Darkmoon (The Witches of Cleopatra Hill Book 3) (16 page)

“Afterward?” I repeated.

“After you have the baby — I mean, the babies.” His steely eyes seemed to bore into Connor, as if he held him directly responsible for my current condition. Never mind that I’d been a willing participant in those activities.

“You mean after the curse kills me?” I asked harshly. “No point in mincing words.”

“Angela!” Connor and Bryce both burst out, even as Allegra recoiled and Margot watched all of us in silence, her expression grim. Lucas said nothing, only sat still in his chair, his dark eyes troubled.

“Why avoid talking about it? It’s not that we aren’t trying to do what we can about the curse, but seeing as we’ve hit sort of a dead end — ”

“I’m working on that,” Lucas cut in, his voice strained. “My own contacts didn’t give me any leads on finding Andre’s mother, so I hired a private investigator.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to ask why there wasn’t a magical solution to tracking down my missing grandmother, but maybe no one in his clan had that kind of talent. None of the McAllisters did, either; my cousin Becca was great at finding lost keys, earrings, and items like that, but people? Not so much.

“Well, then,” I said. “We’re doing what we can, but we always need to plan for contingencies, right? And if something happens to me” — pausing, I swallowed before pushing on — “then it’s important that Connor and I have a proper home together in his own territory. You can fight about which clan has which rights, but in the end the children should be with their father. Now they’ll have a good place to live, and if the curse decides to take me out, well, I won’t be happy about it, but at least I know I won’t have to worry about them being safe.”

An uneasy silence fell. I supposed none of them really wanted to argue with what was, in effect, a spoken last will. Finally, Connor spoke.

“But we’re not going to let that happen. We have months and months to figure this out, and we will. Angela — that is,
we
— just wanted to let you know where things stood with us. Her ob-gyn is in Flag, so as time goes on and her appointments come closer together, then we may be spending more time there than here. I hope you’ll understand the reason why.”

He said this last with a challenging note in his voice, as if daring one of them to protest. But although the three elders exchanged uneasy glances, none of them said anything for a few seconds. At last Allegra replied, “That does make sense, Connor. Thank you.”

The tense line of his jaw relaxed slightly. I could tell he’d been expecting them to put up more of a fight on that point. Maybe they were just tired. I knew I was.

Since that seemed as good a point in the conversation as any to wrap things up, I told everyone, “The inspector went over the house yesterday and didn’t find any issues, although we’re waiting on the final report. That means we may be ready to move in as early as the end of next week, depending on how the title search goes. I’m going to talk to Rachel, of course, but I’d appreciate it if the rest of you could spread the word and let everyone else know that I plan to divide my time between here and Flagstaff.” Exactly how, I wasn’t sure. Spending the summer up amongst the cool pines at seven thousand feet seemed infinitely preferable to the heat of the Verde Valley, but I knew I couldn’t disappear for that long a stretch. Oh, well, we’d work it out somehow.

“We’ll do that,
prima
,” Margot said formally.

They left after that, giving only a token goodbye to Connor and Lucas, whose gaze seemed to follow Margot as she went out to the foyer. I couldn’t help giving a rueful shake of my head. Yes, he’d been on his best behavior, but that hadn’t seemed to earn many points with her.

Not that I had time to worry about that now. I had enough problems of my own to deal with.

“
A
re you
serious
?
” Sydney squealed into the phone. “You bought a
house?
”

“Yes,” I said, wincing a little and wishing that I’d turned down the speaker volume before I called her.

It was late Saturday afternoon, a few hours after the elders had departed. Connor and I had left Lucas to watch TV at the house for a while so we could go and talk to Rachel, tell her about the house and the twins…and Andre Wilcox. We’d brought up those subjects in basically that order, so by the time we got to Andre, my aunt was already looking a little glassy-eyed. “A Wilcox?” she kept repeating. “Your father is a
Wilcox?
” And I’d had to tell her that yes, we were almost positive, but that we were still trying to see if we could track him down somehow, just to confirm. Since she appeared so shell-shocked, I decided not to mention that we were also looking for him in case he knew something to help with breaking the curse. A long shot, but I couldn’t forget Marie’s words about going back to the beginning. He was my beginning…or at least the only part of my beginning still alive. Maybe. We really didn’t have positive confirmation either way.

“I am so jealous,” Sydney told me, and I had to drag my thoughts back to present. “And here I am, still living at my parents’ house.”

I didn’t bother to point out that we were living very different lives. Trying to sound off-hand, I replied, “Well, Connor had the money from selling his brother’s house, so it’s really more that he’s buying it and I’m just being listed on the deed. Anyway,” I went on, before she could interject, “it’s got a secondary master suite, so you and Anthony should come up and visit and hang for a while after Connor and I get settled.”

“I am
so
there,” she said, apparently abandoning the green-eyed monster for the moment. “When do you think you’ll be settled? I need to know so I can ask for some time off from work.”

Somehow I managed to avoid bursting into laughter. Patience had never been one of Syd’s strong suits. “I don’t know,” I said carefully. “Maybe a couple of weeks?”

“So…mid-June?”

That might be doable, but it also felt like it might be putting some pressure on us. “I have a better idea. Why don’t you guys come up for the Fourth of July weekend? I know it’ll be a lot cooler here than in Cottonwood.”

“That’s for damn sure. I already feel like I’m dying of heat prostration, and it’s barely
June.
”

I knew the feeling. At least her parents’ house had air conditioning. Lovely, lovely air conditioning. However, I figured I could put up with the heat for a while, since there was a light at the end of the tunnel. Or, more correctly, a big house with dual-zone A/C, in the unlikely event that you’d even need it in Flagstaff. “Well, check with Anthony and let me know. I haven’t had time to research it much, but I’m sure they must be doing fireworks or something up in Flag.”

“I will.” She paused, then said, “I can’t
believe
you and Connor bought a house.”

Neither can the rest of my family,
I thought, but only said, “I know, it’s kind of crazy. But it was such a good deal that
we
would’ve been crazy to pass it up.”

“So how long are you down here?”

“We’re going back up on Monday, probably.”

“Do you guys want to go out tonight, since you’re in town? I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever.”

I hesitated. Normally I would’ve said yes, even though it wouldn’t been a lot of fun to sit and drink mineral water while everyone else was having wine or cocktails. If nothing else, though, it might have helped to get out and socialize, and take my mind off my problems and my stiff-necked family.

But Lucas was here, and it would have been rude to dump him so Connor and I could go out with our friends. Not that Lucas probably couldn’t find something to occupy himself, left to his own devices. Still, I hadn’t been raised to treat guests that way, and I didn’t think I should start now.

“I know,” I said. “And we have so much more we need to talk about, but — ”

“More?” she demanded. “There’s more besides buying a house?”

You have no idea.
“Um, yeah.” Since everyone in town knew about the twins by now, I figured it was safe enough to mention it. “Well, I’m having twins.”

“Twins!” she squealed, and again I had to hold the phone away from my ear. “Oh, my God, that is awesome! Do you know what they are yet?”

“No, it’s way too early.” Did I even want to know? Secretly, I was sort of hoping it would be one of each. Nice and neat.

“Oh,” she said, sounding disappointed. “Well, it’ll be fun no matter what they are. If they’re the same, you can get them matching outfits and stuff.”

Personally, I’d always hated it when I saw parents doing that to their twins, and so I vowed not to even if mine ended up being the same sex. But it wasn’t worth arguing with Sydney over.

“Anyway,” I said, not wanting to get too sidetracked, “I’d love to see you guys, but Connor’s cousin Lucas is with us, and I don’t really want to abandon him while we go out. Rain check?”

“Sure,” she said. “We would’ve had to get a late start anyway, since Anthony doesn’t get off work until eight.”

I made a noncommittal comment, and after that we said our goodbyes and hung up. In the next few weeks I’d have to try to clear out some time to get together with her, even if it was just for lunch, but this weekend was already over-committed. I set down the phone, peered in the mirror, and realized I needed to do a little clean-up work to get ready for dinner. After meeting with the elders and then my aunt, I was looking just a little drained. Thank the Goddess for blush and lip gloss.

W
e took
Lucas to Nic’s in old town Cottonwood, since it seemed like the kind of place he’d enjoy. He did look right at home in the old-world atmosphere of the place, coaxing Connor into sharing a bottle of chianti after I swore it was okay for them to drink in front of me, then ordering grilled rib-eye and crab legs as if he did that sort of thing every day. Who knows — maybe he did.

Midway through dinner, though, his phone rang, and after shooting an apologetic glance at both of us, he pulled his cell out of his pocket, scanned the display briefly, and said, “I need to take this.”

Connor and I both murmured, “Go ahead,” and Lucas put the phone to his ear.

“Hey, Lester, you have something for me?” A pause. “Really? In Williams? And the address? Great, text it to me. Thanks for everything.” He ended the call and returned to the phone to his pocket, dark eyes twinkling. “Well, I have some good news for you two. That was Lester, the private investigator I told you about. Turns out Angela’s grandmother did move out of Flagstaff, but she didn’t go very far. She’s over in Williams.”

I knew the name, but I’d never been there. Williams was in the Wilcox zone. Now, of course, I had nothing preventing me from going there. “That is great news, Lucas.”

“Yeah, the reason I was having a hard time turning up anything about her was that apparently she changed her name after your grandfather passed away. She’s going by her maiden name now. Jane Bryant. Lester’s texting me her address, and I’ll forward it to you.”

“That was fast,” Connor said. Something in his voice sounded tense, almost nervous, as if he wasn’t as pleased as I’d thought he would be.

“Well, Lester’s good.” Lucas raised his glass of chianti toward me, and then Connor. “Here’s to getting one step closer to your goal.”

I had to toast with my water glass, but I found I didn’t mind so much. Now the only trick would be figuring out the best time to go see Jane Bryant, the grandmother I had never met.

W
e saw
Lucas off to his B&B, then drove back up to Jerome in silence. Since coming through the rear of the house was almost impossible right now because of the construction, I parked on the street — pregnancy had turned me into the designated driver — and we went in through the front entrance. After I shut the door, I said, “You’re very quiet.”

“Am I?”

“I thought you’d be happy that Lucas found my grandmother. You’re sure not acting like it.”

“I am. Really. It’s just — ” He hesitated, eyes downcast, as if he was studying the patterns of the rug beneath his feet to gain some sort of insight.

“Just what?” I asked impatiently.

“It’s just — are you ready to hear what she has to say? What if she tells you things about your father that you really don’t want to hear?”

“I’m touched that you want to protect me, Connor, but I can handle it. Even if she tells me he was a horrible person, that he made a bet that he could bang a McAllister and get away with it — or whatever — it’s still better than not knowing
anything
. And maybe she’ll know where he is, if he’s still alive. I have to find out for sure. Can you understand that?”

“Of course I do,” he replied, moving closer so he could take me in his arms and pull me close. “I forget what it must have been like for you, knowing nothing all those years. I had just the opposite problem — I often wished I could forget my father, forget what an asshole he was.”

I snuggled into Connor’s embrace, smelling the warm, familiar scent of his skin, feeling the strength of his arms around me. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

“It’s over. Luckily, in his eyes I was expendable, so he didn’t pay a lot of attention to me. Damon was the one he focused all his energy on.”

And see how well that turned out,
I thought. “Well, joke’s on him, considering you ended up as
primus
anyway.”

Connor didn’t reply, and I realized I’d stuck my foot in it with that response. “Sorry,” I said quickly. “That came out wrong.”

“It’s okay. I’ve also been known develop foot-in-mouth disease on occasion.” He let go of me, but gently, and not before planting a soft kiss on my forehead. “It’s been a long day.”

Had it ever. Hard to believe that it was only a little after eight. “So I say we veg out in front of the TV for a while and then go to bed. We can figure out what to do about visiting my grandmother tomorrow.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

And that’s exactly what we did — headed to the family room, booted up Netflix, and watched
World War Z.
Strangely, it made me feel a little better. I might have a curse hanging over my head, but at least I wasn’t trying to fight off a planet filled with zombies.

S
ince cooking
breakfast was out of the question, the next morning we went down the hill and met Lucas for breakfast. I figured it couldn’t hurt to ask for a little advice.

“So should I call, or just show up on her doorstep?” I asked after taking a sip of orange juice.

Both Connor and Lucas were drinking juice as well, since the smell of coffee still made me want to throw up. Once or twice as the waitress passed by our table with a pot in her hand, going to refill someone’s cup, I felt a slight twinge of nausea, but it quickly passed. The problem was having it right in front of me, or filling the house with its scent as it was brewing.

“I wouldn’t call,” Lucas said, setting down his glass of grapefruit juice. “After all, she’s taken some pains to disappear, to disconnect herself from the Wilcox clan. Calling and claiming to be her long-lost granddaughter might just make her take off again.”

I hadn’t thought of it that way. Neither had Connor, apparently; he nodded as he listened to Lucas’ advice, but then remarked,

“And knocking on her door is better?”

“Well, at least then you have the element of surprise.”

True. “Okay, so we drive out to Williams and hope she’s there. What if she isn’t?”

Connor shrugged. “Then we take a look around, grab something to eat. It’s a cute little town.”

I wasn’t sure I could take such a setback quite that calmly, but he had a point. Sometimes you just gotta make lemonade.

“I’d say go ahead and give it a try today,” Lucas told us. “I don’t see how waiting is really going to help you.”

Connor and I exchanged a glance. Yes, I’d known that we would be driving out to Williams, and soon, but…today? Was I mentally prepared for that?

“Well….” I hedged.

Perhaps misunderstanding my hesitation — or not; Lucas seemed to be a pretty shrewd judge of character behind that air of breezy cheerfulness — he said, “And don’t worry about me. I did book a second night at the B&B, just in case, but I don’t have to stay. What you two need to do is far more important.”

There didn’t seem to be any way to argue with that. I shifted in the booth, turning toward Connor. “Are you okay with it?”

“Of course,” he replied at once. “As Lucas said, this is important. Even if it turns out that your grandmother doesn’t think she really knows anything, she could say something that makes sense to us, even if it doesn’t make sense to her.”

That seemed to clinch it. “Okay,” I said. “We’ll go this afternoon.”

I
t was a longish drive
, a little more than an hour and a half. We wound down the western slopes of Mingus Mountain, moving toward Prescott, and then turned due north to go through Chino Valley and hit I-40 in Ash Fork. Connor drove, since he knew I was tense enough without having to maneuver over unfamiliar roads. Well, some of it was unfamiliar; of course I’d been to Prescott and even Chino Valley, but no farther north than that, because then you’d start to run into Wilcox territory.

Funny how those arbitrary lines had now been more or less erased.

We pulled off I-40 into Williams, running along Route 66. Connor was right — the downtown area did look fun, full of restored buildings and shops and restaurants. In other words, not so different from the historic section of Flagstaff, although much smaller. From there we took a road that wound through a modest residential section, mostly of vintage homes that seemed to date from around the turn of the twentieth century, a little newer than most of Jerome, although not by much. The houses got bigger as we drove up the hill, and eventually Connor stopped his FJ Cruiser in front of a large farmhouse-style home painted white, with green shutters. The front lawn was brilliantly green, and bordered by carefully tended roses blooming in shades of red and yellow and pink.