Moonlight and Magic

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Moonlight and Magic Page 45

by Rebecca Paisley


  “Wait,” he said, and pulled away from her slightly. “ Treasure? What treasure?”

  She choked back another sob, her emotions so wild she could hardly contain them. Sterling was here! He was here. She touched his chest. It was warm, real. Sterling was here. “The treasure of the legend,” she whispered.

  “Chimera?”

  She looked up into his eyes and saw her own image in them. “Sterling?”

  “What treasure, estrellita?” he asked again.

  “Treasure,” she murmured. “Yes. The gypsy treasure.”

  Sterling frowned, recalling that Everett’s last words had been something about a gypsy. “A legendary gypsy treasure?”

  She nodded. “Buried silver. He must have heard all the rumors about it. He—Everett...Everett—” The man’s image, his scars, his laughter, his threats...everything came back to her.

  Sterling saw the terror in her eyes and wished he could kill Everett all over again. So many months of worry, so much destruction and death...all because of some nonexistent treasure. All because of one man’s greed.

  Chimera threw herself back into the warm haven of his arms, pressing herself tightly to him. “It was only when he demanded to know where the silver was that I finally understood why he’d been trying so desperately and for so long to get my land,” she cried piteously. “He thought to find the treasure of the legend here. He came into the yard with all his men! It was horrible, Sterling! He—”

  “There now, Chimera, he’s really dead this time,” Sterling soothed. “We saw him die, remember? You’ve no need to fear him ever again.” He held her closely while she shivered in his arms and thought about all she’d been through since he’d left her. All the heartache. He resolved to spend the rest of his life making it up to her.

  “Chimera, I’m sorry,” he murmured into her hair. “So damn sorry for leaving you. After I left, I just wandered. Let Gus lead the way. Hell, I don’t even remember where I went, who I saw, what I did. I ended up at San Francisco de Sales. The phantoms came with me, haunting me, as they’d been doing for two months. I remembered Brianna, but you were with me too. I couldn’t forget the desert plants you turned into philosophers. A breeze came. I—Chimera, I swear I heard you calling me home. Mother Maria, she had this pie. It had cinnamon in it. Cinnamon fire. I smelled it.”

  Chimera tried to understand everything he was telling her. But he was talking rapidly, and her mind could barely make sense of what he was explaining.

  Her heart, however, comprehended his every word, and it no longer mattered that his explanation made no sense to her ears. From deep within her rose a realization so strong, so true, it almost sent her to her knees. Sterling loved her. “Tell me with your own lips,” she whispered. “Sweet heaven, please tell me, Sterling.”

  “Yes, I’m trying,” he hurried on, desperate to tell her what he thought she wanted to hear. “The mold is gone. I cut it off, and Brianna is dead for me, Chimera. I’ve finally buried her. You spoke of heaven and hell. You offered me heaven. I chose...Dios mio, estrellita, I chose hell instead. I tried. The memories...I wanted to resist them. God, they hurt. I—”

  “Sterling, please tell me you—”

  “Yes, yes, I know. Everything you’ve ever said to me...I forgot none of it. Chimera, I just didn’t understand. I was so blinded—But you...your love. Rapunzel’s kisses. The gold and the fire. You held me when the tears finally came. I was in the church, and I swear you were right there, just like you said you would be. Chimera—”

  “Sterling, I want to hear you say that you—”

  “Dios mio, I’m sorry.” He pulled her away from him and dragged his fingers through his hair. “Chimera, please forgive me for not trusting you. For not believing you. For all those things I said. I almost lost you,” he whispered raggedly. “I almost lost—”

  “But you didn’t, Sterling! I’m here. You’re here. Sterling, we’re together.” She snuggled next to him again.

  He saw that her eyes shimmered with her tears. But through them shone her inner fire. The flames of her soul, her spirit...her magic. He loved her fervently, this beautiful girl in his arms. He would tell her so now, and he would never let an opportunity go by to tell her again. “Chimera,” he said softly, and slid his hands across her cheeks and through her ebony tresses. “I—”

  A loud crash cut short his declaration. The door, broken from its hinges, slammed to the floor, the triplets falling upon it.

  “Boys!” Chimera screamed at them. “Have you been outside the door listening to—”

  “Sterling!” they chorused, and ran to him, knocking him away from Chimera and onto the bed. “You’re stayin’!” Snig squealed, his knees in Sterling’s belly.

  “You’re gonna be our papa?” Snag queried excitedly, and grabbed Sterling’s shirt collar in an effort to get a quick answer.

  “Boys, get off of Sterling!” Chimera demanded, and tried to pull the triplets away. “His injury—”

  “Well, of course he’s gonna be our papa!” Snug shouted, giving Snag a hard push. “He came back to us, didn’t he? Don’t take no genius to figure out he wants us to be his kids, Snag.”

  “You sayin’ I’m dumb?” Snag retorted, and deftly avoided Chimera’s grabbing hands.

  “No, I’m yellin’ it,” Snug returned hotly. “You’re dumb! You’re the dumbest damn—”

  “You’re both dumb!” Snig joined in. “I’m the only one with any brains! I’m—”

  “You ain’t either!” Snag hollered. “You’re—”

  “Snag!” Sterling shouted, and tried to remove himself from beneath the twisted tangle of boys. “Snig—Snug! Dammit, get off of me!”

  “Is it true, Sterling?” Archibald asked as he hobbled into the room. “Are you staying?”

  Sterling managed to rise from the bed. He took hold of the triplets by their wrists and dragged them into the dark great room and out the front door. The loose board on the old porch creaked as he stormed across it. As he stepped into the yard, he frowned. With the aid of the moonlight, he saw only charred ruins of what used to be the place of punishment. “What the hell happened to the woodshed?” he demanded. “We burned it,” Snig said very quietly. “We’ll build another one,” Snag offered hopefully.

  “I ain’t buildin’ no woodshed,” Snug hissed. “He’ll just take us in it and beat the hell out of us like he always used—”

  “Watch your dirty mouth, Snug, or I’ll fill it with soap,” Sterling warned.

  “We ain’t got no soap. We ain’t got nothin’ no more,” Snug answered, and tried to twist away.

  Sterling held his wrist more tightly. “We don’t have any soap. We don’t have anything anymore.”

  “Means the same thing, don’t it?” Snug blasted.

  “Yes, but—” Sterling broke off, looked at the three boys whose wrists he still held, and shuddered with the deep affection that rumbled through him. He turned and saw Archibald. Chimera. Dios mio, how he loved these wonderful misfits. He smiled.

  But his smile faded when he felt something nudge his back and he smelled a nasty odor. Knowing exactly who was behind him, he let go of the triplets’ wrists and spun to face the camel he instinctively knew would bite him.

  But the pain he braced himself for never came. Pegasus stared down at him, blinked his huge, long-lashed eyes, and nudged Sterling’s chest gently. “Well, I’ll be damned,” Sterling exclaimed under his breath.

  “He’s welcoming you back,” Chimera explained. “He must have missed you as much as we did.”

  Sterling watched the camel for a moment and realized Chimera was right. Pegasus was welcoming him back. Sterling felt warm all over. Smiling, he scratched Pegasus’s ears, then turned back to the triplets. “Boys, once upon a time you asked me to be your father. Is the offer still open?”

  They rushed to hug him. “Yes!” they squealed in unison.

  Gently, he pried them from him and turned to Archibald. “And you, son?” he asked softly.

 
“Yes,” Archibald said, his voice trembling. “I do want to be your son. I want you to really mean it when you call me that, Sterling.”

  Sterling clasped the boy’s shoulder, held it for a moment, then turned to Chimera. Moonlight touched every part of her, making her seem more like a dream that anything real. A chimera, he thought. A beautiful illusion he knew was no illusion. “Chimera—”

  “Yes!” she shouted, and flung herself into his arms. “Yes, I love you! I always have, I always will!”

  He crashed her to him, his joy so great he was totally consumed with it. “And I love you, Chimera.”

  The words she’d waited months to hear shook her with tremendous happiness. She felt his arms tighten about her, and knew in her heart that the only ecstasy equal to what she felt at this moment would be the delight she would feel when she presented him with his child. Her secret, so newly discovered, nearly tore her asunder as she tried to find the perfect words with which to reveal it to him. “Sterling—”

  His kiss silenced her. He kissed her with every wondrous wave of love coursing through him before he finally lifted his head and smiled down into her eyes. “Chimera, I’ve little to offer you,” he said softly. “I’ve no money. There’s nothing I can give you that you can hold in your hand. But I do have something you’ve never had. Something I offer with all the love I feel for you. A name. A last name. My last name. Will you accept it, estrellita? Will you marry me and become Chimera Montoya?”

  “What about us, Sterling?” Snag asked anxiously.

  “Yeah!” Snug yelled.

  “Do we get to have your name too?” Snig demanded.

  “Chimera?” Sterling prompted her.

  “Yes. Yes, I accept your name, your love...I want it all!”

  Sterling was almost knocked over when the boys, all at once, hugged him. “We’ll start over,” he told them all excitedly. “We’ll rebuild what we can, and buy—Chimera, don’t worry. Somehow, from somewhere, I’ll get the money to replace all the things you lost in the fire. I’ll get it if I have to—”

  “But Sterling—”

  “I’ll beg, borrow, or steal, but I’ll get the money to buy a whole new library of books for you. Clothes—”

  “But Sterling, I already have the money.”

  He frowned in confusion. “Did Antonio give you—”

  “No, it’s mine. It’s always been mine.” She took his hand and pulled him to the cabin porch. Bending, she took hold of the loose board. It came easily away in her hands.

  Sterling looked into the hole. It was dark, but he made out the shape of a chest. His eyes widened in amazement. Turning, he took hold of the porch rail and began to laugh. His laughter shook him so hard, the rail gave way, and he fell into the yard.

  “Sterling!” Chimera shouted, and raced to him.

  “Dios mio, Chimera, you will never cease to astonish me!” he chortled, and collapsed into another fit of laughter. Taking her shoulders, he pulled her atop him and looked deeply into her cognac eyes. “The silver. It’s in the chest, isn’t it?”

  She nodded. “It was Xenia’s. The legend isn’t really a legend at all. It’s all true. The silver is her gypsy plunder. She saved it.”

  Sterling thought of all the many ways they could have used the silver while he’d been building. All the materials he’d had to make himself for lack of funds with which to buy them. The homemade clothes they’d worn because there’d been no money with which to purchase new ones. All the thousands of things they’d done without because of their poverty.

  He thought of how many times the loose porch board had creaked when he stepped on it, sat on it. Beneath the board had lain the silver. It had always been there. “Chimera, why didn’t you ever say anything about your treasure?”

  “I—Well...Sterling, you never asked! And besides, we never really needed it. We do now, and it’s there for us.”

  Sterling remained astonished. The existence of the silver...its appearance at the exact time when they needed it... Laughter overwhelmed him again. When Chimera was involved things had a way of working out. They always had. He knew they always would. Her incredible faith would see to that. He placed his hands upon her cheeks, his fingers vanishing into her wonderful hair. “With you, Chimera, the impossible is always possible. There is no such thing as the insurmountable when you’re around. Problems, obstacles—they disappear at your approach. You are magic, Chimera, and with a touch of your magic finger, wishes, legends, fantasies...they all become real.”

  “Sterling,” she whispered tenderly, “there is a fantasy you and I have brought to life together. One we will hold in our arms and love forever.”

  His grin disappeared.

  She smiled at the disbelief in his beautiful silver eyes. “What do you think of the name Poseidon, if it’s a boy? With a name like that, I bet he’ll learn to swim at a very early age. Poseidon’s the Greek god of the sea, you know. And for a girl, I was thinking of Artemis, the Greek goddess of the moon. Of course, we don’t have to decide until Thanksgiving. That’s when the baby will be here, Sterling. Isn’t that perfect? Can you think of any names you like better than the ones I thought of? Because we don’t necessarily have to wait until Thanksgiving to decide, you know. And—Oh, Sterling! What if we have twins? Or triplets! Imagine having another set of triplets!”

  Sterling’s eyes widened. His mind was so full, he couldn’t decide what to concentrate on first. “Triplets? Thanksgiving? The sea and the moon? I—Dios mio, I love you, Chimera. Boys, come over here!”

  They bounded to him, each one of them reaching for some part of him to hold. “The Montoya Misfits,” he sighed. He looked at all the people he would adore for the rest of his life, and thought about the little ones he would love as they arrived. “Hell, there’s no telling how many of us there’ll be one day!”

  “Yes,” Chimera agreed, and laughed. “The Montoya Misfits! We’ve all had our dreams for so long. For so many years, we’ve hoped for them, prayed for them. A thousand fantasies, and love has brought them all to life.” Tenderly, she laid her hand across her belly.

  Sterling watched her and knew his life had forever changed. She would fill it so completely that he would never want for anything again, nor would he ever have cause to doubt anything she told him. She was the very essence of all things real. He reached for her, and as he did, he heard a tiny sound coming from the woods behind him. He turned toward it. “Did you hear anything?” he asked her. “It sounded like...sort of like a small laugh. A giggle or something.”

  “It must have been a gnome,” she informed him nonchalantly.

  “Gnome?” Sterling repeated, frowning when he heard the small sound again. “Chimera—”

  “You still don’t believe in them, do you, Sterling? ‘O, ye of little faith.’ How many times do I have to tell you about faith?”

  “Chimera, I...”

  “John Milton knew about gnomes. He wrote, ‘Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep.’ Are you saying John Milton was addled, Sterling?”

  “I—John Milton? No, of course not.” He stared into the woods more intently.

  No, he told himself firmly, and shook his head. It couldn’t be. It wasn’t possible. There were no such things as gnomes. They were fantasies. Mythical legends and nothing more.

  He turned from the woods and back to Chimera. Silver moonlight was dancing through her hair, through her eyes, illuminating that special glow, that special fire...that special magic she had inside her. With you the impossible is always possible. You are magic. Chimera.

  As the words he’d told her only a moment ago came back to him, he reached for her and held her tightly. “Gnomes, huh?” he whispered.

  “Say you believe, Sterling. Say they’re real. That they’re true.”

  He smiled. “True? Legends, wishes, dreams, and fantasies...real? Ah, Chimera, my little star. Yes! With a touch of your magic everything comes true.”

  The End

&nb
sp; * * *

  Read Chapter One of Rebecca Paisley’s delightful novel A Prince to Call My Own (Formerly titled Midnight and Magnolias)

  Look for A Prince to Call My Own

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  About the Author

  Since her debut novel was published, bestselling author Rebecca Paisley has become known for creating her very own unique brand of magic on the page.

  She decided early in her career to write the sort of books she wanted to read. Her determination earned her a slot on the Publishers Weekly bestseller list and the Romance Writer's of America Honor Roll. She's been a RITA finalist, won the Romantic Times’ “Lifetime Achievement Award” and “Career Achievement Award,” a Reviewers’ Choice Award for “Historical Romance Fantasy” and a “Best Love and Laughter” Award.

  Rebecca currently lives in North Carolina with her menagerie of beloved pets, still believes in magic, and still relies on the “pixie voices in her head” to inspire her as she works on a brand new book.

  Visit Rebecca’s website http://www.rebeccapaisley.net

  Join Rebecca on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/RebeccaPaisleyAuthor

  Amber House Books by Rebecca Paisley

  Happily Forever After (Formerly titled Rainbows and Rapture)

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  The Barefoot Bride

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  Diamonds and Dreams

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  A Basket of Wishes

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  Heartstrings

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  Bed of Roses

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  Moonlight and Magic

 

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