The Dashing Witch (The Ward Witches) (10 page)

“
About what in particular?”

“
I remember the story of your names, but you really didn't talk about your childhood past when your mom died.”

“
Going for the hard stuff first, huh?”

“
Might as well. I'm curious. It's better than prying into your mind, right?”

He laughed. “If I tell you, you're going to have to do the same.”

“
Fair enough.”

“
As you remember, my mother drowned herself with her magic. Our father didn't deal with it well, and he buried himself in work to an extent to not have time for us. It meant that the four of us grew really close. We had a variety of witches taking care of us, but there wasn't much consistency beyond me and my siblings. To be honest, if I regretted anything, it’s that I haven’t stayed as close to my siblings as I was. Leo and Dymphna went off to college, and Seb and I stayed here to run the Coven.”

“
You’re still young enough to change that.”

“
You’re right. I just have to figure out how.”

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I think you’ll be fine.”

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God, here I am, spilling my soul.  Hope I’m not boring you or anything.”

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Nothing of the sort. People say I’m a good listener. Somewhere between that and my air magic, people will tell me a lot more than they necessarily intend to. I like listening to people.”

“
That’s good.”

“
Served me well in publicity.”

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I'll bet it did. I never asked: what did you do about your job?”

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I quit. With the Coven Campaign, I won't have time for one thing, and for another, I decided it was time to move on with that stage in my life and get out of LA. I've got enough money saved up that the baby and I will be fine for long enough to get things sorted out.”

“
That's good. But you've neglected to think that I'll be here for you. Even if things don't work out between us, I'll still help support you and the baby.”

“
Thanks. I appreciate that.”

“
Hell, it will be nice to have something to spend money on besides an entertainment center that no one sees anyway.”

“
So I guess the Coven pays well?”

“
Hell no. When my father was Duke, my mother managed to frivolously spend all the saved resources before anyone even realized the money was gone. People tithe to the Coven, but not that well.” He paused, as if he was going to stop there.

“
Well? Tell the whole story. I'm interested now.”

“
It was clear that there wouldn't be enough money for Seb and me to go to college from the outset. Of course, when our father died, we had to take on greater responsibility and wouldn't have been able to anyway. But when we were sixteen, Dad gave us a challenge. He said that some people have to make their own way in the world without a college degree to back them. His idea was to give us a thousand dollars apiece, and the challenge was to see who could make that amount increase the most. The winner after one year would get an extra thousand to help their project. He saved as much money as he could to finance our project, and that made a difference in how we approached it too.

“
Seb and I talked, and we even considered doing something together. But in the end, we decided to play the stock market. We did our research and based purchasing decisions on that. Seb was not allowed to use his air magic to influence his choices unfairly.”

“
So what happened?”

“
We made a killing, considering that we were teenagers relying on newspapers and good luck. At the one year mark, I was winning, but I had enough that I could turn down the reward money, instead donating it to Coven needs. Since then, we try to keep current with the news as much as possible considering our jobs, so we're not as active in trading anymore. But we've got enough of our shares in enough different companies that we're doing very well financially. We don't take a salary for our work in the Coven, and we actually contribute quite a bit to operating costs.

“
I've made a cool couple of million with savvy trading over many years, and if spending it on my wife and child isn't a worthwhile way to spend my money, I don't know what is.”

Melanie tried to soak it all in. “That's an amazing story. You must have worked really hard to get that kind of success.”

He smiled. “I did. But it was also a lot of fun. Now it's your turn. I've spilled my life story, and you promised to do the same.”

“
You're right; I did. I like to think I was born to a normal family. My mother and father were bonded and had one child. Then for some reason, my mother left. My father wouldn't tell me why, and to be honest, I don't really care anymore. She wasn't in my life, and I made my peace with that a long time ago. My father was lightly involved in the Coven. He went to meetings occasionally, and he started taking me along when I turned ten. They tested me there, and one thing led to another. It quickly became apparent that I was the most powerful air witch in America.

“
It was about the worst news for me. The community had expectations of me, and my father had expectations of me. I was trained by anyone who would try, and eventually I started avoiding witches entirely. The Waverly boys were the exception. They seemed to genuinely like me Richard and I made plans, as you remember.”

“
I do,” Justin said darkly.

“
Then I got the letter personally inviting me here. Despite my dislike for Coven politics, when I got the personalized letter, I felt I had to come. Then I met you, and suddenly being branded as powerful wasn't nearly as bad.”

He grinned. “I'm glad you feel that way.” But he still sensed that there was something about her family life she was leaving unsaid. He wasn't an air witch, but he could tell. If she didn't want to share yet, though, he wasn't going to force her hand.

“
Being around so many powerful people in the summit and in your family, I'm not as much of a freak show. And it seems that we'll be having a powerful baby. I'll make sure he or she doesn't feel the stigma of being too damn powerful.”

“
We'll be sure to do that,” Justin corrected with a kiss to her nose.

They talked about lighter things through the end of the documentary, which Melanie was frankly amazed she was able to stay awake for. Justin settled in beside her on the bed, and she lay her head on his chest, letting her fall asleep almost immediately.

The next morning, her cell phone woke her at precisely ten. Blearily, she answered, “Melanie Reed.”

“
Don't you mean Melanie Ward?” Skylar teased.

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Of course.” She could have smacked herself in the head. She wasn't awake enough for this.

“
Did I wake you?”

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Yeah, but it's high time I got up anyway. You ready to go to work?”

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I don't know about you, but I've been preparing all morning with things we can do. Justin called me this morning to tell me to take it easy on you as well.”

“
That was sweet of him. Let me take a shower and get dressed. Can you be by here in about thirty?”

“
Sure. See you soon.”

Melanie found a note from Justin on the bedside table which said “Hope I didn't wake you up as I was getting off to work this morning. Have a good time with Skylar and don't work yourself too hard. I'll give you a call later to see how it's going.” She grinned, and stored the note in her bags, which she hadn't gotten around to unpacking yet.

She noticed that Justin's love of the earthly pleasures extended to his bathroom. The shower stall had five separate heads to blow jets at you from all angles. Not to mention the heated towel rack, which already had a towel warming on it for her. She shook her head and grinned as she put her shampoo on the rack and got in. It was, indeed, heavenly.

Not too long after she was ready, Skylar knocked on the door and they were off to Ward Manor.

“
So what's the plan?” Melanie asked, buckling her seat belt.

“
I'm going to sketch out a general outline for what the book's contents would be. Then I'm going to start writing to the various Covens and sects to see what they can contribute. I'll give them ideas on what I'm looking for based on the outline. I'm going to start with the fire witch handbook first, since it's what I'm best at.”

“
That should keep you occupied for a while.”

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Indeed. Are you going to help me?”

“
I think I'm going to use my time to set my PR plan into action. I'll start with a press release about the results from the summit. A substantial amount of time has passed, but I'm hoping to keep it contemporary enough to get the story picked up. Then I'm going to start looking for a way to get Seb on television. I'm not sure what he's going to say or what the occasion will be, but I want his face to be associated with witchcraft across the country. I want to put a face, his face, on this inscrutable thing we call magic that most people don't know anything about.”

“
You'll be busy too, then.”

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I will be. I was going to try to do a lot of the work here, though, mostly for the company.”

“
You're too sweet.”

They worked all day, taking only a few breaks to eat, to receive Melanie's shipped belongings and to receive her SUV. They'd use the SUV to get the boxes over to the Coven House where they belonged.

When Skylar brought her back to the Coven House, Justin greeted her with a hug and a smile. “I've got a surprise for you. Skylar, come along too.”

With a curious look at each other, the two women followed. Justin led them to a door right next to his office and paused for effect. “Ta da!” He opened the door onto an empty office.

“
I don't get it,” Melanie said, walking into the office. It was nicely furnished, similarly to Seb's and Justin's offices, but there was no distinguishing features.

“
You're an official Coven employee now. This is your office as Public Relations Coordinator.” He stood there, waiting for her response.

“
You did that for me?”

“
Well, I had some help from Seb. But based on the proposal you gave, we decided that if you'd accept, we'd make it official. And I won't lie and say it has nothing to do with me wanting to keep an eye on you in your delicate state.”

“
You're a good man, Justin. I like it.” She ran into his arms and gave him a kiss, remembering to keep it PG since Skylar was still in the room.

“
We've got an aide for you as well. Her name's Rita, and she's the Coven's official healer. We don't have a lot for her to do right now, thank goodness, and she's willing to learn from you and help out on your proposal. And then we thought that Skylar has done a lot for us, and she's a part of this whole thing. So we were going to offer for her to work in the office here too on her handbook.”

“
I like that idea. I think there will be room enough for all of us in here,” Melanie said. “Would you be willing to relocate Skylar?”

“
I'd like to. I know I'm keeping busy, but an empty Ward Manor seems awfully lonely. And if you need some extra help on a project, I'll be here. It's not like I'm on a deadline or anything.”

“
Thanks.”

“
And I was going to take you out and get you a fancy computer setup tonight,” Justin continued. “Consider it a welcome to your new job.”

She kissed him again. “I'm glad your family is so accepting of me.” She meant that she was glad he was so accepting of her, but she didn't want to say that.

“
Hell, we're taking advantage of your abilities.” He gave her a meaningful look. She wasn't sure what it meant, but evidently Skylar did.

“
I know what that look means on Leo,” she joked. “I'm going to hightail it out of here. I'll see you here tomorrow morning, Melanie.”

“
See you then.”

Justin waited, that inscrutable look on his face, until Skylar shut the door behind her. Then he came over and kissed her passionately, not like the PG kiss they had shared minutes earlier.

When they came up for breath, Melanie asked “What was that for?”

“
I read your proposal,” he kissed her neck and ear, “It was impressive. It made me proud to call you my wife.”

That statement was more than Melanie had even hoped for this early in their campaign for their marriage. It filled her chest with hope and love that she couldn't admit to him. Not yet.

“
I'm glad you liked it. I worked all day on a press release, and I was going to run it by Seb tomorrow. If you'd like, you can be there too.”

“
I would like that. You know where my office is, just come get me.”