* * *
Both Connor and I managed to survive the next feeding and changing more or less intact, luckily, and a little before one o’clock we loaded the whole gang into the Cherokee and made our way down the hill to Spook Hall. Since everyone knew we’d have to drive, a spot had been left open for us right in front of the building.
Connor maneuvered the SUV into the opening and remarked, “I didn’t know that an executive parking space came along with being prima.”
“Hey, you gotta have some perks to go along with the hours.”
He grinned and got out so he could lift Ian out of the back seat. I did the same on my side, extricating Emily from the seatbelts and making sure her blanket was tucked in up to her chin. We’d only be outside for a minute, but still, the temperature was still barely forty degrees. I didn’t want to take any chances.
Snow crunched underfoot as we headed across the sidewalk and into the building. Quite a few people were already gathered there, and, as usual, the long buffet tables set up against the walls practically groaned with food. A tree covered in a motley collection of ornaments — contributions from all the various clan members — glittered from the stage area.
Almost at once Connor and I were surrounded by family members, all of whom wanted a peek at the twins. I’d worried that all the commotion would be too much for them, but they stared up at the newcomers with wide green eyes and seemed ready to take things in stride — for now. We’d already agreed to beat a hasty retreat if and when the twins seemed to be overloaded.
And, as I’d told Connor, rank hath its privileges. We didn’t have to jockey for a seat at one of the tables that had been set up, but were led to a place of honor up near the stage, with extra chairs set near ours so we’d have a place to put the twins’ car carriers. That made things a little more manageable, since people could come up to us as space allowed, rather than being surrounded on all sides by cousins I hadn’t seen for a few months.
Luckily, no mother gets tired of hearing people praise her babies, although after a while my cheeks began to hurt from smiling so much. Rachel and Tobias came to sit with us, and Kirby and his boyfriend Jordan, who was a civilian but was in on the McAllister “secret.” He seemed like a nice guy, quiet in contrast to the voluble Kirby. But at least Kirby’s story about the uproar over who should get Adam’s apartment over the chocolate shop, now that he’d moved up to Flagstaff to be with Mason Wilcox, kept us all occupied while the rest of the family swarmed in. And kudos to my cousin Bridget, who’d snagged the apartment. Housing was at a premium in tiny Jerome.
As always, I wondered how all my relatives would fit into the hall, which was a big building, but not that big. But, as always, they did manage to find places to sit down, although I was glad that Connor would be on food-fetching duty, allowing me to stay where I was and not have to thread my way through the crowd.
We really didn’t get down to actually eating until well after two, and my stomach was rumbling. The hunger pangs didn’t last for long, though, once I settled down to consuming the plate of ham and turkey and mashed potatoes and everything else Connor had brought me.
“I’m not still eating for three, you know,” I pointed out as I stared at the food remaining on my plate. My stomach already felt dangerously full, and we hadn’t even gotten to desert yet.
“I know,” he said cheerfully. “I’ll just finish off whatever you can’t eat.”
Which he would. I had no idea where he put it, but there was no denying that Connor was able to eat like a horse and yet not put on a pound. More Wilcox witchcraft? Maybe, although I’d been that way once upon a time myself. I’d have to see how much my metabolism bounced back after I’d fully recovered from my pregnancy.
Because there was no way I’d pass up a slice of Aunt Rachel’s cherry pie — or a thinner slice of apple — I did manage to get it all down. Whether I’d eat again for a week was debatable, though.
Well, all right. I’d probably have a small snack later that night to tide me over. It was kind of amazing how being a nursing mother could make you so darn hungry all the time. I couldn’t eat as much at a sitting as I had when I was pregnant, but I found myself wanting to graze more than was probably healthy. However, I’d managed to squeeze myself into some jeans from my fourth month of pregnancy, so I felt like I was making progress.
As I was sitting there, thanking the Goddess that the babies had remained mellow throughout the entire meal, I heard a small commotion off to one side of the room and shifted in my seat to see what was going on. As I watched, I saw a blonde girl around my age get up from her seat and storm out, followed by my cousin Evan, his face set in cold anger.
“What was that about?” Connor asked, expression puzzled.
“Trouble in paradise,” I murmured. “I’d better go see what’s going on. There are bottles in the diaper bag if the twins wake up.”
Then I rose from my seat and headed toward the front door of the hall. I noticed that pretty much everyone in attendance was making sure not to look at me, or where I was headed. Making a scene at a family party was a big no-no — but Evan’s wife Kelly obviously didn’t care.
Then again, she was a civilian. There were a whole lot of things she either didn’t know or didn’t care about. Judging by my previous impressions of her, I’d say it was the latter.
All right, I wasn’t exactly unbiased in my opinion of Kelly McAllister. Back in the day, I’d had kind of a crush on Evan, and if he hadn’t gotten married so soon after meeting Kelly — against the wishes of the clan elders — then he would have been in the pool of candidates to be my consort. Of course that had all worked out for the best, but back then I hadn’t known I would one day be with Connor. I’d only seen the best-looking of my cousins get hooked up with a girl I didn’t like very much, and it annoyed the hell out of me.
Evan was standing on the street corner, arms crossed in anger. Or maybe that was just in an effort to keep himself from freezing; he wore a fleece pullover, but it wasn’t exactly warm enough to be standing outside for any length of time.
Neither was the cashmere sweater I wore, but sometimes you just had to suck it up when you were prima.
I didn’t see any sign of Kelly. I said carefully, “You want to talk about it?”
“Not really.” Then he glanced over at me. His face still had that taut, overly controlled look to it.
“Where’s Kelly?”
“Gone,” he replied, then added, “Really gone this time, I think.”
“I’m sorry.”
His shoulders lifted. “Why? Everyone else seemed to see this coming except for me.”
Well, that much was true. I’d missed out on a lot of family gossip during my time with the Wilcoxes, but the elders had let me know trouble was brewing between Evan and Kelly, that she wasn’t settling down into the knowledge of what it meant to be a civilian in the McAllister family. She wanted to move to Phoenix, didn’t see why Evan couldn’t get a dispensation from the de la Paz clan in the southern part of the state so the two of them could relocate there where she would be able to have more of a life.
Her words, of course. You could have plenty of life right here in the Verde Valley if you just worked at it a little bit.
Setting aside the fact that I couldn’t quite understand why anyone would voluntarily move to Phoenix, I also found it irritating that she couldn’t accept the rules of the family she’d married into. It could be hard, but that was part of the deal. Evan should have explained all that to Kelly. Since I hadn’t been privy to those discussions, I had no idea what she’d been told. All I could do now was help him pick up the pieces.
Then Evan gusted out a breath, a cloud of mist escaping from his mouth in the cold air. “No, I’m the one who should be sorry. The elders tried to talk me out of it, but I just had to marry her. Now the whole clan is going to have to pay for my mistake.”
I didn’t bother to contradict him, because he was right. We McAllisters did marry civilians from time to time
, but we also made damn sure beforehand that those marriages would last, that the connection was just as strong as a match with someone who had witch-blood. Because if a witch/civilian marriage did break up, things could get messy if any of those ex-spouses decided to tell all about the family they’d once married into. And that meant quietly paying them off so they’d keep their mouths shut. It wasn’t exactly “retire to the Bahamas” money, but it was definitely enough to provide a nice cushion and an incentive to stay quiet. If the secret got leaked, the money was yanked.
As far as I knew, no one had ever talked.
But because I could tell that Evan had already beaten himself up enough on the subject, I said, my tone firm, “You don’t need to worry about that. We can handle it. The important thing is to take care of yourself right now. If you really think it’s over.”
He reached up to push his hair off his brow. A few years ago, I would have wondered what it was like to run my fingers through that hair — dark red and thick, although he didn’t have a redhead’s freckled complexion. Now I just wished I knew him a little better so I could give him a reassuring hug. He was just enough older that he wasn’t in the group of cousins I’d hung out with growing up. I’d mostly admired him from afar.
“Oh, it’s over,” he said bitterly. “Truth is, it’s been over for a while. I was just too stubborn to believe it.” He glanced down Main Street — was that where Kelly had taken off? — then back over at me. “You shouldn’t be standing out here in the cold, Angela. I’m fine. Don’t let me ruin your Christmas.”
“You’re not ruining my Christmas,” I replied. “I’m sorry that Kelly ruined your Christmas. And you shouldn’t stand out here for much longer, either.”
“Oh, I won’t.” He hesitated, then said, “I’m going home. I don’t think I can deal with everyone staring at me right now. There’s nothing like a room full of people thinking ‘I told you so’ at you to kill the holiday spirit.”
“I doubt that’s what they’d be thinking, but I totally understand wanting to go home. I’ll cover for you.”
A reluctant smile tugged at his lips. “Thanks, Angela.”
He turned then and headed down the side street away from Spook Hall. I knew he didn’t live up here in Jerome, but down in Cottonwood, and so he must be headed to his car. He’d probably left a jacket or coat behind in the hall, but I wasn’t going to stop him to ask about it. One of the other family members who also lived in Cottonwood could take it to him after the party broke up.
Letting out a sigh of my own, I headed back into the building.
5
Eyes full of questions, Connor leaned over as I sat back down, then asked, “What was all that about?”
“Family drama,” I said quietly. “We can talk about it more when we get home.”
He nodded, still looking puzzled, but he didn’t push it. And neither did anyone else. We McAllisters knew the drill. I had no doubt that the eruption between Evan and his soon-to-be ex-wife would be the topic of discussion for almost everyone after they left the hall, but for now, we were going to be a big happy family, enjoying “Yule-mas,” as Kirby referred to these gatherings.
There really wasn’t that much of the party left by that point, anyway. Years ago, before I was even old enough to remember, the clan had done a sort of anonymous gift exchange so that everyone got a small present to open at the party. According to Rachel, even that modest custom began to get out of hand, and so the family abandoned it a while back. Here and now, all the gift-exchanging would have happened at people’s homes the night before, or earlier this morning. Since everyone had more or less eaten their fill, the clean-up crew started gathering the leftovers and setting them to one side so that the people who’d brought something could claim their platters and bowls and whatnot.
Both Rachel and Tobias looked troubled, and Kirby and his boyfriend just seemed awkward, as if they didn’t quite know what to say. I feigned a yawn, then remarked, “Well, I think that turkey’s starting to work on me. Time to go home and take a nap along with the babies.”
“Do they sleep a lot?” Kirby’s boyfriend Jordan asked. He was looking at the babies in their carriers as if they were members of an alien race that he hadn’t decided was friendly or not.
“Yes, but not always at the best time,” I said. “They’re big fans of the midnight feeding. And the 3 a.m. changing. And the — ”
“I think Jordan gets it,” Connor broke in. “But since they’re sleeping now, it’s a good time to slip out.”
True. Better to go while they still looked like little angels instead of screaming their heads off. We headed toward the door, waving goodbye to everyone we saw, and made it out to the Jeep without incident. Ian did wake up and start to fuss a little, but we managed to get him inside the SUV before he really let loose, followed immediately by Emily, who clearly had decided she needed to get in on the act, too.
At least it was a short drive up the hill, and we hurried the twins inside basically as soon as Connor got the car in park. Then they needed to be changed, and fed, and somehow it was already almost five before they fell asleep again, this time in their own cribs. I picked up the baby monitor and brought it downstairs, although I was fairly sure the twins wouldn’t be up again for a while. All those unfamiliar voices and faces at the family gathering had probably worn the little things out.
By that point, I felt as if I wanted to go to sleep, too. But that probably wouldn’t have been a very good idea. Although some people had been drinking at the party, I’d decided against it. Trying to explain to some of the older set that having a glass or two while nursing wouldn’t cause any harm just didn’t seem worth the effort.
Now, though, Connor poured us a couple of glasses of pinot noir, then led me into the living room. Normally we would have relaxed in the family room at the back of the house, but I guessed that he wanted to be where the Christmas tree was.
I sat down on the sofa and set the receiver for the baby monitor on the coffee table while he went and got another fire going. Easy enough for a warlock; stack the logs, point your finger, and instant flame. It sure beat messing around with newspapers or starter logs or whatever else civilians had to use to get a fire started.
Then he came back and said, “So….”
“So Evan’s married to a civilian and it’s falling apart, and we’ll have to pay her hush money for the rest of her life so she doesn’t go blabbing about her ex-husband’s family. You know, the usual.”
Connor winced. “Don’t feel too bad. We Wilcoxes have had to do the same thing a time or two as well.” He picked up his wine glass from where he’d set it on the coffee table and took a sip. “It’s a risk. I guess we should count ourselves lucky that these things work out more often than they don’t.”
I supposed he was right. Considering how high the divorce rate was in the general population, it probably wasn’t too bad that we McAllisters only had to deal with one of these clan/civilian divorces every ten or fifteen years or so. I had to wonder why Evan had been so set on Kelly when I knew the elders had tried to talk him out of the marriage.
Well, I didn’t have to wonder too much. She was gorgeous. Just another reason why I’d really disliked her back in the day. Ah, jealousy.
Should I tell Connor that I’d once had a crush on Evan? Probably not. Such a revelation wouldn’t serve any useful purpose, and it was all water under the bridge at this point. Connor was the only man for me and always would be.
“You’re right, of course,” I told him. “And it’ll really be up to the elders to get it all sorted out. I don’t envy them that — I have a feeling that Kelly will try to squeeze as much out of them as possible.”
One eyebrow went up. “You don’t like her very much, do you?”
So much for being discreet. “Not really. I mean, she’s pretty and blonde, but there’s not much there there, if you know what I mean. Evan deserved better.”
“Oh, he did?”
Despite my best efforts to ho
ld it back, I could feel a flush rise in my cheeks. “Yes,” I said, knowing that my tone sounded a little too casual. “He’s a strong warlock. A — well, I guess you could call him a fixer.”
“A fixer?”
“If someone casts a spell that goes wrong, or is too strong, or whatever, he can come in and make it better. Not always all the way back to normal, but enough that a situation doesn’t turn into an outright catastrophe.”
Connor looked impressed. “I hadn’t heard of that one. We definitely don’t have anyone like that in the Wilcox clan.”
Although the Wilcoxes did have people with talents that the McAllister witches didn’t possess. But that was how our magical talents worked — they could bounce around, skip generations, disappear altogether. There didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it that I could tell, although some of the more useful talents, such as healing and weatherworking, did tend to be fairly common. And then there were outliers, like Evan.
“I don’t know of anyone else who has it, either,” I said. “But anyway, because he’s such a strong warlock, of course everyone in the clan would have preferred it if he’d married a witch, not a civilian. Yes, children of witch/civilian pairings can have strong magical talents, but there’s just as good a chance that their gifts won’t be anything to write home about.” I shrugged and picked up my glass of wine, then took a sip. The dark, rich liquid spilled down my throat, and I could feel myself start to relax a little. “And, well…I guess I had kind of a crush on Evan back in the day.”
“You did?” Connor’s eyebrow went up again, but he looked more amused than anything. “Should I be jealous?”
“Of course not. I’m just saying that’s another reason why Kelly isn’t exactly one of my favorite people.”
He seemed to consider my remark for a moment as he sipped from his own glass of wine. “Well, I can totally understand that.”
“So…it doesn’t bug you?”
“Why should it?” Connor set down his wine glass and moved closer to me, then put his hand on my knee. His fingers felt very warm through the fabric of my jeans, and once again heat stirred within me. I sent a wary glance at the baby monitor, but I hadn’t heard a peep from it since we’d sat down on the couch.
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