01 Do You Believe in Magic - The Children of Merlin (40 page)

Shit. He’d forgotten that she
lost her father tonight. Elroy might have been a sorry example of
family, but he was all she had. “I’m sorry about Elroy....”

“I’m not.” When she turned, her
expression was fierce. “That old fool locked me in the bedroom
until the Firestarter could get there. He tried to
sell
me,
for Christ’s sake. He admitted that my mother never left us. Elroy
hacked her up along with the propane guy he thought she was
screwing and buried them somewhere out in the desert. And my dog
right after that. So don’t say you’re sorry about Elroy. He got
exactly what he deserved.”

Tris wanted to take her in his
arms and hold her, but she’d never let him do that. She was too
stubborn to admit how shaken she was. He felt totally inadequate to
comfort her. “Uh, at least your mother didn’t leave you. She loved
you.” He wasn’t sure, but he’d never tell Maggie.

She sniffed. “Yeah.” She raised
her chin. “And Phil the Rat can go to hell.”

Now this was interesting. She
thought Phil was a rat? Tris chewed his lip some, his steak
forgotten. He gathered his courage. “Ever thought of looking him up
in Vegas?”

She frowned. “Why would I look
him up? So I could get dumped again?”

Tris cleared his throat. “But...
if you knew he regretted what happened....” He couldn’t finish the
sentence, and she just stared at him for a long minute.

“I’m not moping around after
Phil,” she said guardedly.

Good. That was good. But there
was the power thing. “You must have gotten your power from Phil. I
saw you calm horses, and you’d been doing it for years.” It would
have killed him to say that a few minutes ago. But now....

She shook her head wearily. “Oh,
I loved him. But I was seventeen, for God’s sake. Who knows
anything about love at seventeen? Maybe he did raise my power, a
little. I sure never saw
him
get a power. But what I could
do then wasn’t a shadow of what happened to me at the camp.”

Tris nodded, his gut churning.
This was it. This was the moment that would determine the rest of
his life, right here. She didn’t love Phil. He could hear that in
her voice. Sure, he didn’t deserve her. And he was bound to fail
her. But he just couldn’t let her walk out of his life. It almost
didn’t matter that she’d raised a power he’d never believed he
could have and changed his life forever. He’d raised hers in a way
Phil never could. That’s what was important.

She looked at him, her
gray-green eyes full of emotion. She was the most beautiful woman
in the world. She was waiting, he could see it.

God damn it. He was going to do it. It
was his only chance....

*****

Maggie watched Tris press his
lips together and take a huge breath. He put the tray with his
dinner on the bed beside him, and pushed himself up to his
feet.

“What are you doing? You’ll
start bleeding....”

He ignored her. There was a
stubborn set to his jaw but his green eyes were soft as his gaze
played over her. He stalked over to her chair and... and got down
on his good knee. Her little gasp surprised her. This, this was
going to take courage, one way or another. She wasn’t ready!

He took one of her hands in both
of his and looked down at it.

“I know I’m not much, Maggie
O’Brian. Didn’t get here in time to stop you being attacked. Had to
wait for my father to figure out you were in danger. I’m bound to
disappoint you, just so you know. You’d be way better off with
Kemble.” He took a deep breath. “I’m used merchandise, too. Hard
used. You know that.” He swallowed. “But I love you. Have for a
while. And what I feel for you isn’t in the same league with what
I’ve ever felt for a woman before. I know I can be strong for you,
Maggie. Steady.” She saw him gather himself before he looked up at
her. His eyes were as full as hers were. “I want to marry you,
Maggie O’Brian, and give you babies, and watch them grow up with
whatever magic they have or don’t have, until we’re old and gray.
And I swear that you may get sick of me and leave me, but I’ll
never leave you.” His voice grew more uncertain. “I understand if
you don’t want to take a chance....”

And here it was, what she’d
secretly hoped for almost since she’d met him, though she’d fought
so hard against it. Funny. He still thought he’d disappoint her,
but he mustered the courage to try for happiness. There were no
guarantees in life. He might still move on and leave her. But if he
had the courage to try, how could she not?

“That was a damn fine proposal,
Tristram Tremaine.” The painful uncertainty in his face was
difficult to see. “I think you’re a good man. And I’ve loved you
for a while too. I don’t know why you want me. Your family will be
appalled. But I accept.”

He lunged forward, gathering her
into his arms. “You won’t be sorry, Maggie. I’ll make sure you’re
never sorry. I’ll buy you nice things, starting with a dog. A girl
like you needs a dog.”

The door burst open. Kemble
strode in. “I thought you’d never get to it, old man. It’s cold at
night up here.”

Behind Kemble, Mr. and Mrs.
Tremaine surged into the room. “His family is not appalled,” Mrs.
Tremaine said, smiling. “Grateful, perhaps. And relieved he’s come
to his senses,” Then her face fell. “Oh, my dear, you’re hurt. You
must let me take care of that.” She bustled over, as Tris pushed
himself up, and tipped Maggie’s face up to the light.

“You’ve been out there all
along?” Tris asked his brother, outraged.

“Mother wouldn’t let us intrude
until you’d settled things.” Kemble looked around the little motel
room. “Don’t suppose you’ve got more of that steak hidden around.
Diner’s closed.”

Tris looked around at his
family, fuming. “You probably brought the whole tribe.”

“Too dangerous,” his father
said. “Drew and Mr. Nakamura have them in hand.”

Mrs. Tremaine took Maggie’s face
between her hands. Her eyes went almost silver.

“Tris is hurt way worse,” Maggie
protested.

“I’ll get to him. This won’t
take a minute.” Maggie felt a tingling throughout her body,
followed by a sense of well-being like nothing she’d ever felt.

“There.” Mrs. Tremaine stepped
back to look at her handiwork.

“I’m so sorry to trouble you.
You didn’t have to do that, Mrs. Tremaine.”

“Now that you’re practically a
member of the family, do you think you
might
begin to call
me Brina?” Really, the woman’s smile was infectious.

Maggie couldn’t help but smile
back. “Thank you, uh, Brina, for healing me.”

“It was nothing.” She looked
around the room. “What’s a power for unless you use it?”

“That means you’ll call me
Brian, of course,” Mr. Tremaine said gruffly. Then he smiled,
almost shy. Now she knew where Tris got his smile. Kemble had gone
for the steak left on her plate. Mr. Tremaine’s smile turned down
as he saw Tris’s injuries. “What happened, son? We’d have been here
sooner if Brina didn’t insist on coming.”

“I was all ready. The cards were
quite clear about the crisis.”

Kemble rolled his eyes.

“There was more than one,” Tris
said grimly, limping back to the bed. “I drove the Cloaker off the
road about seventy-five miles out, but not before he got in a
couple of shots. A Firestarter had Maggie cornered by the time I
got to Elroy’s.”

“I take it that one’s dead,” Mr.
Tremaine said briskly.

“Yeah.”

“I knew you’d be able to take
care of things as long as there weren’t too many of them. You’ve
always been a fighter. Firestarter, though... tough. How’d you do
it?”

At least his father assumed Tris
was competent. Maggie saw Tris blink a couple of times, like he
hadn’t expected that. “Tris got his power,” she said to fill the
silence, and she wasn’t sorry she couldn’t keep a touch of pride
out of her voice.

Mrs. Tremaine... Brina...
clapped her hands, her face alight with pride. Mr. Tremaine reached
out and shook Tris’s hand. Only Kemble looked a little
deflated.

“What is it?” Mr. Tremaine
asked.

She could tell Tris was about to
pooh-pooh the whole thing. “He can draw energy from the earth to
power machines,” she interrupted. She went to sit beside him on the
bed. “He powered the cycle to get to Elroy’s after the gas tank got
hit, and he made a rust bucket that hadn’t run in fifty years crush
the Firestarter.”

Tris’s father grinned. “That’s a
good one. Brina, have we ever heard of a wizard who could do
that?”

“No, dear. Tris is original, as
always.”

His father beamed. “What you
could do with that! It would be indispensable in our disaster
relief operations.” He turned to Maggie. “Might be a good pairing
with the calming talent you have, Maggie. People in shock could use
your skills.”

Maggie had a hard time getting
her breath... their positive energy, their assumptions, were
overwhelming. “I... I’m just a rodeo rider, Mr. Tremaine. I
don’t....”

“Brian! Leave Maggie alone.
She’s been through a lot.”

“Firestarter killed her father,”
Tris said roughly as he put his arm around Maggie.

“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Brina
exclaimed.

“Don’t be,” Maggie said, before
Brina could settle into mother-hen mode. “He was never really a
father to me. Turned out he killed my mother, and sold me to the
Firestarter.”

That didn’t deter Brina. “Oh, my
dear. Well. Well, it’s certainly a good thing that you have a new
family. I’m quite certain Brian would never kill me, or sell any of
the children.” She slid a look to Brian that was a touch
mischievous. “Although there are times when I’m sure we’re all
exasperating.”

“Didn’t mean to push you,
Maggie,” Mr. Tremaine humphed. “If you want to ride animals in
competition, you’re welcome to do that. But if we can help you...
start an animal rescue perhaps, or calm schizophrenics, or whatever
you want to do with your power, Tremaine Enterprises will stand
behind any project you undertake. Just bring me your ideas.”

“I.... Thank you, Mr. Tremaine.”
He raised his brows. “I mean, Brian.” Boy that didn’t come easy.
“I’ll have to put that off, though. I have to bury Elroy, and I’ll
need to earn enough to make the monthly payment on the land. The
mortgage is underwater and I couldn’t default. Lander County
Savings and Loan took a chance on me.”

Tris pulled her closer. His
smile was tender. “California is a community property state, baby.
You are about to own half of a very lucrative body shop, or a third
anyway,” he amended, frowning. “I promised José the shop. I have to
at least cut him in.”

“Open a branch for him,” Kemble
said. “José could make it go. Las Vegas? Or Silicon Valley. Those
tech billionaires like their cars. ”

“I may have unfinished business
in Las Vegas.” Tris nodded, looking fierce. Kinda cute. He was
angry at Phil the Rat. “Anyway, we can pay off the mortgage
tomorrow if you want, Maggie. Then you can sell the land for
whatever it brings, or keep it if you want.”

Having Tris pay off her mortgage
didn’t feel good.

“Your spent-oil fuel technology
will be worth a fortune when we develop it,” Brian said. “As well
as making transportation a whole lot cheaper for a lot of
people.”

“So see? You’re rich. No
worries.” Tris traced the frowning lines. “You can do whatever you
want with your power.”

That felt so strange. What would
she do if she didn’t have to worry about Elroy and money? Be happy?
With Tris? And maybe it was okay if he paid the mortgage. That was
the past. Maybe it was best to put it behind her, since they had a
whole future to build things together. Build a family. That would
be shared work. Suddenly she knew that the vision of Elroy going up
in flames, the terror of fighting off the Firestarter, fresh and
horrible as they were now, would dim as they slipped into the
past.

“Tammy is going to be so happy
you finally popped the question, Tristram.” Brina shook her head.
“Now we can dispense with that dressage teacher. You won’t mind,
will you, my dear? She’d be heartbroken not to get a lesson from
you once in a while.”

“Of course! I’d love to teach
her.... I mean when I’m in town.”

This was all so fast. She had an
instant family, complete with obligations, generosity, and no doubt
a lot of complications. It felt wonderful and frightening.

“Don’t you dare scare her away
before I can get a ring on her finger,” Tris said, scanning his
family. He turned to Maggie. How she loved when his eyes lit with
that soft expression. “You already knew my family was certifiable,
right? You won’t chicken out?”

“I won’t chicken out.” She
smiled a little. “But you’re exaggerating.”

“Magic in your DNA and powers
and true love? Anybody would call that certifiable.” Tris was
looking wan and strained again.

“Out, you two,” Brina said to
the men with little shooshing movements toward the door. “I have
work to do on Tristram. Maggie, you can stay and give Tristram
moral support.”

“I’ll go get us some rooms in
this four-star establishment,” Kemble muttered.

“Then let’s get out to the scene
of the fire,” Brian added. “I’ll grease the wheels with the local
law enforcement....” Brian and Kemble closed the door, making plans
all the way out.

“Are they always that...
directed?” Maggie asked.

“That was tame,” Brina said.
“You haven’t seen them in full executive plumage yet. Now, lie
down, Tristram.” She seemed pretty directed herself.

It wasn’t long before Tris was
whole. He looked sleepy, but the bullet hole had mended itself and
his burns and cuts were just new pink skin. When Kemble and Brian
returned, Kemble took Brina to one of their newly acquired rooms to
rest. Maggie curled next to Tris again, one of his arms around her
shoulders. That felt right. Brian sat on the foot of Tris’s bed,
frowning.