Enchanted

by Barbara Bretton

  “Wait,” Diandra said. “You’re related to Chloe Hobbs? The owner of Sticks & Strings Chloe Hobbs?”

  “That’s what Bunny says.” I probably sounded smug but who could blame me. According to Bunny, my father and Chloe’s father had been second cousins which meant Chloe and I were cousins also, however many times removed.

  Finding out that I was related to the owner of one of the most popular knit shops in the country was kind of cool. Okay, maybe not so much if you didn’t have a serious jones for fiber, but I’ll admit to a fangrrl flutter when I discovered I had a connection to the legendary shop where your yarn never tangles, your sleeves always turn out even, and you always get gauge.

  “Family discount?” Claire asked, eyes twinkling with mischief.

  “We can hope,” I said.

  I told them I planned to arrive the day before the wedding, so I would have time to meet Chloe and get in a little yarn shopping before the ceremony.

  “Is the mother-in-law trying to screw with the bride?” Diandra asked. “I don’t know about you, but I was barely sane the day before my wedding. A mystery cousin would’ve pushed me over the edge.”

  “Tell me about it.” Kelly rolled her eyes. “If Dan’s mother had pulled another relative out of her hat, I’d be serving time right now for manslaughter.”

  “Sorry, Wendy,” Claire said, “but that is one terrible idea.”

  “Bunny says Chloe will be thrilled.” I launched into the story I’d been told, how Chloe had grown up with no blood relatives and how much meeting me would mean to her.

  Especially on the eve of her wedding day.

  “’Especially on the eve of her wedding day’? Sounds like a load of crap to me,” Diandra said, shaking her head.

  It was starting to sound the same way to me. “I don’t think Bunny’s a liar,” I said, wishing I felt more positive. “Misguided, maybe.”

  I’m not naïve. I know the world isn’t filled with rainbows and unicorns. I was pretty certain the only thing Bunny was guilty of was bad judgment.

  “It’s only a three-hour drive,” I said, as much for myself as for my friends. “I plan to arrive two days before the wedding. If we don’t hit it off, I’ll turn around and drive home and it will be like I was never there.”

  “Save yourself the gas money and we’ll plan a weekend and go up there together,” Claire said and the others nodded agreement.

  “Great idea,” I said, “but I’m still going to the wedding.”

  The groans were loud and long but I stood my ground. I needed to do this. I needed to get out of Bailey’s Harbor and see who I was on my own, even if it was just for a handful of days.

  “Just don’t catch the bouquet and elope with a hot groomsman,” Kelly said. “We intend to vet your next husband.”

  “I promise,” I said, crossing my heart. “I’ll be back before you even know I’m gone.”

  I was laughing as I drove out of the parking lot despite the odd feeling that instead of saying, “See you next week,” I was really saying goodbye.

  Chapter 9

  CHLOE

  Two days before the wedding

  * * *

  I had been at Dazzle, the new dress shop owned by one of Lilith’s sisters, since not long after daybreak, suffering through the final fitting of my wedding dress.

  To be honest, I couldn’t see why there was so much to fit. The dress was a simple sheath and I didn’t exactly add a whole lot of curves to the underpinnings.

  Well, at least not usually. Nursing had definitely made one area a whole lot more challenging.

  “The dress looks fine,” I said for probably the thousandth time. “The shoes are fine. Everything’s fine. I need to go open up the shop.”

  Everyone ignored me.

  “I’m not sure about the length,” Bunny said, peering at my reflection in the long mirror in front of me. “It needs to be a tad shorter.”

  “Shorter?” Lynette gave her a look. “It’s too short by an inch. Her toes are peeking through.”

  “If it were up to me, I’d say tea length.” Luke’s Aunt Peggy wasn’t shy about sharing her opinions even though she had the fashion sense of a cloistered nun.

  His sister Meghan rolled her eyes. “If I had Chloe’s legs, I’d go for a micro mini.”

  Janice wasn’t about to be left out. “I’d ditch the white and go for some color.”

  “Any more unsolicited advice and I’ll show up in jeans and a t-shirt,” I warned them. “I’m going to send Luke a selfie and see what he thinks.”

  The word “NO!” exploded in the room like cannon fire. This was clearly a subject both magicks and mortals could agree on.

  “Are you nuts?” Lynette shrieked. “That’s begging for trouble!”

  “You never ever let the groom see the dress before the wedding day.” Bunny made it sound like it was the eleventh commandment.

  “I guess I don’t have the bride gene,” I said with a shrug.

  “You’d better find it and fast,” Isolda, Lilith’s sister, said as she fussed with the hem of the dress. “In forty-eight hours you’re going to be the main attraction.”

  The mystery ring on my index finger began to glow more brightly and I thrust my hand behind my back. It had been glowing warm and bright at sporadic intervals that had me both puzzled and uneasy. The charms we had wrapped around it no longer shielded its glimmer from curious human eyes.

  “You really need to do something about that ring.” Of course Bunny had noticed. “It’s too distracting.”

  “Bunny’s right,” Lilith, who should have known better, said. “It will detract from your wedding ring after you and Luke exchange vows.”

  “I know, I know.” I was unable to hide my exasperation. “Soap, butter, axle grease--we’ve tried everything short of an acetylene torch. It won’t budge.”

  Bunny shook her head. “I still don’t understand how such a huge ring ended up such a tight fit. When you first took it out of the box, I would have sworn it would be too big on Gronk.”

  I had grown accustomed to Bunny’s occasional football references by now and just nodded in agreement.

  “Did you try icing your hand?”

  “Bunny, I’ve tried everything. I’ll probably make an appointment with an orthopedist after the wedding and have it sawed off.” Preferably by someone who knew how to do it without causing bodily harm.

  “Well, it just doesn’t go with your dress.”

  “Duly noted,” I said.

  Was it too late to elope?

  The chatter went on around me non-stop. I disappeared into the changing room to slip back into my jeans and a summery knit tee I’d whipped up last week when a remark caught my attention.

  “…peeping tom!”

  I poked my head out through the curtains. “Did someone say peeping tom?” Up until that moment, I’d only heard that phrase in the old movies I loved.

  A burst of laughter greeted my question.

  “Don’t call the cop,” Meghan said, referencing her brother who was the sum total of our police force.

  More laughter.

  I fastened the waistband of my jeans and joined them again.

  “Are you saying Sugar Maple has a peeping tom?”

  “I’m not saying we do or we don’t,” Isolda replied as she carefully laid my beautiful dress on her spacious worktable. She shrugged her elegant shoulders and glanced toward her sister Lilith. “Right now, it’s nothing more than a feeling.”

  I frowned. “What kind of feeling?”

  “What else?” Janice said, feigning an offhanded manner. “Like we’re being watched.”

  I glanced around the room filled with dear friends and almost-family. I had almost asked, “By mortal or magick?” but caught myself just in time. “You’ve all felt it?” I asked instead.

  Meghan shook her head no. Lynette said, “Me neither.”

  But everyone else had something to add.

  “I was closing the curtains last night at the I
nn,” Bunny said, “and I’d almost swear I heard someone breathing outside the window.”

  “Did you actually see anything?” I asked. “Deer? Bear? Maybe a giant squirrel?”

  She gave me the kind of look that had probably stopped her kids in their tracks back in the day. “I grew up in a small farming town, Chloe. I know all about wildlife.”

  I mumbled an apology and she gave me a hug.

  Janice had sensed a presence outside the window of the hair salon. Lilith had the feeling someone had been lurking at her bedroom window. Luke’s Aunt Peggy had taken her bath in the dark after the bushes underneath her window at the Inn rustled.

  Either they were all hallucinating or something was going on and as de facto mayor, I needed to find out more. I know this sounds terrible, but maybe I could postpone dealing with the peeping tom until after the wedding. Seventy-two hours from now, the MacKenzie clan would be back home and I could poke around without worrying that I’d expose any of our secrets.

  Besides, I had a pretty good idea who was doing the peeping. The Souderbushes, a Sugar Maple family of ghosts, spent much of their time traveling the Spirit Trail. With the wedding embargo in place, their three eternally-teenage boys had a lot of time on their hands.

  You do the math.

  I would, however, run it by Luke. (If I remembered. I definitely had a bad case of bride brain by now.)

  We finally broke up a little before noon and went off to our various jobs and responsibilities. I felt like I’d run a marathon and lost. A group of MacKenzies headed out in search of a mall but Bunny stuck close as glue, tapping away on her smartphone. I opened the door to Sticks & Strings just in time to greet the UPS driver.

  “Big day coming up, Chloe,” he said, depositing two huge boxes of Noro’s latest fiber masterpiece. “You gettin’ nervous?”

  “A little bit, Tony. I’ll save you some cake.”

  “Everyone is so nice up here,” Bunny said, pocketing her smartphone as the front door chimed behind him. “Even your UPS drivers. Not the way we are in Boston.”

  “We have our share of cranks,” I said with a little more snark than I’d intended.

  Bunny laughed. “Like that Verna woman?”

  “Excellent example,” I said, laughing for the first time all morning. “And Midge Stallworth is right there with her.”

  Bunny feigned a shudder. “I don’t know what it is with that little woman, but she gives me the creeps. Every time I see her, I feel like she’s measuring me for a casket.”

  “Join the club,” I said. “She gives us all the creeps.”

  I opened blinds, checked the thermostat on the central air, started the coffee, and generally got the shop ready for business.

  Penelope, store cat and beloved companion, was exactly where I knew she’d be: nestled deep into the basket of self-replenishing roving that rested by the side of the fireplace. Both Penny and the roving had a centuries-long history with Hobbs women. Legend had it Penny had belonged to my ancestor Aerynn and had followed her when Aerynn led the other magicks from Salem in search of safety from persecution. Down through the years, Penny had remained a loyal companion to a succession of Hobbs women.

  Sometimes she’d even been known to pull a certain Hobbs out of a very sticky situation.

  Not that I’d know anything about that, you understand.

  “What can I do to help?” Bunny asked, glancing around the shop. “Do you want me to unload the boxes?”

  “Absolutely not! I’m just going to slide them into the storeroom and worry about them after the wedding.”

  “There must be something I can do for you.”

  “You don’t have to hang out with me, Bunny,” I said. “I love the company but I know you have a spa appointment with Janice.”

  “That’s not until two o’clock. I have plenty of time.”

  I was starting to get suspicious.

  “I’m surprised you didn’t go to the mall with the others,” I remarked casually.

  “I’d rather spend time with you.”

  My suspicions went up a notch. Nobody loved malls more than Bunny MacKenzie.

  “You do know the baby is at home with Elspeth today, right?”

  “I’m here to spend time with you, Chloe, not the baby.”

  “Okay,” I said, hands planted on hips. “What’s going on?”

  “Nothing.” The twinkle in her eyes belied her innocent demeanor. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Bunny, we both know you’re up to something. Tell me what’s going on.”

  She polished off the last of her coffee.

  “Remember when I told you that I’d added you and Laria to the MacKenzie family tree?”

  “Yes,” I said, very carefully. “Lilith said you texted her with a few questions about my father’s background.”

  “You make it sound so nefarious,” she said with a slightly nervous laugh. “Just name, birth date, that sort of thing.”

  “Where is this going, Bunny? You’re making me nervous.”

  “I found a birth certificate for your dad, but nothing anywhere for your mom. Are you sure she was born here in Sugar Maple?”

  “Positive.” I hated this more with every second. “We were supposed to digitize our records for the state. Lilith must have sent all of the raw data away to be processed.”

  “Anyway, that’s neither here nor there right now.” She was beaming with pleasure as she met my eyes. “I found your cousin Wendy and invited her to the wedding.”

  I stared at her blankly. “I don’t have a cousin Wendy.” Or a cousin Joe, Mary, or John. I had no brothers, no sisters, no cousins, no uncles, no aunts, no nieces, no nephews. Except for Laria and Luke, my family tree was nothing but a stump.

  Bunny gave me one of those funny little MacKenzie smiles I still hadn’t quite managed to translate. “Actually you do,” Bunny said. “Her name is Wendy Aubry Lattimer and she’s from Maine, same as your dad.”

  It turned out your blood really can run cold inside your veins. I had never believed it could happen until now. The sound of my father’s surname sent an icy shockwave through my body that almost dropped me to my knees.

  I struggled to keep it together.

  “I can’t believe you invited a total stranger to the wedding.”

  “She’s not a stranger, honey, she’s your cousin.”

  “A cousin I’ve never met.” And didn’t know existed until thirty seconds ago.

  Bunny’s smile grew even wider. “She’s probably at the Inn right now, checking in.”

  My mind exploded with the eight thousand things that could go wrong, all of which had to do with exposing Sugar Maple’s secret to the rest of the world.

  Words failed me. At least, the kind of words that wouldn’t get me arrested.

  “She’s a knitter,” Bunny offered with a cheerful if slightly forced smile. I think I was making her nervous, even though that wasn’t my intention. “You should have heard her when I said that yes, you were the Chloe from Sticks & Strings.”

  I tried to be happy about this new relative, but big black clouds of doom were rolling toward me from every direction. “I really wish you hadn’t done this, Bunny. This was supposed to be for immediate family and close friends.”

  “And she’s your family, honey.” She gave me one of her wonderful, warm hugs. “I wanted you and Laria to connect with your own blood relatives. I prayed that I’d find one of your kin to join us for the celebration. I’ve been hunting for awhile and I’d all but given up hope.”

  “It’s not that I don’t appreciate all you did to find this Wendy person--“

  “Wendy Lattimer.”

  I nodded “Wendy Lattimer. But does it have to be right now? The wedding is the day after tomorrow!”

  “That’s exactly why I did it. Weddings are about joining families together.”

  I might have spent the first thirty years of my life as a mortal but that didn’t mean I understood them.

  A
normal bride-to-be would be happy. A normal bride-to-be would hug her future mother-in-law and cry with joy. This bride-to-be wanted to pull a Superman and turn back time to before said mother-in-law knew how to use the internet.

  “I’m so excited,” Bunny said as she poured us each a giant mug of freshly-brewed coffee. “I feel like I’ve really gotten to know Wendy over the last ten days. You two are going to love each other.”

  Bunny was a people person in the truest sense of the phrase. She thrived on interaction with relatives, friends, strangers and all of her on-line friends. The thought of meeting my distant cousin had her buzzing with the kind of excitement a kid feels at Christmas.

  I couldn’t afford to love cousin Wendy. I couldn’t afford to even get to know her. I’d spent most of my life wishing I had a blood relative to call my own and now here I was wishing said relative would stay far away from Sugar Maple.

  My life was different now. My primary concern was the safety of Luke and Laria and my Sugar Maple family. Nothing else mattered. It was, after all, why I existed. Why I had been born. My purpose was to continue what my ancestor Aerynn had started here in Sugar Maple: maintaining a place where the different, the Other, could live in peace and harmony with the mortal world. Even if it took a fair bit of magick and camouflage to achieve, it was a worthwhile goal and one that was my destiny.

  The world was growing smaller and more connected with each day that passed. Hiding in plain sight had never been easy, but now, when drones and satellites recorded your every move, it was almost impossible. We had fought hard to keep Sugar Maple on this side of the mist not too long ago, and I was afraid the day was coming when we would lose that battle.

  I inhaled deeply and plunged ahead. “So what do you know about her?”

  Bunny visibly relaxed. “As I said, her name is Wendy Aubry Lattimer. Her husband left her for a younger woman about two years ago. She’s just shy of thirty. Divorced. No kids.”

  “What does she do for a living?”

  “She cleans houses.”

  “She owns a company?”

  “She owns a mop and a vacuum cleaner. No other employees.”