Epilogue #2
Peter pushed Mae’s plate to the other side of the table. “Eat while you can. Andy OK?”
“Oh, yes. I delivered him to his mother before he could get into any more scrapes.” She shook her head and lowered her voice. “I don’t know what it is, but I seem to rub Mrs. Gray the wrong way.”
“Probably because you married a wizard,” Peter said in a biting undertone. “That was, at one point, her dearest ambition.”
He’d never forgiven Lillian Gray, née Sederey, for luring him out of the house at Garrett’s request. Beatrix wasn’t fond of Mrs. Gray herself. But she suspected there was a deeper explanation for any tension between the woman and the town’s female omnimancer.
“I think she might have quite enjoyed being a witch, had that option been available to her,” she murmured. “But by the time it was legal, she’d married a man who …”
She trailed off as she realized that man was walking toward them.
“I’m sorry to interrupt, but three people just flagged me down to tell me about Andy,” Senator Gray said. “Thank you, Mrs. Martinelli. I’m grateful. He’s … well, he’s giving his mother fits.”
He looked tired—dispirited. Beatrix wondered how his vision of an appropriate marriage was working out for him.
But that was an unkind thought.
“Andy will be in school this September, won’t he?” she said. “That should help. Mrs. Gray will finally have some time to herself.”
“Yes. I suppose so.”
“You could ask her what she’d like to do next,” she said gently.
“Perhaps.” He hesitated. “How is your sister? … Well, I hope?”
“Very much so, thank you.” She almost left it at that but couldn’t help adding, “She loves the work she’s doing.”
He nodded. No one said anything for a few seconds. “And Miss Dane?” he asked. “Is she well?”
“Yes.” Beatrix smiled, thinking of Rosemarie’s retort the other day when they’d suggested she cut back and get some well-deserved rest. There’s so much still to do, and I intend to do it. “She’s as well as ever.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Gray said. “Thank you again, Omnimancer,” he added to Mae, this time using her proper title. “Good night.”
Mae watched him go with curiosity plain on her face. But when she turned back to them, she changed the subject. “Anything new with your little baddies, Peter?”
“The killer bacteria?” He shrugged. “Oh, you know. The usual slog.”
“Come on, now, tell her about the research you uncovered,” Beatrix said. “Really promising stuff,” she added to Mae.
“Now who’s counting eggs before they hatch?” he teased.
She poked him.
“All right, it does look interesting,” he said. “It’s old—from about a hundred years ago—and it suggests a wholly new route to try.”
“Mold,” Beatrix said.
Mae laughed. “Mold? Fight one health threat with another?”
“It actually makes sense,” Peter said. “Worth a try.”
Beatrix leaned in, tapping the table. “Five dollars says he’ll get his medicine on the market before I do.”
“Hah! She’s about to start human trials. Don’t take that bet, Mae.”
“Human trials? Washington said yes?”
Beatrix snorted. Oh, if only. “No. We’re going to do them in Canada. Even if it works perfectly, there’s not a single U.S. state that would let women buy the results.”
Mae swallowed the last bite of her dinner and cocked her head. “You’ll just have to change the world again, won’t you?”
“Omnimancer! Omnimancer!”
They turned, chuckling at the sight of Martinelli bouncing on the balls of his feet.
“Croup all sorted out?” Peter asked.
“I think so, but I’d like to have them stay the night. Just to make sure all is still well tomorrow morning.”
“Are they willing?” Mae said.
“Haven’t asked yet. Wanted to check with you before I started flagrantly offering one of our empty bedrooms.”
“Ridiculous man,” she said with a fond smile. “As if you really thought I might say no! But we’d better round up some sheets and toiletries …” She stood, looking apologetically at Beatrix and Peter. “I promise tomorrow’s dinner will be better.”
“Because no one will know where we are,” Martinelli whispered.
They hurried off together, their identical sun-yellow coats swirling behind them.
Peter shook his head, clearly amused. “If he thinks no one will guess to look for them at our place, he’s sadly mistaken.” He glanced at her and his grin faded. “What’s wrong?”
“Oh—nothing.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“I was just thinking about what Mae said, that’s all,” she clarified. “It’s going to be a huge fight.”
“Five dollars says you’ll win.”
She shifted closer. “Peter—are you sure you want to give up the quiet life all over again? My God, the headlines.”
The smile that spread over his face could not be fairly described as anything but wicked. He leaned in, slowly, and whispered in her ear: “Why, Dr. Blackwell, are you picturing questions about how we’ve managed to remain childless all this time?”
“Uh …” she said, distracted by his left hand ghosting up her thigh, the fabric of her slacks feeling exceptionally thin.
He trailed the fingers of his other hand down her jaw. “Questions about what exactly we’re doing in bed? Or the bath? Or on a convenient table?”
Swallowing over a suddenly dry throat, she murmured, “And what would you say?”
“Oh, I could be very”—he shifted closer, lips almost but not quite touching hers—“eloquent on the subject.”
“Home,” she gasped. “Now.”
They scrambled out of the booth so fast, they almost fell.
Laughing, breathless, they rushed from the diner, calling out a good-bye to Mr. Reed on the way, and raced each other across Main Street in the dark.
She was almost to their rowhouse when he caught her hand and pulled her around, reminding her so much of another time—dreamside, years ago—that for an instant she was back in that fraught moment before he kissed her and her life took an irrevocable turn.
“Look, for the record—since you were trying to have a serious conversation—I think you of all people deserve a quiet life,” he said, bringing her back to the present.
On the sidewalk under a lamppost. Snow dusting his hair.
His hand warm in hers. “You’re not obligated to change the world twice.
Someone else can get off their rear and do it. ”
She laughed under her breath.
“But if you want to,” he said, lips again twisting into that smile that never failed to make her want to kiss him, “we both know you’ll succeed.”
Thank you for reading!