Chapter 2 #2
Now she looked puzzled, as if she couldn’t quite figure out why they hadn’t corrected her comment about Christmas shopping when it seemed apparent they had an entirely different reason for going to the mercantile.
But then her expression cleared, and she shrugged the slightest bit, as if telling herself it was none of her concern.
“You two have a good evening, then,” she said.
That seemed to be their signal to leave.
Seth and Devynn both thanked her — and the taciturn driver — for the ride, and they got out of the car and paused on the sidewalk.
The street lamps were decorated with pine boughs that he knew members of the clan must have gathered up on Mingus Mountain, and big red velvet ribbons made them all the more festive.
Farther down the street, closer to the English Kitchen, some people were moving about, but at this end of town, all the shops were closed, and no one had any reason for being here.
“Well, that helped,” Devynn said. She put her gloved hands on her hips and glanced around.
Although the evening air was still chilly, it felt a little warmer down here, as if being surrounded by buildings helped to shelter them from the worst of the cold.
“And we must be pretty close to Christmas, since she made that comment about last-minute shopping.”
Seth had thought much the same thing. “Sounds like it,” he said, and then tugged at his overcoat.
Now that the moment had come — now that they were about to cross the street and go into the apartment where he’d spent his entire life until he’d bought the bungalow — he found himself curiously awkward.
There was so much to say, and he had no idea where to begin.
Seeming to sense some of his uneasiness, Devynn came closer and looped her arm through his. “It’s going to be fine,” she said. “You know your parents are going to be thrilled to see you.”
He supposed so. No, it was his brother Charles who was the real question mark.
But was he even still living in the apartment anymore?
He and Abigail had bonded as consorts way back in June, after all, and Seth somehow doubted the prima-in-waiting would have wanted to wait very long to be joined to her fiancé in wedded bliss.
Not that there had been much bliss in that joining, if what he and Devynn had seen when they visited 1947 had been any indication.
“I hope so,” he said briefly.
Arm in arm, they walked across the street and went around the back of the building. The old Dodge pickup truck the family used for mercantile business was parked back there, and Seth’s throat tightened.
The last time he’d driven that truck, it had been to go on that doomed bootlegging expedition up to the mine shaft…with Devynn riding along in the bed, unbeknownst to him.
That trip hadn’t turned out very well, and he knew it was only because of the intervention of the Wilcox healer in 1884 that the woman he loved more than life itself hadn’t perished that day.
It had always been a fifty-fifty proposition as to whether the back door would be locked or not.
Today it was, but a locked door was no impediment to one of witch-kind.
Seth laid his hand on the knob, and it swung inward easily.
As usual, the overhead light in the small, cramped foyer off the stockroom was on, and he had to be glad of that.
His parents only turned it off when they had to change out the bulb, since they never knew when they might need to go down to the store to check on something.
The light it cast was enough to get them up the first flight of stairs, the ones that led to the main floor of the apartment.
It occupied the second and third stories of the building, with the bedrooms at the very top.
Seth found himself hoping he and Devynn wouldn’t have to stay there, that his bungalow would still be empty at this point.
He knew his cousin Margie had eventually moved into the house after it became clear he wasn’t coming back, but he didn’t know exactly when that had happened.
Now hand in hand, Seth and Devynn paused on the landing outside the apartment door. From inside, he heard the murmur of voices and a faint drift of music that he guessed was coming from the big radio in the living room, his father’s pride and joy.
For some reason, hearing it made Seth feel a little less nervous.
It was perfectly normal for them to be having dinner around this hour — his parents had always eaten early at this time of year — and even though he’d been gone for months, the realization that they’d kept up their regular routines reassured him.
Still, he had to take a second or two to gather himself before he raised his hand to knock.
The conversation paused, and then he heard footsteps moving toward the door.
No doubt they were wondering who would be visiting at this hour, especially with the building locked up for the evening.
True, members of the clan could come and go as they pleased, since locks were no real impediment, but still, barging in unannounced like that was considered quite rude.
And then the door opened, and his father stared out at him in astonishment. He didn’t seem to have aged much during the time Seth had been gone, except to possibly have a few more threads of silver in his light brown hair.
That was good. Seth couldn’t help thinking about how much his brother Charles had aged from 1926 to 1947, but of course, that had been a much longer span of time.
“Seth?”
“Hello, Father,” Seth replied, knowing the words sounded horribly formal. But after spending months in the twenty-first century, he thought it better to compensate in the other direction rather than being as casual as most of the people he’d met in that future time.
No words beyond that, because his father immediately gathered him into a bear hug, holding onto him so tightly that Seth had to struggle to pull in a breath. When he let go, his gaze moved toward Devynn, who’d stood off to one side, a hopeful and yet also nervous expression on her lovely features.
“And Miss Rowe,” Henry McAllister said. “It’s very good to see you as well. Come inside.”
There had been just the slightest edge under those words, a tone that told Seth his father wasn’t as pleased to see Devynn as he’d just said. Well, that wasn’t too surprising, not when he guessed his father probably saw her as the chief reason for his son’s mysterious disappearance.
But at least he hadn’t forbidden them from coming in.
They stepped inside, and immediately Seth heard his mother’s voice coming from the dining room.
“Henry? Who was that at the door?”
“You’d better come see for yourself, Molly,” his father replied.
The sound of a chair scraping against the floor was followed by quick footsteps, and then his mother appeared in the entry to the living room.
She was wearing her favorite winter dress, the dark blue wool crepe one with the white collar, and her soft brown hair was pinned up in its usual low bun at the back of her neck.
But when she saw Seth standing there just inside the door, her hand went to her throat.
“Oh, my dear Goddess,” she whispered, and then she was rushing toward him, tears already glistening in the same blue eyes she shared with her son. “Seth!”
Her embrace was even more crushing than his father’s had been, and Seth found himself blinking back tears of his own while his mother held him as if she planned to never let him go.
When she finally pulled away, her hands went to his face, touching his cheeks as if she needed to reassure herself that he was real.
“We thought — ” she began, then stopped and shook her head. “We didn’t know what to think. You just vanished, and there was blood in the mine shaft, and we were so afraid….”
“I know, Mother. I’m sorry we worried you so much.” Seth took her hands in his. “But we’ve been traveling, and we’re back for Christmas.”
Next to him, Devynn shifted slightly, as though she wasn’t completely thrilled with his choice of words.
But it was true. They had been traveling…just in time rather than space.
“Traveling?” Henry’s straight brown brows — so like Seth’s own — drew together. “Seth, you disappeared in June. It’s been six months.”
“I know it’s been a long time,” Seth said carefully.
At some point, he would decide to tell them exactly what had happened, or whether it would be better to be somewhat vague about exactly where they were living.
Whatever approach he used in the end, he’d already decided it would probably be better to come around to it slowly rather than revealing everything all at once.
“But we’re here now, and we’re safe. That’s what matters. ”
Molly’s gaze had shifted to Devynn, who was standing quietly right inside the door, clearly trying not to intrude on the family reunion. “Miss Rowe,” she said, then wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “I’m so glad you’re both all right. When you disappeared, no one knew what to think.”
“Actually, Mother,” Seth said quietly, “Deborah — Devynn,” he added, realizing that they’d only known her by the much more common name she’d borrowed while in the past, “is my fiancée now.”
The words hung in the air for a moment. Devynn stood there quietly, but Seth could tell she was doing her best to act reserved and polite, like a proper young woman of his era, and not say anything that might raise even more questions.
“Devynn?” Molly repeated, as though trying to get used to the unusual name. Then she went on, her voice rising slightly, “Your fiancée?”
“Yes,” Seth said as he went to put his arm around Devynn’s waist. She moved a little closer to him, and he could tell she was glad of the public display of affection, the clear intention to show his parents that they should now be regarded as a couple.
“We’ve been through a lot together…and we discovered that we couldn’t live without each other. ”