“You are going to love it,” Maribelle said. “We’ve had such an uptick in weddings. It’s been so fun. Speaking of weddings and married couples, have you heard from Jane and Galen?” Maribelle was Zoey’s first friend she had when she moved to Moonshine Hollow. Maribelle was human, but that didn’t stop their friendship from developing into sisterly love.
“They are happy in Scotland. They’re going to come visit this summer. I can’t wait to see them,” Zoey said with a smile. Zoey and Slade regularly poofed over to the standing stones to visit the stone keeper and his wife. However, instant magical travel wasn’t something she could talk to Maribelle about.
“Now, if only the good doctor could get his wife pregnant,” Grand Mistress Lauren grumbled behind Maribelle. “Speaking of pregnant.” Grand Mistress Lauren pinned Zoey with a glare. While Zoey and Slade’s wedding opened the door to a flood of witch marriages, the little witchlings that everyone were looking forward to welcoming hadn’t arrived yet.
“I’m not pregnant. I’m not trying to get pregnant. Get pregnant yourself if you want a baby so badly,” Zoey joked back. Only after six months of listening to every witch and human alike asking her every day if she was pregnant yet, it wasn’t so much of a joke anymore. In reality Zoey wanted to scream.
“What’s this about my little girl being pregnant?”
Maribelle laughed and Zoey groaned. “Dad. I’m not pregnant. Give it a rest.”
“Oh, Lauren, can you imagine a little Zoey and Slade boy?” Her father sighed happily.
“You mean a little girl,” Lauren corrected and soon Agnes, Vilma, Maribelle and most of the town were in a debate over the gender of a nonexistent baby.
While it infuriated her, it also warmed her heart. These people all loved her, Slade, and their future children. That kind of love was worth fighting for.
2
Slade ducked the punch and followed up with a hook. His fist connected with Samuel’s face and sent his Tenebris brother stumbling back.
“I thought this was practice,” Samuel grumbled as he rubbed his chin.
“It is. Since there is literally nothing going on in this town in terms of needing to fight, we have to practice harder than ever to stay ready,” Slade explained. Slade was the sheriff of Moonshine Hollow and Samuel his deputy. Slade had been able to stay in fighting shape when he was the bouncer at the strip club. He was amazed at how many fights he’d been involved in there. But in Moonshine Hollow? The most he got was a drunken hunter who might give him a little shove, but they’d look up at him and instantly back down.
“Zoey still thinks trouble is coming?” Samuel asked as they got back to sparring.
“Didn’t you feel her this morning?”
“I did. I don’t have to set an alarm any more. Her magic wakes me up like clockwork. But she hasn’t found anything, right?”
“All is quiet, well except for the Irises and Opossums getting into it over which club should get their cookie delivery first,” Slade said with a chuckle. “It’s bad when the most trouble in town comes from the old married couples.”
“You’re in that group now,” Samuel pointed out.
“I believe you have to be married twenty years or more to be in the men’s only Opossum club or the women’s only Iris club. Got a couple decades to go. You, on the other hand,” Slade said before delivering a hard right cross, “need to get your butt in gear or you’re going to lose your True Love.”
“I don’t have a True Love,” Samuel said, his eyes giving away the lie. Samuel’s past involved a broken heart. But however much he trusted his life to Slade, he hadn’t yet shared that secret with him.
“You’re too scared to find out if Polly is your True Love. You can step in here and practice with me but you can’t ask sweet-as-pie Polly out on a date?” Slade followed up the cross with a jab and some bawks like a chicken.
“I’ll ask Polly out when you have a little witchling,” Samuel said, now going on the attack. Slade felt the frustration his wife was feeling at that exact moment. It hit him hard just as Samuel landed a punch. He and Zoey were True Loves. Their magic was intertwined and he could feel what she was feeling and vice versa. He knew it was hard for her to deal with the constant questions of becoming pregnant. Now that they had been married for almost a year people had started asking him too. He felt her frustration mix with his and leveled a punch at Samuel. It sent the man flying and landing hard ten feet away.
“Sorry. If you can’t tell, we’re a little frustrated with people asking. It’s none of their business when we have witchlings.” Slade held out his hand and helped Samuel up.
“I shouldn’t have joked about it,” Samuel said as a way of apologizing. “Seriously though, you can talk to me if you need to.”
“Zoey wants to wait. She says she’s having dreams of a dark future. She doesn’t want to bring a witchling into that. However, you can have love with Polly,” Slade said jokingly. Samuel narrowed his eyes at him and Slade held up his hands. “Fine, that’s the last thing I’ll say on the subject. Now, let’s meet everyone for practice.”
Grand Master Magnus, Slade’s father-in-law, had initiated the thrice weekly magical workouts. All Tenebris and Claritase worked out together as they grew their powers, worked on defending themselves and each other, and prepared for a day Slade hoped would never come.
Zoey gave her final instructions to the part-time helper she now had for after the morning rush and before lunch. Amelia was a human teenager who was saving for college. She worked four hours every morning to free Zoey up to practice her powers. Not that Amelia knew that.
“Ready to go?” Polly asked as she waited by the front door.
“Have fun at Zumba,” Amelia called out. Polly hid her little smirk as Zoey grabbed her purse and joined her on the short hike into the woods where all the witches gathered to practice.
Grand Mistress Lauren cast a protective spell on the area so even if humans wandered by they couldn’t see into the clearing where Tenebris and Claritase were zapping things with their elemental powers.
“How many people asked if you were pregnant today?” Polly asked kindly. Polly had never asked Zoey about a baby. She knew why Zoey was waiting.
“All of them,” Zoey signed. “Tell me something happy. Did Samuel ask you out? You thought he was getting closer.”
Polly shook her head and her long ponytail swayed. “No. I’m beginning to think it’s not going to happen. I would have sworn he was my True Love, but nothing. Did you see the Cavallaro brothers arrived yesterday?”
“Yes, you can’t miss all eight of them. The town couldn’t stop talking about them after they found out I am not pregnant again today,” Zoey said as they walked farther into Earnest Park.
“Surely one of them would date me,” Polly said with a sigh. Polly and Samuel had been flirting since they’d first been brought together in Moonshine Hollow. Every time it seemed they’d made some progress, Samuel would back off.
“But none of the Cavallaro brothers are your True Love,” Zoey said gently. She was going to have to have a word with Samuel. It was one thing to not be interested, but he regularly showed real interest in Polly. He was always there to open the door for her, to ask how her day was, to be her partner in powers practice. Something deeper was going on and Zoey was going to find out what it was.