Spellbound Falls

by Janet Chapman

  “C-can’t you just make him better without involving Sophie?”

  “Yes.” He touched his finger to her lips when she tried to speak. “But I would suggest you think before asking me to, Olivia. Have you not been teaching me that it’s our place to help our children embrace life rather than protect them from it?”

  “But she’s only eight.”

  “And weren’t you only four when your world collapsed around you? And yet you not only survived, you managed to turn into the woman I moved mountains to marry. Empower your daughter to do the same, Olivia, by giving her the chance to do this.”

  Though he could tell she was very much afraid, she blew out a resigned sigh. “I hate it when you turn my words back on me.” She arched a brow. “Since when did you start sprinkling little pearls of wisdom around like rain? That’s supposed to be my claim to fame.”

  He kissed the tip of her cute little nose and started walking down the mountain again. “Do you not know that every teacher is in danger of being outsmarted by their student?” Giving her a reassuring squeeze when she silently slipped her hand back into his, Mac sighed loudly. “Am I ever going to get my jacket back?”

  “This old thing?” she said, plucking at the collar sticking out of the top of her rain slicker. “Why would you want a jacket with a finicky zipper that only works when it wants to? Speaking of which,” she said, stopping again, “you might think it’s expedient to manipulate locks and zippers and stuff, but I have no intention of being married to a controlling husband. So you better stop using your fancy tricks on me.”

  “Or else… what?” he asked with a laugh. “What are you going to do, wife? Lock me in my room? Burn my dinners? Withhold sex?”

  One delicate brow arched into her hairline. “Oh, I rarely get mad, but I always get even. And just so you know, you’re not the only member of this family with a few tricks hidden up his or her sleeve.”

  “At the risk of bursting my apparently nefarious bubble, I’m afraid your seat belt and door locks and zippers not working were more your doing than mine. Each time you found yourself trapped, it was because you were right where you wanted to be.” He shrugged. “I can’t help it if that also happened to be exactly where I wanted you.”

  She reached up and pulled his face down to within an inch of hers. “Then I guess it’s a good thing you married a woman brave enough to love you,” she whispered as she started to kiss him.

  Only Mac held back, needing to give her the words he knew she so desperately needed to hear. “A woman I am so deeply and passionately in love with that I will continue to move heaven and earth and any mountains in my way to be with her.”

  “Ohmigod, is that a promise or a threat?”

  “That, my little tigress wife, is both,” he said quietly, capturing her gasp in his mouth as he decided to finally reclaim his jacket—only to discover it was all she was wearing under her rain slicker.

  Epilogue

  Olivia sat on the steps of the lodge, her arm slipped through Ezra’s as she watched John and Eileen’s car—which was also carrying Jessica Pilsner and little Riley—disappear over the knoll behind their moving van.

  “Now there’s a sight I was afraid I wouldn’t live long enough to see,” Ezra said as he tried to stand up. “So come on, girl, let’s get you moved into the main lodge where you belong.”

  Olivia held him sitting beside her. “I’m in no hurry. I’m still getting used to the idea that it’s really mine.”

  He patted her knee, giving a soft snort. “You didn’t exactly get Inglenook the way you were expecting, but Sam told me he checked and the deed is definitely in your name.” He shot her a confounded look. “Or rather it’s in Olivia Oceanus’s name. You gonna tell me exactly when you ran off and got married?”

  Olivia leaned her head on his shoulder to hide her smile, and twined her fingers through his. “The wedding’s this Saturday, actually. Mac just put my married name on the deed to make sure I said yes.”

  Ezra’s fingers tightened around hers. “You… um, you don’t think the Oceanuses are a… that they’re sort of… aw, hell, Olivia, they’re strange people.” She felt him shudder. “And that Titus fellow is downright spooky.” He lifted his shoulder to get her to sit up. “Rana’s about as far from Eileen as they come, but are you sure you’re not trading in a pain-in-the-ass mother-in-law for an even scarier father-in-law?”

  She rested her head on his shoulder again with a laugh. “Titus is a bigger cupcake than you are, you old… Grampy,” she whispered. She leaned up and gave him a kiss on his startled cheek. “Thank you for being the best grandfather in the whole wide world. I never would have survived without you and Dor… Grammy. Will you give me away to Mac on Saturday? I promise it’ll be the last time you’ll have to walk me down a church aisle.”

  His clouded eyes grew misty as he clutched her fingers between his trembling hands. “Can you find it in your heart to give Sam that privilege, Olivia? Now I know you feel like he abandoned you,” he rushed on, squeezing her hand when she tried to speak. “But I swear Sam did what he did because he loves you more than life itself. And I also know the only reason he made it back from some of his missions was because he needed to be around to watch over you. Maybe not in the way you would have liked, but… aw, hell,” he said, his shoulders slumping as he lowered his gaze to their hands. “From the day you were born that boy did everything in his power to give you whatever you needed.”

  “I know,” she managed to whisper past the growing lump in her throat.

  “Please let him walk you down the aisle. If not for Sam, then would you consider doing it for me?” He reached up and pressed her face against his shoulder, stroking a trembling thumb over her damp cheek. “I’m getting too old to keep giving you away.”

  “It’s kind of difficult to ask him anything, seeing how he disappeared the moment Mac let you two out of that room.”

  Ezra snorted. “Sam was just about to try burning his way out of there when Mac showed up. That door could have been made of steel for the way it wouldn’t give, and Sam said even bulletproof glass wasn’t that indestructible. Nothing he tried worked.” He shook his head. “I swear I ain’t never seen that boy lose his cool like that. And I hope to hell I don’t live long enough to see it again.” His eyes grew misty again as he clung to her. “He was scared to death for you, Olivia. And though he won’t admit it, Sam’s getting too old to keep playing his games. He risked everything to be here for you this time, because I think after Doris died he… he’s worried that if anything happens to me that you’d be all alone.”

  “Nothing’s going to happen to you.”

  “Well jumped-up old monkey poop, I know that,” he said gruffly. “I intend to still be here when Sophie walks down the aisle.”

  Olivia wiped her eyes. “If you have any way of contacting Sam, you tell your son that if he wants to see me, he knows where I am.”

  “Why don’t you tell him yourself?” he said, his gaze moving past her shoulder.

  Olivia went utterly still.

  “I’m sorry for disappearing the other day,” Sam said to her back. “But I needed some time alone to… sort things out.” She felt more than heard him step closer. “If it’s any consolation, I didn’t go far. I’ve been staying with Dad for the last three days.” He moved to the bottom of the stairs and Olivia turned to face him, the lump in her throat nearly strangling her when she saw the utter defeat in his eyes. “I’ll understand if you don’t want anything to do with me,” he continued, stepping closer. “But I need to tell you that I was able to find a bone marrow donor in France for little Riley. I can have the woman in California a week from next Monday, and keep Sophie out of it completely.”

  Olivia stared at him in silence. He was going to remain on the outside looking in, she realized; always working in the shadows where it was safe.

  Probably because he’d been doing it so long, he didn’t know any other way.

  “Thank you, but Sophie wants to save her hal
f brother’s life.”

  Sam smiled sadly. “Your little girl comes by her courage honestly.”

  “My birth certificate says my father is unknown. What’s your real name?”

  He hesitated, then shrugged. “I’ve grown pretty used to Sam.”

  She could actually see him disappearing right before her eyes, slipping away from her and Sophie and his father. And suddenly everything fell into place: the prom dress that was too expensive for a foster girl to even dream of wearing that Doris had bought her, her first car—a sturdy full-sized truck—that Ezra had gotten her for her eighteenth birthday, the college scholarship she’d received out of the blue, and her small but elegant wedding the Dodds had insisted on giving her. All of it—everything—had come from Sam. Even the substantial savings Doris had left her, and the money Ezra seemed to always have too much of; Sam had been supporting his parents, who in turn had been supporting her.

  And what money couldn’t buy, he’d provide some other way.

  Even as she tried to wrap her mind around all he’d secretly done for her, Olivia wondered when the last time was that he’d slept with both eyes closed.

  “Well,” he said gruffly, turning to slowly limp away. “I guess I should be going.”

  “Did you know I broke my elbow when I was seven?”

  He stopped and stood stiffly, not turning around. “I know.”

  “And that when I was nine, on my first day at a new school, Frankie Turner walked up and kissed me right on the mouth?”

  “I know you sent him home with a bloody nose.” He turned to her. “And that you spent an hour in detention every day after school for the rest of the week.”

  Olivia patted Ezra’s knee and stood up, then walked down the stairs and over to Sam. “Stay,” she whispered. “Stay here in the light with me, Sam, and with your granddaughter and with your dad.”

  “I can’t, Olivia. I’d be putting all of you in danger.”

  She smiled, even as she gestured toward Bottomless. “I just found out that mountains really do move, sometimes as easily as wishing them to. You tell me which ones are casting their shadows on you, and I’ll see what I can do about getting them out of your way.” She pressed her palm to his pounding heart. “Stay and walk me down the aisle Saturday. Be here to hold Sophie’s hand while they draw her marrow. And keep Ezra from rattling around in his empty house.” She wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his pounding heart. “Stay.”

  Olivia closed her eyes with a sigh of pure pleasure when he hesitantly folded her into his embrace. “I’m not sure I want to give you away to Oceanus,” he said thickly. “Because near as I can tell, he doesn’t actually exist.”

  “Oh, he exists, all right.” She leaned back just enough to smile up at him, not quite ready to step out of her father’s arms—not that he seemed to mind. “Mac’s just as real as…” She patted his chest. “Well, he’s as real as you are. And I love him, and he loves me. And come Saturday at noon sharp, I’m going to find myself with more honest-to-God family than I know what to do with.”

  She turned serious, staring up into his deep liquid gray eyes. “Come home, Dad. Spend the next thirty-three years with us, and let me keep you safe for a change.” She smiled at his surprise. “I’m a lot stronger than I look. And I have it on good authority that wisdom beats brute strength, hands down.”

  Olivia stepped out of his arms and took hold of his hand, and started leading him back to the steps just as Sophie and Henry came running up from the barn and plopped down beside Ezra. “Hey, you two, why the glum faces?” she asked, stopping at the bottom of the stairs but continuing to hold Sam’s hand so he couldn’t disappear again.

  “Sophie told me Mr. Caleb’s going to take the horses back when he comes to our wedding on Saturday,” Henry said. “And when I asked Dad why we couldn’t just buy them, he told me that his satchel of money was empty because he just bought us a really big wedding present.”

  “I see. And you don’t have any money of your own?” Olivia asked in mock surprise. “You haven’t saved any of your allowance?”

  The boy frowned at her. “What’s an allowance?”

  Sophie jumped to her feet. “Wait! I’ve got forty-three dollars and seventy-five cents in my piggy bank. Would that be enough to buy Pegasus?”

  “Well, I don’t know,” Olivia said. “I guess that’s something you’d have to ask our horse wrangler.” She held out her hand to Sophie even as she tightened her grip on Sam’s. “But first, I think I should properly introduce you to each other.” She gave her confused daughter a squeeze when the girl slipped her tiny hand inside hers. “Because seeing how maturely you’ve handled all the surprises you’ve gotten over the last few days, I thought you might be ready for a couple more. Sophie, I would like to introduce you to my dad and your granddad, Sam.”

  Sophie gasped so hard she actually clasped her chest as her gaze darted to Olivia. “He… he’s your dad?” she squeaked, her big brown eyes going to Sam. “And my grandfather?” She looked back at Olivia, clearly confused. “But you said your dad was dead,” she whispered.

  “I thought he was,” Olivia whispered back, tightening her grip on Sam when she felt him take a deep breath. “But it turns out he was just having a really hard time getting back to me.” Olivia crouched down to be at eye level with her daughter, only to discover Sophie had grown more than she realized. “You want to hear something else that’s way cool, sweetie? Instead of calling him Mr. Ezra,” she said, nodding toward the stairs. “From now on you can call him Great-Grampy, because Ezra is Sam’s daddy—which makes him my Grampy and your Great-Grampy.”

  Sophie went back to clutching her chest, utterly speechless as her gaze darted from Olivia to Sam to Ezra, then back to Olivia. “Honestly really?” she whispered.

  Olivia nodded. “Honestly really.” She stood up. “So, Grampy Sam, do you think Caleb will sell Pegasus for forty-three dollars?”

  “And seventy-five cents,” Sophie interjected.

  Being a tad over six feet tall, Sam started to crouch down to the girl, only to falter because of his stiff back.

  “I’ve got you,” Olivia said, using her grip to steady him even as she chuckled. “See, I told you I’m stronger than I look.

  “I’m not ready for a wheelchair yet,” he muttered, obviously more confounded than embarrassed. He looked at Sophie, narrowing his eyes as he tapped his chin in thought. “Well, I suppose with a little haggling, you might get Caleb down to forty-three dollars and seventy-five cents.”

  “Oh, Sophie,” Henry cried, leaping off the steps and running to her. “You’re going to get to buy Pegasus!”

  “But, Mom,” Sophie said. “What about Henry? It’s no fun to go on trail rides all by myself. He needs to buy a horse, too.”

  “Hmmm.” Olivia also tapped her chin. “Let me think. Grampy Ezra,” she said, looking toward the stairs. “Isn’t there some old tradition that says the bride is supposed to give her new stepson a wedding present?”

  Ezra’s eyes lit with laughter. “The way I recall it, she’s supposed to give the entire family a present. Especially if she happens to find herself with a sizable savings account she doesn’t need anymore.”

  Olivia was suddenly a tad confounded herself. She’d scrimped and saved for more than six years to buy Inglenook, and she was afraid it was going to be a tad harder parting with her savings than it had been amassing it.

  Wait; if Mac’s satchel of money was empty, exactly how were they supposed to build a fancy resort?

  She was suddenly glad that a small army of oceanographers and geologists were arriving tomorrow to study Thursday’s phenomenon; renting them her cabins would at least keep food on the table and make payroll for the skeleton crew she was keeping.

  “It’s okay, Miss Olivia,” Henry said. “Just your marrying us is gift enough.”

  Olivia immediately crouched in front of him. “But I want to buy you a horse, Henry, because Sophie’s right; not only isn’t it any fun ri
ding alone, it’s not safe, either. So you’d really be doing me a favor by going along to watch out for her.”

  She would swear his young chest expanded a good two inches. “I believe that would be very wise. And to repay you, I will get up every morning at the crack of dawn to water and feed the horses.”

  “I’m afraid it’s going to have to be before dawn, sport,” she said, standing up and ruffling his hair. “Because first thing Monday morning, your daddy and I are signing you up for school.”

  He gasped so hard he nearly fell over. “I’m going to school?”

  “Oh no, Henry,” Sophie said, “you’re going to be in Isabel’s class.”

  Henry started backing away, shaking his head. “I’m really not sure I’m ready for school, Miss Olivia,” he whispered, bumping into the steps and sitting down with a thud.