Wives Tales

  Daelyn & Roberta

  Published by Jan Stryvant

  Copyright 2018 Jan Stryvant

  Copyright Jan Stryvant 2018

  Cover Credits: eBook Launch (http://ebooklaunch.com/)

  No part of this eBook may be reproduced in any form without expressed, written consent from the author. The material in this story may feature graphic depictions of a sexual or adult nature and is intended for a mature audience only. All characters in this story are fictional and of the legal age of consent for any activities they engage in. Any resemblance between characters, places, or things in this story, and people living or dead, actual places, or events, is purely coincidental. It's fiction; I made it up.

  License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be copied and given away, or copied and sold, to other people. Got that? No copying, please! If you would like to share this book with another person, it would be really nice if you purchased an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use, please consider purchasing your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  #10448

  Jan Stryvant Books:

  The Valens Legacy:

  Black Friday Book 1

  Perfect Strangers Book 2

  Over Our Heads Book 3

  Head Down Book 4

  When It Falls Book 5

  Stand On It Book 6

  Vegas Rules Book 7

  Desperate Measures Book 8

  Secret Treaties Book 9

  Shadow

  Table of Contents

  Discussion

  Daelyn

  Discussion

  Roberta

  Afterword

  Discussion

  "So when did you find out that the tiger wasn't a real tiger?" Roberta asked, grinning.

  "When Jagadesh started to teach me about how to get power from lycans, of course," Jolene said with an embarrassed look.

  "None of the other girls told you?" Peg asked, surprised.

  "You did not interfere with the Master's lessons or you regretted it, trust me!" Jolene said with a smirk. "He had the most interesting ways of making you pay for your mistakes, for all there wasn't a single cruel bone in the man's body."

  "I still remember when you came back," Peg said. "Everyone was shocked. I think they all thought you'd killed yourself."

  "Why would they think that?" Cali asked, looking confused.

  "Because for a lot of people, the shame of living without magic is too much for them," Roberta told her.

  "It was almost to much for me," Jolene admitted.

  "Whatever happened to your friend Stacy and your brother?" Daelyn asked.

  Jolene shrugged. "They got married. I was a bit mad at her at first, but we worked it out. I found out from one of my brother's friends that they'd had a place set for me at the dais. So we worked it out."

  Jolene turned to Daelyn. "Now, for all that your driving terrifies me, and getting into that death trap you call a car scares the hell out of me, just how in the hell did you end up with that thing?"

  Daelyn winced and took a long pull off of her mug.

  "Uh oh, looks like another story of things gone wrong," Roxy said, and holding out her hand, she took Daelyn's now empty mug when she finished draining it. "Let me top you off, I suspect you're going to need it."

  Daelyn gave a small shrug and, looking around at the others, sighed. "You all know I'm a wee bit tall for a female dwarf, right?"

  "Oh, I don't know," Cali said and then winked, "we're all the same size lying down!"

  "I don't know about that!" Roxy called from the kitchen where she was drawing another beer, "I think Jolene might have us all beat!"

  "Damn straight!" Jolene called. "Get me another wine please, Rox, while you're in there?"

  "Sure!"

  "Sorry to interrupt," Jolene said. "Now, you were about to tell us?"

  "Well, as I said, I'm just a wee bit taller than most," Daelyn sighed, "and as you found out, Jo, life in school ain't that easy for those who are different…"

  Daelyn

  Daelyn laid facedown on her bed and tried not to cry, failing miserably. There was no one anymore, it was just her. All alone. All by herself. No family, no boyfriend, nothing!

  She sniffed a few more times until she heard a light knock on her door, startling her.

  "Daelyn! What's wrong?" her Aunt Sarah asked, opening the door.

  Sitting up on her bed, Daelyn sniffed loudly. "Wermat just dumped me!" Daelyn grumbled, her eyes red.

  "Is that all?" Sarah tsked, shaking her head. "You're only sixteen, Honey, boys will come and go, and that Wermat was no more than a boy if he dumped a lovely young lady like yourself!"

  "It's me height!" Daelyn cried. "I'm too tall! I'm almost as tall as he was! And in me bare feet! He said he was sorry, but his parents wanted him to court a shorter girl!"

  Daelyn was sure that Wermat had tempered his parents' words; she wouldn't have put it past them to have called her an 'overgrown too-tall freak'.

  Sarah sighed and shook her head. Her niece had always been tall; her brother-in-law Taid had always assured his daughter that it would all work out and not to worry about it. But even as blessed as the child was with her mother's good looks, Daelyn was hands down one of the loveliest young women in the entire town; she was also taller than all of the other women in town, and a fair number of the men. Sarah's husband Samis, Taid's brother, had confided in her once that their grandfather had been a very tall dwarf. Apparently Daelyn had just had the misfortune to take after him as well as her mother.

  "Earth and Stone, young lady! Sitting here and crying about it isn't going to make it any better. Every problem has a solution, even if you can't see it for now. Let's get you up and get you cleaned and dressed. I do believe your Uncle has a present for you, now that you're of an age to start learning your trades."

  Daelyn looked up at her Aunt, "A present?"

  "Well surely you didn't think we'd forget about your sixteenth birthday, did you?" Sarah smiled. "It just took a little longer to get here than we thought it would."

  "What, what did Uncle Samis get me?"

  "Att! You'll have to see it with your own eyes! I'm not going to ruin the surprise. Now go shower and get dressed, then come to our home."

  "Yes, Aunt Sarah." Daelyn sighed and then smiled just a little bit. "Are you sure you can't tell me? Not even a hint?"

  "Nope, not a word. We'll take you to it." Sarah winked at her then. "Just remember to put on your work clothes."

  Daelyn smiled a little more. They got her something to work on! A lot of girls got jewelry or fancy clothing for their sixteenth birthday, while the boys all got some sort of project to work on to show off their skills.

  The lucky girls, the ones the guys were really interested in, got projects just like the guys did. More than a few women with obvious physical shortcomings had managed to snag a worthy husband because of her skills with her hands. They were dwarves after all, and skill with one's hands was still one of the most sought-after traits when it came time to look for a husband or a wife.

  Sarah watched as her niece headed for the shower, looking happy once again. Daelyn had always been such a happy child, but when her parents had been killed in a freak accident, the smiles had come a lot less often to her face. With her brother now gone to pursue his own career up in the north with his new bride, Sarah and Samis had really begun to worry about her. Daelyn had refused their offers to come live with them, not wanting to leave her family home empty after so many generations. The stubborn pride of the Gold clan was very apparent in her niece.

  "Where is she?" Samis asked as his wife Sarah returned.

  "Wermat broke up with her, she was having a cry," Sarah told him in a soft voice. "She's cleaning up before coming over."

  "Ah, what an idiot. I bet his parents put him up to it."

  "Well, if he's not strong enough to stand up to them, he certainly doesn't deserve our Daelyn, now does he?" Sarah said heatedly.

  Samis smiled down at his wife. "No, he certain doesn't."

  "I just hope she likes her present."

  "Oh, she will. She's got my brother's skill; she's already fitting in well with the men in the museum workshop. I think Killian is going to offer her an apprenticeship."

  "Killian? Isn't he the one who repairs the slot machines?"

  Samis nodded. "At her size she won't stand out so much working in the casinos when they have to fix a machine on the floor."

  "He'll take her just because of her size?" Sarah grumbled, looking up at him.

  "That and her skills. If she does well on her crafter's challenge, I bet he'll pick her over all the boys trying to get the job," Samis said with a chuckle.

  "Serves them right to lose out to the girl they're all ignoring," Sarah said with a firm nod.

  The door opened then, and Daelyn entered wearing one of her father's coveralls. Sarah frowned; those things were about as unflattering to a woman's figure as a piece of clothing could be. Samis also noticed his niece's attempt to hide behind the unflattering clothing but decided not to comment on it.

  "Daelyn! It's good to see you!" Samis said and gave her a hug. "Now, let's all go see your crafter's challenge present, okay?"

  Daelyn blushed a little. "I, err, I can't believe you did this for me!"

  "You're a member of our family, Daelyn." Samis smiled at her. "You're as near and dea

r to us as our own children, which is why we'd still like you to reconsider and move in with us."

  Sarah nodded. "Never think you're not a member of our family."

  Daelyn blushed deeper. "Thanks, both of you. It means a lot to me."

  "Family always does," Samis agreed. "Now, what say we go unravel this mystery present?"

  Daelyn smiled and nodded.

  The walk to the shops was a long one. It took her a few minutes to realize where they were going. There were a lot of shops in the community, each with a different specialty, because some pieces of equipment always needed to be shared. So it was just smarter to cluster the shops around them.

  When she realized they were heading for the automotive shops, she really started to wonder. Cars had always fascinated her because they were such complicated pieces of equipment with lots of opportunities for tweaking and customization. But still, how could she prove herself on a car? So much of them were computer-controlled these days, as well as computer designed, and Daelyn wasn't much of a fan of computers.

  Then there were all the composites in so many of them. She was a metalworker's daughter! Give her steel and iron any day, and she'd be happy to work on it!

  They came into one of the shops in the automotive area that belonged to her clan, and there was a large, well, shape, under a cloth. It was maybe car-sized, but it wasn't exactly car-shaped.

  Uncle?" Daelyn asked and looked at Samis.

  "It took me months to find this. I want you know this wasn't easy to come across, and I suspect yer probably gonna want to kill me when you see it. But my brother, yer dad, always wanted one of these, so who better to fix it up than his daughter?"

  Walking over to the fabric-covered lump, Samis grabbed the cover and yanked it off.

  Daelyn blinked. It was a car. Once. Now, it was a disfigured lump of steel and sheet metal, twisted, bent, and covered in rust in more than a few places. Looking at the engine, it was huge! Walking closer, she touched the block—cast iron! It had to be at least forty years old!

  "What happened to it? What is it?" Daelyn asked, looking up at her uncle.

  "It's a nineteen seventy Dodge Hemi 'Cuda with a four-twenty-six hemi engine and a four-speed transmission. This one went out of control, clipped a guardrail, then a telephone pole at a hundred and sixty miles an hour when one of the tires blew. It's been sitting in a junkyard for over twenty years."

  "And what do you want me to do with it?" Daelyn said, eyeing the wreckage. All the material on the seats in the passenger compartment looked like it had rotted away.

  "I want you to make it look like this," Uncle Samis said and handed her a brochure that was positively ancient.

  "You want me to make that," Daelyn pointed at the wrecked hulk sitting on the floor of the shop, "look like this?" and she waved the brochure.

  Samis smiled at her. "Yup. Have fun!"

  Daelyn blinked. "You're serious?"

  "Just make sure you learn how to actually drive it when you're done. Hate to see you do all that work just to ruin it."

  Daelyn felt her jaw drop as she stared at the wreck, then the picture, and then the wreck again for a very long time. Eventually she just stopped and looked around.

  "Where do I start?" she asked, only then realizing that no one else was there. It was just her and nearly two tons of steel, iron, and not a single piece of fiberglass, composite, or a computer in sight.

  Twenty-four hours later, and probably ten thousand loud curses, Daelyn had the driveline out of the car. The motor actually looked to be in pretty good shape, if you discounted grease, rust, and dirt. The transmission—well, the bell housing—was missing a piece, and the bottom pan had several holes in it from where one of the mounts got ripped off in the crash. She didn't doubt that the insides would be a mess of rust and seized bearings. Same for the motor.

  Surprisingly, the rear-end still turned—well, once she'd pulled the bent axle out, it did.

  The body…Daelyn sighed and shook her head. Most of the parts were there, but the shape they were in! There wasn't a single body panel that didn't have a dent, scratches, and rust. Some were worse than others; the right-front fender was just a complete nightmare, and the hood actually had rips in the metal from when it had been crushed. The radiator was long gone, not that she suspected it had survived the accident, from the hole in the front grill.

  The frame was bent; fixing that was going to be a nightmare, because if she didn't get it perfect, the car wouldn't be safe at high speeds. She hadn't even started in on the interior, other than to notice there were a fair deal of plastic panels, and while faded, none of it appeared to be broken.

  And, of course, she didn't even know how to drive.

  She knew she was covered in dirt, grease, and sweat. She needed to go back home, get cleaned up, get some sleep, then see about heading over to the museum for her weekend job.

  She had money; she'd inherited half of her family's assets. Her brother had gotten the other half, and he still sent her part of his paycheck every month to help her with expenses until she got out of school. But she'd rather pay for all of this herself. What kind of a challenge would it be if she let others pay for it?

  Still, just looking at the mess, she had to swear again. This wasn't a job you fixed in a week, or a month, or even several months. This was the kind of thing that could take years. It wasn't just the work; it was the things she was going to have to learn how to do, as well. Straightening a frame was a difficult job. Trying to turn a pretzel back into a smooth piece of sheet metal with all the right curves in all the right places wasn't a simple task, either.

  No, there were a lot of new skills she was going to have to learn, no doubt about it.

  Walking back to her home, she noticed she was getting a lot of looks from the guys. She wondered if it was the grease and the grime, the obvious signs of hard work? She thought about it right up until she started to strip for the shower and realized the zipper on her coveralls was almost down to her navel!

  Blushing and giggling at the same time, she guessed that even for a 'tall freak', a set of half-exposed breasts was still more than the average man could ignore! Then again, most of the men looking had been older, adults. Maybe they didn't really care if she was tall? Not like they had their parents telling them what to do or how to think. Maybe when she got older, she should set her sights on the men who were more interested in her achievements instead of her height?

  Men who didn't kowtow to whatever their parents told them?

  Suddenly the car didn't seem like such a daunting project anymore. Instead, it was starting to look more like her road to acceptance. If she was going to be judged on any one thing, she didn't want it to be her size, her looks, or even her chest. She wanted it to be on the one thing every dwarf admired: her work.

  Daelyn resolved then and there as she stepped into the shower that when she got done with that car, it would look like it had just rolled off the showroom floor.

  "So, how'd you like yer gift?" Samis asked Daelyn when she met him at the museum the next morning.

  "It's perfect!" Daelyn grinned and hugged him. "Though I have to admit, I don't have much of an idea of where to start, other than to take it all apart, of course."

  Samis nodded. "Well, I'd say to ask the guys. They've rebuilt a lot of locomotives over the years, I'm sure they'll have some suggestions."

  "I'm not so sure a steam engine and a muscle car have all that much in common."

  "Oh, in the fine details, definitely not," Samis agreed, smiling, "but we've gotten some of those engines in here in not much better shape then yer car. I'd think the guys might have a fair bit of advice you'd still find helpful."

  Daelyn nodded slowly and considered that. Most of the men around here were older, more mature. Gaining their acceptance would definitely help; they didn't let just anyone work on the big projects, after all. You had to earn the right to do that kind of work.

  "And if yer gonna start wearing coveralls, at least get ones that fit ya'. You don't want to have bunches of loose fabric around moving equipment."

  "Oh, they're not that loose!"

  "Let's just say that yer father and you are of a fairly different shape, and leave it at that," Samis said with a chuckle.

 

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