During the blog tour, a few bloggers asked for special segments and extra stories. Enjoy!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Short story
The Pinky Swear
“Where is she?”
General Patrick Hargreaves shook the rain from his jacket and yanked off his hat. His wife, Rebecca, watched him from the kitchen of their tiny home. Even eight months pregnant, she watched his movements with clear interest.
“Under the dining room table” she said. She returned to feeding the towheaded toddler seated in the highchair in front of her. “I tried to talk to her, but you know how she gets.”
Patrick kissed her neck as he squeezed between her and the stove in the small blue kitchen. For a moment, she relaxed into his warmth and smell—rain, Old Spice, and all male. His hand lovingly touched the side of her expanded waist as he moved into the dining room.
Patrick Hargreaves smiled. Fatherhood had come to him late in life. After years of service in the United States Army, staunchly a bachelor, he had attended a formal charity function one warm spring day in Chicago and fell in love. Just like that. At 40 years old, Patrick was in love for the first time. What had lightly happened in a single breath had grown into deep happiness, love, and a busy family life. They had four children already and one on the way.
Today his 5-year-old daughter, Alex, had brought him home in the middle of the day.
He watched the lace table cloth quiver to the rhythm of soft sobs. Sitting down on the floor, he pulled the child onto his lap. Her long ash blonde hair covered her tear-stained face and her big brown eyes. Her dress was torn, her knuckles and shin sporting bruises.
“What’s wrong, Pumpkin?” he said, brushing her hair out of her eyes.
“It’s Maxie,” she said.
“Max?” Max was her identical twin brother and best friend. They were usually inseparable.
“Maxie told me that I can’t be in Spec’l F’rs’s. He said no girl can be a Green Beret.” She sobbed into her hands. “I punched him. He won’t take it back. He has to take it back. He told Mommy that I was being a baby. I punched him again.”
“Then he tore my dress.” She held up the damaged dress. “Mommy’s mad at me.”
Patrick caught the look Rebecca shot him from the other room. He nodded.
“Are you sure you want to be a Green Beret? You know it’s not a lot of fun.”
“I wanna be a Green Beret!” Alex screamed. “I can’t be a Green Beret because I’m a girl. I hate being a girl. How come Max got to be the boy?”
He sat rocking her on his lap until her tears abated.
“Alex, you can’t hit your brother. Any Green Beret knows that violence is always as a last resort, always.”
“I’m never gonna be a Green Beret.”
“I think you could do anything you set your mind to,” he said. “If you want to be in Special Forces, I promise you today that I will do everything in my power to make that happen.”
Her tear stained face lifted and her brown eyes cleared.
“Promise?” she said.
“Pinky swear,” he said.
Giggling, she held her pinkie out to him. They shook pinkies.
Picking her up, Patrick wandered back to the kitchen to find Max hiding in the pantry.
“I didn’t mean to make her cry or tear her dress.” Max dissolved into tears. “She punched me.”
“Does it hurt?” Patrick rubbed the injured arm. Almost an exact match to the girl in his arms, the same tear-stained brown eyes looked up at him.
“No, I’m tough. That’s how boys are. That’s why boys are Green Berets not GIRLS.”
Max’s attempt to run into the other room was cut off by Rebecca. His parents shared a glance of exasperation and humor.
Alex began her chant: “I wanna be a Green Beret.”
Max took up the call with his own version: “Girls can’t be Green Berets.”
There was only one solution this dilemma. Drawing on his years of diplomacy and conflict resolution in the Army, Patrick said the magic words, “Ice Cream?”
Max and Alex squealed with delight.
“I want some too!” His oldest daughter Samantha said as she came into the room. The toddler in the high chair squealed and laughed. It was unanimous.
Rebecca’s hazel eyes held Patrick’s baby blues for a moment. She gave him a faint smile while he helped her with her coat. The children ran through the rain to the car. He helped her into the front seat. When he settled in to the driver’s side, she leaned over kissing him on the cheek. He kissed the palm of her left hand.
The rest of the day dissolved into a happy family memory.
~ First published at the Eclectic Collection
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Crayon synopsis of the Fey:
We meet Alexandra Hargreaves in the middle of a major transition in her life:
We meet Alex when she is almost dying. Jiminy Cricket comes to take her soul.
then….
Alex recovers but her fashion sense never heals…. so sad
A whole bunch of exciting, thrilling, page turning stuff happens….
then….
In the end, Alex survives, whoops up on bad guys, loves good guys,
and even keeps her sense of humor (and her poor fashion sense).
THE END
First published on June Cleaver’s Nirvana
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Audio reading of Chapter 34:
Angel asked if I would create an audio recording of the chapter I thought best represented Alex – who she is, how she interact and what is important to her. I recorded Chapter 34 of The Fey by Claudia Hall Christian.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Character interview:
Carrie Sund asked if there was a side story that helped understand Rebecca Hargreaves, Alex’s mother. This is an interview with her.
The Fey Interview With Rebecca Hargreaves>> TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2009
Interview with Rebecca Hargreaves, wife of Senator Patrick Hargreaves.
You speak of yourself as a mother first, wife second, and then public servant. What do you mean by that?
I know it’s popular now to say that the marriage must come first, but that is not our relationship. Patrick has always been very independent. Our relationship is based on love and our enjoyment of each other’s company whereas my children need me. Even now that they are adults, they still need my love and support in a way that Patrick wouldn’t appreciate nor need.
How many children do you have?
We have 5 children, 2 boys and 3 girls.
Do you have a favorite child?
My children tell me that I do. They are such different people that they need different things from me. My oldest daughter, Samantha, is very assertive and driven. She needs me to help her soften to the people she loves and to remind her the importance of family.
My twins… Alex and Max? They have always had each other. We did a sonogram of them when I was about 6 months pregnant and they were holding each other. They’re very close. They are really the center of our family… maybe the cog in the family wheel. Alex plays everything very close to her chest. I suppose you heard that she was married for almost 11 years before anyone in the family knew about it… except Max of course. She simply didn’t think to tell us. (Rebecca laughs) That’s Alex, completely focused on something else to the exclusion of every other thing. She and Patrick are very similar. She’s probably his favorite child. And Max…. he is such a bright person with a big heart. He has that same focus that Alex has. He gets caught up in his world and can forget about the rest of us.
Except Alex?
Right except Alex. I like to give Max family responsibilities so that he remembers to connect with the rest of us.
The kids say that Colin is my favorite child. And they are probably right. He is all male with a depth that gives him strength. Of course, he is also the father of my first grandchild which gives him extra favorite child points.
My baby girl is Erin. She’s different from the other children. The other 4 are tall and muscular whereas Erin is smaller and softer. She and I are very similar. We’re similarly wired.
What do you mean?
She easily asks for help and receives it from her siblings. She’s one of the few people that Samantha will slow down enough to talk with. The twins adore her and include her in ways they don’t include the other kids. She and Colin, being right next to each other, have a little friction between them, but Colin says it’s because he is so male and she is so female.
Will you tell me the story of meeting your husband?
(Rebecca laughs) My husband was career army. He came from an alcoholic home and decided early on that he would never marry or have children. He rose fairly quickly in the ranks to become a General at 40 years old.
My father was deeply involved in the Children’s Hospital foundation in Chicago. He sat on the board most of his life. Every spring he held a charity auction at the house. After he died, my mother and I continued the auction in his honor. I’m not really sure how Patrick got invited. I believe he was attending in the place of his superior officer.
I was 24 years old and the first woman in our family to graduate from college. I did not want to attend this function.
You were telling us how you met your husband.
Well, it was fairly simple. I came down the stairs in a white dress with red rose buds on it. He was stand at the bottom speaking with my mother. He turned and looked at me with those baby blue eyes…. And that was that. I am not sure how I got down the stairs. We married three days later.
It was a mess really. My mother was furious. I had a boyfriend from a good Chicago Catholic family; My mother expected me to marry him soon. She was good friends with his mother. I think they’d been planning our wedding for a while.
They were disappointed that you married the Senator? It’s hard to imagine now.
He wasn’t a Senator then but a General. He was… is much older than I am. You’ve met him right?
Briefly, on a couple of occasions.
He’s gorgeous, even at 75 years old, he’s gorgeous, funny, smart. He had a reputation of being a bit of a ladies man. My mother was certain that he would leave me pregnant and alone. (sigh)
You’ve been married now for…
Oh gosh, over 30 years. Let’s see. 35 years this year I think. We’ve been married so long that I can barely remember life without Patrick.
And was your mother right?
Patrick has been a wonderful husband and father. What my mother overlooked was Patrick’s capacity for loyalty. Patrick was a loyal soldier and has been a loyal husband. He has always been there for me and our children – even when he had a base to run. If I was overwhelmed, especially with the twins, he would drop everything and come home to help out. I think we actually love each other more now than we did when we met. It’s been an amazing life. I feel blessed every day that I met this wonderful man.
Originally published at Dark Novels.
