The Responsible Witch (The Ward Witches) (10 page)

“
I'm my mother's daughter, Gage. I'm afraid that I'm going to make the same mistakes, and I'm going to ruin everything. I don't know how to have a relationship, and here I am, already killing whatever good and wonderful things you're offering me.”

“
Stop right there. It sounds like you're beating yourself up, and you don't have reason to. You had me worried, really worried. I care a lot about you,” he went with 'care' because he knew if he said 'love' at this point she'd shut down even further, “and I want you to be happy. The problem is that if you're worrying about becoming your mother, you aren't thinking about us. This, right here,” he gestured between their chests, “is all about us. If I'm right for you, and you're right for me, then
the ghosts of
your parents don't need to be involved. And since I know that you're right for me, I need to get any dilemmas out of you before we go any further.”

“
How do you know I'm not broken?”
She looked like she could start crying again at any moment.
He could tell that this was not the person Dymphna usually was, and he wanted the Dymphna he loved back, cocky confidence in place.

“
I don't know that, frankly. But I can tell some things about you from what I've seen. You are your own person. Whether it's being a successful lawyer or just choosing your clothes, you do what you want to do, and you achieve what you want to achieve. If you want to have a successful marriage, you will find a way. But if you let uncertainty cloud what we have, you won't be able to make of this what you want.”

She stopped, staring into his eyes as if testing whether he believed what he was saying.
He needed to make her believe. That would lead to more and more trust as she got to know him better.

“
I've noticed that Leo calls you D. Would you mind if I did?” She shook her head. “Alright then, D, I want you to know, without any doubt in your mind, that I will do everything I can to make this work.  Will you, in turn, do your best to make it work, without worrying about what might go wrong?
Will you c
oncentrate on what we gain if it all goes right and
not
plan for the worst? Can you do that for me?” He kept his eyes on hers. Gage could tell that what she did next was crucial. She might just break his heart before she even gave him a real chance.

Slowly, she nodded. “If you're willing to go to all that effort for me, the least I can do is to do the same.”

“
You are your mother's daughter, but that doesn't mean that you are destined to relive her mistakes. So what we're going to do is we're going to forget what happened here. I'm going to show you that you are a great wife, and I'm going do my best to be a great husband in return. You are going to realize that you have an opportunity that you need to take advantage of for yourself. What we have is what we make of it. When you're ready to move forward, you're going to give me a kiss, and we're going to move forward.”

She nodded again. She took a deep breath, clearly making the effort to calm herself down. Then she smiled weakly. She kissed him, and he felt his hope return. He took her light kiss and deepened it until she responded in kind.

“
Are we alright?” He asked, pulling back just enough so he could talk.

“
We're alright. Thank you.”

“
Do you want to stay up here for a little while or do you want to go see what Skylar's up to and possibly play some Skyrim?”

“
Well, considering that we've exhausted the box of condoms I liberated from Skylar's bathroom, we'd better go downstairs.”

He laughed. “Can I give you incentive to go get some more?” He tickled her until she started giggling. He kept tickling her until she was really smiling.
That was more like it.

“
You win! Go distract Skylar somehow and I'm going to sneak out the door and make a drug store run.”

“
I don't think we need to hide from Skylar. I think she realizes we're married, and I think she knows what that means.”

“
Where's your sense of adventure, Gage? We. Need. A. Distraction. Understand?”

He laughed. “If my lady wants a distraction, she'll get a distraction. But it'll have to be worth it.”

“
I'll make it worth it. Between you and me, and this is a secret too, you're going to get lucky tonight. Well, probably this afternoon and again tonight. So go distract Skylar already!”

He was glad to see her attitude turn around, but Gage knew that realistically, she still had some of those feelings,
and she would have them for a while yet
. He'd just need to make it another one of his missions to prove that she was the only wife he wanted and that they'd make it work.

Gage gave her the sign to creep downstairs, and he went into the kitchen.

“
Good morning, Skylar,” he called out loudly. He heard Dymphna giggle lightly as she grabbed her purse in the entryway and scooted out the front door.

Skylar raised an eyebrow at him. “What the hell is going on? And by the way, it's afternoon.”

“
I probably need some advice, realistically.”

“
I'm good at advice. I've also been married into this family longer than anyone else,
and I don't mind bragging on that as often as I can in front of Melanie and Fiona
. Tell me what's on your mind or what's on Dymphna's mind, if that's more to the point. I'll help if I can.”

He sighed. “First of all, you need to be distracted. Dymphna thinks she's pulling one over on you by running out when your back is turned to get condoms.”

Skylar snorted then started laughing uproariously. “I noticed that my box was missing out of the bathroom, but I wasn't going to comment. I've been married to her brother for a year and a half, and I'm not an idiot.”

“
So did Leo have the same problems from their parents' marriage?”

“
Oh did he! Tell me what's going on, and I'll tell you what I know.”

Gage felt slightly like he was spilling her confidences, but he thought that a little more insight into her mind might be beneficial for the future. He told Skylar the basics, leaving out the emotional outburst and the crying. She went into more depth about the family's history and gave him more of an idea on what he was dealing with. There were some deep-seated issues there, and he knew he had his work cut out for him.

Before Dymphna got back, he made the awkward call back to Miami to tell his principal that due to unavoidable family issues, he'd have to resign. But since he was good friends with the principal,  and he went ahead and told him what was really going on, or basically that he found his wife and needed to move to be with her. As a friend, he understood, and he agreed to keep the official story as a family emergency that caused him to relocate.
He didn't like losing Gage as a teacher, but he knew it wouldn't do anyone any good to complain about it at length.
The principal even congratulated him, and he invited Gage to come back to visit with his wife when he got a chance.

Gage came away from the call relieved. That could have gone a lot worse, but it actually went
quite
well. He updated Skylar and secretly wondered why Dymphna was taking so long to get a box of condoms.

"If you're feeling up to it, I'd like to get you to start looking at these manuals for me."

"It would be a good idea for me to start learning how to use my magic as soon as possible. Which one do you want me to start on?"

"I want you to start with fire magic. Since that's my specialty, I'll be
available
to answer any questions you have."

"Alright."

Skylar downloaded her manual to Dymphna's laptop, and Gage started reading. They were momentarily disrupted for Gage's package from his mother to arrive. She sent all of his credit cards and identification
as well as his phone
. He was lucky that he had somehow left all that at home when he was captured. That made him wonder what had happened when he was kidnapped, but he'd have to worry about that another day.
He thought some serious magic might have to be worked on him again to reveal how he had gotten to the Wards' doorstep, and that would have to wait until he'd recovered more from the magic that had already been worked on him.
At least now, he'd be able to take Dymphna to the court and get their paperwork taken care of to make their marriage legal.

He heard her creep back in the door and go upstairs. Gage and Skylar shared a smile.
Dymphna
thought she was clever and subtle.

"Did you have a nice shower, honey?" He asked as she came into the living room.
She hadn't even gotten her hair wet, which would have signaled Skylar right away that she had been doing something else if she hadn't picked up on it yet.
"Skylar's been having me read her magic manuals on your laptop."

"Go for it. I don't need to use it now. I think I'm going to
play around with
my Skyrim character."

"That sounds good," he said. “Or we could go make things legal.”

“
Your package arrived?”

“
It did. We've still got time if you want to go.”

“
Let's go.”

Gage was surprised how little time it took to get the paperwork through. Dymphna's father had brought witchcraft to light years ago, and as part of that process, he made it easier to push through a magical marriage in the legal system. There wasn't even a waiting period for witches. They filed with the court, then went to the Social Security office.

“
I can change my name,” Dymphna said on the way over. “At first I was really against you being a Redman, but I've come to understand that you've taken your name and made something all your own with it.”

“
No. In
this
community
of witches
, the name Ward is a powerful thing. The name Redman is just as powerful, but in the wrong way. It will be easier all around for me to take your name. I'm not nearly as attached to my name as you are to yours.”

“
If you're alright with it.”

“
Completely.
I am actually quite honored that you'd give it to me.
”

With that settled, Gage changed his name on his Social Security card, and then again at the Department of Motor Vehicles for his driver's license. The clerks in both places looked at him oddly as he did it rather than her, but they went through with the papers. Everything would be mailed over to Ward Manor, and the couple returned there.
They had finally discussed his living situation in the car ride over to get their paperwork done, and her agreement to having him move in felt better than any amount of legal work could. She talked about it as if there were no other reasonable option, and he liked that.

79

CHAPTER SIX

Finally, Dymphna was able to get back to her video game, and Gage got back to his reading. Before Skylar started cooking dinner, she took him out into the back yard to practice.

She set up a barrier with her magic around a fire pit in the back yard so that any errant magic wouldn't get out of hand and damage something. Gage stomped his feet in the snow. Hopefully using magic would increase his body heat because he wasn't at all used to how cold it was in Boston in the middle of winter versus Miami at any point. Skylar gave him a sympathetic look. “It gets better. You'll adapt.”

“
I sure hope so. What do we do first?”

“
You were doing the reading. You tell me. That way I'll also get a good measure of how much you absorbed from just reading.”

“
First you advised candle lighting.”

“
Good. I brought the candles too,” she said as she procured them from a back pocket. Gage was grateful he didn't have to go back inside and waste more time. “I shouldn't use my magic any more than I can avoid. Dymphna hasn't been able to give me a magic infusion in the past few days, and having twins means that I need all the energy I can muster.”

“
I understand. So I go into my meditation breathing like I've practiced for years to control my magic from escaping. But instead of dampening my power, I'm going to try to draw it out of myself. Then I manipulate that feeling into lighting the candle.”

“
Good, yes.”

“
I assume that the execution is not as easy as the theory.”

“
Not at all. But give it a try.”

He did his best to pull his magic out from within himself. He really tried, but wasn't having much success. Luckily, Skylar was patiently waiting.

“
Here, I'll do it, and see if you can sense my magic and how I pull it so that you'll know for your own use.” He concentrated on Skylar.
When he tried,
Gage was able to sense, as she said, a red-colored thread of magic reach from her chest and pull towards the candle. It caressed the wick, and the candle lit. “Now you try.”

Gage tried the same thing. He was able to access the magic and pull it to him, but he didn't have any control over it from there. The candle in the middle of the fire pit went up in an inferno, lighting the wood that had been there before as well. Skylar quickly put it out with her magic.

“
Unfortunately, I need to go make dinner. I'll leave the barrier I put up there and I'll bring you a fire extinguisher. Feel free to try for as long as you can stay warm enough out here.”

“
I will.” He stayed out about another hour, but by the end of that time, he was getting a controlled burn on the candle three
-
quarters of the times he tried to light it. However, he was about to freeze, and Skylar was gesturing that dinner was ready, so he came in.

“
How did it go?” She asked, setting his plate in front of him.

“
I think it went pretty well. I'm actually starting to get some success with lighting it and not consuming it entirely.”

“
Good. Speaking of magic, do you think you could do an infusion for me tonight, Dymphna?”

“
Oh of course. I'm sorry that I've been forgetting to help you with that.”

“
It's not a worry. Fiona's potions do a good job of making up for missing days. I just don't want to take any chances.”

“
Of course not. I'm always glad to help. How was work today, Leo?”

Gage could tell the question as posed by his sister caught him by surprise. But he regained his composure quickly and went into a story about his latest office secretary. Apparently the practice was having a hard time finding someone who could do the job consistently well.

Dymphna responded in kind by telling her brother about what they had done in town to get married. Leo
and Skylar were
surprised that Gage took the family name, but
t
he
y
were
pleased by it. He also agreed that removing the Redman name was a better idea than making Dymphna a Redman as well. Gage told them about his resignation with the school
principal
. Dymphna's easy smile through dinner made all the trouble worth it. He was committed to her, and he'd do it right, damn it.

“
I don't think I'll be able to find a position for the spring semester and get my teaching certificate changed to a Massachusetts one in time to start working in a month when the kids go back to school,” he admitted.

“
I'm perfectly able to take care of the bills and such,” Dymphna reassured him. “And Justin has been pestering me to work with him on Coven Protection. I'd bet that he'd be even more happy to get you since you know a lot more about the inner workings of the organization than I do.”

“
My
mother
knows even more than I do. She called earlier and asked if I'd find her a reasonable apartment in the area. If I can do that, she'll move up here and work on finding a job when she gets here. But if you wanted someone who knew all about the previous Redman's Order, it's her.”

“
She's a blood witch, right?” Leo asked placidly.

“
Yes. She doesn't practice with anything stronger than what she can get at a butcher's, but she gets awfully sick without it.”

“
I'm not here to judge,” Leo assured him. “But I know that Justin has put some new protective spells around the Coven House to keep blood witches out. He made noises about putting them here too, but I'm pretty sure I dissuaded him. So if you're going to do anything with your mother, do it here and not at the Coven House.”

“
I understand.”

“
Good. Justin and Seb wanted to get to know you better, so I invited them over after dinner. I hope no one minds.”

To be honest, Gage was nervous about meeting Dymphna's
other
brothers
again
. He wasn't precisely at his best when they met before, and he was aware that his family's past was a major detractor against him when it came to being Dymphna's husband. But at the same time, he knew that if he had a sister, he'd be protective of her as well. So when Dymphna and Skylar shook their heads, he shook his as well.

Gage volunteered to clean up so that his wife could go show her brother what she'd been doing in Skyrim. For someone who had never really taken a break from work before, she was taking to it like a fish to water. That was good too because her stress levels must have been sky high while she was working eighty
-
hour weeks.

From the kitchen he heard Skylar letting in the four other Wards. It sounded like they had left the infants back at the Coven House. He finished up the cleaning though before he came into the living room. He watched them together before he announced his presence.

“
So let me get this straight,” Fiona was saying. “You are a witch in real life, so you chose to play a mage on the game. Wouldn't it make more sense to do something exotic, like dual-wielding maces or some such?”

“
Perhaps. But I know magic, and it seems more natural, even though pressing a button doesn't feel the same as casting a real spell.”

Fiona shook her head. “Whatever you say.”

Gage finished drying his hands and went to sit down beside his wife. He kissed her cheek lightly. “How's it going?”

“
It's going pretty well actually. I've got this lightning bolt spell that I wish I could do in real life, and I'm zapping enemies left and right.” Feeling the pressure of her family's eyes on the couple, she paused the game out. “But I don't think we've got visitors because they want to see me play video games.”

“
No, probably not,”
Gage
agreed.

“
We haven't had a chance to talk since you fully regained consciousness and your memories,” Seb confirmed. “I've heard things indirectly from Leo and Skylar, but Justin and I still wanted to know you directly.”

“
I can understand that. Feel free to ask me anything.”

“
I understand that your mother is a blood witch,” Justin started. “And I know your father was as well. Are you at all worried that it runs in the family line?”

“
No, I'm not. Denise, my mother, was always very concerned that I never use it. I know that I was exposed, and I would have dreams about using blood, so I know how to do it. But as far as actually practicing, the witch would be fully aware of what they were doing. Since Fiona and Dymphna were able to get the traces of blood magic out of me, I assume that I wasn't permanently tainted. Plus, since they did that, I haven't had any more dreams about it. I also feel confident that when she comes here to Boston, she'll be willing to answer any questions about blood magic or the Dark Order that you have.”

“
She's coming to Boston?” Justin asked.

“
When she found out that I was moving here to be with Dymphna, she thought that it would be a good move for her to live in the area as well. We've been close all my life, and she wants it to continue that way. Leo told me about the defenses on the Coven House, but other than that, I hope having her move here isn't a problem.”

“
Certainly not,” Seb said. “If we've learned one thing, it's that families should stay together as much as possible. Amazingly enough, none of the rest of us have a close relationship with our parents. If you do, you should be proud of it and pursue that.”

“
Thank you.”

“
What did you do for work before you came here?” Fiona asked.

“
I was an elementary school teacher. I called and resigned, and at some point, I'll likely look for a similar job here. I like kids, and I liked being a teacher. I'll miss the kids in my class, but I know that being here is more important.” That got a nod of approval from the mother and the two mothers-to-be.

“
Have you talked to Dymphna about your own children?” Melanie asked.

Dymphna sputtered. “That's a little personal, don't you think?”

Melanie looked unrepentant. “I care about you, and everyone's got the question on their mind. I'm just the one to ask it.”

“
We haven't discussed it really,” Gage said, squeezing her hand so she'd stop staring daggers at her sister-in-law. “But we're in no rush as far as I know.”

The question and answer session went on a full two hours, but in the last hour Gage was able to ask questions of the Wards as well. Finally, Skylar saved him.

“
I think that's enough for tonight. I need Dymphna to give me some magic, and then I need to go to sleep.”

In agreement, everyone stood. Gage was surprised when Justin and Seb gave him back-thumping hugs on the way out, just like they did with Leo, but he returned the gesture.

“
Welcome to the family,” Seb said as he left. “We'll see you again later.”

“
That's for sure,” Gage said, closing the door. “I plan to stick around.” Only Leo heard the last part, but he looked pleased.

“
You're good for my sister,” he said.

“
I'm certainly going to try to be. She deserves the best, and I'm going to try to give it to her.”

“
Good. I think she's upstairs with my wife already. It took her a long time to decide to like Skylar. In fact, you're the only person I've ever seen D take to so quickly.”

“
That's good for me. I asked her if I could call her D as well, but I wanted to be sure that was fine by you.”

“
Of course. Whatever D's OK with is OK by me.”

“
Thanks.”

“
I know she's torn up by what she thinks is a lasting influence of our mother.”

“
She is.”

“
All of us went through that to some degree when we met our bond-mates. She'll get over it, but just be persistent. I think she has that worry stronger than any of the men did
because of how often she was compared to our mother. Having people tell her how alike they were has always made her skittish about how she would handle her magic and possible bond in the future. And now we're in that future, so I know she would still be worried
.”

“
I'll keep with her on it. She'll see that she's a valuable woman in and of herself soon enough.”

“
Good.”

They heard Skylar's voice calling from upstairs. “If you don't come give me a goodnight kiss now, I'll be so asleep it won't matter!”