Kari Lee Townsend - Sunny Meadows 04 - Perish in the Palm

by Kari Lee Townsend

  I smiled wide and said automatically, “Well, alrighty then. Let’s get this show on the road.”

  Ignoring Pierce’s non-believing tone, I instructed him to sit on the couch beside me in front of the window with the last of the day’s light setting behind us. Scooting to the edge, we faced each other sideways so everyone in the room could see us. I held out my hands in front of me, and the room grew quiet as a morgue.

  “Place your hands in mine, palms up, please.”

  He moaned, looking bored, but did as I asked. I took his hands in mine and closed my eyes. Breathing deeply, I cleared my mind and focused on his energy. When I felt centered and focused, I opened my eyes and looked down at his palms. I chose his dominant hand because it would reflect the outward expression of his personality while his passive hand was a reflection of his inherited traits. Holding his right hand in mine, I traced the horizontal line from his pinkie to his index finger.

  “This is your Heart Line. It’s one of the four major lines and indicates emotional stability, romantic perspectives, depression, and cardiac health.”

  Pierce’s Heart Line began below the middle finger, indicating he was selfish when it came to love. It wasn’t that he was unhappy with his marriage or didn’t love his wife. It was more that he worried about his wants and needs and never put hers first. And there was a distinct circle on the line, indicating depression. Great. By trying to put him in his place, I’d put myself in quite the predicament.

  “Why are you frowning?” he asked, and I peeked up at him, noticing his suddenly wary expression.

  I glanced out at the crowd, and of course all eyes were glued to us. Relaxing my features and pasting on a smile, I replied, “No worries, Mr. Theodore. I was just concentrating. I see you’re in a relationship.”

  His expression turned from concern to indignation, as if to say, Duh. “Everyone knows that, Miss Meadows. I’ve been married for years. That’s hardly new.” The unspoken words, or exciting, hung heavy in the air.

  I ground my teeth to keep from blurting out the truth that he was a selfish jerk, but I couldn’t resist adding, “No, that’s not new or exciting, but this circle here indicates depression from a number of worries you’ve had as of late. Is that new, or does everyone know that as well?”

  He blinked, and his shoulders wilted a little, taking a bit of the uppity starch out of him. He stared down at his lap. “No I don’t suppose they do.”

  Relenting, I squeezed his hand and sent him a reassuring smile when he glanced up at me. “Let’s move on to the next major line, shall we?”

  “Please do.” The relief on his face was palpable.

  I traced the horizontal line below the Heart Line. “This here is the Head Line. This represents a person’s learning style, communication style, intellectualism, and thirst for knowledge. Yours is straight, meaning you tend to take a practical and structured approach to most things in life.”

  He looked pleased.

  “The straight line means you think realistically, but there are multiple crosses through the Head Line, indicating a number of momentous decisions you’ve had to make.”

  He was nodding, looking lost in thought and weary.

  “The next major line is the Life Line,” I said. “It’s this vertical line near your thumb, and it travels down in an arc toward your wrist.”

  His face sobered. “Is mine short? Or do I have a long life ahead of me.” He asked this casually, but I could sense a level of sincere worry beneath his words.

  The crowd fell to a hush.

  “The length of a person’s Life Line is not associated with the length of their life. The line itself is simply an indication of a person’s physical health, general well-being, and major life changes.”

  He blew out a breath. “Oh, okay. Well, that’s good. Not that I was worried, or anything,” he quickly added.

  “Of course not.” I laughed to lighten the mood but couldn’t help being curious. The line was short and shallow, meaning he was easily manipulated by others, but I didn’t want to say that in front of everyone. “I see a circle in the line, indicating you’ve been hospitalized or injured recently. I didn’t know that.” I looked up at him, searching for signs, but he seemed well and fit to me. I glanced at his wife, Linda, but she stared down at the floor, wringing her hands. I’d been around Detective Stone long enough to know that meant she was worried.

  “It was nothing,” he said a bit too quickly again, bringing my gaze back to him and making me curious as to what he’d been through lately. “What else do you see?” he asked, clearly ready to move away from talks of injury.

  I looked back down at the line. “Well, there’s a break right here which means a sudden change in lifestyle. If you haven’t had one yet, you will.” I studied him.

  He paled, and I heard rumblings of speculation hum through the crowd.

  Returning to the line, I went on. “What’s more is I see the Fate Line, or Line of Destiny as some people like to call it. Not everyone has this, but you do. It runs vertical in the center of your palm downward.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Well, it indicates the degree to which a person’s life is affected by external circumstances beyond their control. Yours is deep which means it’s strongly controlled by fate. And there are many breaks and changes of direction, indicating you are prone to many changes in life from external forces. And look here.” I pointed to where the line began, forgetting myself and my surroundings as I became fascinated with the reading at hand. “The line joins with the life line in the middle, signifying the point at which your interests must be surrendered to those of others.”

  “Can we get on with the rest of the reading please?” Pierce’s tone had me looking up at him a bit startled, realizing I’d revealed too much to the room at large. Who were the others he would have to surrender to and what did they want?

  “Of course.” I quickly moved on to the other lines worth reading, reminding myself his personal life wasn’t my business. I traced the line below his little finger across his palm and down to the base of his thumb. “This is your Health Line. It deals with your material well-being as much as the physical. It’s, oh….” I pressed my lips together.

  “What’s oh?”

  “Nothing really, it’s just wavy which means potential health problems as a result of anxiety and nervousness.”

  “Moving right along,” he grumbled.

  This reading was not going well so far, which wasn’t helping Jo since my mother kept making obvious gloating noises with every gloomy thing I revealed. I could only pray this reading perked up with something positive, or Jo would be breaking up yet another argument before the night was through.

  “Right. Well, this next line is called the Fame Line.” I ran my finger from the base of his hand up to this ring finger, tracing the line that was parallel to the Fate Line. “This line reinforces the Fate Line and influences the social rewards of success. While yours is broken repeatedly, indicating the ups and downs of your success, it is definitely strong and clear, indicating you will be successful in the end. Let’s just say your inn will be put on the map, so to speak.”

  He beamed while my mother harrumphed and Jo growled a strong and clear warning, taking her down a peg. I sent my mother a look that said, seriously? Vivian inspected her fingernails, acting like she’d done nothing wrong as usual, and I went back to my reading, trying hard not to shake my head.

  “Next up is the Marriage Line.” I quickly moved on, pointing to the line just below the base of his little finger. “Ah yes, strong and clear lines indicating marriage, which as you say, we all know.” I shot him a wink and a smile, trying to perk things up, then glanced at his wife who just rolled her eyes.

  She was an attractive woman with a caramel, should-length bob hair style and curves in all the right places, but there was obviously even more trouble in paradise for them than Mitch and me. Speaking of Mitch, I glanced at him, but his face was unreadable, yet I felt as though he
could read my mind with the way his eyes bore into mine. He hadn’t made so much as a peep. I’d almost forgotten he was there. My smile dimmed, and I focused back on the innkeeper’s palm, praying for this night to end quickly.

  “And then there’s a—” oh, good lord “—um…” I swallowed hard, “a….”

  “Oh, just say it already,” his wife blurted, suddenly paying attention.

  “Well, it’s just a reading, mind you.”

  “So you’re admitting you’re a fraud,” she scoffed.

  “I’m admitting no such thing.” My readings always came true. Sometimes I mixed things up a bit and it took a while to figure it all out, but in the end they were always accurate.

  “Whatever it is, I can take it.” Pierce nodded once, in a sharp concise way, though his complexion had paled several shades.

  “Well, there is a line at the end that cuts this line off abruptly, which usually means an end to a relationship due to divorce or…or death.” My throat constricted.

  A gasp rang out among the crowd, and Mitch frowned.

  “Well that’s just silly.” His wife broke the uncomfortable silence. “Every marriage ends in divorce or death. You either stay together or you don’t, and we will all die at some point or another.”

  “That’s true,” I replied, though my gut—which was also always right—said there was more to it than that this time, but I didn’t owe anything to anyone. I wasn’t helping the police or even getting paid for this reading. I was simply helping out my best friend. With that thought, I moved on to the next line. “Next up we have the Money Line.”

  “Finally, something useful,” I heard his wife say.

  I was really beginning to dislike the woman. Ignoring her, I continued. “This line runs from the base of the thumb up to the fingers. It represents the person’s skill in acquiring riches and provides indicators on how to achieve this.”

  Pierce perked up on this one. “Go on,” he said eagerly, making me wonder if he was in trouble money or if he was like most people: excited with the prospect of getting rich.

  I studied the line and then smiled wide. “This one’s a good one. Your line runs to the ring finger and cuts through the Fame Line.”

  “What does that mean, exactly,” Pierce asked.

  “That you will obtain that success I was talking about, except it looks as though you will acquire your fortune through luck and surprise.”

  His wife muttered something I couldn’t quite hear, and Pierce looked vastly relieved. There was definitely more going on than met the eye with these two.

  “One last line worth reading is the Travel Line. It’s on the edge of the palm at the heel, opposite the thumb, and it extends in a horizontal direction. It’s a major indication of the trips you’ve taken through your life that have had or will have a penetrating impact on your life. It also indicates your desire to travel.”

  A snort rang out, and I suspected it had come from his wife.

  I tuned her out and studied his hand, realizing I didn’t see any travel lines, which meant he didn’t travel and had no desire to travel, and suddenly I understood the snort. Obviously she wanted to travel. That would explain the selfish part of his reading. “You know what? Since it’s getting late, why don’t we move on to the four minor lines?” I smiled over-brightly, hoping to defuse the situation.

  “You’ll get no objection from me,” he grumbled.

  “First up we have the Lines of Opposition.” I traced the lines outside of his palm between the Heart and Head Lines. “These illustrate opposing forces we all must deal with in life,” I squinted at his hand, “and I must say you have plenty.”

  He coughed. “Next,” was all he said.

  I kept looking for the Line of Intuition which illustrated strong insight, extreme sensitivity, and ESP. He didn’t have any. No surprise there.

  “Ah, here’s the Line of Escape.” I pointed to the line at the bottom of the palm near the base. His crossed the Health line, which indicated he could resort to drugs and drinking, which would make sense given his depression and marriage problems. “Just so you know, help is only a phone call away,” I whispered for his ears only.

  He flinched as though I’d struck a nerve and seen clear into his soul. “I-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he sputtered.

  Desperate to end on a good note, I searched for the last line. The Lines of Influence. They were at the base of the thumb and radiated out into the palm. They illustrated an important event.

  I smiled at whatever higher power had helped me out. “The Lines of Influence cross the Money Line.”

  His brow arched high. “What does that mean?”

  “It should show how and where you will come into money.”

  “Well, get on with it, then. Tell me everything. Am I going to win the lottery? Cash in on the stock market? What?”

  I held on tight to his hands and closed my eyes. The world around me faded away as my internal vision tunneled into a scene from long ago. Not the present or the future, but clearly the past, which surprised me. If he was going to come into success, I had assumed it would happen in the future. How on earth was it based in the past?

  “I see water,” I said. “An ocean…no wait, a river. It travels through the woods and is rough in spots.” I felt the wooden planks of a boat beneath my feet. My joints felt stiff and achy as though I had weathered many storms, and it was hard to breathe as if I suffered from asthma or was a smoker. My body filled with anxiety and anger. “Someone is after me. I must escape, must hide, before it’s too late.”

  My body jolted forward to a jarring stop, and I felt the impact with every ounce of my being. When I composed myself, I looked up and gasped. “The inn. I see Divine Inspiration.” Suddenly I was somewhere else. “Wait, where am I? It’s cold and dark and musty. There’s dirt beneath my feet and ropes or webs or vines above my head. I hear a thumping or fluttering. What is that? I think it’s—”

  A crash jarred me from my trance, and I looked at my captive audience, clearly back in the present. The maid was cleaning up the mess from a serving tray someone had knocked over.

  “Sorry,” she muttered, looking red faced.

  “What did you see?” Peirce grabbed my arms in a death grip, shaking me until my teeth rattled.

  “Hey!” Mitch barked and stood by my side in a flash, grabbing Pierce’s arm with one hand and balling his fist with another.

  A sense of peace and security washed over me, knowing Mitch would never let anything bad happen to me. No matter what our problems might be, I knew he was there for me, always. It was the most comforting feeling I’d ever had.

  Pierce let go. “Sorry. I’m just a little excited I guess.”

  Mitch’s look said, you’re a little something, all right. But he didn’t say a word, though a muscle in his jaw bulged. After a tense moment, he let go of Pierce’s arm.

  “It’s okay,” I said, feeling calm and back in balance and in control. “Readings have a way of doing that to a person. I don’t know for sure exactly what I saw.”

  “You must know something. How and where am I going to come into money? I need to know now.” He looked panicked and desperate, not at all like the composed distinguished innkeeper I’d come to know.

  “Calm down, Mr. Theodore, before you give yourself a heart attack.” I squeezed his hand for a moment. “We’ll find your answers, I’m sure of it.”

  He responded to my touch and reassurance by taking a big breath and striving for control. “How do you know?” He searched my eyes for an ounce of hope.

  Focusing, I did my best to reassure him and do my job. “I might not know what the secret to your success is, but rest assured that I do know the secret lies within these very walls here at Divine Inspiration.”

  Chapter 3

  The next morning, I couldn’t stop thinking about my reading for Pierce. The secret lay within the walls of Divine Inspiration. What secret? The saying went, If only the walls could talk. I was sure that was
true with many establishments, but I would bet with a place this old, there were hidden secrets waiting to be discovered. I never could resist a good mystery.

  But today wasn’t about my readings or secrets. It was about Jo and Cole’s wedding. They were so deserving, and I was ridiculously happy for them. If only the sun would shine. I glanced at the overcast sky. The weather hadn’t called for rain, but the sky was turning darker by the minute, and the very air had a chill in it.

  My gut was telling me it was a sign of doom.

  But that couldn’t be. I knew without a shadow of doubt that Jo and Cole were meant for each other. For once, I ignored my gut and refused to believe anything could put a damper on this day. Anything other than my mother and Pierce getting into another scuffle, that is. I pushed that anxious thought from my mind and focused on being a good maid-of-honor.

  “Are the grounds set?” I stood before Jack Shepard the groundskeeper. He was a decent-looking, tall man with a ponytail, full beard, and even fuller muscles, who had worked for Pierce for over a decade. A tried and true salt-of-the-earth, likable kind of guy.

  “Yes, ma’am.” He gave me a sharp nod, and a certain amount of pride reflected on his face. It was obvious he cared about this place and the work that he did.

  I scanned the landscape. Everything had been groomed to perfection and the tent people appeared to have secured the reception covering to perfection, all under his watch. “Well done, Mr. Shepard. And thank you.”

  “You’re very welcome, Miss Meadows. I’ll be around if you need anything.” He saluted and walked off as if there was always a purpose in his every stride.