Love is Always Write Anthology Bonus Volume

pulled out the sparkly lip gloss to re-apply. "Oh, hey, stagecoach. Is that even period appropriate?"
    "I don't know?"
    " O-ho, the Wells Fargo wagon is a-coming down the street— "
    Darting out of the crowd, a little girl ran in front of me. I didn't think; I yanked her back by her hood. She squalled and twisted out of her coat, but Alan snatched her up before she got off the curb.
    "What, you want to be flat, kid?"
    Blonde, blue-eyed, and maybe four years old, the little girl stared at Alan. I looked around for an adult in pursuit, but there wasn't one.
    "Your lips are sparkly," the little girl said.
    "Yep," Alan said. "It's magic."
    She squirmed and looked at me.
    "His aren't."
    "He's not magic."
    "I just didn't want you run over," I told the girl, holding out her coat. She huddled against Alan, away from me. "We should call someone," I told Alan. "People will think we stole her."
    "Ixnay on the aringscay," Alan ordered. "We'll get it."
    "That's French!" the girl exclaimed. "My daddy speaks French."
    "No, it's a secret language," Alan told her. "Maybe one day you'll learn it. Where is your daddy?"
    "99 George Street, Cairns, Queensland," the girl said. "Postal code 4870."
    "Queensland is in Australia ," I said.
    "Duh," Alan said as he and the girl stared at me like I was an idiot.
    "I want the magic," she told Alan. "To find my mommy."
    "Magic is a big responsibility," Alan said. "You have to be smart. Running into streets is not smart."
    "I was trying to catch the officer! Mommy said if I get lost find an officer but all the police I see are fake police! Then I saw a real one and you— HE— made me miss him!"
    "I'll call the real police," I told her, pulling out my phone. She shook her head.
    "0-0-0 doesn't work."
    "Enough with the standing," Alan grumbled, and sat right down on the pavement. He kept hold of the little girl and she was fine with sitting on his knee. "So. Magic. You think you can handle it— what's your name?"
    "Jerlina Nicola Anderson-Bligh. And I can handle it. I'm strong." She stuck out a tiny arm and made a muscle. Alan squeezed it with a solemn face.
    "911, what is the emergency?" an operator asked me. I told her that we'd found an unattended child while Alan brought out the lip gloss.
    "Go like this," Alan told the girl, sticking his lips out as the operator connected me with the police. Jerlina did, and he painted her lips with his finger. "Now this," and he and Jerlina made another face at each other and he put more lip gloss on her. He made another face, twisting his lips in opposite directions and crossing his eyes, and Jerlina tried and they both laughed. "Perfect!" Alan put a dot of lip gloss on her nose. "Now you have purple berry sparkles." He pulled out a mirror and showed her. The police came on the line and I told them we had found Jerlina Nicola Anderson-Bligh, who apparently was from Australia.
    "Now," Jerlina said. "Teach me the secret language."
    "I don't think you're ready," Alan said. He took the coat out of my hand and helped Jerlina back into it as she argued.
    "But my lips are sparkly! His aren't. Why did you teach it to him?"
    "That is an excellent question," Alan said, zipping her coat. "But there are secrets, and there are secrets ."
    "You're not supposed to keep secrets," Jerlina said. "It's rude."
    "Tell that to Santa."
    "Smarty-pants."
    A police cruiser pulled up to the curb, and Jerlina huddled against Alan. "Those are the fake police," she whispered.
    "No, they're the real—" I started to say.
    "Ixnay!" Alan snapped as the girl squirmed, trying to escape. He wrapped an arm around her. "Jerlina, remember the magic. You're safe. Lukas will go talk to them. You stay with me, okay?"
    Obediently I walked over to the officer, a tall, stern man with iron gray hair, careful to keep my hands visible and not to block his view of Alan and the child. I told him why when I was close enough. He shrugged.
    "Kid looks safe enough to me. Her mother is in a car and on the way— we've been looking for Miss Jerlina for half an hour. Probably been ducking us."
    Alan and Jerlina laughed again. As I was not needed, I leaned against the police cruiser and watched him play with her and wondered why he never laughed like that talking to me. Mallory got the full, loud, delighted laugh and so did Lilia, but I could only make him snicker. It annoyed me, and also it bothered me how much it annoyed me that I couldn't make Alan laugh. I didn't need to make him laugh. I just needed to work