Celtic Dragons

by Dee Bridgnorth

  “I don’t know how I’ll be able to pay you back for these.”

  “I don’t want you to.”

  “Eamon,” she said, gently reproving him. “It’s too much. It’s so kind—so very, very kind. But it’s too much.”

  “Come with me.”

  The look on his face was so earnest that it touched her heart. He was such a stoic man, using only the exact number of words needed to express himself. But he was standing there, tickets in hand, words pouring forth from him as he tried to persuade her to come. If she was honest with herself, she wanted to say yes. Not just because she wanted to go, to keep her girls safe, and to be part of the investigation, but because she wanted to spend more time with him. There was something undeniable between them, and even if they had an unspoken agreement not to act on that, it was still there, pulsing strong.

  “I don’t know if I can take off work. How many days are we going to be gone?”

  “Three,” he told her, showing her the paperwork for the other tickets, which weren’t printed yet. “We’ll get there early tomorrow morning, then we’ll have tomorrow and the next day and leave early the following morning.”

  Autumn bit her lip. “My job…”

  “Ronan will sign something saying that this is a protection matter. They can’t penalize you for that.”

  He had an answer for everything, and Autumn’s desire to go was only growing. Her teeth worried her lip for one more moment, and then she squeezed her eyes shut, nodding.

  “Okay. Okay, yes. I can’t believe this. Yes.” When she opened her eyes, Eamon was grinning, and it took all of her self-discipline not to grab his face and kiss him hard. Instead, she pressed the tickets to her chest and tried to keep the tremor out of her voice. “Thank you, Eamon.”

  “Go pack,” he told her. “I’ll be back in two hours. The girls have passports, right?”

  She nodded. “Yes. I just have to find them. We took them to Canada when Robert was alive. His grandmother lives there. But God, I don’t know where they are.”

  “Find them,” he suggested, still smiling. “Two hours, okay? You’ll be ready to go.”

  Now Autumn was grinning too, excited despite the reason for their trip. “I’ll be ready. We all will be.”

  His verboseness clearly used up on his persuasion tactics, Eamon simply nodded at her, then turned and headed out the door, leaving her staring after him as he jogged to his car, got in, and drove away. Autumn let the door close slowly, unable to believe the wild rollercoaster that was her life right now. She stood there for a long moment, trying to figure out what to do first, and then she laughed in disbelief.

  “Girls! Guess what!”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Eamon

  Traveling with children was not an experience Eamon was familiar with, and by the time they landed in Ponta Delgado, Sao Miguel’s capital city, he was worn out. To him, it felt like the middle of the night, even though the sun had risen an hour ago, giving them an incredible view out the plane windows. Autumn, sitting next to Anna across the aisle, had fallen asleep quickly after the plane took off, absolutely exhausted from the ordeal of the last few days, and he had been glad to pick up the slack with the two girls, who seemed to have taken to him despite Autumn’s warning that they usually didn’t warm to people quickly.

  The flight from Boston to Ponta Delgado was just over five hours, and they chatted to him the entire time, not a bit impacted by their internal clocks, which had to be screaming for bedtime. The good part of that was that they talked enough that he only had to nod or throw in a word here and there, which was easy enough to do, given that he found both of them to be charming, intelligent girls. They drew pictures together, and Eamon genuinely enjoyed Rachel’s amazement as the plane began to descend toward Ponta Delgada, which was so close to the Atlantic Ocean that it looked as though the plane was going to land directly in the water until just moments before the plane touched down. She could barely manage to stay in her seat, leaning way over him to get as close to the window as possible.

  It wasn’t a chore to spend time with the girls, but it was definitely a new and intense experience. Autumn’s eyes opened as the plane taxied to the gate, and she blinked blearily at him, then smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry. God, I can’t believe I just slept for five hours.”

  “You needed it,” he told her, ushering Rachel out into the aisle so that he could grab their bags from the overhead compartment.

  “Girls, were you too much trouble for Eamon?”

  Even the calm, more reserved Anna was almost bouncing with excitement at the thought of getting off the plane and seeing this new place. She could barely manage to answer her mother’s question because she was still craning to see out the window. “Yeah, Mom, we had fun. Look out the window! Look at the water, Mom!”

  Eamon couldn’t help but smile as the girls grew more excited. They had no idea why they had come to this magical place—they had just been told they were going on a surprise vacation. There was nothing hanging over their heads, and that kind of innocence and joy was refreshing.

  They filed off the plane and made their way through the airport. Eamon left the girls with their mother and went to rent a car that they would use to get around the small island. Driving from one side to the other would take no more than an hour, and though there were one hundred fifty thousand people on the island, he was hopeful that tracking down a woman named Nova Oliveira would be simple enough. Isabelle had made some calls and told him that she was most likely in the town at the base of the Blue Lagoon, San Miguel’s most beautiful lake that filled a collapsed volcano crater. It wasn’t a guarantee, but it was a place to start looking.

  And on the way to that town, he would get to drive Autumn and her girls through gorgeous landscapes that he was hoping would take their breath away.

  “The girls are already having such a good time,” Autumn told him quietly, when he returned with the paperwork for the car in hand. “It reminds me how long it’s been since I’ve taken them on a vacation. I need to do things like that for them more often—not just when someone threatens their lives.”

  Eamon reached out to smooth a piece of her hair that had bent oddly when she’d rested her head against the plane’s window. “You give them a good life.”

  She smiled up at him, and then together they ushered the girls out of the airport and toward the parking lot where their rental car was waiting. Eamon put on his GPS when they got in the car and began to drive away from the downtown area of Ponta Delgada, quickly emerging into the countryside of the idyllic island.

  If he had thought the drive would be beautiful, his expectations were completely blown away. Green hills rolled out ahead of them, unbroken by anything except clusters of trees, roaming black and white cows, and fields of hydrangea bushes in full blue and purple blooms. Everywhere they looked as they drove along the country roads there was something new and beautiful to see—mountains, sparkling coastal waters, black rock beaches, and rows of dark green trees.

  As he drove along, listening to the girls gasps and exclamations, Eamon couldn’t help but long to fly over it all, looking down at the beautiful landscape as his white wings cut through the crisp ocean air. His fingers almost tingled with the desire to stretch out into those wings, and he promised himself that he would find time one night while they were here to slip away and soar through the skies by himself.

  “Oh, look!” Rachel had her face pressed to the car window as the winding road led them around a corner and opened up a view of the blue lagoon, attached to the green lagoon just south of it. Both were lakes occupying volcanic hollows and the sight of them against the blue sky and the contrast of the dark forests was something he knew he had to stop the car for.

  They pulled off at one of the roadside parking enclaves, and Eamon turned the car off, looking over at Autumn. “It would be wrong not to let them see it since we’re here.”

  “Since we’re here,” she agreed, already unbuckled and halfway out
the door.

  Eamon smiled. Yes, they were on a mission to try to locate the most powerful witch in the Boston area to help combat the coven that had targeted Autumn and her family, but there was still happiness in the world and small moments that they could turn into memories for each other.

  The girls hurried out of the car after their mother, and Eamon walked along slowly behind them, somehow enjoying their excitement more than the majestic view surrounding him.

  “Be careful!” Autumn shouted after Anna as the girl hurried along the tree-lined path, eager to get to the edge where she could look over the two water-filled craters. “Girls, stay back from the edge.”

  Eamon walked up beside Autumn, touching her arm lightly. “We’ll keep an eye on them. It’s okay.”

  She smiled up at him, but kept one eye on the scampering children. “I’ve never seen anything so beautiful.”

  The sight of her smile, more relaxed than he had ever seen it in the short time that he’d known her, did something strange and new to Eamon’s heart. He looked back at her, and his hand lingered on her arm. “Me either.”

  Their eyes were locked as he spoke the unanticipated words, and Autumn’s naturally rosy cheeks flushed further, her bottom lip caught beneath her teeth. He knew he should, but Eamon couldn’t pull his eyes from her, even to drink in the lush green landscape all around him. Her dark eyes were pools of warmth, and even though there was not a bit of makeup on her face, she looked fresh and her lips looked inviting.

  “Momma!” Rachel’s voice vibrated with her enthusiasm. “Momma, there’s a city down there! Look!”

  For one more moment, Autumn’s eyes stayed trained on his, but then she looked away, moving toward her daughter to see the source of her newest burst of excitement.

  “Oh, look,” Autumn said, sliding her arm around both girls’ shoulders as she peered down from the cliff they were standing on. “You’re right. That’s a little village. That’s cute, isn’t it?”

  “That’s where we’re going.”

  Anna turned back toward Eamon, her mouth falling open. “No way.”

  “Yes.” He smiled at the girl. “Way.”

  “But not yet,” Rachel protested, pulling on her mother’s arm, all signs of her serious illness gone—as though she had never been sick in her life. “Mom, I want to walk on the path. Look, we can see all around the whole lake!”

  Autumn chuckled, letting herself be led along the trail. “I know, I know. We’re coming.”

  For the better part of an hour, they walked together along the paths that crisscrossed around the mountains surrounding the blue lagoon. The girls often ran ahead of them, rolling around in the grass and laughing, and Eamon walked beside Autumn, neither of them needing to say anything as they watched the girls and drank in the simplicity of the beauty around them.

  It was hard to feel troubled in such a place, but Eamon didn’t let it slip from the back of his mind that they needed to begin their search for Nova. They had three days to find her before they had to be back on a plane to Boston. He couldn’t afford for them to miss that flight, and he couldn’t afford for them to go back without Nova’s help. There was a lot at stake on this trip, and so as much as he enjoyed walking peacefully beside Autumn, he eventually directed them back toward the car and continued the long, winding journey down the hill they had climbed up, heading for the town below.

  “This is Sete Cidades,” Eamon told the three girls as they drove along the narrow street, quaint, white houses on either side of them. “What do you think?”

  “It’s like a storybook,” Anna replied in awe. “Look at all the flowers everywhere.”

  “Momma, can we get more flowers at home?” Rachel piped up, still bouncing in her seat, as she had done most of the time they had spent in the car. “Can we get lots and lots of fydrangies?”

  “Hydrangeas,” Autumn corrected, exchanging a look of amusement with Eamon. “Say hydrangeas.”

  “Fydrangies! I love them!”

  “I’m sure we can find some hydrangeas,” Autumn said, chuckling as Eamon pulled the car off the side of the road into a large parking lot that the few tourists who were around seemed to be using.

  They all got out of the car, and while the girls ran to the lake—the one they had seen from the peak above—Eamon looked toward the town, hoping that Isabelle’s connections who had said Nova could be found here were right. The view was incredible, but they needed to go home with an actual miracle. Otherwise there was little point in leaving.

  Chapter Twenty

  Autumn

  She wanted to just get lost in this experience. Walking through Sete Cidades, the lake at their back and the sweet little city ahead of them, was like existing in a completely different world—one without long, grueling work days, stress over money, guilt about not spending enough time with her daughters, loneliness from the lack of adult interaction, and all the other little, frustrating things that lingered on the edges of her days, waiting to trip her up whenever she felt like she had things somewhat under control. Although not the point of the trip, their morning on the island had reminded her just how little time she had taken off in the years since Robert had died, and how little experience her children had with anything outside of the small world that existed in their house and community.

  Autumn committed herself to doing better once this whole ordeal was over—even if she had no idea how she would accomplish that. Eamon’s presence beside her reminded her that she had a lot to accomplish before she could even begin to think about establishing a new normal.

  They walked into a small café for lunch, and Autumn was shocked that the girls were each able to get a sandwich and a bowl of vegetable soup for under three dollars each. She was even more shocked when she spooned the first bite of her own soup into her mouth and realized that it was rich and delicious. There was a TV on behind them, and the girls became entranced by it, leaving Autumn and Eamon to talk quietly amongst themselves.

  “What do we do now?” Autumn asked Eamon, watching somewhat enviously as he sipped at his beer. With the girls there, she wouldn’t have one, but there had been a time when she enjoyed a nice cold beer with a meal.

  “We find Nova,” Eamon said simply. “How many people can be American, here for the summer, and named Nova? The Portuguese people are known for being friendly and helpful—and most people speak basic English.”

  Autumn reached for his beer and took a sip when the girls weren’t looking. “Thanks. I needed that. So…we basically just ask around.”

  “We start with that.” He pushed the beer toward her, offering her the bottle. “Here. Relax.”

  “Relax?” She laughed slightly. “I don’t know how to do that. Do you know how little time I have to relax on any given day? Basically just when I run, and now that’s ruined.”

  Eamon gave her a sympathetic look. “Sorry. I wasn’t trying to ruin it.”

  “You didn’t. They did.”

  “I’m going to try to fix it,” he told her, and Autumn could tell how much he meant it. “I’ll start right now.”

  As Autumn watched, Eamon got up and walked over to the man who had taken their order. He slid him something across the counter as he said something that was too quiet for Autumn to hear, but she looked on attentively as the two men conversed with much gesturing and nodding as they tried to communicate. There was so much discussion that Autumn grew hopeful, hardly able to believe that it might be so easy to find someone who knew Nova, but wondering what else they could possibly be talking about if not her location.

  When Eamon walked back over, she was holding her breath. “Well?”

  He shook his head, sitting down. “He doesn’t know her. But he does seem to know everyone else in town. He gave me the rundown on who’s who, and some locations that an American visiting for the summer would be more likely to visit. But he doesn’t know the last name Oliveira, specifically.”

  “What’s an Olive Era?” Anna asked. “Is that like the Progressive Era? I
learned about that in school last year.”

  Autumn chuckled, smoothing her daughter’s hair back from her face. “No, sweetie. It’s a last name. Oliveira. It’s Portuguese. Because we’re in part of Portugal right now.”

  “Oh. They made Brazil.”

  “They colonized Brazil, originally,” Autumn agreed. “Very good.”

  Anna smiled at her, then turned her attention back to explaining to Rachel the rules of the soccer game playing on TV. Her oldest daughter was a wealth of knowledge, and Autumn knew that Anna could go on to do whatever she wanted—she was that smart and attentive and observant.

  “Once we’re done here,” Eamon said, interrupting her thoughts, “we’ll go ask around at each of these places for Nova.”

  “Do we have a picture of her? Sometimes people recognize a face, but don’t remember a name.”

  Eamon shook his head. “No. Isabelle didn’t know her personally, and she had to make a lot of calls to track down even the name of this city, where she might—might—be for the summer.”

  “But she’s on the island. Somewhere.”

  “Theoretically.”

  Autumn groaned, slumping back in her chair. “Theoretically?”

  “Nothing is certain.”

  “That’s very cheerful,” Autumn said, crossing her arms over her chest. “We—and by we, I mean you—spent a lot of money for us to come out here. You still haven’t really explained to me why you feel like this woman is the vital key to figuring out how to keep a group of wacky witches from killing me.”

  Eamon stirred the remnants of his soup and sipped at his beer. “I can’t combat them on my own,” he finally said, after weighing his words carefully.

  Immediately, Autumn got the instinctive feeling that he wasn’t telling her something, and that that something was very important. Her head tilted slightly, and her gaze became more questioning as she stared at him, but he didn’t react, staring impassively back at her. If it weren’t for that hint of a look in his eye whenever their gazes met and held, there would be no emotion visible on his face. Somehow, that only made her more certain that there was something important that she didn’t know.