Page 23 of Enchant the Dawn

“Just my great-grandmother. The others are in Savaria.”

“Oh. Guess I won’t get to meet them.”

“You’ve already met my great-grandmother.”

“Really?” Maddy shook her head. “I’m sure I would have remembered that.”

“I’m serious. Her name is Ava.”

“What?” Maddy came to an abrupt halt.

“I just thought you should know. She has a tendency to poke her nose in places where it doesn’t belong. Like my love life.”

“I don’t believe this.”

“Well, it’s true.” He gave her hand a squeeze. “She likes you.”

Brow furrowed, Maddy started walking again. “Do you believe all that stuff she told me? About us?”

“She’s usually right.”

“What if I don’t want to marry you?”

“Well,” Dominic said, laughing. “When I ask you, just say no.”

“This isn’t the least bit funny.”

“Hey,” he said, taking her in his arms. “Calm down, sweetheart. Fortunes aren’t cast in stone. Nothing’s changed. I just didn’t think it was fair for her to be talking to you when you didn’t even know who she was. She thinks she had a hand in bringing my parents together, and now she’s decided to try her luck with me.”

They walked in silence for a moment.

Brow furrowed, Maddy asked, “Does Ava cast spells and things?”

“Yeah, from time to time.”

“How do I know she won’t cast some kind of magic spell on me that will make me love you?”

Dominic grinned inwardly. He didn’t need Ava’s brand of magic for that, not when he had his own. But he wasn’t ready to share that with Maddy yet. If ever.

“I can assure you that she won’t. If I can’t win you on my own . . .” He shrugged.

“Have you ever seen her do magic?”

“Sure. When my sister and I were young, Ava was always casting spells. Innocent things, like turning water into hot chocolate or making our toys float through the air. By the time my sister was ten or eleven, she could do those things, too.”

“Did you feel left out?”

“Yeah, in a way, especially when they tried their magic on me. One day, my sister turned my hair pink on our way to school. I didn’t find out about it until we got there and the other kids started teasing me.”

Maddy laughed. “I have a sister, but I always wanted an older brother, someone who would protect me from the bullies at school.”

“Lily and I had some good times,” he said, smiling.

“You must miss her.”

“Yeah, but if you ever meet Lily, don’t tell her I said so.”

“No worries.”

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