Celtic Magic (16 page)

“That’s the Chinese food I ordered. Sit down
while I pay for it, then you are going to get the hell out of here,
I don’t care how much you say you’ve changed, or what kind of
apology you think you should give me. I don’t want anything else to
do with you ever again” he told her.

Abby watched as Tom moved to answer the door
while Nicole sat down on his couch and as his door opened, saw
herself standing in the doorway in the long coat.

Abby pulled away from the orb and started to
cry again, not from having her heart broken this time, but out of
fear that she had completely screwed everything up with Tom.

Abby handed the Seer’s Orb back to Jasmine
and looked back at both her and her mother.

“What do I do now? Why did I jump to
conclusions so fast? Oh, I feel horrible. He is totally going to
break up with me now” she said as she started to pace
frantically.

Suddenly it felt as though her senses were
on high alert and she had a gut feeling that they needed to leave
this place. Her mother noticed her change of mood and looked
around.

“What’s the matter Abby?” she asked her.

Abby shook her head, “I’m not sure, I just
have a feeling like I need to leave here, and something isn’t safe
about this place right now” she tried to explain.

Abby shrugged her shoulders, “I don’t know,
anyway, I really want to try to go and talk to Tom. I will come
back and talk to you in the castle after that. Hopefully my magic
will be working much better by then” she said.

Her mother stood up and put her hand on her
shoulder, “I thought you should know that he is at the Murphy
Hotel, talking with his father about all of this” she said.

Abby nodded, “thanks” she said as she kissed
her on the cheek. She looked over at Jasmine.

“Do you think I can do it myself now? Is my
magic really back?” she asked her.

Jasmine nodded, “It should be fine, but
Abby, please take this.” She said handing the orb back to her, “I
think you should have this one, I have another back at the shop”
she said.

Abby smiled and took the orb, putting it
into her pocket as she hugged Jasmine.

“Okay, love you guys, see you soon” she said
as she felt the heat take over her body letting her know that her
magic was back intact.

***

Abby landed softly in the parking lot, where
she could sense that nobody was around and took off at a trot
toward the front doors of the hotel. It didn’t take her long to
reach the door and as she pushed them open she saw Tom’s mother
standing in the lobby talking to one of the doormen.

She ran up to her and waited for her to
finish her conversation, but she must have sensed her standing
there because after just a few seconds she stopped talking and
turned toward her.

“Abby!” she exclaimed.

“I really need to talk with Tom, is he
here?” she asked, even though she already knew the answer to the
question.

“Yes, hang on just a second” she said
turning back to the doorman. Abby watched as she handed him a
photograph.

“This is her, if you see her in here again,
please call the police” she told him. Abby stretched her neck to
get a better look and saw that the photograph was of Nicole. Tom
must have told her that she was watching him from the hotel
lobby.

The doorman answered a quick, “Yes Ma’am”
and turned and walked to the front desk. Tom’s mother turned back
to her.

“Come with me dear, we can talk in the
elevator” she told her.

Abby nodded and followed her to the private
elevators Tom had taken her up in on the night of the party. Tom’s
mother punched in the code to get the elevator doors to open and
they walked in, but Abby couldn’t wait for the doors to close
before she started her pleading.

“Mrs. Murphy...” she started.

“Please, call me B.B., everyone does” his
mother interrupted.

“Okay, B.B., I made a big mistake, I thought
that Tom was seeing Nicole again and I went off the deep end” she
said.

B.B. nodded, “Yes, dear, he told me what
happened and I told him how bad it had looked to a female eye. I
don’t blame you. I probably would have reacted the same way” she
said.

Abby lowered her head, “I feel like an
idiot, I really should have let him explain, but I was just so hurt
that I was scared to even stop and listen. I didn’t want to hear
him say he was with her again” Abby tried to explain. She felt the
tears welling up in her eyes and was afraid to open her mouth
again. She was scared that if she did she would start to cry and
not be able to stop.

B.B. put her arms around her shoulders, “He
will forgive you for not listening to him, trust me. He is up there
with his father trying to figure out a way to get you back, he
loves you very much. I have never seen him feel so strongly for
anybody before. It will all work out, just have faith” she said
with a knowing expression on her face. But, before she could ask
her how she was so sure, the elevator beeped and the doors
opened.

Chapter
2
6

The first thing she saw when the doors
opened was Tom sitting in a very dainty looking arm chair with his
back to her. He was bent forward with his head in his hands while
his father stood in front of him, facing her, with his hand on
Tom’s shoulder. When his father saw them walk out of the elevator,
he nudged Tom.

“Tom, she’s here” he said. Tom stood up
suddenly turning toward her, all in one swift movement. When their
eyes met, it was like everything she wanted to say to him got stuck
in her throat and she couldn’t make herself speak.

“Abby” Tom said in a half whisper walking
toward her without taking his eyes off of her. She then realized
that there wasn’t anything she could say to make him understand
what she was feeling, just being there was enough.

She started toward him, reaching him
quickly, and as soon as she was close enough, he reached forward
and pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her. She felt her
feet come up off of the floor and lifted her to eye level and
suddenly his lips were on hers, kissing her frantically, unlike he
ever had before. It was as though he was afraid that if he wasn’t
touching her, she would just disappear again. Finally after a few
minutes she heard his father behind him.

“I think we are going to get out of here and
let you two talk” he said. Tom set her back down onto the floor and
she turned back toward his mother. She saw that she had tears in
her eyes watching them embrace, so she went to her and hugged
her.

“
Thank you so much B.B.,
for everything” she told her, close to tears herself. As they
pulled away from each other B.B. put her hands on Abby’s
face.

“You are very welcome dear” she said as she
leaned forward and kissed her on her cheek. Abby walked back over
to Tom and watched as his parents got into the elevator, waving to
them as the door closed once again.

After his parents left, he grabbed her hand
and pulled her to the big overstuffed couch next to the large
windows and sat down, pulling her down next to him. She snuggled up
next to him, putting her head on his shoulder and sighed, just
minutes ago, she never thought she would be sitting next to him
like this.

“I’m not trying to rock the boat, but I need
to know exactly what happened” he asked her. She didn’t even look
up at him, knowing that it would be easier to talk to him that
way.

“Well, I was too quick to judge the
situation, I thought you were messing around with Nicole behind my
back. I don’t know why I didn’t stop to let you explain, but my
emotions took over, I’m sorry” she answered starting to cry
softly.

Tom started to run his fingers through her
hair, the way he always did when they were this close together.

“I can’t believe you didn’t even trust me,
you should know that I would never do anything like that to you
Abby, I love you” he said.

Abby continued to cry, she had no idea what
to say to him at this point. There was no way she would be able to
get across to him just how sorry she was.

“It would be one thing if you were just a
normal girl, but you have all those scary powers. I thought you
were going to shoot flames at me for a second, and then when I
realized you weren’t going to, you were gone before I could even
say anything else to you” he continued.

She started to sob harder, scared that he
was going to tell her that he wanted her to leave, but instead he
picked her up onto his lap so that he was looking right into her
eyes.

“Abby, don’t cry. I now feel bad about what
happened, I can feel your pain, but you have to trust me. I have
never given you any reason not to, and I promised not to ever hurt
you” he told her.

Abby nodded, “I know, but please remember
that this is my first relationship and I have never had to deal
with this stuff. I handled it badly, but I had no idea I would
react that way” she said.

They sat there looking at each other for a
few minutes, and then Tom reached up and wiped away her tears
before leaning in and kissing her very softly.

“Will you come and lay next to me? I still
have a bedroom here and I don’t feel like going home. I feel
drained and need to lie down, but I want you to stay so we can talk
more” he asked her.

Abby nodded and stood up off of his lap
taking his hand while he led her down the hall to his old
bedroom.

As they walked into a large bedroom at the
end of the hallway, she was amazed at how manly the room looked,
while still being beautifully decorated.

The furniture was thick dark cherry wood
that all matched, from the bed and dresser to the little couch and
chair he had in the sitting area. The walls were painted a muted
gray color that matched the black and grey bedspread on the large
bed that looked strikingly similar to the one in his apartment.

Abby kicked off her shoes before climbing
onto the bed and she slid under the covers and waited for Tom to
slide in beside her. Once he was under the covers with her, he
pulled her close and she rested her head on his chest, which made
her feel safe and relaxed for the first time since she had seen
Nicole sitting in his living room.

“So, how did you find out that nothing
happened with me and Nicole last night?” he asked her quietly.

“Do you remember that Seer’s Orb I told you
about?” she asked him. She felt him nod, “Well, I went to see my
mother and she told me that things were not as they seemed, and
then she made me watch what really happened” she told him.

Tom let out a soft laugh, “This magic stuff
is really crazy sometimes, you know” he said.

Abby smiled, “Yes, I know. I saw up until
the part that I knocked on the door. What happened after I left?”
she asked him quietly.

“Are you wanting to know how I finally
managed to get rid of her?” he asked her. She nodded, knowing that
he could feel her head move on his chest.

“Well, I actually had to call the police on
her. She wouldn’t leave. When she first got there, she was telling
me how she had changed, and that she was happy for me and you. But,
after you showed up, her attitude changed. Turns out she was just
trying to get me to trust her again, so I called the cops and they
hauled her off in handcuffs” he said.

Abby thought for a minute, “Do you think she
will leave us alone now?” she asked him.

“No, probably not, you should probably give
her picture to the front desk at your apartment building. Tell them
to call the cops on sight. That’s what we did here, but I don’t
have any kind of security at my building so my parents have offered
me one of their apartments” he said.

Abby pulled her head up off of Tom’s chest
and looked at him, “One of their apartments? How many do they
have?” she asked.

Tom laughed, “Well, have you ever heard of
the Azure Condo building downtown?” Abby shook her head.

“Well, it’s one of the high rises, not too
far from here. Anyway, my parents own 5 apartments in that
building. Two one-bedrooms, two two-bedrooms, and one
three-bedroom” he answered her. Abby looked at him with a look that
she was sure looked confused.

“Why do they have all of those apartments
when they own a hotel chain?” she asked.

Tom laughed, “Well, a couple of them they
rent out, but they leave a few of them vacant in case we have
friends or family coming to stay for a few weeks. We let them stay
there so that they feel more at home, rather than in a hotel room”
he explained.

Abby shook her head, “Wow, it must be nice
to be so rich” she said with a smile on her face.

Chapter
2
7

Later that night, she went with Tom to grab
a few things out of his apartment to move to his new one, and she
couldn’t help but ask more questions as they drove.

“So, how come you don’t already live in one
of these apartments?” she asked.

Tom tilted his head, “Well, when I first got
out of college, I decided I wanted to do things myself, without any
help from my parents. So, I went and bought the apartment I live in
now because it was small and simple, something my parents don’t
seem to understand at all” he said with a laugh.

“What about now?” she asked him, “Do you
still want to do everything yourself?”

Tom shrugged, “I’m not as against it now
that I know I can do it on my own. I have to admit, I am tempted to
sell my place and stay in the apartment I’ll be staying at, it is
much nicer, and actually has separate bedrooms” he said.

Abby nodded, “Yeah, but that isn’t a big
deal when you live alone” she said.

They pulled up to his apartment then, and
were both completely silent while they grabbed a few of his clothes
and some of his things from the bathroom. They finished fast and
were back in the car in just a few minutes, where Tom grabbed her
hand as he drove through the now dark streets of Dallas.