Imperfect Magic (Dancing Moon Ranch Book 11)

by Patricia Watters

  She was about to leave the lodge to talk to Dimitri and find out what his father's visit was all about when Emily, who was sitting beside her on the couch while paging through the photo album, said while pointing to a particular photo, "Get a load of this one."

  Maddy glanced over and saw a photo of Mario Moretti standing and holding Amy, who was laughing and patting his face as if she actually liked him, and Mario was smiling in a way that said he liked her too. "That's bizarre," she said. "The guy actually seems a little human there."

  "I know. I don't remember ever seeing him smile," Emily said. "He's always come across as a macho, male, U.S. Marshal, do-what-I-say-or-else, kind of guy."

  Kit, who was leaning over the back of the couch peering down at the photo album said, "I guess you get that way after years of protecting hardened criminals who wouldn't bat an eye at swatting out a life like swatting a fly. The only reason those guys stay on the straight and narrow after spilling the beans about their cohorts to the feds is because they have lifelong protection as long as they do, like Billy's brother-in-law."

  Maddy was about to chime in on her feelings about Billy's brother-in-law, when her cell phone rang. She looked to see who it was and saw that it was Dimitri. Glancing out the window she saw him standing about where he'd been when he was talking to his father, while looking her way. "Is everything okay?" she asked him.

  "Not entirely, but I need to get over to the Coyote to set things up for our last performance, so I'll send Chris over to pick you up later."

  "I could go with you now," Maddy said.

  "No, there are things I have to do on my own," Dimitri replied. "I'll see you just before the performance. We'll be doing everything but Sleeping Beauty."

  "Why not that one?" Maddy asked.

  "I want to cut the performance short," Dimitri replied. He terminated the call before Maddy could say anything more.

  Maddy stared at her phone, wondering why he was cutting Sleeping Beauty instead of the rope tying escape. She was also disturbed that she wouldn't be riding in the limo with Dimitri on the way there because, not only was time running out for them, but being in the limo was one of the few times they could be alone. It was especially important now since they'd made no decision as to what would be happening next. He'd said nothing about extending his contract at the Coyote, and although she told him she was going to Las Vegas with him, now it was uncertain.

  "Is everything okay?" Emily asked.

  Maddy looked up, her brow pinched so tight it felt strained. "Well, yes, I suppose. It's just that…umm, things are sort of… uncertain because…" She stopped, not sure what to say next. She liked Emily, and Kit too, but she'd never confided with them about male relationships, mainly because there had never been a guy worth stewing over.

  Kit came around from behind the couch and sat beside Maddy, and said, "It's okay. We all know about you and Dimitri. Rose told us."

  Maddy, feeling miffed that her sister-in-laws had been talking about her, said in a sarcastic tone, "And of course, the three of you think I'm an idiot to be involved with him. Well, let's make that the six of you because I'm sure my brothers have been in on it too and feel the same way."

  Emily reached out and covered Maddy's hand with hers, like a big sister would do when giving advice, and said, "No one thinks you're an idiot. We all like Dimitri. He's fun and funny and amazing at what he does. All the kids here think he's right up there with Bat Man, and Adam says he picked up riding faster than any greenhorn he's ever been around. We're just worried that you might leave here and go to Las Vegas."

  Holding Emily's gaze, Maddy said, "What would you do if Adam was forced to leave here? Go with him, or stay behind?"

  "This isn't about Adam and me," Emily replied. "It's about your going somewhere that would not only jeopardize your life, but would put Billy in danger. You heard what Mario said."

  Maddy glanced across the room to where Mario Moretti was standing with one shoulder braced against the wall and his arms folded. He was also looking at her. The hard expression on his face that was so characteristic of him had softened, like he understood what was happening—with her sandwiched between Emily and Kit, and Emily patting her hand—and he empathized. And she couldn't fault him for laying things out. She just didn't know what to do about it. But tonight, on the way home in the limousine, she and Dimitri would come to a decision about where their relationship was going. It could not be put off any longer.

  ***

  That night was another sold-out performance with an engaged, enthusiastic audience, but all through the show Maddy knew something was wrong. Dimitri's timing seemed off, like he was distracted, and when she'd catch his eye, his face was troubled. She was determined to sort things out on their way back to the ranch, but at the end of the show, instead of Dimitri pulling her out of sight of the viewers for their usual hug and kiss, he said to her, "I'll be here for a while to help my crew pack up things. Chris will take you back to the ranch now and come back for me later, and I'll see you in the morning."

  "Is there a reason why I can't stay and help?" Maddy asked.

  "Yes, you'd be in the way since we have a regular routine we follow." At that point Dimitri was called away by one of his crew, leaving Maddy standing and watching silently as he walked away from her.

  The following morning, after a restless night of almost no sleep because much of it was spent going to the window to see if there was a light in Dimitri's cabin, at which point she intended to confront him and find out where she stood, Maddy finally drifted off, and if Dimitri returned during the night, she wasn't aware of it. So to get her mind off the fact that he seemed to have made a decision for them without her input, and deciding she didn't want to talk to anyone this particular morning, she went to saddle up Blackjack and ride off someplace where she could be alone. But when she got to the stable, she was surprised to find Dimitri saddling Tut.

  "Where are you going?" she asked.

  "No place in particular," Dimitri replied. "I'm taking a last ride on Tut before I go."

  "Can I go with you?" Maddy asked, then realized she sounded like she was begging, and maybe she was. The way Dimitri was acting was cold and indifferent, and made no sense.

  "I'm really not in the mood for company," Dimitri replied.

  "So that's it?" Maddy said. "You'll ride off on Tut, hop into the limo, and head off without as much as a backward glance?"

  His back to her, Dimitri said, while tightening the saddle girth, "We have an impossible situation on our hands. You know it and so do I."

  Fighting to keep her voice steady, while feeling on the verge of an emotional outburst, Maddy said, "You don't seem to have a problem breaking things off."

  "I have a problem, but there's nothing we can do about it," Dimitri said. "You belong here on the ranch and my dad just dumped the world in my lap and I can't turn it down."

  "What are you talking about?" Maddy asked.

  While keeping one hand on the saddle horn, as if ready to mount, Dimitri looked over his shoulder and said, "I'm talking about my father turning over the last three months of his contract at the Nine Lives to me, along with his assistant. I'll have a show on the strip and I won't have to make a damn horse disappear."

  He sounded angry, like her presence was annoying, when before Maddy always felt as if she was the sunshine in his life, the way it was for her whenever he was around, and she realized this wasn't about her not being able to go to Las Vegas with him. It was about him following his dream without her. The reality was that he didn't need her now because his father handed him everything he'd worked for all his life, even providing him with an assistant.

  It was a side of Dimitri she hadn't seen. But then, she'd rushed into the relationship, thinking theirs was a match made in heaven, and maybe this was what it took to get her to pull her head out of the sand. Still, she knew he'd been affected by a little girl who needed a heart and thought he'd failed her with his magic. "What about Katy?" she asked, while wondering just
how important Dimitri's career was. At the moment it seemed to override anything else in his life, including the people who loved him.

  "I'll be stopping by the hospital on my way out and I'll spend time with her, but she's on the mend now so she doesn't need magic as a crutch." He launched himself into the saddle and gathered the reins. "I'll stop in to square things away at the lodge before I go."

  Before Maddy could ask if they could at least try to talk things out, Dimitri turned Tut's head in the direction of the trail to the cabin and set out at a gallop. And Maddy realized Dimitri had made their decision for them, and there was nothing more to say.

  On the verge of tears, but still too numb for them to flow, she was startled when Adam came out of the stable. Looking at him in annoyance and embarrassment, she said, "Have you been here all along?"

  "Yes. Dimitri wanted to ride so I rounded up Tut."

  "Then I suppose you heard everything," Maddy said.

  Adam nodded. "I'm sorry, kid, but it's for the best. Once we get your arena built you'll be focused on that and you'll have your life back on track."

  "I'm not a kid, Adam, and what just happened isn't for the best," Maddy said, "at least not for me, but you can't possibly understand what I'm going through right now. You've lived in your isolated little world with Emily since you were in high school."

  "You're wrong," Adam replied. "You were too young to know what was going on, but when I was in high school I was living in hell, and when Emily dumped me to marry her old boyfriend, I packed the mule and headed to the mountains and didn't come back for two weeks because I needed to sort through things and figure out how to get my life back on track without Emily, so I do know what it's like to love someone who doesn't love you in return."

  On hearing Adam say the words that she was feeling, tears filled Maddy's eyes, and her world seemed to be literally falling apart. "But Dimitri did love me," she said, in a sob-filled voice. "I know he did. I just don't know what happened, and Dimitri won't say."

  Adam pulled Maddy into his arms and said, against the top of her head, "Honey, if he loved you he'd figure out a way to make it work. I was ready to leave the ranch and take Emily to Mexico to keep her and Jesse safe from her ex-husband, and Grandma was willing to give me the money to do it, and we all know what Jeremy gave up to be with Billy."

  Maddy allowed herself to be held in Adam's strong arms, which were again familiar to her, but it had been years since he'd played big brother the way he was now. "Grandma was going to help you leave here?" she asked, her voice muffled by Adam's chest. But after she asked the question her grandmother's words came back…

  If he truly loves you he'll be willing do whatever it takes to be with you…that's the kind of love you wait a lifetime to have. That's the kind that will never falter...

  "Grandma knew that's what I had to do because Emily and Jesse were my whole life," Adam said. "But back when I packed the mule and headed for the mountains because I thought I'd lost Emily for good, I chopped down a tree with an ax and split the wood, just to get rid of my anger and disillusionment, but maybe it would be better for you to cry it out instead. My chest is broad, and my shirt is cotton, so it can mop up a lot of tears."

  Adam's words had Maddy laughing and crying at the same time, but they were also an invitation to get rid of a whole lot of pent up grief. But after she'd shed some heavy tears, she backed out of Adam's arms, mopped her eyes and dabbed her nose with the cuff of her shirt, and said, "I don't want Mom or Dad or anyone to see me like this. I need to go somewhere."

  "Come on then," Adam said.

  Maddy looked at Adam through blurry, tear-filled eyes. "Where are we going?"

  Adam took her by the arm and started in the direction of his truck. "To the building center to order the materials for your arena."

  CHAPTER 20

  Nine Lives Lounge & Casino- three months later

  Dimitri knew he had to get a handle on things. Ever since he arrived in Las Vegas he'd been snapping at everyone, including his assistant, and when she told him, in no uncertain terms, that if he didn't stop acting like a dictator with a mid-life crisis he could find another assistant, that was the moment reality hit him in the head.

  There was no other assistant for him, except the one he'd left behind.

  By then he'd also come to another realization. The Las Vegas Strip might be considered by many to be the pinnacle for illusionists, but it wasn't where he wanted to be.

  It had been a gradual awakening, as he made the rounds to watch his competition on the strip, all vying for supremacy in a world where supremacy meant illusions on a grander scale, and escapes that pushed human survival to the limits.

  At the moment though, he was in the process of gathering his belongings to pack up the following day, when he'd be officially clearing out.

  He had just draped a bundle of costumes across the couch, when he was startled by the sharp sounds of impatient knocks. Figuring it was one of his stage hands, who'd just learned about his decision, he opened the door and was both surprised and disturbed to see his father. "What are you doing in Vegas?" he asked. "I thought you were in the middle of filming an episode."

  "And I thought you were ready to get on with your career," Sebastian said, as he walked into the dressing room. "Marissa called to tell me you turned down Leo's contract and wouldn't need her anymore, so I got a flight here to find out why. You want to tell me what this is all about?"

  "It's about me leaving," Dimitri replied. "Besides, I didn't think I was under any obligation to continue here beyond the end of your contract."

  "You aren't, but you won't get a better offer anywhere," Sebastian said, while eyeing Dimitri with discontent. "How many illusionists your age get the chance to have their own show on the strip?"

  "Look Dad, I appreciate everything you've done for me, and you're right, this is an opportunity no other illusionist my age would pass up, but it isn't what I want."

  "Maybe I missed something along the way, but I was under the impression you got degrees in engineering and philosophy so you'd be able to do exactly what you're doing," Sebastian said, his voice laced with sarcasm.

  "I did initially," Dimitri replied, "but today's top magicians are more like celebrity stuntmen, pushing everything to extremes with stunts like encasing themselves in ice, and being buried alive, and constantly raising the bar to give audiences what they want, which is to watch them cheat death. And Criss Angel and David Copperfield's giant stage productions and grand illusions are all about strobe lights, pyrotechnics, frenzied music, and rigged devices flicking by so fast the magic's gone."

  "Techno magic is what the fun seekers want," Sebastian said. "They don't come to Vegas to see card tricks and watch rabbits being pulled out of hats."

  "Maybe not the fun seekers," Dimitri replied, "but find the kid in the class who everyone picks on and teach him some magic, and suddenly you have a kid with power because he'll be able to do things the other kids can't do."

  Sebastian eyed Dimitri with uncertainty. "What I'm hearing is you wanting to be nothing more than a party magician."

  "No, what you're hearing is me wanting to get back to close-in magic, where the audience is no more than ten feet away. That's when sleight of hand manipulations have to be honed so perfectly the audience can't catch the switch."

  Sebastian paced the floor in agitated steps, while saying in a tone filled with frustration and impatience, "Fine, do the close-in magic with your buddies and hire out for a few parties and some conventions, but you'd better think long and hard before giving this up. You'll never make a decent living doing parlor magic or tricks for kids, and in turning down Leo's contract you're throwing away the chance to build a name for yourself in Vegas, and at the same time come up with designs and inventions for grand-scale illusions…"

  While his father ranted on, Dimitri's mind was divided between what he'd left behind at the Dancing Moon Ranch, and what lay ahead when he'd show up there, and in the middle of his father's diatri
be he found himself saying, "Dad, have you ever ridden a horse?"

  Sebastian stopped abruptly and looked at Dimitri. "Why would I want to ride a horse?"

  "Maybe to see what it's like," Dimitri said. "Horses are amazing creatures who allow us to ride on their backs, and when you do, you feel this connection with them. It's a bond that's hard to explain. It might sound corny, but it's one of the greatest feelings in the world when you're galloping off together, with the wind in your face. It's like flying."

  "Okay, so you get an adrenaline rush on a horse," Sebastian said. "It's a new experience."

  "So is watching the sunrise from a mountaintop," Dimitri said. "When was the last time you saw a sunrise?"

  Sebastian eyed Dimitri with concern. "And your point is?"

  "That a new world opened up for me when I was at the Dancing Moon Ranch and I don't intend to let it go."

  "You're still involved with Maddy Hansen."

  "Maddy introduced me to things I'd never considered before, and no, I'm not involved with her, but I do plan to marry her if she'll still have me."

  "You can't be serious," Sebastian said. "What would you do there? Become a rancher?"

  "No, become a rancher's husband," Dimitri replied. "Maddy has her dream and I know a way to merge it with mine. Kids love magic, and the kids Maddy will be working with can learn from it. I've been offered a solid contract at the Coyote and I intend to accept it if things work out between Maddy and me."

  "You'll never make a name for yourself at the Coyote," Sebastian said.

  "Maybe not, but I'll be happy there in a way I'd never be happy here," Dimitri replied. "At the Coyote, I'll have to be the ultimate magician's magician to fool even magicians in the audience, who come to figure out my illusions. Before you started me on stage I was performing close-in tricks that baffled even you. You still don't know how I do my tuned deck."