Waiting for Magic (40 page)

Kemble remembered Devin’s shame when he realized Kemble knew. Devin realized it was wrong. But the bonding of their genes would explain how the lapse had happened. How could you break that bond? Could his mother help them go back to the way things were before?

“She might be fixed on him, but he could have gotten his power from that girl he’s been teaching to surf,” Drew said slowly.

“Whom we have never seen,” his mother reminded them.

Uh-oh.
“Jane says Devin made her up,” Kemble ventured. He could see by everyone’s expression that he’d delivered the
coup de grace.
Jane’s opinion meant something.

“I do wish Jane were here,” his mother fretted. “She’s always so sensible about how to fix things like this.” Even his mother depended on Jane.

It suddenly occurred to Kemble that his mother was not going to try to “fix things” by keeping Keelan and Devin apart. He tried to get his head around that. And what would Senior say? He very nearly shuddered. How would his mother fix
that
?

Speak of the Devil.

His father walked into the kitchen and heaved himself down in one of the chairs at the kitchen table. He stared at his wife, looking almost helpless. Well, that was something new.

“Did he tell you about it?” his mother asked.

Senior shook his head. “I’m awful at this, Brina. I was afraid anything I said would just make him feel worse. Maybe we can have Maggie Calm him.…”

“Nope,” Maggie said. She never had a problem standing up to Senior, which always amazed Kemble. “We all agreed I don’t use my power on family.” She glanced to Drew and shrugged apologetically. “Michael was accidental.” Drew waved away her apology, intent on the implications of this impromptu family meeting. “And I kinda Calmed Kee up at Pendragon’s house, when she saw what Pendragon had done to Devin,” Maggie added, biting her lip.

His mother looked thoughtful.

“He said he’s leaving tomorrow.” Senior took a breath. “And that he never wanted to hurt us.” He looked around and saw the eyes of his family on him. By now they all knew what Devin meant. His father saw it in their expressions. “So am I the last one to figure it out?”

His mother scooted her chair closer to Senior’s and took his hands. “No.” She smiled. “We’re just pooling our information now. We’re sure about Keelan. She’s got a power to adjust visual reality and she’s been painting pictures of Devin obsessively. We know Devin has a power, but Drew thinks he might have gotten it from someone else.”

Senior shook his head. “No. It’s from Keelan. It was tearing his guts out to say he was leaving just now. He actually vomited. I remember
that
sensation only too well.”

“Me, too,” Tristram said, with feeling. He put his arm around Maggie’s shoulders as if to prevent her from ever being more than millimeters from his side.

“And I knew her feelings for him had, uh, undergone a change,” Senior continued. “The way she looked at him in front of that wall of mud.… I told her he’d want her to leave him.” He gave a small smile. “She yelled, ‘Don’t you dare die,’ and she wasn’t talking to Kemble or me.” He looked at his wife. “I recognized that look because it’s how you look at me sometimes.”

Kemble could hardly believe Senior was taking the fact that Devin and Keelan were in love with each other without fireworks. Did he realize they’d actually had sex? Kemble thought for sure Senior would forbid the whole thing or something. Apparently he wasn’t the only one.

“So, uh, it’s okay that they’re, uh, together?” Tristram asked.

Senior sucked in a breath and looked to his wife. He shrugged his shoulders. “What can you do? Can’t fight destiny. And he’s not really her brother. I guess if I could pick someone for her, it would be a man as honorable and caring as Devin.”

The heaviness in Kemble’s gut was not only jealousy but a hint of the despair lurking in his future because it would never happen for him.

“I agree,” his mother said, rising. “Well, he’s going to leave tomorrow. We have to deal with that.” She glanced to the archway. “Oh, hi, dear.”

Everyone turned in horror to see Keelan’s eyes widen in surprise and dismay. Then she trudged into the room, looking like she carried the weight of the world on those slender shoulders. They were probably all wondering, as Kemble was, exactly how much she’d heard.

“Is Mr. Edwards all right?” his mother asked as though nothing was going on.

Keelan nodded. “He’s asleep.” Her eyes were empty, but as Kemble watched they filled up with pain. “How … how is Devin?”

“I’m going in to him now. You just go up to bed.” His mother bustled forward and turned Keelan around.

His sister made a brief struggle. “Not until I know.…”

“I’ll come up to your room when I’ve finished.” Keelan looked like she might protest. “I’ll bet you’d like a little privacy right now.”

Brilliant. Keelan obviously wanted that more than anything. She just wouldn’t let herself retreat until she knew Devin was all right, at least physically. What Devin had gone through tonight might be tougher to get over than the physical injuries.

His sister nodded and heaved a sigh. His mother gave her a pat and sent her out toward the stairs. When she was safely out of sight, his mother let out a breath. “That was close.” She looked around. “I’ll go to Devin. I shouldn’t have left him in pain this long, but I … I had to know.” She fixed on Maggie. “I know it’s a violation of the agreement. But he’s been through a lot tonight and you were so good with the children at the hospital the other day. Can you try to help him?”

Maggie nodded, and Kemble could see that her eyes had filled.

“Now, Kemble, see what you can do to get Tammy and Lanyon to bed.” With that, his mother strode purposefully out toward the arch to the Bay of Pigs. Usually, Kemble would back his mother against almost any odds. Tonight? She was going to try to get Devin and Keelan together. But Kemble wasn’t totally sure he could accept seeing them in this new light. He glanced around to the others and saw a similar uncertainty from Tristram and Drew. A kind of grim certainty hovered around his father. Only Maggie smiled in satisfaction.

Kemble saw disruption on the horizon for their family no matter how this turned out.

CHAPTER NINET
EEN

Devin couldn’t sleep as he waited for Brina, though he’d turned out the light. He was trying not to think about leaving so he wouldn’t barf all over his bed. He knew what that meant. He only hoped Brian attributed it to his injuries. People barfed from pain, didn’t they?

Kee had a power and it was a doozy. He actually recognized the painting she raised. It was the one at the end of the hall in the modern art part of the museum. The vines looked like those intricate frames around the elongated, graceful people from what she called “fin de siècle.” He was proud of her. So proud.

Didn’t change what he had to do.
Don’t think about that.
In his heart, he tried to wish her well with her curator. He wondered what power Christian would get. He’d only met him the once, so he couldn’t say. And he might never know.

Brina slipped into the room and closed the door softly. “Sorry it took me a while to get to you, Devin,” she apologized. “Mind if I turn on the light?”

“Go ahead.” She’d know the worst when she healed him anyway. “Shouldn’t spend your energy this way.”

“Devin Tremaine, what better way to spend energy than helping the people I love best in the world?” She clicked on the bedside light. It cast a softer glow than the overhead. Still he blinked. She went still. “Bastard,” she said softly. “I hope he burned to death before he suffocated.”

“It’s not that bad,” he lied. He wished she didn’t have to know about the other part.

“Don’t you tell me what’s bad and not bad, young man,” she huffed. She reached out and touched his hair. “You were very brave tonight. You saved at least four members of the family.”

Of course they would have told her he had a power. “They wouldn’t have been up there in the first place if not for me. I … I’m sorry, Brina.”

“We’ll talk about that later.” Her voice was soothing. She sat beside him on the bed and put her hand on his shoulder, just gently. He hissed in a breath, but then the warmth of her healing took over, and he was back to being a nine-year-old boy again, looking up at her from the bed in the orphanage. His eye had been swollen almost closed and he’d had a split lip from fighting because a couple of the older boys bullied him. When the ward nurse said there was someone who’d come to try him out and maybe take him home, he’d been scared. Who wanted a kid with a swollen eye? Then he’d seen her. She was so pretty. She had a face that was used to smiling, he could just tell. He’d wanted her to pick him so bad he couldn’t even talk. She’d put her hand on him and he’d felt the warmth and the wellbeing flow through him, just like it did now. The swelling in his eye had disappeared. It hadn’t even gotten black the next day. And she took him home.

She moved her hand to his butt cheeks. He should have been embarrassed but the warmth was so gentle. Then it went deeper and he knew she was healing the damage inside him. That meant she knew everything. Tears started to his eyes. He wiped them away with the back of his hand and turned his head away. He sure hoped Maggie and Kee hadn’t told her about his other shame. He’d know, though. He’d always know that Pendragon made him come. Her hands moved to his thighs, his ankles. Then she just held his wrists.

“Better?” she asked softly. Her breath was coming a little fast, and it reminded him that healing him cost her.

“Yeah.” He almost choked on the word. “Thanks, Brina.”

She didn’t leave. She continued to sit beside him, her breath steadying. “I’ve always been a little … surprised that you didn’t call me Mom, or Mother,” she said. “But I guess you can only have one real mother.”

He realized he’d hurt her by calling her Brina. He turned his head back toward her. Her face was above the circle of light from the lamp. He could barely see her in the dimness. “You always treated me like your real sons. But I knew I wasn’t.” He half expected her to protest, give him some garbage about being her son in every way that counted. She was that generous.

Instead she said, “No, you’re not. You share a great-grandfather on my side with my biological children. I think that makes you cousins—twice removed? I’m never sure. But pretty distant. We would never have known about you except I was looking for anyone who might share the gene. And it turns out you do.” She smiled. “Even though no one else in your family showed any signs. At least that I could tell.”

Oh, God. He felt himself flushing. Did she know he got a power because he loved Kee? Had Kemble told her they’d had sex? He wouldn’t need to leave tomorrow. She’d throw him out.

“Shhhh,” she said and pulled some of his hair back from his damp forehead. “It’s okay.” She bit her lip. “Brian tells me you want to go tomorrow.”

“It’s for the best.” He started to choke on the pain in his belly.

She nodded, but like she was thinking, not that she agreed. She touched him absently and the pain disappeared. “Before you go, just make sure you’re going for the right reason.”

What? He sure hoped she didn’t know the real reason he was leaving.

He must have looked puzzled because she hesitated, then continued, “Sometimes we deny ourselves what would be best for everyone concerned just because we think we don’t deserve it. It’s a kind of, I don’t know, self-censorship? You make your life less than it can be before anyone else can tell you that’s all you’re allowed. Don’t ever make that mistake, Devin.” He blinked at her and then looked away, unable to meet her eyes. “Sometimes … it’s hard to hold onto things, even just for a hug, when you think they’re going to be taken from you,” she continued. “But you’ve always had courage.” Glancing up, he saw she was smiling fondly. “The way you take those big waves nobody else dares ride. The way you survived a plane crash, an orphanage, and still came out a loving, intelligent, responsible man. The way you protected Keelan and Maggie and Kemble tonight. And Brian. He had no defense but you. Do you know how hard that was for him? But then he’s always loved you so very much. When you love people as much as we love you, you understand whatever they do because you know their heart.”