“Lilith!” Mitch swore with soft eloquence, shoved a hand through his hair and marched down the stairs. He caught Lilith’s elbow in his hand and led determinedly to the back porch. “We have to talk,” he said grimly.
Lilith bit her lip, unable to contain her disappointment. “I suppose that if you feel strongly about it...”
“Lilith!” Mitch spun her to face him when they reached the back porch and caught her shoulders in her hands. “I love kids. I could have twenty of them, as long as I could figure out how to feed them and send them to university. That’s not the problem.”
Hope fluttered in Lilith’s heart. She felt her smile dawn anew. “Really?”
“Really.” Mitch visibly gritted his teeth, then looked her dead in the eye. “But we are getting a bit ahead of things here.”
Lilith folded her arms across her chest and stared up at him, not liking the sound of this at all. “I can’t imagine what you mean. You’re my true love, I’m yours - if nothing else, the loss of my immortality proves that we’re destined to be together...”
Before she could continue, Mitch interrupted.
“Stop! Let’s just linger there for just a moment. Think for a minute about what you call the loss of your immortality.”
Mitch was so serious that Lilith did what he said. “Are you worried that I’ve not really become mortal?” she asked carefully.
Mitch’s lips thinned. “Hardly that.” He paused and looked into her eyes, his hesitation in choosing his words making Lilith brace herself for whatever he was going to say. “Lilith, were you ever really immortal at all?”
Lilith chuckled, she couldn’t help it. He was so solemn - and his question was so ludicrous. “Of course I was! How else would I survive the better part of six centuries?” She shook her head at him. “People don’t live that long, Mitch.”
If she hadn’t known better, she would have thought he ground his teeth. “But Lilith, how could it just change? How could it just go away?” Mitch flung out his hands.” How could this elixir keep you from aging for so long, then just stop working? How could it be cognizant of changes in your life? There’s not a bit of it that makes sense.”
Lilith smiled easily. “Magick makes perfect sense on its own terms.”
“Magic?” Mitch flung out his hands and paced the width of the porch. He rubbed his brow, muttered something about ‘making progress’, then came back to face her again. His lips were drawn to a thin line, his eyes were devoid of a twinkle. “Lilith, it’s time we got to the bottom of this. You have to know that there is no such thing as magic, that potions don’t work, that no one can see the future.”
Lilith blinked. Then she laughed. “I don’t know any such thing!”
But Mitch didn’t smile. He watched her and a sadness dawned in his eyes.
Lilith sobered as cold dread slithered down her spine. She took a step closer to not miss any change in Mitch’s eyes. “You’re not serious?”
Mitch held her gaze unflinchingly. “That was my question.”
Lilith gasped, the conviction in his golden eyes doing nothing to reassure her. Thank goodness she was still there in the shadows of his eyes!
But was her image getting smaller? Fainter?
How could Mitch not believe in magick? Lilith had to persuade him! “Of course there’s such a thing as magick! The world is full of magick, everywhere you turn you catch another glimpse of the great forces at work.”
Mitch looked decidedly unconvinced.
“What about Kurt?” Lilith demanded. “What about Those Men? What about Cooley?”
Mitch just shook his head. “There has to be another explanation. Potions and spells don’t work, Lilith. There are no love spells, no antidote, no great forces of magic at work. It’s just the world, just life. It’s just the way things are.”
Lilith knew she looked skeptical now. “You aren’t going to try and tell me that life isn’t magickal, in and of itself?”
“Science -“
“Phooey on science!” Lilith interrupted sharply. “There isn’t a scientist alive who can satisfactorily explain why those bean plants came out of those seeds.” She pointed to the plants that had unfurled from the beans she and Jason had planted just a week before. “Or what makes a baby’s heart start to pound, or why a child is formed of sperm and ovum some of the time and not others. Can you explain Jen and Jason with mathematics and theorems?”
“I can’t,” Mitch admitted uneasily. “But I’m sure that someone could.”
“No one can,” Lilith replied with heartfelt urgency. “Because there’s something there beyond the cell division and the genetics, something that no one can put their finger right on. The whole reason why is beyond our comprehension. The impetus in the first place is unexplained, never mind the caprice of the same factors not always leading to the same result. It’s magick, Mitch, it’s magick as old as all the earth, which has a special kind of magick all its own.”
“Lilith, the earth is just a great big rock...”
“No. The earth is magick, right to its bones. There’s magick in the air and in the ground and in the sea. No one can tell me why my roses grow bigger and redder when I talk to them, or how all of a plant - or even its blueprint - fits into a single tiny seed. No one can fully explain how the birds know when to go south or how they find their way to somewhere they’ve never been, or how my perennials know when it’s really spring and not just a false start. It’s magick, a magick that the creatures all around us understand and that we willingly deny.”
Lilith waited, she hoped desperately that her argument was going to make some impact. She just couldn’t imagine living with and loving a man who didn’t believe in magick.
Especially after all they’d been through together. How could Mitch deny what had finally brought them back together again?
But, much to Lilith’s disappointment, deny it he did.
“Well, I don’t believe in magic,” Mitch declared with the definitive air of a man who has closed an argument, for once and for all.
Lilith, however, was not prepared to let this go so easily.
It was too important.
“Really?” She leaned closer and poked a finger into his chest. “Then how did I know you, and how did you know me? How did you end up living right beside me?”
“Lilith, we’ve been through all that...”
“Clearly not, if you don’t understand. This is magick, Mitch. There is something special between us that no scientific theory can explain.” She let her voice drop low and knew by the quick flick of Mitch’s gaze that she had his attention. “Ask your scientists why my heart skips a beat when I see you.”
Mitch glanced up suddenly at this admission and Lilith smiled right into his eyes. “It’s not some textbook biological mating urge, because it doesn’t happen when I see anyone else. It doesn’t happen whenever a handsome healthy man crosses my path. Just you. It’s magick, a magick that only applies to you and I.”
Lilith framed Mitch’s face in her hands and felt his conviction waver ever so slightly. He caught his breath as she moved closer. The velvet of the night seemed to slip through the windows of the unlit kitchen and press in on them from all sides. Lilith only knew she had to persuade him of this one simple truth.
“Do you feel that tingle?” Lilith whispered and when Mitch looked into her eyes, she knew he had. There was a fire in his gaze fueled by the very magick they made between them.
Lilith lifted Mitch’s fingertips to the flutter of her pulse at her throat. “What about that?” She brushed her own fingertips across Mitch’s chest and pressed her fingers against the thump of his own increased heartbeat.
“That’s not chemistry,” she insisted softly, “it’s magick. Our magick. It’s recognition - despite an incredible difference of time and place, despite the odds, despite even the difference of the skin you’re in. How can you imagine that it’s anything else?”
Mitch stared down at Lilith as though he couldn’t look away. Sh
e smiled up at him and eased to her toes, liking how his eyes flashed and his arms slid around her.
He whispered her name, then bent and kissed her with an ardor that made Lilith’s heart sing. He might not be persuaded completely, but she was definitely making progress.
* * *
When Mitch lifted his head tantalizingly long moments later, his pulse was thundering in his ears. Lilith caught her breath and smiled just for him. “Magick,” she whispered with delight, then ran a fingertip across his lips.
Her sure touch made him shiver, but Mitch stubbornly attributed that to simple physiology. All the same, it was clear he wasn’t going to make much headway against Lilith’s convictions, at least not tonight.
Maybe this was just another step in working towards an acceptance of what had really happened to her in the past. Mitch took a deep breath, looked into Lilith’s glowing eyes, and decided it was worth letting the lady chart her own course. He supposed that someone who made a business of telling fortunes would need to have at least a cursory faith in magic.
Mitch conceded that he had finally met someone who not only refused to follow his rules, but did so enchantingly that he was more than happy to let her do so.
That made Mitch smile.
In fact, predictability was starting to lose its allure in this woman’s presence. It was time to go with the flow a bit. Mitch took a deep breath and deliberately changed the subject.
“So, what have you been up to this week?” he asked mildly. He caught Lilith’s hand in his and led her to sit on the top step of the porch. Her shoulder bumped against his in a way that made him think of that kiss they had just shared and consider the merits of sharing another. “Make any more lovematches?”
Lilith shrugged and looked across the yard. “Oh, nothing particularly worthy of note,” she said, but there was an undercurrent to her tone.
Mitch really liked that Lilith was as lousy of a liar as he was.
“Doesn’t sound like it,” he suggested.
Lilith smiled and shook her head. “It’s not important.”
But Mitch knew it was. He reached out and touched her chin, turning her to face him. In the light falling from the kitchen, he saw the shadow that had set up camp in Lilith’s eyes.
Something was bothering her. Mitch had a sudden fear that his earlier comments hadn’t been so readily absorbed as he had hoped. Dread rose in his chest and threatened to choke him. Had he pushed Lilith too far, too fast?
His voice sharpened. “What’s wrong?”
Lilith started to shrug, but Mitch wanted to know the worst of whatever he had done.
“Tell me.” He smiled encouragement and winked for her. “You can trust me, can’t you?”
To Mitch’s relief, Lilith smiled in turn. She even leaned her head against his shoulder. Mitch slipped his arm around her waist, liking the warm press of her curves against his side.
“A young man came to see me on Monday,” Lilith admitted quietly. “He was Rom.”
Mitch glanced down at her. “Gypsy?”
Lilith nodded but didn’t continue. Mitch’s imagination conjured up all sorts of possibilities as to why this would trouble Lilith, very few of which he liked.
“Did he bother you?”
She half-laughed. “Yes, but not in the way you mean.” Lilith straightened and tossed back her hair, flicking a hesitant glance upward to Mitch. “He wanted me to visit his grandmother.”
Mitch didn’t understand the connection. “Why?”
“She won’t speak English any more. She’s in the hospital.” Lilith frowned and Mitch knew she hadn’t been unaffected by the young man’s visit. “I think she’s dying,” she added quietly.
“What did he expect you to do?” Mitch wondered whether the visitor had expected some kind of mumbo jumbo healing ceremony with Lilith at the center of it all.
And Lilith taking the blame when magic didn’t deliver the cure.
Well, Mitch wasn’t going to let that happen. His protectiveness was just gearing up when Lilith’s next words killed the engine.
“He wanted me to talk to her,” she admitted softly. “In Rom. Translate, I guess.”
That sounded pretty harmless. In fact, Mitch couldn’t immediately discern what the trouble was. “What did you say?”
“I said no.”
“You didn’t want to get involved?”
“No.” Lilith’s lips set. “I am not Rom anymore.” Her fingers were tightly knotted together, a sure sign that this wasn’t an easy choice for her to make.
Mitch sensed that there was something important behind this assertion. Could Lilith be discarding select parts of her “cover story”? He reached out and ran one fingertip over her knuckles, wanting to help but not push. “Do you speak Rom?”
Lilith’s answer didn’t come immediately.
Mitch simply waited.
“I used to,” she finally said.
“Then, what’s the harm in talking to her?”
Lilith’s gaze swiveled and locked with his. “I am still mahrime. She won’t talk to me.”
Mitch had forgotten that part of the story. “Did you tell him that?”
“No. He wouldn’t have understood.”
Mitch studied Lilith’s profile silently for a long moment. He knew the sound of fear when he heard it - and he also recognized something that might help Lilith deal with her past all by herself. It was so tantalizingly close - she could reach for this solution and Mitch would be right behind her.
“I have to admit,” he said quietly, “that doesn’t sound like you.”
That got Lilith’s attention. “What do you mean?”
“Do whatsoever you will but harm none,” Mitch quoted quietly. “Don’t you think your denial is hurting this woman? And what about her grandson?”
Lilith’s eyes filled with sudden tears, but she didn’t speak.
“I’ve never seen you turn away from anyone or anything, Lilith,” Mitch added softly. “Although we haven’t known each other long, I can see that you always give. Why not this time?”
But if Mitch was expecting his question to make a crack in the veneer of her elaborate story, he was destined to be disappointed.
Lilith’s hands unclenched, she reached and caught at Mitch’s hand. “I’m afraid she’ll reject me.” Lilith took a shaking breath, surprising Mitch with this display of vulnerability. His protectiveness roared. “The way they did before. It was awful to see their eyes...”
Mitch squeezed her fingertips and halted that painful story before she could get too far into it. “But what if she doesn’t?” he dared to suggest. “What if she needs you just as much as you need her?”
Lilith turned and stared into Mitch’s eyes. He didn’t break her regard, and he didn’t know what she saw, but after a few moments, she bowed her head.
She sighed. “I just don’t know what to do.”
But Mitch had a very distinct sense that this was important, that this was something Lilith needed to do. “Do you want me to go with you?”
That offer made her smile, her hand rise to Mitch’s cheek. Lilith’s thumb slid over his lip, her eyes shone slightly. “You’d do it, wouldn’t you?” There was a thread of wonder in her voice that reminded Mitch of how self-reliant she’d had to become.
He smiled for her. “You bet.”
That made Lilith ease closer. She brushed her lips across Mitch’s so slowly that he felt a thrill run all the way down to his toes. “I think you know what it means to be a giving person,” she murmured, her gaze roving over his features, “because you’re a very giving man yourself.”
Before Mitch could answer that, Lilith framed his face in her hands and kissed him deeply. He caught her against him, savoring the sweetness of her kiss, the delicacy of her waist beneath his hand.
Finally, Lilith pulled away, depositing a feather light kiss on each corner of his mouth as though she couldn’t resist him. “I’ll think about it.”
Admiration flooded through Mitch th
at Lilith was working so steadily toward unraveling her past by herself. He was fiercely glad that he had been able to help her, even in such a small way.
“You look exhausted,” she said softly, and Mitch had to nod concession.
“Two all-nighters have a way of getting to you.” He yawned, then looked into her eyes. “You all right?”
“Fine.” Lilith rose and strolled to the gate, waving her fingertips at him from her porch. “I think I could get used to having a champion around,” she mused, then smiled.
Mitch smiled. “There’s no rest for the wicked,” he complained amiably. “See you tomorrow night?”
Much to Mitch’s disappointment, Lilith shook her head. “I have readings booked every evening, but surely we’ll see each other on the weekend.”
“Kurt and I will probably end up waking you up.”
“But the fence is done.”
“This weekend, we’re going to patch the roof.”
“Is Andrea going to watch the children?”
Mitch grimaced. “I haven’t asked her yet. After calling her at the last minute this week, I thought I’d give it a few days.”
Lilith folded her arms across her chest, her gaze intent. “Let me watch them Saturday, Mitch. Andrea will be getting ready for her trip and we can have a little trial run while you’re still around.”
“That’s a great idea, although I’m sure Andrea will turn up at some point. Don’t let us wake you up too early.”
Lilith smiled, then tilted her head abruptly, as though she was listening to something. Mitch listened, but couldn’t hear anything at all. “I’ll be up early on Saturday,” she declared softly, her certainty catching Mitch’s attention.
“You sound pretty sure of that.” Mitch leaned against the pillar on his porch. Lilith’s last luscious kiss was going to keep him from sleeping anytime soon, he knew that.
“There’s something in the wind,” she whispered mysteriously. “Something almost as special as finding you again.”
Before Mitch could ask, Lilith kissed her fingertips, then disappeared into her house.
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