Imperfect Magic (Dancing Moon Ranch Book 11)

by Patricia Watters

Sebastian let out a short, ironic laugh. "You got me on that one. I haven't even figured out what tuned deck means, and since you keep switching tricks, all of which you call tuned decks, each time I think I've figured it out, you prove me wrong. Okay then, since I see I won't win this argument, what kind of contract did they offer you at the Coyote?"

  "Two back-to-back afternoon shows a day, five days a week, and one evening show on Saturday night. All but the Saturday show I'm finished by dinner, so when I have kids I can tuck them in bed at night. You were never around much to do that, and Abby missed it, and so did I, but my kids won't. The rest of my time will be taken up helping Maddy with her horse program, spending time with kids at hospitals, and designing illusions to auction off to the highest bidders on the strip. My invisible man will bring in enough for Maddy and me to live comfortably for a long time."

  "Are you going to give me a hint how it works?" Sebastian asked.

  "Nope. You taught me not to reveal my inventions to anyone but my wife, as long as she's also my assistant, and that's the way it's going to be. But before I do anything, I have to convince Maddy she's better off with me than without me, so wish me luck."

  Sebastian gave Dimitri a grudging smile, and said, "It seems I have no choice. So what are you going to do now?"

  "Pack up my stuff and follow my instincts."

  ***

  Dancing Moon Ranch – three weeks later

  Maddy watched as the last child for the day left with his mother. It had been the boy's first session, and when she put him on the horse and saw the look of wonder on his face when the horse started walking, it was a feeling like no other. But she also spent time with each of her kids before and after their sessions, and always encouraged them to groom their horse, even if it only amounted to brushing the horse's neck while sitting on the horse, or its legs from the ground.

  So far she only had six kids as regulars, but she was already attached to each of them. They lifted her spirits when, after the day was done and she was in her bedroom feeling depressed and down because she couldn't seem to get her life back on track the way Adam said she would, she'd think of little things that happened during their sessions, like watching a special-needs child who wasn't walking two months ago, taking his first steps. It was such a small thing, sitting a child on a horse and walking the horse around, or if the child's muscle tone was too weak, like one of her kids, having him lay on his stomach on the horse’s back. But for the length of time he could stay comfortable, he smiled. That in itself was a miracle.

  Today a little girl with cerebral palsy brought a classmate to ride with her. Her mother commented that because her daughter couldn't run and play like her friends, when she was on the back of a horse, she was just like them, so Maddy told her to bring a friend to ride with her, and there would be no charge. The little girl was so happy to have her friend that Maddy found herself with tears in her eyes, just to see them giggling the way girls did...

  "How did it go with the new boy today?" Tyler's voice came from behind Maddy.

  She turned to find him holding Claire, who was four months old, and a perfect blend of Rose and Tyler. She was also the apple of her Daddy's eye.

  "It went well," Maddy said. "When he first looked up at the horse he seemed a little intimidated, but once I put him in the saddle and the horse started walking, a smile stretched from ear to ear. And Emma, the little girl with cerebral palsy, brought a friend. The two were giggling all the way around the arena most of the time. Life isn't easy for these kids, but it's a way to put a little good in the world."

  "How are you doing?' Tyler asked.

  Maddy looked at him in bafflement. "What do you mean?"

  "I mean your state of mind. The way I've been hearing things, you're short tempered with everyone around here, Mom said you're not going anyplace with your friends, and when Mom or Dad suggest you watch TV with them in the evening you cut them off short and go to your room and shut the door. You want to tell me what that's all about? I'll listen."

  "I guess I'm just tired after a long day."

  "You're working with six kids. Your days aren't that long," Tyler said. "Mom also said she's seen you more than once, walk over to the cabin where Dimitri stayed and stare at it. You still miss him." It was a statement, not a question.

  Maddy nodded. "I don't understand him. He just left without telling me what I did wrong."

  "Maybe you didn't do anything wrong," Tyler said. "When Mario Moretti was here he made it clear that none of us were to go to Las Vegas, and maybe Dimitri took it to heart and broke things off with you because there was no choice."

  "He had the choice to tell me that, but he didn't because he had a better offer from his father, so he just left. But I'm okay. Like they say, there are other fish in the sea."

  She just wished one of those fish would swim by and take her mind off the terrible aloneness she felt all the time, like there was this giant emptiness inside that Dimitri once filled.

  "Give it more time," Tyler said. "You fell in love with an illusionist, which complicates things because love itself is an illusion since it involves false ideas and beliefs. You have this craving for another person so you deceive your mind into suspending your normal process of logic in order to satisfy your craving. Then your brain becomes addicted to the illusion and doesn't want to let go. What you're going through now is detox for your addiction, your letting go of the illusion you had of Dimitri, the person you thought he was, not the person he really is. But when it's all over, things will be easier and you'll begin to think more rationally again."

  Maddy let out a short, ironic laugh. "I hope so because this state is misery."

  Tyler shifted Claire to sit in the curve of his arm and wrapped his other arm around Maddy's shoulders, and said, "The one thing we can count on every day is the sun coming up, so tomorrow, get up early enough to see sunrise. It's the best way I know to lift the spirits."

  "You're right," Maddy said. "Enough of this."

  "If you really mean it, then tonight instead of going to your room and moping, go down and watch TV with Mom and Dad, and tomorrow, Rose wants you to come for dinner. She's fixing crab cakes and making an acorn squash pie."

  Maddy decided Tyler was right. Going to her room every night was getting to be a drag. It was time to get off the feeling-sorry-for-herself treadmill and get on with the rest of her life.

  "Alright. Tell Rose I'll be there, which means I'll get to play with this little girl." She tickled Claire on the cheek, bringing a shy smile that had her tucking her head against Tyler's neck.

  Tyler looked down and gave Claire a kiss on the temple, and said to Maddy, "When the right guy comes along he'll be worth the wait, and before you know it, you'll have a house full of these miraculous little things." He readjusted Claire in his arms, then turned and headed down the road in the direction of the ranch, and Maddy went to get the wheelbarrow.

  Not more than a half hour later, Maddy was in the arena, forking manure into the wheelbarrow, when she was startled by something white flashing by. She looked up to see a dove circling the arena. Feeling a rush of adrenaline, knowing there was only one person who'd have a white dove at the ranch, she looked around to see Dimitri standing in the entrance to the arena, looking all cowboy, from the top of his Stetson to the tips of his scuffed boots, except for the white dove that was landing on his wrist.

  When she did nothing but stand and stare, because she was too stunned by Dimitri's sudden appearance to speak, Dimitri, walking toward her, said, "Do I take your silence as 'go away and leave me alone,' or, 'I'm glad you finally came to your senses and figured out that I'm the only woman you could ever love, so you packed all your belongings and came back because you're miserable without me and we need to get on with our lives together.'"

  Finally finding her voice, Maddy said, "You came back because you still love me?"

  "I never stopped loving you, honey. I just didn't know how to make things work," Dimitri said, continuing toward her. "What was g
oing on in Las Vegas didn't work for me either, so I'm back, hoping you've been as miserable as I've been."

  It dawned on Maddy what he'd just told her. "You said you packed all your belongings?"

  "Temporarily. Everything's in storage, including all my woodworking tools, since Dad's selling the house."

  "Where do you intend to live now?" Maddy asked.

  Dimitri shrugged. "I was hoping I could rent a cabin somewhere, maybe on the same ranch where I want to build a house for the woman I love."

  While Maddy was trying to digest everything that was happening, she said, somewhat distractedly, "What about establishing a name?"

  "I already have a name at the Coyote, and the reaction I get from the audience there is every bit as enthusiastic as what I got at the Nine Lives," Dimitri replied, "so if you're still willing to marry me, I'm ready to sign a long-term contract at the Coyote, but I'll need an assistant for a couple of back-to-back, late-afternoon shows, five days a week, and one night show on Saturday, but maybe the rest of the time I could sign on as a sidewalker for the prettiest equine therapist in the country."

  "Then you're completely giving up the idea of performing in Las Vegas?" Maddy asked.

  Dimitri set Sirius on a side railing, and taking Maddy by the shoulders, he said to her, "Honey, I'm gaining far more than I'm giving up. I watched every illusionist on the strip, and the more I saw, the less I liked, except that I did learn something about David Copperfield."

  "What? The secret to one of his major illusions?"

  "Better than that," Dimitri said, while slipping his arms around Maddy's waist. "I learned he founded a program for disabled people who'd lost their dexterity, and they were using sleight of hand magic as a method of physical therapy. The program is used in hospitals all over the world, so I figured if it works for adults it would work for kids. Besides, kids love magic, and I love teaching it to them."

  Maddy curved her arms around Dimitri's neck and kissed him, and said, "I was hoping you'd come to that realization."

  Dimitri kissed her back. "I also know a miracle when I see one."

  "What miracle?"

  "You waiting for me to come back instead of marrying a cowboy."

  "I still plan to marry a cowboy," Maddy said, "but I raised the bar after you left and decided I wouldn't settle for just any cowboy. My cowboy has to be able to materialize wherever I am so whenever I need to be kissed, he'll be there."

  "I can do that kind of magic," Dimitri said. "In fact, you might start wishing you could do the kind of magic that makes me dematerialize so you can get on with your day, or we could end up eternally in bed."

  Maddy smiled. "You haven't shown me that kind of magic yet, but we came close enough in the limo for me to know that wanting you to dematerialize when we're in bed will never be an issue. But if we're talking marriage again, which it seems we are, when we're raising kids I want them to also be aware of the kind of magic that's all around us, like making wishes on rainbows, and listening to the voices in Whispering Springs, and waking up and finding mushroom fairy rings that magically appeared during the night."

  "We'll have that kind of magic too," Dimitri said, "but I still intend to have some fun with sleight of hand with our kids, like making something appear out of thin air and disappear again by rubbing my fingers against it, like this." In an instant, a ring appeared between Dimitri's fingers.

  "Wait! Where did that come from?" Maddy asked, her eyes focused on a solitaire diamond that was bordered on each side by two diminutive gold doves, with a tiny sprig of laurel wrapping lovingly around the gold band.

  "It came from the ring fairy," Dimitri replied. "So back to sleight of hand. While I'm holding it with this hand, my other hand comes across, taking it like this—"

  "In Las Vegas?" Maddy cut in.

  "There are no ring fairies in Las Vegas," Dimitri said. "But now the ring is gone." He held up his hand to show her that the ring had disappeared.

  "It's in the other hand," Maddy said.

  "This one?" Dimitri held up an empty hand.

  Maddy stared in bafflement because the ring had literally vanished as she watched.

  "Honey, if you're going to be a magician's wife," Dimitri said, "you need to follow this more closely. Now, I rub my fingers together, while slowly opening my other hand to reveal that the ring is still not there, which of course it isn't, because it's here."

  To Maddy's puzzlement, the ring appeared between Dimitri's fingers again.

  Kissing her parted lips, Dimitri said, "But it really belongs here." He took her hand and slipped the ring onto her ring finger.

  After absorbing what just happened, Maddy stretched out her hand, and said, while admiring the ring, "It's beautiful, and it's special because you selected it, and I'll wear it forever, but what made you think I'd still be waiting for you?"

  "Genie."

  "That doesn't make sense," Maddy said. "I've never mentioned anything to either Genie or Annie about how I felt, or Ryan or Josh. How did Genie know?"

  "The Dancing Moon Grapevine," Dimitri said. "Genie got word from Emily, who got it from Adam, who agreed with Marc and Kit that you've been impossible to live with since I left, and your Mom told Ruth that all you do in the evening is sit in your bedroom and mope, so the way I figured, since you were acting the same way I was, it could only be because you were as miserable as me, and the only way to fix it was to get married. But I also used a little magic."

  Maddy eyed him, dubiously. "What kind of magic?"

  "A talisman," Dimitri replied. "According to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a magical order in England, a talisman is something charged with the force it's intended to represent, so I found a charm that represented what I wanted, and I've been carrying it around ever since."

  "So, you have it with you now?" Maddy asked.

  "I did when I arrived, but I don't need it anymore."

  "Then where is it?"

  "On your person."

  Maddy's hands went to her breast pockets, and after padding around and finding nothing there, she slipped her hand inside her shirt to check her bra, and when she still found no charm, she checked the pockets of her jeans. Baffled, she said, "Okay, I give up. Where is it?"

  "In the toe of your left boot."

  "That's impossible. There's no way you could have put it there."

  "Then take off your boot and prove me wrong."

  "Fine then." Maddy sat on the side rail and pulled off her boot, and when she turned it over and shook it, a flash of gold landed in the dirt. She picked up the charm and saw that it was a tiny couple entwined in each other's arms while sitting together on a sliver of moon.

  Looking up at Dimitri in bewilderment, she said, "I'm positive you didn't have your hands anywhere near my boots, so how did you do it?"

  Dimitri smiled in amusement. "I guess it's time for a little tutorial. As a magician's wife you'll be expected to know the seven principles of sleight of hand, which are palming, which is to conceal something in an apparently empty hand. Switching, which is to secretly exchange one object for another. Ditching, which is to secretly get rid of an object. Stealing, which is to secretly obtain an object. Loading, which is to secretly move an object to where it's needed. Simulation, which is to give the impression that something happened that didn't, and misdirection, which is to lead attention away from a secret move."

  "So, which principle did you use to get the charm into my boot?" Maddy asked.

  "Palming, loading and Misdirection," Dimitri replied. "When you turned your boot over and shook it, I dropped the charm in the dirt."

  "That's cheating," Maddy said.

  "No, it's magic." Dimitri bent down and gave her a kiss. "It's also our happily ever after ending."

  Maddy studied the charm more closely, while saying, "It's really a beautiful charm, but you're wrong about it being our happily ever after ending."

  "I can't be wrong," Dimitri said. "I carried that charm around for three months and it brought me back
here, and you're still willing to marry me, so what more is there?"

  "Riding off into the sunset," Maddy said. "The way the story goes, the buckle bunny lures her cowboy stud to the cabin in the mountains, and after she uses some sleight of hand to perform her own kind of levitation, she rides him off into the sunset."

  "Honey, what needs to be levitated already is. How fast can we saddle up?"

  Maddy hurriedly pulled on her boot and stood. "I'll race you to the stable."

  Dimitri swatted Maddy on the rear. "You really are a hot chick."

  Maddy gave Dimitri a wicked grin. "If you think I'm hot now, wait till the next time we rehearse Metamorphosis."

  "Oh man, I think there's going to be a whole lot of levitating going on."

  "We live in hope."

  EPILOGUE

  Dimitri the Illusionist Presents:

  The Amazing Katy and Abby Show,

  With Homer, the Disappearing Donkey.

  Immediately Following the Reception.

  Come One, Come All, to the Barn.

  Maddy had just changed out of her wedding dress and into her hot pink 'magician's assistant' outfit, when Dimitri walked into the cabin, and said, "Josh just finished making up Katy and Abby, so let's hope they don't smudge their clown faces in the next half hour."

  Maddy looked at Dimitri, who was still in wedding attire in preparation for the show, and said, "They must be adorable, and with luck they'll remember what they're supposed to do."

  "No worry. Dad's in the barn right now leading the girls through it. I'm not sure about Homer though. He balked when Abby walked up to him."

  "He's just not used to pint-sized clowns, but there was no way Genie and I could have done it today." It had been Maddy's idea to do the disappearing donkey illusion right after the reception, when everyone in the family would be there—except for Jeremy and Billy, who'd watch it on video—but now she wondered what she must have been thinking at the time. It was a lot to be happening the day of their wedding. "I'm just glad we don't have to leave here and fly off to some exotic place today, and worry about all that packing," she added.