Libby decided that she may have come to a good place when she’d moved to Pine Creek, but it was also a weird place. A little off kilter. Maybe otherworldly.
It was as if she were standing in the middle of the Twilight Zone. She’d actually befriended a snowy owl that shouldn’t even be living this far south, she’d met an old priest who thought he was a wizard and claimed to be almost fifteen hundred years old, she’d seen dead flowers brought back to life, and she was trying very hard not to get emotionally involved with a philosophical and very sexy man whose actions and beliefs made her think he was centuries old himself.
And then there was her own gift.
Yes, she fit in perfectly.
Chapter Thirteen
Michael stared down at histwo empty dessert plates and considered how long it had been since he’d had such a tasty meal.
Too bad it had settled like lead in his gut.
He glanced toward the living room, toward where thedrùidh’s stick sat on the mantel.
He knew it was the other half of Daar’s missing staff; the old man had been hunting for it for five years, since it had shot free of the waterfall when Morgan MacKeage had blown up half of Fraser Mountain.
Where had Mary found it? And why in hell had she brought it to Libby, of all people?
“Why don’t I take Robbie home?” John suggested, standing up and rubbing his own full belly as he headed for the door. He put on his hat and jacket and went over to Libby and kissed her on the cheek. “That was a wonderful supper,” he said, smiling contentedly.
“But Robbie and I can’t stay to help with the dishes. We both need our beauty sleep.
You’ll stay and help, won’t you, Michael?” he asked, turning to the table. “You don’t mind the walk home if Robbie and I take the truck?”
Michael nodded to John. “Robbie, why don’t ya collect the kittens?” Michael instructed.
“Make a bed out of their box, and lock them in the bathroom for tonight. Then ya can go home with John and tuck each other into bed.”
“You want to lock them in the bathroom?” Libby asked from the sink, turning to look at Michael, sending soap suds flying in front of her. “But why?”
“Ya haven’t owned kittens before, have ya?” Michael asked, standing up and carrying his two empty plates to the sink. “These are barn cats, mostly nocturnal. They’ll keep ya awake all night, get into God knows what trouble, and leave little presents all over the place until they learn where their litter box is.”
“Oh,” Libby said, looking at Robbie and nodding. “That sounds like a plan. Here,” she added, taking two bowls out of the cupboard and handing them to him. “Use these for their food and water.”
John started collecting the scattered kittens while Robbie went into the bathroom and made up their new home. Michael helped John search, but it took him a good five minutes to find Trouble. He was in the living room, climbing up the back of the couch.
“Come on, Trouble,” he said with a chuckle, plucking the young daredevil off the couch.
He turned the scrawny kitten until they were looking eye to eye. “You’ve been properly named, I’m afraid,” he said, carrying Trouble into the bathroom.
“Ya don’t have to worry about tucking me in, Papa,” Robbie said after John had deposited his kitten and left to warm up the truck. “Mary said she’d follow me home and stay until morning.”
Michael looked up from setting Trouble in front of the food dish and stared into his son’
s eyes. “Mary told you I would be staying here all night?” he choked out.
Robbie nodded. “Aye. She really likes Libby, Papa, and thinks ya should fall in love with her.”
Michael gently took hold of the boy’s shoulders. “We’ve had this talk before, son. I don’t want ya getting your hopes up. I cannot love another woman, and I know you understand why.”
Robbie patted his cheek. “Ya can if your heart gets healed,” the boy contradicted. “And Mary said Libby can do that. She’s special, Papa.”
“Mary?”
“Nay, Libby.” The boy frowned at the wall, obviously thinking. “What did she call it?
Oh, yeah,” he said, looking back at Michael and smiling. “Providence. She said providence brought Libby to us.”
Michael sat down on the floor, leaned against the wall, and scrubbed his face with his hands. He just might return Daar’s staff and have thedrùidh cast a spell that would send that owl back where she came from in a storm of flying white feathers. Dammit, he would not risk his heart again.
Robbie patted his shoulder. “It’s okay, Papa. I know it’s scary, but you’re the bravest person that ever lived. You’re a warrior, remember? And warriors fear nothing.”
Michael looked up to find the boy grinning at him.
“So ya can’t be afraid of one tiny woman,” his wisdom-speaking son explained. “And Mary said Libby needs us. Both of us. That we can’t spit on providence when it comes calling.”
“Mary saidspit?” Michael asked, eyeing Robbie suspiciously.
The boy shook his head. “Nay, I saidspit . I think she saidre-rebuke or something like that.”
Michael didn’t know whether to hug Robbie or put the boy over his knee. “Son,” he said with a growl, “ya’re interfering in matters beyond the both of us.”
Robbie nodded agreement. “Aye. That’s what I’ve been trying to explain, Papa. That you
’re wasting your time being afraid of Libby. Didn’t ya tell me, when we buried Gram Ellen, that life happens whether we like it or not?”
The boy was eight, and already he was haunting Michael with his own words. He scrubbed his face again, stood up, and turned Robbie to face the kitchen. But before the boy could open the bathroom door, Michael leaned down and whispered to him. “The next time ya have occasion to talk with Mary, ya tell her for me to mind her own business. Because it’s my higher calling to raise you, and I’ll do it without interference from her, your aunt Grace, or anyone else who tries to have a say in the matter.
Understand, young man?”
Robbie twisted around and threw himself against Michael. Michael lifted him up and hugged him tightly.
“I love ya, Papa,” the boy whispered shakily. “And it’s my duty to see ya smile again.”
Michael took a shuddering breath and buried his face in Robbie’s shoulder. “I’m smiling like the village idiot every time I look at ya. And I love ya more than life itself, son.”
“Is everyone settled in here?” Libby asked, cracking open the door.
Michael turned, shielding Robbie’s tears from her. “Everyone’s settled,” he said to Libby
’s startled, blushing face. “We’re just saying good night.”
“Oh. Yes. Of course,” she stammered, backing out and closing the door.
Robbie sat up in his arms, swiped away his tears, and grinned. “How can ya not love her, Papa? She’s so… so… ”
“Small?” Michael finished for him.
The boy clasped Michael’s face in his hands and tried—but failed—to give him a serious look. “I think her hair has grown a wee bit, Papa. And she looks to be gaining weight.
She’ll probably have curves by spring.”
They were back to their discussion of two nights ago. “And the spring after that, she’ll probably be so fat we can roll her down TarStone like a snowball,” Michael added, deciding that if he couldn’t discourage the boy, he might as well join him.
Robbie shook his head. “Nay, Papa. She won’t.”
“Son,” Michael said with a chuckle, giving him a squeeze. “It’s not only beauty a man wants from a woman. It’s who she is that’s important.”