"Oh wow!" Lorelie pumps one of her fists, "Does that mean you're going to pierce your ear? And wear an earring?"

"It's possible unless it hurts too much," Rune says in mock seriousness. Lorelei just scowls and shakes her head at him.\

"So, all this fantasy nerd stuff between the two of you will finally pay off?" Syd asks as she slips in to refill our water glasses.

"Was she as big of a Lord of the Rings nerd as Rune was?" Tyler Paul asks, holding up his glass to Syd, "He once acted out Gollum's undying love for the ring for me while we were waiting for a scene change to convince me to see the last movie."

This makes everyone laugh. "Did I?" Rune puts his hands over his face, pink with embarrassment.

"Thank God Shelby never did that, but she could talk my ear off about her favorite books. We were a pretty insular family," Syd tells Tyler, filling his glass, "I was so happy when we started spending Augusts up here so I could ditch her with Rune and escape to some mountain biking with Gunnar."

I'd never thought about it that way, but Syd's right. Our immediate family was pretty insular. My parents didn't like us having anyone over when they were at work, and they were at work a lot.

Rune continues to open his gifts while Gunnar, Hank, Syd, and I share highlights from those summers together, not all of them embarrassing to the birthday boy. Kim is indefatigable, darting here and there to catch photos and video. Finally, I tell her we've shared enough and to just relax and enjoy herself.

Rune receives a beautiful book about grilling vegetables from Pat, and Dan, a bottle of organic olive oil with white truffles from my parents (which is a surprise), a new fantasy thriller from Marguerite she swears he won't be able to put down, and a card from Leslie that has Rune nodding.

"Excellent," He smiles a satisfied, mysterious Cheshire cat grin, "Thanks."

"My pleasure," she smiles, looking happy and relieved.

"What are you two up to?" I ask, mystified.

"She's going to help me grow my hair out, so it doesn't look so raggedy and keep you looking chic for all of the interviews we'll need to do, in exchange for help with video content for her social media.

"Yes please," I agree.

"I've had five new people contact me for hair appointments this week, three from my Instagram, and two because Amy Penington told her friends I cut your hair."

"Really?" I find this hard to believe.

"A photo of the three of you came up on one of her favorite celebrity fashion sites walking down the street in Seattle, when you had lunch at The Pink Door," Leslie tells us, "You have one of the new chic bobs for summer."

"Seriously?" I can only laugh.

"Get used to the weirdness," Tyler Paul tells me, "It's your new life."

"Yep," Rune smiles and kisses my cheek and then says eagerly to Nils and Lorelei, "Can I finally open your present now?"

"Yes, it's from all of us," Nils tells him, looking shy as he points to Lorelei, Syd, and finally Gunner, "and it's for both of you so you can open it together."

This gives me pause. I look from Gunnar to Syd. He's unreadable. Syd just shrugs and makes a wry expression. Hmmm. With that, Nils and Lorelei push the large newspaper-wrapped box with blue and green ribbons in front of us. When Rune tries to pick it up, it tips heavily back out of his hands with a thump.

"Yikes, I hope it's not breakable," he winces, "Shells, give me a hand."

We leave the box on the ground. I untie the bow and pull off the ribbons as Rune rips into the newspaper from the top. Underneath is a plain, sturdy cardboard box with no markings. Rune pulls apart the pieces folded in on themselves, and we look down inside at a sea of crumpled blue and green tissue paper.

"Oh," I gasp as we lift off the paper. We can see two nylon halters, one hunter green, one cobalt blue, with lead lines attached. It was their big brass hooks that clanked.

"What does this mean?" Rune asks, looking from one of the gift givers to the other, starting to lift one of the halters out. I'm speechless. If I say anything, I'll start crying, especially looking at the bright expectation on Nils's and Lorelei's faces.

"Keep digging," Nils encourages him, "there's more!" And indeed, there is. We pull out assorted brushes, a hoof pick, and all sorts of horse paraphernalia. With each item, it's harder and harder for me to hold back happy tears.

Finally, at the bottom are two heavy, slender packages. We each open one to find a blank metal nameplate. The kind that goes on the front of a horse's stall.

"We picked out horses for you that need to be adopted!" Lorelei jumps up, clapping. She and Nils do a crazy little dance of excitement and show us their phones.

"We figured you need something active and hands-on to take you away from your computers and all that's going on with those asshats," Syd says as the kids hand us their phones.

"I figured this was the easiest way to inspire your lazy ass out to the barn to help me get their stalls rebuilt in time," Gunnar pipes up, "though we're in much better shape now that Dad's here."

"Ouch," Rune grimaces while he takes Lorelei's phone. I take Nils's phone, but I can't look at it yet. Instead, I watch Rune instead.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"His name's Whiskey," Lorelei tells him as Rune stares down at a rangy raw-boned chestnut with a flax mane and tail.

"Wow," Rune says, as speechless as I am, "thank you guys. He's fantastic."

"He needs some TLC," Lorelei says frankly, "They all do. They're too skinny."

"You can pick out different horses, if you like," Nils tells us, "But these are the most recent additions to the rescue ranch, and they're the four youngest."

"Wait, how did you see the horses?" I ask the kids.

"I took them over," Gunnar tells us, "It's not that far."

"I can't believe you both kept this secret," I tell the kids, impressed.

"It was such a good one it was easy to keep," Lorelei admits.

"Plus, we're a family good at keeping secrets," Nils pipes in, with a sly glance at his mother. Syd chokes on her drink and then laughs.

"I deserved that," she admits.

"Look at your horse, Seashell," Rune encourages me.

I nod, biting my lip, and finally look at the photo. It's a skinny, sunburned black horse. It's so obviously a thoroughbred with its long lines and leggy-ness. A black thoroughbred. My dream. I'm speechless.

"Her name's Ink Jet. She's one of the most challenging horses they have, she's only green broke from the track," Lorelei tells me in total horse talk.

"You don't have to take her," Nils says, playing the diplomat, "but you told me once you wanted to adopt a racehorse."

"I did, didn't I?" I say and give my nephew a big hug.

**

The rest of the evening floats by in a happy haze of delicious birthday cake and equally delicious conversation. Tyler Paul has to fly home tomorrow morning, but he'll fly back and pick Vivienne up at the end of the week, and we'll get to spend more time with him them. We told him all about starting to pre-fund Horse Girls Heroes next week, and Rune shared some ideas about bringing Howl's Moving Castle to life as an audio play. Both Vivienne and Tyler are delighted we want her to be a part in it. They seem easy and relaxed with each other, and I can't wait to get the scoop from Viv tomorrow.

There's a text from my dad when Rune and I finally make our way to bed after seeing Vivienne and Tyler off as the last party guests. Vivienne's rented a house for the week just a few minutes away.

Dad: Your posts today have inspired your mother. She gave Franklin a taste of his own medicine late this afternoon. We hope it'll help stop his craziness. I'll let her tell you about it herself. Tomorrow's crazy busy. We'll touch base with you tomorrow night.

"Wow. What in the world can this mean?" I ask Rune, showing him my phone.

**

When I come out of the bathroom after washing my face, Rune is sitting up in bed, staring at nothing, his arms wrapped around his knees. He has an odd, angry, baffled expression and tears in his eyes.

"What's happened?" I ask, scrambling onto the bed to kneel beside him, "What else did they say about us?"

"Franklin Haus has been taken away by an ambulance," he tells me, wiping his hand across his eyes, "The guy I have watching his house saw Pamela show up at Franklin's a few hours ago. About half an hour later the paramedics came and took his prone form away. About twenty minutes after that Pamela came out the side gate carrying a stack of boxes. She screamed at my guy when he tried to talk to her and ran to her car."

"Prone form?" I ask, hardly hearing anything else; the gigantic tsunami is cresting in my mind's eye.

"Franklin was strapped to a gurney and wasn't moving," Rune clarifies.

"Is anything online about it?" I ask, reaching for my phone on the nightstand and start to Google News + Franklin Haus + Health.

"Not yet."

"So maybe I did kill him," I whisper, and toss my phone on the bed.

"No, Seashell, you didn't," Rune shakes his head and takes my hands, "angry dreams don't kill people, or I would have easily killed Franklin a couple of years ago several times over."

"How do you feel about this?" I ask, wanting to crawl close for a cuddle, but not wanting to encroach if he needs space.

"Angry, confused," Rune shakes his head and pinches the bridge of his nose with his other hand, "I don't want him to be dead. I want him to have to deal with the consequences of his actions and all of the people he hurt," he sighs and pulls me toward him, "But I have to be honest. The thought of Franklin and Pamela's crazy making stopping because he might be sick, or dead is a huge relief too."

**

"You won; I'm leaving," says that needling whining voice. I don't recognize it immediately because it's younger than last time.

I sit on a cold sandy beach, a few yards from a storming ocean. There's no tsunami coming at me, but the waves are large and rough, with lots of white caps under a dark angry gunmetal grey sky. Lightning flashes.

"Did you hear me?" the whining voice asks, with a crack, "I said I'm leaving. I'm throwing in the towel. Between you, Rune, and now especially your mother, you've won. I'm leaving."

A lanky, dark-haired teen boy, about Nils's age, is sitting next to me on my left. It's a young Franklin Haus.

"You're not welcome here," Rune says sharply from my right side. He's thirteen, dressed just as he was for our outing to see the Lord of the Rings. Taking in his sportscoat and carefully styled hair now, how did I not realize it was a date back then?

"I know I'm not," Frankly retorts, standing, in a tone that says he's used to this.

Rune and I both stand as well. I glance back and forth between the now-adult Rune, glaring angrily at the now Christmas party version of Franklin in his suave 40s suit.

"So leave," Rune instructs, his voice firm.

"In a minute. First, I need to apologize," Franklin says in a voice that sounds annoyed more than anything, "Look, I noticed how happy and smitten the two of you were the night of that Christmas party. I was jealous. I just had to insert myself and to make sure you didn't kiss."

"That's not an apology, that's an excuse," Rune sounds extremely fed up.

"I guess I don't understand yet what an apology is, then," Franklin shrugs.

"Take your time learning because I'm not ready to forgive you yet," Rune takes my hand.

"Me either," I add, "and I'm pretty sure my mother feels the same."

"Fair enough, but Eva certainly got one over on me," Franklin sighs and puts his hands in his pockets as if this is simply a business deal he's been outmaneuvered in. Maybe for him, it is.

"I appreciate your coming to tell us this," Rune says evenly.

"I have to start somewhere to learn all these new rules," Franklin says, looking out at the ocean and the sky, both calmer now, except for a narrow gray strip in front of him.

"Okay," Rune says in a tone I've learned is his way of shutting down conversations he's no longer interested in. Franklin winks out.

"Is he dead?" I ask, not sure how I feel about it.

"That or in a coma; I think he's too much of a coward to face us now that we're on the offensive," Rune says, slipping off his shoes and pulling off his socks, "Let's go for a swim."

"Are you sure?" I ask, looking out at the still-high waves that are now a beautiful tropical turquoise. Above them, the sky is a gorgeous array of sherbet tones. Is it dawn or sunset, I wonder?

It's whatever you wish, Lord Ganesha says with his rich, laughter-filled voice. Suddenly, there in the calming waves stands a gigantic elephant in an even more elaborate costume than the last time I saw him. He waves his trunk in greeting.

"We're both good swimmers," Rune reminds me, taking my hand and walking to the water's edge, "and the water's nice and warm."

"It is!" I laugh, delighted with the bathwater feel as it splashes around my feet. I am a good swimmer. I know how to get through the waves.

Suddenly, swimming in the ocean sounds like the most wonderful thing in the world, "Let's go," I agree, and we step forward, now in our bathing suits from that last summer together, hand in hand into the waves.

The End

Stay tuned for more adventures with Shelby, Rune, and their extended family. Stay up to date with what I'm writing next here: Serial Novel Wait for Me by Melissa Balmer — Pedal Love