Chapter 179: Date Night
*Dani Li volunteered to be the waitress. You guys have a great night. Tip not needed. – Mia*
Nessie stood in Karan’s room looking at herself in the mirror. She couldn’t think of the last time she was this dressed up. Even with Bradley she didn’t dress up like this.
Her long fire red hair was in a loose French braid with curled tendrils framing her face. Karan had done her makeup accentuating her sapphire eyes and heart shaped lips. She even liked the way her light dusting of freckles looked.
The dress was a shimmering blue that clung to her figure and ended mid thigh. The cowl neck hung low without being low-cut, remaining modest while also being sexy. The long sleeves ended just above her wrists where she wore multiple silver bangles of varying sizes and styles.
Her legs were covered in black hosiery with a seam going up the back. The thigh highs required no garter belt leaving nothing but sleek lines. Silver and blue shoes with red sole bottoms and four-inch heels graced her feet.
The door opened and Siobhan walked over to her. “I had planned to give these to my daughter, but I never had one.”
Nessie accepted the silver and pearl teardrop earrings from her aunt. Smiling she hooked them in her ears. “Thank yeh.”
“I love you, Nessie.” Siobhan hugged her niece. “He’s downstairs when you’re ready.”
“Walk me down?” Nessie asked quietly and Siobhan nodded. Nerves kept her silent as they went down the hall and stairs.
Halfway down the stairs one of the brothers let out a wolf whistle causing Nessie to blush. The whole floor went quiet as she finished making her way down the stairs. Siobhan kissed her temple before walking away to her husband.
Knuckles walked up to her wearing a light blue Oxford shirt and freshly pressed dark blue jeans. As always, he wore his cut and motorcycle boots. His beard was trimmed and hair pulled back in a low ponytail.
“You’re beautiful.” He whispered as he twirled some of her hair.
“Thank yeh. Yeh look pretty good yerself. I feel like I’m on display.”
“Then we should probably leave.” He brought her hand to his lips and gently pressed a kiss to it. “Are you ready?”
“Aye.” She smiled at him. “Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise.” He said guiding her outside to the SUV that was waiting.
Werewolf opened the door for them and they both slid into the backseat. Dom sat in the driver’s seat and smiled at the couple as Werewolf got into the front passenger seat.
“Are we still making that detour?” Werewolf asked as Dom headed out of the compound.
“Yes, Abernathy is expecting us.” Knuckles said as he put an arm around Nessie’s shoulders. She leaned into him and couldn’t help but smile.
In the middle of the night, Nessie had woken up after her new ring had slipped off her finger. After a quick conversation with Werewolf, they contacted the jewelry store and made an appointment.
They arrived and the couple were buzzed into the closed store. He looked at the simple band, sized her finger and said it could be done in an hour. Knuckles took off the chain and handed over the two rings that Stephen gave him.
These were a little more intricate and would take a little longer. He sized their right ring fingers and then said that his would need to be enlarged. The man that reminded Nessie of Santa promised to use the gold that he took from the other two rings.
Once they were through, and Abernathy told them that he would have the band done in the next hour, Nessie and Knuckles headed to their date.
Dani Li, a young Asian woman wearing the Cookie Jar uniform, unlocked the door and led the couple through to the restaurant expansion. Werewolf and Dom sat at a table towards the back where coffees waited for them.
There was only one table set in the expansion area. It was covered in a cream-colored table cloth and had a smoky blue glass candle sitting in the center.
Knuckles pulled out a chair for Nessie. After making sure that she was good, he gave her a light kiss and then moved to his own chair. Dani Li came in with two glasses and bottles of Guinness along with bowls of red lentil soup. She also set down a basket of fried Bannock bread.
“Oh! I didn’t know yeh served red lentils.” Nessie said excitedly.
“We don’t. But it’s going to be the soup of the day tomorrow. We’ll see how it does.” With a friendly smile she left them alone.
“I can’t think of the last time I had red lentils.” Nessie smiled at Knuckles as he tried the soup. “Thank yeh.”
“This is good.” Knuckles smiled back at her. “You’re welcome. Tell me about home.”
They ate the soup and bread while she told him about growing up in Scotland. He was laughing at a story about her and one of her sisters convincing James that they had not only seen the Monster but had swum with it when Dani Li came back in.
She cleared the soup and bread basket from the table. Returning, she placed a plate in front of them both. Each plate had minced beef, mashed potatoes, English peas and steamed carrots.
“Minced and tatties!” Nessie exclaimed. “Oh Knuckles! Mum used to fix this during winter. Off season was always hard with so many of us. When I left to go to school, fourteen were living with mum.”
“You’re the oldest, but not the oldest.” He said looking at his plate skeptically.
She chuckled at his uncertainty. “One bite. That’s what mum used to tell us. Try one bite to see if yeh like it.”
He nodded and then scooped up some of the meat and potatoes just like she did. It was tasty and vaguely reminded him of the pot roast his mom used to make.
“Tastes better than it looks.”
“Aye, it does.” As they ate the main course, she went through the marriages, divorces and deaths that caused her to have thirteen brothers and ten sisters. Some were steps, some were halves and three were adopted. Twenty-four all together. Her grandmother, Nana Bee, said that there was one for every hour of the day.
Nessie laid claim to the witching hour.
Dani Li came back and cleared the table again. When she returned it was with a platter of shortbread cookies, slices of tea cake and sticky pudding. She gave them each empty plates, new flatware and empty mugs. Then she disappeared and quickly reappeared with the teapot with spiced tea, a bowl of sugar and a small carton of cream. With a smile, she pulled out two small bottles of scotch whiskey from her pocket before she left them again.
