Page 46 of Enslaved By Magic

Chapter 18

Six hours later, she was landing at the airport carrying only the backpack the wish had granted her. The long taxi ride gave her plenty of time to worry and fret about her choice, but that didn’t stop her from standing on the doorstep frozen with indecision when she got there. She reached up to knock twice, but each time her hand dropped to her side without a sound.

She’d almost decided to go when suddenly the door swung open and she was face to face with Luke’s aunt. Sarah had apparently just been on her way out the door and hadn’t expected to find anyone standing there, and it took her a second to catch her breath after the shock.

“For heaven’s sake, Amari! You gave me a fright,” she said with a laugh. “Are you—” Before she could get out another word, Amari had thrown her arms around the other woman and had burst into tears. It was difficult to tell who was more startled by that.

Amari certainly hadn’t planned on it, and she wasn’t in the habit of crying in front of people anyway, but her hormones had been all over the place recently and tears had been frequent. “I-I’m s-sorry!” The words were almost incoherent but, to her credit, Sarah just held her and rubbed her back gently, dropping the shopping bag she’d been holding to do so.

“Shhh, it’s all right, honey. It will be okay,” Sarah said calmly.

She had a soothing manner and Amari’s sobs gradually tapered off into hiccups before she finally started to pull away. Feeling uncomfortable at her display of emotion, she started to apologize again, but Sarah just shook her head.

“Don’t be silly, Amari. We all need a good cry sometimes.” She looked the girl over with an expression that could only have been described as affectionate and then she half-turned toward the doorway and made a motion. “Do you want to come inside and talk?”

Amari hesitated, feeling torn. It was silly to be holding back now when this was exactly why she’d hopped on a plane and flown back here. She nodded finally.

Sarah scooped up her bag and stepped inside so Amari could come in. She led them right to the kitchen where she settled Amari in a seat and began bustling around. Someone, at some point, had told Sarah that all guests had to be fed— Amari approved of this because she’d been raised with similar guest rituals, and she found it comforting to hold a warm cup of tea in her hands.

Sarah was visibly struggling with her curiosity, but Amari wasn’t sure how to start. She didn’t even know how much Luke had told them. “Did—Did Luke explain how we… met?” she asked finally.

Sarah tilted her head, her eyes crinkled at the corners with amusement. “If you’re wondering if I know about the whole magical genie thing, then, yes. I knew something was odd about the situation, but Esra refused to tell me what was going on. So, I cornered Luke after the lottery win and he blurted it all out. I admit I was skeptical at first. You don’t run into wish-granting genies every day.”

“No, no, I guess you don’t,” Amari admitted. “But eventually you believed?” Sarah didn’t seem to think she was crazy, but if she didn’t believe, then none of this was going to make a lot of sense.

“Oh, I believed fairly quickly. Luke doesn’t lie very well, so once I wrapped my head around the magic aspect, I had to accept it. Of course, it was hard to ignore the money too. Lottery wins happen, I suppose, though I’ve never met anyone who won more than a few dollars. My Luke though, has always been dead set against wasting the money. I knew something strange was going on as soon as he’d said he bought one, because he wouldn’t—not unless it was a sure thing.” There was a hint of smugness in her tone; pleased that she knew her nephew so well, Amari thought.

Amari took a sip of tea and nibbled one of the cookies that had been placed in front of her. “How much do you know?” she asked quietly.

Sarah sat back with a sigh and folded her arms across her ample chest. “Enough to know you’ve had a rough time of it. That you’re much older than you look, and that my nephew loves you.” She paused then and seemed reluctant to continue, finally adding, “And that when he made his last wish, you vanished. He’s been so worried about you, but then he started getting the postcards. That wasn’t a kindness—not if you don’t intend to go back to him,” Sarah said in a soft voice.

It wasn’t quite recriminatory, but it was probably the closest Sarah would ever get and Amari felt a stab of guilt. “I had to—to connect somehow. I couldn’t come back, but the only way I could stay away was if he knew I was thinking of him.” Her bottom lip trembled, and she hid it behind the teacup, taking a slow sip.

Sarah accepted this without argument, nodding. “Is it because he’s part of a past you want to forget now?”

“No, it’s—it’s hard to explain,” Amari said, sighing. She had no intention of explaining the fact that Luke made her want to be submissive, and that was the one thing she swore she’d never be by choice. It was so connected to everything that they were that she couldn’t figure out how to pull that part separate in any way that would make sense.

“Then you don’t need to, not to me anyway. But it’s something you do need to sort out in your own head, Amari, because I can see you love him, but I also see a lot of conflict in you.” She leaned back in her seat, giving her guest a thoughtful look and then she got up to pour herself another cup of tea.

The fragrant herbal mix was made specifically to calm, Amari knew that just by the scents she could pick out of the blend. But there wasn’t enough chamomile in the world to make any of this easy, and her fingers tapped nervously on the table as Sarah sat back down with her.

“I am. Conflicted, I mean. I’m a mess. I don’t think I can explain to you how difficult it’s been all these years. I kept hoping someone would free me, but it never happened and now that I’ve finally been released, I can feel the chains tightening around me, dragging me. Different chains this time but still—it feels like I’m trapped,” she whispered into her cup in a voice so low that Sarah had to lean in to hear her.

“Amari, I couldn’t begin to imagine what it’s been like for you, but love isn’t a trap. Love isn’t…” The older-looking woman frowned as she struggled to find the words. She reached out, patting Amari’s arm gently. “Love is safety and freedom, anything else isn’t love; it’s a pretty lie. I don’t know what Luke has told you about—about his mother, but he knows all about the consequences of mistaking love for a need to possess someone and he would never try to imprison you, but those are just words. You need to look inside yourself and see what your heart is telling you.”

Amari’s eyes itched with tears and she blinked them back as she set her cup down and took a deep breath. “It’s not just Luke. There’s also—well, I’m—I’m pregnant. Just a little over three months, and I—I just…” She seemed on the verge of losing control again. Those damn hormones just wouldn’t let up she thought as she blinked rapidly and stared down at the slowly rising curls of steam.

Sarah’s hand didn’t leave her arm, instead it squeezed gently. “I thought you might be. There’s a look about you. Your face is fuller. They say pregnant women glow, but I think that usually comes with being happy to be pregnant and you don’t seem to be,” she said carefully. “Are you sure you…” She stopped just short of saying it, but Amari knew what she was asking and was already nodding.

“I’m sure! I could never—not with Luke’s child. It’s just that the timing—” She cut the words off with a laugh. She knew everything was coming out in confused chunks, but there was just so much going on in her head she was lucky she could even talk. “I guess babies don’t really care about the right time,” she said.

“No, I expect not.” Sarah seemed on the verge of saying something and then she just smiled and shook her head. “So, what are your plans now?”

“I wanted to go back to Luke when I’d learned to be independent and stand on my own feet. So that we both knew I was choosing him because I loved him and not because I needed to be rescued, but now—I know I can’t do this on my own.” She bit her bottom lip and forced herself to look up, meeting Sarah’s eyes. “You said I would be welcome here even if things didn’t work out with me and Luke. Does that—do you think I could stay here. Just—just for a little while until…”

Until when? Until she felt confident she could be independent in this new modern world? Until the baby was born? She didn’t even know. There was no plan beyond getting through this day.

Sarah didn’t seem to need anything more detailed and was already working on the problem. “We’ll have to be careful, of course, if you don’t want Luke to accidentally find you before you’re ready. He does tend to pop over unexpectedly, but I have an idea,” she said slowly, eyes narrowed in thought. “How do you feel about staying in the rental house? We haven’t found a new renter since Luke moved out, so it’s just sitting there. It’s small of course, but—”

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