Spellbound Falls (39 page)

And that, Mac realized, was exactly how Sam knew the color of the frosting on Olivia’s cakes. “I’m surprised the Dodds simply didn’t adopt you.”

“Actually, when Mom died they tried to be foster parents for me, but I think the state felt they were too old. And the social worker told me they prefer to place kids with families, and Ezra and Doris didn’t have any children. Well, they’d had a son, but he died in his early twenties. They
rarely talked about him and didn’t even keep pictures of him around the house, so I didn’t bring up the subject because I didn’t want to open old wounds.”

Mac rested his cheek against Olivia’s hair, soaking in her wonderful scent as he marveled at the lengths Sam had gone to in order to keep watch over his daughter. Hell, the man had even gone so far as to move an aging couple from home to home to be near her.

Mac stilled. No, not just any couple; his
parents
.

Ezra and Doris were Olivia’s paternal grandparents.

Sweet Prometheus, Sam Waters—which sure as hell wasn’t his real name anymore than Dodd was Ezra’s—had orchestrated a massive deception that had spanned thirty-three years. Because he couldn’t hold Olivia in his arms for fear of her safety, or kiss her scraped knee, or walk her down the aisle at her wedding, Sam had given that privilege to his parents instead.

Except the one thing the man hadn’t been able to do was protect his daughter from herself. He couldn’t stop Olivia from believing she’d been abandoned, or stop her from hiding in the shadows, or keep her from marrying the wrong man. And now he couldn’t stop the Baldwins’ or Mac’s impending storms, either.

“If I ask you a sincere question,” Mac whispered against her cheek, “will you give me a sincere answer?”

“I… I guess that would depend on the question.”

“I would ask what it is you’re wanting from our affair.” He brushed his mouth over her heated skin. “What is it that you want from me, Olivia?”

She hesitated long enough that Mac didn’t think she was going to answer. But then he felt her draw in a deep breath and press his hands into her belly.

“The short answer is that I crave the feel of a man’s strength.”

“And the long answer?”

She hesitated again, then took another fortifying breath. “The moment I met you, your confidence and sheer… solidness knocked me completely off center,” she softly admitted.
“And I thought if you focused just a tiny bit of that wonderful power on me, that maybe some of it would rub off and I would become confident and solid, too.” She dropped her head away from his and stared down at their hands inside his jacket. “I want to stop always being on the outside looking in.” She pressed back against him on another deep breath. “So I guess that means I want to be five years old again, when I thought that love alone could move mountains. Because if I could just believe in that kind of power again, then I’d know there was a chance love would find me, even in… the shadows.”

Mac touched his lips to her hair. “And if the day ever comes that the mountains actually move, what will you do? Will you run out to greet them, or run in the opposite direction to hide in the safety of the shadows?”

She pulled his hands out of the pockets to fold his arms around her, and Mac tightened his embrace when she shuddered. “If they ever move, then I will believe in magic again,” she whispered, “and run out to greet them.” She gave a soft snort. “If only to ask what in hell took them so long.”

Immensely pleased with both her long and short answers, Mac tucked her head under his chin with a sigh of contentment. “Then let’s sit here in silence,” he said, “and feel one another’s strengths. No conversations inside our heads or out loud; let’s simply feel the earth breathing, and move our hearts to beat with it as one.”

“You really are a romantic, aren’t you?”

He gave her a squeeze. “No talking. And no thinking,” he reminded her. “Just
feel
, Olivia. And for this moment in time, simply be here with me.”

She tucked her hands back in the jacket pockets, going boneless against him with a sigh. Mac closed his eyes to focus completely on Olivia: slowly bringing his heartbeat into step with hers, then gently urging both their hearts to beat in rhythm with the universe.

He smiled at her soft gasp of surprise, and tightened his embrace when she tensed. “I’ve got you,” he whispered. “You will always be completely safe with me. Do you feel
the earth breathing in and out as it slowly awakens from its winter sleep? It’s responding to your dreams, Olivia, asking you to believe in the magic again.”

Sensing her relaxed state after several minutes of silence, Mac brought Olivia with him as his mind retraced the path his finger had made on the map of Maine in the lodge last night. Only instead of starting at the ocean he began their journey at Bottomless Lake, stopping at several other lakes along the way to carefully examine their depths and suitability before continuing on.

They eventually reached the Gulf of Maine, and Mac felt Olivia’s heart lurch at the sight of a massive breaching whale. “That’s my old friend, Leviathan,” he told her. “He’s trying to get a good look at you so he can race home and tell the others. He says you’re beautiful,
marita
, and that he can’t wait to meet you in person.”

Though he could have stayed basking in the power of the ocean all night, Mac feared overwhelming Olivia, and pulled just enough energy for his journey with the albatrosses. He then turned his mind toward land and followed the same semistraight route back to Spellbound Falls, only this time taking note of the towns and highways and the rising terrain leading to the mountains guarding Bottomless Lake.

Mac settled back on the shoreline and smiled at the slow, rhythmic breathing of the woman sleeping in his arms. He hadn’t intended to take Olivia on his exploratory journey, but her sincerely given answer had made him wonder if a glimpse of the magic might not help her weather the coming storms. And maybe selfishly, he’d wanted to point out that there was a
man
inside the beast about to literally rock her world.

Mac sensed Sophie stirring in her bed and decided he should probably get Olivia in her own bed as well. “Wake up, cinnamon eyes,” he whispered, kissing her cheek. He chuckled when she muttered something and tried to brush him away. “Are you thinking me a bothersome pest? Come on, wake up so I can take you home.”

It seemed her lids were too heavy to open, and she wiggled around to cuddle against him. “Just carry me, Mac.”

“No, I need you awake to hear what I have to tell you.” He sat up just enough for him to stand, then lifted her to her feet.

Her eyes finally blinked open. “H-how long were we sitting here?”

“Long enough for a frost to set in; a couple of hours, maybe.”

She rubbed her eyes with her fists, then looked around. “Wow, you’re like a blast furnace,” she said, looking at him with a sleepy smile. “I’m not even cold.”

“Are you steady enough to walk?” he asked, reaching out to her.

She slipped her hand into his and they started toward her cottage. “I can’t believe I fell asleep, but I must have because I had the strangest dream. I went down to the coast and out into the ocean, stopping at some lakes along the way, only I wasn’t actually flying or anything. I just saw everything like I was simply… there. And you were there, too,” she added with a smile.

She suddenly stopped walking, her eyes opening wide, and stepped back as far as their clasped hands would allow. “You look different. Taller.
Bigger.
” She let go of him to take another step back. “And your eyes are… they’re very bright.”

Mac held his hand out to her again, saying nothing.

He saw her have what appeared to be a brief conversation with herself as she stared at his chest, and then her shoulders went back and she reached out to curl her fingers around his. Mac started leading her toward her home again.

“You’re going away, aren’t you? And you’re taking the albatrosses.”

“Yes. I won’t be here when you wake up in the morning.”

“Will you be gone long?”

“I estimate two or three days.”

“And Henry?”

“He’ll stay here with Carolina. And with you.”

She stepped up onto her stoop and turned to him, though she still had to look up to make eye contact, and Mac saw her concern. “You won’t do anything… foolish, will you?” she whispered.

He smiled. “You mean like marry Godzilla?”

She didn’t return his smile. “I mean like have a monstrous fight with your father.”

“Not on purpose.” He touched a finger to her lips when she tried to speak. “When next I meet my father it will be as a father myself, Olivia, thanks to you.”

Her mouth curled up behind his finger. “You do know that I’m springing Henry out of jail first thing in the morning.”

Mac shook his head. “Good luck with that.”

She braced a hand on his chest and stood on tiptoe, he presumed to better glare at him. “I will take an ax to his bedroom door if that stupid doorknob suddenly decides not to work.”

“You’d have to take the ax to Henry, as his own sense of honor will keep him in that room for two more days.”

“Wanna bet?”

He lifted her hand and kissed her fingers. “I accept your wager; I will put up my cell phone against you letting me take you home to meet my father.”

“What?”
she said in a strangled squeak.

He nodded. “You persuade Henry to leave his room before his punishment is up and I’ll give you my cell phone—which appears to work here in your mountains. But if Henry stays the entire three days, then you must come face my father with me.”

She sputtered on a choked laugh. “Why, so he can make
me
marry Godzilla?” But she sobered when she realized he was serious, and she tugged her hand free. “I told you I’m not interested in getting between another man and his domineering parent.”

“You’re going to have to meet him eventually,
marita
. And it’s my hope you’ll share with him one or two pearls of
wisdom on grandparenting.” He arched a brow at her glare. “As I’m certain you have several he should probably hear.”

She snorted. “Trust me, Eileen’s the expert on that, too.” She shoved her hands in his jacket pockets and went back to looking at his chest again. “I don’t want to meet him, Mac.” She looked up and smiled tightly. “The two male Oceanuses I have now are enough to handle. I can’t even deal with my own mother-in-law most of the time without hiding from her more than I care to admit.”

Mac folded his arms over his chest. “Did you ever consider moving away after your husband died?”

“I couldn’t abandon Ezra and Doris, since they moved here to be near me.”

Now there was a revelation; Olivia had stayed for the
Dodds
, not for John and Eileen. Only Mac wasn’t sure if she’d be overjoyed to learn that Ezra and Doris were her paternal grandparents, or hurt that they’d never told her.

He pulled her into his arms. “I would have your promise that if you need anything while I’m gone, you’ll go to Sam.”

She tilted her head back. “Why would I go to Sam just because you’re gone? I’m pretty sure I’ve been taking care of myself for quite a few years now.”

He gave her a quick kiss on her lips and then let her go to reach in his pocket. “Just a suggestion. Here, you keep this while I’m gone,” he said, handing her his cell phone. “It will work when and where you need it to. Trace Huntsman’s number is programmed into it, as well as Carolina’s and my father’s.”

She shoved the phone in her pocket with a smug smile. “You already know you’re going to lose our bet, don’t you?”

“No. Unlike my jacket, I expect you to give it back when I return. But maybe I will bring you back a cell phone of your own.”

She pressed her hands to his face and stood on tiptoe to kiss him. “Have a good trip,” she said when she pulled away. She opened her door and stepped inside. “And bring
yourself
back a new cell phone because this one’s mine now.”
She started to close the door but pointed a threatening finger at him instead. “And you better stop at the place you bought that stupid truck and have the seat belt and door locks fixed.”

“Sleep well,
marita
,” Mac said as she softly closed the door.

He walked over to the shadows outside her kitchen window and stifled a laugh as he watched Olivia struggling to take off his jacket. But when the zipper wouldn’t go down, Mac heard her soft growl of frustration as she tried to pull it off over her head, only to get it stuck on her nose.

And with the knowledge that even if she couldn’t sleep in his arms tonight Olivia would at least be sleeping in his jacket, Mac vanished into the darkness.