by Lily Webb
“Dang. I reckon I should get busy makin’ another one for you then.”
“You’d better make it three. Better yet, make it five. One for the whole family.”
Grandma beamed. “I dunno if I got the magic for all that, but I’ll darn sure try it.”
Beau slipped his fingers through mine and gave them a squeeze. “I bet you could help her with that, and I think the twins would love a welcoming gift from their mom.”
“That’s a great idea,” I said and pecked Beau on the cheek, making his face flame.
Though he’d initially stood back while my family bombarded me, Leif stepped forward. “Does that mean we know who Erebus is—er, was?”
Heath cleared his throat to spare me. “We’ll go over everything soon, I’m sure, but if it’s all the same to you, the two of us need to get to the hospital.”
“Of course,” Leif said, and Barrett cleared everyone out of our way so we could leave.
We stepped out into the eye-watering sunset, where a crowd of spectators had gathered. A collective gasp tore through them at the battered, frazzled sight of us, but it quickly turned into cheers and applause when they realized who they were looking at.
To my surprise, no one seemed to object to Heath walking free again, despite what he’d allegedly done. I had to believe it was because all of Moon Grove knew as well as I did that Heath couldn’t possibly have hurt his son.
I blinked away tears, a mixture of emotion and a physical reaction to the strength of the sun. As strange as the darkness inside the station was, I could only imagine how odd it must’ve looked to the people passing by on the street — not to mention all the noise of shelves crashing and spells flashing through the windows while we fought for our lives inside.
Barrett did an excellent job of carving a path for us through the spectators as we worked our way north toward the five-towered Veilside Academy and Willowvale Hospital beside it, and with each step I took, my gratitude for everyone in my current company grew.
I didn’t have a clue what Hendrik’s death meant, if anything, for the future of Moon Grove, but I couldn’t imagine it being bad. With my own twins on the way, I hoped that Hendrik’s end meant I could bring them into a world that would be safer than it was before, one that would nurture them and put them on a good path.
I didn’t know what I’d do if, Lilith forbid, my twins ended up with a relationship similar to Heath and Hendrik’s. As much as the thought scared me, I doubted it’d ever come to pass. With Beau and Grandma around, not to mention all our other friends and family like Heath — and he was family — there wasn’t much of a chance for my kids to go astray. How could they when so much positivity and love would surround them?
A swarm of Healers and their nurses swallowed our ragtag band as soon as we entered Willowvale, and I gave into them as they forced me into a bed that I insisted wasn’t necessary and wheeled Heath and me away into a shared room separated by a curtain. Despite repeated protestations from Grandma and Beau, the Healer in charge, a thin, middle-aged witch I didn’t recognize, ushered them out of the room and promised to let them visit us again after she finished looking us over. She wore horn-rimmed glasses and looked exactly like the kind of woman I’d expect to go into the medical field. When we were alone, the Healer offered me a hand and a warm smile.
“I’m Healer Amber Keeling. Obviously, I’m well aware who you are,” she said as we shook hands. “I’ll just need a few minutes to examine you. I’ll try not to be too rough. Why don’t you tell me what happened while I look around?”
“Yeah, sure,” I said and began recounting as much as I could remember while the nurses helped me out of my robes and into a hospital gown. Healer Keeling covered every inch of me looking for any signs of injury but found nothing other than a few expected cuts and scrapes and a large bruise forming on upper part of my right leg where I’d landed when Heath pushed me out of the way of Hendrik.
She prodded gently around it with a gloved finger. “It looks worse than it is. With time, it probably won’t leave a mark.”
“Even if it does, it still beats the alternative.”
Healer Keeling raised an eyebrow. “Which is?”
“Dying,” I said, and heard Heath snicker through the curtain.
Keeling smiled and nodded. “Yes, I agree. A bruise is a small price to pay to stay alive. Now, let’s have a look at the babies.” She sat down in a nearby rolling chair and a nurse wheeled over an expensive-looking machine with a large screen and a port attached to a cord.
Keeling pulled her wand out of her robes and attached it to the port, then pushed my gown up far enough to expose my stomach. She waved her wand over it, and a warm feeling swept over me. A few moments later, a grainy, watery image appeared on the machine’s screen. While I watched my twins swirling around each other like nothing at all was wrong, Keeling placed her stethoscope against my stomach and listened.
She smiled and lowered it. “Everything sounds normal. But judging from how crowded it’s getting in there, I’d say your little ones are just about ready to get out of there and stretch their legs a bit. When’s your due date?”
The question stumped me. I’d lost all track of days and time in the chaos since Heath’s arrest. “Um, I’m a little frazzled right now but I want to say in about four more weeks?”
“That lines up with what I’m seeing. Anyway, I think everything’s all clear. Would you like me to bring your family in so they can see the twins while I attend to Mr. Highmore?”
“Yes, please, that would be fantastic,” I said, though my heart rate doubled. Beau and I had purposefully chosen not to have ultrasounds because we didn’t want to risk learning the babies’ sex before they were born, but I had a feeling that they’d want to see the twins to make sure they were okay after everything we’d been through.
“Of course,” Keeling said and gestured to a nurse to let Grandma and Beau in. She handed her wand over to another of the nurses to take over the ultrasound and disappeared through the curtain to examine Heath.
Grandma and Beau entered a few moments later, and as soon as Grandma laid eyes on the machine and the image on its screen, she gasped and ran to the bed to clutch my hand in hers. Beau came around the other side of the bed and took my free hand.
“Everything’s okay, but I figured you’d both want to see them,” I said, and Grandma started crying.
“Oh, Sugar… I never thought I’d see the day. I’m so happy for you and Beau. You’re both gonna make great parents. I ain’t got no doubt.”
Beau blushed and squeezed my hand. “Thanks, Elle. No pressure, right?”
I laughed and brought his hand to my mouth to kiss the back of it. “You’re not the one who’s supposed to be anxious about all this. That’s my job, remember?”
Beau cleared his throat. “Right, sorry. Don’t you worry about a thing, Zoe, we’re gonna be the best parents Moon Grove has ever seen.”
“That’s more like it.”
The nurse moved Keeling’s wand and the image on the screen shifted, revealing what I swore looked like the two babies holding each other’s hands. “Are they…?”
“Holdin’ hands? Darn sure looks like it to me,” Grandma said breathlessly.
“They aren’t even born yet and they’re already best friends,” Beau muttered with tears in his eyes. “They’re beautiful.”
“How couldn’t they be? They have our genes,” I joked, and Grandma cackled.
“Based on what I’m seeing, it looks like your little boy and girl are both happy and healthy. Congratulations,” the nurse said, and my heart lodged in my throat.
Beau and I were having a boy and a girl. We exchanged looks at the news, neither of us able to speak.
“A boy and a girl, huh? I sure hope y’all been lookin’ at names on both sides of the spectrum then,” Grandma said, breaking the spell of silence that’d fallen over us.
“Actually, we haven’t been looking at all,” I said, embarrassed to admit it.
/> Grandma scowled at me, affronted. “What the heck you mean you ain’t looked?!”
“Well, we didn’t know what we were having yet, so we just didn’t think about it. I assumed something would come to me.”
Grandma’s scowl morphed into a mischievous smile. “All righty then. You know what you’re havin’ now, so have any names popped out at ya?”
“Ellie,” I blurted automatically, surprising myself. I hadn’t spent a second thinking about names, and yet there it was. Now that I’d said it, it sounded perfect — and judging from the melting look on Grandma’s face, she agreed.
She squeezed my hand. “Oh, Zoe, that’s so sweet!”
I turned to Beau. “What do you think? Do you like it?”
“It’s perfect. I can’t think of a better person to name our little girl after than your grandma,” Beau answered.
“Okay, well, I guess it’s only fair that you get to pick the other name. What do you like?”
Beau pondered for a second, and the scrunched look on his face made me smile. There wasn’t a single thing about him I didn’t love. “Oh, I’ve got it! How about Blaise?”
“That’s beautiful,” I whispered, and knew right away it was a winner.
“Really, you think so?” Beau asked, blushing.
“Yeah, it’s a perfect representation of both of us. It reminds me of my mom’s name, Ember, but it has a French flavor like your name. It’s spot-on.”
The curtain separating us from Heath slid open, and Healer Keeling stepped aside to give Heath a direct line of sight to us. “I’m partial to the name Heather, personally,” he said, and we all burst out laughing. “Good news: I’m perfectly fine, other than a pair of raw wrists and a minor case of malnourishment. That’s nothing a few good meals won’t fix.”
“I’m so glad to hear that,” I said, and I meant it. Since Heath’s arrest, I’d gotten a good taste of what it would be like to run Moon Grove without him — and it was an experience I never wanted to have again, especially with two kids on the way.
“That makes two of us,” Heath said with a smile. “I suppose that means I’ll be around to meet little Ellie and Blaise in a few weeks. I can’t wait.”
“Neither can I,” I said and pulled my hand from Beau’s to rub my stomach. The grainy image of the twins on the screen swirled as they responded to my touch.
Beau laughed. “Looks like the feeling’s mutual. Are you sure you’re ready for this, Zo?”
“Not even a little, but if I can face one of the most powerful, undead warlocks in the world and survive then I can probably handle a set of twins.”
Grandma chuckled and patted my hand. “Oh, bless your lil’ heart, Sugar. You ain’t got a clue, so I hope you’re ready to eat some crow, ‘cause you got a healthy serving comin’ right your way. Just you wait and see.”
I couldn’t wait to see which of us was right.
Book 10: When one of Zoe’s colleagues is found drained dry and she receives a letter threatening more attacks if she doesn’t resign, can Zoe catch the killer? Or will she be trying to get blood from a stone?
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Coming May 29th!
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Pre-order Bloodmages and Blackmail now!
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The Magic & Mystery Series
1. Broomsticks and Burials
2. Spellbooks and Stakings
3. Alchemy and Arson
4. Heists and Homicides
5. Covens and Coffins
6. Vampires and Vanishings
7. Shifters and Sabotage
8. Crystals and Criminals
9. Witches and Witnesses
10. Bloodmages and Blackmail
About the Author
Lily Webb lives in the Pacific Northwest with her two cats, Hilda and Zelda, where she spends her time reading and writing all things paranormal. An aspiring witch herself, Lily’s always been fascinated by the magical powers of the written word.
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www.lilywebbmysteries.com
