chapter Fourteen
Xav found Ash feeding the babies in their room as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. As if she hadn’t tried to draw Wolf out on her own, without even giving him a heads-up of the plan. He scowled at the woman of his heart as she held Thorn.
“It would kill me if I ever lost you,” he said flatly. “Kill me deader than a dinosaur.”
She smiled at him, and he felt like a flashlight had just shined on the darkest places of his soul.
“You’re not going to lose me,” Ash said. “One thing I don’t think I understood about you is what a worrywart you are.”
He slumped into a chair, picked up Briar who was waiting patiently for her turn to be fed. He grabbed a bottle and began the honors. “Worrywart, my ass. I’m pretty certain most men in my situation would have died of cardiac arrest if they’d found their petite, fragile angel out trying to beard a baddie.”
Ash shook her head. “There’s no reason to be so fearful.”
“That’s what you think. My beautiful girl acting as a decoy just about makes me pop one,” Xav said. “Can we agree that you always let me know the mission? That way I won’t expire from worry, and I won’t ride in hell-bent-for-leather on whatever the plans are. It’s a double benefit, not to mention I’ll just be able to get myself out of a knot if I know the plans. I’m not good with surprises.”
“I promise not to leave you out of the plans anymore.”
He looked at her, making sure she didn’t have any fingers crossed. “All right,” he said gruffly. “I’m sorry I was ready to go Rambo this morning. But it’s my job to protect you. And these babies of ours.”
“We’ll work together from now on.”
“Really?” He wasn’t certain what to think about this more amenable Ash.
“I need you. I worked hard to catch you.”
“I know. Believe me, I know. There were times when I thought you wouldn’t be able to, you know.”
She looked at him, outraged. “That’s exactly what my brothers said!”
He laughed. “I have a bone to pick with them over yesterday’s failed mission, but at least they’re on my side.” Briar fed so sweetly, so trustingly, and he stroked her cheek, overwhelmed by a fierce desire to protect her and all his family. “So now what?”
“My brothers say we need to get married, and then you’ll calm down,” Ash said. “I want you to know that I’ll definitely be Mrs. Xav Phillips on Christmas Eve.”
“That’s the best news I’ve heard today,” Xav said, perking up. “Tell my future brothers-in-law I welcome them to my clan.”
“Likewise.” Ash looked at him. “And then, I need your help with a mission.”
“Anything, doll, anything.” Right now, he’d give her the moon he was so happy.
“I want to blow up the tunnels beneath Sister Wind Ranch,” Ash said, and he started so hard that Briar flailed in his arms, looking up at him over her bottle with questioning eyes.
“Sorry, sorry,” he murmured to Briar, “your mother just threw a kink into her sweet determination to marry me.” He looked at Ash. “Is that going to be our honeymoon? How do we plan this? I’ll make sure you pack the proper explosives and detonating devices, and you’ll make sure I don’t forget a book of matches?”
“This is important, Xav. It’s the only way to set the land free from the evil that curses it.”
She meant to flush Wolf and the cartel out. “If this is your brothers’ harebrained idea, I really am going to kick their butts.”
“This one’s all me. That’s why it’s going to work.”
He looked at his silver-haired darling with great concern. God, he loved her, he loved her mind, her spirit, her fire.
“Not gonna do it, buttercup.” He grinned at his charming pixie. “That’s no way to spend a honeymoon.”
She looked at him. “You have a better idea?”
“It so happens I don’t. But any idea is better than you ending up in jail, as far as I and the children are concerned.”
“This is important, Xav.”
“Oh, I know. Believe me, I know. I may be late to the Callahan party, but I have some sense of what this family’s all about. Family first, all for one and one for all. That’s why you’re not going to jail on my watch.”
“Who says I would?”
“Stands to reason.” He shrugged, and as Briar was finished with her bottle, he diapered her and put her in her bassinet, picked up Valor to start all over again. “You can’t destroy land, even if it’s yours.”
“It’s a rebirth, not destruction.”
“Just the same, anything could go wrong, and then I’d end up without a wife. I have the strangest idea you’re planning this little boondoggle for before Christmas Eve. Am I right?”
“Can’t happen soon enough.”
He smiled at the fierceness in her voice. “There are other ways to get rid of your uncle and the cartel.”
She stared at him. “Don’t you think if we had a better idea we would have tried it?”
“That’s why you hired me. I’m supposed to be the canyon runner, the first line of defense.”
“That doesn’t mean you have better ideas. Fiona usually comes up with the smartest plans. And even if they’re a bit squirrelly, they’re at least fun.” She glowered at him. “Xav, if you had a better idea, you’d have shared it long ago. Especially since you were the one who, as you say, was the first line of defense and practically living out in the open.”
“Exactly.” He looked down at his son, smiling at his brave boy growing, it seemed, right before his very eyes. He loved these children. He loved Ash. “We’re going to get married. You’ll get your parcel, and then nobody will care what you do with it. And then, I’ll help you build the best, biggest hospital, school, library or rodeo your heart can conjure up.”
“How does that change things?”
“We’ll squeeze Wolf and the cartel out. Think of it, Ash, all the people who would settle there. We’ll make it so awesome that people stand in line to live there, raise their families. It’ll be almost as popular as one of Fiona’s Christmas balls.”
She settled Thorn and picked up Skye. “I think you know you’re speaking to my heart when you talk about building communities.”
“Exactly. And I’ve got plenty of business knowledge and tricks I picked up from the old man. In fact, my sister and brothers aren’t too shabby on the business side, either. Just think, the Callahan legacy would live on forever. Everything Jeremiah and Molly, and Carlos and Julia, fought for would stand the test of time.”
He saw her eyes sparkle, wondered if she was going to cry. But she leaned over Skye to kiss him and said, “I really never needed a magic wedding dress to tell me that you are the man of my dreams.”
Xav grinned, feeling pretty much as if he’d solved world peace. “So, Christmas Eve for sure, huh? You and me—it’s a date?”
“It’s a date,” Ash said. “There’s no going back now.”
“That’s right,” Xav said, thinking what a lucky man he was. It was the two of them against the world—and nothing and no one—could beat that.
* * *
“HE’S TRYING TO CHANGE ME,” Ash told Fiona when she took the babies over to help Fiona send out wedding invitations. “Xav’s made me promise not to do anything he would list as foolhardy.”
“Burke always said the same thing to me. Hasn’t really worked,” Fiona said, and Ash smiled.
“I see his point, though,” Ash said.
“He’s a build-a-better-mousetrap kind of guy. Chip off the old block. And you’re a chip off your old block,” Fiona said. She addressed some envelopes with delicate calligraphy. “It will all work out.”
Ash nodded. “I hope so. I want him to be happy.”
Xav said she made him happy. Ash pressed stamps on the envelopes Fiona addressed, glancing at her babies in the four-seated stroller. “Where are my brothers?”
“I have no idea,” Fiona said, her tone serene.
That wasn’t right. Fiona almost always knew exactly what was going on with her family. She looked at her aunt carefully, but Fiona went on addressing the cream-colored envelopes in a beautiful, looping hand. Ash glanced into the den at the twinkling tree, seeing the holiday-wrapped gifts that had started to stack up under it. A wealth of stockings hung from the mantel, so many it looked like an elf sock convention, except far prettier.
She sealed some envelopes, put the stamps on, set them in the to-be-mailed pile. Fiona was awfully quiet, for her. “Thank you for planning my wedding, Aunt Fiona. It’s going to be lovely.”
She beamed. “Of course it will! And you’ll wear the magic wedding dress, and it will be perfect!”
Ash cleared her throat. “I’ve been putting off this conversation, actually, Aunt Fiona, hoping I’d wake up and realize I’d dreamed the whole thing. But I didn’t dream it.”
“It’s okay, dear,” Fiona said absently. “Dreams are just our brains unwinding. Don’t be afraid of your dreams.”
Ash shook her head. “You’ve been so kind to us, Aunt. We all love you so dearly. I don’t know if I could have been as unselfish as you’ve been by leaving your—”
“Nonsense,” Fiona interrupted. “You heed the call whenever it comes. There’s no point in sitting around doubting one’s call. It would be like arguing with a shadow.” She smiled as she neatly stacked the pile of invitations. “You’ll do it when the time comes.”
She had to make a clean confession, and she should have done it sooner, except that she’d desperately hoped the dress would magically return. Somehow. “Fiona, your beautiful wedding dress burned up when I went to try it on.”
Fiona looked at her. “Burned up?”
“Just...set itself on fire until it was nothing but a puff of smoke.” It was so hard to look at Fiona’s bewildered face. Ash was so upset she wanted to cry.
“Oh, dear,” Fiona murmured. “It hasn’t come back?”
“I don’t know,” Ash said. “I haven’t been upstairs. Xav went up to check on it and he said there’s a gown hanging up there, but you know Xav, he doesn’t believe in anything supernatural or even out of the ordinary. Has no clue what the magic wedding dress looks like.” She teared up a little, surprising herself. “How I ever fell for such a practical, by-the-numbers man I’ll never know.”
“Well, if it’s gone, it’s gone,” Fiona said, ignoring Ash’s question. “I’ll go check.”
“Do you want me to go with you?” Ash asked.
“Absolutely not. You finish stamping the envelopes and stay with your children. I’m sure everything is just as it should be in the attic, so don’t move.”
Ash shook her head as Fiona left the room. She placed the envelopes in the pile of outgoing mail, then put the babies on a soft pallet beside the Christmas tree. Her ears were stretched out for any sound from upstairs, but there was nothing.
Fiona returned, sailing into the den and plopping herself in front of the fireplace. “You’re both right,” she announced. “The magic wedding dress is gone, and there is in fact a gown up there.”
Ash blinked. “Who would put a wedding dress in the attic?”
“I have no idea. Strangest thing, really.” Fiona scratched at her silvery-white curls, pondered the snow boots she wore almost all the time in the winter, since she said she was always in and out, and didn’t have time to wriggle into a different pair of shoes every five minutes. “I don’t like it, either. It’s rather ugly, I thought.”
“Ugly!” Ash was astonished. She frowned as Fiona fanned herself. “Are you feeling all right, Aunt?”
“I’m fine. Just a bit warm.”
“Maybe move away from the fire?” She touched her aunt’s hand, but it was cold, not warm at all. “Fiona?”
Fiona sighed. “Maybe some tea, sweet niece.”
She jumped up to get tea, worried. “Do you want me to call Burke?” she said over her shoulder.
“No, I’m fine, dear. Truly.”
Fiona’s voice sounded a bit quavering.
She hurried back in with a cup of tea and a slice of pumpkin pie. Fiona was gone, and so was Skye. Ash glanced around the room and down the hall. “Fiona?”
Something was wrong, she could feel it. Her aunt always seemed a bit fey, but never rattled, never overwrought. She looked out into the chilly darkness. No bootprints led away from the house.
She was being silly. Fiona had probably gone upstairs to get something from the nursery for the babies, had taken Skye with her. “Fiona?” she called up the stairs, then realized the basement door was open. With a quick glance at her babies, she looked down the stairs. “Fiona?”
“Here!” Fiona called back.
“Fiona, do you have Skye?”
“Yes, I do!” Fiona’s head popped around the corner. “I’m showing her some things.”
Fiona kept her myriad Christmas ornaments and decorations downstairs, and the colored lights she had separated by holiday and season. It was also the place she stored her canned vegetables and fruits. “Showing her what things, Fiona?”
“Just things,” Fiona said. “We’ll be right up, niece!”
She took a deep breath. Xav walked in, and she turned to him. “Aunt Fiona is showing Skye something in the basement.”
Xav shrugged. “Go join them. I’ll watch the babies. I’ve been planning to read them ’Twas the Night Before Christmas.”
“Thank you.” She hurried downstairs. “Fiona?”
She stopped, seeing Fiona looking down at a scar in the dirt floor, a long, deep rectangle that would have fit a coffin if required. But it wasn’t a coffin, nor had there ever been a grave. She heard Fiona murmuring to Skye, and she went to stand beside her.
“What are you telling my baby?” she asked Fiona.
“That she’s special, and an angel, and that she will always be taken care of.”
“This is the silver treasure,” Ash said. “This is where it’s hidden.”
“Yes,” Fiona said.
“Why are you showing it to Skye?”
“Because it’s her heritage. All the Callahan children will one day run Rancho Diablo.”
“How do you know?” Ash asked. She never felt that certain of anything.
“You’re strong.” She kissed Skye’s cheek. “Because you’re strong and the future is in your hands.” She looked at Skye. “These babies make me so happy! I always feel better when I hold them.”
Ash knew exactly how she felt.
Fiona turned to look at her. “You can wear that dress in the attic if you wish.”
“You said it was ugly!”
Fiona nodded. “It is no magic wedding dress. But you don’t need magic, niece.”
“I’m so sorry about your dress, though. I’d love to have worn it.”
Fiona kissed Skye’s little hand. “The message was that you walk your path without magic, niece. Your soul will survive this challenge, but you’re going to have to face it alone. Because you alone hold the answers to Rancho Diablo.” She kissed Skye again. “We’d best go join your daddy. I think I hear his heart thundering, wondering where his girls are.”
Ash glanced toward the scar in the dirt floor again. “Do you ever dig that up? Make sure the silver is still there?”
Fiona laughed, walked up the steps. “It’s still there.”
“Wolf would be shocked if he knew it was right under his nose.”
Xav was indeed hovering at the top of the staircase. He looked at Ash with a brow raised quizzically.
“Wolf has searched the house for the silver,” Fiona said.
“How do you know?” Ash and Xav followed her aunt toward the fireplace. It had been cool in the basement, but Fiona seemed over her earlier spell of chills.
“We know,” Fiona said, “because he told us. And he’s always said he’d one day find it.”
The silver was buried deep, but it could be found. “Why did you go downstairs after you looked at the gown?” Ash asked curiously as they warmed their hands.
“Because I understood the message,” Fiona said simply. “The magic wedding dress is of spirit. The silver is of the earth. Both are part of Rancho Diablo, and both must survive for the next generations.”
“But the dress is gone,” Ash said, and Xav looked at her, confused. She wanted to kiss him desperately, hold her to him, tell him that marrying him was going to be the happiest moment of her life, especially since he’d given her four beautiful children. “It’s not coming back.”
“Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. Take heart that the dress in the attic now is a gift.”
“It’s not magic,” Ash said, knowing it was true.
“No, it’s not. But it can be, if you make it that way.”
“The easiest way to solve this,” Xav said, “is for me to take Ash to the wedding shop in town and let her choose her own gown.”
Ash wanted to hug him for being so supportive. “I’d like that, Xav.”
He perked up. “I’m sure I’m pretty good at picking out bridal gowns.”
Ash smiled. “You’re going to say the first one I put on is beautiful, so the adventure is over quickly.”
He sat on the sofa next to Fiona, took Skye from her. “I just think anything you put on is beautiful, so I’m not picky.” He looked at Fiona. “Your hands are cold.”
“Cold hands, warm heart,” Fiona said. She picked up her tea and sipped it. “I’ve been in the basement trolling for spirits.”
“Why would spirits be in the basement?” asked Xav.
Ash looked at her husband-to-be and her aunt chatting like they didn’t have an audience. Skye looked up at Xav, and Xav put Valor in his other arm. Fiona took Briar, so Ash picked up Thorn and sat down to listen.
“Spirits are everywhere,” Fiona said patiently. “Angels, et cetera. Do you not believe in such things?”
He shrugged. “Haven’t thought about it much.”
“Well, you should,” Fiona said archly. “Ash needs you to understand that her world is a spiritual place.”
He looked at her, and Ash felt like her heart burst into song.
“Hi,” Xav said. “Apparently, I’ve missed the fact that you’re a spirit guide, beautiful.”
The room went deadly silent. Ash stared at him.
And that’s when it hit her. Grandfather’s spirit lives in me, and that’s why I’m the hunted one.