Coming soon: Aye, I am a Fairy

My apologies (or humble explanation) up front: The Fairies Saga has been published out of sequence due to my insistence that it remain in draft stage until it was ripe and ready for consumption. Book two in the series, Aye, I am a Fairy, is in the final edit and proofing stages and should be ready before autumn equinox, September twenty-something-or-other.

In case you want a little ramp up, here's where we left off, the last chapter in book one and a half, the novella Ha'penny Jenny.

10 Please don’t go

(last chapter of Ha'penny Jenny)

  “Don’t go. Please, Grandpa Jody, please don’t go,” begged Jenny, her eyes red and brimming, her tears almost—but not quite—spilling over.

  “I’m not goin’ anywhere, lass.” Jody reached down, picked her up, and swung her in a tight circle. “I have to stay here and teach ye how to dance.”

  “Promise me you won’t leave, please. Pretty please with honey and candy and flowers and sugar and please, please…”

  “What’s the matter, lass? I’ll always be here fer ye. Yer my family—my granddaughter.”

  Jenny shook her head, trying to get the bloody image to go away, but it wouldn’t leave. She sniffed. She couldn’t tell grandpa that sometimes she ‘saw’ things before they happened. She’d never tell anyone that again. She shivered with the memory.

  “Now, dinna be afeart of somethin’ bad happenin’ to me.” Jody gave her an extra hug of reassurance. “Ye canna go through life afeart of what’s on the other side of a door, or down the road, or…”

Jenny nodded rapidly, but even as he spoke the words, telling her not to worry, she saw him lying in the road, covered in blood. She squeezed him around the neck, almost choking him. “Well, if you have to go somewhere, be verra careful and don’t go anywhere alone, okay?”

  “All right, I promise. Now, loosen yer grip about my neck so I can show ye the proper way to dance. That is, with yer feet on the ground and yer hand on my shoulder—if it’ll reach that high.”

  Jenny slid down his body until she was on tip toes, then reached up as high as she could with her fingertips. 
 “I’m not tall enough yet, but I will be. Mommy said I’ll grow tall and pretty if I eat my greens every day. But I can’t eat too many, or I’ll get a bellyache, huh?”

  “Aye, lass. Too much of anythin’, save lovin’ yer family, is seldom a good idea. And I’ll be verra careful whenever I leave yer presence. Oof! I need to stay around long enough to give ye a few more dancin’ lessons, at least. Yer next partner’s feet may nae be as tough as mine.”

  Jenny looked up at him again, squinting hard. Maybe he’d be okay now that he promised not to be alone.

  But maybe not.

  The sadness was still there.

  But now there was hope. And help.

  Someone else was coming to their home, maybe next month, maybe next week.

  And maybe he’d bring a big sister for her, too.