“Hey,” he said, folding his strong arms around her and giving her a quick kiss. “Where have you been? You’re missing all the fun out here.”
Barbara smiled at him. “So it seems,” she said. Liam swore that she still had a faint Russian accent, but she didn’t hear it in her own voice. “Was that actual laughter I heard coming from Babs?”
The girl in question picked herself up off the ground, brushing grass off the brown shorts and shirt that matched her dark pixie-cut hair, and walked over, Chudo-Yudo following behind. The dragon-dog had appointed himself her unofficial guardian and where one was, the other was likely to be found nearby.
Babs had named herself, not wanting to continue being called Hannah after Liam and Melissa’s long-dead baby daughter. Unusually smart and self-assured for such a young child, Barbara allowed her to make many of her own choices, like the sedate neutral-colored clothing she preferred. It had been tough for the girl to transition from a life spent hidden away in the Otherworld to one lived out in the open in the Human world; Barbara tried to make it as easy for her as possible.
“I laugh sometimes,” Babs said, her large round brown eyes unblinking. Liam called her his little wise owl because of her solemn expression and big eyes.
“I know you do, sweetheart,” Barbara said. “I was just teasing. You remember we talked about joking and teasing, right?”
“Metaphor and humor,” Babs said in her usual serious tone. “I still do not understand them most of the time. Why not just say what you mean?”
She tended to be very literal, which was adorable, but wouldn’t make her life any easier when she started mixing with other children. Barbara was still considering homeschooling come the fall, but Liam insisted that if Babs was going to live in the Human world, she needed to learn to be a normal kid.
Barbara hadn’t had the heart to tell him that no child being trained to be a Baba Yaga was ever going to be anything approaching normal.
Speaking of which, “It’s time to go see the Queen,” she said, holding out two piles of clothing, one small and one large. “And you can’t go dressed like that.”
Liam narrowed his eyes at her. “I love you, my darling Baba, but if you think I am going to wear tights, you’re out of your magical mind.”
Barbara snickered. Now that she’d like to see. “Don’t worry,” she said, handing over his stack. “No tights, I promise.” She repeated the action with Babs. “Okay, let’s all go inside and get changed. It’s not a good idea to keep the Queen waiting.”
Liam shuddered. He’d met the Queen only once, but that had been enough. “Hell, no,” he said under his breath, and herded his small charge into the house.
***
They all met back outside a few minutes later, Chudo-Yudo trailing after Babs like an overly large white shadow. He was so big, his square head was almost even with the top of her darker one.
Barbara beamed with pride at her family, dressed in new clothing that matched her own court attire of black velvet tights, a scoop-necked red silk tunic that hugged her curves, and high black leather boots. A shining silver sword hung from her jeweled belt and a matching bejeweled gossamer net tamed her usual wild cloud of long black hair.
In deference to Liam’s more mundane sensibilities, she’d given him black silk pants in exchange for the tights, although they were snug enough to show off his long legs, tight butt, and strong thighs. His silk shirt was a vivid green that brought out the highlights in his hazel eyes, and malachite stones decorated his more sedate leather belt. He looked so good, she wished she had time to take him back into the house and thank him properly for dressing up in a costume she knew he found uncomfortable. No one from town would recognize their restrained and professional sheriff in this glorious figure.
Little Babs was equally appealing—although in a completely different way—in her outfit of black tights, lavender tunic, and amethyst-studded belt. A small sword, a miniature version of Barbara’s own, hung from the belt in a dark purple leather sheath. Babs’s hair, with its jagged-edged bob, was too short to put up, so she wore a gleaming barrette with facetted amethyst stones that matched the ones on her belt.
Barbara thought they all looked quite dashing and ready for court. Except for the frown on Liam’s usually easy-going face.
“You’re not seriously going to let her wear a sword, are you?” he said to Barbara. “She’s only six.”
Barbara blinked at him in surprise. “I started wearing one to visit the Queen and her consort as soon as my Baba adopted me and taught me to use one; I was younger than Babs is now, and it was fine.” She didn’t understand what he was getting upset about. Sometimes she found Humans as confusing as Babs did.
Liam’s lips tightened. “She’s only a little girl. She doesn’t know anything about swords. What if she cuts herself? It’s sharp, right?”