Love-in-Idleness Read online

  “Everything?” Titania looked at him with what he interpreted as hope in her eyes.

  “Everything.” He kissed her forehead and left. As he closed the door, he made a mental note to himself to have Puck alter Ana’s memory. Perhaps Puck should pay a visit to Nick Bottom tomorrow, as well.

  2:30 AM

  As Grace slowly woke up, it took her a moment to remember where she was. She felt a gentle hand shaking her shoulder, and when she opened her eyes, Miles Oberon came into view. It took no time at all to pull herself from her sleep-induced fog when she recalled the events of the night thus far.

  “I didn’t mean to fall asleep,” she said, sitting up. Her stomach grumbled uncomfortably.

  Miles shook his head. “It’s my fault. Puck came home and distracted me. I really didn’t mean to leave you for so long, but maybe your little nap will help you stay up through what’s ahead.”

  “Did you bring food?” Grace asked. She was acutely aware of her hunger and only half-focused on what Miles was saying.

  “Why don’t I take you to the kitchen and let you find something to eat. We can talk there.”

  Before Grace followed Miles out of the office, she grabbed the photo album he had given her. She had some questions about what she had seen in it.

  This walk through the penthouse was her first really good look at it. As they moved from the massive hallway with dark hardwood floors to the common area that the boys used, she was stunned by the grandeur of everything. Her old bedroom could have fit in the hallway, and the common areas had the same square footage as the entire downstairs of their brownstone in Brooklyn.

  Keeping a few steps ahead of her, Miles cut through the boys’ room and then through a doorway that led to another hallway, and eventually to the kitchen. Grace had to stop and drink it in before she entered. She had never seen a kitchen like this. Enormous stainless steel appliances lined the walls. There was a gigantic side-by-side refrigerator with clear doors and two industrial grade ovens, just like she had seen on cooking shows. The floor was tiled with white marble and, in the middle of the room, sat a massive cooking island. This was a space that was planned for small family dinners. This was designed to prepare food for large functions.

  In direct contrast to the splendor of the rest of the room, on one corner of the island lay a pile of debris. Bread slices, lettuce and carrots were left torn to bits and uncovered. Miles must have seen her eyes linger on the mess, because he instantly said, “My wife must have been rummaging for a snack and left a mess. She never cleans up after herself. Like my own children, she grew up with people cleaning up after her.”

  Grace nodded and smiled. It wasn’t as if she’d never seen a mess before, but she’d never had a staff to clean one up. For her, the idea of walking away from your messes, confident that someone else would take care of it, was a bigger cultural shift than being in an enormous penthouse.

  Eager to move on, she plunked the heavy album down on the counter and moved to the fridge as she spoke. “I get that you wanted to show me some evidence of your relationship with my mother, maybe even prove you’re telling the truth,” she began. She opened the fridge and took in the vast assortment of cheeses and fresh produce. Her hands went to a tub of soft goat cheese, which she carried to the island and began to spread on a piece of bread that had been abandoned there. “I’ve looked at the pictures, and I understand that you and my mother were related. That’s clear.” She paused for a moment, lifting one hand to her temple as she sorted it all out. “I just need a quick recap here.”

  Miles gave her a calm smile. He looked like he could go over this all night and never lose patience. “I can see why you might need some clarity at this point.”

  “So, you’re my uncle, which makes Puck my cousin.”

  “Right,” Miles said, as if he were helping her tick items off a list.

  “Cam is not your son, and therefore isn’t any relation to me, but he doesn’t know that.”

  “Yes,” Miles said.

  Grace put down her food and reached for the photo album. “I’m on board with everything except for one little detail,” she said, furiously flipping pages as if she were looking for something very specific. When she found it, she spun the book to face Miles and pointed at a picture. “Why is Gianni in the album?” She expected Miles to be surprised when she asked this, but he just looked at her kindly.

  “Are you sure you’re ready to hear this?” he asked. “You’ve had a lot of input tonight.”

  “I think I’ve handled things fine so far,” Grace said. The words were teasing, but her tone was serious.

  “Okay, here we go.” Miles reached over and grabbed a slice of bread and picked up the knife Grace had been using. As he spoke, he spread cheese on his bread, just as Grace had done. “So, goat cheese, huh? I had you pegged for a peanut butter girl.”

  Grace bridled a bit at the slight. “I’m from Brooklyn, not Indiana. There’s plenty of good food on the other side of the bridge.” Grace quickly turned the conversation back to Gianni. “Don’t change the subject. How does Gianni fit into all of this?”

  “Gianni is my cousin, from my mother’s side of the family.”

  “There’s a New Jersey Italian faction of the Oberon family?” Grace tried to make that add up in her head, but she was too tired to make it work. “So she was my mother’s cousin, and is my second cousin?”

  “Right. My aunt on my mother’s side- well, look, we have the album right here. Let me show you.” Miles began to flip through the album to a different page. Grace was feeling overwhelmed and was happy for the visual aid.

  After flipping through his early childhood, Miles landed on a picture of a beautiful, light- haired young woman. Grace recognized her immediately as Gianni’s mother, whom she met on several occasions. It wasn’t surprising that Grace would have missed that photo on the first run-through. There were hundreds of pictures in the album.

  “This is your Great-Aunt Abby. She married this guy.” Miles pointed to a swarthy man in shirtsleeves and absurdly high-waisted pants. She knew that was the fashion back then, but it was dreadful. “They moved to New Jersey to be close to his family. In 1972, they had Gianni. She was an only child, and showed promise of inheriting the family gift right away. She was an Oberon by birth, but not by name.”

  “Wait.” Grace stopped him. “Was Gianni’s mother gifted?”

  “She was.”

  “Well, if you fought with my mother over marrying Theo and going mainstream, then weren’t you mad at Abby, too?” Grace could feel herself digging for injustice.

  “No, I wasn’t. But I seeing her become old and prudish before her time as a result of denying her gift probably led to my conflict with Emma. When Gianni was born, she tried to keep Gianni’s powers from developing. She refused to teach the girl what her abilities meant or where they came from, and punished Gianni when she accidentally summoned something to her. Abby employed a good healthy dose of Catholic guilt, too. She dragged Gianni to Mass and sent her to Catholic school, where she knew the girl would receive clear instruction as to what was good and what was evil. Eventually, Gianni learned to keep that part of herself suppressed.” Miles took a bite of his food and took a moment to finish it before he continued. “It was a daily struggle for Abby, but Gianni adapted pretty well. I don’t think it was until she became a teenager, after her father died, that she started to wonder about her abilities. She knew they existed, she had just been told that it was wrong to use them. However, you know how teenagers are. They begin to care more about experience than about the possibility of going to Hell. Eventually, Gianni began to look for answers. That search led her to me.”

  “Do you think that what you can do is evil?” Grace asked.

  “Absolutely not. At least, its existence doesn’t automatically imply evil. It is only wretched when it is used to harm others. Gianni came to understand this and learned to balance her abilities with her upbringing. In the years since Abby’s death, I’ve worked hard to h
elp her with that.”

  Grace looked down and realized that she was standing there with a piece of bread in each hand, staring at Miles. Embarrassed, she dropped her food and said, “So Theo’s marrying my mother’s cousin. Shouldn’t he know that?”

  “In time. Let’s just let them be happy for a while. There are bigger emergencies than upsetting people who are better left alone.”

  “Such as,” Grace asked. She began to tidy up some of the food from the counter, which caused Miles to raise an eyebrow in her direction. Oh, yeah, she reminded herelf. The staff will clean up.

  “You are wearing a ring that was given to you by your mother. I have one that is a companion to it. Puck is supposed to inherit it, but he’s years away from being ready for that kind of responsibility. There are a lot of magicians looking for these two rings, and the third, which I have yet to locate.”

  “I’m not following,” Grace interjected. “What’s so special about the rings?”

  “You asked me about good and evil. The capacity for evil is part of the reason that it’s important that the rings stay in our family, where their power won’t be used to do harm. With yours, we possess two of the three.”

  “What can they do?” Grace asked.

  “I guess that depends on who owns them. When united, or so the story goes, they can bring together the elements of nature in whatever manner the possessor chooses. They can cause natural disasters or stop them in their tracks. The person who holds all three could melt the polar caps with the blink of an eye, or reverse the effects of global warming.”

  Grace perked up. “Would you do that? Save people, prevent disaster?”

  Miles shook his head. “No. At least not until I gain more knowledge about the consequences of using the rings. Great power is not for the impulsive or uneducated. However this power is used, however small the spell, it will begin a ripple effect that I might not be able to control. This entire matter needs to stay between us until I’m convinced that my sons have matured enough to have the information without abusing it.”

  “So, go back to the part where Gianni meets Theo.” Grace was getting tired again. “Is that just a step on the way to getting my ring?”

  “Maybe a little. I’ve always assumed that you had it. Emma knew what it was and you were the obvious choice to inherit it. I’ve also done some snooping in the years since she died and knew it was in your room. I could have just taken it, but since I’m running low on blood relatives, I preferred to bring you into the family and obtain it from you voluntarily. Anyway, when some time passed after Emma died, introducing Gianni and Theo seemed like a good idea. Our families would be joined again, as they should be.”

  Nothing about this was clicking for Grace. It seemed to her that someone who wanted to reach out to long-lost family members would be more up front about things. The situation with Miles was more complicated that what she was used to, convoluted even. She just wasn’t buying all this sincerity. “Why haven’t you told Puck and Cam the truth? It seems like you would tell them before me.”

  Miles didn’t seem the least bit caught off guard by the question. “My boys will have to be told soon. I have to be honest, I love them both, but they’re spoiled. Puck is so controlled by petty jealousy of Cam that he can’t even follow a simple instruction without letting his ego interfere. Cam is a great kid, but he’s never had any responsibility of any real importance. I was hoping to wait a while before sharing all of these details with them.”

  “But you have to tell them because you told me?” Grace asked.

  “Yes. I should have known that I wouldn’t have to trick you into listening to me. I’m not used to dealing with teenagers who are capable of thinking rationally.”

  “Is that why you tried pimping Cam out?” Grace knew it sounded a little harsh, but when she thought about it, that’s how it seemed.

  Miles shook his head and laughed. “Oh, Grace,” he said. “I wouldn’t put it into those terms, exactly. I did think I would have to bait you with something you’d want, and I’m guessing Cam was a good choice for that purpose.”

  Grace blushed. “So what was going on in the park?”

  “Trying to eliminate Ryder was my way of easing the path for you and Cam. I’m quickly learning that my logic was flawed in many ways. It was foolish to trust Puck. No matter how much he wants my approval, his impulse control is minimal. Think about your evening before I picked you up in that park, when everyone was behaving erratically. Puck may have caused the general ruckus, but he was following my instructions, at least for the most part.”

  “Tell me,” Grace said. In light of recent revelations, the whole boyfriend fiasco seemed a lot less important than it had a couple hours ago. She should have been furious that Miles worked some magic on Ryder, but her emotions were spread pretty thin right at that moment.

  “You’re not going to like it,” Miles warned.

  “There’s a lot about tonight that doesn’t thrill me. I’m still here.”

  Miles pulled two items from his pocket. One vial held a small amount of purple powder. The other held a clear liquid. “It’s been an illuminating evening. At this point, I’ve decided that you might be the only person in my family with the sense to make her own choices. So, I’m going to give these to you,” he said. “Once I explain what they can do, you will have the freedom to do with them as you will. You are now officially in charge of your own destiny.”

  Cameron and Ryder were exactly where Puck assumed they would be, a few blocks from the penthouse, outside Chloe’s apartment building. Both boys were sitting on a bench, one on each end, staring at the building as if they were waiting for something. Puck wondered how Ryder had managed to follow Cameron here, but was glad he had. Both boys looked completely disheveled and thoroughly exhausted. Puck didn’t think it was possible for them to seem more pathetic than they did at that moment, sitting and waiting for a girl to reappear and reject them some more.

  Puck took a moment to think through the situation. With Chloe presumably upstairs in her apartment and therefore inaccessible, the first task would be to draw her out. That would take a small amount of finesse. These two dolts, on the other hand, were easy. If they thought Chloe was at the penthouse, they would run there.

  Puck’s main talent was that of persuasion. If he could get Chloe to think of what she really wanted, he could encourage that desire until the craving for it was stronger than the obstacles that were making her run away. For anyone who spent any time with Chloe in recent weeks, there was no question as to the root of her true desire. She wanted Cam; she was just too confused by the events of tonight to embrace the fact that he was suddenly chasing her. If Puck could clear away some of the muck and mire of the evening and get her refocused on the original goal, she would do whatever he wanted her to do. True, Puck couldn’t allow Chloe to be with Cam in the long run, but if temporarily playing to her weakness for Cam got her out of hiding, he could go from there. By morning, Cam would need a dose of the antidote. Puck didn’t really care what happened to Chloe.

  Before he could get to Chloe, he would need to get past Cam and Ryder without being seen. Neither of them had any idea that he was involved in the strange events of the evening, and it was fine with Puck if they never knew.

  Puck pulled out his phone and typed a text to Cam.

  COME GET CHLOE OUT OF THE PENTHOUSE. SHE’S DRIVING ME CRAZY.

  Cam’s phone rang and he pulled it from his pocket. As soon as he read the message, he was on his feet.

  “Where are you going? Is that Chloe?” Ryder stood up as well.

  “Sit down. Relax. It’s just my brother,” Cam lied. “I’m going home. Good luck with her.”

  “You’re lying. You wouldn’t leave without seeing her. You know where she is, don’t you?” Ryder made a move toward Cam, who lifted both of his hands to Ryder’s shoulders and gave him a solid shove, knocking him onto his butt.

  “Damn. Why’d you do that?” Ryder asked.

  Instead of answeri
ng, Cam walked away, toward home. As Cam moved away, Ryder followed. Puck could hear the boys alternately cursing at each other. Within moments, he was approaching the front door of Chloe’s building. Through the glass doors, he could see that the doorman was asleep behind the desk. Puck lingered only long enough to make the door unlock and tiptoed gingerly through the lobby to the elevator.

  He had been in Chloe’s apartment one time. In an effort to keep up the public appearance of brotherly love, Puck occasionally accepted one of Cam’s requests that they play nice and spend an evening in public together. Puck was fairly certain that these were really thinly veiled attempts to make Puck stop tormenting him for fun. A few weeks ago, when Cam decided to see what it was like to have Chloe as his girlfriend, he convinced Puck to go out with them. It was no secret that Puck and Chloe despised each other. Cam said that he didn’t care about that. In fact, he admitted that this was one of the few times he could be sure that Puck wouldn’t try to swoop in and “convince” Cam’s girl that Puck was a better option.

  At that point, Cam was already sleeping with Chloe occasionally, but not exclusively. He told Puck that he felt like was ready to be with one girl for a while. He asked Puck to bring a girl so that they could double. Cam wanted someone to tell him how he and Chloe looked together, whether or not they could be a convincing couple. “So, you’re auditioning her?” Puck asked.

  “You make it sound bad,” Cam answered. “I just haven’t decided whether or not this is a good move for me.”

  It wasn’t. Cam, Puck, and Puck’s date, a vapid blonde sophomore, had all shown up at Chloe’s for a drink before they went out. From the moment they walked in the door, it was clear that Chloe already thought she was in. She held Cam’s arm as they walked and gave Puck’s date nasty looks if she spoke to Cam. By the end of the night, she was locking Cam down as her guaranteed escort for future functions. Puck knew that Cam would be rid of Chloe within a few days and that he wouldn’t consider commitment again for a while. That was before Grace came along.