Mary Anne Gruen - The House of Red

It was almost four o’clock in the morning when Wolf and Virginia made their way into Central Park. It was very quiet with only a few vagrants stretched out sleeping on the occasional bench. At first they disagreed on where the entrance to the mirror was.

But Wolf said, “There’s a trace of your scent left on these bushes. And it’s not far from the bridge where we stood when we came over from the other side. I think this is it.”

“But I don’t see anything.”

“You think the ring was wrong?”

A loud musical “Humph,” came from the direction of Virginia’s left hand.

“I think we’ve insulted it,” Virginia said.

Wolf cocked his head to one side and sniffed again. “Should we wait?”

Virginia wrapped her coat tighter around her. It was a chilly fall night with just the hint of rain in the air. “We’re here now, we might as well wait for a couple of minutes,” she said.

Wolf nodded and pulled her closer to him to keep her warm.

But it wasn’t a couple of minutes. Within a very few seconds, the spot in front of them started to shimmer.

“Look, someone turned the mirror on.”

“The ring was right,” Virginia said. She started to move toward the shimmering light, but Wolf pulled her back.

“No, no, no,” he said. “We don’t know who’s on the other side. I should go first. You follow.”

“OK. But I’m sure the ring wouldn’t tell us to go if there were any immediate danger.”

Wolf stood up to his full height to look more imposing and stepped through the mirror. When he came out the other side, he fell smack into Tony.

“What the?” Tony said, pushing him back. He’d just turned the mirror on and the last thing he expected was for somebody to come walking through.

Wolf was thrilled. “Tony!” he said. He broke out into an enormous grin and threw his arms around his future father-in-law, patting him vigorously on the back. “So good to see you. We’ve been great! How’ve you been?”

“Fine, fine,” Tony said, with obvious irritation. “What did you mean by calling me ‘Grandpa?’”

“Isn’t it wonderful?” Wolf said, throwing his arms up in the air and then back around Tony again. He was too happy to notice Tony’s irritation. “We’re expecting a little bundle of joy!”

“A what? When?”

“Oh, not for awhile yet.” Wolf pulled back and patted Tony’s cheek, causing the older man to grimace further. “If I’m right and it’s a boy, we’ll name it after you.”

Tony stiffened. It had been hard enough accepting Virginia’s engagement to Wolf. But a baby? It was obvious that there’d been some hanky panky going on in the woods well before they’d gone back to Manhattan. Tony was one of those fathers who have a hard time thinking of their daughters as having a sex life. For a moment, he seriously considered strangling Wolf.

It was a lucky thing Virginia stepped through the mirror just when she did. “Daddy!” she exclaimed.

“Don’t Daddy me,” Tony said, pushing Wolf aside.

“I’ve just told him the good news,” Wolf said. He grabbed Virginia’s hand and swung her arm cheerfully. “He’s so happy he’s speechless.”

“I’ll bet,” Virginia said. She brushed droplets of water off her jacket to keep from looking at her father.

“Let’s celebrate!” Wolf said. “I’ll go down to the kitchen and make us a great big breakfast.” He kissed Virginia loudly on the cheek and went striding off, humming a nonsense tune, still totally oblivious to Tony’s attitude.

Virginia and her father stood in silence for a moment. Then, Tony smoothed his satin paisley smoking jacket and turned off the mirror. The new lordly demeanor he’d been working so hard to cultivate had slipped somewhat and he was just Tony again. “Why didn’t you tell me before you left?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Virginia said, sticking her hands deeply into her jacket pockets. “I guess because I wanted you to get used to the idea of Wolf and I being engaged first.”

“Well, I still haven’t gotten used to it. But I’ve accepted it.” It was Tony’s turn to put his hands in his pockets now. “So. How do you feel about it?”

Virginia pursed her lips and her eyes started to redden. “To tell the truth, Daddy, I’m scared. I haven’t told Wolf. I mean, I can’t tell him because he’s excited enough for both of us. But I keep remembering Mom’s last words to me, how she said I was an accident over and over again. And now, here I am. This pregnancy isn’t exactly planned either. I’m just afraid that maybe I could end up being like her.”

“Oh, Honey.” Tony took his daughter into his arms and smoothed back her hair. “There’s a difference between a surprise and an accident. And as far as I’m concerned, you were a very happy surprise. Being a parent can be a frightening sometimes. I know because I was terrified when you were born. Was I going to be a good father? Would I give you all the things you needed? I know I wasn’t the best dad in the world. But I tried. And I think you turned out pretty well. One thing about Wolf, he’s got excellent taste. I promise you, you won’t be anything like your mother. You’ll just learn everything you need to know day by day.” He kissed her gently on the top of the head. “And if you need any advice, you can always come to me.”

Virginia sniffed and wiped her face. She hadn’t meant to cry. It’s just that she’d tried so hard not to let Wolf see how she felt.

Tony pulled back and looked at her. “How have you been feeling? Have you seen a doctor?”

“In Manhattan?” Virginia laughed and pulled a tissue out of her jacket pocket. “What if they wanted to do a sonogram and saw a tail? How do I explain that?”

“Well, from what I hear, Wendell’s got a pretty good private physician. Maybe you should see him.”

“Maybe.”

“You don’t look like you’ve put on any weight yet.”

“No. Which is surprising considering how much I’ve been eating. I’ve been getting all these cravings for meat. It started coming on slowly. And now, I’m eating almost as much as Wolf. Well, maybe not quite as much as that. But I’m coming in a close second.”

“Any morning sickness?”

“Nope, just hunger. Wolf keeps telling me that growing cubs need meat. Speaking of which, do you think we could go down to breakfast? All this talk of food has suddenly made me hungry.”

“Sure,” Tony said, putting his arm around her.

For the first time, she noticed his elegant and expensive ensemble. This wasn’t at all how her father used to dress. There had obviously been some changes made. She felt almost dowdy in her jeans and light sweater top. “That’s a pretty fancy smoking jacket you’ve got there,” she said, “And those blue pajamas, are they silk?”

By the time they got downstairs, Wolf was serving steak and eggs with several glasses of warm milk. “Ah!” he said, “Just in time. Sit down right there.” He waved vigorously at the table in the center of the room, where he’d tossed his jacket over one of the chairs. It was already laid out with eating utensils, several napkins, bread, and butter.

Tony was amazed at the amount of food Wolf put in front of Virginia. He was even more surprised when she ate it all. She’d always had such a small appetite.

“So, Dad,” Virginia said, “how come you had the mirror on?”

“I was thinking about you. I’ve been wondering how you were doing and turning on the mirror made me feel closer to you. How did you two wind up there at the same time?”

“Oh, Virginia’s engagement ring gave her this cryptic message,” Wolf said. “All about how some dire happenings were about to happen and we needed to be here.”

“Really?”

“So, what’s dire?” Virginia asked.

“Well, nothing that I know of. Except maybe that Wolf’s turned into a big hero around here.”

Wolf’s head snapped up from his plate. “Really? That doesn’t sound dire.”

“Unfortunately, not everybody in the Nine Kingdoms is happy about your fame.” Tony told them about Queen Riding Hood’s counter proclamation and the flood of wolves moving into the Fourth Kingdom. “There’s this party of wolves that comes to the castle every morning asking for you. They’ll be thrilled when they hear you’re back.”

“Thrilled?” Wolf’s face screwed up in uncertainty. “I wonder if I’ll like being a celebrity.”

“The only other news is that I’ve been named Inventor to the King.”

"Sounds important," Virginia said, pulling off another chunk of sourdough from the big loaf in the center of the table and adding a large slab of butter to it.

"Oh, it is. I've also been named a Lord."

"Really?" Wolf said, "I never thought I'd marry into royalty."

"What have you been inventing?"

"Well, the first week I was here I invented the cotton gin."

"You're kidding," Virginia said, stopping in mid-bite.

"What's a cotton gin?" Wolf asked, barely stopping before he slurped up his fifth egg.

"It's this machine that takes the seeds out of cotton," Virginia answered.

"Sounds like a good idea."

"Except I learned about it in school. It was really invented by this guy named Eli Whitney about two hundred years ago. You're an old fraud, Dad."

"But it hasn't been invented here," Wolf said. "Sounds like a useful gadget."

"See," Tony said.

"You're still a fraud. What did you invent next?"

"Well, I'm working on a boiler for the castle. You know, so we can have central heating and lots of hot water."

"Excellent!" Wolf said, gnawing on his steak bone. "Hot water is something I really liked about the land of Manhattan. And when the baby comes, we won't have to worry about him being cold."

"It'll be spring when the baby comes," Virginia said. "So it won't be cold anyway."

"You know, you could manage to show a little appreciation for your old man," Tony said, "After all, I've finally been able to put all that experience I had as a janitor to good use."

"Oh. About your being a janitor. Murray and his family are still acting as your devoted slaves."

"Really?"

Virginia told him about Magic Beer and its lengthy ledger of profits.

"Really?" Tony said again. But his eyes didn't sparkle the way they would have back before they'd come to the Nine Kingdoms.

"You're not planning to go back, are you?" Virginia asked. "To Manhattan, I mean."

“Why should I? I’m a national hero here. I’ve got plenty of money and I’m doing good work. All I was missing was family. And now, with you and Wolf here, I’ve got that too. Why should I leave?” He threw his napkin over his plate. “Actually, I should be asking why you decided to come back. You’re the one who was so determined to leave. Is it just because of what your ring said?”

“Well, not entirely.” Virginia told him about her run-in with her grandmother and her general malaise on the other side.

“I’m glad you decided to return,” Tony said. Being a Lord was fun, but he’d missed his daughter terribly. Maybe he’d even missed Wolf.

Wolf pushed back his plate with a grand gesture and said, “Now that we’re all together, we ought to plan the wedding. How about tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow?” Virginia said.

“You’d rather today?”

“I’d rather catch my breath. We just got here.”

“But you said you wanted to wait till you were back with your father. Well, you are. So, why wait?”

“But tomorrow? There’s no time to plan.”

“So, we’ll have a simple wedding. Come on. At this rate, our son will be presenting us with grandchildren before we say ‘I do.’”

“All right, all right. I know when I’m licked. Tomorrow it is.”

“Good. We’ll start right planning away. Who should I see about the preparations?”

“Actually,” Tony said, “I have just the man. He’s probably looking for me right now, in fact. You remember him. Lord Rupert? He planned the king’s coronation.”