. Okay? It’s not happening.”

Niko’s shoulders slumped. “I understand. Who was I kidding? A dumpling like me with a goddess like you? But I promise: I will never forget you, Margo. Never.”

He turned, leaving with the pig.

“Oh, I’m pretty sure I won’t forget you, either,” Margo said as the door slammed behind him.

Lucy let out a deep breath.

“Wow, that was crazy!” she said. “Wooo!”

“That was totally humiliating!” Margo snapped. “Taking a bite of that cheese was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done. Why did I listen to you?”

“Right, but it’s over now, so—”

Knock knock knock!

Lucy turned back to the door. How many times did she have to tell this kid? No engagement. Ever. Never gonna happen.

But when she opened the door, Niko was standing next to a round, angry-looking woman carrying a baby. “You!” the woman yelled. “You refuse my son’s engagement pig? May you and your daughter die a slow death and be buried with onions!”

She spat. The baby spat.

“Alright, lady,” Lucy said, having had enough. “That’s it! Okay, I know we are visitors here, and yes, your country has some pretty messed-up traditions, but nobody—nobody!—curses my daughter! You got that?”

Lucy poked her finger into the woman’s chest, backing her down off the porch.

“Because if you mess with Margo,” she said, yelling now, “you mess with me! And I promise, you do not want to mess with me! Do you understand?”

“Yes, yes,” Niko’s mother said, running away.

Lucy turned back to Margo, not sure what to say. This was all her fault. Margo had every right to be furious, and if she didn’t speak to her for ages, she would just have to deal with—

Margo threw her arms around Lucy, hugging her tight. Lucy was startled at first, but then she wrapped her arms around her daughter, pulling her close. She’d been waiting for this moment for so long. To finally feel like Margo loved her as much as she loved Margo. To finally feel like a mom.

Just when Lucy was thinking she could stay like that forever, Margo pulled away. She ran off to her room without saying another word.

Lucy stood on the porch, stunned.

“I’m a mom,” she said out loud. Then she smiled. “I’ve got to tell Gru!”

She turned to go back in the house when she heard the sound of an engine firing up. She looked down at the water, noticing Gru and Dru in Dru’s boat. They sped off over the water.

What were they doing? Why hadn’t Gru told her they were going somewhere? And why on earth were they wearing spandex?

“Fritz!” she called, wandering through the house, looking for the butler. “Oh, Fritz!”