But then she scowled. “Only when I ditched the Minks, I ended up losing them for real. There was a mom and dad and a teenage boy and girl, and I swear I hadn’t left them more than fifteen minutes. But the Minks got their act together quicker than most and started hiking in what they thought was the direction of Inglenook, and I flat-out lost them. It took eighty searchers three days to finally locate them, as they’d covered nearly twenty miles in the exact opposite direction.”
She went back to smiling, though sheepishly. “All four of them were good sports despite being tired and bug-bitten, and thankfully they didn’t sue us. But even though they’ve come back every year since, Eileen still won’t let me take families on excursions anymore.” She straightened away from the rail. “We should probably head back so you don’t miss supper,” she said, looking around. She suddenly grew alarmed. “Sophie! Henry!” she shouted over the sound of the falls. “Where are you!”
“They’re okay, Olivia. They’re sitting on the bench next to one of the pines in front of the pool, talking.”
Mac watched her take a calming breath. “I swear that girl’s been getting so independent lately she’s starting to scare me. She’s been asking me to let her go sleep over with some of her classmates who live in other towns, but I simply can’t stand the thought of her being twenty or thirty miles away at night.” She looked up at him, her eyes darkening with that underlying sadness—which had all but disappeared today out on the lake. “She’s growing up so fast, and Eileen’s been pushing me to let Sophie go spend the night with her friends, but that’s one battle she’s not going to win.”
Apparently realizing she’d revealed too much to him again, Olivia started walking down the trestle toward the children.
So, the woman not only despised her dead husband, it seemed she wasn’t all that enamored with her mother-in-law, either. But Mac didn’t think Olivia felt the same way toward her father-in-law, and he knew from his short conversation with John at breakfast yesterday that the man certainly had a soft spot for her.
“There’s no rush,” Mac said, catching up. “I called Eileen earlier and told her Henry and I won’t be at dinner tonight. We have other plans.”
She stopped in surprise. “When did you call her? And from where?”
He reached in his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. “I called this afternoon, when we were on the lake.”
“But there’s no service out here because of the mountains.”
He flipped it open and held it facing her. “I have a strong signal.”
She actually took the phone from him and scowled at the screen. “But that’s impossible,” she said, handing it back.
“Check yours for a signal,” he suggested.
She looked up with a crooked grin. “Why would I own a cell phone if there’s no service up here? And who would I call, anyway?”
“Your family?” he hazarded to guess.
She snorted and started walking toward the children again. “I live a stone’s throw away from them; all I have to do is step out my door and shout.”
“Not the Baldwins; your family. Do they live here in Maine?”
Without breaking stride, she reached in her pocket, pulled out his key fob, and handed it to him. “Last I knew I was an only child and am probably an orphan by now.”
Mac stopped at the end of the trestle, watching Olivia make her way down the path winding through the park. She didn’t have a family, other than the Baldwins? Maybe that was the reason she was still here, as the woman literally had no place else to go. He gave a sharp whistle to Henry just as Olivia reached them. His son said something to her, and after a slight bow he headed toward Mac at a run.
“Sophie says I should be going to school,” Henry said when he reached the trestle. “Is that true?”
“Yes,” Mac said, starting back toward the truck. “But we need to be in a permanent home before I can enroll you in school.”
“Will that be in Midnight Bay?”
“Yes. When we go back I’ll purchase a house on the ocean, and you’ll likely go to the same school that Maddy’s daughter, Sarah, goes to.”
“Based on what Sophie and Sarah have told me, I believe I’m going to like school instead of being tutored. The lessons should be fun with other children around.”
Mac stifled a shudder, trying to imagine Henry in school all day, out of his reach and definitely out of his control. “I’m sure it will be enlightening for both of us.” He unlocked the truck, took down the magic kit, and opened the back door. “Hop in and buckle up.” Mac took off his jacket and hung it on the back of his driver’s seat, then walked around and opened both doors on the other side for the ladies.
The drive to Inglenook was made in relative silence but for the soft murmurs coming from the backseat as the children thumbed through the magic book.
“You and Sophie only eat breakfast with Eileen and John?” Mac asked into the silence of the front seat. “What about when camp is in session?”
“We only have breakfast with them on the weekends and an occasional Saturday night supper. I’ve always tried to keep a normal routine for Sophie at home.” She gave him a quick glance, then stared out the windshield again. “That’s why I moved out of the main lodge and into what was originally the groundskeeper’s cottage when I realized I was pregnant.” She shot him a smile. “You’ll notice there’s a fence and small gate halfway down the path, which I put up when Sophie was four because she’d started dragging home camp kids. The rule is no guests beyond that gate.”
“Child or adult?”
“Yup. That little cottage is home, and if I didn’t make it a steadfast rule, people would be showing up every time they wanted to ask me a question. I had a bit of a go-round with Eileen,” she said, glancing over her shoulder to make sure the children were engaged in their own conversation, “when I put up a bell at the gate, and a sign that said to ring it instead of coming to my door.” Her smile turned smug. “She wasn’t real happy when I explained that she was only welcome as Sophie’s grandmother, not my boss. I pointed out that I have an office in the main lodge, and she could talk about Inglenook to me all she wanted in there.”
“Surely Eileen understood your need to create a sanctuary away from your work for you and your daughter?”
She looked back out the windshield with a snort, and they fell into companionable silence again. Mac finally drove up the lane leading to her house, but stopped next to the fence rather than following the driveway all the way to her door. He walked back and opened the rear hatch and started unloading their picnic remains—including Sophie’s torn kite that he and Henry had retrieved from shore—and set everything beside the fence post. Olivia grabbed one of the large canvas bags, then ducked into the backseat to gather up what Mac assumed were her daughter’s hat and mittens.
“What time should I report to work tomorrow?” he asked.
She handed their trash bag to her daughter with instructions to put it in their shed, and then turned to him. “I take Sophie down to meet the bus just before seven.” She shot him a devious grin. “But you can finish replanking the docks without me.”
“Olivia,” he said when she’d taken several steps inside her private sanctuary. “Thank you for sharing your day with us; I know Henry had a good time, and I can’t remember when I last spent such an enjoyable day in such good company.”
Her beautiful cinnamon eyes turned a bit sad again, even though her smile was genuine. “You’re welcome.” She hesitated. “Um, maybe we can do it again sometime.”
“I’d like that.” He canted his head. “When was the last time you and Sophie visited the ocean?”
She hesitated again, her eyes growing distant. “It’s been a few years.”
“Then what if before Inglenook starts up, the four of us sneak off for the day and head down to the coast?”
When she didn’t immediately answer, Mac guessed his invitation might be a little too much too soon, or maybe a little too far away from home
for her.
But then he saw her take a deep breath and her shoulders went back. “Eileen and John will be gone next weekend, but Sophie and I are free the following Sunday.”
Making sure neither his surprise nor his elation showed, Mac merely nodded. “And dinner will be my treat.”
“Just as long as it’s not tofu lobster,” she drawled. And this time when she walked away, Mac noticed that a good deal of Olivia’s intrinsic grace had returned.
He shut the rear hatch and got back in his truck. “You ready to go learn how to slay dragons?” he asked, smiling in his rearview mirror at his son.
“Not dragons,” Henry said with a shake of his head, utterly serious. “That would hurt Mr. William’s feelings.” He puffed out his chest. “You need to teach me to slay demons.” But then the boy’s eyes suddenly turned haunted. “They can’t… you won’t let them get near me again, will you, Dad? Not until I’m all grown up and strong enough to fight the demon bastards myself?” he whispered.
Mac turned in his seat to look at him directly. “As the gods are my witness, you have my word that nothing and no one will ever get close enough to harm you again, Henry. And by the time you’re a grown man, I promise you the demon bastards will run in fear at just the sound of your roar.”
Henry’s expression turned fierce, his hand slashing the air as though wielding a sword. “And they will dissolve into dust when I chase them down and cut them in half. And then I’ll go after whoever created them, and send him crawling home with his stones in his pocket like Grampy did to Uncle Jarlath.”
Mac gave him an equally fierce grin before turning around to hide his own haunted eyes as he started the truck and headed for their cabin. “I want you to go in and put some warm clothes in your backpack. You’re going to need them for our hike back, so you don’t get chilled after getting sweaty.”
He shut off the truck when they reached their cabin, then got out and opened Henry’s door. Crouching down to look the boy level in the eyes when he got out, Mac took hold of his small shoulders. “You understand why Grampy did what he did, don’t you, Henry?”
The boy nodded solemnly, his eyes growing haunted again. “Mama’s brothers wouldn’t have stopped until you were dead and they had control of me. But I don’t understand why Grampy didn’t kill all three of them. How come he only maimed Uncle Jarlath and then let him go?”
“He wanted Jarlath to be a living reminder of what happens to anyone who incurs the wrath of an Oceanus. What we do is serious business, Henry, and all of humanity depends on us to keep the knowledge out of the hands of those who would abuse it.” Mac gave the boy’s shoulders a reassuring squeeze. “It’s not always a pleasant task we’ve been called to, but… well, it is what it is. Once your Grampy Titus made the decision to champion mankind by planting that first Tree of Life, his fate—and mine and someday yours—was sealed.”
Mac pulled the wide-eyed boy into a hug. “And so it’s you and me and Grampy against the world now, son; and we will keep all the powerful drùidhs, who protect the Trees of Life now growing all over the world, safe from the evil.” He leaned away to smile at him. “We are theurgists, Henry, and it’s very important that you see our calling as a blessing rather than a curse, and embrace it completely.”
“Is that why mama sent you away before you knew about me—because she didn’t want me to grow up to be just like you and Grampy?”
Mac shook his head. “Delia knew she couldn’t stop your destiny, but I believe she wished to give you a normal childhood until you became a man.” He hugged the boy to him again. “And I will honor your mama’s wish for as long as I can, Henry. We will stay here in Maine, in this century, and you’ll go to school with children your age and discover all the wondrous, everyday magic this world has to offer.” He held him tightly for several heartbeats, then set him away and stood up. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t start learning the skills that will serve you in adulthood.” Mac gave him a gentle nudge. “So go prepare your backpack and get your sword.”
Henry took all of two steps and turned back, gazing around before frowning at him. “But it’s still daylight. What if someone sees our swords on our backs?”
“Then I guess your first lesson should probably include becoming invisible.”
Though Mac figured Olivia could teach Henry that little trick as well as he could.
“But you can’t waste your powers on something that trivial,” Henry said in surprise. “At least not for the next hundred years.”
“Ah, but becoming invisible isn’t so much magic as a state of mind. Does a brooding partridge not become invisible to the hawk when she sits on her nest in the dried leaves? And do a tiger’s stripes not conceal it in the tall grass from its prey?”
“Then tonight we will be tigers!” Henry said, pivoting and running to the cabin. “And we will have rabbit for dinner!”
Mac walked to the rear of his truck with a laugh, mentally warning all the rabbits in the area to be on guard for a young theurgist with a tiger’s appetite.
He lifted the rear hatch, then went very still as he scanned the grounds of Inglenook, making sure he wasn’t being observed before he reached in and opened the false panel on the inside of the fender. He pulled out his own sheathed sword—which was nearly as long as Henry was tall—and settled the sheath’s harness over his shoulders so that the hilt was within easy reach of his left hand. He closed the panel and hatch, then walked to Henry’s open door to grab his jacket off the back of the front seat.
Only it wasn’t there.
He straightened, snapping his gaze to Olivia’s home. She hadn’t been getting Sophie’s belongings out of the backseat; she’d been filching his jacket!
Mac dropped his forehead to the cold metal of his truck with a groan. Sweet Zeus, that was going to raise hell with him tonight as he lay in bed picturing Olivia sleeping in his jacket—even as he wished she were in his arms instead.
Chapter Nine
Olivia was finally ready to admit that her little obsession with Mac’s jacket was getting out of hand; not only had she actually stolen it from him yesterday, but here she was freezing her tail off this morning, skulking from tree to tree trying to return the damn thing before he discovered it was missing.
She peeked around the towering pine to squint through the predawn light at cabin ten, deciding she really needed to stop this foolishness before she ended up completely humiliating herself. She couldn’t exactly spend the summer ducking in and out of buildings to avoid Mac, now could she, considering he actually lived here.
Why couldn’t the man be short and fat and poor and… effeminate or something? He could at least be obnoxious or loud or a coma-inducing bore.
But, oh no, Maximilian Oceanus was perfect; perfectly tall and handsome and unbelievably strong, as well as charming and attentive and apparently richer than God.
Olivia pressed her back against the tree with a snort. He was also a flirt and a tease and so damned self-confident she wanted to smack him.
Why in hell wasn’t he married? How had such a perfect man managed to reach his age without some beautiful, confident, perfect woman scarfing him up?
Olivia gave a silent gasp. Maybe there was an ex–Mrs. Oceanus. Or two or three or half a dozen! Hell, the guy probably changed women like she changed television channels.
Damn. Maybe he wasn’t so perfect after all.
But wait: If Mac was a womanizer, wouldn’t that make him perfect for her? Because if she knew right up front there wasn’t going to be any forever and ever, then she couldn’t get her heart broken. She could just sit back—or rather lie back—and enjoy herself, and finally end her sexual drought by having an affair with the real thing instead of his stupid jacket.
Olivia peeked around the tree again, scanning the darkened windows of cabin ten and the surrounding area. Deciding the coast was clear, she scurried over to a giant maple and pressed her back against it, crushing his jacket to her pounding heart.
So really,
what did she have to lose by having an affair with him?
Well, other than her dignity if she made a complete fool of herself—which sure as hell was possible considering she hadn’t had sex in more than six years.
What if she’d forgotten how? Or worse, what if he flat-out rejected her before she actually found the courage to try?
Olivia stared down at the jacket. Was giving up her fantasy to go after the unknown worth the price she might end up paying? Hell, even if she could remember how to flirt, she’d never been very good at it. To this day she didn’t know how she’d caught Keith’s interest, only that she hadn’t been able to hold it more than a few years, and then likely only because he’d rarely been home.
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