Masked

XXVI

"Do you Michael, take Taran as your beloved wife?"

"I do."

"And do you Taran take Michael as your beloved husband?"

"I do."

"You may now kiss the bride."

I leaned down and kissed Taran as the crowd erupted into claps and cheering.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I now present to you, Mr. and Mrs. Owens."

"Want to meet my sister?" I whispered to her.

"Definitely," Taran said and walked with me, while exchanging hugs with family, to Amelia.

When Amelia saw Taran she hugged her, and whispered the story into her ear rapidly. She listened intently and sighed. "Michael I'm fine with it, as long as you don't change your mind at some point."

"I promise Taran, besides, I'm a gentleman. One thing that gentlemen never do is leae their wife for another girl."

"Not even one that they loved before they met their wife?" She raised her eyebrows.

I couldn't blame her for testing me, I would have done the same thing.

"Especially the one they knew before they met their wife."

"Well then I'm fine with it, I'm yours now and we have to be there for each other no matter what."

Though those were only words to some, to me they were life preservers waiting for whenever I would fall overboard. At this point, anything was possible with trying to reincarnate Lacie.

"Well Michael, when are you three moving into that new house of yours?" Mallie asked a few days later.

"Next week." We had decided last minute that Amelia would stay with us, and that we would rent the house out to families while we went to go get Lacie. Though Taran's parents wouldn't know about the Lacie plan they were fine with Amelia. Once the story about gargoyles had been told, everyone had accepted everyone.

"Taran when will you come see us?" Shawn asked his big blue eyes wide.

"Very soon, probably not for a few weeks because of school, but on the next holiday break, which is Thanksgiving."

"Hooray!" Alex shouted, glad that she would see her sister again soon and went off to play with her brother.

"Well Taran I guess this is goodbye for now," Ryan said as we went towards her jeep.

"I guess so, thank you so much Ryan and Mallie. How can I ever thank you enough for all that you have done for me?"

"All we want is for you to know right from wrong and to live a fulfilling life."

"Well then I can definitely give you that," she hugged them both before getting in the car with Amelia and I.

"Talk to you soon," Mallie waved as we sped off in the direction of our "house." The plan was to pack and go to the airport where we would fly back to the U.S. and then go to the cemetery. The hard part would be looking inconspicuous and digging Lacie out. I was thankful we had an eight-hour flight home, and would have plenty of time to think of a plan.

"We will be arriving into the Denver area in about fifteen minutes," the flight attendant announced as we looked out the window and saw the familiar mountains of home.

"Do you have a plan?" Amelia asked as I continued to stare at the snow-capped mountains.

"No, and I have no idea how to get her out."

"Well I've been looking at the schedule of when people aren't there and it's between three and four in the morning. That's when we'll enter the cemetery and dig Lacie out. For now we need to get the supplies, and prepare," she looked at Taran, "I have a feeling Lacie won't be happy to see you're married."

I ignored Amelia's last comment and woke Taran up from her slumber to let her know we would be landing soon.

 "Where do we start?" Taran asked as we got in a "rental" car and drove to our old home.

"We get the supplies first, then we will get Lacie tonight," I explained and hoped Amelia wouldn't ruin this for me. She seemed to get the hint and remained silent, as we drove up to our familiar home and walked in to see everything gone.

"Wow," I felt its vacancy as claustrophobia and wanting to escape this void never to return again.

"Amelia what do you want me to help you get?" Taran said trying to seem useful.

"We need a syringe, moonshine, human blood and Rosemary."

"Okay I can get the syringe and human blood from a doctor's office. How about you get the Rosemary and Michael will provide the moonshine?"

"Sounds good to me, thanks," Amelia said and flew off in the direction of the store.

"Will you need assistance?" I asked her as she got ready to fly out.

"No, but thank you. Be careful Michael," she kissed me briefly and flew out to help me bring Lacie back.