Witch Christmas

by Caroline Mickelson

  Liam took a deep breath. He could meet them halfway, they were his family and he loved them. Dearly. But they needed to try harder. "I only ask that you give Tessa another chance. It's ironic that it's Christmas and everyone is so wrapped up in worrying about what gifts to buy for each other. But what Tessa needs isn't another cashmere sweater or new handbag, what she needs is acceptance. Acceptance for who she really is. That's the gift you have in your hearts, and after I bring her home, that's the gift I want you to give her. Can you do that?"

  Liam's father laid a gentle hand on his son's arm. "You're a wise man, Liam. I'll try harder. I promise."

  His mother nodded her agreement. "I will too, Liam. I promise. I'll stop looking at Tessa for what she isn't, and start seeing her for what she is. If you see good in her, I'm sure it's there and we'll find it."

  "Thank you, Mop."

  "Rodney, isn't there something you want to say to Liam?" his brother prompted him.

  Liam's uncle tossed the contents of his champagne glass down his throat and set it on the table with a small thud. "Yes, right. Of course there is." He looked around as if he was trying to corral his wandering thoughts. "If you can find your wife and convince her to come back here, I'll make an effort to be nice too." He snapped his fingers. "I know what I can do. I'll answer all of her questions."

  "Questions about what?" Liam eyed his uncle with more than a modicum of suspicion. His unease grew as he watched worry flicker over the other man's face. "What are you talking about, Uncle Rodney?"

  "It's nothing. Not really," Rodney hedged. "Not anything anyone really wants to hear about."

  But Liam wasn't about to be let it go so easily. Not if it gave him a clue about where Tessa might be. "You obviously were referring to something specific. Out with it. What kind of questions was my wife asking you?"

  "Now, no one here needs to get all het up about this-"

  Liam knew nothing good was going to follow a preface like that. He braced himself for his uncle's next words.

  "-but Tessa was full of questions about Damian."

  Mop gasped, his father shifted uneasily in his chair, but Liam sat as still as a block of stone. Damian. Why on earth would Tessa...no wait...the right question was how on earth had she found out about his brother. He'd never said a single word. He met his uncle's gaze head on. "What did she want to know about him?"

  Rodney shrugged. "Plenty, mostly she wanted to know where he was. It could be that she's gone to find him."

  Chapter Six

  "Contessa, do you know this man?" Aunt Trudy looked between Tessa and Damian, and then back again. "Have you two previously met?"

  Tessa tore her eyes away from Liam's brother and focused her attention on her aunt. "No, of course not." She waved her hand around the bar. "Does this look like the kind of place I'd be caught dead in?"

  Damian's snicker annoyed Tessa but she ignored it. She needed to send Aunt Trudy on her way so that could she deal with the matter at hand. Not that the sight of Liam's brother inspired much confidence that this would end well. Quite the contrary.

  "Tessa, I insist you tell me who this is," her aunt demanded.

  Tessa knew an explanation would put her aunt out of her misery but she found herself reluctant to explain Damian's relationship to Liam. The two little boys in the photo might well have been brothers, but the man standing in front of her now simply could not be any more different than her husband. Liam was gentle, handsome, intelligent, wise, and far sexier than any one man had the right to be. Damian appeared to be none of these things. "It's a long story, Aunt Trudy, and I don't have time to explain it now. I need you to let me handle this."

  "Not on your life." The older witch drew herself up, squared her shoulders, and gave Damian a disdainful once over before turning back to her niece. "Tessa, surely you must see the error of your ways. I know the first year of marriage isn't easy, but really, look at this man. How could you possibly think of consorting with him when you have Liam?"

  "Consorting as in cheating? With him?" She drew in a sharp breath. "Is that what you think I'm doing here?"

  "What else am I to think?" Trudy threw up her hands. "You leave your perfectly wonderful husband to meet up with the likes of this...person."

  Before Tessa could recover from the shock of her aunt's erroneous assumption, Damian spoke. "Ladies, I can't take many more of your compliments." His voice was gravely, and held a warning that his patience was wearing thin.

  Which made two of them, and might well be the only thing they ever shared in common. Besides Liam.

  "Aunt Trudy, I've got this handled. And I swear, on the graves I live to haunt, that I will tell you everything when I get back home. Until then you're going to have to leave and trust that I know what I'm doing." Tessa watched her aunt carefully for a sign that she was bending to her niece's will. "The sooner you leave, the sooner I can go home. To Liam."

  Trudy's shoulders sagged, signaling her resignation. "This is just all so unsavory."

  "I completely agree." Tessa laid a gentle hand on her aunt's shoulder. "The cigarette smoke alone is making me sick. So let's just leave. You go first and I'll follow behind you."

  "Right behind me?"

  "Right behind you," Tessa lied.

  But still her aunt hesitated. "I just don't trust the looks of this-" but her next words were lost in a puff of blue smoke.

  Incredulous, Tessa stared until the blue fumes completely dissipated. She turned to Damian. "What have you done?"

  "Moved things along, I hope."

  "Where did you send my aunt?"

  "Home. Don't fuss. She'll be fine. I just couldn't handle the both of you cackling at the same time." He motioned with his head in the direction of the bar. "How about we have that drink?"

  "But, I don't understand. How did you do that?" She glanced down at the floor where her aunt had just been standing. There wasn't a single speck of gold glitter where there should be a small pile. A ripple of fear ran through Tessa. Something was wrong. She met Damian's eyes. "What are you?"

  He went around the back side of the bar, pulled out two glasses and smacked them onto the counter. "What's your poison of choice?"

  "Don't try to distract me, Damian Kennedy."

  "Damian, just call me Damian," he growled. He put his hands on the bar and leaned forward. "Kennedy is a dirty word in my world."

  "Well, it's not in mine." Tessa came toward the bar and mirrored his body language by leaning on it from her side. She pinned him to the wall with her gaze. "So you may call me Mrs. Kennedy."

  "Vodka it is, then." Damian took a bottle from the shelf and poured a measure in each glass. He pushed one toward her. "Here you are, Tessa."

  Tessa ignored the drink in front of her and reached for the one nearest him instead. She wasn't about to take any chances. She lifted it to her lips but then paused. "Shall we drink a toast to my husband?"

  Damian tossed his drink back without answering. He slammed his empty glass down.

  Undaunted, Tessa lifted her glass. "To Liam Kennedy, a true gentleman in every sense of the word." But Damian's ungentlemanly chortle stopped her from taking a sip. She resisted the temptation to throw the vodka in his face. "Don't you dare say a word against my husband. I won't hear it. You aren't a fraction of the man he is."

  Damian refilled his glass. "If your husband is such a paragon of virtue, Tessa, then what are you doing here with me?"

  Making the worst mistake of her life. But she wasn't about to admit it. Not to him. First she wanted a few answers, and then she was going to go home to Liam, where she belonged. She tossed her hair over her shoulder. "I'll ask the questions, thank you very much."

  "As you wish, Tessa."

  It didn't escape her notice that he appeared to enjoy needling her by using her given name. But she wasn't about to argue the point with him, not when there was so much more she wanted to learn. "Why are these people still frozen? I don't see a single speck of gold glitter anywhere. Which means you're either very neat,
or you're not a fairy. Which begs the question, what are you?"

  "What am I? Getting pretty sick of your hoity-toity attitude, that's what." Damian poured himself yet another drink and came around to stand beside her. He looked down at her. "Your husband is a first class idiot. He's weak. And he's obviously not satisfying your needs or you wouldn't be here."

  Without thought to the consequences, Tessa reached up and slapped Damian across the face so hard that the palm of her hand stung like the devil. God, she wanted to go home. She'd been an absolute fool to have come here.

  He lifted a hand to cradle the side of his face. "Don't ever do that again."

  "Don't ever speak about your brother again unless you're being respectful."

  "He's not my brother. Not any longer."

  Curiosity warred with her desire to flee. Leaving would be the smart thing to do but she couldn't help herself. "Why do you dislike him so much?"

  "Dislike? Ha. It's far more than that. I hate him, and the rest of the family, with every fiber of my being. They're all simpering, weak-minded blackhearts, and that's being charitable."

  Tessa raised an eyebrow. "That's how you talk about your family?"

  Damian laughed. "Hypocrite. You barely made it through a day and night at my mother's house before you started to stir up trouble."

  "Yes, well, be that as it may, they certainly seem far more appealing now that I've met you." She forced herself to look up at him. "I admit to wanting to take you back with me so that you could reconnect with your family."

  "And?"

  "And perhaps it crossed my mind that your mother would give Liam and I more space if she was preoccupied with you."

  "You're such a liar. But I'm sure you've heard that before, haven't you?"

  She had. Far more often than was strictly warranted, to her mind. "We're not going to talk about me. You're going to tell me what happened that got you banished from your family."

  Damian studied her for a long moment before he spoke. "I'm not giving you anything. You, dear sister-in-law, are the one that is going to give me something. Something I need, and I've been waiting a long time for. You've got just what I want and I'm taking it."

  "Like hell you are." This man was getting nothing from her. She wasn't about to spend another precious second in his company. She was in over her head, and she was leaving, answers be damned. It was her arrogance mixed with more than a pinch of unkindness that brought her here. Leaving without accomplishing what she'd set out to do was the least she deserved. She realized the grave mistake she'd made by coming here. She belonged with the Kennedys, not here. If untold numbers of mortals learned to co-exist with their in-laws, she could too.

  Her mind began to recite the spell that would take her back home. She turned her left palm upwards and flexed the fingers on her right hand but before she could tap her palm, Damian reached out and grabbed a hold of her wrist.

  "Not so fast."

  Tessa tried to tug her arm away but his grip was too strong. "Let go of me." She tried again to free herself but failed. Despite the fear welling up within her, she willed herself to appear calm. This man was not going to get the satisfaction of seeing that she was frightened. He was, however, welcome to a proper display of her anger.

  ***

  An explosion of pain reverberated through Liam's wrist. He winced, but he refused to let that distract him from trying to mentally connect with his wife. No amount of physical pain could match the anguish in his heart. He'd failed his wife. Failed to make her welcome with his family, failed to see that she was uncomfortable enough that she would go looking for trouble, and worst of all, he'd failed to keep her safe. If she was with his brother...the thought made his stomach clench. He had to do something. Before it was too late.

  He massaged his wrist. If Tessa was with Damian, she was in more trouble than she realized. Obviously she'd learned of his existence, but she couldn't have learned all of the sordid details. And one of them in particular put her in grave danger. He began to pace the length of the bedroom. Curse his wings, curse his gold glitter, curse the whole damn fairyhood. He'd give it all up to be a warlock if it meant he could save his wife.

  He pressed his fingers to his temples. "Tessa, love, wish for me to come to you." As a fairy godfather his hands were tied until he received a wish to grant. "Come on, Tessa, wish." Otherwise he could offer her no help. Or hope.

  Chapter Seven

  "Remove your filthy hands from me this instant," Tessa commanded.

  But Damian didn't loosen his grip, instead he pulled her away from the bar and began to drag her toward the back of the building. A tornado of fear raced through her, leaving white hot anger in its wake. With her free hand she reached out to grab on to a table but it didn't topple over as she expected. It had been bolted directly onto the floor, probably so that it couldn't be hurled across the room in the midst of a brawl. Trying to grab onto a frozen-in-the-moment person wouldn't do her a bit of good, the spell cast would render them utterly useless. For lack of any better choice, she let her body go limp and sagged to the floor.

  Her unexpected action caused Damian to lose his hold on her, although she wasn't able to get free of him, she was able to swing her right leg up and slam the heel of her boot into his knee.

  Her efforts were rewarded with a yelp of pain. "You little bitch," Damian ground out.

  "You're not the first to call me that," Tessa taunted him, "and I doubt you'll be the last." She kicked him again, succeeding because he wasn't expecting a repeat attack. This time he loosened his hold on her just enough that she was able to jerk her arm out of his grasp. Before he could lunge for her, Tessa brought her hands together. She struggled to think of just the right spell before he could grab her again.

  Her heart hammered in her chest as her fingers traced the intricate pattern that would stop Damian. She closed her eyes and silently chanted the words to accompany her spell. When her fingers stilled and her lips quit moving she waited for a sign that her spell had taken.

  Her breath caught in her throat as Damian slipped his hand under her elbow and hauled her to her feet. She searched his face for a sign that her spell had broken through whatever defense spell he'd constructed around himself but his eyes were inscrutable. Once her feet were steady underneath her, she took a tiny step backward. "Thank you," she tested him.

  He stared at her for a long moment. "Are you okay?"

  "Are you?" she countered.

  Damian looked around the bar. "What's wrong with everyone?"

  Triumph coursed through Tessa. She'd done it. But now she needed to get everyone else back to normal, which unfortunately meant she'd need to use her last spell. But it would be worth it. She could find her own way home without magic.

  "What do you mean?" She feigned confusion, all the while tracing one last spell that would undo the one Damian had cast on the occupants of the bar. She waited until people were moving before she spoke. "Everyone looks normal to me."

  She felt not a whit for sympathy of him as he looked around the dim interior. The sound of pool balls hitting each other, mixed with the smell of stale beer and cigarette smoke, surrounded the people standing around in clusters. His bewilderment delighted her.

  "Are you sure you're okay, Mr.--what did you say your name was?"

  Damian rubbed his eyes. "I...umm...it's Swine."

  Tessa fought to keep from grinning. "You're Swine?" How brilliantly fitting. "Well, Mr. Swine, if you'll excuse me, I need a bit of fresh air." Forcing herself not to look back to see if he was following her, Tessa threaded her way through the crowd toward the exit. Glee filled her as she pushed open the door and stepped into the sunshine. She lifted her face and inhaled, filled with a deep and abiding gratitude for the martial arts lessons that Aunt Trudy had insisted she attend as a child. A well-placed kick was a wonderful thing indeed.

  With one last glance behind her to make sure that she wasn't being followed, Tessa headed out toward the main road. It had been dark when she'd left the Ken
nedy's house but there still was light in the sky now. It was beginning to fade, but it did orient her to which way was east and which west. Not that the knowledge was particularly helpful, she had no idea where on earth she was. The parking lot opened out onto a gravel road that boasted a tiny shoulder, but no sidewalk. There was nothing for it but to pick a direction and start walking. She looked left, and then right. Right it would be. It was way past time she make the right choice.

  Five dusty miles later, Tessa's relief at having thwarted Damian began to fade away as blisters began to appear on her feet. Really? Mortals lived this way? Trudging about? Sad. It was reason enough to be happy to be a witch. But what could a mortal woman do under these circumstances but keep pressing forward? It was the only thing she could think of to do. Well, that and wishing. She stopped abruptly. Did she dare wish? She wasn't nearly as good at it as she was at casting spells, likely because wishing required a bit of humility and willingness to receive blessings. Something she definitely needed to work on, she knew.

  She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and tried to quiet her mind. "I wish for a comfortable pair of well worn boots that won't hurt my feet," she said aloud. She counted to five, opened her eyes, and saw nothing but the dirt road in front of her. Disappointment be damned, she would try again. She closed her eyes. "I wish for my broomstick to carry me home." Again she opened her eyes. Still nothing. She sighed. Obviously this wasn't going to work. As reluctantly as one foot was ever put in front of another, she started forward again.

  "Oh, Liam, I wish you were here," she spoke the words aloud, just above a whisper. More than anything in the entire world, her husband was what she wanted. Where she wanted to be. Crazy family and all, she'd take them as a package deal.

  "Turn around, Tessa."

  She stopped and slowly turned around. Liam, her amazing miracle of a husband, stood with her favorite pair of boots in one hand, her broomstick in the other. But it was the loving look in his eyes that filled her with relief. And delight.