Bewitched

Chapter 13

Moriya and Bella returned that evening. Charlie's mouth dropped open. "Wow, Bella, you look really pretty."

"Thanks, Dad," she said the word hesitantly but he was just happy for her word usage," I'm going to go put my bags up." Charlie nodded as she walked into the basement. Charlie looked past to Moriya, who shrugged.

"You did it," he said to her and kissed her.

"I got her a haircut. It wasn't a miracle. Hopefully things are looking up. We have to talk though. I know you're going to be upset."

"What?"

"She wants a motorcycle."

'What? You didn't tell her she was getting it, right?"

"No. But I want her to have it. It's going to be a Harley Sprinter. But I have a way to lengthen her time off of it."

"How?"

"I want her to appreciate. And to learn a new skill in something she's intrested in. So I think we should get her a salvaged one that she can rebuild and learn as she does it." He stood and thought about it.

"I don't know. She's so clumsy."

"Yes but people get hurt. Doesn't mean she stops living."

"You know she'll be okay?"

"Yes. Nothing more than a couple scrapes. It won't keep Clair and Charli from getting back onto the bikes you buy them this Christmas and it won't keep Bella from getting back on her bike."

"Okay. Okay. You're smart. I've let it go."

"No you haven't. But you're giving a chance. THat's just as lovely. Now let me make us some dinner."

Two weeks later, they brought BElla outside and showed he rthe bike. "It's like half a bike," she said with a alugh. Moriya laughed too.

"No. It's the bones. You can work on it and learn."

"But I know nothing about motorcycles," she said but came closer to it.

"You're a smart girl. There's books, magazines, and I happen to know a really cool teenage boy that is good with motors. I'm not setting you up, he's a little too young for you. But I think it might be nice to get you out of the house."

"Who?"

"Jacob," Charlie answered her.

"Oh. cool. Okay."

"Hw's expectin you tomorrow. Let me know if you have a hard time finding parts. I know a guy. Well I know a couple," Moriya offered.

"How? You're not interested in motorcycles."

"No. I like history. Ancient documents. I have one of the first written cook books ever. It's almost eight hundred years old."

"That is super cool," Bella admitted.

"Thank you. So I am headed in to make dinner. You wnat anything special?"

"Eggplant parmesan and your baked spaghetti?"

"Sure. I can do that." Moriya said wiht a smile, going inside. Charlie stayed out with Bella.

"She's nice," Bella admitted.

"Yeah, I like her," Charlie said and Bella laughed softly. She got her awkwardness from him and she knew it. But if he'd found Moriya, made she'd be okay too.

Charlie got into bed that night next to Moriya. His wife seemed exhausted. "Are you okay?" he asked her. She was holding Cheyenne in her arms.

"I'm good," she said, "Things are looking up. But there's so much to do. I feel like I don't just have to take care of our family sometimes. I feel like the gods will punish me for not doing more with the knowledge they give me."

"Well if it puts you in danger, it isn't worth it."

"I don't know if it would."

"I can assume. Supernatural is never free of danger. And these creatures, the shifters and vampires, they all have laws of secrecy. And you're a sole witch alone. Just you and our daughters."

"So you're saying I need to make more friends more?"

"Do you know where there are more witches?"

"I do. And I guess I can make a couple calls." Moriya got up and put Cheyenne in the bassinet before getting back into bed. Charlie wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.

"I tell you how much I loved you today?" he asked her.

"I don't know if I remember you saying it today. But I have certainly felt your love, husband."

"I'm glad. But I love you. So much. You have given me life. Bella has been nothing but mean and cruel to you. Yet you still support her in any way that you can. I'm sorry for not listening to you when we first got married. I can't help but think about little thirteen year old Bella. And the woman she would've been."

"We can still make her into that woman. It's just going to take some strictness and hardwork. But honestly, don't mean to brag, but we're pretty good parents."

The next morning, Charlie saw Bella smile as she was going out. He was sitting with Clair and Charli. Moriya was in the nursery with Cris and Cheyenne. "You look very pretty," Clair told her older sister.

"Thank you."

"I, for one, think Edward is stupid. You are too good for him," Clair said. She'd practiced it after asking the ancestors what you shoudl say to someone who got broken up with. Bella smiled at her little sister because the words were just too grown for her five year old body.

"Thanks," she said and sat down, not really paying attention to anything.

"Moriya says this thing,-"

"Oh yeah, the thing about the chandelier," Bella said. Moriya said it a lotof certain people at school.

"Not the brightest lightbulb," Charlie said wiht a smile, "Not the sharpest tool also works. But it's true. I think so too."

"Yeah, well, I guess I'm not that smart dfor falling for him."

"You're young, Bella. Being in love is the best part about being young. And when you're old you struggle to think it will happen to you. Because it feels like a young thing. But really, love makes you feel young. It makes you feel immortal. Love alone. Nothing else added to it. It's the closest thing us normal people have to magic." Bella looked at her father with new eyes. She never thought he was so deep or profound. But, looking at the way Clair and Charli were adoring him, he likely talked to them all the time.