Darkmoon (The Witches of Cleopatra Hill Book 3) (14 page)

“Do you have any idea where she might have gone?” I was mentally sifting through the few bits and pieces I did know about Marie Wilcox, trying to figure out the most logical destination for her. “Maybe to the reservation? That’s where her mother is, right?”

“Was,” Lucas corrected me, dark eyes troubled. “I heard she died a few years ago.”

Well, damn. “But maybe Marie still could have gone there for some reason? Can’t we, I don’t know, try poking around to see if someone knows something?”

Both Connor and Lucas had the oddest expressions on their faces, as if they both wanted to call me on my ignorance but at the same time didn’t want to seem rude. After an awkward pause, Connor said gently, “Angela, the Navajo lands are
huge
— bigger than some states. It would be worse than a needle in a haystack.”

“Well, I refuse to believe that we’ve hit a complete dead end,” I retorted. “What about my father’s family? Are they still alive? Would they know anything?”

Connor looked blank, and I had a feeling he wasn’t sure he could even remember who they were. Well, Lucas had said that part of the family wasn’t exactly sociable.

“Maybe,” Lucas said slowly. “That is, I know Andre’s father — your grandfather — died awhile ago. I can’t remember for sure. Your grandmother was a civilian, actually, and once her husband was gone, she pretty much had nothing to do with any of us. No one pushed it, since it was her choice. Our only concern was that she keep quiet about her husband being a warlock, and as far as we know, she never said anything to anyone, so there was no real reason to disturb her, since she obviously wanted to be left alone.”

That was something, at least. “But do you know where she is? Can you set it up so we can talk to her? She may not even know that she has a grandchild.”

Lucas’ face was a study in mixed emotions: pity, worry…reluctance. “We haven’t kept in touch, for obvious reasons. I hadn’t heard if she even stayed here in Flagstaff after her husband died, but I’ll do what I can. It might take a few days, though.”

I chafed at any delay, but with Marie gone, we didn’t have many alternatives. Maybe this would turn out to be nothing more than another wild-goose chase. Then again, even if Andre’s mother could offer no insights, I felt as if I should at least get to meet her. She was the only living grandparent I had left.

“That’s okay,” I said, sounding heartier than I felt. “We have to go back to Jerome anyway, since the remodel on my house is starting tomorrow.”

Lucas lifted an eyebrow; clearly he thought working on the house in Jerome was a wasted effort. “But you’re still going to look at the property here on Thursday, right?”

“Yes, we already said we would,” Connor replied. “We’ll drive up Thursday morning and meet you there. In the meantime, I guess ask around and see if Marie talked to anyone, mentioned anything about going out of town.”

Being Lucas, he was too polite to point out that Marie really didn’t take anyone into her confidence. Maybe she had, just a little, with Damon, but as he’d moved on to a higher plane of existence, that wasn’t of much use to us.

“I’ll do what I can,” he said, in a tired-sounding voice that didn’t sound much like the Lucas I knew. Then he got to his feet. “You two have a safe drive down to Jerome. Watch out for all those holiday drivers.”

We both nodded and said we’d see him in a few days, and he let himself out. A minute later, we did the same, Connor making sure the door was securely locked and warded behind us. After all, even though we’d technically broken into her house, we didn’t want anyone else to do the same.

Who knows…maybe one day she would return.

T
he contractors showed
up at seven on the dot the next morning. I greeted them with as much enthusiasm as I could muster at that hour, although I knew seven was starting late for them. In Arizona it was common practice to start work as soon as the sun was up, noise pollution be damned. However, since I felt as if I were already on shaky ground with my neighbors, considering I was shacked up with a Wilcox, I’d told the contractors they couldn’t begin to work until after seven, and to hold off on the power tools whenever possible until eight.

I supposed I’d see how long that lasted.

They were a professional crew, though, all recommended by the architect. Civilians, just because although the McAllister clan did have some talented carpenters and painters and such among its ranks, I thought it was safer to have a nonmagical group working on the house. Besides, my cousin Adam had been doing a lot of construction and contractor work around town and down in Cottonwood, and the very last thing I needed was him underfoot, shooting daggers with his eyes at Connor while attempting to braze a pipe or something. He’d made himself scarce the past few weeks, probably wanting to avoid seeing me with Connor. Although I still felt a twinge of guilt over the way things had shaken out between us, I couldn’t help but be relieved that he apparently wasn’t going to force a confrontation this time. Things were already complicated enough when it came to interactions with my family members.

Thank the Goddess that Connor had insisted on coming down with me to Jerome, even though I’d protested feebly that it would be fine and he didn’t really need to subject himself to the noise. He’d only lifted his eyebrow at me — oh, I did love it when he did that — and said, “Of course I’m coming with you. Did you really think I’d let you suffer through all that on your own?”

And when he said “suffer,” he wasn’t kidding. The first hour or so was quiet enough; it looked like the workmen were taking final measurements, clearing out any last-minute stuff that I’d forgotten about. I’d already packed most of the kitchen, but there were always a few odds and ends that escaped capture. But after that?

Wham! Wham!

Connor and I had been sitting in the library upstairs, trying to keep out of the way, when the whole house shook. I would’ve said it was an earthquake, but we didn’t get many of those in northern Arizona. No, it was just the capable wrecking crew from Yavapai Construction Associates.

After wincing and sharing a look of mutual commiseration, we tried to go back to our respective books…which lasted for a whole ten seconds.

“You want to get out of here?” Connor said, laying aside the paperback he was holding.

“Thought you’d never ask,” I replied, and blanked the screen on my iPad before laying it aside. Okay, true, I’d come back to Jerome to be here in case the crew needed me, but after that last bit of clean-up and a final consult with the architect, it seemed I wasn’t much needed.

So we fled to Sedona, where we caught an early movie, went out to lunch, wandered around a few galleries, saw another movie, and then finally ate dinner, coming home at dusk when we deemed it would be safe.

And it was, more or less; the crew was packing up as we pulled into the garage. Connor and I headed into the house, where there was a gaping hole in the side of the kitchen, now carefully covered with plastic sheeting. Good thing monsoon season wasn’t due to start for another month and a half.

“Good first day,” Brad, the foreman, told me. “We’ll see you tomorrow morning at seven.”

I think I managed a watery thanks, looking at the destruction around me. On paper, a remodel sounds great. Take an outdated, inconvenient space and turn it into something worthy of a magazine spread. The problem is, no one bothers to tell you how much of a godawful mess it’s going to be during that all-important time between the “before” picture and the “after.”

Wisely, Connor held his tongue, and only went with me into the family room, where we watched a little TV before going to bed. And as much as I enjoyed making love in the big king-size bed in my bedroom, I wasn’t feeling it that night. Maybe it was hormones, maybe it was frustration over trying to figure out where Marie had gone, maybe it was worry about how the days were slowly ticking away, and eventually these babies — plural — would show up, and then my own clock would start winding down. It might not happen right away, or even within a few months, but eventually, something would happen to take me out of the picture. I definitely would not be around to fret over them getting into a good college.

Or maybe it was none of those things, and I was only worrying about what sort of mayhem the contracting crew would wreak the next day.

It also didn’t help that the room felt horrendously warm to me. True, it had been warm verging on hot that day, but the house should have started to cool down by now. We always got a pleasant night breeze in Jerome.

After I adjusted my position for what felt like the tenth time, I heard Connor’s voice in the darkness.

“What’s the matter?”

“I’m hot,” I said irritably.

“It is a little warm. I’m surprised you don’t have air conditioning.”

“It’s on the list,” I snapped. “I just thought the kitchen was more important. Anyway, the heat’s never bothered me before.”

“You’ve never been pregnant before.”

Well, that was true. “I’m barely three months pregnant,” I said. “I thought the heat issues didn’t kick in until you were actually, you know, showing.”

A soft little sound that might have been a chuckle, quickly repressed. “Okay, maybe, but different things affect people differently.” I felt the bed rock slightly as he adjusted his position. Now, as my eyes were adjusting to the darkness, I could see he had turned on his side so he could face me. “Are you sure that’s all it is?”

“Of course that’s not all it is. It’s just the most recent thing.” I took a breath. “I think I may have taken on more than I can handle with this remodel.”
And Marie’s disappeared…and it turns out I’m half Wilcox…and every day I have a little less time to unravel this curse thing so I don’t die before I’m twenty-five.

I didn’t say any of that, though. I had a feeling Connor already knew what I was thinking.

“Well, I doubt even your relatives will give you too much crap for not staying here while half the house is getting ripped apart. That’s asking a bit much, don’t you think?”

Under normal circumstances, maybe. But since I was
prima
, different rules applied to me. Even the short jaunts I’d been making to Flagstaff with Connor had upset them, I could tell. It just drove home that my consort was the last person they’d ever wanted or expected for me. Well, okay, second to last. I had a feeling that, if pressed, they would admit Connor was the lesser evil when compared to his brother.

“So you think we should go back to Flagstaff?”

“Well, considering no one’s tearing up my apartment and it tends to be about ten degrees cooler there most of the time, I’d say yeah, that might be a better place to spend the summer.” He grinned then, his teeth flashing in the near-darkness of the bedroom. “Of course, I’ll admit that I might be a bit biased.”

Maybe he was biased, but he was also making a lot of sense. Sure, there were places here in Jerome I could’ve crashed for the summer, such as my old bedroom back at Rachel’s apartment. However, Connor would be excluded from such an arrangement, and I refused to be separated from him again. We’d already lost almost two months. I wouldn’t give up any more.

“No, you’re right,” I said. “At least,
I
think you’re right. It all makes so much sense when I’m alone with you, and then I get the elders giving me the hairy eyeball whenever I so much as mention your name, or Flagstaff, and I have to remind myself to stand my ground.”

He didn’t reply at first, only reached out and pulled me against him, held me close so I could hear the reassuring rhythm of his heartbeat. “Well, maybe you don’t need to make any huge decisions right now. Just say the noise and the heat were getting to you, and that you needed to get away for a couple of days. Besides,” he added, “we’re looking at that house on Thursday. Maybe it’ll be perfect, and that’ll be the sign you need to tell you it’s okay to spend part of your time in Flagstaff. I have a feeling they might not protest so much if their
prima
is shacked up in a million-dollar house rather than a walk-up over an art gallery.”

“You might be surprised,” I said. “The McAllisters aren’t all that into external signs of wealth.”

“That much is obvious. I’ve seen the cars most of you drive.”

That remark left me no alternative but to give him a mock punch in the arm, to which he gave an equally false wince before pulling me even closer to him, his mouth hot on my neck, tracing a line of kisses down to my breast. In short order my tank top had been flung away to land somewhere on the floor in the darkness, and my fingers were pulling at the waistband of his boxer briefs, and soon after that we had joined once again in an embrace that erased all doubt and worry and clan politics.

…if only for a little while.

“
H
oly crap
, Lucas,” I said. “Is this for real?”

“Of course it is,” he said, pushing a button on the fob he carried. His bright red Porsche beeped once.

Connor stood in front of the FJ Cruiser we’d driven here, craning his neck to take in the property in its entirety. “And he’s only asking nine-fifty?”

“You should’ve seen him salivating when I told him you could pay cash. Apparently the soon-to-be ex has him over a barrel, and he needs to liquidate as soon as he can. Avoiding a lengthy escrow is worth taking a mild hit on the price. The market is sort of stagnant right now anyhow, which doesn’t help. No one else has come to look at it.” Lucas shoved his car key in his pocket. “Anyway, let’s go inside, and see what you think.”

Inside? Well, if it was half as impressive as the outside, I was sold. Like Damon’s former home, the house was built of a combination of stone and wood, with several chimneys rising above the steeply pitched roof. On the drive over, Connor had told me the property was just a hair over three acres. I had a hard time computing that; lots in Jerome, even for the larger houses, weren’t very big. What I could see was that the rolling curves of the property were bounded in sturdy stone walls, and ponderosa pines and other evergreens dotted the landscape, clustering around the house, making it feel like something tucked away in an enchanted forest. And, in what seemed an utter extravagance to me, the four-car garage was detached and sat some distance away from the house, with a covered wooden walkway joining the two buildings.

Gawking at the place, I’d fallen a little behind the other two, so I hurried to catch up, even as Lucas was entering the code into the lockbox on the door. I wondered if he had the same talent with locks as Connor and I, and whether he was using the code to be polite.

But then I followed the two of them inside, and I stopped wondering about the locks.

“Holy crap.”

“You said that already,” Connor pointed out with a grin. “So good, so far?”

I could only nod dumbly. Now, Damon’s house had been very impressive, and this place shared some of the same architectural features — huge windows that let in a view of the forest and impossibly blue skies, a stone fireplace that stretched all the way to the ceiling, shining wood floors. But when I’d been at Damon’s, I couldn’t allow myself to like it, because it had been his. Whereas this house….

This house could be mine, if I wanted it.

Granite kitchen counters. Thermidor appliances. A separate refrigerator for wine. A second fireplace in the family room, and yet another in the master bedroom. Spotting it, Connor sent me a significant glance, and I grinned back at him. Never mind that we were heading into the time of year where you really didn’t need a fireplace — it was still something that was important to us.

And I couldn’t find fault with the furniture, either. Nothing stuffy or overdone, or too kitschily Southwest, or anything like that. Big and solid, the dining room table with a top of what looked like solid copper, the couches and chairs covered in warm brown leather, contrasting with the reds and beiges and soft, dusty turquoise blues of the Navajo rugs on the floor.

In a daze, I trailed after Connor and Lucas as we returned to the kitchen. There were flyers from the realtor sitting on the granite-topped island.
Price reduced! Prime property in Forest Highlands!
I barely glanced at them, since the two men were watching me expectantly.

“Well?” Lucas said at last.

“It’s — it’s incredible,” I replied, glad to see Connor nodding. We hadn’t spoken much as we followed Lucas from room to room, preferring to remain silent so we could let the other person form their own judgments.

As I spoke, I noticed that Connor relaxed slightly, as if he’d been waiting to hear what I had to say. “Yeah, it is pretty amazing. And tons of room.”

That was for sure. The place had five bedrooms and was more than four thousand square feet. Plenty of room for the twins, and whoever might come after that.

Assuming there would be any more after that, of course.

“I should’ve shown you the garage, too,” Lucas said. “It was built with two stories, and although Dave is using the upper level for storage right now, it has lots of windows. It would make a great studio for you, Connor.”

Who was silent, considering…although what he had to consider, I wasn’t sure. The house couldn’t have been much better, frankly. I felt a pang as I thought of the big Victorian back in Jerome, one wall knocked out, the counters and cabinets already demo’d. Buying this place felt like an abandonment, although I knew that wasn’t true. Connor had already made a comment about splitting time between the two locations. Summer here and winter in Jerome? It wasn’t quite living the bicoastal lifestyle, but it seemed like a reasonable compromise to me.

Finally he said, “Are you sure you want to do this, Angela? I don’t want you to feel as if you’re being rushed or pressured.”

“I’m not,” I said at once. “I mean, yes, this is happening sort of fast, but I’ve always thought if the right opportunity comes up, you should go for it. And this place…it feels right. Quiet and sheltered. The trees are amazing. And I love that the one bedroom already has bunk beds in it. It’ll be perfect for the twins.”

The word just sort of popped out. I hadn’t really intended to say anything about it, as Connor and I were still keeping that piece of news under wraps.

Too late now.

Lucas’ eyes widened. “You’re having
twins?
”

Connor smiled and sort of ducked his head, as if not sure exactly how to handle this. Then his shoulders lifted slightly, and he said, “Yeah, that’s what the doctor told us. It’s too early to know much more than that.”

“Well — congratulations, you two!” Lucas’ expression of surprise might have been comical under other circumstances, but I knew now that part of it was him trying to figure out how twins fit in with the whole Wilcox heir conundrum.
There can be only one,
and all that.

“Thanks,” Connor and I said, nearly in unison. We both laughed a little, more to break the tension than anything else.

Then I said, “So…what now?”

“Now I call Dave and tell him the good news, and we’ll set up an appointment with the realtor. This will happen pretty quickly, since you won’t have to deal with getting a loan approval or anything, but I’d still recommend a house inspection, and then there’s a title search, deed transfer — ” He broke off and peered over at me. I must have been looking a little green, because he went on, “Yeah, I know, it sounds like a lot. But buying a house is a big deal. Even with all that, we might have everything ready to go in as little as a week. I’ll see what I can do to help…move things along.”

And I had no doubt that he would. After all, Connor had told me that Lucas’ particular gift was luck. All we needed was him to assist in overseeing the transaction, and I had no doubt everything would go as smooth as silk.

“Sounds perfect,” I told him.

“It sure does,” Connor chimed in. “And it means we’ll have a lot to do.”

“Not that much,” I pointed out. “I mean, the house is already furnished. And most of the clothes I can fit into are at your place anyway, since I just bought them here in town.”

“Okay, so it won’t exactly be a typical move. But….” He seemed to stop himself, and gave a quick glance at Lucas before returning his attention to me. “I guess we can figure out the logistics later.”

“That’s for sure,” Lucas said. “Let me get this call in to Dave so he can be in touch with his realtor, and then I’m taking you two out to lunch to celebrate.”

His tone was so firm that I knew I couldn’t really protest. I smiled, then went over to Connor and held hands with him as Lucas called his friend to let him know we wanted to buy the house. After that we had lunch at the country club nearby, and I was glad I’d put on a new pair of dark jeans and a pretty peasant top so I didn’t look too out of place. As it was, I couldn’t help shooting surreptitious glances at the other people dining in the restaurant during lunch. After all, these people would be our new neighbors. Compared to Jerome, they looked pretty buttoned up, and I couldn’t help wondering what they’d think if they ever discovered that the young couple who’d just bought the house on Bear Allen Way were a couple of witches.

“Did you like it?” Lucas asked as we headed out to the parking lot afterward.

“Lunch was great.”

“Good. I’m glad you enjoyed the food — once you’ve purchased the house, you’ll be members here, so you can come any time you want.”

Seriously? I looked over at Connor, whose mouth was twitching a bit. Probably trying to keep from bursting out laughing at the idea of Angela McAllister,
prima
of those bohemians from Jerome, being a member of a country club.

“Oh,” I said faintly. A thought struck me. “So how are
you
a member here? Your house isn’t in this neighborhood.”

A devilish grin, one almost worthy of Damon Wilcox — except that I knew there was nothing more sinister than amusement behind Lucas’ current expression. “I might have called in a few favors.” His phone rang, and he pulled it out of his pocket, glanced at the display, and said, “Hey, Dave. Hmm…two o’clock at the realtor’s?” He paused, raising his eyebrows at us as if for confirmation that this would be okay. We both nodded, and he continued, “Sounds perfect. Down on Riordan Road? We’ll be there.” After ending the call and slipping his phone back into his pocket, he asked, “Are you ready to do this?”

As one, Connor and I nodded. It was crazy, and it was scary, but it also felt right. If the worst happened, I wanted to make sure my children would be someplace safe with their father. Yes, I was a McAllister, too, and they’d need to know that side of the family, but they needed to be with Connor more.

So we drove to the realtor’s office, and met the mythical Dave, who seemed to be a few years older than Lucas and far more high-strung — which, if he was going through a nasty divorce, made some sense. He did seem to relax visibly after Connor and I signed the offer paperwork, and even more so after Lydia, the realtor, said she was fast-tracking the whole process and could have a house inspector out to look at the property the next day, and the title search wrapped up by the end of the following week.

Feeling a bit punch-drunk, Connor and I made our goodbyes to Lucas a little after four, then drove back to his apartment, which did feel a little cramped and small after the splendor of the house in Forest Highlands. I couldn’t drink champagne, obviously, but Connor broke out a bottle of San Pellegrino, and we ended up toasting with that.

But after the high faded a bit, he asked, “So what are you going to tell your family?”

Crap. “The truth, obviously.” Much as I really didn’t want to do that, I knew it was only fair. “They’re going to have to come to terms with it eventually. You and I are together, and you can’t relocate to Jerome permanently, and I can’t live here in Flagstaff permanently. They’re just going to have to…share…us.”

“That sounds very reasonable,” Connor said. “Which means they’re probably going to bitch and moan.”

“Not probably,” I told him. “They will.” I paused, thinking. The wheels had been set in motion, so unless the house inspector found termites or wood rot or lead paint — none of which was very likely in a newer-construction luxury home — that meant in less than two weeks Connor and I would own a home together. The McAllisters and the Wilcoxes would just have to learn to work together, and I figured there was no time like the present. “Maybe if we sat down with everyone and told them how it was going to be….”

“‘Everyone’ who? The McAllister elders?”

“Well, yes, them, but also the Wilcox elders.”

“We’re not really set up the same way,” Connor pointed out. “I mean, Lucas and Marie served sort of the same function in some ways, but since she’s disappeared off the face of the planet — ”

“Yes, but we still have Lucas. Can you think of a better ambassador for the Wilcox clan than him?”

Connor didn’t reply right away, only rubbed a hand over his chin, apparently deep in thought. Then he asked, “Margot’s one of your elders, right?”

“Yes, so?”

“I can only imagine the scene if Lucas tries to buy her a drink.”

I couldn’t help grinning. “Well, if she has any brains, she’ll take him up on it. Anyway, they’re adults — I’ll let them sort it out.”

“I smell a disaster.”

As much as I wanted to call him out for his negativity, I had a feeling that Connor had a point. But we all needed to move forward, to understand that we were treading new ground here, and getting the clans to cooperate was part of that bigger picture. Yes, we still had to work on that damn curse, but I also wanted to make sure I left behind a more stable relationship between the two clans, should the worst happen and I not be around to raise my children. Connor and the two extended families would all have to do it together.

Who knows…maybe that would turn out to be my legacy.

S
ince she seemed
the most sympathetic to my situation of the three elders, I called Allegra Moss to say Connor and I would be coming back to Jerome over the weekend, and we had some important matters to discuss.

“Yes, I imagine you do,” she said in her sweet voice, one that always sounded as if it had a hidden undercurrent of laughter in it.

“And — I want to bring Connor’s cousin Lucas with us.”

Silence for a second or two. Then she asked, “Whatever for?”

“Because what I have to say concerns both our families, and — well, Lucas is sort of the clan elder for the Wilcoxes. He’s been an enormous help to Connor and me. So I want him there when we all sit down to talk.”

“Margot and Bryce won’t like it,” she warned me.

“They don’t have to like it,” I said, my tone curt. “They just have to be there. Let’s tentatively plan for meeting at my house at one-thirty on Saturday.”

Whether it was because she heard a note of command in my voice, or whether she didn’t want to argue with someone she thought might be experiencing some early-pregnancy mood swings, she replied quickly, “Of course, Angela. I’ll let them know. You take care.”