Holy Shit!

"Bad idea, bad idea, bad idea!!" Meryn screeched all the way down. Still screaming she flew off the end of the banister and landed on her tailbone on the expensive marble floor in the foyer. With tears in her eyes she rolled around on the ground clutching her butt.

"What on earth!" Adelaide and Byron rushed out of his office. They stared down at her as she wiggled around moaning.

"You owe me five dollars." Byron said, holding out his hand. Adelaide shook her head.

"I may owe you five dollars because you bet she would go down the banister, but you owe me twenty because I told you should wouldn't think to put any pillows down like Ben." Adelaide wagged a finger at her mate.

"Y'all are mean. I'm crippled!" Meryn got up on wobbly legs.

"Come sit down and keep us company in my office, the chairs are more comfortable there than in the drawing room." Byron helped her to hobble to his office and got her seated.

"Today sucks! Aiden's laptop sucks! And showers suck! And banisters suck!" Meryn knew she sounded childish, but she pouted anyway. Some days just needed a restart button.

"Poor dear. Here have some tea, you'll feel better in no time." Adelaide passed her a cup of steaming tea. Meryn took in the light fragrance.

"Jasmine?"

"Yes, it's one of Byron's favorites." Adelaide passed her a small plate filled with cookies. To their right a large stone fireplace had a toasty fire going that gave the room a warm glow. Meryn wiggled in her chair getting comfortable ignoring the twangs of pain from her tailbone and sighed. The day was looking much better.

In a comfortable silence Adelaide wrote, actually hand wrote letters as Byron tapped away at his computer. Meryn was itching to see if his desktop was any better than Aiden's laptop.

"Meryn get over here before you sprain your neck." Byron stood and motioned to his chair. Meryn quickly set her teacup down and practically ran over to his desk. Byron sat next to his mate and started to help her address some of the envelopes.

Meryn cracked her knuckles. It was a Mac. She logged in as a guest and in seconds she was on the internet. She pulled up her database and began pulling reports.

"Oh, rip that one up. We're not inviting the Bowers, not after what I found out this morning." Adelaide seethed. Byron regarded her in surprise.

"What did Ethan do?"

"Not Ethan, Daphane! Marius was almost ashamed to report that nearly all of the potential squire candidates that we had lined up for interviews after the ball have backed out. Evidently, Daphane is interviewing for Elise on the exact same day and is saying that it's more prestigious to work for someone who was actually paranormal in a smaller household than for a human in House McKenzie." Adelaide slammed her pen down. Meryn shrugged.

"If that's all it took for them to change their minds, then they might have done us a favor. Now we won't have to weed them out." She thumped her fingers on the polished wood of Byron's desk.

"That's a very positive way to look at it Meryn." Byron sounded proud.

"That also means less interviews and talking to people." Meryn looked up grinning. Adelaide laughed.

"Of course, you would look at it that way."

"You're getting to know me all too well Mom." Meryn went back to the notes that Elder Airgead had given her. A throat cleared.

"Ah Meryn, I actually wanted to talk to you about something." Byron started. Meryn had a feeling she knew what he was going to say.

"Yeah, Dad?" The expression on his face was priceless. She had been right. He wanted to be called Dad. He swallowed hard.

"Um ... how is the computer working for you?" He changed directions quickly.

"Better than Aiden's, that's for sure. Hey, can I ask you something? Are paranormals allowed on Facebook? Or is there some super duper paranormal version?"

"No, we use the same version of Facebook as the rest of the world, we just have to be careful about what we share. All devices have Geo-tagging disabled." Byron explained.

"Hmm." She pulled up Facebook and went back to work.

"Well, as it stands, we have three interviews. A promising young man from London, one from Germany and another young man from Japan. I've never heard his family name before so he may be new to serving. Honestly, all of this back stabbing and pettiness because Daphane Bowers doesn't feel like everyone is paying enough attention to her future grandchild, is ridiculous.  As if it weren't that time of the year for shifter birth announcements." Adelaide shook her head and Meryn froze.

"What did you say?" Meryn turned to Adelaide.

"About Daphane?"

"No, about shifter birth announcements."

"Didn't Aiden explain about our conception windows?" She asked.

Meryn nodded. "But why did you say what you did about birth announcements?"

"Meryn, shifters get pregnant around Summer Solstice. It's October, most couples wait until after the first trimester to announce anything, it's bad luck. That's why there are always shifter birth announcements this time of the year." Adelaide explained.

"Oh my God." Meryn felt the blood drain from her face.

"Please be wrong, please be wrong, please be wrong." She muttered to herself over and over again.

"Meryn?" Adelaide and Byron stood and walked over to her. Meryn quickly scanned the site she was on and sat back feeling sick.