“It’s not the magic you’ve been running from, Camry,” he continued gently. “It’s your extraordinary passion for life. Your baby sister’s powers have always seemed so overwhelming that you assumed you had none of your own. But the magic works for everyone, including those who won’t accept it, and those who don’t understand it.” He shot her a wink, gesturing toward Luke. “Especially those who don’t understand it.”
“Wh-who are you, really?” she whispered.
He smoothed down the front of his tattered coat with a shrug. “Let’s just say I’m a very old distant relative, shall we?” He puffed out his chest. “But I assure you both, I have the authority—and the means—to make your marriage legal and binding. That is, if you’re both brave enough to follow your hearts.”
He held up his hand when she tried to ask him another question. “As for your little worry about getting pregnant, let me assure you that the choice has always been yours. And now Luke’s, too, of course,” he added with a nod. “Your sisters knew they wanted children, so Providence simply granted each of them their wish—though maybe not quite when they wished,” he added with a chuckle.
He held his arms out to encompass their surroundings. “To put this in terms you folks can understand, life is really nothing more than an infinite, interconnected matrix. It runs on a rather simple equation for the most part, only appearing complex when you factor in free will. And free will always trumps Providence,” he said, giving Camry another wink. “So just take having a child out of the equation, both of you, as you look deep inside yourselves and acknowledge the miracle Fiona has asked you to be for each other.”
He dropped his hands to his sides with a shrug. “You can’t make a mistake if you follow your heart. Not if you have the courage to go where it leads you. There are no wrong decisions, only the consequence of not making any decision at all by running away from life instead of toward it,” he ended gently, his eyes warm and his smile encouraging.
Absolute silence settled around them.
Roger AuClair suddenly rubbed his hands together, his expression turning expectant. “So, people, are we having a wedding or not? ’Cause if’n I can’t have the dog, then it’s gonna cost you that fancy snow machine you drove up in, and that’s my final offer,” he declared, his old hermit persona suddenly returning.
He frowned when Cam and Luke continued standing silently, staring at him.
“Okay then,” he said, holding his hands up, palms toward them. “I can see you need to think on it some. I’ll leave you to discuss it between you then, ’cause I know you two people are intelligent enough not to take marriage lightly—seeing as how you each hold a handful of fancy school degrees.” He spun around and headed to the cabin, Max and Tigger bounding after him. “Just don’t take too long, ’cause if you’re not hitched before Survivorman comes on, you’ll be unzipping those sleeping bags and finding yourselves camped at opposite ends of my cabin.” He stopped at the door and looked back at them, his sharp green eyes gleaming with amusement. “ ’Cause until I give my blessing, the entire amusement park is shut down.”
Chapter Fifteen
“When did you tell him about Maxine?” Luke quietly asked when Roger disappeared inside the cabin.
“I didn’t.”
“Then how did he know what happened to Kate thirteen years ago?” He held the papers toward her. “And this license; how could Fiona have given it to him three weeks ago, before she even met me? Every bit of information on here is correct, right down to my biological father’s name.”
Camry said nothing, staring at the papers in his hand.
Luke lifted her chin to make her look at him. “How can Roger AuClair possibly know so much about us?” he asked, fighting the alarm tightening his gut. “Even your amusement park comment. It’s almost as if he’s been listening to our conversations for the past week.”
Luke suddenly drove his hand into his pocket and pulled out the transmitter. “This,” he growled, holding it up between them. “It’s not a transmitter, it’s some sort of listening device!” He wound his arm back and threw it, watching it shatter into pieces against a tree, then took hold of Camry’s hand and started toward the snowcat. “I can’t explain what’s going on, much less why, but we are getting the hell off this mountain.”
He opened the door and tried to lift her inside, but Camry pulled free and took several steps back.
“Oh, right. The dogs.” He headed toward the cabin.
“No, Luke!” she cried, grabbing his arm and spinning around. “Wait. I can explain,” she said, her eyes searching his. “I-it’s the magic,” she whispered. “I know you don’t believe in anything but cold hard facts,” she rushed on, clutching his arms to follow him when he took a step back. “But the very energy that powers you and me is the exact same energy that powers the universe. From the cradle, I’ve been taught that it’s the magic that powers life—quietly, benevolently, and . . . and unpretentious in its desire to see each of us reach our full potential.”
She dropped her gaze to his chest. “And I’ve spent my entire adult life running from it.” She looked up, smiling sadly. “Until I woke up one morning to find a handsome, sexy, unassuming rocket scientist in my bed, who didn’t seem to take me anywhere near as seriously as I took myself.”
“I’ve always taken you seriously,” Luke barely managed to say.
She let go of him and hugged herself, her smile turning self-abasing as she shook her head in denial. “I’ve been so full of myself, it’s a wonder my head fits through doors. I’ve blamed all my problems on everyone but myself; my mother wouldn’t collaborate with me, some jerk in France was trying to steal my work, all my sisters were so damned happy I wanted to kick them, and . . .” She reached up and clasped his face in her shaking hands. “And then you magically appeared. And for the first time in a very long time, I wanted to be damned happy, too. With you.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek to his pounding heart. “Over this past week, I found myself falling in love with a man who sees brick walls as opportunities, a belligerent colleague as a challenge, and a grumpy roommate as an intimate partner.”
She tilted her head back to look up at him, and Luke’s knees turned to jelly at the raw, unadulterated truth he saw in her tear-filled eyes.
“I want to spend forever with you, Luke, seeing life the way you see it. I didn’t need a few hours to consider your proposal; I only needed the courage to admit to myself that I love you so much, my heart hurts when I think about a future that doesn’t include you. I’ve never felt this alive, Luke. Normally that would scare the hell out of me, but you make me brave.”
She covered his mouth with her fingers when he tried to speak. “There’s more,” she whispered. “A-and it’s important that you hear it from me.” She stepped out of his arms—making Luke’s knees nearly buckle—and squared her shoulders on a shuddering breath. “Roger AuClair’s eyes look familiar to you because they’re the mirror image of my father’s eyes, and mine, and those of every other MacKeage born since the beginning of time. Only Winter has blue eyes, like my mother. And Fiona.” She gestured toward the cabin. “If I had to guess, I would say Roger is one of my original ancestors, born in a time when the magic was honored instead of held suspect like it is today. Which is why he’s appeared to you—to us—as a harmless old hermit.”
She held her arms out from her sides. “I am of the highland clan MacKeage, and loving me means accepting the magic that rules our science.” She swiped away a tear running down her cheek, her beautiful green eyes locked on his, her vulnerability fully exposed. “So if you still want to spend the rest of your life with me after all you’ve seen today, and can wrap your mind around the notion that it’s only the tip of the iceberg, then I would ask that you let Roger marry us—right now, in this magical place.”
Luke’s legs finally buckled and he dropped to his knees, holding his arms out to her. Camry threw herself at him with a cry of relief, and hug
ged him so tight he grunted.
“Right now, right here,” he said into her hair. He tilted her head back. “But only because I happen to be insanely in love with you,” he growled, covering her mouth with his.
“Okay, then!” Roger AuClair called out as he walked to them. “Let’s get these vows said before you folks set these poor dogs to blushing!”
Luke forced himself to stop making delicious love to Camry’s mouth and looked up, only to blink at the man dressed in . . . wearing a . . .
Camry covered his gaping mouth with her hand. “Don’t ask, Luke, just accept,” she said, leaning her forehead against his with a giggle. “It’s a drùidh thing.”
“It’ll be a first for me,” Roger said, “but if you two want to give your vows on your knees, I don’t mind none.”
Luke scrambled to his feet, pulling Camry with him and immediately tucking her up against his side as he faced what he could only describe as . . . honest to God, the man looked like a fairytale wizard. Roger AuClair was wearing a black-and-gold spun robe that billowed to the ground, a thick leather belt encrusted with enough jewels to ransom a nation, and a pointed hat that looked an awful lot like the one Mickey Mouse wore in the Disney movie Fantasia—which Luke must have watched a hundred times with Kate.
“Would you folks be wanting the short version, or the really, really long one that will probably run over into my Survivorman show?” Roger asked. He suddenly shot Luke a broad smile. “I see your fancy degrees are worth the paper they’re printed on, Renoir. I’m getting all my channels now.”
“Thank you,” Luke said. “And we’d like the short version, please.”
The old hermit started patting himself down, until his hand suddenly disappeared inside his robe, only to reappear holding a book that had to weigh fifteen pounds if it weighed an ounce. He started leafing through the pages, murmuring to himself.
Luke glanced down at Camry tucked under his arm, and found her smiling up at him. She patted his chest. “Don’t worry, the amusement park will be open all night.”
“I might be old, missy, but I’m not deaf,” Roger muttered, still leafing through his tome. “Okay then,” he said, his voice booming with authority as he launched into a guttural litany that sounded more spat than spoken.
“Excuse me,” Luke interrupted. “That’s not Latin.”
Roger shot him a dark look. “It’s Gaelic.” He looked back down at his book with a heavy sigh. “Now I have to start all over.”
Which he did.
“But how am I supposed to know what I’m vowing?” Luke asked.
Roger stopped in midsputter with a fuming glare aimed at Camry. “Shut him up, missy, or you’re going to find yourself married to a toad.”
Camry bumped Luke’s hip. “Quit interrupting him.”
Luke leaned down to whisper in her ear. “Can he really turn me into a toad?”
Roger sighed heavily again. “You have the whole rest of your lives for her to explain the magic, Renoir. Can we please get this done?” He looked up at the sky, then back at Luke. “My show starts in twenty minutes.”
Luke suddenly realized the sun had set, and it was completely dark out. Except that the three of them seemed to be standing in some sort of glowing light, which appeared to be emanating from Roger. Luke wiped a trembling hand over his face.
The magic that rules our science, Camry had called it.
Whereas he was thinking insanity might be more accurate.
Roger launched into his litany again for what sounded like a sum total of eight or ten sentences, then suddenly stopped and looked at Camry expectantly.
“I do,” she said.
Roger turned his expectant look on Luke.
Oh, what the hell. “I do,” he firmly echoed.
Roger closed his book with a snap. “You may exchange your rings now,” he said with a regal nod.
Luke felt Camry’s shoulders slump. “We don’t have rings,” she said.
“We didn’t exactly plan to get married today,” Luke drawled, giving Camry a bolstering squeeze. “We’ll go straight to a jeweler when we get to Pine Creek.”
“You should wear the rings Fiona gave you,” Roger said. “They’re her wedding present to you. She went to a lot of trouble to find just the right stone to make them.”
“Fiona never gave us any rings,” Camry said.
Roger’s eyebrows lifted into the rim of his pointed hat. “She didn’t? But she said she intended to present them in a container that had very special meaning to both of you. She even showed me the paper she was going to wrap it up in. It was deep blue, covered with glittering gold stars.”
Luke stiffened.
“The transmitter!” Camry said with a gasp. She bolted out of Luke’s embrace and ran toward the tree where he’d thrown it.
“Come on, AuClair,” Luke said, falling in behind the dogs bounding after her. “We need your light.”
Luke immediately got down on his knees beside Camry and started searching the snow. “Don’t worry, we’ll find them,” he assured her, picking up and discarding tiny pieces of metal debris.
“Here! I found one!” Camry cried, holding something up. She suddenly tossed it away. “No, it’s just a rubber O-ring.”
Luke shoved Max out of the way, then snatched something out of Tigger’s mouth. He held it up to the light Roger was emanating. “This could be one of them.” He handed it to Camry. “It seems to be made out of some sort of stone.”
She also held it up to Roger’s light, then looked at Luke. “It’s black-and-white-speckled rock, just like the stone Kate gave you. Where’s your pebble, Luke?”
“In my pocket,” he said, reaching into his pants pocket. Only when he didn’t find it, he reached into his other pocket. When he still didn’t find it, he stood up and started shoving his hands into every pocket he had. He suddenly stilled, looking down at her. “I lost it.”
“No, this is the special rock Kate gave you,” she said, holding it up to him.
Luke took the smooth stone circle from her, which certainly appeared to have been cut from the tiny rock Kate had given him. “But that’s impossible. I distinctly remember it was in my pocket this morning.”
Roger snorted, looking at Camry. “You sure you want to marry a man who doesn’t believe in anything but cold hard facts? The deed’s not fully done, missy; I haven’t given my blessing yet. You can still back out.”
Camry dropped down onto all fours and started searching the snow again. “I’m not backing out,” she muttered. “Luke, help me find your ring. That one must be mine, because it’s too small for your finger.”
By God, he wasn’t backing out, either! He didn’t care if he was losing his mind, as long as he lost it with Camry. Luke got down beside her and resumed searching.
“What I can’t figure out,” Roger said, peering over their shoulders—his light actually helping them—“is how Fiona’s thoughtful gift ended up over here in the first place, all smashed to pieces.”
Luke straightened to his knees, lifting a brow. “Don’t you have some sort of crystal ball you can look into that will tell you?”
Roger shot him a threatening scowl. “From what I hear, women aren’t all that fond of kissing toads.”
Camry grabbed Luke’s sleeve and tugged him back down. “Leave him alone and help me find your ring.”
The light suddenly started to fade, and Luke realized that Roger was heading down the mountain. “Where are you going?” he called out.
“To unzip your sleeping bags,” the old hermit muttered. “’Cause in ten minutes, I intend to be sitting in my chair, watching an all-night Survivorman marathon.”
“I found it!” Camry cried, scrambling to her feet. She grabbed Luke’s hand and ran to Roger. “Okay, we’ve said ‘I do,’ so now what?”
“Well, now you slide the rings on each other’s fingers, and pledge your troths in your own words.”
“But we didn’t have time to write our own vows. Wait!” she yelped when
Roger turned away again. She took hold of Luke’s hands and looked directly into his eyes. “I promise to love you forever, Lucian Pascal Renoir,” she whispered, slipping the smooth stone ring onto his finger, “uncompromisingly, unpretentiously, and unconditionally.” She shot him a crooked smile. “And I promise never to lie to you, or send you any more unladylike e-mails, or imagine ten different ways to make you beg for mercy, or—”
Luke covered her mouth with a laugh. “Let’s at least keep our vows in the realm of reality.” He lifted her hand and slid the smooth stone ring onto her finger. “And I promise you, Camry MacKeage, to love and honor you with every breath I take, forever. And I promise never to steal your work,” he added with his own crooked smile. “Or lecture you until your ears fall off. And if you decide to go on any more crime sprees, I will definitely have your back.”
Roger snorted. “Okay then. I guess you two do deserve each other—seeing as how you won’t find anyone else willing to put up with either of you.” He held his hands up, encompassing them both. “So I give my blessing to this union and pronounce you husband and wife—may God have mercy on all our souls,” he finished with a mutter, heading toward his cabin.
“Wait. Don’t I get to kiss my bride now?” Luke asked.
Roger turned and shot him a scowl. “Not until you get back to your tent.” He spun back around and headed to the cabin again, patting his leg to call the dogs to him. He opened the door to let them inside, then turned back. “I’ll be keeping Max and Tigger with me tonight, so the poor beasts aren’t scarred for life.” He pointed at the snowcat. “And you’ll be walking to your tent. That fancy snow machine is now mine.”
“But you can’t actually keep it,” Camry said. “We really only borrowed it from my father. We have to bring it back.”
“Oh no, you don’t. A deal’s a deal, Missy MacKeage.” He suddenly gave Luke an apologetic nod. “Excuse me, I meant Missus Renoir. Which means she’s your problem now.” He looked back at Camry. “For which your papa will be so grateful, I’m sure he would want me to have the machine for my role in getting you off his hands.”
A Highlander Christmas Page 14