The Fox’s Tale

We stood and after the opening strains Lydia exclaimed, ’oh! I know this song.” She hummed a few bars and joined in on the key change.

“Voice, fiddle and flute, no longer be mute, I’ll lend you my name and inspire you to boot, and besides I’ll instruct you, like me, to entwine the Myrtle of Venus with Bacchus’s Vine!”

She turned to us, grinning from ear to ear. “Brilliant. Will there be wine?”

Darcie shook her head and Ellery broached the subject as delicately as she could. “Um, Lydia? They changed the words in the 1800s.”

Lydia’s face fell. “Oh rot. I remember now. Key was such a hack. Why he set his war poem to the cadence of a popular drinking song I will never know. Now Poe, there was a poet and author whose work you could sink your teeth into. No pun intended.”

Esmeralda tore her attention away from Lucas. “Poe. Wait, wasn’t he the man you brought to my parents’ coronation?”

“Yes. Such a lost soul. I’ve always suspected that Peregrine hastened his demise. Bastard. Apologies Darcie, sweetheart.”

“None needed. He was a bastard.”

The whistle blew for the first face off and Lydia stopped talking and became engrossed in the game. She, Esmeralda, Vivian, and Darcie were soon clustered together, standing on the bleachers, yelling and cheering in turn depending on what was happening in the game.

They were borderline obnoxious whenever anyone on our team scored, especially if it was one of their boys as they called them. Louisa moved away from all of us to sit with some friends.

Halfway through the first quarter a man who could only be Quinn’s father walked into the stadium, with two little kids, about six years of age, balanced on his shoulders. This time all of the women in the stadium turned to watch his progress.

I figured he must be what Adonis would have looked like, had Adonis been wearing a Celts sweatshirt, jeans and cowboy boots. I swear at least two moms passed out as he walked by. The only thing Quinn seemed to have inherited from his mother was her coloring. Ellery peered around me and her mouth fell open.

“Edge?” she gasped. “Edge is Quinn’s father?”

At the mention of his name Lydia lit up and turned to find him. “Over here Edge!!” He grinned, nodded his head in acknowledgment and made his way over to us, still balancing the kids on his shoulders.

“Hey Ellery, I mean, your highness, I mean. Shit. How am I supposed to address you again?”

Ellery sighed as the two little ones climbed off their father and pelted towards her. “Cousin Ellery, Cousin Ellery!” they yelled as they skidded to a halt in front of us.

“Daddy got us a new pet!” one of them exclaimed, bouncing into Ellery’s lap.

“It’s a ‘pony,’” the second one said using air quotes. Up close I could see that the one in Ellery’s lap was a girl and the other was a boy. For fraternal twins they looked disturbingly similar.

“We named it Buttermilk,” said the little girl.

The little boy scoffed. “You named it Buttermilk. I wanted to name it Optimus Prime.”

The girl climbed off of Ellery’s lap. “That’s a stupid name for a uni, I mean pony.”

“No it’s not. Better than Buttermilk.” He put his hands on his hips.

“But that’s what color she is!” she cried; outraged.

“So?” he sneered.

“So?” She narrowed her eyes and smirked. “Optimus is blue and red, and a boy, dumbass.”

His face turned an alarming shade of red. “Who are you calling dumbass, frog face?”

“We have the same face!” she screeched before tackling her brother. The two of them tumbled over some of the bleachers before their dad intervened.

“Whoa! Knock this shit off,” he said, picking each up by their collars. “What’s everyone gonna think if you two brawl like junkyard dogs? Now apologize.” He turned the twins to face us.

“We’re sorry,” they said in unison.

“That’s better,” he said as he set them down. “We’re here to watch your brother play something where he gets to whack folks with a stick. You want to see that don’t you?”

“Yes, Daddy,” they replied.

“Okay then, go on and cheer Quinlan on over there.” He shooed them away and turned to us with a shrug, before sitting down next to me. “Kids, am I right?”

“Quinlan?” I asked in surprise.

“Ah hell, don’t tell me I got my kids mixed up again!” He looked around. “No, Lydia’s here, and we’ve only got the one. There he is,” he said with relief as Quinn dodged around a defender and slung the ball into the goal with such force that it tore through the net. Edge stood up and applauded.

“Woo-hoo! Way to go son!”

“How many kids do you have, if you don’t mind me asking?” I asked when he sat back down.

A look of concern crossed his face. “Six. No, no, seven. Yes, just seven. I think.” He cringed. “Hey Lyds?”

“Seven, Edge! Quinn, Lark, Kiernan, Brennan, Siobhan, Reed, and Piper.”

“Seven,” he said to me with a grin. “I’m not really a dodgy dad. Kiernan and Brennan spent a whole year pretending that they were only one person. They almost had even their mom convinced. Besides, the oldest five don’t live with me. They live with their moms or Lucas.”

He furrowed his brow in thought. “Why does Quinn live with Lucas instead of with you, Lyds?”

“Because they need each other,” she called over her shoulder.

Edge nodded. “There you go. You must be Alexander. I’m Edgerton, but you can call me Edge, everyone else does. Quinn’s told me a lot about you. Welcome to the family.”

“Forgive my curiosity, but how are you related to Ellery?”

“Huh? Oh, that. What is it again Els? Some type of cousin?”

“You’re second cousins to Papa.”

“Right, right.” He relaxed on the bleachers, stretching his long legs out in front of him. “Same great grandparents as Trey?”

“That’s right.” Ellery cocked her head and studied him. “Why didn’t I know that Quinn was your son?”

He scratched his head. “I guess ’cause we had to keep it secret for so long because of Peregrine, and well, because folks aren’t exactly very understanding about the circumstances of his birth. The Unseelie are fascinated by it, but the Seelie have all been rather mean, save for your granddad and his sons.

“Most of my other kids catch some flack, all Summer Children do, but it’s more of a criticism of me, you know? Like, your old man can’t keep it in his pants, that sort of thing, but with Quinlan…they called him names.”

Edge paused for a moment as he shifted his position again. Finding room for his long legs was proving to be a challenge.

“Until he was sixteen we lived in the human realm, only visiting the other realms periodically to see family. Lucas did something to his house so that Peregrine couldn’t tell what was going on, but I couldn’t really bring him to visit anyone but my parents. The other Seelie we met could tell he wasn’t a Summer Child, and they got really scared of him, which is so bogus, because he’s such a sweetheart.”

The sweetheart in question whacked his lacrosse stick into the stick of another player, dislodging the ball and sending the player tumbling to the ground. Lucas scooped up the ball and ran off with it.

Edge laughed. “They work well together! Wait, what was I talking about? Oh yeah. It hurt his heart to be called a monster. Hell, it would hurt anyone’s feelings if they had them. Now that I think about it that’s probably how he got mixed up with Ola and Plum. There’s not really a place for the misfits to feel at home you know? In any of the realms. Guess that’s why they’re misfits.”

A whistle blew in the game and Darcie, Lydia, and Esmeralda began hurling invective. Someone had crossed checked Lucas in the back and Quinn had retaliated by knocking him on his ass.

“My man is going to fuck you up when you get back on the field!” Esmeralda yelled. The opposing player looked up at her and scowled as he made his way to the sideline for the penalty. “That’s right ugly, I’m talking to you!” She stood glaring with her hands on her hips. “Can I curse him?” she asked me.

“No.”

She looked at Ellery for confirmation; who shook her head.

“Damn.” She sulked for a moment. “Can Lydia?” she asked, her face brightening.

“No,” we both replied.

Lydia put a hand on her arm. “Esmeralda, dearest, perhaps you shouldn’t come if you’re going to get so upset. After all,”

“I’m fine, they’re fine. They’re just as pissed as I am, aren’t you my darlings?” she crooned, patting her belly. She remained standing until the penalized player returned to the field and Lucas laid him out flat with a legal hit. “Ha! I told you asshole!”

I turned to Ellery. “Please tell me you will be more rational when you’re pregnant.”

“I can promise nothing.