A small sigh escaped my lips, and Rafe reached across the table to take my hand. “Hey,” he said. “It’s going to be okay. The books are safe. We’re having a nice evening out. You don’t have to solve all the problems of the world in one day.”
I smiled across the table at him. “I would have made a terrible poker player, wouldn’t I?”
“The worst,” he agreed cheerfully. “You’ve done your duty as prima. Now you get to be just Miranda for the rest of the night.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I said, and thought, Here’s hoping I get to be “just Miranda” for the foreseeable future….
6
The days sped by after that. No other specters from our past conflict with Simon Escobar raised their ugly heads, and so I was free to continue settling in as prima and making sure everything would be in order when the big day rolled around. Cat’s new home got a clean bill of health from the house inspector, and so she was busy securing estimates and lining up contractors to get started with the remodel after the holidays were over.
My parents were coming for the wedding, of course, and agreed to stay through Christmas Eve — mostly because I painted such a pretty portrait of what the Canyon Road walk would be like, my mother didn’t want to miss it — although they’d go home that same night so they could spend Christmas Day with their grandchildren. I supposed I couldn’t ask for much more than that, since they were now having to split their time between family members in two different states. This was where their talent for teleporting would come in really handy, since at least they wouldn’t have to spend hours on the road going back and forth between Jerome and Santa Fe.
At the same time, I wondered what they would do once they had grandchildren here in New Mexico. Rafe and I hadn’t talked about that very much, but I knew some of his relatives — his Aunt Rosa in particular — kept looking at my waistline with a speculative eye.
As if I’d let myself get pregnant before the official wedding ceremony. I wanted to drink champagne at my reception, and besides, I didn’t dare risk not fitting in my gown. Yes, I knew that a few weeks probably wouldn’t make a difference, but what if I was one of those women who started to expand the second she got pregnant? That dress fit me like a glove. Even a few pounds could make all the difference in the world.
At some point, though, Rafe and I would have to discuss having children. To be honest, I didn’t want to put it off for too long. Right now, there was no prima-in-waiting designated for the Castillo clan, and I had a gut feeling that there wouldn’t be until I had a daughter of my own. I’d broached the subject of a successor with Rafe fairly early on, hoping he would have some insights about who would make a good candidate, but he didn’t have any wisdom to offer, only said that while the Castillos had a lot of strong witches in the correct age bracket, none of them stood out enough for him to recommend them as my heir.
Even though I’d halfway anticipated such a response, I couldn’t help but be disappointed. It would have been a relief to know there was someone standing in the wings in case anything happened to me. But I reminded myself that my mother didn’t have a prima-in-waiting for years and years, and yet the McAllisters had thrived during that time, and no crisis had emerged to force her to make a choice. I was past my own crisis now, and I knew I needed to be patient. The universe would let me know when my heir appeared, and until then I’d just have to bide my time.
I’d been carefully watching the weather forecasts, and was worried that snow might mar my wedding day. Not that I hoped to deprive anyone of a white Christmas, but I really didn’t want to dodge snowflakes as I was leaving the cathedral or going into the reception hall. Luckily, the Castillo clan’s weather-workers stepped in and let me know that they’d hold back the storm for as long as they could.
“Not forever,” Rafe’s cousin Lina told me. She was a pretty woman in her forties, a bit rounder than most of the Castillo women, but with charming dimples and big brown eyes. “But at least twenty-four hours. That’ll bring the snow on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, which is much better timing for everyone involved.”
I thanked her, and told her to also give my thanks to the other weather workers in the clan for their assistance. Although sometimes being born into a witch family could be a real pain in the ass, there were other times when I was profoundly grateful for all the million and one things, big and small, that our magic could do for us.
Cat and I had already agreed that I’d stay with her at her Airbnb the night before the ceremony.
“That way, you won’t see me until I walk down the aisle,” I told Rafe one afternoon, with less than one week to go until we stood in the cathedral and exchanged vows.
He treated me to an epic eye roll. “Miranda, we’ve been living together for a month, and we’re already legally married. Do you really think it’s going to make that big a difference if I see you the day of the ceremony?”
I’d anticipated this protest, so I replied immediately. “It might. Do you really want to take any chances, especially after everything we’ve been through to get to this point?”
Judging by the way he just stood there, arms crossed, mouth quirked in that wry way which was peculiarly his, he didn’t appear terribly impressed by my question. “I had no idea you were this superstitious.”
“I’m not being superstitious,” I protested. “I’m just trying to play it safe. I appreciate that you’re so crazy about me that you can’t bear to be apart for even one night, but — ”
He didn’t allow me to get any farther than that, because he came over and pulled me into his arms, then gave me a very hearty kiss. After he lifted his mouth from mine, he said, voice almost a growl, “I am crazy about you. Or maybe it’s just that you make me crazy. Either way is fine by me.”
Then his arms went around me again, only this time it was to lift me from where I stood in the kitchen and carry me upstairs to our bedroom, where he proceeded to show me exactly how crazy he was by making love to me for a delicious hour. Afterward, I lay in his arms, well content, listening to the beating of his heart and breathing in the enticing scent of his skin, warm and clean at the same time.
“I’m still staying with Cat,” I said, and he chuckled.
“I never assumed you would do anything different.”
And that was why I loved him so much. He didn’t try to change who I was, or try to make me over in the mold of the Castillo primas…whatever that might be. Maybe it was because he’d fought so hard for so long to avoid expectations, and therefore would never place the weight of unwanted expectation on me.
Head pillowed against his shoulder, I murmured, “I love you.”
His hand passed over my hair, heavy and yet gentle at the same time. “And I love you. More than I ever thought possible. But,” he added, an amused flicker in his voice, “I’ll be damn glad when this wedding is over.”
“Me, too,” I said. That was all, though; we both knew why we needed to do this, why we had to let as many of the Castillo clan as possible see us formally married in a church. I was now their prima, for better or worse, and they needed to see me as Rafe’s wife, not just some witch he was shacked up with.
And though it was afternoon, and we both had tasks we probably should have been attending to, we fell asleep as we held one another, as if we both wanted to make sure to cherish some of our precious alone time together. Soon enough, things would be busy and chaotic, but for now it was just the two of us, as I’d hoped it would be.
Time marched on, just like it always did, and soon enough I found myself packing all the things I would need for my stay at Cat’s place, including the all-important wedding gown. She came by and picked me up, since I still didn’t have a car of my own, and we’d both agreed it would be better not to have Rafe come over. My parents wouldn’t be arriving until the next day, since that way they only had to worry about getting a hotel room for one night.
I was a little disappointed that they wouldn’t be spending much time at all in New Mexico,
although I understood why they didn’t want to seem as though they were intruding. The McAllisters and the Wilcoxes and the de la Pazes all roamed in and out of each other’s territories without anyone raising much of an eyebrow, while the Castillos had always held themselves aloof. That situation would probably change as time went on — I intended to be a very different sort of prima than Genoveva Castillo had been — but even I knew that I couldn’t rush things, would have to gently guide the clan into a more inclusive way of looking at their witch family neighbors.
In the meantime, I had a wedding to get through.
Cat’s Airbnb was truly gorgeous, a spacious two-bedroom house only a few blocks from the large hacienda-style home where she’d grown up. The place had been extensively updated and exquisitely furnished, with a garden that was probably beautiful in the summer.
“You sure about the winery?” I asked after she’d given me a quick tour. “I’m not sure I’d want to move out of this place.”
She chuckled. “I thought about it, but the owner doesn’t want to sell. He makes too much off vacation rentals. Besides, I really wanted to be away from town.”
Well, she would certainly be far enough away once she was living on the former Luna Rio winery’s grounds. I told myself that having her twenty minutes from me really wasn’t that big a deal, but I still couldn’t help but experience a small twinge of loss at the thought. Cat was the only real friend I’d made here. Rafe loved me, and his father and two other sisters had been welcoming enough, and yet I didn’t really look at Cat as a sister-in-law, but instead someone to hang out with, someone to show me her favorite shops and restaurants, doing whatever she could to help me feel a bit more comfortable in my adopted city.
“You’re definitely in the heart of it here,” I said, doing my best to sound neutral. The winery purchase was a done deal, so I didn’t see the point in giving Cat any guilt about getting away from the place where she’d been born. “And I can’t wait to see what you do with the winery.”
“I can’t wait, either. I wish my witchy talent was to speed up time so I could live there now instead of having to wait for months and months.” She went to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of white wine. “A little pre-nuptial celebration?”
“A very little,” I replied. “I don’t want to be all puffy tomorrow.”
“I highly doubt a few glasses of wine will make you puffy, but sure.” After fetching a couple of wine glasses from the cupboard, she uncorked the wine and poured for both of us — fairly generous pours, enough that having one glass wouldn’t be too much of a hardship.
I raised an eyebrow. “That’s ‘a very little’?”
“Well, it’s less than two glasses, isn’t it?” she replied, a glint in her dark eyes telling me that she’d guessed I would call out the way she’d poured the wine until it was a scant half inch from the lip of the glass.
“Technically.”
She chuckled. “You looked like you needed it.”
“Is it that obvious?”
“To most people, probably not.” With the hand that held her own wine glass, she gestured toward the living room. “Let’s go sit down.”
We left the kitchen and went and took our seats on the living room’s comfortable, nicely worn brown leather couches. A fire crackled in the hearth, because although the weather remained clear, it was quite cold, clear and bright and hard as a diamond. The work of the Castillo clan’s weather witches? Probably. Now it just needed to hold for another day.
For a minute or two, we sipped wine in companionable silence. That was another thing I liked about Cat — she didn’t feel the need to chatter all the time if she didn’t have something important to talk about. And even though I knew this wasn’t really her home, the Airbnb felt homey to me, someplace where I could relax. I still didn’t feel completely at ease in the big Castillo homestead, despite having lived there for more than a month now. At some point, I supposed I would truly settle in, would stop looking over my shoulder for the ghosts of past primas to appear and order me, the usurper, off the premises, but for now I still felt as though I was trespassing in the big old house.
It was also good to know that we wouldn’t be chasing all over the next morning, that the hairdresser and makeup artist were going to come here to polish up Cat and me. I’d decided that I didn’t want to have a big procession of bridesmaids, and so Cat would be my maid of honor and only attendant, just as Tony would be Rafe’s best man and we’d leave it at that. Possibly I’d ruffled a few feathers, but I didn’t see the point in having a bunch of bridesmaids who weren’t personal friends.
After taking another sip of wine, Cat asked, “It’s really just going to be your parents tomorrow?”
“Yes,” I replied. “Both my sister and brother have small children, and that’s a lot of people for even my mother and father to teleport. They could’ve flown, I suppose, but….” I let the words trail off there. Although both Ian and Emily had told me they were proud of me, proud of who I’d become in the Castillo clan, I got the distinct impression from Emily that she was a little annoyed that I, the one who wasn’t supposed to have any magic at all, had turned out to be not only a stronger witch than she was, but had also managed to become prima of a witch family as old and powerful as the Castillos. It probably hadn’t required much of an internal struggle for her to come up with a convenient excuse as to why she couldn’t travel to Santa Fe for the ceremony. I could have allowed myself to be irritated with her, but I decided it was better to let it go. Why harbor resentment over something that, in the end, was really quite trivial?
And Ian — well, his wife Mia was in the early pukey stage of pregnancy, so I could see why neither flying nor teleportation nor a long car ride was on her list of fun things to do. I didn’t mind, and I told Ian that. He sounded relieved I hadn’t pressed the issue, but had instead reassured him that I totally understood why none of them were up to traveling right now.
To my relief, Cat didn’t press me for a more detailed explanation of my family’s disappearing act. “Well, there’ll be so many Castillos there, I doubt you’ll notice the absence of any McAllisters or Wilcoxes.”
“Exactly,” I said. “Besides, you’re all my family now, too.”
She smiled, but I thought I noticed something hesitant about her expression, as if she could tell I was doing my best to put a brave face on things and hide my disappointment about having so few of my Arizona family members present. Clearly changing the subject, she said, “I still can’t believe you’re not going on a honeymoon.”
“It’s all right,” I told her. “Santa Fe is kind of a destination anyway, and it’s not as though we could go flying off to Tahiti or something, thanks to the way we witches have to stick around our home territories. We were talking about going to Tucson or Scottsdale sometime in February or March, though, just to be someplace where it’s warm and sunny.”
“That’s probably a good idea. It can get pretty dreary around here in late winter.”
So I’d heard, which was why Rafe and I had discussed getting away to southern Arizona for a change of pace when the winter blues started to set in. I’d never been to Tucson, and while I’d spent some time in the Phoenix area, I still wasn’t very familiar with it. Being able to escape there for a few days would be fun.
Unfortunately, we wouldn’t be able to stay much longer than that. Being prima wasn’t the sort of occupation that provided many vacation days.
Cat and I chatted a bit more after that, about her plans for the winery, about good places to go in New Mexico if you just wanted to get away for a few days. Once we determined we were hungry, we decided to get Indian takeout, and spent a bit of time mulling over the menu from a local place that delivered. Just common, ordinary things, with no mention of the wedding the next day. I guessed that Cat knew I was keyed up and tense, and so didn’t want to rehash something that really couldn’t be changed at this date anyway.
And after we’d eaten and watched a movie and decided i
t was time to go to bed, I surprised her by giving her a quick hug.
“What was that for?” she asked.
“Just to say thanks,” I replied. “Thanks for keeping my mind off things, thanks for letting me crash here tonight. You know.”
“Then you’re welcome,” she said. “You’ll have fun tomorrow, you really will. It’s not going to be some huge production. Just a quiet ceremony, followed by a blow-out party at the reception.”
“A ‘quiet ceremony’ with three hundred guests,” I pointed out.
Not a blink as she returned, “True, but I promise that you won’t have to remember all their names.”
It was my turn to chuckle. “Oh, well, then it’ll be a piece of cake.”
“Exactly. Now, get a good night’s sleep. It’s insomnia that will make you puffy, not a couple glasses of wine.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I sent her a smile and then went into my borrowed room. It had an en suite bath, which meant I wouldn’t have to come out again until the next morning after I’d showered and put on some comfy clothes to await the arrival of the hairdresser and the makeup artist. At the thought of those preparations, a little quiver of nervous anticipation went through me. Cat could say this wasn’t a big deal, and I could try to convince myself of that same fact, but I couldn’t ignore what had happened the first time we’d tried this. I couldn’t forget how I’d stood on the altar at Loretto Chapel and heard those terrible words coming from Rafe’s mouth. Yes, it wouldn’t happen again, because Simon Escobar was dead, and his dark magic had died with him.
Still….
I shook my head as I turned down the covers on the bed. History wouldn’t repeat itself. It couldn’t.
All the same, I knew I wouldn’t be able to relax until the ceremony was over.
A Canyon Road Christmas Page 6
