Spellbound Falls

by Janet Chapman

  “California?” Olivia whispered, looking at Jessica Pilsner, then back at Eileen. “You’re moving to California?”

  Eileen nodded. “We planned to leave in September whether Inglenook sold or not, but the real estate agent said the new owners want to take immediate possession so they can start construction as soon as the ground is ready. So we’re going to have to start calling our guests to tell them we’re closing.” She shrugged. “It’ll be tight in the house we’ve rented, but you and Sophie can stay with us until you find a—”

  “Enough,” Olivia snapped, holding up her hand. “One, I have no intention of moving to California with you. And two, I don’t have time to deal with any of this right now. Go upstairs, Eileen.” She pointed at her gaping mother-in-law. “And you stay away from my daughter.”

  That said, Olivia turned and walked down the hall, glancing in each door before finding Ezra and Sophie in the last meeting room.

  “Mom,” Sophie cried, throwing herself at Olivia. “What’s going on? How come you got so mad at Gram and made me leave?”

  Olivia gave Ezra a thankful smile and got down on her knees to be at eye level with Sophie. “First, I want to thank you for going with Ezra without making a fuss. You’re becoming a very wise young woman, sweetie, to know when to stand and fight and when to quietly slip away. And second, I was angry at Gram because she was going to tell you something you should be hearing from me. So that’s why I shouted at her to stop, and then asked you to come back here with Ezra.”

  “What are you supposed to tell me?”

  Olivia hugged Sophie to her. “I’m afraid it’s going to have to wait until I get back, baby.” She leaned away to smile at her. “But I promise it’s not something bad or anything to worry about.” She canted her head. “Actually, knowing you, I think you’re going to find some of it way cool. But the third thing I want to tell you is that I have to go away for a few hours. I should be back by midnight at the latest.”

  “But it’s storming out and the ground keeps shaking. A tree could fall on the van or something. Can’t you wait until the storm is over?”

  “I can’t, sweetie. Mac’s stuck up in the woods and I need to go help him find his way back.” She smoothed down Sophie’s hair. “He’s just on the other side of Whisper Lake, and I know the path really well and there’s still plenty of daylight left.” She bobbed her eyebrows. “And I’m not going to melt from a little rain. But I need you to help Peg. You’re going to have to be me while I’m gone, and play hostess to the Oceanuses.” She gave the girl’s shoulders a squeeze. “And you don’t go upstairs to see Gram, and you do whatever Ezra says. Understand? Can you be patient just a little while longer?”

  The girl nodded hesitantly, her eyes concerned and very confused.

  Olivia hugged her again. “I promise, when I get back you and I are going home and making hot cocoa, and we’ll cuddle up on the couch and have a nice little mother-daughter chat,” she whispered, giving her a ferocious squeeze. “Everything’s going to be okay, Sophie, because you and I are an unbeatable team.”

  “You’ll be careful going after Mr. Mac?” she asked against Olivia’s hair. “And you promise not to get lost?”

  “I lose campers,” Olivia said with a laugh, pulling away and standing up. “But I always know my way home.” She walked to Sam standing at the door, his rain slicker on and holding another one in his hand, and shook her head. “I’m going alone.”

  “I go with you or you’re not going at all.” He stepped closer. “I’ll lock you in the cellar if I have to.”

  She looked directly into his steel-gray eyes. “I have no idea who you are or what you’re doing here, much less why you’re so concerned about me and Soph—” Olivia took a step back, so dizzy she had to grab Ezra to steady herself. “Ohmigod, no!” she cried, stumbling away from the suddenly familiar eyes of the man who had abandoned her twenty-eight years ago. She turned to go after her daughter. “Sophie—”

  Only she was spun back around, Sam’s grip unbreakable. “It’s not what you think,” he said tightly. “I loved you too much to come back for you. My job made our being together impossible and could have gotten you killed.”

  “You think being raised by strangers and feeling abandoned was better?”

  His grip tightened against her struggles. “I didn’t leave you with strangers; I left you with my parents,” he said thickly, nodding toward Ezra.

  Olivia’s knees buckled. Sam kept her from falling and helped her to a nearby chair, where she buried her face in her hands, utterly insensate.

  “Mom?” Sophie said, making Olivia flinch. “What’s he talking about?”

  “Ohmigod, baby,” she said, turning her back to the men as she pulled Sophie protectively against her. “It’s okay. Really. I just had a bit of a shock. Change of plans, Sophie. Henry’s grandparents are going to look after you, okay?”

  She stood up and stiffly led her daughter past Sam without looking at him. Reeling from the realization that Ezra and Doris were her grandparents, she continued into the hall even as Ezra whispered her name, fearing she’d lose what little control she had left.

  She found Titus standing alone in the main room, watching the door closing on the stairs leading up to John and Eileen’s private quarters, and walked over to him. “I have a few favors to ask of you,” she said without preamble, drawing his concern. “First, would you and your wife look after my daughter while I go get Mac?”

  “Certainly,” he said with a slight bow, giving Sophie a warm smile.

  Olivia bent to hug her daughter. “Sweetie, go in the kitchen and help Miss Peg and Carolina now, okay? Remember, you’re the hostess while I’m gone. You know where everything is and how everything works.” She kissed her cheek. “I won’t be gone long, I promise.”

  Sophie threw her arms around her. “You have to stop at home first and put on your hiking boots. And take your headlamp in case you don’t get back before dark.”

  “Good idea. I’ll do that. Now go on. I need to talk to Mac’s dad. I love you, baby,” she said, nudging the girl on her way. She straightened, waiting until Sophie disappeared into the kitchen before turning to Titus. “Two more favors and a question.”

  He silently nodded.

  “I assume you can manipulate locks like your son can, so could you please make sure Sam doesn’t follow me?”

  “It’s already done, Olivia. They’ll be in that same room when you get back.”

  “Okay. Thanks. And could you make sure Eileen doesn’t get anywhere near Sophie while I’m gone?”

  “Done. And your question?”

  God, the man was scary calm. “Um, I guess I’m just curious as to why you aren’t stopping Mac from doing what he’s doing.”

  “Because I’ve been waiting centuries for a woman like you to come into his life. And truthfully, I was beginning to fear it would never happen.”

  “A woman like me?”

  “I’m not stopping Maximilian because I would be doing the same thing in his shoes.” He chuckled, nodding toward the kitchen. “I pulled more than one crazy stunt to impress that beautiful woman in there, trying to persuade her to marry me.” He touched Olivia’s hair. “And now, for the first time in his life, Maximilian is experiencing the full force of true passion. My son has spent his entire life fighting his destiny, drifting in a sea of indifference in search of a reason to care. That is until he met you.”

  “But I’m nobody.”

  “Ah, Olivia, it’s the perceived nobodies who have the power to move mountains.”

  “But Mac is destroying an entire state with his… his passion. You don’t think ruining beautiful lakes and a good part of Maine’s economy is a little extreme?”

  Titus shrugged. “Change is the one constant in the universe and the price of progress. There’s nothing to say altering the ecosystems of a few lakes won’t in fact prove beneficial in the long run.”

  The lodge shook on its foundations violently enough that books fell off shelve
s.

  Titus grasped her shoulders. “Be brave, Olivia. Have the courage to love my son for what he is as well as who he is. Now go,” he said, leading her to the front door and opening it. “I will keep all of your loved ones safe.”

  Olivia reached up and pulled his head down as she stood on tiptoe, and gave him a big noisy kiss on the cheek. She turned away from the startled man with a laugh and stepped out onto the porch. “Anything you want me to tell Mac when I see him?”

  “Yes. Tell him… tell Maximilian that I’m proud of him,” he said gruffly as he softly closed the door.

  Olivia immediately grabbed the knob to tell Titus that he should be the one telling Mac he was proud of him, only to find it was locked.

  “You sappy old poop,” she muttered. She turned to face the storm, took a fortifying breath, and ran toward home to get her hiking boots and rain gear and headlamp.

  Because really, she wasn’t putting all her faith in a piece of jewelry.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  His arms stretched upward to hold back the energy pulsing to be freed, Mac kept his mind’s eye on Olivia making her way up the cliff path toward him. He smiled at her curse to Poseidon when she slipped in the mud, then scowled when she started muttering curses at him. Yet she bravely continued putting one foot in front of the other despite the storm and ground-shaking tremors, her fierce determination to reach the precipice overlooking Bottomless making him wonder if she wasn’t more anxious to give him hell than return his jacket—which he knew she was wearing under her rain slicker.

  Mac was forced to turn his focus to the raging energy when it began attacking the very mountain he was standing on as it attempted to reach the lake. Wrestling it back under control, he then returned his attention to Olivia to see what was taking her so long. Sweet Prometheus, getting the woman to stay on the path was like trying to herd mackerel. If he didn’t know better he’d swear she was deliberately daring the wind-whipped trees to fall on her, as if she were testing the bracelet’s protection.

  Mac sighed, realizing Olivia was so busy having a conversation with herself that she wasn’t watching where she was going. She was also bawling so hard it was a wonder she could see at all. Yet Mac sensed she wasn’t crying because of him, but that something else had a dark grip on Olivia’s tender heart.

  Had his old man said something to deeply wound her feelings?

  Or Eileen? He knew the Baldwins had returned; had they already told Olivia they’d sold Inglenook? Or had Eileen finally exposed the full extent of her son’s deceit?

  Then again, maybe Sam had revealed who he really was.

  Dammit to Hades; Mac needed Olivia to focus on him right now.

  A rogue burst of powerful energy suddenly broke free, flinging Mac off his feet and forcing him to drop what was left of his mortal façade to wrestle it back under control. Which is why when he stood, not even the feet he planted firmly on the trembling ledge were recognizable as he lifted beastly arms to redirect the energy down through the ice covering Bottomless. He forced it into a narrow laser of heat, aiming it toward the deepest basin, and cut a twenty-mile-long seam in the bottom of the lake.

  The vast expanse of freshwater rushed free, and Mac sent it splintering in a multitude of directions, making sure the gushing streams sucked all the fish with them to bubble up in several surrounding lakes. The thick ice the water had been supporting collapsed in a series of long thunderous booms, and the underground river cutting a relentless path toward the south end of Bottomless finally burst into the empty basin.

  Mac watched in satisfaction as the lake began to refill with frothing ocean water that lifted the shattered ice to float like miniature icebergs. He then turned his attention to Inglenook. Capturing some of the swirling energy, he directed it toward the end of the peninsula. Being careful of the cabins, not wanting to so much as crack a window, he commanded the stream bed that separated the two lakes to lift, creating a waterfall that allowed the freshwater from Whisper to gently spill into Bottomless.

  Satisfied that the small lake would remain fresh, he turned back to the inland sea he’d created. Once again calling forth the powers that be, Mac carefully pushed apart two of the nearest mountains to form a long, deep fiord, then directed the powerful river of seawater downward again. Guiding it northward deep below ground, he allowed the massive surge to resurface only one last time in a remote Canadian lake before finally letting it break into the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

  Its journey complete, Mac focused on the ebb and flow of the great subterranean river, carefully adjusting the tides and currents to regularly replenish the various inland seas he’d created, ensuring a healthy environment for the ocean creatures that would soon inhabit them. He then stood quietly with his arms stretched upward again and began dispersing the remaining energy, commanding the gale-force wind to become a gentle breeze even as the rumbles of thunder grew to distant echoes. The late-afternoon sun suddenly broke through the parting clouds, revealing the placid waters of the newly created Bottomless Sea.

  “Oh. My. God.”

  Mac stiffened, not turning around, and closed his eyes at the realization that he was still trapped inside the beast. “Go away, Olivia. Go back down the path a few hundred yards and I will join you in twenty minutes.”

  He heard her snort a few paces behind him.

  “Now, wife!” he snarled. “Go away!”

  “Oh, will you get over yourself!” she cried, throwing herself against him to wrap her arms around his beastly torso. “This hasn’t exactly been one of my better days,” she sobbed, her voice thick with tears.

  “Olivia.” He pulled her hands away to step out of her desperate embrace. “Go back down the path.”

  Only she threw herself right back at him the moment he turned, wrapping her arms around him again and burying her face in his beastly chest. “It’s just been one thing after another today! From the moment dawn cracked with your parents’ arrival to Eileen bringing home Jessica Pilsner and her son—who is Keith’s son and Sophie’s half brother—to finding out that Sam’s my father and Ezra’s my grandfather. Oh God, Mac, they sold Inglenook to developers before I could buy it!”

  He tried to gently break her hold. “Olivia.”

  Her arms tightened. “You have some nerve ordering me to leave like a good little wife, when you should be down on your knees apologizing to me.”

  Holding his hands out, he stood stiffly in shock. “Apologize for what?”

  She leaned back to glare up at him, apparently too distraught to realize what she was hugging. “Really, Mac, did you once consider that a simple ‘I love you’ might be easier than destroying my beautiful state?”

  “Olivia,” he hissed, trying to peel her off him so he could turn away. “Go down the path and wait for me.”

  She stepped back, giving an angry gesture. “Why, so you can make yourself all perfectly handsome again?” She swiped at the tears rolling down her face, then bent at the waist to hug herself. “P-please don’t send me away. I need you right now. My whole world is falling apart and you’re the only solid thing I have to hold on to.”

  Mac dropped to his knees and opened his arms. “Then come to me,” he whispered, folding her into his embrace when she hurled herself at him again. “Shhh, it’s okay. I’ve got you now.” He pressed his face to her hair. “Your world is only changing, not falling apart.”

  “Ezra’s my grandfather!” she wailed. “And Doris was my grandmother, and… and all these years I didn’t even know.” She leaned away and swiped at her eyes. “And Sam’s not really Sam because he’s my father. And without thinking I asked your dad if he knew what marita meant, and he made dawn crack like a sonic boom to get here because he thought I was a gold digger. Only he’s not mean and scary like everyone makes him out to be, because he’s got a big old sappy heart.” She waved at the ocean below them. “And now he’s all excited because he thinks you did this crazy thing to impress me.”

  “I did,” he quietly rasped, holding he
r trembling body as tightly as he dared. “I did it all for you, marita.”

  Her fingers dug into his neck. “Stop calling me that. We’re not even married.” She reared back with a glare, though he doubted she could see him because she was crying so hard. “You have to ask me to marry you, and I have to say yes, and we have to have an actual wedding.”

  Mac pulled her back to his chest and adjusted his hold to prepare for the coming explosion. “Actually, I have the power to simply declare that we’re married.”

  Only instead of exploding, Olivia went perfectly still in his arms.

  “But you,” he rushed to assure her, “have the right to reject me.” He touched his lips to her hair. “One time,” he said quietly. “Once you accept me as your husband of your own free will, it will be forever.” His arms involuntarily tightened around her. “But your rejection frees only you to marry another, not me. My fate was sealed the moment I claimed you.”