An Unlikely Witch (29 page)

“Aye.”  Time to let the gift of Benny begin its ripples out into the universe.  “And anyone who delivers us small boys for the holidays has become a part of us, whether she knew it when she got here or not.”

It took a moment for the words to land.  And then a very bemused social worker found herself captured by the happy flow.

Moira looked around, making sure the river hadn’t tossed out anyone else.

And saw the last two people she would have expected to see outside the magic.  Aervyn sat on the first branch of a small cherry tree in the corner of the yard, knees tucked up under his chin, face deep in thought.  Ginia had climbed up to sit by his side.

She just got there, but they’ve been communing for a while,
sent Lauren from somewhere in the river. 
He’s been up there the whole time.  Not unhappy.  Just thinking really hard, and he’s got his barriers pulled down tighter than a drum. 

They were only children.  And yet, as Moira joined her place in the flow of light and welcome, she felt an uncanny certainty stirring.

Whatever moved in the hearts of those two, it wasn’t little.

-o0o-

Nat looked up from Benny, snuggled into her chest, as footsteps emerged from Kenna’s room.

“She’s asleep.”  Ginia held up her fingers and wiggled them.  “I did one of my special sleep spells with the pretty smells.”

Nat smiled.  Benny’s eyes were following the wiggly fingers.  “Thank you, sweetheart.  That’s a lovely present.”  The young healer had insisted she had one to deliver.  Tonight.

Ginia shook her head.  “It’s not my gift.  Not the big one.”

Jamie, in the hall behind her, shrugged his shoulders. 
Whatever it is, it feels really important to her.

“I couldn’t help him to get here.”  Lingering shadows passed over Ginia’s face as she straightened her shoulders and looked at Benny.  “But I can help him to feel like he belongs.”

Nat wouldn’t have sent those determined blue eyes away if the hordes of Hell had insisted.  She reached out an arm and hugged her niece. “What do you have in mind?”

“He’s little,” said Ginia softly.  “And I bet he wakes up in his crib alone a lot and he’s really scared.”

Nat’s arms clutched Benny convulsively.  “Not anymore.”  She’d camp out on his floor if she had to.

She’s got a different idea,
sent Jamie.  He wrapped his arms around his niece from the back.  “What’s on your mind, short stuff?”

“I’m taller than you were when you were eleven.” 

“Nuh, uh.”

“Way.”  Ginia grinned.  “Like a whole inch.  Gramma Retha says you guys were runts.”

Jamie feigned a dagger to the heart.

Some would have seen it as a distraction.  Nat saw it for what it was.  The fabric of the Sullivan family was woven with many threads of exactly this kind of teasing and laughter.  One niece and one uncle, reaffirming the pattern.

With a quick glance at Benny and his big, watching eyes, Jamie planted a slurpy kiss into Ginia’s hair.  “Okay, you.  We have a boy to get to bed here.  What’s your plan?”

Ceding power to one who needed to hold it.  There were few people in the world better at that than her husband. 

“You have a big bed.”  Ginia looked up at Nat.  “And Kenna slept with you when she was little, right?  Just like most of the babies do.”

In Witch Central, they certainly did.

Jamie grinned.  “She left pretty fast.”  Kenna had moved out with a vengeance last winter, bound and determined not to be a baby anymore.

“That’s cuz she totally gets that you love her.”  Their niece was watching Benny again.  “I think he could maybe learn that the same way the babies do.  Sleeping all warm and cuddly so he can hear your hearts in the night when he wakes up, and then he won’t be scared.”

And they would sleep hearing his little sleeping whiffles.  Nat blinked back tears—it was a gorgeous idea.  “I would love that so very much.”  But it might not be wise.  She breathed deeply of the small boy in her arms.  His needs had to come first this night.

“Kate brought the crib he’s used to.”  Jamie swooped in to the rescue, still cuddling their young healer.  “But I really like your idea.  Maybe we can move the crib into our room tonight, really close to our bed.  And when he’s more used to us, we can try putting him in with us.”

Ginia touched his cheek, matriarch-in-training to cute peon who clearly didn’t understand yet.  “I can fix that.  The part where he’s scared.  I can help him sleep in your bed tonight.”

There was no doubting the gift she offered now.  Nat felt the pull—the huge, deep maternal longing.  And still, she worried it would ask too much of the boy she held.

The seeds of this came from something Moira said.
  Jamie was thinking, hard. 
I know what the social worker said about keeping stuff as familiar as possible, but…

Yeah.  Moira knew an awful lot about babies.

“His brain is scared.”  A gentle preteen hand reached out to touch Benny’s bare toes.  “But see how he’s all curled up on you like that?  Just like a new baby.”

A boy in a pouch.  A soul seeking a womb.

Ginia’s voice had taken on a healing cadence, her hands moving slowly up and down in the air near Benny’s spine.  “His body knows he’s safe now, and that will teach his heart.  I can help his brain be quiet tonight, just like we do for the newborns if they’re a little scared about the world.”  She smiled at Nat, eyes holding out her gift.  “So he can sleep with you and cuddle and learn about how much everybody loves him.  Kind of like a new chance to be born.”

Nat could already feel his little body relaxing.  Letting go of the wariness.

And one look at Jamie said he was already a goner.

They would sleep with their sweet boy tonight, in the bed where they’d spent three-and-a-half years waiting for him.  It didn’t get any sweeter than that.

Ginia was smiling now, deeply connected to her newest cousin.  “I can use a sleep spell if he needs one, but I think he’s gonna conk out pretty soon.”

Nat knew a little something about gifts and the true honoring of them.  Sharing this one wouldn’t diminish it in the slightest.  “He might wake up in the night and be scared.”

Jamie’s mental chuckle was almost instant. 
You are a very tricky wife.

Ginia, still lost in her little patient, took the words far more literally.  “I could stay.  The love seat in your room is really comfy, and then I could be right there if he needs me.”

Nat smiled and began to lead the procession down the hall to the bedroom.  Benny might as well learn right from the beginning—his family was a lot bigger than four.

Chapter 24

Nat woke up slowly, treasuring every moment of leaking awareness.

The beautiful lightness of her own heart, the wasteland within entirely overrun by flowers.

The sweet snuffles coming from the bed beside her.

And the quiet rejoicing from the far side of the bed.

She opened her eyes and found Jamie watching her. 
How long have you been awake?

He shook his head, bemused. 
Dunno.  I can’t get enough of looking at them.

Nat let her eyes fall on the two little bodies wedged between them in the bed.  Benny had fallen asleep the night before, cuddled in the soft nest under Jamie’s arm.  And sometime in the night, their fiercely independent daughter, so very proud of her own bed in her own room, had crawled in with them.

She slept now, one hand on Benny’s chest, the other in his hair.

It was entirely adorable.  And a very big step for their little girl who was used to being the center of the universe.

Yeah.
 Jamie didn’t sound too concerned. 
There are a lot of people around here to help her roll with that.

There were.  This was the kind of stuff Witch Central was very, very good at.

Benny wiggled, moving closer to the powerful little heater also known as Kenna.  Basking in her warmth.  Nat breathed in the goodness.  And dared to ask the question still niggling at the back of her mind. 
Do you think we need to be careful?
  There was still a mountain of paperwork and meetings to traverse before the outside world acknowledged the truth of what lay in their bed this morning.

No.
 Jamie’s big hand lightly smoothed two sleeping heads.
 I don’t think we could, even if we tried.
 
Nothing will get in the way of this. 
His mindvoice firmed. 
And if it does, there are some people around here who will help with that, too.

Nat grinned.  The bureaucratic machinery of Berkeley already had some experience with Witch Central on a mission this year.  It had taken less than six months to turn Lizard and Trinity’s castle into an entirely legitimate enterprise, one with widespread support and good friends in a lot of really strange and high places.

What they could do for a rundown house full of teenage runaways, they could surely do for one small boy nobody wanted.

That’s not true.
  Jamie’s love was fierce as he looked down on Benny, starting to stir. 
We’ve wanted him for three-and-a-half years.  It just took us a little while to find him.

The little boy’s eyes floated awake.

He’s still cautious,
sent Jamie. 
But he knows where he is.

Nat wanted to envelop him, but she was pretty sure that was a bad idea. 
What can I do?

Exactly what you’re doing.  I’ve lightly linked his mind to yours.
  Jamie sounded almost smug.  Should have thought of this yesterday. 
He’ll feel that gorgeous serenity of yours riding quietly in his head.  A little bit of an anchor, in case today gets crazy for him.

Nat almost laughed out loud.  Her mind had been anything but serene lately.  And then she saw Benny’s head turn, and his big brown eyes looked deep into hers.  Seeking.  Trusting.

She had one child already anchored in her heart.  Two wasn’t any problem at all.

For the first time in weeks, Nat Sullivan took in a slow, deep, entirely peaceful breath.

And showed Benny where home lived.

-o0o-

“Oof.”

Lauren managed to slide one eye open, wondering why her husband was making strange noises.  And discovered a pair of bright eyes three inches from her nose.  “Argleblurg.”  It was the best she could do before coffee.

Their visitor giggled and bounced on Devin’s chest.  “Wake up, sillies.  It’s Solstice.  And our birthdays.”

Lauren snuck a peek at the beside alarm.  7:41 a.m.  Well, not the middle of the night, but still.

“We’ve been up for hours already.”  Aervyn grinned.  “Mama said I could come.” 

“I’ll bet she did,” said Devin wryly.  “Bouncing off the walls, are you?”

“Nuh, uh.”  Aervyn rubbed the top of his head.  “But I banged into the ceiling once.  And Kenna tried to help with the waffles and some of them got kind of extra crispy.”

Lauren caught her husband’s sidelong glance.  “Did Kenna come by herself?”  Her brand-new little brother had been very overwhelmed the night before.

“No.”  Aervyn’s smile lit every dark corner in the room.  “Benny came too.  Mama says we all need to try to be a little quiet so we don’t scare him and stuff, but he’s sitting on Auntie Nat’s lap and eating a really humongous waffle.  Well, mostly the whipped cream, but his mind feels awfully happy.”

Lauren was already pulling on sweatpants and a hoodie.  No way was she missing a single moment of this.

“Kenna gave him a big smoochy kiss and he giggled.”  Aervyn was still providing running commentary as they yanked on clothes.  “And I’m gonna give him my very best fire truck, because I have four and Uncle Jamie says Benny doesn’t have any yet.”

Lauren stopped long enough to give his head a big squeeze.  “Happy birthday, superdude.”

He grinned into her belly.  “I already got a cousin for a present.  It’s gonna be a really good day.”

No argument with that.

Lauren prepared for transport.  To heck with coffee.

-o0o-

Moira took a chair at Nell’s enormous table, soaking in the miracle sitting on his mama’s lap and sticking his fingers in a big mountain of whipped cream.

This was the day of the year that saw the least light.  And today, it was going to be packed to the gills with the most joy.

Small hands tugged on her sleeve.  “Up.”  Kenna, as imperious as ever.

Moira reached down for the small girl.  “Happy birthday, sweetling.”

Kenna settled into the cozy green velvet covering Moira’s knees, eyes serious.  “I hab a bwother.”

“Indeed you do.”  And that would rework the fabric of many lives, but none more than the small, fierce girlchild in her lap.  “You will need to take very good care of him.  That’s what big sisters do.”  Even if they were only older by about a month.

“I big.”  Pride flashed in Kenna’s eyes.  “I hewp Benny.”

One well-loved heart, opening to include another.  Moira touched the small girl’s cheek.  “Yes.  Just like Aervyn helps you, and Ginia helps Aervyn, and Nell helped your daddy when he was little.”  It wasn’t one of the immutable laws of the universe, but it should be.