Gathering myself, I headed out to find her seated at a wicker table in the garden. Jih hadn’t been tending it very long, but between the enthusiastic pixy and Ceri, the tiny space had gone from a scuffed-up scrap of dirt to a bit of paradise in less than a year.

An old oak tree thicker than I could get my arms around dominated the backyard, multiple swaths of fabric draped over the lower branches to make a fluttering shelter of sorts. The ground under it was bare dirt, but it was as smooth and flat as linoleum. Vines grew above the fence to block the neighbors’ view, and the grass had been allowed to grow long past the shade of the tree. I could hear water somewhere and a wren singing as if it were spring, not fall. And crickets.

“This is nice,” I said in understatement as I joined her. There was a teapot and two tiny cups on the table, as if she had been expecting me. I would have said Trent had warned her, but Keasley didn’t have a phone.

“Thank you,” she said modestly. “Jih has taken a husband, and he works very hard to impress her.”

I brought my attention back from the garden to focus on Ceri and her anxiety. “Is that where Jenks is?” I asked, wanting to meet the newest member of the family myself.

A smile eased her tight features. “Yes. Can you hear them?”

I shook my head and settled myself in the bumpy wicker chair. Now, what would be a good segue? So, I hear Jih isn’t the only one who’s been knocked up….

Ceri reached for the teapot, her motions wary. “I imagine this isn’t a social call, but would you like some tea?”

“No, thanks,” I said, then felt a tug on my awareness as Ceri murmured a word of Latin and the pot began to steam. The amber brew tinkled into her tiny cup, the click of the porcelain sounding loud among the crickets.

“Ceri,” I said softly. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Her vivid green eyes met mine. “I thought you’d be angry,” she said with desperate worry. “Rachel, it’s the only way I can get rid of it.”

My lips parted. “You don’t want it?”

Ceri’s expression blanked. She stared wonderingly at me for a moment. “What are we talking about?” she asked cautiously.

“Your baby!”

Her mouth dropped open and she flushed scarlet. “How did you find out…”

My pulse had quickened, and I felt unreal. “I talked to Trent this afternoon,” I said, and when she just sat there, staring at me with her pale fingers encircling her teacup, I added, “Quen asked me to go into the ever-after for a sample of elven DNA that predates the curse, and I wanted to know what the rush was. He kind of blurted it out.”