Page 5 of Pixie Problems

But now, I had a dad. Two of them, although I couldn't mention Bracken to the Sparks. Liam had never told his brother he was gay, and I refused to out him. So, for today, I had a single dad, and I was still trying to wrap my mind around how happy I was. The crazy shadow on the ground strangely felt like proof of this, in a weird and magical way.

Then Nancy had to ruin my moment. "Are you in a relationship with her?!"

Liam gave her a disgusted look. "No, Nancy."

"Then why are you adopting her?"

"Because I want to be a dad," Liam snapped. "I want my own family. I want Christmas dinners and summer vacations. I also don't want to give upmy career, so a baby's out. I don't have time to date, and adopting from the foster system makes this easy for a single man. I have devoted my life to children, Nancy. You know that. You and John have done the same. It's just that Lorraine and I..." He looked over at me and smiled. "It's nice to be needed."

"What do you think about this?" John asked me.

I almost sputtered. The man had given me the impression he preferred kids to be seen and not heard. Not that I agreed, but I was on my best behavior today. The last thing I wanted to do was mess this up, so I tried to come up with an answer that didn't sound stupid.

"Uh, I uh..." I looked over at Liam for help. When he nodded encouragement, I finally found my voice. "I never had a good dad. Not even when I still had my father. Liam's amazing, Mr. Sparks. He doesn't care if I don't know things, and he's helped me with school. I... He..." What the hell was I supposed to say to that question?

"Stop stammering, girl," Nancy barked at me.

Her tone erased all of my self-consciousness and my attitude came out full force. "It's nice to have someone who cares about me, ok? Not someone who wants me to clean their house, or someone who expects me to shut up. It's nice to have one person in my life I can talk to about stupid stuff. Someone who can help me. Someone who actually tries to understand me, not make me be whatever is most convenient for them. I've been calling Liam my uncle since I went to Silver Oaks Institute, and it's the closest to a family I've ever had. So, if he's willing to be my dad, then you're damned right I'm going to say yes!"

"This means she'll be a permanent part of the family," Liam warned.

"It does," John agreed. "It also means the brat's going to bleed you dry for whatever trinket she wants. She sees you as a bank account, William. That's all teenagers care about. Next, she'll be asking you to buy her a car."

"I don't need a car," I said quickly.

"You'll learn to drive mine first," Liam said. "We'll talk about a car for your graduation present."

"See!" John snapped. "Buying children doesn't make them care about you. It won't teach her anything."

"I happen to disagree," Liam said. "Parents are supposed to smooth out the potholes of life. They're supposed to encourage their children to dream and help them handle the mistakes which happen along the way. Maybe our father didn't do that, but look at what he did to us, John. Do we reallywant to be like him? What about your parents, Nancy? Where do we stop the cycle?"

"We're good to those kids," Nancy insisted.

Liam tipped his head in a partial concession. "You feed them. You clothe them. You don't beat them. In my opinion, that's not the same as loving them. Children need love to thrive, and they give it back. Rain might be seventeen, but she's not too old to need a father figure in her life. Even in our thirties, we often still need parents to guide us - and I want to be that. I intend to, and I don't need either of your approval. I came here to let you know our family is growing, nothing else."

My head was bobbing back and forth as I tried to watch the argument play out. Just as John pulled in a breath to say something, movement caught my eye. Down on the floor, my shadow was reaching out to Nancy's with both hands.

I wasn't, and this thing was no longer matching my shape! No, it was trying to strangle Nancy in the only way it could. My heart slammed against my ribs and I looked up, terrified someone would notice the movement. My eyes landed on Nancy just as she cleared her throat.

That didn't work, so she coughed. On the floor, the shadows were now struggling, and Nancy acted like she couldn't quite swallow something. Her spit, maybe? I didn't know, but as the woman's face began to turn red, her husband thumped her back in an attempt to help. Nancy only coughed harder.

Fuck! My shadow was doing this? It had to be, so I reached out with my foot to stomp on the thing. Subtly, though. Well, as subtly as was possible. But when my shoe crushed the butt of my own shadow, Nancy was able to suck in a breath. Ok, so this had to be working, right?

Dragging my foot back across the restaurant's wood-looking floor, I forcefully hauled my shadow back. Its hands left Nancy's. A gap of normal light appeared between the two darker forms, but mine was still reaching, still struggling. I wanted to hiss at it to quit, but that would definitely make me look crazy, so instead I just thought angry things at it.

And damned if that shape didn't turn to look up at me. The fingers relaxed. The form shifted away. With another tug of my foot, the shadow moved back to where it belonged: under me. Then, while I tried to watch without being obvious at all, the rippling of its edges stopped and the shape returned to merely a dark silhouette of my own posture.

"Stop staring at the floor!" John snapped, making me flinch.

"Sorry," I mumbled. "I didn't want to gawk."

"I'm fine," Nancy grumbled, "but thanks for asking."

"You sure?" John asked her.

She nodded, reaching up to touch her throat. "Just swallowed wrong, I think."

I looked over at Liam, but he didn't seem to think anything was weird at all. Then again, from his angle, he couldn't see my shadow. Hopefully Nancy hadn't either. I twisted to see if anyone else in the restaurant may have been looking, but that was the wrong thing to do.