Dark Secrets: A Paranormal Romance Anthology

by Colleen Gleason

  Cord shook his head. “He doesn’t think he is,” he said. “He is a witch. Well, a warlock, really. I’ve seen him…well, it doesn’t matter, but believe me when I tell you that he is effective. He’s very good.”

  Her mouth popped open. “Really?”

  “Really.”

  She was truly astounded. “But… but you’ve never talked about this before,” she said. “You’ve never made any mention of this, and… and if it’s passed down to the firstborn males in your family, then that means you do it, too?”

  He shrugged, averting his gaze. “I’ve spent most of my life ignoring what’s in my blood,” he admitted. “When I was young, I thought it was really cool. I wanted to learn all about it, but the older I got, I realized that I was the only one of my friends who could cast spells so in my mind, it became uncool and ridiculous. I didn’t want to be different. I wouldn’t speak to my father about it for years even though he tried. When I was young and learning about my heritage, my father and grandfather said I had the greatest gift of Casting they had ever seen. It came really easy for me. But when I grew older, I didn’t want to do it anymore, so I have just ignored it.”

  Alix was dumbfounded. After a moment, she simply shook her head. “Cord,” she said, “you can’t be serious. Are you telling me that you’re a witch?”

  “Warlock, but yes.”

  “God’s honest truth?”

  “God’s honest truth.”

  Alix was torn between disbelief and fear. She simply didn’t know what to say. Seeing her reaction, Cord sighed faintly.

  “Honey, do you remember when the roof collapsed on me a couple of months ago?” he asked.

  “Of course I do.”

  “Do you remember the guys telling you that it should have killed me?”

  “Yes.”

  He looked her in the eye. “It didn’t kill me because I had half a chance to cast a protection spell, something that held that roof long enough so that the full weight didn’t crush me. Sure, it came down, but it could have been so much worse. I saw it coming and was able to remember things that my father had taught me, spells of protection, enough so that I was able to deflect that roof somewhat. It saved my life and I suppose, ever since then, I’ve been a little more willing to discuss something I haven’t discussed in thirty years. I’m willing to discuss who and what I really am.”

  Alix’s eyebrows lifted. “A witch?”

  “My dad likes to call us Casters, as in spell casting.”

  She stared at him. True, she was wallowing in disbelief but there was another part of her that was very intrigued. She knew he wouldn’t lie to her but, much like ghosts, she had to see it to believe it. It was the scientist part of her brain and not the part that went on faith. She should have thought the man was crazy but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. After what she’d seen in Evenshade, she had more acceptance for things out of the norm. Perhaps anything was possible, even a new husband who thought he was a witch. After a few seconds of indecision, she finally shrugged.

  “Okay,” she said. “If you say so, I’ll accept it. I can’t say that I really believe it, but I’ll accept it. But you should have told me all of this sooner.”

  “It just never came up,” he said. “Does it change your mind about me?”

  She laughed. “If it did, it’s too late now,” she said, but his expression was still tense and she could see he was serious. She softened. “No, it doesn’t change my mind about you. I still love you madly and it doesn’t change a damn thing.”

  He visibly relaxed. “Thank you,” he said. “I have to admit I was a little worried. This isn’t a normal confession like I’m secretly a crossdresser or I was born with a third leg that I keep hidden.”

  She giggled. “It’s weird, but I suppose after seeing ghost girls, I’m open to anything now. Who’s to say things like witches and warlocks don’t exist after all?”

  He went to her, putting his arms around her and giving her a sweet hug. “Thank you for being so understanding,” he murmured. “It’s a load off my mind. But now that it’s over with, I say let’s get the honeymoon started.”

  “You don’t waste any time, do you?”

  “Not when you’re involved, I don’t.”

  Alix laughed at him but they were both distracted when, in the bedroom directly overhead, they began to hear soft singing. The singing grew louder and soon a massive thump shook the house. Cord went to investigate but he naturally came up with nothing.

  They spent their honeymoon night in a motel.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  June

  The evening was unusually cool for early June as Cord finished up with the dishes because it was Hester’s night off. The boys had done the cooking so he was doing the cleaning. Now, all four boys were in the den playing a war game on the giant, flat screen television. Cord had already gone in three times to tell them to hold it down, but the noise was starting to get loud again. It was hard to play war video games and not get loud about it.

  Turning on the dishwasher, he dried his hands off as he went back into the study for the fourth time in the past twenty minutes. The boys caught him out of the corner of their eye, abruptly shutting down the volume and the noise when he walked into the room.

  “Sorry, Dad,” Chris said. “We’re trying to keep it down.”

  Rather than become irritated with them, Cord smiled weakly. “I know you are,” he said. “Do the best you can. I’m going upstairs for a while.”

  Rose, tucked in behind her brother on the other side of the couch, slithered down and went to Cord, taking his hand. Cord looked down at her, shaking his head.

  “I thought you were upstairs,” he said. “What are you doing down here?”

  Rose gazed up at him with her big gray eyes. “I wanted to play, too.”

  Cord’s eyebrows lifted. “War games?”

  Rose just nodded. “They promised to play bunnies and duckies when they were done.”

  She was referring to her favorite video game and Cord looked at the group of boys, cocking a fatherly eyebrow. “They promised, did they?”

  “Yes,” she said solemnly. “They told me if I was quiet that they would play with me later.”

  “And they will, too. Starting right now.”

  Kyle and Cole groaned but Chris dutifully shut off the war game and went on the hunt for the bunny game. Delighted, Rose ran back into the den as Cord, with a smirk on his face, headed for the back stairs.

  Mounting the steps, he emerged into the hall and headed for the master bedroom door, very carefully opening it so he wouldn’t disturb Alix. He flipped on the hall light because it was so dark, glancing down the long hallway purely out of habit. It had been a long time since he had last seen a surprise in the dark. In fact, since their wedding on that cold December day, they hadn’t seen a trace of the ghost girl. She had virtually disappeared.

  Whatever his father had done, whatever spell he cast, must have worked because the house had been utterly quiet for six months. In fact, Chris now occupied that giant front bedroom where all of the occurrences happened and there hadn’t been a peep. But they kept the closet door and the stairs to the attic bolted. No one was willing to take any chances or rock the boat. Better to let sleeping ghosts lie.

  Cord was thankful, too. Without the paranormal element, Evenshade was a wonderful family home and he loved it here. Even the dogs, who had initially been very fearful to come into the house back in the fall when he had moved in, now freely roamed the house and slept on beds they weren’t supposed to sleep on. But Cord was incredibly happy, more than he had ever been in his life. As he quietly opened the door to the bedroom he shared with his wife and poked his head in, he was surprised to see that Alix was awake, lying on her side as she watched television. Cord smiled when she looked over at him.

  “Hi, honey,” he greeted, moving to sit beside her on the bed. “How are you feeling?”

  Alix rolled onto her back. At nine months pregnant and two days over
her due date, she was in a miserable state. It was exhausting to stand and uncomfortable to lie down. Alix rubbed at her enormous belly and made a pouting face.

  “I’m sore,” she said. “I’m sore, stiff, tired, and exhausted. The baby’s lying on my diaphragm and I can’t sleep.”

  He grinned as he sat next to her. “Did you try to move him?”

  She began pushing at the top of her belly. “He won’t budge,” she said miserably. “He’s too big. There’s no room for him to roll around anymore, but as long as he’s head down, I don’t give a damn. He’s pointed in the right direction.”

  Cord laughed, putting his hand on her colossal belly. “It’ll all be over soon.”

  “Maybe sooner than you think.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  She shifted on the bed, grunting as she tried to find a comfortable position. “Because I think I’m in the early stages of labor,” she said. “My lower back and thighs are very achy. I can’t tell if they’re contractions yet, but I’m definitely achy.”

  Cord’s grin faded and he grew serious. “Do we need to call Dr. Sutton?”

  Alix shook her head. “I don’t think so,” she replied. “Not yet, anyway. Let’s see how the next few hours go.”

  “If you say so.”

  She squirmed again and held up a hand. “Help me up, please.”

  He stood up and carefully pulled her into a sitting position. Then he pulled her off the bed and made sure she was steady on her feet before letting her go. Alix waddled into the bathroom and shut the door as Cord lay back down on the mattress and began surfing the channels. He found a baseball recap and was watching the scrolling scores when Alix emerged from the bathroom.

  “Anything exciting going on in there?” he asked.

  She shook her head, frustrated. “No,” she said flatly. “No mucus, no blood, no nothing.”

  “Sealed up tight.”

  She made a face as she walked, rubbing at her back as she headed back to the bed. “Can we take the dogs and go for a walk?”

  Cord rolled off the bed. “If you want to,” he stood up. “Are you sure you feel up to it?”

  She nodded as she hunted around for her shoes. “I can’t lie down anymore,” she found her shoes and handed them to him so he could put them on her. “My whole body hurts from laying down all of the time.”

  He held her steady as she lowered herself on the edge of the bed, lifting a foot so he could slip on a little white tennis shoe. “I don’t want you wearing yourself out walking, though.” He tried to be gentle with her because her emotions were volatile these days. “Dr. Sutton wanted you to take it easy.”

  He apparently wasn’t gentle enough because her nose scrunched up in a frown. “I gotta do something to get this labor going,” she said, unhappy. “I need this baby to be born. Do you realize I haven’t seen my feet in over a month?”

  Cord laughed; he couldn’t help it. “That’s why you have me around,” he told her. “I can see your feet and they look great.”

  She grunted, making faces. “If the walking doesn’t work, then we’re going to try sex next.”

  “Dr. Sutton said we probably shouldn’t with the baby so low in your pelvis.”

  “I don’t care what he says. The stimulation should trigger something.”

  Cord didn’t argue with her; he just finished putting her shoes on. Collecting her jacket, he went down the stairs in front of her, making sure she was steady as she labored down the steps. He tried to help her on with her jacket but she shooed him away, too hot for the jacket. Tossing the jacket on to the kitchen chair, he went to the study and stuck his head inside.

  “Alix and I are going for a walk,” he told the kids, now crowded around the television playing bunnies and duckies. “We’ll be back in a little while.”

  They boys waved him off, as did Rose, who was front and center with the video controller. As Cord moved into the back hall as he headed back to the kitchen, he whistled softly and Manitou and Aram, sleeping where they weren’t supposed to be on the living room couches, bolted up and trotted into the kitchen. Cord intercepted them before they could happily knock Alix around, putting on their leashes.

  Alix was already opening the kitchen door, heading out into the summer dusk as the fireflies were just starting to get busy. It was a lovely evening and she sighed, feeling more cramping in her back and hips as she observed the pink and blue sunset. With the dogs taking the lead, Cord and Alix headed down the driveway.

  “I’ve been thinking something,” Alix said.

  Cord was trying to hold both dogs’ leashes in one hand and Alix in the other. “What’s that?”

  “Well,” she said thoughtfully, “now that we’ve moved Hester downstairs because we turned her room into a nursery, we really should build her a bathroom. Right now, she’s sharing two bathrooms with five kids and four of them are boys.”

  Cord considered her suggestion. “Her bedroom isn’t big enough to install a bathroom in,” he said. “But we could probably enlarge the half bath in the utility room and put in a shower. That’s a fairly large room so there’s enough room to do it.”

  That made Alix happy. “Good,” she said cheerfully. “Will you talk to your friend at work that does construction on the side and see if he’ll give us an estimate?”

  “Of course.”

  They were down the street, heading towards Cord’s house down in the glen. Cord finally took the dogs off their leashes and they ran around happily, jumping around in the grass but avoiding the street. Alix’s gaze was on the blue house down the road, now with a different car in the driveway and lights on in the kitchen.

  “Do you miss your house?” she asked.

  Cord was shaking his head even before the question left her mouth. “No,” he said. “My sister and her kids love it and I love where I’m at right now. There’s no place else I’d rather be.”

  She smiled up at him. “A house with five kids, a housekeeper, two big dogs and a massively pregnant wife?”

  He laughed. “I love my life. You have no idea how much.”

  She giggled because he was, carefully noting the increase in cramping in her back and hips, now joined by cramping in her thighs. She paused, hunching over slightly and rubbing at her belly. Cord paused beside her, watching her with some concern.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  Alix nodded but didn’t stop rubbing at her stomach. “I’m really hoping I’m in the early stages of labor,” she said. “I’ve got fairly significant cramping in my back and legs, plus noticeable pressure in my pelvis.”

  “Any pain?”

  She shook her head. “Nothing unusual or unbearable.”

  “Maybe we should head back to the house.”

  Alix shook her head and resumed walking. “I’m fine,” she insisted. “In fact, I was thinking… oops… uh oh….”

  She came to an abrupt stop. Cord stopped right next to her. “What’s wrong?”

  She didn’t look particularly distressed but he noticed she was standing oddly. “Uh…,” she turned rather stiffly in his direction. “My water just broke.”

  Cord could see a big wet stain in the crotch area of her black yoga pants. He immediately grasped her by both arms and turned her in the direction of the house.

  “Here we go,” he said calmly, although his heart was starting to race with excitement. “Let’s head on back to the house.”

  Alix let him turn her around and they slowly began to make their way back to the house. He tried to pick her up at one point but she squawked at him so he stopped trying and just held her tightly as he assisted her up the hill towards the house. By the time they hit the driveway, she grunted and stopped.

  “What’s wrong?” Cord asked.

  She was breathing heavily and steadily, sucking in air through her nose and blowing it out her mouth. “Contraction,” she said, then straightened up after a moment. “Wow, that was a strong one, like all of a sudden. Weird.”

  Cord glanced at h
is watch so he could start timing the contractions, feeling excitement and joy like he’d never felt in his life. He had one arm around Alix’s waist while his other hand held her left elbow, gently escorting her up the driveway. He was supporting her, surrounding her, protecting her with his body as well as his mind. He was giddy thinking about what they were preparing to go through.

  “You know,” he ventured, “I was really excited when the boys were born, and happy, but I didn’t feel the thrill with them that I feel with this baby.”

  Alix looked up at him. “Why?”

  He shrugged, his gaze on the house in front of them, the very reason they had met in the first place. “I’m not sure,” he said. “It just all centers around you, and this house, and the warm feelings I have for it because it’s where I met you. Having a baby with someone I love so much is something I never really thought I’d experience. It’s such a beautiful and emotional thing because every time I look at this baby, I’ll see you. It’s like a culmination of a love I never thought I’d experience. I’m not sure if I can explain it better than that.”

  He heard sniffling and looked down at Alix, who had tears in her eyes. “That’s so sweet,” she whispered. “I feel the same way. I really do. I’m so proud to be your wife and to be having your baby. My whole life has revolved around my career and my ambitions, but over the past year it seems to be all centered around you and the kids, and I’m not unhappy about that at all. In fact, I’ve never been happier. I love the way my life turned out and it’s all because of you.”

  He smiled, giving her a squeeze as they made their way slowly up the driveway. Cord whistled for the dogs as they approached the kitchen door, opening the door and calling for the boys as he helped Alix inside. Just as she crossed the threshold, she grabbed Cord’s hand hard enough to break bones and nearly doubled over.

  Cord had her in his grip as she suffered through another very strong contraction. Chris and Kyle came into the kitchen in time to witness Alix grunting through the pain and Cord counting it out and telling her to breathe. Their eyes widened.