Virginia slammed into the room of the Inn. She found Wolf asleep with his head pillowed in Melody's
lap. Instant jealousy consumed Virginia and she took a deep breathe to keep her from screaming. The journey through
the maze of gigantic pumpkins with Patrick leading her had completely wiped her out. The sun had just come up and
she was so tired she could've fallen asleep standing up. Patrick was still with her though. He stood behind Virginia
in the doorway trying to peer into the room.
Melody awoke when she sensed other people in the room. When her eyes fell on Virginia's disheveled
form in the doorway, they immediately opened wide in shock and horror. She quickly masked the expression with one
of relief.
"Virginia! You are all right!" She exclaimed. Wolf stirred in her lap but didn't wake
up. "We thought you had been kidnapped. Wolf has been going mad searching for you."
"He doesn't look very 'mad' to me right now. What makes you think I was kidnapped though?"
Virginia asked, still distastefully eyeing the fact that Wolf was still sleeping in Melody's lap.
"We found a note. It's right there on the ground crumpled up. Wolf threw it there last night."
Melody pointed at the floor.
Wolf began to wake up from all the talking in the room. He opened his eyes up and looked at Melody.
He smiled and reached up to caress her face.
"Good morning, Sweetie." He said, unaware that Virginia and Patrick were in the room.
Melody's face flushed and she slowly got up and raised Wolf's head off her lap. Virginia was fuming inside. I was
missing this whole night and he spent the time pawning over Melody! How dare he!
Wolf cleared his head by shaking it vigorously. He looked up and finally saw Virginia standing by the door with
the most intense frown on her face. Slowly, the events from the previous night came back to him. He whirled out
of the bed and jumped up. He slammed himself full force onto Virginia and knocked her over to the ground. He kissed
her face, her eyes, her nose and her forehead.
"Oh Virginia! Oh Virginia! You're back! My sweet sweet love of my life. I thought I had
lost you!" Wolf howled with excitement. He quickly stood Virginia back up and checked her for any injuries.
"Where have you been? We got the note. They said they took you and you will die if we looked for you. I'm
so happy you're alright!" He hugged her again.
Virginia gasped for air. It was nice to know that Wolf could still remember who she was. She
gently unwound Wolf's arms from around her.
"I'm alright. But I don't know if I was kidnapped or not. I woke up in the pumpkin patch."
She explained. Wolf frowned and raised a questioning eyebrow.
"Virginia, my trollop. I understand you have strange notions sometimes but huff, puff, what
were you doing in a pumpkin patch? I was going mad trying to find you!"
"Well, you looked pretty comfortable when I walked in just now. Didn't seem like you were
going mad." Wolf realized what Virginia must have saw and he hung his head down shamefully. He had spent the
whole night looking for Virginia in every nook and cranny in the Mother Goose Village. He had finally gotten back
into the room exhausted. He cried to Melody and ranted on and on about how he was a bad wolf and wolves were suppose
to mate for life. Melody tried her best to console him and Wolf had eventually fallen asleep in her lap. He had
been so confused. Part of him wanted to howl with pain that Virginia had been kidnapped. But another part of him
wanted to stay in the room with Melody and cuddle up with her. He had been torn in half and his constant urge to
kiss Melody had not subsided yet.
Melody quickly chimed into the conversation and explained to Virginia that Wolf had been exhausted
from searching for her the night before. Virginia chose to just ignore the whole explanation and just let the whole
matter drop for now. There were far worse problems at hand. She picked up the crumpled paper on the ground and
read it to herself. She handed the note to Patrick so he could read it. That's when Melody and Wolf finally even
noticed Patrick standing there, his whole large form framing the doorway.
"Who are you?" Wolf eyed him with suspension and bared his teeth. Patrick glared right
back at him and both men tensed up. Virginia quickly jumped in and put her hands up between the two overbearing
men.
"Relax, both of you! This is no time to show off your manly domineering sides." She
quickly explained to Wolf who Patrick was and Wolf finally relaxed and began prowling around the room.
"Huff, puff. If you weren't kidnapped, then how did you end up in the pumpkin patch? What
is the last thing you remember, Virginia?" Wolf asked. He absentmindedly scratched at his forehead.
"I remember going to sleep. That's all." Virginia pondered for a moment.
"Perhaps, whoever kidnapped you left you in the Pumpkin patch for some reason." Melody
contributed to the dilemma. She obviously didn't want the fingers pointing at her in any way. For she had been
the one who drugged Virginia and dragged her to the deserted pumpkin patch.
"That could've happened. The note also seems to say that whoever instigated this knows about
the disappearance of my father and Princess Wendy. We must keep our guard up from now on. Melody, we will leave
you with the first gypsy clan that we come across. We don't need you to get in any harms way just for being with
us. You are an innocent bystander in all this." Virginia quickly busied herself with the day's plans. "We
must get on our way now. We will think about this situation as we travel. Patrick, you say I owe you for your help.
How about some breakfast on me?"
Patrick grunted a yes and followed Virginia downstairs to the Inn's dining area. Wolf quickly
followed quietly and left Melody up in the room by herself.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Downstairs in the Inn, Wolf and Patrick had each ordered enough food to last a life time. Virginia
raised an eyebrow and eyed Patrick.
"You aren't part wolf are you? You're eating as much as my Wolf is." She asked Patrick.
Patrick laughed and said that he was just hungry. His eyes were bigger than his stomach but he was sure Wolf would
finish whatever he had left. Wolf grunted in agreement but still eyed Patrick up and down in a distasteful manner.
"Huff, puff. I think I'll order some food for Melody before she comes downstairs. That way
it'll be ready by the time she gets down here." Wolf said to no one in particular. Virginia narrowed her eyes
at Wolf.
"How considerate of you, Wolf. Why don't you go right ahead and do that. You and Melody
have seem to become quite chummy with each other these past few days." She remarked sarcastically.
"Huff, puff. Virginia, have Wolf done something to upset you?" Wolf asked innocently.
He whimpered slightly with his sad puppy dog eyes trying to make Virginia smile.
Virginia ignored Wolf's question and continued eating. Wolf scratched the side of his forehead
casually and looked at Patrick with a questioning look. Patrick shrugged his shoulders and decided to change the
subject to Melody instead. He had found Melody quite serene and beautiful. He wanted to know more about her as
much as possible.
"So, that girl, Melody, is a gypsy?" Patrick asked non- chalauntly. Wolf perked up
at the sound of Melody's name and quickly decided to add in his insight. "Yup, she hit her head and can't
remember who she is. We're trying to help her find her people. She's such a sweet little scrumptious thing, ain't
she?" Wolf sighed and rested his elbow on the table and put his head in his hand. He stared off dreamily and
sighed again.
Virginia couldn't take it anymore and slammed her fork down on the table. "Patrick, enjoy
your meal. I'm going into to town to buy more supplies. Wolf, you and Melody deserve each other. I hope you're
happy. You, Wolf, are a pig!" And she stormed off out of the Inn.
"Virginia? Wait, come back." Wolf stood up but Patrick grabbed on to his arm to stop
him. Wolf turned and snarled at the pumpkin eater. Patrick calmly just held on and told Wolf to let Virginia go.
"Why? She's angry with me. I want to know why."
"Let her go. Sometimes women just need some time alone." Patrick explained. "But
honestly, I don't know the two of you very well but from what I do know, you two are married and have a baby, right?"
Wolf nodded and sat back down. "Well, you two obviously love each other, but the way you are treating Melody
in front of Virginia is just not the right way to treat another woman in front of your wife. I believe Virginia
is very jealous right now." Patrick explained to Wolf. Wolf perked up at the idea of Virginia being jealous.
"Virginia? Jealous?! But I-what is she jealous about? Melody? Ahhh, Melody, sweet succulent
little girl, isn't she?" Wolf stared off into space with a dreamy look.
What in the world is wrong with this wolf-man, Patrick thought to himself. The guy obviously
loves his wife but yet he is going ga-ga over the girl, Melody. Something is just not right here. Now of course
he agrees with Wolf that Melody is one sweet and beautiful girl. But if he was to have any chance with her, he
must figure out a way to rid Wolf of his affections for Melody. Or at least get to the bottom of it, for it seems
that Wolf's feelings for Melody were not natural, they seemed somewhat forced into being.
"Do you think perhaps I can join you and your wife, and Melody, on your search for your
friends? I may be of some help. Two men in the group is better than just one." This way, I can be close to
Melody and also find out what is going, Patrick thought to himself.
Wolf narrowed his eyes and glared at Patrick in silence. Patrick didn't flinch but just stared
back until Wolf finally complied.
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