Fated for the Phoenix: A Shifters in Love Fun & Flirty Romance (Mystic Bay Book 5)

by Isadora Montrose

  “Well, I bought groceries too, and picked Carmody up from school. Come to think of it, that led to some gossiping too. Am I missing something here? You’re angry with me, and I’d like to know why.”

  She bared her teeth at him and ate salad with grim determination.

  He stood up. “I’m going to check on Carmody. She went down, but she wasn’t happy that you didn’t wake up when she kissed you good night.”

  Tears dripped onto her greens. She wanted to hurl the plate at his back. She groped for a tissue and found the egg was still clutched in her left hand. She glared at it. She wanted her unicorn gifts back. She popped the egg into her mouth. Nothing. She drank water and swallowed it. Still nothing.

  It was a dud. Just like this marriage.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  Rafael~

  “What’s so all-fired hush-hush that we couldn’t meet at the Bean?” demanded Parsifal. He waved a hand at the secluded cove Rafael had selected for their meeting. The early morning fog had burnt off the beach, but far out to sea, a line of mist blocked their view.

  Rafael shook hands with his father-in-law and indicated the picnic bench above the high tide line. “I picked us up coffee and brioche in town.” He had not wanted to discuss Samantha’s pregnancy in the Bean and Bran with every ear in Mystic Bay cocked to swallow his news, and every mouth poised to spread it.

  Good humor restored, Parsifal sat down smiling broadly. “Lloyd let you have brioche, eh? You, my friend, have arrived.”

  Rafael wasn’t in the mood for jokes. Not with the crazy way Samantha was behaving. But he played along. He needed Parsifal’s help. “How so?” He swung a leg over his bench and sat down. Peeled the lid off his coffee. Inhaled the rich aroma and drank.

  Parsifal gazed respectfully at his pastry. “Brioche is only for West Haveners. Period. When Lloyd Furlong sells you brioche, you have established yourself in Mystic Bay.”

  “Oh. Well, Lloyd didn’t say anything. Just wrapped up two slices. And filled two take-out cups.” Rafael took a bite. “It’s pretty good,” he admitted. “But it’s not what I asked you to come out here to discuss.”

  “If this is about Araminta,” began Parsifal.

  “It isn’t. It’s about Samantha. Something’s up with her. She’s not happy and she’s not talking.” Last night he had tried to get her to tell him what the trouble was. Had tried to make love to her. She had given him her shoulder. Her icy-cold shoulder.

  “Well.” Parsifal sipped his coffee like a man afraid of saying too much. “Samantha took a pretty big step, you know? An irreversible step. No surprise she’s having some difficulty dealing with it. Some regrets.”

  “I thought she would be over the moon,” Rafael blurted.

  Parsifal raised his well-groomed brows. On him, purple looked good. “That was foolish of you,” he rebuked gently.

  So it was his fault for knocking her up a second time? Samantha was a grown woman. A nurse. She knew the outcome of unprotected sex. Rafael bit into his brioche to keep from yelling at his father-in-law.

  When he had his feelings under control, he said, “Carmody needs siblings.” Of course, what she had asked for was a sister. A twin sister.

  Parsifal raised one well-shaped hand. “I’m not going there. That’s up to you two.”

  “Bit late to say that, isn’t it?”

  “I’m not interfering in your marriage,” Parsifal said firmly. “You get quite enough of that from Araminta. Samantha’s mother will come around eventually. However, at present this whole business is a bit much for her. But she loves Samantha and she wants to love Carmody. Once she realizes that her granddaughter is just a regular kid, she’ll relax and enjoy her.”

  Rafael tried to decode Parsifal’s cryptic utterances. Millard Fillmore. He needed a crystal ball to deal with these unicorns. Why had he ever thought unicorns were straightforward? “You think it’s her mother’s reaction that is bothering Samantha?”

  “I wouldn’t be surprised. Araminta will be shocked when she finds out.” Parsifal lifted his coffee cup to his lips. “Horrified, actually. But she should have seen it coming.”

  “Well, what should I do, to, uh, get Samantha past her, uh, ambivalence?”

  Parsifal smiled sadly. “Be there for her. Supportive. She’s a well-balanced unicorn, she’ll eventually come to terms with her –” he paused as if searching for the right words. Drank again. “Altered circumstances.”

  “You think being with a phoenix is that hard for her?” Rafael demanded.

  Parsifal’s expression became graver. “I think it would be the same, no matter who she performed such a service for.”

  “Huh?”

  “And speaking of altered circumstances,” said Parsifal with a touch of severity, “What do you intend to do with yourself now that you have been given a new lease on life?”

  “I don’t know. Think this island could use a surgeon?”

  “Could be.”

  * * *

  Rafael made it to Littleland Daycare just in time. The center stayed open until six, but Carmody was used to being picked up at five fifteen, and she needed her routines. He pulled his SUV into the slot beside Ryan Rutherford’s. Ryan was chatting with his son’s daycare worker, Charlotte, while Jimmy and Carmody chased each other outside on the climbing frame.

  “Hey,” Ryan offered his hand. “How’s it going?” His infant daughter was asleep in her car seat which dangled from his left hand.

  “Daddy.” Carmody abandoned her game. She rushed over to hug his knees, shouting his name. Rafael scooped her up for a kiss. She grabbed his face with both starfish hands. “I wanna go to Jimmy’s house.”

  Well, that was awkward. But he supposed a three-year-old could not be expected to know that you didn’t extend your own invitation to someone else’s house.

  Ryan grinned at him. A sympathetic man-to-man grin.

  “Can I go?” begged Carmody.

  “Not tonight,” Rafael said. “Jimmy isn’t allowed to ask his friends over without checking with his parents. And you are not allowed to invite yourself.”

  “Nice,” murmured Ryan just as Jimmy kneecapped him. For a moment the car seat swung wildly. “Easy, champ. Be gentle with your sister.”

  “I was hugging you,” Jimmy assured him.

  “And what happened to Jocelyn?”

  Jimmy little face screwed up in thought. “She rocked real hard. But I didn’t mean it.”

  “You’re still responsible,” Ryan said quietly.

  Jimmy gave up the small battle of wills. “I’ll be gentle,” he promised. “Can Carmody come over now?”

  “Not tonight.”

  “You’re welcome to let them play out here for a while longer,” Charlotte said.

  “How about it, Rafael?” Ryan asked. “Do you have time for a brief playdate?”

  “Half an hour,” Rafael set Carmody down. “And then we have to go home and make dinner for Mommy.”

  “Mommy only wants salad,” Carmody pointed out.

  “Half an hour,” Rafael repeated.

  Charlotte went back inside. The two men sat on the bench overlooking the playground. “It never stops,” Ryan commiserated. “Kids need bringing up unless they’re asleep.”

  “It feels like I’m nagging all the time,” confessed Rafael.

  “Not if there are consequences for ignoring a reminder.”

  “Right.”

  The two men focused on the slide where Jimmy and Carmody had squeezed side by side and were attempting to go down together. The red plastic was only wide enough for one. They were wedged tight.

  “Laws of physics have to be learned too,” Ryan said.

  He made no attempt to rescue the kids, so Rafael let them squirm. They were giggling mightily, so being stuck obviously had appeal. Suddenly Carmody shot ahead. Jimmy clutched the sides of the slide to prevent banging into her. He slowed his descent enough that she arrived safely. Jimmy shot a triumphant look at his father.

  “Good j
ob,” Ryan said.

  “You make it look easy,” Rafael said enviously.

  “Thank you. You seem to be doing okay yourself. No?”

  “It’s an adjustment.” Rafael lowered his voice. “What do you do with yourself all day?”

  Ryan grinned in perfect understanding. “I still have a job with Rutherford Inc. It’s the family firm. We’re into property development. I telecommute.”

  “Huh.”

  “And I keep my hand in with the FAs.” They had discussed Ryan’s involvement before.

  Rafael’s Cousin Lincoln was a founding member of the organization. Although Linc had long ago given up field work for administration. Linc had made it plain the FAs could use another phoenix in the Pacific Northwest. But shifter policing held no real appeal for Rafael. It wasn’t his calling.

  “How does Claudia feel about that?” he asked.

  “I’m a regional coordinator,” Ryan explained. “No more active missions.”

  “Word in Mystic Bay is that you danged nearly got killed last time.” Ryan had been bitten by a cobra shifter and had nearly died of the envenomed bite*. “At least that’s what Anton Benoit tells me.”

  “Yeah? Benoit talks too much. Maybe you should join the FAs? Things might have gone better if we’d had a doctor along in Arizona.”

  “I’m a surgeon, not a miracle worker, Rutherford. I could have amputated your leg, but I couldn’t have done anything Benoit and your colleague didn’t do.”

  “Amputation seems a bit extreme,” Ryan patted his right leg fondly.

  “Field treatment seems to have worked out fine,” Rafael observed.

  “Saved my life, for danged sure. But the wound didn’t truly heal until I got to Mystic Bay.” He nodded toward Jimmy who was dangling from his knees from the monkey bars. Carmody was watching closely. “I was danged near dead when I arrived on West Haven. Jimmy and his grandmother cured me, with a little boost from my wife.”

  Rafael wondered if he was supposed to remove Carmody from the monkey bars before she fell on her head. Or let her be a kid. He went with letting her discover the strength or limitations of her body. She released her grip on the monkey bars as Jimmy had done and hung there swinging happily from her knees.

  “Jimmy?” Rafael prompted.

  “He’s going to be a powerful healer.” Ryan stood up. “Now we intervene.” He left the sleeping baby in her car seat and strode over to the equipment.

  Rafael followed. They stood in front of the two upside-down kids. Waiting.

  “Lookit me,” cried Jimmy happily.

  “I see you, Jimbo.” Ryan rocked on his feet but didn’t move.

  Rafael spotted Carmody the same way. The moment she slipped off the monkey bars his arms were waiting. “I didded it, Daddy,” she declared proudly.

  Me too. He and Ryan set the children down and stood back as they ran over to the bouncy riding toys.

  “Mission accomplished,” Ryan led the way back to the bench. Jocelyn continued to sleep.

  “Has Carmody shown any signs of being a healer?” Ryan asked.

  “She’s only three!”

  “Jimmy’s just turned four. And he’s a one-kid first aid station.” Pride rang in Ryan’s voice. “A phoenix and a unicorn ought to have even greater synergy. Two powerful natural healers ought to create some kind of miracle medic.”

  “You think?”

  “Sure.”

  “I take it you don’t buy into this hybrid vigor crap?” Rafael asked.

  Ryan put his head back and laughed. A real laugh. “Not in the least. Old wives’ tale. You know what I think?”

  “No.”

  “I think that the old timers like to give themselves the shivers thinking about those Haverstocks. And imagining if it happened again. Pack of old fools.” All the humor had leached away from Rutherford’s voice.

  The cougar folded his arms across his chest. “I told Claudia that if they start up with that BS again I’ll pull the funding for the high school annex so fast they’ll all have whiplash.”

  “Hardball?”

  “You bet. Instead of scaring themselves with bogeymen, they ought to be afraid of actually setting a cat amongst their pigeons.”

  Rafael smiled. “The cat being you?”

  “Damn straight.”

  “Is that how you got them to accept your marriage, Rutherford? By paying for the high school extension?”

  “Yup. Not that building the Cuthbert Rutherford gymnasium wasn’t our civic duty. But there isn’t a soul in Mystic Bay who doesn’t know that it was a bribe.”

  “You think I should take out some insurance for Carmody? The D’Angelo Trust mostly supports veterans, but no reason it couldn’t support them on West Haven.”

  “Like all small communities, they have more than their fair share of vets. You’re not the only guy on the island with trauma to overcome, D’Angelo. Virginia would be the person who would know where money would do the most good.”

  “Hmm.” That sounded more his speed.

  Rafael flexed his hands. The scar tissue that had bent them into claws was gone. He didn’t have the same preternaturally fast reflexes he used to have. But he was still faster and more agile than most mortal surgeons. “Think Mystic Bay could use another doctor?”

  “Probably. Virginia is stretched very thin.”

  And with his trust fund, he wouldn’t need to be paid. The D’Angelo Trust could cover the overhead. Of course, maybe surgery was not what West Haven vets needed.

  Jocelyn’s little eyes opened. Her face crumpled. Her mouth opened in a shout of infant dissatisfaction. “Meal time,” Ryan said. He swiftly unbuckled his baby daughter and cuddled her. She stuck a pink finger in her mouth and decided to flirt instead of wail.

  “Five more minutes,” Ryan called. Jimmy gave him a thumbs up sign.

  “Five more minutes,” Rafael echoed. Carmody imitated her friend with a grubby thumb.

  “Doesn’t always work, but giving them notice helps quell the pleas for just one more minute.”

  “I’ll remember that.”

  *Cherished by the Cougar

  CHAPTER FORTY

  Samantha~

  Carmody’s damp face pressed against hers. “Wake up, Mommy,” she demanded in a hiss.

  “Mommy’s tired out, sweetie.” Rafael picked Carmody up and swung her onto his shoulders.

  Samantha sat up groggily. What on earth was wrong with her? She did okay at the clinic all day, but as soon as she got home she was unable to keep her eyes open and her stomach turned over. These post-work naps had to stop. She arranged the pillows behind her, and held out her arms for Carmody.

  “Did you enjoy your bath?” she asked.

  “I splashed and splashed and Daddy said I was a unicorn, not a whale,” Carmody confided at the top of her lungs.

  “Indoor voice,” Samantha and Rafael said at the same moment. He winked at her. Shared parenting felt pretty good.

  “I’s indoors,” Carmody said just as loudly. “So this is an indoor voice.” She peeked out of the corner of her eyes at Rafael to see how Daddy took her logic.

  “How do we speak inside?” Rafael asked very softly.

  “Quietly,” Carmody whispered back, her minor rebellion squelched.

  “That’s right,” Rafael said. “Mommy has a headache. We need to be quiet.”

  “Does you?” Carmody scrutinized Samantha’s face. She laid her hands on Samantha’s cheeks and squeezed. “Better?” she asked anxiously.

  “Yes. Thank you, darling.” To her surprise, she had not fibbed. Her headache had cleared. If only her stomach would settle down. “Did you have your bedtime story?”

  “No. Daddy said we had to wake you up. I want you to read to me tonight.”

  “Okay. What shall we read?”

  “Make Way for Ducklings!” Carmody dove off the bed and headed into the hallway.

  Samantha sighed. “That’s one long story.”

  Rafael did not respond. He was replacing his
watch on his wrist, and picking up his little bag. He pressed the sides together. Frowned. Opened it. “Carmody,” he called. He did not use his indoor voice.

  Carmody came running. She had a book under either arm. “Use your indoor voice,” she said triumphantly.

  Rafael didn’t smile. He bent over and removed the books from Carmody’s hands. Tossed them onto the foot of the bed. Squatted before his daughter, trapping her with his arms. His voice gentled. “What did you do with Daddy’s stone?”

  Carmody’s head tipped sideways. Samantha’s stomach clenched. “She didn’t do anything with it,” Samantha said softly.

  “Are you sure?” Rafael demanded.

  “Yes. I took it.” Not the whole truth, but good enough for the time being. A unicorn does not prevaricate. Sadly, Samantha was apparently no longer a unicorn and capable of shading the truth.

  Rafael nodded once. He hugged Carmody and kissed her flushed cheek. “I’m sorry I suggested you took my stone, sweetie. You can have only one story at bedtime.” He picked up the books. “Which one?”

  “The Runaway Bunny,” Carmody decided. “I’s a runaway unicorn,” she confided.

  “Not anymore,” Rafael said firmly. His blue eyes met Samantha’s and narrowed. He kissed Carmody again. “Daddy’s best girl stays where she is supposed to be. Right?”

  “Grandma says I’m a runaway foal,” objected Carmody.

  “Not anymore,” Rafael repeated. He rubbed Carmody’s back. “Now you are stay-at-home-Carmody.”

  Carmody giggled and launched herself at Samantha. Rafael prevented her from knocking into her mother. He let them get comfy and handed Carmody her book.

  The other side of the mattress sank as he sat down. He waited. Samantha could feel his impatience and curiosity burning like a bonfire in the room. But he said nothing. She opened the book and began to read.

  Afterward, they tucked Carmody into bed. Kisses were given and received. The light was turned out. Rafael stopped by the bathroom to make sure it was in order. Samantha slipped past him.

  “I’ll just be a minute,” she said. It felt like a reprieve when she closed the door.

  But he was waiting in the living room when she came sheepishly out. Well, she had known for two days that she was going to have to confess her foolishness. She sat in the armchair opposite him. Rafael shook his head. Held out a hand. She settled beside him. His arm went around her shoulder and hauled her into the warmth of his torso.