Weaver of Dreams

by Sparks, Brenda

  She wore a white gossamer caftan, so fine as to be called shear. Zane could see the silhouette of her body through the delicate fabric. She was a vision, a goddess any man would desire, but his libido didn’t notice. For him there was no woman other than Maggie.

  “I’m positive I love her,” Zane answered honestly.

  “Would you die for her?”

  “I thought I did,” Zane replied. Maggie clutched his hand a little tighter.

  “Oh, Zane. I thought I had lost you.”

  He turned his head back toward the woman he loved to find tears in her eyes.

  “I never want to leave you, Maggie. Tell me you accept me; accept who I am and I will remain with you for as long as I can.”

  “Of course, Zane. Oh course, I accept you. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to be with you. If we have a week, a year, or a lifetime, it will never be enough. Almost losing you made me realize I want each moment I can have with you.”

  “Do you reciprocate her feelings, Zane?” Gracyn asked.

  “Yes, unequivocally,” he answered without hesitation, continuing to hold Maggie’s eyes with his burning regard.

  “And you would give anything to be with her?”

  “I’d give up all I have.” He raised a free hand and tucked a stray wisp of hair behind her ear.

  “Including your friends, your life in our dimension. You would give up being the Peacemaker for her?”

  Zane didn’t need to give the question a second’s thought. When he lay dying, he realized he was willing to give his life for her. Give up being a Dream Weaver for a life with her? Well that, as the humans said, was a no-brainer.

  “I’d give anything,” he answered, looking deep into Maggie’s eyes.

  “Are you positive? To be with her, you would even give your immortality?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Maggie brushed her fingers through his hair, in an act both intimate and comforting. “A wise man once told me, ‘if you don’t take extraordinary risks, you’ll lead an ordinary life.’”

  Zane smiled, happiness filled him that she had remembered his motto. The soft sound of swishing fabric turned his head.

  Gracyn’s eyes narrowed and she nodded once as if making a decision. Without a word she held out her hand over his stomach. Though it did not touch him, he felt something there. Zane looked down, watching as a soft white light flowed from his abdomen into her hand.

  He felt the pull and flow of the energy. It didn’t hurt, but the sensation was most uncomfortable, like a part of him was being taken.

  After only a few minutes, the light dissipated and with it, Zane instinctually knew his magick disappeared too.

  “You are fully human now,” Gracyn announced.

  Confusion worried Maggie’s brow. “What does she mean?”

  Zane ran his thumb over the back of her hand. “Gracyn took my magick. I can no longer create a portal to my world, or enter my dimension.”

  “What did you do?” Maggie’s voice thickened with emotion.

  “It’s okay, Maggie.” Zane tried to sooth her, but he could tell it did no good.

  “You took his friends, his world from him,” she accused Gracyn hotly.

  “Zane made his choice, Maggie. He chose you. I only helped him to be able to remain with you.”

  “Maggie look at me.” Zane waited until she complied. “We can be together now. Here in your world. Our world. If you’ll have me.”

  “You saved me not once but twice. You’ve given up your beautiful world. You’ve given up your immortality for me. How could I not want you with all my heart?”

  “So you’ll grow old with me?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Maggie leaned down, hugging the air from his lungs. It felt wonderful.

  He reached his arms around her as best he could. The movement tugged the IV line taunt, causing a pinch to the skin on the back of his hand. “Ouch.”

  “Just one of the many problems of being human, I’m afraid, Zane,” Gracyn informed him.

  He smiled. “I’ll gladly bear any trial or tribulation to be with the woman I love.”

  Gracyn smiled down on him. “I will miss you, Zane. You have been a dear friend throughout the centuries.”

  “As have you, Gracyn. But this doesn’t have to be goodbye. You can visit in my dreams.”

  She made her way to the mirror hanging on the hospital room wall and sent her magick flowing over it to create a portal. “Happiness and joy be with you both. Take care of him, Maggie.”

  “I will,” Maggie promised before Gracyn’s form disintegrated into the mirror.

  Zane closed his eyes, needing a moment to absorb all that had happened. He was completely human now. He could feel the difference in his body. With his magick gone he could no longer feel its subtle hum in his blood.

  He would never be able to return to his marvelous world or again know the freedom of floating in the sky. Never glide on top of cool water, soar over a mountain, or see a sunset that contained every color of the rainbow.

  And all he had gotten in return was . . . everything.

  He had gotten Maggie.

  “Are you okay?” Maggie’s voice drew him from his thoughts.

  “I was just thinking.”

  “About what?” she asked when he paused.

  “I was just thinking we should . . . wondering if you . . .”

  She lifted a questioning eyebrow and he took a deep fortifying breath.

  “I was wondering if you would agree to be my wife.”

  Excitement lit her eyes and brought a smile to her pretty face. “Yes! I’ll be your wife.”

  Maggie threw herself over his chest in an awkward hug. It sent a pulse of pain through his wound, but it felt good. Pain meant he lived, as a human. And he would gladly endure anything to be with her.

  He slid one arm around her back, holding her to him in a loving embrace. Pressing her head into his shoulder, he silently offered her his troth. Nothing in the world compared to holding the one you loved in your arms. In that perfect moment, Zane knew.

  Knew he had made the right choice.

  Knew his dream had come true.

  Epilogue

  Zane marched through the familiar sterile halls of the hospital and pushed through the door to her room. The need to see her lengthened his purposeful strides. It had only been fifty minutes, just long enough from him to run home and take a quick shower, but it was too long a time to be away from his girl.

  He reached down scooping her into his arms. She wiggled two tiny fingers and yawned. Her tiny lids fell over her eyes in her struggle to stay awake.

  “You know you’ll spoil her if you keep holding her all the time,” his wife chastised as he made his way to her hospital bed.

  “She’s too young to be spoiled. She’s only a day old.” Zane rocked his daughter in his arms, marveling in the tiny miracle of her.

  She had pale, delicate skin and beautiful chartreuse eyes like her mother. All ten fingers and toes were present, and she had scored a flawless ten on the Apgar test—the doctor told him so. She was the picture of perfection, a carbon copy of the woman he loved more than life itself, save for the sandy-brown tuft of hair on her tiny head.

  She looked very much like Maggie had imagined in their shared dream, but this was so much better than a dream. This was real, permanent.

  “Isn’t that right, little one? Daddy isn’t spoiling you.”

  Maggie chuckled. The sound slid over his skin in a velvety caress. As long as he lived, he’d never get tired of hearing her laugh.

  “She seems very content in your arms, Blue Eyes.”

  He looked down to discover his daughter looked at him with wide eyes.

  “As her moth
er has been for the past five years.” Zane pinned Maggie with his azure stare, daring her dissent. When she didn’t disagree he continued, his gaze dropping back to his daughter. “What should we name her?”

  “I was thinking Gracyn.”

  Zane’s eyes flew from his daughter to his wife. “Gracyn?”

  Maggie nodded her head. “I can’t think of anyone I’d rather name her after. If it wasn’t for Gracyn, we wouldn’t have her.”

  A genuine smile took his face. It reached his eyes, making them glisten with his love for her. “I think it’s a perfect name.”

  Zane bounced his little girl in his arms. “And what do you think about the name Gracyn, little one?” His daughter gave a soft coo, and Zane placed his lips lightly on her forehead in a gentle kiss.

  “I think she approves,” Maggie said, holding out her arms.

  “I think you are right, sweetheart. Gracyn it is.”

  Zane reluctantly placed little Gracyn in her mother’s arms. His hand slid up Maggie’s arm to catch her throat. He nudged her chin with his knuckle and tipped her head, before he covered her mouth in a soft kiss.

  When he straightened, he caught a glimpse of color in the mirror that hung on the white wall in front of him.

  He focused on the glass, making out the blurred outline of two familiar faces. Appreciation that his friends were able to share this special moment made him smile. He blinked and the images of Jolan and Gracyn were gone in an instant.

  Zane regretted they had left so quickly, but it was daytime. And to be honest, he was surprised they had risked a peek into the human world when others were awake and might see them. But then, they had done that a time or two in the past five years during important events, like their wedding for instance.

  As he looked back down on his wife and child, his heart swelled with love.

  They were the most beautiful women in the world. So special that nothing, no one would ever compare. Their entire lives lay before them. He knew there would be some tribulations, some hard times. All lives had them. But in the end, all would be well because they would be together.

  One happy family.