Accidentally Divine, page 24
George led them to the new cat house, complete with heat and air conditioning. They’d had it custom built around a huge oak tree in the back, so the cats would have plenty of places to climb and scratching posts. Inside, it was sectioned off for the smaller weaning kittens, the ones with physical challenges, and the older, grumpier lot.
“You did not,” Marty said as she laughed, looking at the plaque hanging on the outside of the shingled structure. “Catican? You called it Catican City?”
George chuckled and pointed upward. “Just a little homage to Rome and the big guy who runs the show there.”
Nina barked a laugh as she looked around at the newly renovated farmhouse, at the new gardens, and the gazebo. “You guys have really done some shit. It’s pretty great, kiddo.”
Wanda wrapped an arm around her shoulders and nodded with a breathy sigh. “You sure have. Just look at how far you’ve come, honey.”
She had come a long way from the woman who’d wanted to end her life not long ago. As she stood with these smart, strong, resourceful women, she felt grateful to call them friends.
“We’re so proud of you,” Marty whispered, dropping a kiss on her cheek and giving her shoulders a squeeze, making George blush. “Now, I’m going to find myself a hot dog with lots of mustard and relish. I see Darnell’s already got the grill fired up. Love you, honey. Can’t wait to see those wings!”
Marty scurried off to join Darnell, who was studiously following Arch’s instructions about grilling—because was there any other way when it came to Arch the perfectionist?
Gladys lie under a beautiful maple on a soft bed, with Susan curled up in her tail. The two of them had a sketchy start, but now you couldn’t pry them out of each other’s space. They slept together every night, with an occasional threesome nap with Sauerkraut when Joe-Joe brought her by the house.
“It’s goddamn magical around here, kiddo. Shit, I’m proud of you. Really proud.”
George looked down at her ballet slippers, embarrassed. “Thanks, Vampire Lady.”
Nina wrapped an arm around her neck and squeezed her tight, plopping a kiss on the top of her head. “Pure, fucking magic, Wings,” she said before strolling over to the grill to chat with Darnell and Carl.
Well, it wasn’t all magical. Helping to run a rescue was hard work. There were so many animals they couldn’t save. And then there were the animals people dumped when they grew tired of them. The animals they pulled and rescued from euthanasia.
But it had all been worth it for every animal they were able to save. Side by side, she and Dex had worked hard to set up volunteer and foster programs with her seniors at Mom and Dad’s Place. They’d implemented rules and shared ideas with the schools to bring in more kids to help volunteer.
They’d gutted the inside of the house and, with the help of some amazing contractors and help from the girls, Arch, Darnell and Carl, turned it into a home, one she and Dex planned to share.
To see it now, with its sweeping front porch and wood-wrapped columns, the gorgeous hydrangeas and roses in the front garden, it all made her heart happy.
So happy.
They’d built outdoor play areas for the dogs, with a pool and hurdles for the more active canines to jump. They’d designed heated and air-conditioned housing for the adoptees, and no animal was turned away. They’d hired Joe-Joe to help with training the animals, and both he and Sauerkraut now lived in a small cottage behind the house, where he’d been on his meds and successfully started his life over.
He was happy and healthy and amazing with the animals.
Justin was still coming to the rescue every day, and now, during the summer, he volunteered around the job he’d gotten at a local eatery. His mother was thriving and healthy. She’d been sober for six months now, she had a job, and she was working hard to repair her relationship with her son. It had been a long road so far, filled with potholes that Dex and George had helped him through, but they were going to make it—and if Justin needed them, they’d be there.
Best of all? Justin was happy. He smiled more. He laughed more. He hugged them often.
As to her father? Titus had dealt with him, and she refused to look back. But her father’s money? That had been put to the best use of all—saving lives, but not just animals’ lives. She’d donated millions of his fortune to women’s shelters and to therapy programs all over the country to help aide their recovery. To help the children of abuse heal and find healthy lives moving forward—a healthy life she, too, was working hard, through therapy to achieve.
And she reveled in her new life. There’d been assignments along the way, and she was getting better and better all the time at navigating the tricky waters she swam as a guardian angel.
Titus had finally found a place to sneak her in upstairs, and he’d even told her she could come clean to upper management if what he’d asked Dex to do weighed too heavy on her.
But she’d dismissed that as nonsense. Her life was amazing because of what Titus had done. What did it matter how she’d become a guardian? What mattered was that she was thriving as one.
As to her father, Titus had later told them he’d been shipped back to hell bound by angel magic, making it impossible for him to ever leave or terrorize George again.
She and Dex had stumbled around in their new relationship for a little while, learning about each other, learning their likes and dislikes, dating, laughing, arguing on occasion, but mostly they spent their time working toward their common goal to become a strong force in the rescue community and an even stronger couple who had healthy communication skills and loved each other with intention.
And now they were here today with the people she’d fallen in love with, people who loved her, people who’d promised to always be there no matter what—and Dex.
Oh, Dex. Kind, loving, sexy-as-hell Dex. She was nuts about him, and she’d taken the bull by the horns and told him so a few months ago.
And he’d responded in kind.
And today they’d get their permanent wings—together.
Speaking of the man she loved, he sauntered across the green grass toward her, past the tables filled with food Arch had insisted he orchestrate, and winked at her with a laughable saucy wink.
“Are you lost, ma’am?” he asked teasingly, pulling her to him and molding her body to his strong frame.
She batted her eyes at him. “Lost? I don’t know what you mean?”
“Because somebody better call upstairs and tell them they’re missing an angel.”
George groaned into his broad chest. “Oh, that was bad. Really bad, buddy.”
“Bad jokes are why you love me, right?”
She stood on tiptoe and dropped a kiss on his luscious lips. “Well, that and, you know, that thing.”
He chuckled, the rumble tickling her chest pressed to his. “Yeah. I know the thing.”
“Lovebirds!” Titus shouted from across the green expanse of lawn, a cigarette between his fingers, his long robes swishing in the gentle breeze. “It’s a fine day for some wings, huh? How are you two?”
George ran to him and threw her arms around Titus’s big neck, hugging him hard. They’d become friends over the course of these last months. Many a night would find them talking over a cup of coffee for her and a flask of one whiskey or another for Titus.
She dropped down from the hold he had on her and asked, “How are you?”
He tweaked her cheeks. “Oh, you know, the youge. Chaos times a billion. Babies going to the wrong couples. Women dating men who are all wrong for them and vice versa. Remind me to tell you about Guthrie Merkel and his online love affair with a catfish. Then there’s angels gone wild. You know, same old, same old.”
She laughed up at him as the sun bathed his form. “I’m glad you’re going to be the one to give us our wings.”
“I wouldn’t have missed it for all the Crown Royal in the world. Now, I heard there’d be potato salad. Arch said so. I love his flipping tates salad. Point an old angel in the right direction, would you?”
Dex slapped him on the back and pointed at the tables set up under the blue sky. “Middle table.”
Titus winked. “See you guys in a bit for the big to-do, huh?”
George grinned at him. “Can’t wait.”
Titus headed toward the infamous potato salad and, as he did, George took a good look around at the newly renovated house, the beautiful gardens, the sanctuary they’d built for animals in need, the friends she’d acquired…and her throat tightened.
She didn’t know happiness like this existed, but she’d found it, and she was never letting it go.
“Look at what you’ve done, Dex. You should be so proud. I’m so proud of you.”
“Look at what we’ve done,” he replied, nuzzling her neck.
They had done this—together.
Something fell on her head then, brushing her hair before it fell at her feet. When she looked down, it was a peach flower.
Just like the one Effie’d had in Cabo.
“Effie,” they said in whispered unison.
George stooped and picked up the flower, tilting it to the sky. “To you, my friend.” Then she tucked it behind her ear and smiled, her heart full.
“Hey,” Dex said. “I’ve been thinking.”
She curled her arms around his neck and stared into his dark, sultry eyes. “About?”
“We need to name the pig pen.”
She played with the ends of his hair, twirling them around her finger. “Why do we need to name the pig pen?”
“Well, the cats have a name for their domain. Don’t you think the pigs will be jealous?”
Giggling, George tilted her head. “Um, do pigs get jealous?”
He ran a finger along her nose. “Of course they do. So, wanna hear the name I came up with?”
She winced comically. “Um, I dunno. Do I?”
“Put Your Ham in the Hand of the Man Who Stilled the Waters,” he said with far too much excitement. “Genius, right?”
Her head fell back on her shoulders as she laughed. “I think it’s a good thing I love you.”
“It’s the best thing,” he said with his gorgeous smile.
Yeah. Probably the best thing ever.
But second runner up to the best thing ever? She fit somewhere. She fit with these chaotic, loud, loving group of people.
Finally.
She fit.
The End
If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts or is in crisis, please reach out for help and call Lifeline Prevention: 800-273-8255.
The Accidental Gargoyle
The Accidentals
Book 12
As a one-time OOPs employee, Ingrid Lawson has seen plenty of paranormal accidents
But witnessing and experiencing are two different things, and she’s perfectly fine being a plain ol’ human. So when her ex-boss Nina schleps her around to estate sales, where she purchases two of the butt-ugliest gargoyles in existence to decorate her hedge maze…what happens next is stone-cold cuckoo.
Suddenly, Ingrid’s beloved career as an animal therapist is on hold as Nina, Wanda, Marty and the OOPs gang help her navigate a rocky new life as a nocturnal paranormal with big horns, bigger ears, and an aversion to sunlight. Oh, and there’s the inconvenient matter of attraction to the man who turned her…who’s sofamiliar… And did we mention the screeching harpies hellbent on getting their hands on her?
It’s all hands on deck to keep Ingrid alive until the danger passes, but throw in an old enemy they never saw coming, and her case just may be the hardest yet!
***Author Note: This is an Accidental Quickie and shorter in length than prior novels in the series.***
For more information go to: https://www.dakotacassidy.com/accidentalseries.html#gargoyle
About The Author
Dakota Cassidy is a USA Today bestselling author with over almost one-hundred books. She writes laugh-out-loud cozy mysteries, romantic comedy, grab-some-ice erotic romance, hot and sexy alpha males, paranormal shifters, contemporary kick-ass women, and more.
Dakota lives in Texas with her real-life hero and her dogs, and she loves hearing from readers!
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Also by Dakota Cassidy
Visit Dakota’s website at http://www.dakotacassidy.com for more information.
A Lemon Layne Mystery, a Contemporary Cozy Mystery Series
1. Prawn of the Dead
2. Play That Funky Music White Koi
Witchless In Seattle Mysteries, a Paranormal Cozy Mystery series
1. Witch Slapped
2. Quit Your Witchin'
3. Dewitched
4. The Old Witcheroo
5. How the Witch Stole Christmas
6. Ain’t Love a Witch
7. Good Witch Hunting
8. Witch Way Did He Go?
9. Witches Get Stitches
10. Witch it Real Good
11. Witch Perfect
12. Gettin’ Witched
Marshmallow Hollow Mysteries, a Paranormal Cozy Christmas Mystery series
1. Jingle All the Slay
2. Have Yourself a Merry Little Witness
3. One Corpse Open Slay
Nun of Your Business Mysteries, a Paranormal Cozy Mystery series
1. Then There Were Nun
2. Hit and Nun
3. House of the Rising Nun
4. The Smoking Nun
5. What a Nunderful World
Wolf Mates, a Paranormal Romantic Comedy series
1. An American Werewolf In Hoboken
2. What’s New, Pussycat?
3. Gotta Have Faith
4. Moves Like Jagger
5. Bad Case of Loving You
A Paris, Texas Romance, a Paranormal Romantic Comedy series
1. Witched At Birth
2. What Not to Were
3. Witch Is the New Black
4. White Witchmas
Non-Series
Whose Bride Is She Anyway?
Polanski Brothers: Home of Eternal Rest
Sexy Lips 66
Accidentally Paranormal Novel, a Paranormal Romantic Comedy series (published with Berkley Sensation)
1. The Accidental Werewolf
2. Accidentally Dead
3. The Accidental Human
4. Accidentally Demonic
5. Accidentally Catty
6. Accidentally Dead, Again
7. The Accidental Genie
8. The Accidental Werewolf 2: Something About Harry
9. The Accidental Dragon
The Accidentals, a Paranormal Romantic Comedy Series (self-published)
1. Accidentally Aphrodite
2. Accidentally Ever After
3. Bearly Accidental
4. How Nina Got Her Fang Back
5. The Accidental Familiar
6. Then Came Wanda with a Baby Carriage
7. The Accidental Mermaid
8. Marty’s Horrible, Terrible Very Bad Day
9. The Accidental Unicorn
10. The Accidental Troll
11. Accidentally Divine
12. The Accidental Gargoyle
The Plum Orchard, a Contemporary Romantic Comedy series
1. Talk This Way
2. Talk Dirty to Me
3. Something to Talk About
4. Talking After Midnight
The Ex-Trophy Wives, a Contemporary Romantic Comedy series
1. You Dropped a Blonde On Me
2. Burning Down the Spouse
3. Waltz This Way
Fangs of Anarchy, a Paranormal Urban Fantasy series
1. Forbidden Alpha
2. Outlaw Alpha
Dakota Cassidy, Accidentally Divine
