✅ The Last New Start [NaNoWriMo2021]

133. Secrets Revealed

It wasn't until Ffrances finally closed the comic book that Tess actually noticed the title. The fans had apparently gotten so used to calling it Golden Ring in the months before the book was actually announced that the name had lingered on, and almost nobody on the fan forums had paid any attention to the actual name. But as Ffrances reverentially closed it, they could see the name 'Unterminated Ring' in bold capitals.

"I don't think I actually knew what the title was," she speculated with a little laugh. "I wonder why it's unterminated."

"We'll probably find out about five pages before the end," Ffrances said. "And then it will seem so obvious, and we'll wonder why we didn't understand it before." Spike and Tess both nodded to that. Kernigan was a master of making you think that you should have seen the twist coming, without any of his fans actually guessing it.

They had only read the first half of the book so far, delayed somewhat by Ffrances's desire to decode every detail, and to understand all the little jokes that you didn't pick up on the first reading. They were less than halfway through the book, but had decided to take a break from reading when Ffrances observed that they had been focused intently on the text for two whole hours since Gabby's proposal.

"I should be more attentive to my fiancée," she had said, and nobody could disagree with that. To Tess, the whole situation seemed kind of unreal. Like a dream, and any minute now she was going to wake up. Ffrances had been smiling the whole time, and it was easy to tell that this was a wonderful thing to her. Not just the proposal, but the effort that Gabby had clearly put into it. And Tess found that the cheerful atmosphere was kind of contagious. She wondered if she would be a bridesmaid, and then wondered for a moment if a wedding with two brides required two separate groups of maids for them, or if they were shared between the happy couple. Whose side would she be on if they both asked her?

She was a little giddy just thinking about it. She knew she'd had a lot of stressful situations since she had moved in here; nearly half a year already. She'd been a little confused and worried when she first found out the truth about the nursery. But she thought she understood now, and she appreciated that Gabby and Ffrances had both worked wonders to make her feel at home. And as much as she might resent Gabby's attempts to make her feel like a baby at times, she couldn't deny that she had pulled out all the stops to help when she found out about Tess's bedwetting, and had even helped them to come up with the compromise so that Ffrances would feel comfortable using hypnosis to reduce the problem somewhat. Gabby had proved herself a real ally, and Ffrances had moved mountains to help sort out Spike's problems. Now, Tess could look forward to seeing how much those two would make each other happy.

"You two will be perfect together," she said. "And I'm so happy to be a part of your family."

"Me, my wife, and my baby girl," Gabby answered.

"Hey!" Ffrances protested. "Aren't I your baby girl?"

"Sometimes. Sometimes you're something else entirely, and I want you to know that you're my beloved wife no matter which roles we accept. And Tess..." she glanced at Spike, and then hesitated. "Well, I remember babysitting for her when she was just a little tyke. And seeing her happy still brings me so much joy. But I'm not sure how much I can say in front of her young man. I wouldn't want to embarrass you more than necessary."

This looked at Spike too, and for a moment the tension in the air returned. She hadn't thought about it up until that point, the tiniest hole in her little plan. She wanted to keep the truth of her bedwetting secret for now, and that meant she couldn't tell Spike the circumstances in which she had first been hypnotised. But more than that, Gabby didn't actually know about Spike's visit while she had been busy hobnobbing with Maurice Kernigan. The problem with not discussing details with Gabby was that the older cousin had no idea what she could say or not, and would be walking on eggshells trying not to let Spike in on any of their family secrets, thinking that Tess hadn't told him yet. But if Tess said she'd told him everything, Gabby would assume that included the bedwetting, and might start teasing her about it again. But if Tess said she'd told him some things but not others, that would just make him wonder what he didn't know.