The Magician's Blood

by Linda G. Hill

  “The room is large enough …” the nurse said.

  “I can leave before the exam if it’s too crowded.” Margaret followed Nina into the inner office without waiting for a response. Hawkins sat back down.

  The room was big enough for a dozen people, but there were only two chairs aside from the doctor’s. Margaret remained standing, and Nina climbed up on the examination table. Stephen, holding Herman’s hand tightly, sat her beside him.

  “Now,” said the nurse as she took a seat in front of a computer. “First we’ll get some history. “You’re Mom?”

  Nina smiled. “Yes.”

  “And you’re how far along?”

  “Twelve weeks,” she declared, and Herman cringed inwardly.

  The nurse glanced down at Stephen’s hand in Herman’s and displayed a growing redness in her cheeks. “And you’re the dad?”

  “Yes,” he said.

  The nurse typed his name and turned back to Nina. “Is this your first check-up?”

  “I saw my family doctor, but he thought I should see a specialist.”

  “Okay then, the doctor will be with you shortly.” She smiled and shut the door as she walked out, leaving behind a tense silence. When Herman glanced up at Nina, the girl was jiggling her foot.

  After what seemed like an age, the door opened and the tall, blonde woman in a white coat who came in was, indeed, surprised. She smiled at Stephen with a mouth full of perfect teeth and he stood to give her a quick hug hello. The doctor’s large blue eyes widened when she saw Margaret. “Oh my God!” both woman exclaimed in unison. They held each other for what seemed longer than was strictly necessary for two long-lost friends.

  As the doctor took her seat she looked at Herman, and Stephen introduced them. “This is my girlfriend, Herman. Herman, this is Dr. Charlie Fletcher.”

  “Nice to meet you, Dr. Fletcher.”

  “Nice to meet you too, but please call me Charlie.” She turned to Nina. “And you’re my new patient, I’m guessing.”

  Nina nodded.

  “Let’s see what it says on the computer so far,” Charlie said, obviously not wanting to ask why Stephen was there with his girlfriend and what must be the mother of his child.

  “Oookay,” she said after a moment. She stood and handed Nina a gown. “Why don’t we examine you then. I’ll need you to get undressed.”

  Charlie drew a curtain around the examination table and sat again at the computer.

  “What have you been doing with yourself?” she asked Margaret, gazing intently into her eyes.

  “I’ve been traveling the world mostly, with Mr. Dagmar and his roadshow. And you? I heard you just recently came back to town.”

  “Yeah,” Charlie said, rolling her eyes. “Bad romance gone worse. I came back to be closer to my family.”

  “I’m sorry,” Margaret said wistfully.

  Charlie waved it off and turned to Stephen with a grin. “You’ve been keeping yourself busy?”

  “I have. We’re heading out on the road in a few days. Herman is my assistant onstage. We’ll be gone for the rest of the year.” Herman appreciated that he ignored the implication of “keeping busy.”

  “That’s too bad,” Charlie said. “I would have liked to get together.”

  “Maybe when we come back,” Margaret said. “We’re taking a bit of a break between the western and eastern parts of Canada.”

  “I’ll look forward to it.”

  Charlie took Margaret’s hand briefly as she stood to peek behind the curtain, to see if Nina was ready. She passed behind the curtain to perform the first part of the exam, and she said everything seemed to be fine. When she pulled the curtain aside, Herman begrudgingly looked at Nina. The girl lay on her back with her gown up to her ribcage, her groin covered by a sheet; a small bulge filled the space between.

  Charlie placed her stethoscope on Nina’s tummy. When she’d found what she was looking for, she picked up a gray gadget and pressed part of it against the spot where the business end of the stethoscope had been. “This is what you all came to hear, I imagine.” Scratching sounds came from a speaker at the other end of the gadget, followed by the fast and unmistakable whooshing sound of a heartbeat.

  “That’s your baby,” Charlie said to Nina. Stephen squeezed Herman’s hand and she turned to see him smiling at her.

  “Master, it’s our baby’s heartbeat,” Nina said, not wanting to be left out.

  Herman winced and Margaret groaned quietly. Stephen glanced at Nina and said, “Yes, it is.”

  Charlie got on with her work without comment. She wiped Nina’s stomach with a towel and put away the machine.

  “Everything looks great. I’ll schedule an ultrasound in two weeks. Will that be okay?” she asked Nina.

  “That’s fine. I’ll have my mother with me. If that’s all right, Master,” she added.

  Herman thought she must have been happy with the response she received last time she spoke. This time Herman didn’t react and neither did Margaret.

  “Of course, Nina,” Stephen said evenly. He stood and Herman followed. As they started for the door, Charlie asked if they’d go into the office across the hall.

  “I’ll finish up here, and I’ll be in in a second.”

  “Sure,” Stephen said. They filed out of the room and into the next. A filing cabinet filled with multicolored folders lined the wall behind the desk and two chairs sat facing it. Herman said she wanted to stand. She rested her hand on Stephen’s shoulder and he reached up to hold it.

  Three minutes later, Charlie came in and sat behind the desk. Leaning on it, she looked directly at Stephen.

  “I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that you made sure you knew your OBGYN personally for a reason.”

  Stephen pointed his finger at her and clicked his tongue. “Right you are. Actually, it was all Margaret’s doing.”

  “Master?” Charlie raised one finely plucked eyebrow.

  “She’s my servant,” he explained.

  “I thought I recognized her.”

  “She’s a little off her rocker,” Margaret said.

  Charlie shook her head. “I don’t suppose anything you do should surprise me, but this is definitely one for the books,” she said to Stephen.

  “And how are you dealing with all this?” the doctor asked Herman, surprising her.

  “Who, me?”

  “Yes. I’m sitting here looking at two very good friends and a girl who somehow got involved in something she’s not too sure about. As the doctor of your boyfriend’s baby, I have an interest in the entire family.”

  “I’m fine,” Herman said, trying her best to look fine.

  Charlie studied her, waiting for more.

  “I’ll be better once we’re out on the road again,” she confirmed.

  Charlie turned her attention back to Stephen. “Since you’re involved with the baby’s care from the start, does that mean you’ll want custody when it’s born?”

  “I will, yes,” Stephen said.

  “I’ll keep a close eye on the mother while you’re gone, as long as she keeps me. That will be her choice. I’ll send you a video of the ultrasound if Nina allows it.

  “In the meantime, take care of her,” she said, indicating Herman with a glance.

  “I don’t know what the hell you’ve got yourself into,” she said to Stephen. “But I can tell you,” she said turning her attention to Herman, “that Stephen is probably the most honorable and the most respectful man I’ve ever met. And I base that opinion on knowing him when he was a teenager, which is saying a lot. So I would think that whatever the circumstances were that made that baby in there, it was a mistake that won’t be repeated.”

  “It won’t,” Stephen said, shaking his head emphatically.

  “Right,” Charlie said, still talking to Herman. “And knowing Stephen as well as I do, I know that if he’s introducing you as his girlfriend, he is committed to you, and
so you also will be part of that baby’s family. If you find you’re having a hard time with that …” she picked up a business card from her desk and wrote on the back of it. “Here’s my card. My home number’s on it, too. You can call me any time you want to talk.”

  “Thank you,” Herman said, taking the card from her.

  “You haven’t changed a bit, Charlie,” Stephen said with a smile in his voice.

  “You know me. And I know you. Behave yourself.” She grinned then and looked over to Margaret.

  “Are you free for dinner?”

  “I am,” Margaret said. “Am I?” she asked Stephen, to make sure.

  “You are,” Stephen said.

  “I am,” Margaret repeated.

  “Where can I pick you up?”

  “Stephen’s house.”

  “I’ll see you at seven,” Charlie said, getting up. Herman walked out with Stephen following her. She turned back in time to see Charlie kiss Margaret on the cheek.

  * * *

  Stephen awoke that night to the sound of shuffling and giggling outside the hidden door that led to the hallway from his bedroom. He slid gently out of bed so as not to wake Herman, threw on his robe, and slipped out the door. He pulled it closed behind him.

  “Stephen!” The stage-whisper came from the direction of the circular staircase that went up to the playroom.

  “I didn’t think you were coming back here tonight,” he said.

  “We weren’t, but we got drunk and changed our minds,” Margaret said. He saw her sway and lean on Charlie by the dim light of the chandelier above.

  “We were remin … eminis … ing … remembering when the six of us used to go up there,” Charlie pointed up. “And we got,” she looked at Margaret. “What did we get?”

  “Horny.” Margaret laughed and the two women doubled over.

  Stephen smiled and turned to go. “Well, don’t kill yourselves trying to get up the stairs. Or falling down them.”

  “Sure you don’t want to join us? For old time’s sake?” Charlie asked playfully.

  “Thanks for the offer, but no,” he said.

  “Nah,” said Margaret. “He’s boring now that he’s turned into a one-woman man.” She groaned the last words tiredly.

  “Just do me a favor and remember not to mention to Herman in the morning that you were in the coven,” he said to Charlie. “That’s the last thing she needs right now.

  “I’ll see you at breakfast,” he said, turning again to go.

  “Breakfast?” Charlie asked, laughing. “Is Margaret on the menu?”

  Stephen heard a light slap and more giggling. Shaking his head, he returned to the bedroom. He slipped back into bed and fell asleep remembering, but not wishing for, the hours he had spent in the playroom, playing with five beautiful women.

  CHAPTER 7

  Herman looked up from her breakfast, surprised when Charlie and Margaret came into the dining room with their arms around each other. They sat opposite her at the massive table. She wanted desperately to ask what had happened to Mark, but it would have to wait. Instead, she inquired politely if they had had a nice dinner the night before.

  “It was great,” Margaret said, smiling.

  At a thump from the direction of the kitchen, they all turned to see Nina backing into the room with her hands full, using her rear end to open the door.

  “Oh hello, Nina,” Charlie said, startling the girl into almost dropping her silver tray laden with a pot of coffee and four white china mugs. It was obvious no one had told her who the extra cup was for.

  “Good morning, Dr. Fletcher,” she said, smiling awkwardly. She placed the items on the table one-by-one with a quivering hand, then turned to Stephen.

  “Will there be anything else, Master?”

  “That’s enough for now, thank you,” he said, barely glancing at her.

  Nina silently returned to the kitchen.

  “Is she here every day?” Charlie inquired.

  Stephen answered without looking up. “No, only a couple of days a week.”

  Charlie tightened her lips and put cream in her coffee.

  “When does your flight leave?” Stephen asked Margaret.

  “Three o’clock, so I’ll leave here at twelve. Charlie’s going to drive me to the airport.”

  “I’m not looking forward to letting her go now that I’ve found her again,” Charlie said, presumably to Stephen, but she was gazing deep into Margaret’s eyes.

  “I’ll be back before you know it,” Margaret said.

  Charlie leaned toward Margaret for a lingering kiss, and Herman looked down at her plate, more uncomfortable with the absence of Mark than with the kiss itself.

  “Have you put my agenda in my office yet?” Stephen asked Margaret, curtly putting an end to the mood.

  “Yes, Stephen,” Margaret sighed. She plucked a plate of muffins off the table and offered one to Charlie and took one herself. “Your agenda is there with your plane tickets and your reservation number for the hotel in Vancouver. I’ll meet you there the day after tomorrow.”

  “Are the train tickets bought already?”

  Margaret nodded. “I’ve been here for five days, working on the travel arrangements.”

  “I didn’t think you were coming back until yesterday.”

  “My trip was cut short,” she said simply. She shoved a piece of muffin in her mouth with a scowl and the two best friends had an entire conversation with only their eyes. Herman was sure her own silent exchanges with Stephen were dwarfed by the unspoken stories he and Margaret shared.

  “If there’s anything you need me to take care of at this end before I leave, call me from Vancouver,” Stephen said to her out loud.

  “I’ll let you know.”

  “I’d love to see you perform,” Charlie said, breaking the tension. “Do you have any shows booked when you come back this way in December?”

  “Toronto is the closest, isn’t it, Margaret?”

  “Yeah. You could meet us there if you have the time.”

  Charlie nodded. “I’ll see what I can do,”

  Stephen opened his mouth to speak when from the kitchen came the crash of glass hitting the floor, followed by a scream. He leaped from his chair and rushed toward the door as one of the kitchen girls yelled, “Oh my God!”

  Before Stephen reached the door, it swung open and a young woman stopped in her tracks, her face almost as white as her uniform.

  “Mr. Dagmar, Nina’s cut herself,” she cried.

  Charlie hurried to the kitchen behind Stephen and Margaret. Herman followed slowly, reluctant to discover what new tragedy Nina had designed for herself. The kitchen looked like a bomb had hit. Glass littered the floor—not just one, but an entire tray of crystal water glasses. Blood dripped from Nina’s hand onto the table as Charlie picked shards from it. The doctor asked Margaret to go out to her car and get her bag out of the trunk. Stephen reached Charlie’s side with a handful of white tea cloths, grinding glass beneath his slippers as he walked.

  “What happened?” Stephen asked the girl who had come to get him. Everyone in the fully staffed kitchen stood around, staring.

  “I don’t know.” She’d regained some of her color, but she was still shaken up. “Nina was wiping the glasses, and the next thing I knew she was sitting on the floor with one broken in her hand.”

  Margaret came back, and Charlie requested that they move to the window in the dining room, where there was more light. She, Nina, and Margaret shuffled into the next room, Margaret holding a cloth, now more red than white, under Nina’s hand while Charlie applied pressure to three large cuts. Herman and Stephen followed behind. She held his arm, knowing that Nina would likely pull him away again.

  “What happened, Nina?” Charlie asked when they were seated by the window.

  “I don’t know. One minute I was standing there wiping the glass with a towel, and the next I felt dizzy, and then I was sitting on th
e floor. I think I may have cut my leg, too …” She lifted her knee to show her pants, ripped and soaked in blood halfway down the back of her thigh.

  Charlie looked at it for a moment. “It doesn’t look like it’s bleeding that badly. I’m almost finished here. We’ll get this wrapped up, and then I’m going to need your pants off to make sure there’s no glass in there.”

  Herman rolled her eyes in frustration and sat down with her back to the scene, her elbows on the table and her hands cupping her ears. She felt Stephen’s hand on her shoulder. He bent down so his face was inches from hers.

  “She’s doing it again,” Herman said.

  “I know.” His breath whispered softly on the back of her hand. “At least I’ll know she’s well taken care of while we’re not here. Which means I won’t have to worry constantly about what she’s done next.”

  “Thank God for Charlie,” Herman said.

  A few minutes later, Charlie asked Stephen to close the door to the foyer and go into the kitchen to tell the staff not to disturb them. Herman accompanied him, thankful for the doctor’s sensitivity to privacy. Margaret stayed to assist.

  They went together to the foyer and sat on the stairs. Stephen held her hand.

  “There’s a possibility that Nina didn’t just do this for attention,” he said.

  Herman sighed. “Do you believe that?”

  Stephen looked into her eyes. His mahogany irises glowed in the light shining through the windows in the front door. He took her hand and lifted it to his lips. “No,” he said. “She’s probably trying to milk as much attention out of me before we leave as she can get. But we need to make sure.”

  “Hopefully Charlie will be able to tell if there’s actually anything wrong with her.”

  Five minutes passed of nothing but the sound of people moving about. Finally, Charlie came out. “I want to take her to the hospital as a precaution,” she said. “The baby’s heartbeat is still strong, and Nina’s blood pressure seems to be fine, but I want to get some blood tests done. Aside from that, she’s going to need stitches.”

  Herman peered through the dining room door at Nina. She sat by the window with a towel draped over her lap, looking at the bandages on her hand. Charlie spoke quietly to Stephen.