Free Darkmoon (The Witches of Cleopatra Hill Book 3) by Christine Pope Page A

intently. It seemed pretty clear that he wanted a lot more detail than what I’d already provided. Fair enough. “Yes. I went to Planned Parenthood, because at that point I really didn’t want to see my own doctor. I’m around ten weeks, and they want to have me come in for an ultrasound if I’m not going to get my own doctor in Cottonwood. But otherwise they said everything looks fine and I’m totally healthy, and it’s really not a big deal.”
    “It is a big deal,” he said, his tone quiet. “And we both know that.”
    He was right, of course. To the doctor at Planned Parenthood, mine was just another in a long line of pregnancies she’d encountered, and since I was young and healthy and everything looked normal, she couldn’t possibly understand what this baby meant in terms of my personal survival.
    “You should come with me to see our healer,” he continued. “I mean, if you’re not going to your own doctor.”
    That suggestion gave me pause. True, that was the way we witches usually dealt with such matters; a healer’s gifts were often far more reliable than modern medicine. And I’d met the Wilcox healer when the Damon-wolf had bitten my leg. She seemed pleasant enough, an attractive woman in her late forties or early fifties. What was her name? Eleanor?
    Even so, I hesitated. Going to see the Wilcox healer seemed so…final. As if I were choosing sides. And we’d had enough of that.
    “I don’t know, Connor,” I said at last. “I think I’d rather just go to a doctor. I mean, I don’t even know where — ” Breaking off, I hesitated. I’d been about to say, I don’t even know where we’re going to end up. It seemed that Connor and I had reconciled, and that was wonderful, but there were still some logistical issues we needed to work out. After all, my clan needed me, and his needed him. Settling down permanently in either location was going to leave one family or another out in the cold.
    He seemed to understand, and nodded. “It’s something we’ll have to figure out eventually, I know. So do you want to see a doctor near Jerome, or would you be open to choosing one here in Flag?”
    It would actually make more sense to find someone in Flagstaff, just because it was a much bigger city and had some very good medical facilities. “Do you know anyone?”
    “I can get some recommendations. Eleanor has a lot of experience, but I know a couple of my cousins went ahead and got their own ob-gyns. I’ll get the information from them.”
    That sounded good, and refreshingly normal. That was probably what most expecting couples did — ask their friends and family who was best equipped to take on such an enormous responsibility.
    The waitress came by with our food then, and conversation ceased for a few minutes as we made some serious inroads on the plates piled with food in front of us. After I’d demolished about half my burger, though, I stopped and said, “But I guess all that is moot if we don’t figure out what Marie was talking about.”
    “Well, you need to see a doctor no matter what — ” He stopped himself there, but I knew what he’d been about to say. Curse or no curse, we needed to make sure everything was all right with the baby, although I had a feeling it was fine. In general, it wasn’t until after the Wilcox heirs made their appearance in the world that their mothers needed to start worrying.
    “I know,” I said. “And I will. But if she wants us to go back to the beginning….” I stopped, picking up a french fry and dipping it in some ketchup. After taking a bite, I chewed thoughtfully for a minute. She’d said there were things I needed to find out for myself, things she couldn’t tell me. That made me think she must be referring to my own beginnings, which were mostly shrouded in mystery. I knew I’d been born in California and that my mother had brought me back to Jerome when I was barely two months old, but I knew nothing beyond that. I’d never even