Spellbound Falls (43 page)

Titus demanded her attention by giving her a good squeeze—only now his dark, imposing green eyes were completely unreadable.

Olivia lifted her leg again. “Would you happen to know
why
it hasn’t got a clasp?”

It was Rana who finally gave her an answer. “It’s a symbol of Maximilian’s protection,” she explained with a warm smile. “As long as you’re wearing it, no one would dare harm you.”

Oh God, Mac had enemies? “Thank… thank you for telling me.”

But then Olivia became contrite. This poor woman was dying to meet her grandson, and here she was trying to get a handle on Mac’s father. “You can put me down now,” she told Titus, drawing his scowl away from his wife. She smiled. “I know you’re big and strong like your son, but I also happen to know I weigh slightly more than a feather.” She sighed when he didn’t move. “Or you can finish carrying me home and I’ll toss on some boots and take you to your cabin so your wife can
finally
meet Henry.”

“Titus,” Rana said quietly.

He started walking again, only instead of heading toward her house he turned and headed for the cabin.

God, she hoped Mac’s father didn’t throw out his back carrying her.

“Olivia. Wait up.”

Titus stopped and turned again, and Olivia saw Sam making his way toward them at a limping run. “Please put me down,” she asked. “I’ll watch where I’m walking.”

He finally set her on her feet just as Sam reached them. “You need to get everyone to the lodge,” Sam said, surprisingly not the least bit winded. “It seems to be the sturdiest building here and it’s on the highest ground. Don’t let Sophie go to school, and call Peg and tell her to bring all her kids to Inglenook. Then call Ezra and tell him to forget about opening the store and just come here.”

Olivia grabbed his sleeve. “But what’s going on?”

“I was listening to the radio in the barn and it seems there’s a bad storm headed this way. The weatherman said it slammed into the coast around midnight last night, and is already about fifty miles north of Bangor. They’re saying it’s the most powerful nor’easter they’ve ever seen, and it’s moving inland at about thirty miles an hour. That gives us only a few hours to prepare. When you get to the lodge, turn on the television and see what they’re saying on the news.”

Sam then looked at Titus and Rana, Rana now clutching her husband’s arm as Titus had grown unusually still. “You’re Mac’s parents,” Sam said in surprise. He looked around, then back at Titus. “How’d you get here? I’ve been in the barn since before sunrise and I didn’t see or hear anyone drive up the road.”

“You must have been occupied when we arrived,” Titus said quietly. “This storm, was it not predicted?”

Sam shook his head. “The weatherman said it just suddenly appeared on their radar, forming in the Gulf of Maine instead of farther south like usual.” He looked at Olivia. “I’m going to make sure everything’s battened down, and I’ll put the van in the garage. There’s a good chance we’ll lose power for several days if it’s as bad as they’re claiming. Most of the downeast coast has been without power for hours now.”

“Sweet Athena! Mama! Father!” Carolina cried from the
porch of her cabin. She ran down the stairs as she belted her robe. “What are you doing here?” she whispered when she reached them. She clutched her mother’s arm. “Why didn’t you war—tell me you were coming?”

“We wanted to surprise Henry,” Rana explained. “Is he awake? Oh, please, take me to him, Caro.”

“Wife,” Titus said as the two women started off. “You will not dally. Get the boy up and just as soon as he and Carolina are dressed, you go to the lodge as Olivia’s father has instructed.”

Olivia gave a startled laugh when she saw Sam go deathly pale. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she told Titus. “This isn’t my father; he’s our horse wrangler, Sam Waters. Sam, this is Mac’s father, Titus. And… um, that’s his mother, Rana,” she said, waving toward the cabin just as the two women disappeared inside.

“This isn’t your father?” Titus asked tightly, his gaze narrowing on Sam.

“No,” she said. “I’ve been an orphan since my mother died when I was four.”

Titus slid his gaze to her, his eyes unreadable again, and gave a slight bow. “If you will excuse me then, I believe I will go hurry my family down to the main house. Mr. Waters,” he added with a nod before turning away.

“Sorry about that, Sam,” Olivia said, giving his arm a playful nudge. She started toward home. “I wonder if John and Eileen will be able to make it back from Boston ahead of the storm,” she said conversationally when he merely fell into step beside her.

He glanced over at her. “They told you they were going to Boston?”

“Eileen went there looking for interns. She and John usually check out different universities every year around this time.”

He stopped at the gate. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to go use the lodge phone and call Ezra and give him a heads-up on the storm. But you can call Peg.” Sam shook his head.
“After seeing her house when we took her home the other night, I’d feel better if she brought her family here.”

Olivia looked through the trees toward the upper parking lot, trying to see the horizon. “Do you really believe the storm is going to get that bad?”

“I have no idea, but I’m in the habit of preparing for worst-case scenarios. You really think your old man is dead?”

She looked at him in surprise then shrugged. “I figure he must be, since I haven’t heard from him since I was five.”

“But you told Titus you’ve been an orphan since you were
four
.”

“My mom died when I was four, and I was raised by foster parents.” She grinned. “And by Ezra and Doris Dodd. They’ve been more like parents to me than anyone else for as long as I can remember. In fact, when I turned eighteen and was no longer a ward of the state, they opened their home to me. Doris decorated a bedroom up all fancy and girly, and I spent every Christmas and Thanksgiving and all my school breaks with them. And then, because they just couldn’t live without me, they sold their home and moved to Spellbound Falls when I married Keith Baldwin.”

“Ezra mentioned you’ve been the apple of his eye all your life.”

“And he’ll be mine until the day he dies, just like Doris was,” she said thickly. She looked around and blew out a heavy sigh. “He’s the only reason I’m staying in Spellbound Falls.”

She saw Sam stiffen again. “You’re here for Ezra? Not for Inglenook and Sophie and your in-laws?”

She snorted. “Yeah, I just love living a stone’s throw away from my mother-in-law.” She shook her head. “Look, don’t let my bias influence your dealings with Eileen, okay? I simply don’t see eye to eye with her on several things.”

“Is that your late husband’s jacket?” he asked, nodding at her.

“No,” she said with a surprised laugh, “it’s Mac’s. And I
swear
I’m going to return it the minute he gets back. I just
grabbed it off the peg when I ran out the door this morning.” She started toward home, walking backward. “Oh, and just so you know, Sam: You don’t need to stop at the gate. That’s for guests. You want to see me, you come to my door. I’ll get Sophie up and go start breakfast right after I call Peg. The keys are in the van ignition. And thanks for caring about Inglenook enough to batten down the hatches.”

“I’m not doing it for Inglenook,” he muttered, waving over his shoulder as he limped away.

The storm slammed into Inglenook with the force of a small hurricane around midmorning, but the earthquakes were what really had everyone rattled. Up until half an hour ago when the power had gone out, the small band of refugees had all been sitting in the main room of the lodge watching the news. Everyone, even the children, had listened in shock to the reports on what appeared to be one long series of earthquakes that had started at the coast and were slowly rumbling inland toward the mountains. But for some unexplained reason, the newsman had said, the only shifting the scientists could detect was deep underground.

Well, except for several lakes in the earthquake’s path. As images of the storm flashed across the screen, the newsman had gone on to say that four lakes appeared to have turned salty. He’d then brought on a panel of experts who speculated that the earthquake seemed to have split open the bottom of each of the lakes in succession. And like a plug being pulled on a bathtub all the fresh water had drained out, only to be replaced by an underground river surging in from the Gulf of Maine. Then just before the power had flickered off for the last time, they’d reported
that the earthquake had just claimed a fifth lake not thirty miles south of Bottomless.

Peg and her children, Ezra, Sam, the Oceanuses, and Olivia and Sophie had sat motionless in the storm-darkened room for several minutes, the silence broken only by the gale-force winds battering the windows with rain.

And that was when the lodge had first shivered on its foundation.

Within twenty minutes those shivers had turned to deep rumbling tremors that rattled the dishes in the cupboards and made the pine-log walls creak and groan with increasing frequency.

Olivia wondered if the Oceanuses were enjoying their visit. “Well,” she said into the silence, standing up. “I think we should build a fire in the hearth so Henry can teach his Gram and Grampy how to make s’mores.” She looked at Sam. “There’s firewood on the back porch.”

Sam also stood up. “If the tremors crack the mortar on that old stone chimney and it crumbles, we could end up burning this place down.”

Olivia sighed. “Good point. Okay then,” she said, rubbing her hands together excitedly as she smiled at the unusually quiet, wide-eyed children sitting in every available adult lap. “I guess we’ll have to make the s’mores on the kitchen range.”

“We can take turns,” Peg said, setting Peter—or Jacob—on his feet and standing up. “And while we’re each waiting our turn, we can sit at the kitchen table and color. Didn’t I see paper and crayons in the closet?” she asked Olivia.

Olivia nodded and held her hand out to Henry, who was cuddled up on his grandmother’s lap on the couch. “Come on, young Mr. Oceanus. Let’s show your Gram how to make your new favorite treat.”

He clung to Rana, his eyes filling with terror when the lodge gave another violent shudder. “I want my dad,” he whispered. “He promised to protect me from the demons.”

Olivia dropped to her knees in front of him. “Oh, baby, nothing’s going to get you. You’re perfectly safe here with
us. And don’t forget your Grampy’s here. Didn’t you tell me he’s just as big and strong and powerful as your dad?”

Henry darted a worried glance at Titus and then threw himself at Olivia. “But I want
Dad
!” he wailed, hugging her tightly. “He promised.”

“Easy, honey,” she crooned, cupping his head buried in her neck. “Your daddy’s on his way here right now.” She leaned back but had to pry him away so he’d see her smile. “Didn’t I tell you he would move heaven and earth and any mountains that got in his way to get to you?” she asked. “That’s what all this shaking is about, Henry. It’s just your dad coming for you.”

He blinked at her. “You think it’s
him
?”

She nodded. “And you know why he’s putting on this ridiculous show?”

“Why?” he asked, his eyes now wide with awe instead of terror.

“Because he feels so bad about making you stay in your room for three days, he’s out there rearranging a few of the mountains just to prove how much he loves you.”

Henry went back to clutching her neck when the house shook again. “But he just has to
tell
me he loves me! He’s never said it once.” He reared back when the shaking stopped, and darted another quick glance at his grandfather before looking at her again. “He doesn’t have to waste his powers on moving mountains, Miss Olivia; he just has to
say it
. Mama used to tell me she loved me all the time.”