Face the Fire (20 page)

Nell pounced the minute she walked in the door.

“You’re all right? I was worried.”

“I’m fine.”

“Don’t look any the worse for wear,” Lulu commented after a careful study. All the tension balled in her stomach loosened and smoothed out.

“I told Lu,” Nell explained and struggled with the hitch in her conscience. She wasn’t being as forthcoming with Mia as she was about her. “I . . . thought I should.”

“Of course. Is the coffee up? I’m desperate for a decent cup. And to economize time and effort, we’ll go upstairs and have some while I save the two of you the trouble of poking at me about what happened.”

“You were so pale.” Nell went up the steps first. “Ripley and I were about to pull you back when you came on your own. But you were as white as a sheet.”

Guarding her province, Nell hurried behind the counter to pour the coffee. “You were gone for nearly an hour.”

“An hour?” Mia was surprised. “I didn’t realize. It didn’t seem like . . . His power’s crafty,” she said quietly. “He blocked my sense of time. I wasn’t prepared to stay so long, which explains why I was so weak when I came back.”

She took the coffee Nell offered, sipped, considered. “It won’t do to forget that a second time. You look a little peaked, Lu. Aren’t you well?”

“Up late watching a Charles Bronson marathon,” Lulu
lied glibly, and behind the counter Nell flushed with guilt. “That Logan boy took good care of you?”

“Yes, Lulu. That Logan boy took good care of me. You sound like you’re catching a cold.”

The surefire way to distract her girl, Lulu knew, was to poke at her. “I didn’t see his fancy car in front of the cottage this morning.”

“Because it’s still parked in my driveway. He sat up all night with me, then fixed me a nearly inedible breakfast this morning, after which I seduced him in the shower. As a result I’m feeling very rested, very serene, and just a little hungry. Nell, how about one of those apple muffins?”

“He sold his condo in New York City,” Lulu stated, and had the satisfaction of seeing Mia blink.

“Really?”

“I keep my ear to the ground. Signed the papers on it just yesterday. Got a bunch of stuff going into storage. Doesn’t sound like he’s planning on going back there anytime soon.”

“No, it doesn’t.” She couldn’t think about that, Mia told herself. Not just now. “And as fascinating as that is, we’ve more immediate concerns than where Sam stores his living room furniture.”

“Smart money says he sells it.”

“Hmm. In any case,” Mia continued, “we have to decide what to do, if anything, about Evan Remington. I don’t think the authorities would sanction a coven of witches attempting a casting out on an inmate.”

She nibbled her muffin as she considered. “And to be honest, I don’t think it would work, not the way it did with Harding last winter. Harding was a pawn, unaware and largely unwilling. Remington isn’t unwilling, and my sense is that he knows. He not only accepts, but revels in what comes into him. He welcomes it.”

“I could get in to see him.” Nell waited for Mia to look
back at her. “He would agree to that. I might be able to reach him.”

“You couldn’t.” Mia reached out to squeeze Nell’s hand. “You’re part of his catalyst. More important, Zack would have my head, and rightly so, if I encouraged you to try. Another face-to-face encounter between you and Remington is too dangerous under any circumstances, but it might be harmful for the baby.”

“I wouldn’t try to . . .” Nell’s eyes went wide. “How did you know about the baby? I took a home pregnancy test at dawn.” She pressed a hand to her belly. “I’m going to the doctor this afternoon to back it up. I haven’t even told Zack. I want to be sure first.”

“Be sure. I felt it when I took your hand.” Joy swam into Mia’s heart, over her face. “New life. Oh, Nell.”

“I knew, the night . . . when I conceived, I knew. I felt a light inside.” Tears spilled over. “I was afraid to believe it, to get my hopes up. We’re having a baby!” She pressed her hands to her cheeks, spun in a circle. “We’re having a baby! I have to tell Zack.”

“Go, tell him now. Right now. We can handle things here until you get back, can’t we, Lu? Lu?” Mia turned, saw Lulu digging a tissue out of her pocket.

“Got allergies,” Lulu announced in a strangled voice. “Go on.” She waved a hand at Nell. “Go tell your man he’s going to be a daddy.”

“A daddy!” Nell danced around the counter, threw her arms around Lulu’s neck, then around Mia’s. “Oh, I can’t wait to see his face. Oh, oh, and Ripley’s! I won’t be long. I’ll be back.” She raced for the stairs, then spun around with her face glowing. “I’m having a baby.”

“You’d think no one ever managed to get knocked up before.” After a last sniff, Lulu stuffed the tissue back in her pocket. “Guess I’ll have to knit some booties. A
blanket.” She shrugged. “Somebody has to step in and play grandma.”

Mia slid her arm around Lulu’s waist, rested her cheek on the older woman’s hair. “Let’s sit down a minute and have a good cry.”

“Yeah.” Lulu dragged the tissue back out. “Good idea.”

Nothing, Mia was determined, was going to smear
this window of joy. Not a three-hundred-year curse, not the inconvenience and confusion brought on by the early stages of expansion. And most certainly not her own prickles of envy.

Whatever had to be done, Nell would have these thrilling days of happiness and discovery.

Because of the hammering and the blocked view from what had been the café windows, the lunch crowd had dwindled down to the adventurous ones and the diehards. To Mia’s way of thinking, the timing couldn’t have been better. The smaller crowds allowed Nell a few more hours off a week and the luxury of being distracted.

By the solstice, the bulk of the job would be done. And if the café wasn’t yet picture perfect, her customers would be able to dine alfresco on her new little terrace.

From the sidewalk outside the bookstore, Mia measured the progress. The cantilevered overhang would, when all was said and done, blend well with the rest of her building. She intended to hang baskets of flowers from either end. She’d already ordered the curving ironwork for the banister and had selected the slate for the terrace floor.

She could visualize it completed, decked with café tables, pots of summer flowers. And paying customers.

“Coming right along.” Zack stopped beside her.

“Better than I could have hoped. We’ll try it out during
solstice week and be a hundred percent by the July Fourth holiday.” She let out a deep, satisfied breath. “How are you, Sheriff Daddy?”

“Couldn’t be better. It’s been the best year of my life.”

“You’ll be a good father.”

“I’m going to work hard to be.”

“You will,” she agreed. “But the core of it will just be there. Do you remember when we were kids and I used to come to your house?”

“Sure, if you weren’t there with Rip, she was up at your place.”

“I always loved coming there, watching your family. Sometimes I’d pretend they were mine.” She leaned into him when he stroked her hair. “Just wondering what it would be like to have that kind of focus, I suppose, from my parents. That interest and amusement and pride. All those things that were so much a part of your house.”

“I guess they were.”

“Oh, Zack, sometimes I’d see your mother look over at you, or Ripley, and just grin. I could hear her thinking, just look at those kids. Aren’t they great? And they’re mine. Your parents didn’t just tend you, didn’t just love you. They enjoyed you.”

“We were lucky. We enjoyed them right back.”

“I know. Lulu gave me that, so much of that. So did my grandmother when she was alive. So I understood what it was. And because I did, my parents’ innate disinterest in me was such a puzzle. In some ways it still is.”

“Well.” Because he thought she needed it, he pressed a kiss to her hair. “There were times growing up when I’d think you were lucky because you could get away with more than I could. You just had Lu running herd on you, and I had two people.”

“She did the work of two people,” Mia said dryly. “Two sneaky people. She would always let me run right to the
end of the tether, then, when I thought I’d get away with it, she’d yank me right back.”

“She’s still running herd on you.”

“Don’t I know it. Anyway, to circle back to where we were before this ramble turned around to be about me, I wanted to say you’re going to be a terrific father. You come by it naturally.”

“There’s nothing I won’t do to protect Nell and the baby. I need to ask you straight out if anything the three of you plan to do can hurt the baby.”

“No.” She framed his face with her hands. “No, I promise you. And I’ll give you my word, my vow, that I’ll protect her child, your child, as I would my own.”

“Okay, then. Now I’m going to ask you one more thing. You trust me.”

“Zack, I already do.”

“No.” He curled his fingers around her wrists, surprising her with the sudden intensity. “You trust me to do my job, and that job is to protect the people on my island. You trust me to care about you, to stand for you the same way I would my sister. You trust me to help you when it comes time to finish this. You trust me enough for that.”

“For all of that,” she told him. “And more. I love you.”

Sam stepped onto the curb in time to hear her say it. And hearing it, he felt a twinge in his gut. Not in jealousy—he knew better—but in envy that another man could draw such absolute trust and warmth from her. That another man could hear that quiet and heartfelt declaration, even as a friend.

It took all his willpower to work up a sneer. “Greedy son of a bitch.” Sam punched Zack lightly on the shoulder. “Haven’t you already got a woman?”

“Seems I do.” Still, Zack leaned down, kissed Mia on the mouth. “In fact, I think I’ll go on up and see what she’s up to. Nice kissing you, Ms. Devlin.”

“Nice kissing you, Sheriff Todd.”

“Looks like I have to do better than nice.” To work off some of the frustration, Sam spun her around, caught her up, and gave her a long, sizzling kiss that had a trio of women across the street breaking out in applause.

“Well.” Mia caught her breath and tried to uncurl her toes. “I suppose that was a few levels above nice. But then, you always were competitive.”

“Take an hour off with me and I’ll show you some competition.”

“That’s such an interesting offer. But—” She put a hand on his chest and eased back. “We’re just a little pressed with the remodeling. I’ve already used up my break kissing the sheriff.”

“Why don’t you serve me lunch? I thought I’d scope out your menu.”

“Your patronage is appreciated. The violet-and-herb salad is getting raves today.” She walked to the door and opened it.

“I’m not eating flowers.”

“I’m sure Nell has something suitably manly to offer you. Like a raw, meaty bone.”

“Phone’s for you,” Lulu called out as Mia started up the stairs.

“I’ll take it in my office.” She glanced back at Sam. “You know the way to the café.”

He did indeed. He settled on the Cajun chicken sandwich and an iced coffee. And watched the workmen.

It had been to his benefit as much as Mia’s for him to spring the crew for a few weeks. His season was underway, and the guest rooms already rehabbed were fully occupied. After the Fourth, he intended to put the workers on half days so as not to disturb his guests during the early-morning or early-evening hours.

That would take them into September. And by
September, he thought, he’d know what to do with the rest of his life.

She wasn’t letting him get any closer. She welcomed him into her bed—but wouldn’t sleep in his. She would talk about work, about the island, about magic. But she’d made it clear that an entire decade of their lives was off-limits.

Once or twice he’d tried to bring up his time in New York, but she’d simply closed down, or walked away.

Though they were both aware that everyone on the island knew they were lovers, she wouldn’t go out with him. She hadn’t had dinner with him in public since that first business meeting. His suggestions that they take an evening on the mainland and have dinner or go to the theater had been brushed away.

The underlying message came through clear enough. She was telling him she would sleep with him, enjoy him, but they weren’t a couple.

Brooding over his sandwich, he wondered how many men would celebrate finding themselves in his position. He had an extraordinarily beautiful woman who was willing to share sex with him and expected—indeed permitted—little else. No strings, no expectations, no promises.

And he wanted more. That, he admitted, had been the root of the problem from the beginning. He’d wanted more, but he’d been too young, too stupid, too stubborn to see that the more was all Mia.

When she sat down across from him, he found his heart was in his throat and ready to spill out. “Mia—”

“I got Caroline Trump.” She snatched his iced coffee, drank deep. “I just got off the phone with her publicist. I have her for the second Saturday in July. You should’ve heard how cool and professional I was on the phone. She’d never have guessed I was turning cartwheels.”

“In that dress?”