Valentines and Valkyries

by Amanda A. Allen

  “One,” Gus said, “You might be more understated in your beauty, but Scarlett you are lovely beyond belief.”

  Scarlett rolled her eyes.

  “And two,” Gus interrupted before she could argue with him, “Lex only has eyes for you. Which, if your brain were fully engaged, you would know that Lex doesn’t have a girlfriend.”

  She was hurt for a minute. Didn’t Gus consider her Lex’s girlfriend? If she wasn’t that, what was she? The baby mama?

  “Lex wouldn’t even call you a girlfriend,” Gus said, gently. “Not because you aren’t, but he wouldn’t qualify it. He’d grunt, ‘Mine.’”

  “Shut up,” Scarlett said.

  “I might be the vampire, and him the suave warlock, but he’s medieval when it comes to you, and it has only gotten worse since you guys found out about the babies.”

  Scarlett didn’t think that was true at all, but she could see that Gus did. Before she could object again the diner owner, Mabel, placed a piece of cheesecake smothered in caramel in front of Scarlett. She set down two forks, two sides of bacon, and a steaming cup of cocoa. It was piled high with whipped cream and chocolate shavings.

  “Tell me about the dead person. Gram said something about a murder? But Lex said it was an accident.”

  “It isn’t clear it’s a murder, yet,” Gus said. He glanced out the door and then said, “But…”

  “But you think it is,” Scarlett said, feeling her knowing flare to life. She knew it was a murder. Was it because she was away from Cameron and feeling less psycho that Scarlett’s knowing was able to tell her anything? Even still…why did her gift tell her such useless things? She didn’t want to be involved with another murder, but she already knew she would be. In fact, because of the knowing, she was sure of it. “So what happened?”

  “There was a body found in an inlet near the ocean. It was probably supposed to be swept out to sea.”

  Scarlett frowned at that. A body could of course be swept out to sea with those little streams and rivers that fed the ocean, but…not really. The river in Mystic Cove and the little inlets were busy places. There were also lots of places where bodies could get hung up.

  “So someone dumb killed this guy?” Scarlett asked hoping it would be Cameron. She was stupid right? Hairspray fumes had killed her brain cells? Oooh, Scarlett thought, that was petty.

  “Or someone who’s just not familiar with the area,” Gus said and Scarlett realized that Cameron could actually be the killer if that were the qualifier.

  “Who’s dead?” she asked.

  Gus shook his head and Scarlett was shocked. Mystic Cove was a tiny little town. Everyone knew everyone. Which meant that whoever died wasn’t from here. Otherwise the body would have been identified.

  “When will you know?” She took a bite of the cheesecake and closed her eyes.

  “It depends on if he’s in any databases.”

  “How did he die?”

  Gus shook his head again and Scarlett raised her brows. Finally, he said, “It’s unclear too. That’s what makes it so hard. Possibly blunt force trauma that caused the drowning.”

  “So maybe he tripped and hit his head, falling into the water, and drowned?”

  “Or,” Gus replied, “Maybe someone did that to him.”

  She finished her dessert with him and realized it was time to get her girls from school. Probably, she should go take care of her business as well. And not just the bakery. She needed to talk to Lex like an adult. Hopefully the infusion of friendship, sugar, and chocolate would help that go better than it would have when she was in full beast mode.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Scarlett gathered up Ella and Luna and then took them to ice cream to wait for her mom to come get them. Scarlett’s mom, Maye, was due in the new few months with her own set of twins, but those were due to old eggs rather than to a fertility charm. Or at least that was what Harper had explained to their mother who was in her 50s and having babies. The only reason it was really possible was because they were druids and the magic prolonged life beyond that of a normal human.

  “Is everything all right?” Maye asked.

  “Did you know I was having twins?”

  Maye nodded once.

  “Did you not say anything because I was freaking out?”

  Maye’s bark brown hair, pale creamy skin, and leaf green eyes matched Scarlett’s. Unlike Scarlett, however, Maye’s hair was long, smooth, and straight instead of up in a scraggly bun. She was wearing slacks and a pretty silk t-shirt, and a splash of makeup, and her eyes were fixed on her daughter with something like sympathy. Or perhaps it was wariness. Scarlett knew that wariness was justified. She really had been crazy lately.

  “The knowing would have been whispering to you, Scarlett. You’d have heard it if you were ready to hear.”

  “So I was…choosing? Really? Choosing to not hear?” The rational part of her mind whispered that what her mom was saying was true, but Scarlett didn’t want to hear that. She took a deep breath in and whooshed it out, hoping it would work this time.

  Maye glanced at Scarlett and then at the little girls before she said, “I have to get Rebel from her friend’s. But Scarlett, it is ok to struggle with what life throws at us.” She patted her own belly and Scarlett nodded before she stepped back to open the backdoor of Maye’s car to let her daughters climb in.

  “Tell Rebel I said hello,” Scarlett told her mother referring to her newest adopted sister who had joined their family after the murder of her biological sister. “I’ll be up to the grove soon.”

  “I think that’s wise,” Maye said without adding that Scarlett should have been there long before. Before she pulled away from the side of the street she added, “You left your phone at the bakery. Lex is worried.”

  Scarlett nodded, because she wasn’t sure where the line between rightfully angry and totally psycho was and she was a little afraid to talk to him while she was on the psycho side of the line.

  “It’s not his fault that this woman came here, Scarlett. And you aren’t the only one with baggage from your past.”

  “I know,” Scarlett snapped, meeting her daughter, Luna’s, too-observant gaze. Scarlett flinched a little bit at the knowing in Luna’s eyes.

  “Lex isn’t Grant.” Maye added before driving quickly away. “We’ll grab the animals. Take a longer break.”

  The east wind rose with the comment about Grant, but the east wind loved Maye as much as Scarlett. And Scarlett would never lose control with her daughters in the car. The wind swirled around her feet before she started the walk back to the bakery. If Lex was there, they’d talk. If he wasn’t, she’d take some time to reset a little more. Maybe, she’d just go ahead and get her phone and go check out the sight where the body was found.

  The last thing Scarlett wanted to do, while pregnant, was sleuth out a murderer, but she would be damned if she’d let Cameron Sloane finish ruining Scarlett’s relationship with Lex when her pregnancy hormones were already beating it to death.

  A part of Scarlett was disappointed that Lex wasn’t at the bakery when she returned. She knew it was irrational and shoved the thought aside. Lex had a job to do. He needed to figure out whether this death was an accident. Either way, he’d have to notify the family. And then determine who the killer was if it wasn’t an accident.

  Lex had to do that job not be enslaved to her hormones. Scarlett, on the other hand, couldn’t and wouldn’t be the woman who expected her partner to drop everything for her. Especially when she didn’t need him, she needed to have her hormones balance out.

  As Scarlett had expected, Henna had closed up the bakery. Scarlett hadn’t cared what would happen when she’d stormed out, but she’d known in the back of her mind that Henna would take care of things. Henna might as well be Scarlett’s second grandmother. She checked to see if anyone was at the apartment, grabbed her phone, and tapped her phone while she debated her options.

  She glanced at her phone to see that Lex had left two voice
messages and several text messages. She should read those, but she was a little afraid to spur her hormones when she felt like she was starting to balance out a bit. Instead, Scarlett went over to her sister’s apartment. Quinton was still working, and she’d caught Harper alone. Harper’s lips twitched and Scarlett smacked her arm.

  “You’re crazy,” Harper said.

  “You probably are too,” Scarlett shot back, “Quinton is just…nicer than Lex.”

  “True,” Harper said and then grinned evilly. She stepped back and Scarlett noted the bowl of ice cream piled high with toppings.

  “At least you didn’t put pickles on it.”

  “Why would I do pickles when I could add hot sauce?”

  Scarlett paused, gagged, and then took a seat, stealing Harper’s nausea tea. There was a carved baby cradle with leaves etched into the sides in the living room. A matching high chair was next to Harper’s round table. A partially sanded down changing table was in the center of the living room on top of a tarp.

  “You know that babies don’t need high chairs until they’re like 6 months old right?”

  Harper shrugged and then said, “Q is nesting.”

  The two of them grinned at each other and then Scarlett sighed.

  “Cameron is gorgeous.” Harper stirred her chocolate and hot sauce into the ice cream and then added, “Crazy beautiful.”

  “Pretty sure the title of crazy is mine,” Scarlett said. “Want to find the killer with me so I don’t get dumped for the super model?”

  Harper’s eyes glinted with that shine of mischief that normally would have sent Scarlett running. Instead, she was intrigued. Yup, she thought, I’m definitely on the crazy side of the line still.

  “Can we set something on fire?”

  “I think we better not,” Scarlett said idly as though they were talking about clothes shopping instead of arson.

  “You’re no fun,” Harper whined.

  “Quinton is going to have to be your new arson buddy.”

  “I prefer Ella,” Harper said with a smirk.

  “I will kill you slowly.”

  “She’s wilder than you realize.”

  “I’m realizing,” Scarlett shot back. “That’s the problem. It’s terrifying. She hasn’t even hit puberty yet. I am terrified of her teenage self already, and she has years to go.”

  Harper’s head cocked and then she grinned as though she could see it too. Ella was already rife with disdain and a huge smart mouth. When they added in the same hormones that were driving a somewhat normal Scarlett insane, Ella was going to be intolerable.

  “Don’t worry.” The piping way Harper started that statement told Scarlett she should be very worried. “Amelie will wear you down long before Ella and Luna are teenagers. You’ll just be in survival mode by the time Ella gets there.”

  Scarlett closed her eyes against the image that provoked and thought they needed to move into a house. One where they could plant a grove. One where she could hide from her children in the magic. Soon.

  Scarlett stopped to read Lex’s messages. They weren’t what she expected at all. Simple please call me’s. She felt a flash of concern. Had she been so crazy he wasn’t even trying? Had something happened. It was too vague to be sure. She should call him.

  Instead, she messaged Gus for where the body had been found. While they waited for a reply, Scarlett felt the knowing whisper. She wasn’t sure what it was a trying to say. She had been too out of touch and the aching in her belly told her that she was missing something.

  “Have you heard anything?” Scarlett asked.

  “No,” Harper said. “I stayed for a while with Gram and Henna and listened. But whoever died is someone that isn’t from around here.”

  Scarlett frowned. The pit in her stomach was growing, and anxiety was rising. She was missing something. She rose and started to pace. Something was off. She couldn’t figure it out. She was failing in her magic because she’d been ignoring it too long. The language of the knowing wasn’t something you could just turn on and off. She tapped her fingers against the palm of her hand and bounced on her heels, trying to focus.

  She failed.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I can’t. I don’t.” Scarlett shook her head and then said, “I don’t know.”

  She glanced out the window to Arbor Avenue. It was lined with trees, but they weren’t a grove and didn’t have the magic to help her. She shook off her worry and said, “I’m going to go down to the gardens. Come get me when Gus replies.”

  Scarlett slid her big coat on, put her beanie on over her hair, and wrapped her scarf around her throat. It was cold in New England in the winter, but at least the snow was gone. She made her way down to the garden behind their building where Henna had replaced their parking area with a small yard. It was perfect for druids living in an apartment.

  There were only a few trees in the garden area, but they were druidic trees with a bit of awareness. The flowers were all bedded down for the winter, but the trees gave Scarlett something to meditate into. It wouldn’t be the same as a grove, but it might help her to gain her balance. She crossed to the little stone bench and sat down, ignoring the cold as she opened her mind up to the magic in the trees.

  Anxiety rose inside of her. Maybe she didn’t want to hear what the knowing could tell her. Maybe she didn’t want to know that Lex would leave her. She knew that this life was foreign to him. He wanted it, but it wasn’t how he was raised, and it wasn’t what he’d had before with Amelie’s mother. That wasn’t even in a relationship so much as a battle.

  Scarlett tried to shove the thoughts aside and find the path. The knowing could lead you on an easier path if you’d let it. It didn’t take the trials of living away, but sometimes you could avoid trouble if you’d let your magic and your intuition work on your behalf.

  She took in a slow breath and let it out. Maybe. The trees whispered to her. Not answers but peace. She breathed slowly in and let their roots help her to ground herself. She breathed slowly out. A whoosh of anxiety left her. A slow breath in and she felt the love of the trees. They triggered in her the love of her family. The girls. Gran. Her mother. Harper. Rebel. A whoosh out and more of the clawing worries fled. A deep breath in and she could see Lex’s eyes glinting at her with humor. A whoosh out and some of the clawing crazy seemed to exit with her breath.

  A breath in and the door of the building creaked. Scarlett slowly opened her eyes and saw Harper’s red and black hair through the trees. She walked over, circling her keys around her finger and then said, “Gus says you should call Lex. But he gave us the location.”

  “Ok,” Scarlett said, taking her phone from her sister. She dialed Lex’s number, but it went right to voicemail. Her message was simple and thankfully calm. She regretted losing touch with the language of the knowing. She had to do better.

  CHAPTER SIX

  “Lex is going to love that you’ve been talking to Gus instead of him.”

  Scarlett shrugged even though she really didn’t want to drive Lex away or infuriate him. Lex did, however, need to get over the fact that her best friend was a guy.

  “I need to apologize,” Scarlett said as her sister roared down the street in her muscle car.

  “I mean…I’m no foundation for solid relationship advice or anything…”

  “Truth,” Scarlett shot over and as her sister swung into the little barista shack to order them both oversized cocoas.

  “But…you’ve been scary lately.”

  “My pregnancy hormones are kicking my behind,” Scarlett said, breathing slowly in. When Harper—the sister with attachment and rage issues—thought you were being crazy, you were so far past crazy it was terrifying.

  “What’s kicking your behind,” Harper shot back, “Is that you aren’t spending enough time in the grove.”

  “Hey…”

  “You can’t cycle through doing the magic stuff and not doing it and have it not effect you. Your…soul needs the grove and the kn
owing.”

  Scarlett sighed and said, “Remember when you needed to have Rebel’s dead sister appear in your dreams before you could trust Quinton?”

  Harper took a drink of her cocoa and raised a brow.

  “Look,” Scarlett said, “I didn’t have some supernatural occurrence tell me that Lex is my one true love. Instead I have a gorgeous man who…”

  “Adores you?”

  Scarlett’s phone rang as Harper added, “Worships you?”

  Lex’s name was on the screen and Scarlett almost didn’t answer it. But her knowing slammed into her.

  “I feel,” Scarlett mused, “like I wouldn’t mind a little supernatural reassurance.”

  “Maybe,” Harper countered, “you’ve been getting that, but you’ve been ignoring it.”

  “Hey,” Scarlett said as she answered the phone and ignored her sister.

  “Hey,” Lex replied carefully. “I heard from Maye. Are you home?”

  “Mmm,” Scarlett said, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear and trying to pretend that Harper wasn’t listening.

  “Wuss,” Harper said.

  “Is that Harper?” Lex asked.

  “We’re having cocoa,” Scarlett said deliberately only giving him part of the truth.

  “And?” he asked.

  “Going for a little drive,” Scarlett hedged.

  “If you’re planning to come to the crime scene, we haven’t found it yet.”

  “Maybe Harper and I can help with that,” Scarlett said, guessing he’d tell her no.

  “I’m at where we found the body,” Lex said. “I…need to talk to you.”

  She blinked, the knowing hit her, but she couldn’t tell what it was trying to say. Just that there was something. Her voice was gentle and loving when she said, “We’ll be there soon.”

  Mystic Cove wasn’t all that large, so it only took a few minutes to reach the place where they’d pulled the victim from the water. Scarlett saw the sight and the knowing hit her again. This time she could understand it, and she knew she was seeing something associated with a murder. Something dark had happened here. The remnants of it anyway. Nature and life were taking back the area, and it wouldn’t be long before whatever the knowing could tell her would be gone.