He yelled in her face, “I think maybe you’re still a little high school girl. I know now you truly are a bitch from the way you’re acting, and what you’re saying. No one is going to put me away anywhere. Do you understand?” He shook her violently.
“Yes, I’m sorry,” Annamarie mumbled through her tears.
She thought Daniel had surely lost his mind. He wasn’t making any sense, but she had to keep him calm.
He must have seen the hurt on Annamarie’s face because he said, “What’s the matter? Are you going to call your spirit with your shared Gypsy blood? You’re going to try and put another Gypsy curse on me, little girl? The spirits in the pines killed Garret’s partner, not any spirit of yours. I think your spirit is benevolent and not a threat.”
Annamarie pleaded, “Daniel, you’re hurting me. Please let go.”
Daniel dropped his arms and laughed at his wife. “You’re a baby. What made me think you’d grown into a woman?”
Annamarie looked Daniel in the eyes and said, “I love you, Daniel, more than I ever thought I could. You need help and I can’t give it to you. I also don’t need a Gypsy curse to help me.”
When Annamarie finished talking, she pushed against his chest, hard. Daniel lost his balance, falling backward. One foot left the bluff, and for a moment, he hung in the air before his second foot left the bluff. Terror filled his eyes, and Annamarie could see he was trying to say her name, as he grabbed toward her. She stepped back away from the bluff and watched him fall. He also fell silently until Annamarie heard the thud. Looking over the edge of the bluff, she saw Daniel’s body lying face up about two feet away from Garret’s partner. She felt the soft breeze and pine scent surround her. She knew he was dead.
She saw Daniel’s rifle on the ground and pulled a hanky from her pocket. She picked up the rifle by the end of the barrel with the hanky between the metal and her hand. She turned half-way around and then spun back quickly letting the rifle fly off the bluff. She watched it spin in circles getting closer to the river with each spin. She saw the splash about twenty feet offshore. She knew if the rifle was found, the sheriff would think Garret’s partner threw it over before he and Daniel fought, and they both fell to their deaths. She slipped the hanky back into her pocket.
However, she knew the rifle was gone forever when she remembered the words from the dream. “But what is hidden that will cause pain will never be found.”
A tear ran down Annamarie’s cheek when she thought of her child growing up without a father, but she couldn’t take the chance this precious baby would grow up with a father like Daniel. She had truly believed he changed, but in the end, he reverted back to the crazed Daniel, the mean Daniel, and the Daniel that scared her.
Annamarie turned and walked back on the path toward the meadow. She would sleep well tonight knowing she and her baby were safe. Tomorrow she would call the sheriff, say Daniel hadn’t come home, and she was terrified. She would tell him she thought Daniel had gone to meet Garret’s partner. They would find the bodies.
Walking out into the meadow, Annamarie put her hand on her stomach and said, “If you’re a boy, I’ll name you Michael after your great-grandpa, but I know you’re a girl, and I’ll name you Magdalena.”
At the crest of the hill, Annamarie turned to look back at the trees, and thought she saw a glimpse of dark hair and colored ribbons disappear among the trees. The scent of pine returned. Annamarie felt safe. She knew she was home.
End?
Look for book two in the Gypsy Spirits series, Annamarie and Magdalena, due out early fall 2012.
Annamarie is trying to settle down in the Logan house and accept her new life. The spirits are still watching over her, but so is Daniel. How much terror will he bring to her life? Is she safe, is her child safe? Annamarie’s courage will be tested. Will she win the battle?
If you enjoyed this book, you can find out more about my other works at my web site: Marianne Spitzer, Author , my blog: Musings Under the Willow Tree , my Amazon page: Author Marianne Spitzer, or Marianne Spitzer, Writer on Facebook. Thank you.
Thank you for reading Gypsy Spirits. I hope you enjoyed the book and will follow Annamarie and her family in the next two books in the trilogy. If you did enjoy this book and have a moment of free time, I would appreciate it if you left a review at Gypsy Spirits on Amazon. Your reviews are the only way authors find out what you loved or hated about their books. Thank you and have a wonderful day.
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