The Dashing Witch (The Ward Witches) (15 page)

When they were done, Skylar stopped the fireworks. Melanie said some kind of goodbye and thank you for having us speech, but Justin didn't really hear the words. He looked out at the kids they had helped, and his heart felt lighter than it had in a long time. He was exhausted, but pleased.

Melanie went around thanking the camera crews while Justin and the other water witches collapsed into chairs. “Hard work,” Rita said, and they all nodded.

“
But look how much good you did,” one earth witch pointed out.

“
How much good all of you did,” Justin corrected. “You all made them laugh, entertained them, and lightened the load they have to carry. It'll be back, but they'll have a blissful day to remember for months to come.” They all nodded. “It's the least we can do, right?” They nodded some more.

Melanie returned to the group, and they all reassembled into their vans and headed back to either the Coven House or Ward Manor. Justin was glad to see that the news vans that had taken up residence outside the Coven House were all gone. Off to a better story, no doubt. The picketers were still there, but they were getting tired. Melanie was winning.

He tried to tell her so, but got dizzy. She laughed, and he felt himself buoyed up by her air magic so he could walk upstairs to their bedroom. He fell asleep, fully clothed, and barely noticed when Melanie got in bed beside him. It had been a good day.

Justin got up early and went to train in the gym. He had gone to bed so early the night before that he woke up around three in the morning. He started doing some practice, just moving by rote in the aikido forms. As he did it, he cleared his mind.

So when he got done, he had a lot of room to think. He returned to his room for a shower, feeling peaceful. He thought about yesterday's exertions. Melanie was one of a kind, managing to do a publicity stunt while really helping out a lot of kids. He couldn't wait to see it air.

But while Justin was thinking about Melanie, he realized something important. He didn't want her to leave in a few months. He didn't want her to leave ever. The consummate womanizer had turned into a man in love. In love with one woman nonetheless. He didn't know how long it had been, but it was strong.

He wanted it all, the wife who he loved and who loved him and kids to raise for better or for worse. He wanted, and now he was going to have to find a way to make it happen. It was too much to hope that she loved him too already, so he'd have to convince her.

He'd been with plenty of women, some of whom had claimed to love him. But when it came to the one woman he needed to convince, he didn't know how to start. He came up with an idea finally, and he wanted to make preparations for it to work out. Unfortunately the stores he wanted to visit weren't open yet.

So he went to his office and started checking his email for any hints from the police. Still no strong hints, but Justin had more hope now that they had more outside help. The damn picketers arrived with the sun, but there were less than half of the ones who were there yesterday.

Justin held his morning briefing in the ops room, reminded everyone of the duty schedule, and he left to go prepare for tonight. He'd have to be awfully convincing, so he'd better work hard.

149

CHAPTER NINE

That night, he and Melanie cuddled up on the couch to watch her story air. The reporter's take on the events was very positive, as were all the reporters' stories Melanie had been tracking down through the day.

“
You do good work, Mel.”

“
Thanks. I appreciate that you pitched in. I know you were involved in keeping us safe, but then you got down there and got your hands dirty.”

“
It was the least I could do,” but he was inordinately pleased that she liked his actions. It made it worth the effort and more. “Now I've got dinner reservations, and we'd better get ready.”

“
Dinner?” She asked, surprised.

“
Yes. I told Skylar not to bring any food by, so you'll have to come with me or starve.”

168

THE DASHING WITCH

She laughed. “How should I dress?”

“
Dress nice.” She did, in a floor-length black dress with red trim and embroidery on the chest. “You look great.”

“
You're not bad yourself.” He was wearing a suit jacket and everything. He escorted her out to his black SUV and drove off to the restaurant. It was a nice steak place which came highly recommended by Skylar. Since Skylar had worked in a similar restaurant before, she would know where to send them.

Justin could tell Melanie was impressed. He gave his name, and they were shown to their seats.

He didn't press while they chose what they wanted and gave their orders.

“
I love the restaurant. Thank you.”

“
I've never really taken you on a date. I've gotten you pregnant and you're moving into nine weeks. But I haven't even taken you to dinner.”

She laughed. “It's not all that important to me.”

“
But I have something important to say, and I wanted a bit of fanfare with which to say it.” She was quiet, just watching him for cues. “I've been thinking about what's going to happen here in a few months when our arrangement is done.” Her face went totally still. She clearly didn't want to talk about it. “I know we had planned that when you have the babies, you'd leave. But I've come to realize that I don't want you to leave. I want you to stay with me and be my wife. I want to raise our children together. What I'm saying is that over the last few months, I've fallen totally in love with you. I love you, and I want you to be with me.”

Tears started dripping down Melanie's cheeks, and she didn't even reach to stop them. “Oh Justin!”

Afraid of what he was going to hear, he quietly said, “Talk to me Mel. What's going on in that beautiful mind of yours.”

“
I've known I've loved you pretty much since we met. I was so afraid you'd never feel the same. I want nothing more than to be with you. Forever.”

He sighed with relief. “Then dry your tears. Because from tonight on, you won't be able to get rid of me. I'm yours.”

“
And I'm yours.” She wiped at her tears with his handkerchief. “Now let's eat.”

“
One more thing. The food's not here yet anyway.” He pulled out a long jewelry box. “Both times my mother got pregnant, my father gave her a bracelet. It's been a long time coming, and to solidify my promise to you to love you and the babies forever, I got you one.”

He held it out and tightened it around her wrist. It was white gold in a filigree pattern studded with sapphires.

“
Oh Justin, it's beautiful!”

“
And it's what you deserve. You took me from a very broken man, and you're changing me slowly into a better person. I can't thank you enough for that.”

Tears welled in her eyes again, but luckily, the food arrived, and they dug in.

That was all they needed to say.

When Melanie hit twenty four weeks, and her third trimester, she was really beginning to show her pregnancy. According to Melanie, she was as big as a house. Justin had been keeping a constant eye on her, and thanks to daily magical infusions, he could tell that she was dealing better with her energy levels. She wasn't falling asleep nearly as often, for one thing.

With Rita at her side, and Skylar as support on call, Melanie was making leaps and bounds into promoting witchcraft in the community. It had been a hard fight, but her team and volunteers worked on it every day. She had been getting her volunteers out to children's hospitals around the area every other weekend, and other sects and covens across the country were doing the same. The protestors disappeared, preferring to make flame posts on the internet and hate web sites as opposed to showing their feelings in person.

But what was best about Melanie was how she seemed to seamlessly integrate herself into his life. He now looked forward to coming back up to his suite at night and hearing what she had done that day. And while it was hard at first, he had gotten used to talking about work with someone he didn't work with. If he was being totally honest with himself, he admitted that it took a great deal of stress of his shoulders to be able to come home and talk like that.

So when he came back that night to find Melanie missing, he felt it.

“
You look pensive,” the object of his thoughts observed from the doorway. He hadn't even heard her come in. He was slipping.

“
Yeah, I suppose I am. Here, sit.”

She sat down and handed him a plate of food. “Skylar sent this over. Apparently Dymphna told her that collard greens are healthy. Give it a try.”

“
She did the best collard greens I've tried.”

Melanie laughed. “Which doesn't say much at all in favor of it. But she did slip me some balsamic chicken as well in case I didn't like it.”

“
There's something bothering you.” That's what you get from living with an air witch, but Justin had grown used to it around Seb years before he met Mel.

“
You know I've been tracking properties recently, right?”

“
Yeah. Did something come up?”

“
Quite possibly. We've got a farm out in Rhode Island that looks suspicious. The agents we've had posted there have reported a number of comings and goings from a few suspected Dark Order members. Me and some others are going to head out there tomorrow.”

“
I see.”

“
I don't know what to expect, and that bothers me. It could be something, it could be nothing.”

“
And it could be dangerous.” She looked worried.

“
That too. I'll be leaving early in the morning, and probably won't be home until tomorrow if all goes well.”

“
I know you've been worried that nothing has happened in a while.”

“
Yeah. I feel like they're planning something big right under our noses, and I haven't figured out what it is or how to stop them.”

“
I'm sure you will. All I'd ask is that if you get a chance, you'll give me a call. Let me know you're alright. Dealing with the Dark Order is risky business, and now that I've found you, I don't want to lose you.”

“
I'll try.”

“
To give me a call or to stay safe?”

“
Both.”

“
Would you mind taking a look at the baby when you give me magic tonight? I know we would have been able to tell the sex of the babies for a while. I've postponed it for a few months, but I want to know now.”

“
Certainly. It's about time for us to do that.”

She smiled, and Justin's mouth went dry as she pulled up her shirt to allow him access to her belly. He'd never found pregnant women particularly arousing, but either through the bond or some other kind of magic, everything about his wife was arousing. He tried to keep his mind off the blood rushing to his nether regions while he put her hands gently on her stomach. “This may tingle.” She nodded, familiar with the process.

He let his magic wash over him as he went into his healer's trance. Then he reached out through his hands to feel what was going on within her and see what they were looking for. Justin could almost see the baby through his magical vision, and he grinned. She was round with two girls. He gave both of them a healthy dose of his magic and withdrew.

“
I can see from the look on your face that you found something.”

“
It's a girl. Two girls, in fact.”

“
Girls?” Melanie's face lit up. “We're having girls?”

“
That we are.” He pulled her into his arms and hugged her tightly. “Are you happy?”

“
Couldn't be happier.” She planted a long kiss on his mouth, her tongue delving roughly inside. “How about you?”

“
I'm excited. And a little scared. How will I know what to do with one little girl, much less two?” He rubbed on her back. From his examination, he knew her body was hurting from the additional weight of the babies. Her back in particular was bothering her, so he pushed some magic through her muscles to force them to relax.

“
We'll figure it out together. But for now I think we need to celebrate.”

He didn't have a chance to ask what she meant, but figured it out quickly enough as she pulled his button-down shirt from his pants and began to rub her hands over his chest. “Can you? Are you up to it?”

“
Don't see why today is any different from any other day recently except that we've got something to celebrate. Now help me out here.”

He was only too glad to oblige, and they ended up in the bedroom in short order.

The next morning, he was loath to leave the bed at four in the morning. Her naked form was still curled up against him, and she let out a little moan when he pulled himself away. But before he got dressed, he had to take an extra minute to stand there and look his fill at her. She was too beautiful, inside and out, to be his. But somehow, she was, and she would bring him two babies to the equation. He was glad she agreed to stay with him, and wanted to tell her so every day. But when he did, she got jokingly exasperated and told him to stop. So he worked to show her rather than tell her.

He should really be thinking about how to show her how excited he was about their twins. The suite next door was unoccupied, maybe he could get Seb to knock a hole through the wall for a door so it could be a nursery. Justin himself would paint it, and the two of them would work out the decorations together. Pink decorations.

Justin shook himself slightly. He shouldn't be getting this sentimental as he prepared to walk into a potentially hazardous situation. He scribbled a note to Melanie and left it on the side table as usual. He wasn't sure how to assuage her worries when honestly, he wasn't sure she didn't have a point. But he assured her that he loved her and would call when he could.

Once dressed, he strapped on his pistol. He was a good shot, and if for some reason his magic wasn't getting the job done, he may need the extra protection. He could use his martial arts, but if he was in close enough to need aikido, he was in bigger trouble than he planned on getting in.

His nine-person team met him downstairs, and they were all so wrapped in their own thoughts that they did little more than nod to each other in greeting before getting into the two black SUVs that would take them to Rhode Island. It was cold, and they all dressed as warmly as they could while maintaining the ability to be stealthy. Besides a quick walkie check, they didn't talk all through the drive either.

Once near the farm, they pulled over and hid the SUVs in the brush. They went through the plan again, just to make sure they were all well-acquainted with what to do.

“
Radio silence for now, boys and girls. Watch yourselves and your team. We all want to get home safely.” Justin wanted to make sure they were focused.

“
Copy that,” they echoed.

Justin took the lead as the approached the barn. According to the local agents, most of the suspicious visitors had gone straight to the barn without so much as looking at the ranch house. The two locals met him partway, and all twelve of them proceeded to the barn. He indicated for the sentries to take their position.

One of the five fire witches he brought burned a line in the lock's bar, just enough to open it and hopefully leave it inconspicuous until one of the residents got a closer look. The inside was dark, and Justin flipped on his headlight. The ten of them fanned out to look for people hanging around, but found no one.

“
All clear?” Justin radioed.

“
All clear,” he got the reports back from each individual in order. One of the fire witches made a self-controlled ball of fire to sit near the rafters for light, and Justin turned off his headlight.

For the most part, the barn looked just like you'd expect from a farm. But one of his team, Theresa, was already waving him over to a trap door in the floor in one of the corners. She had been moving the hay on the ground around, and that was what she found.  “Looks suspect,” she said.

“
Indeed it does. Theresa and I are going down. Everyone else continue the search and be ready if we need backup,” he radioed.

Theresa popped the trap door open and preceded him down into the cellar. Unlike the barn above, the cellar was stark and sanitary white. The first room was quite large for an underground location, with a number of computers humming on the sides of the room and seating enough for about fifty people. The wall they were facing was dominated by a computerized whiteboard behind a large table and podium.

“
Think those could be some incriminating papers?” Theresa asked quietly.

“
I hope so.” He radioed for two more to come down and shift through the papers on the desk and podium. “Theresa, you and I are going into that other room,” he indicated the door to the right side of the main room. “Let's see what we can find.”