Imperfect Magic (Dancing Moon Ranch Book 11)

by Patricia Watters

  Katy lifted her hand and looked at her fingertips. "Like they have eyes on the ends of them?"

  "In a way," Dimitri replied, "So, here we go with cups and balls." He pulled three paper cups from a dispenser on the wall, and after placing them, open end down, on Katy's hospital tray, he took three plastic pawns off the Parcheesi board, and in a few deft moves, went through the motions of passing three pawns through the bottoms of three cups. "There we have it. Cups and balls," he said.

  Katy squealed. "See, Daddy. I told you he was magic."

  "Yeah, baby, you're right," Ken said. "So let's see you do some magic now."

  Katy looked at her finger tips, then at Dimitri, and said, "Will you show me how to make my fingers read colors?"

  "Okay, but you have to listen carefully." Dimitri turned his back to Katy, and said to her, "Put one of your crayons in my hand and I'll read the color with my fingers and tell you what it is." With his back still to her, he cupped his palm for her to place a crayon in it.

  Katy did as instructed, and when Dimitri felt a crayon in his hand he rolled it around, like he was searching for the color with his fingers, then he turned it over with his thumbnail, after which he opened his hand, and said, "Mix the crayon with the others and I'll tell you the color."

  Katy lifted the crayon from his hand, and said, "It's mixed now."

  "Okay." Dimitri turned around, then raising his hand and placing his closed fist to his forehead, like he was concentrating, he said, "It was green."

  Katy clapped her hands in delight. "It's magic. It's really magic," she said. "So show me how to make my fingers do that."

  "I will, but since you're a magician, and magicians never tell their secrets except to their parents, because you should never keep secrets from your parents, you'll have to ask them to take the magician's oath to never tell, the way I had you do."

  Katy's eyes brightened with excitement, as she said to her parents, "This is a very important oaf and you need to promise you won't tell the secret."

  Both parents smiled in amusement, and said in unison, "I promise."

  That done, Katy looked at Dimitri, and said, "Can you show me now?"

  Dimitri picked up a crayon. "Okay, the way it works, I have here a red crayon, which you would not be able to see if your back was to me. When I place it in your hand, close your fingers around it, but keep your thumb tucked into your fist, like this." He arranged her fingers around the crayon. "Now, with your thumbnail, scrape a tiny bit of crayon off, and after you've returned the color to me without looking at it, make a fist and raise it slowly, which gives you time to look at the color under your fingernail, then place your fist against your forehead, like you're trying to concentrate on what the color is, but by then you already know."

  Katy squealed. "Let me try." After a few tries she perfected the trick, and said, "Can you show me another trick?"

  Dimitri nodded. "How about, I'll take a green bow from behind this ear." He held his hand up and a green bow with silver threads in it magically appeared between his fingers. "And here's a yellow bow that's been hiding behind this ear." Another bow magically appeared in his fingers.

  "Show me how you do that," Katy said, in an excited voice.

  Dimitri was about to teach her some basic sleight of hand, when a nurse came in with a tray, and said, "Time for meds, and I need to check your vitals, so your visitors will have to leave."

  "Will you come see me again?" Katy asked.

  Dimitri knew he'd come at least one more time, but he couldn't make promises beyond that, so he said, "I'll be back to show you some magic with a special deck of cards that you can keep, but then you'll have to practice a lot with them if you really want to be a magician."

  "I do, I do," Katy said, then settled back against the pillows and smiled.

  Dimitri offered a high five, which Katy slapped. Maddy walked over and also gave Katy a high-five. But when they turned into the hallway, a woman, who Dimitri had noticed standing in the doorway while he was showing Katy the magic tricks, said to him, "I'm activities coordinator here and we're always looking for ways to help the children cope with their health issues, whether it's bedside activities or activities that can take place in our playroom, so if you ever have some extra time, I know the children would love to see some magic. It would be good for the staff too," she added. "Sometimes there's just too much reality around here."

  "Any special time?" Dimitri asked.

  The woman shook her head. "Our time is your time. Just let us know in advance so we can prepare the children and set up the playroom for a show. It would be special, having a magician come. These kid's need all the magic they can get." The woman handed him a card. "You can reach me at this number. I think you'll find it worth your while too when you see smiles on all these sad faces." The woman walked off, leaving Dimitri standing and staring at the card.

  Maddy peered over his shoulder. "Are you going to do it?"

  Dimitri shrugged. "I'll see if I can work it in."

  Before they turned to leave, Sharon stepped into the hallway, and said, "Thank you both for coming. It meant a lot to Katy."

  Dimitri gave a little shrug. "It actually meant a lot to me too."

  "How much longer will she be here?" Maddy asked.

  "Here at the hospital, maybe a couple of weeks, but then we'll be staying at the Ronald McDonald House across the street since Katy will need to be near the hospital for monitoring and daily therapy," Sharon replied.

  "When will she be able to go home?" Maddy asked.

  "When they finish adjusting her anti-rejection meds. Maybe in a month."

  "That's incredible," Maddy said. "My folks and everyone want you to bring Katy back to the ranch when she's ready as our guests. Already she knows my nieces and nephews so she'll have a whole pack of friends to play with, and Adam can plan another hay ride."

  "We'd love that," Sharon replied, "and if Ken can be with us it would make it that much more special. He gets out of the Army in a couple of months."

  "Then we'll plan it when he's out," Maddy said.

  "Thank you for everything." Sharon gave Maddy a hug, then turned and hugged Dimitri too, and said, "I hope we never stop believing in magic."

  Dimitri laughed. "Even I'm beginning to think there's something to it."

  As they were walking down the hallway, Maddy said, "I've been to the Ronald McDonald House and the children there need magic too. It would brighten a lot of dismal lives."

  "I suppose it would," Dimitri replied. Maddy had definitely planted the seed of an idea, but maybe the seed wasn't meant to sprout in Portland. He knew of at least one Ronald McDonald House in Las Vegas, and the children there would be just as much in need of magic as any sick child. He also realized it was an idea whose time had come because, until meeting a little sick girl who needed a heart, his magic had been imperfect because the human side had been missing.

  ***

  On returning to the ranch from Portland, after an hour-and-a-half long drive in the limo, Maddy's hair was a disorderly mess around her face, her lips were swollen from the intensity of their kisses, she had whisker burns from Dimitri's beard, and she had a hickey on her neck and the start of another further down, where Dimitri stopped what he was doing to lower her bra and do some tantalizing things with the tip of his tongue, which lead into other things that still had her breathing heavily, and she realized, as she rushed through the back door of the house, that the snaps on her shirt were misaligned. She stopped momentarily to re-snap before heading up the stairs, while hastily stuffing her shirttails into her jeans, anxious to put herself back together before anyone would see her. But when she turned into her bedroom, she was startled to find her mother standing by her dresser, with the charm bracelet in her hand.

  Her mother looked at her in shock surprise, due to her questionable appearance, then in concern, and said while holding up the bracelet, "Honey, what's this all about?"

  For a few moments Maddy was speechless, her mind trying despera
tely to conjure up an explanation for her disheveled look, as well as a reason for having a bracelet with charms related to magic. When she still hadn't found her voice, her mother said, "Obviously Dimitri gave it to you. Was there a particular reason?"

  When Maddy finally found her voice, she said, "It's just something he decided to do, give me a charm every time I learned the secret to one of his illusions."

  "The diamonds in the top hat look real," Grace said.

  Maddy took the bracelet from her mother. "Possibly. Dimitri isn't a pauper. Why were you in my room?" As soon as she said the accusatory words, Maddy knew she'd made a mistake. Not only did she answer her mother's question as to where she got the bracelet, but it put her mother on the defensive, which would bring up more questions.

  "I came to talk to you in private, and the bracelet was on your dresser," Grace said. "Honey, I know you're involved with Dimitri, and from the way you look, it's obvious what was going on in the limousine on the way back from Portland."

  Maddy's hand went to her chest, like she was checking to see if her shirt was snapped, and when she said nothing, because it was ludicrous to deny what happened in the limo, with her lips swollen, her face whisker-burned, and her mother's eyes focused on the hickey on her neck, her mother went on to say, "You need to think long and hard before continuing this relationship with Dimitri. For two years you've been planning your program for disabled kids, and you have property here and family to build your arena and make your dream a reality."

  "My dream isn't all that complicated," Maddy said. "All I need is a small stable for a few horses, an arena where I can lead them around, and a storage shed for hay in the event I end up someplace where there isn't a lot of pasture land close by."

  "Like Las Vegas?" Grace asked.

  Maddy looked at her mother with a start. She wasn't prepared to tell her about her decision to leave with Dimitri. But using her mother's question as a buffer, she said, "Las Vegas would be an example. It's not that I don't appreciate the property you and Dad set aside for me, because I do, but that doesn't mean I'll stay here forever, and just because I grew up on a ranch doesn't mean I have to marry a cowboy. You weren't a cowgirl when you married Dad and you still aren't, other than to ride with him on occasion, and that's worked out."

  "What your dad and I have is entirely different from what you and Dimitri would have," Grace said. "Tyler just told me about seeing you and Dimitri at the building center. He's concerned too. We really do need to talk about this."

  "Was Dad here when Tyler told you?" Maddy asked, in an anxious voice.

  Grace shook her head.

  "Then please don't say anything to him yet, Mom. He'll come unglued like he always does."

  "He'll be concerned," Grace said, "but he is your father, and he needs to know."

  "But he'll have a completely closed mind when it comes to Dimitri, and yes, I do have something going with him, and right now we're working on how to blend our lives."

  "You're talking about blending lives and you've barely known him a month," Grace said. "You're infatuated and that's understandable. It's a new relationship, and new relationships can distort your judgment, which is why you need to let Dimitri go back to Las Vegas and give things time to cool off. Besides, you're still very young. After your arena is built and you become involved in your horse program you'll see things differently."

  "You just don't understand," Maddy said.

  "Honey, I think I do. Your brothers are all married and raising families, you're at an age when you're thinking along those lines too, and a very attractive and interesting man has come into your life, but for the long haul you need a man who'll fit into your world, not the other way around. You could never fit into Dimitri's world, no matter how you try to rationalize things."

  "Actually, Dimitri's the one who's willing to make the big change," Maddy said.

  Grace looked at her doubtfully. "Then he's talking about staying here and working at the Coyote or at other nightclubs in the area?"

  "Not exactly," Maddy said. "He has to be in Las Vegas to build a name, but after that he's willing to live here part of the time. Like I said, it's kind of mixed up and we need to work it out on our own, but while we do, I don't want the entire family giving me a barrage of reasons why my marrying Dimitri would be tantamount to self-destruction. I just wish you could hold off telling Dad. Nothing between Dimitri and me is carved in stone. We're just discussing options."

  "Do you love him?" Grace asked.

  "Yes, and he loves me, and he wants me to return to Las Vegas with him and be his assistant, and we'd go from there," Maddy said.

  "Where would you live?" Grace asked, the tone of her voice, accompanied by the slight arch of her brow, saying more than words.

  Maddy had not thought that far ahead, because her decision to leave with Dimitri was so new, but she wanted her mother to understand that what went on in the limo was not because she was infatuated, but because she'd found the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.

  She was spared having to answer her mother's question when her father appeared in the doorway, and said, "Mario Moretti just arrived and he wants to talk to us downstairs in fifteen minutes."

  Grace looked at Jack in alarm. "Jeremy and Billy. Are they okay?"

  Jack nodded. "Moretti said there's a new development. He wants to talk to us first and to the rest of the family afterwards."

  "I'll wait here," Maddy said, thankful for the distraction, which would give her time to put herself together and prepare for the lecture she'd get from her father as soon as he learned about her and Dimitri.

  That thought had barely crossed her mind when her father leveled his eyes on her, and said, "Moretti wants you to come too, and I think you can figure out why."

  Maddy felt her stomach knot. The few times Mario Moretti had been at the ranch she'd pegged him as an iron-fisted, take-control man who had no patience with those who didn't follow his rules, and there was no question, she'd disregarded the most important rule of all by going to Las Vegas. It was also obvious he knew about the trip, and maybe that was the reason he was here. Now, she wondered if he also knew about her relationship with Dimitri. If so, she had a gut feeling it would all come out when he sat her down with her parents.

  CHAPTER 18

  When Dimitri stepped out of the woodshop, he was startled to see a man walking directly toward him, like he was on a mission. The man was wearing jeans and a black leather jacket, and the term 'hit man' came to mind, or maybe a body guard for a mafia don, which would not be so uncommon in Las Vegas, but this was the Dancing Moon Ranch. When he moved aside to allow the man to keep walking in the direction he was headed, the man adjusted his stride and continued toward Dimitri, who stopped and waited, uneasily.

  As the man approached, he reached into the inside pocket of his jacket, and for an instant Dimitri thought he was about to pull a gun. Instead, the man flashed an ID with a circled star on it, and said, "I'm Mario Moretti with the U.S. Marshal Service and we need to talk."

  Dimitri eyed the man with misgiving. "Am I under investigation?" he asked, wondering if the Nine Lives, where his father worked, had become corrupted. The potential when working in Las Vegas was always there.

  "You're not under investigation," Moretti replied. "I want to talk to you about your relationship with Maddy Hansen."

  "You're implying there's something going on between us," Dimitri said. "She's been my assistant for the past month and that's all."

  "Don't give me that shit," Moretti said. "I was at your performance at the Coyote Lounge last night, and after it was over, I saw the two of you offstage in a clinch."

  "Is my being involved with a woman a federal crime?" Dimitri asked, realizing after he'd said the words that this man wasn't one to challenge.

  Moretti squared his shoulders, standing slightly taller than Dimitri, and said, "No, but your involvement with Maddy has the potential of endangering a witness. Maddy's brother and sister-in-law are under my pro
tection, and Maddy's presence in Las Vegas for any length of time is a conduit to them, as well as to the man they want most, the CW also under my protection."

  "CW?"

  "Cooperating witness, snitch, stoolie," Moretti replied. "His sorry ass is also my responsibility."

  Dimitri realized, for the first time, that he and Maddy had never discussed the issue of Josh's twin and his wife, who'd been in hiding for several years he'd learned from Genie sometime back. Jack Hansen brought it up earlier in the month, but it never seemed relevant until now. "Does Maddy know where her brother and sister-in-law are living?" he asked.

  "No," Moretti replied, "but the wiseguys who want Maddy's sister-in-law and the snitch dead don't know that, and if they get their hands on Maddy they'll brutalize her until they learn she knows nothing, before disposing of her body in a way that would send a chilling message to her brother and sister-in-law, the snitch, and anyone else inclined to take the witness stand."

  Dimitri had no argument because it was common knowledge that Las Vegas was a hotbed of organized crime. "What do you want from me?" he asked.

  "To break off whatever you have going with Maddy and make sure she stays here when you return to Las Vegas," Moretti replied. "The crime family under investigation has been indicted for murder, extortion, money laundering, arms and narcotics dealing, and conspiracy to commit murder, and if Maddy accompanies you to Las Vegas as your assistant or your wife, and one day her dismembered body turns up encased in concrete, you'd have to ask yourself if that would have happened if she'd remained on this ranch."

  "Okay, I get the picture," Dimitri replied. "Is that all?"

  Mario Moretti looked at Dimitri, long and hard, like he was sizing him up, and after a stretch of silence, he said, "Yeah, that's all. Now let's see if you have the balls to do what's right by the woman you love and break it off and walk away from her, because if you don't make a clean cut, she'll follow you there, and I don't have the legal authority to stop her."