“Oh, do have another sweet, Uncle!” Violet giggled.
“Now, sprite,” Uncle Seamus said. “‘Tis true I’ll be as fat as an Ulster
Leprechaun if I eat another.”
Violet laughed again. When she turned, she spotted them and her face lit with pleasure. “Brianna!” She ran to them. “Luke! I’m so surprised to see you.”
“Why, love?” Brianna asked as she hugged her sister.
“Sean said that you and Luke wouldn’t show yourselves until tonight, if then.”
Brianna’s cheeks turned pink again. Aye, but the lass was fetchin’ when she blushed.
“We had to see our family, sprite,” Luke said. “‘Twill be time enough for us to be alone.”
Violet shrugged and returned to his uncle’s side. She plucked a candy from the bowl on the table beside Seamus’s chair. “Mrs. O’Grady makes the loveliest confections, Brianna.”
“But there’s more substantial offerings in the kitchen,” Uncle Seamus offered.
“Seems the sprite here wakes with the sun.”
“Have you eaten breakfast then, love?” Brianna asked. “Taken your medicine?”
Violet laughed. “I don’t need to take that anymore, remember?”
Brianna glanced at Luke and nodded. “True. We’ll go eat something, then.”
“Hungry, lad?” Seamus teased.
Luke swallowed a grin as he followed his wife into the kitchen. After eating slices of ham and steaming eggs, the two of them returned to the living room. Violet seemed a bundle of positive energy, laughing, skipping, and clapping her hands at something Uncle Seamus had just told her. When the child spotted Brianna, she once more hurried to her side.
“Oh, can we bring Grandmother here, Brianna?” Violet asked.
Brianna appeared confused, but he didn’t miss the hope in her eyes. “I don’t know, love. Without my key, I don’t know if we can find her.”
“You can find her, Brianna,” Seamus said. “I know these things.”
“How, Uncle?” Luke asked.
Seamus just winked. Luke was so pleased to have his uncle back and whole that he’d let the secret rest. For now.
“Violet is strong again, lass,” Luke offered. “Maybe together you can work your magic?”
Brianna nodded and joined hands with her sister. That blue light he had glimpsed at the hospital back Indianapolis flashed and filled the living room. As Luke watched, unseen wind blew their golden hair about. They closed their eyes and their lips moved in accord, words Luke could barely hear and couldn’t recognize. Luke looked at his uncle again and found the man watching the two Pixies with unrestrained satisfaction as his red curls danced about in the air the Pixies stirred. What was the wily old man thinking?
With a resounding pop, a figure appeared in the middle of the room. Clothed in pants of gray topped with a blue sweater, the old woman looked sharp and spry. White hair replaced the gold, but she was undeniably another pretty Pixie. Brianna and Violet parted and the wind that had whipped through the room settled.
“Grandmother!” Violet chirped.
The woman’s eyes sparkled as she bent down to hug the child. “You look well, Violet.”
The child hugged her grandmother’s neck and nodded. “They healed me,
Grandmother.” She released her and grinned. “Brianna and Luke.”
The woman straightened and looked at Luke. “You’re the one, then.”
Luke saw the same glint of knowledge in her blue eyes he’d seen in Seamus’s green ones. What was going on here?
“What are you saying, Grandmother?” Brianna asked.
“The key, love.” The woman smiled at Brianna. “It led you to the one to unite the Cornish Pixies and Meath Braunach now.”
“Now?” Brianna asked. “But the gold was stolen nearly two hundred years ago.”
“Just last month, lass,” Seamus corrected.
Luke shook his head in confusion. His manners returned and he bowed to
Brianna’s grandmother. “A pleasure to meet you, Madam.”
“Nonsense, boy.” The woman waved at the air and hugged him tightly. She
laughed and turned to Seamus. “Ah, the Braunach. We’ve tried for generations to get the two together, haven’t we?”
Luke’s uncle nodded. “Aye, Madam Pixie. Thirty years, by my count. Though I didn’t realize how sick I’d become.” He turned to Luke. “I’m sorry I troubled you, Luke.
You and your brothers.”
“We love you, Uncle,” Luke said. “We only worried about you.”
“But why, Grandmother?” Brianna asked. “I don’t understand.”
“Over two hundred years ago—” Her grandmother chuckled. “Well, about um…
thirty years ago now, I think. A Braunach lost his heart when his Pixie fiancée drowned.”
She sat down on the settee near the hearth and Brianna and Violet flanked her. The old woman put her arm around the child as she patted Brianna’s leg. “She was our ancestor, Brianna. Ever since, we’ve been trying to unite the two clans.”
“Thirty years,” Luke said. “Wait! ‘Twas you, Uncle?”
“Aye, Luke,” Seamus said. “I was to wed a Pixie, but she drowned when the tide trapped her in one of those deep Cornwall caves.” He stared at Brianna, an absent smile
on his lips. “She was as bonny as your Pixie, too. ‘Tis why I never married.” He looked at Luke. “Even with my amber I could not make it right. Until now.”
“But why now, Uncle?” Luke asked. “Why me?”
“I didn’t know it would be you, lad,” Seamus said. “I knew when the time was right one of the Pixies would make use of our gold.”
Brianna’s grandmother took her hand. “You know we’ve had the MacDonald gold for generations, Brianna. We could only use it in a matter of life and death.” She touched Violet’s cheek. “And this got both jobs done right and tight. Uniting you to your Braunach and healing our Violet.”
“But what of O’Shey?” Luke asked.
Uncle Seamus shrugged. “I don’t know how that imp learned of the Pixies, lad.
Good that he did, no?”
Luke gazed at his wife, the love of his life, the beat of his heart. “Aye.”
“The key, Grandmother,” Brianna said. “From the caves on the Cornish coast.
You said it brought more than magic.”
“Yes,” her grandmother said.
“What, then?” she asked.
Luke grinned as the answer struck him. “Love.”
Epilogue
Ireland, 1815
“Papa!”
Luke glanced up from his workbench to see his son barreling toward him on
sturdy legs. At nearly four years old, Bryce possessed his mother’s blue eyes and his father’s auburn curls. However, Luke knew physical features weren’t all the child inherited from his parents.
Patrick followed behind the boy, a faint smile on his lips. “Hello, Luke.”
Luke nodded to his brother. “Patrick.”
In the years since Seamus’s illness, the brothers still had not talked about whatever was wrong with Patrick during that time. And while Seamus was his old merry self, Patrick was still guarded, still holding the darkness Brianna said she’d sensed about him. Luke knew today wouldn’t be the day Patrick finally revealed what still haunted him.
“Hello, lad.” Luke scooped Bryce into his arms. “Where, pray, is your mama?”
“Still with Aunt Violet.”
Brianna was back in Cornwall, then. In the future, as it were. Since their marriage, Brianna’s own magic had grown more powerful. She no longer needed a talisman like her crystal to travel over time or place.
“‘Tis true your mama likes to do her shopping,” Luke said.
Bryce wrinkled his nose. “Girl stuff.”
Luke laughed. “Aye.” He placed his son on the floor and took his hand. “I be finished for the day, I wager.” He nodded to Patrick, who turned his attention to his own
workbench. “What say we men go pay a visit on Uncle Seamus tonight, Bryce? After your mama comes home.”
The little boy’s eyes rounded. “Oh, aye! And maybe he can tell me more stories?”
“Stories, pray?” Luke asked.
Bryce clicked his tongue. “Stories, Papa. Like the one about the MacDonald gold.”
Luke hid his smile. Seamus liked to regale the boy with tales of stolen gold and how that gold finally united a Braunach to his Pixie. ‘Twas true, that was one story Luke could listen to again and again.
“What about Indianapolis, Bryce?” he asked. “You don’t want any tales of that place?”
That turned the boy’s attention. “Oh, aye! When can we go there again, Papa?”
Luke laughed again. They waved good-bye to Patrick and made their way back home. When they arrived, Brianna stood in the middle of the living room. Luke’s Pixie turned from glossy bags piled on the settee, bags bearing names he now recognized as being from the finest stores in London. Thank God, their gold was restored soon after Seamus’s sanity. It had reappeared as if never being gone. And since Luke knew better than to question the fates, he’d simply accepted it. Besides, what was gold when compared to his other treasures?
Brianna hugged their son to her, dropping kisses on his curls. She straightened, fixing her gaze on Luke. That warmth filled his body and, as always, his heart. He held her close, bringing his lips to hers for a sweet kiss, but Bryce wedged himself between them.
“What did Aunt Violet say, Mama?”
Brianna laughed and ruffled the boy’s hair. “She said to get ready for another magic lesson when she comes at Christmas, love.” She reached into her pocket and withdrew a small pouch of deep blue. “And Great Grandmother sent you this.”
Bryce’s mouth gaped as she withdrew a crystal key from the pouch. When his small hand closed around it, a crackle of blue light filled the room. Luke knew what that light meant. Pixie magic.
“Brilliant, Mama!”
With that, Bryce ran off toward his bedroom.
“Violet is well, then?” Luke asked Brianna.
“Yes,” Brianna said. “You mustn’t worry over her.”
Luke shrugged. “‘Tis a hard habit to break, lass.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled closer. “You’re a good man, Luke MacDonald.”
He gave her a squeeze. “I’m a happy man, Brianna.”
He thought for a moment of all that had happened since his uncle sickened. Of the honor that had sent him searching for his family’s gold. Of the magic that had brought him to Brianna. However, worth more than all of that was the love he’d found. Uncle Seamus had been right. Love had more value than all the gold in Ireland. And Luke would treasure Brianna’s love forever.
About the Author
JoMarie DeGioia has been making up stories for as long as she can remember, and has spent years giving voice to the characters in her head. She’s known Mickey Mouse from the “inside,” has been a copyeditor for her town’s newspaper, and a bookseller. She writes Historical and Contemporary Romances, along with Young and New Adult Fantasy stories. She divides her time between Central Florida and New England.
Discover other books by JoMarie DeGioia
The Dashing Nobles series, including
More Than Passion
Pride and Fire
Just Perfect
More Than Charming
The Cypress Corners series, including
Finding Harmony
Taming Jake
The Gifted Young Adult Fantasy/Adventure Trilogy, including
Gifted
Connect with me online
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JoMarieDeGioia
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JoMarie.DeGioia.Author
Website: www.jomariedegioia.com
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