Blood of the White Witch (8 page)

“I’m sixteen,” I replied honestly.

“Oh!” Her eyes quickly traveled down to my
stomach area with a probing glance.

I chuckled at her reaction, though I had
completely expected it.

“I’m not pregnant,” I said firmly, letting
her know I knew exactly what she had been thinking. “Vance and I
were just madly in love.”

“I’m sorry,” she said as she patted my knee.
“Forgive my lack of manners. You’re a very pretty girl, and that
grandson of ours is quite a looker, too. The attraction seems
obvious.”

“Yes, but I do love him,” I stressed again,
wanting her to understand this relationship was about a lot more
than just attraction.

“Of course you do!” She smiled with a
wink.

I had the feeling that she wasn’t really
hearing me. Whether it was because she didn’t understand or she
didn’t want to, I wasn’t sure.

Vance returned to my side, with Douglas
following close behind him. He reached out a hand and pulled me to
my feet.

Fiona stood next to us, smiling at each of
us.

“Let’s go show you your room, shall we?”

Vance and I followed Fiona up the large
staircase to the second floor. We went to the left when we reached
the top, passing several closed doors as we walked down the
tastefully decorated hall.

Fiona led us to a large set of double doors
at the end of the hall and opened the one side for us to enter.

To say that the suite which lay beyond was
plush was a complete understatement. The furniture was made of wood
and painted white. In fact all of the décor in the room was white.
There was an extremely large king-sized bed that had thick pillars
that twisted up into the wooden canopy overhead. It was covered in
a luxurious silk duvet, with pillows of every size and variety,
strategically placed all over, starting at the head and trailing
out to the near middle of the mattress.

At the foot of the bed was a bench that was
covered in a soft chenille material tufted with buttons.

At one end of the room there was a sitting
area with some beautiful chairs in the Queen Anne style, next to a
slightly distressed white coffee table.

The windows had sheers that hung over them,
filtering the light, while heavier drapes hung over the top that
could be closed to keep the light out completely if the occupants
were to desire to do so.

The walls of the room were in sharp contrast
to the furnishings, covered in a dark richly paneled wood. The
richness of the walls helped to set off all the white-on-white
décor in the space.

“Will this room do for you?” Fiona asked as
she rubbed an imaginary wrinkle out of the duvet with her hand.

“It’s perfect,” I said, feeling a bit like a
fairy princess in a magical tower.

“Yes, I agree,” Vance added with a nod of
his head, still seemingly a bit formal as he addressed her. “Thank
you again for your hospitality.”

Fiona walked over and placed a hand on the
side of Vance’s face, stroking it gently.

“You have no idea how excited we are to have
you here, my dear boy,” she said, with a longing look at him. “I
look forward to getting to know you better.”

“Likewise,” he replied, giving her a slight
grin.

“Well, I’ll leave the two of you here to get
acquainted with the place,” she said, and she walked over to the
door. “Get comfortable and make yourselves at home. I’ll send Colin
up to tell you when lunch is served.”

“Colin?” I did not recognize the unfamiliar
name.

“The butler, dear,” she replied. “If there’s
anything else you find you may be in need of, just ask Colin and
he’ll be sure to get it for you.”

“Thank you,” Vance said with a nod, and she
stepped through the door with her hand on the knob.

“Oh!” she said, almost as an afterthought.
“Feel free to explore any part of the house that you wish, except
for the east wing. We’re currently under renovations there, and my
allergies act up if people keep coming in and out with all the dust
and everything.”

“No problem,” Vance said.

“Hopefully the work will be finished while
you’re here and you’ll be able to get the complete tour. Feel free
to explore the grounds of the estate as well,” she added with a
smile, before she walked out and closed the door behind her.

Vance immediately turned to me then, and I
walked up to wrap my arms around his waist, leaning my head against
his muscled shoulder.

“How are you holding up?” I asked, and he
wrapped his arms around me, resting his chin on the top of my
head.

“I’m not sure,” he said, letting out a large
sigh as if he were releasing the weight of the world off his
shoulders. “This is a bizarre and unexpected turn of events.”

“Well, they seem genuinely happy to have you
here with them,” I countered, trying to give something positive to
look at.

“That’s true,” he replied before pulling
back to look at me. “What about you? Do you feel comfortable about
staying here?”

“As long as I’m where you are, I’ll be
fine,” I smiled up at him as I squeezed his waist a little
tighter.

“You’re too good to me. You know that,
right?” he said, and he lifted a hand to the side of my mouth,
reaching out to stroke my lips with his thumb.

“Not possible. You deserve the best of
everything that life has to offer. I know how much you’ve always
wanted a life with a real family. Maybe this is your chance to have
that.”

“Speaking of family, what are your thoughts
on my mom?” he asked, pulling me over to sit in the two white
chairs by the coffee table.

“I think Darcy was probably lying,” I
answered him honestly, though I knew it would be the last thing he
would want to hear.

“I’m afraid of that, too,” he said with a
sigh. “I was so hopeful that she was right. I wanted to know that
the person I destroyed was not my mom.”

“Don’t give up yet,” I tried to encourage
him, not wanting to see the crestfallen look on his face. “Maybe
Darcy was just misleading us about your grandparents. We’ll keep
looking around while we’re here, just to make sure.”

“That sounds good,” he agreed.

I got up then, feeling the urge to explore,
and walked through one of the adjoining doors in the room. I found
myself in a very large walk-in closet, which was bigger than my
whole bedroom back in Sedona. I was surprised to find several
articles of women’s clothing hanging inside.

“It looks like someone has stayed here at
some point,” I called out the door to Vance. “There are a lot of
things in here.”

I then wandered out of the closet and
through another door finding that it led to an extravagantly large
bathroom.

“Vance, come look at this!” I said, taking
in the sight before me.

“Wow,” he replied when he entered, coming up
behind me to look at the giant custom-tiled bathing area that was
set into the floor. It looked more like a small swimming pool than
bathtub. A slow grin spread across his face. “I think we’re going
to need to try that out.”

“It sounds like the perfect thing to relax
an overwrought husband,” I said stepping around behind him to lift
my hands to his shoulders, massaging the tense knots I could feel
in them.

“That feels wonderful,” he replied, hanging
his head, allowing my fingers better access to the area.

“So how about we have the bath after dinner
this evening? I’ll finish massaging you, and it’ll help you sleep
better,” I suggested, wanting to help him somehow.

“There’s only one reason that I haven’t been
sleeping well lately and I have no intention of changing any of
that.” He grinned while turning to face me, giving me a sultry look
that I couldn’t possibly miss the meaning of.

He reached out and grabbed me by the
shoulders, and I thought he was going to kiss me. He surprised me
though as he turned me around so he could massage my neck a little
for me.

“You’re right,” I responded with a soft
groan at the touch of his truly magic fingers. “That does feel
good. I can’t wait until this evening.”

He reached down, taking my hand and pulled
me out of the bathroom, heading over toward the massive bed.

“We have about an hour before lunch. Do you
want to take a quick nap with me? All of our … umm … eventful
nights are starting to catch up with me,” he said with a wide
smile.

“A nap sounds divine,” I replied, thinking
we had indeed been pushing our physical limits lately.

He pulled the bedding back, lifting me
gently so I was sitting on the edge. Then he removed my shoes
followed by his, before he crawled up to join me. He pulled the
covers over both of us, as I cuddled up into the crook of his
arm.

“This is nice,” I said moving to drape my
arm over his waist.

“Yes, it is,” he replied, and he gave me a
gentle squeeze in return.

I closed my eyes and let the rhythm of his
strong beating heart, along with his steady breathing, lull me to
sleep.

When we awoke sometime later, it was clear
that we had slept through lunch and well into the evening. I
instantly felt regret, wondering if we might have offended our
gracious hosts.

When I sat up I noticed that a silver tray
loaded with food had been placed just inside the door for us.

A note had been left from Fiona that said
she couldn’t bear to wake us when we were sleeping so peacefully.
She also said she and Douglas had an appointment for the rest of
the evening that they couldn’t back out of, so to please make
ourselves at home and they would see us tomorrow.

It was then that I noticed our luggage had
also been brought into the room.

It was official. We were now residents of
Bell Tower Hall.

Vance helped me as we magically unpacked our
suitcases, before we sat down to enjoy the wonderful meal that had
been left behind for us.

After we had eaten, I went into the bathroom
and began to fill the massive tub, while Vance lit a fire in the
grate.

I looked through some of the cabinets and
found a bottle of bubble bath, and soon the tub was filled with a
steaming, sweet-scented aroma.

Vance and I both sank into the tub with the
foamy water up to our chins. He leaned against one end and pulled
me up against him and continued the massage of my shoulders that he
had begun earlier.

“You have magic fingers,” I moaned, and he
laughed.

“Yes, I do, as a matter of fact,” he
replied, and he lifted his hand from my neck and twirled his
fingers around.

Bubbles from the bath suddenly swirled up
into the air creating an amusing environment of colorful
reflections dancing about us.

I playfully splashed him with some
water.

“You know what I mean!” I said.

“Hey, watch it! You’re going to start
something you can’t possibly win,” he chided me.

“Oh, I could win,” I responded, fully
confident in my own water sport skills.

He laughed at my remark.

“Maybe you could, but we aren’t going to
find out tonight. This bath is about relaxation, so behave,” he
ordered me.

“Yes, sir!” I replied, finding I was more
than willing to give in to his demands at the moment.

He worked out my kinks and knots for several
minutes, after which I traded places with him and returned the
favor.

“Mmm … that does feel good,” he agreed as I
moved my hands over the sinewy muscles around his neck and
shoulders.

When I had finished massaging his back, he
turned to pick up a bottle of shampoo, loading his hands up with
soap and began to wash my hair.

That in itself was probably my favorite
massage as he rubbed the shampoo through my thick strands and down
to my scalp.

“I love your hair,” he said while he moved
his fingers through it.

“I hadn’t noticed,” I said facetiously,
closing my eyes at the wonderful sensations he was creating against
my scalp.

When he was done with mine, I returned the
favor and washed his, although I had a little bit of fun using the
soap to shape his into funny hairstyles and laughing childishly
over them.

When we were done, we pulled the plug on the
tub and headed over to the shower to rinse off, before wrapping
ourselves into two luxurious bathrobes and heading out to sit by
the fire.

I was completely surprised to find that a
bottle of champagne had been placed in a bucket to chill on the
coffee table.

“Where did that come from?” I asked looking
at it and the two glasses that accompanied it.

“I’m guessing Colin must have brought it
in,” he replied with a shrug as he stared at the bottle.

“Didn’t you lock the door?” I asked, feeling
a little exposed over the fact that someone had been so near to us
without our knowledge.

He shook his head.

“I didn’t even think about it,” he said,
glancing up at the door and pointing finger at it.

The lock in the door turned easily.

“There. Is that better?” he asked with a
wink.

I nodded my head.

“Sometimes privacy is a good thing,” I
laughed quietly, “Especially when I’m with you.”

“I understand completely,” he replied while
he popped the cork out of the bottle and proceeded to pour each of
us a glass.

I didn’t know if I really cared for the
champagne or not. The bubbles did tickle my nose, and I kept
hiccupping every time I would try to drink a swallow. Finally, I
just gave up and set the glass on the table.

There was a very plush white rug on the
floor in front of the fireplace. I got up and went over to sit on
it, relishing the heat there.

Staring into the flames, I enjoyed watching
them dance around. I became mesmerized by the movements, and I
lifted my hands to mimic the motion I saw, moving them from side to
side. Centering my thoughts, I let my energies flow out of me,
until the fire started to follow me, moving in the same motion as
my hands.