“Belladonna Nightshade. You’re supposed to be the one telling me that everything is going to be okay and that I’m going to be deliriously happy.” Murielle said with a nervous laugh.
“Oh right. Sorry.”
“Besides, wouldn’t you miss Ben? I mean, you’ll be marrying him next.” Murielle said and poked Belladonna playfully in the side.
Before Belladonna could say anything, the bell over the salon door chimed. Both women whipped around startled by whoever came through the door.
“Jeeze you scared us,” Belladonna said to the cleaner. Her hand pressed against her chest, and she could feel her heartbeat pounding.
“Sorry ladies. Where should I leave the gown?” The elderly woman holding the dress bag asked.
Belladonna had the cleaner hang the dress on the coat rack. She gave the woman a tip and then unzipped the bag.
“It’s a beautiful dress,” Bella said.
“It’s all wrong, Bella.” Murielle choked out.
“What? This is the dress you wanted. You love this dress.” Belladonna was thoroughly confused. “I think the nerves are getting to you, and I’m not doing a very good job comforting you.”
“It’s just not enough. I thought I wanted something understated. I told myself that I didn’t want anything fancy, but it’s not true.”
Murielle had wanted a simple, low-key ceremony. Most of the town would be there, but the meeting hall wasn’t decorated with thousands of dollars’ worth of flowers. A few local musicians, who were also devoted library patrons, volunteered to play at the ceremony.
"We can do something about that. I have an idea." Belladonna said with a smile.
She took the dress the rest of the way out of the bag and removed it from the hanger. Belladonna then picked up her wand from her workstation.
"Light as a feather," Bella said with a flick of her wrist.
The dress floated in the air, and Belladonna walked around it slowly a few times. She touched the fabric at the collar and then tugged at the hem.
"Close your eyes." She instructed Murielle. "I want it to be a surprise."
Murielle closed her eyes tightly and listened as Belladonna worked her magic on the dress. She couldn't see what was going on, but she could hear shuffling, tapping, and the occasional huff. Whatever the transformation was going to be, it only took a few minutes.
"You can open them now," Belladonna said, and Murielle could hear the giant smile in her voice.
"Oh my gosh! It's perfect!" Murielle exclaimed.
The dress had transformed into silk. Where it had once been a soft shade of green from top to bottom, now an ombre pattern started as the same pale green at the top and darkened into an emerald green at the hem. The bodice was encrusted with hundreds of crystals that sparkled like stars, and the skirt of the gown had tiny pearls sewn into leave patterns extending from the waist down to the bottom edge.
“Put it on, sweetie. We’ll do your makeup. It’s almost time.”
Murielle had to stand while Belladonna did her makeup because the dress was too full for her to sit down in a salon chair. Belladonna used a glamor spell instead of physical makeup in case Murielle started crying during the ceremony. Magical makeup means no raccoon eyes even with the hardest of sobbing. Bella handed Muri a blue handkerchief embroidered with little sunflowers.
“Something blue,” Muri said thoughtfully as she looked it over.
“Tuck it down the front of your dress. The makeup will hold if you start to blubber, but there’s not much I can do for a snotty nose.”
They both start to laugh, but their merriment is interrupted by the bell over the door. Murielle and Bella look up and see Francine Watts. Belladonna grabs her wand tighter and puts a protective arm in front of Murielle.
“Get out of here right now, and I won’t have to use this,” Bella said as she pointed the wand at Francine.
“Please, just hear me out.” Francine pleaded.
“I can’t believe you’re here today. Belladonna, make her leave. Get her out of here.” Murielle responded before Francine could say another word.
“Please. I’m not here to cause trouble. I can see that I’m here at a bad time. I’ll wait. I just want a chance to talk with you, Belladonna. I promise I’m not here to do anything bad.” Francine implored.
“Oh no. You crazy witch. You can’t stay here through my wedding. You’re leaving town right now, or I’m going to turn you into a mud puddle.” Murielle said. Her hands were clenched into tight fists at her sides.
“Ten minutes,” Belladonna stated as calmly as possible.
“Belladonna, no.” Murielle hissed.
“Let’s give her ten minutes. That’s what we have to spare. But, Francine, if you upset Murielle any further, I’ll turn you into a mud puddle myself.” Belladonna said.
Murielle went into the back to calm herself down. She couldn’t believe one of Lexi’s witches had popped back up in Winterfield on her wedding day. Even worse, Belladonna hadn’t sent her immediately into the twisting nether of the underworld on sight.
“Have a seat, Francine,” Belladonna said and gestured towards the first salon chair.
Francine looked like she’d been living in her car for the past few weeks, and Belladonna guessed that’s exactly what she’d been doing. “Tell me why you’re here,” Bella said as she picked up her water bottle and a brush.
While Francine told her story, Belladonna fixed her hair. It was a good decision on Bella’s part because it kept her hands busy, and moving around helped her stay calm.
Bella put Francine’s hair into a tight updo while she listened to her explain why she’d joined Lexi’s dark coven. In just a few minutes, Francine had spilled her guts about the dark coven’s plans and motivations, and she’d moved on to begging for the Winterfield witches’ forgiveness.
Four
Belladonna didn’t have time to deal with Francine, and she needed time to think. Her solution was to put a binding spell on the woman and lock Francine in the salon while she took Murielle to her wedding.
People in the next county most likely heard the squeal of delight that came out of Murielle when she walked outside of the salon. Granny Pepper and Aunt Sumac delivered a surprise of epic proportions.
At the curb was a glittering white carriage, like something straight from a fairy tale, and it was hooked up to two beautiful snow white horses. Granny and Aunt Sumac stood beside it wearing actual dresses. When they saw Murielle come out, Aunt Sumac reached out and opened the carriage door for her.
As Belladonna and Muri got into the cab of the carriage, Belladonna asked, “Do either of you know how to drive a carriage?”
Granny and Aunt Pepper climbed up on the seat at the front of the carriage, and Aunt Pepper took the reins. “Not a clue, but we got it this far didn’t we?”
That was, of course, a false comparison because the two older witches had actually made the carriage appear outside of the salon using magic and not any kind of real driving skills. The reason they were late was that Sumac had to look up just the right spell to get snow white Clydesdales.
Unfortunately, the Clydesdales were too overpowering for the delicate carriage and Granny Pepper had to find a way to turn them into smaller horses without killing them. It had been a fiasco. The large animals were first transformed into two matching snowy white guinea pigs. Then they were goats, unicorns (Aunt Sumac desperately wanted to keep the unicorns, but Granny Pepper reminded her that they sometimes ate people who offended them.), polar bears (not good given the whole Santa fiasco), and finally two perfect white Arabians.
Now, Aunt Sumac just had to get them to pull the carriage through town and up the hill to the meeting hall without scaring them or destroying any property. Belladonna took out her wand and put a little extra hold on Murielle’s hair just in case. The carriage moved at a steady pace, and Belladonna was surprised at how well Aunt Sumac did with the horses.
The town of Winterfield looked different from the carriage. Bel
la had a good idea of how it looked a long time ago when it was a much younger village. From this vantage point, a person could almost see the magical currents running through the streets and between the buildings. It occurred to her that the paranormal residents of Winterfield hadn’t brought the magic to the town. The magic in the town brought them in instead.
They arrived at the meetinghouse, and someone must have been watching for the carriage because the bell in the small tower started to ring. It was an announcement that the wedding was about to begin, but Belladonna also knew that in the old days, bells were used to scare off evil spirits.
That brought her mind back to Francine. Leaving her locked in the Salon probably wasn’t the best idea, but Bella didn’t have time to deal with a rogue witch. She had to be the best Maid of Honor that had ever been.
Belladonna helped Murielle out of the carriage as Granny Pepper and Aunt Sumac went inside to take their seats. Bella held up the train of the bride’s gown as Muri stepped gingerly out of the carriage.
“You ready for this?” Belladonna asked with a wink.
She was now more confident than ever that her best friend was making the right decision. After all, Luke was a good man, and Belladonna loved him like a brother. The way she saw it, Murielle was a Nightshade witch in spirit if not in name. That meant that Luke was marrying into the family, and he would be a brother.
“As I’ll ever be.” Murielle took a deep breath and then smiled.
They stopped in the entryway of the meetinghouse just on the other side of the closed doors that lead into the main hall. Belladonna arranged the train of Murielle’s dress perfectly and grabbed the bridal bouquet that had been left on a side table for their arrival. She handed the flowers, white dahlias and Versilia roses, to Murielle just as the music started to play.
Belladonna picked up her own bouquet of coral peonies and smoothed the fabric of her…
Bella realized she’d forgotten to change into her dress. In fact, the dress was still at her house. Everyone had been so wrapped up in the wedding day preparations that no one noticed she was just wearing a basic black shift dress and Maryjane shoes.
She grabbed her wand from her bag and worked her magic on the basic dress. A flick of her wrist brought the knee-length hem almost down to the floor. She added delicate lace three-quarter sleeves and turned the fabric from black to silky coral two shades lighter than the bouquet. It was almost an exact replica of the dress hanging in her closet at home.
Murielle turned around one last time. “Oh my gosh, Belladonna. We forgot about your dress. You did an exquisite job with that one, though.”
“Thanks, Bestie. But, this is your day. Let’s get you hitched.”
The music rose in volume a bit, and that was their hint that the ceremony was ready to proceed. Murielle waved her hand, and the doors opened for her. She took her first steps into the hall, and everyone gasped with admiration.
That made Belladonna smile. She searched for Ben as she walked through the doors. Her gaze found him almost immediately standing up front next to Luke, and for a moment, her mind switched their places, and it was her wedding day.
The thought excited her more than she anticipated, and Bella had to remind herself that this was Murielle’s big day. She took a deep breath and continued to walk slowly down the aisle behind her best friend. It was the witch custom for the bridesmaids to walk behind the bride because on their wedding day, the bride was considered the ceremonial head of the coven.
The service was short but beautiful. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house as Murielle and Luke exchanged the vows they’d written for each other.
When they were officially wed, everyone filed out of the meeting hall and headed to the Mayor’s Mansion for the reception. Brynhildr had graciously volunteered her ballroom and her entire staff for the festivities.
Luke and Murielle road in the carriage even though Luke wasn’t sure about having Aunt Sumac at the reins. Ben drove Belladonna, and he held her hand so tightly that it almost hurt. She couldn’t wipe the smile off of her face.
Once they arrived, the guests were shown into the ballroom by Brynhildr’s butler. On one side of the room, there were round tables covered with white tablecloths. Each guest had an assigned seat. Up against the back wall was a head table for Luke, Murielle, Belladonna, and Ben.
The evening’s meal was the creation of Brynhildr’s chef. Almost the entire town was in attendance, though, so Nick the cook and Linda from the diner were hired for the evening to help out the rest of the staff.
Carly and Jessie had also volunteered to help, and Jessie provided a seven-tier wedding cake as a gift to the bride and groom. Every tier was a different cake flavor with a corresponding shade of icing. It started with vanilla cake and cream icing on the bottom and worked its way up to an apricot top with gold icing. Each layer was also decorated with white candy stars.
Since Jessie was working the wedding, Carly decided to help as well. She’d been doing prep work in the kitchen and passing around trays of hor d'oeuvres.
Brynhilder announced that dinner would be served shortly and that everyone should grab a glass of champagne or take a spin around the dance floor. Carly made it around half the room before her tray of spinach puffs was completely empty. So, she headed back into the kitchen to grab another round of the popular appetizers.
Five
When Carly got back to the kitchen, she noticed that Nick was alone. There was another batch of spinach puffs on a baking sheet, so she grabbed it and started putting them on a serving tray. Nick was sautéing salmon in a lemon butter sauce, and it smelled divine.
“That smells magnificent.” She said and smiled at him.
“I’ll set a serving back for you.”
It was the first time that Carly had ever noticed how good looking he was. Nick was a quiet man, and he rarely came out of the kitchen when he was working at the diner.
She took a moment to appreciate his deep green eyes and thick black hair. Carly bit her lip and yelped when her fang pierced her flesh.
“You alright over there?” Nick asked over his shoulder.
“Yep, all good. Totally good. I’m just going to run these appetizers out to the crowd. They are super popular.” She wanted to kick herself for sounding like a silly teenage girl.
“Okay. I’ll have your dinner ready when you get back. Maybe we can eat together while there’s a lull?” Nick said, and this time he turned to smile at her.
“Sure.” If Carly hadn’t been a vampire, her cheeks would have turned a bright shade of crimson as she tucked her head and rushed from the kitchen.
Carly passed the appetizers out as fast as she could without being rude. She gave everyone who asked two of the puffs instead of one. No one complained, and once the tray was empty, Carly headed back into the kitchen.
It was oddly quiet.
She found the two plates of salmon sitting on a counter near the kitchen’s bay of windows. The butterflies in her stomach started to dance when she saw that Nick had poured two glasses of champagne. Maybe he liked her.
“Nick.” She called out, but there didn’t appear to be anyone in the kitchen.
Linda and Jessie were both out in the ballroom as well, and all of the servants were running drink orders from the bar until the food was cooked. The only person she couldn’t account for was Brynhildr’s chef.
Carly hadn’t seen him since the beginning of the evening when he was giving Nick instructions on how to prepare the meal. Nick had rolled his eyes several times, and Carly had to stifle a giggle.
The last time she was in the kitchen, Carly figured he was outside smoking or in the restroom, but it was strange that he wasn’t around now. How much time was the head chef supposed to spend out of the kitchen during a banquet?
She waited a few more minutes, and then curiosity got the better of her. Carly started to poke around the kitchen. Her exploration took her into a small study first, so she turned around and went back through the kitchen. On
the other side was a big oak door with a sign that said “Pantry.”
Carly turned the nob and pushed the door in. It only opened a bit before bumping into what felt like a sack of potatoes. She stuck her foot through the door and nudged the alleged bag with her foot. The only problem was that the sack was much softer than Carly expected. It didn’t feel like potatoes at all. It actually felt like…
Every head in the ballroom swiveled towards the door leading to the kitchen. The blood curdling screaming inspired a grand commotion. Some people got up and headed for the front door, a few more people stayed frozen in shock, but Belladonna and Ben made for the kitchen door.
“Stay here,” Bella told Murielle and Luke.
“I’m coming too,” Muri said and defiantly stood up.
“Me too,” Luke said as he stood and clasped his new wife’s hand in his.
“You guys, no. It’s your wedding day. Whatever is in there isn’t good. I’ll come right back out and tell you. Just sit tight. Please let Ben and I handle this.” Belladonna said.
Luke and Murielle sat back down, but neither of them looked happy about it. Carly came out of the kitchen sobbing. Jessie had one arm around her shoulder, and it looked as if she was holding her up.
Bella and Ben made their way towards the kitchen quickly, and once they got through the doors, Ben sent the growing crowd back into the ballroom.
“Go back to your seats guys. Grab a drink, but if this is a crime scene, I need you out of here.” Ben stated in his most commanding voice.
Ben made his way to the pantry. What he found there made his stomach sink. Chief Frost was already on the scene with Officer Mayfair and their newest patrol officer Lucy Cornwall.
“Officer Carmichael, we’ve got this covered. Why don’t you go out and give Luke and Murielle the news? Then, you can help get everyone cleared out of here.” Chief Frost said to Ben.
“You want me to clear everyone out, and that’s it. I can help with the scene.” Ben protested.
Fairly Hexed: Cozy Witch Mystery (Witches of Winterfield Book 3) Page 3
