Page 22 of Dragon's Midlife Secret Baby
“It’s not like he’s gone completely,” Lucille said. “Maybe having some time with his clan will be good for him. He’s got a lot to process, and sometimes it’s easier to give someone a little space to do that.”
“I know, and you’re right. I just hate having to sit around and wait for things to happen when I feel like I should bedoingsomething.” Chelsea clenched her fingers in the air for emphasis.
“What can you do?” Lucille pulled the last sheet of cookies out of the oven and turned it off.
“Well, I’ve been thinking about that.” Chelsea licked her lips. Beck hadn’t asked for her help. In fact, he wanted her to stay out of things so he could handle it on his own. She wasn’t interested in cowering in her room until the stormblew over, though. “If I can track this person down, we can resolve this, and Beck and I can be together.”
Lucille slowly twisted her wedding ring on her finger. “There are an awful lot of witches in Salem to sift through. In fact, there’s no guaranteeing it was someone from around here. I don’t mean to put a damper on your plan. I’m just saying it might not be as easy as it sounds.”
“I don’t think it’ll be at all,” Chelsea replied. “We have very little to go off of. The biggest clue is that whoever did this was capable of putting a mindwipe spell on him. Mom said it would take someone incredibly powerful to do that. We know other witches in the area, and we might be able to get some information if we just ask around a bit.”
Maeve moved in next to her sister and began piling the freshly baked cookies onto a plate. “We should get these out to the girls while they’re still warm. Maybe we should grab some drinks, too.”
Chelsea noticed the hard line her mother’s mouth had turned into. “What are you thinking, Mom?”
Maeve gave half a shake of her head, just enough to make her earrings jingle slightly. “It’s just…no. It’s not a good idea.”
“There are no bad ideas compared to no real idea at all,” Chelsea countered. “What is it?”
“There’s one person I can think of who might be able to help. Someone who knows a lot about powerful and even different kinds of magic.” Her movements were quick and jerky as she loaded the plate without her usual grace.
Lucille leaned back. “No, Maeve.”
“He’s the first person I thought of,” Maeve replied, grabbing a spatula to remove the last cookies from the sheet and put them on the cooling rack.
Lucille folded her arms. “He’s also a first-rate asshole.”
“That was a long time ago. He may have changed by now. I haven’t seen him in, what, forty years? Goddess, I’m old.” Maeve clucked her tongue.
“A crone, for sure,” Lucille laughed.
“You’re not so far behind me, little sister.”
“No, but I’m wise enough to know that you should let certain sleeping dogs lie. Though, in this case, it’s an insult to the dogs,” Lucille snorted.
“I was young and dumb, okay? What better time to make a few mistakes? I’m not the only girl who’s ever fallen for a handsome face.” Maeve tossed the spatulainto the sink.
Lucille shook her head. “I’m telling you, he wasn’t that handsome. You could’ve done much better if you blindfolded yourself, spun in a circle, and made love to the first man you came across.”
Maeve lifted her chin. “Not exactly a vote of confidence, but I choose to take that as a compliment anyway.”
“Do I have to make you two lay down for a nap or something?” Chelsea cut in. She was quite used to the banter between her aunt and her mother, but right now, it was keeping them from getting to the point. “Who is this guy, anyway?”
Lucille lifted the plate of cookies from the counter. “I’ll just take these out to the living room and see what I can do to help Kristy.”
Coming around the counter, Maeve took a seat next to Chelsea, along with a cookie. “His name is Sol. We were in a coven together back when I first moved to Salem. While a lot of people were here because they were looking for something that satisfied their spirit, there wasn’t much of anything that satisfied Sol. Everything he learned, he wanted to know more. He was constantly researching.”
“And you dated him?” There were more important matters at hand, but Chelsea couldn’t quite letgo of this aspect. Her mother had rarely spoken of dating anyone before her father.
Maeve shrugged a little. “Yes, for a time. I did think he was good looking, no matter what Lucy has to say about it, but part of the appeal was a mental one. Sol was interested in learning, and he was truly smart. He seemed to know everything. I looked up to him, and then it turned into something a bit more.”
“So, what happened?”
“Well, a lot of it was that we had different ideas about what magic should be. I was happy being a witch and concentrating on the natural elements surrounding me. Sol fell into the more philosophical realm of mages, studying hermeticism, alchemy, and the like. He liked high magic so much, it got to the point that we began arguing about it. It was around that time that I broke away from the coven and started the sisterhood. Wow, these really are good cookies.”
“I promise not to tell Lucille you said that,” Chelsea joked. “Why is she so against this Sol guy, anyway?”
“Oh, that’s just an old grudge.” Maeve wrinkled her nose. “Poor Lucille was the one who had to listen to me whine and groan about how hard things were with Sol right at the end, and of course,she was the one who comforted me when I decided to leave him. Those aren’t the kinds of things a sister forgets.”
