by Tonya Kappes
I walked up the big concrete stairs and up to the glass doors. This building was the only building that looked out of place in Whispering Falls. It really was too normal for our community, but it was a funeral home and normal probably was needed for what was inside.
I pushed the door open and stepped across the threshold and Mr. Prince Charming darted in before I could get the door closed.
“Exactly where have you been?” I asked the ornery cat as if he was going to answer me back. He sat down next to me at full attention.
The long wide hallway was dark. The walls were draped in long deep-red fabric that hung from ceiling to floor. Definitely a designing style I had never seen. The pale yellow carpet with small red diamond designs lined the floors. Four large heavy ornamental wooden doors, two on each side, were shut. The massive staircase at the end opened up to a wraparound balcony.
The sound of footsteps made me straighten my shoulders and look around.
“I’m not sure.” A familiar voice came from down the hall. “I guess I can look into it, but without knowing what souls went where, I’m afraid you might have to ride this one out.”
“My sister won’t have that,” Patience responded to the voice.
The shadow of the hall opened up and Patience and Petunia Shrubwood appeared, deep in conversation.
“Why, June.” Petunia rubbed the hanging sling that was tied around her neck. Baby Orin was in there snug as a bug. “What a nice surprise to see you. I figured you were not only getting ready for All Hallows’ Eve, but the big wedding. Plus the rehearsal dinner tonight.”
Petunia owned Glorybee Pet Shop and was married to Gerald Regiula, the owner of The Gathering Grove.
“He’s getting big.” I walked over and patted baby Orin on the hinny.
“He eats just like his daddy.” Petunia rolled her eyes and pushed a finger in her brown messy up-do. A leaf fell out and landed on Orin’s head. She picked it up and twirled it in her fingers. “Give this to that ostrich of yours.” She handed it to Patience. “June, I’ll see you tonight.”
“Constance isn’t here.” Patience stepped behind Petunia as if Petunia had taken the role of Constance. Her green eyes narrowed and hardened. “She left me here while she went to pick up a body.”
“And you didn’t go with her?” I asked. Her five-foot-tall plump body stopped like a dead possum in front of me. Her grey hair was in tight little curls all over her small round head. Glass perched on the bridge of her nose magnified her green eyes.
Rarely did Constance leave the house without Patience and vice-versa, so when Constance pushed her way into the shop this morning, I knew something was off with them.
“If you’ll excuse me, this little bundle of joy is due to wake up any minute and he will be hungry.” She shook her head and more leaves fell out. “His hungry cry is worse than any sound in this world. Patience, I’ll see you later.”
She opened the door and glanced over her shoulder.
“Mr. Prince Charming,” she called, “it’s feeding time.”
Mr. Prince Charming jumped to his feet and scurried behind Petunia, and the yellow ball rolled with him but stopped at the door.
My mind rewound to when Mr. Prince Charming ran in after me and I didn’t recall the yellow ball near him.
I bit back a nagging feeling in my gut and slid my eyes toward Patience.
“What was Petunia doing here?” I asked even though it was none of my business. It just felt fishy to me and their conversation was running through my head like a hamster on a wheel.
“She is still trying to help me find the owner of my ostrich.” Patience wrung her hands.
A few months ago animals had shown up in Whispering Falls. Some were souls from spiritualists passed before us and some were just animals. No one ever claimed the ostrich, and Patience had grown so fond of him that we couldn’t stand to send him away to a zoo or farm.
“Has something happened that has made you want to find out where he came from?” It was a basic question that held a lot of answers. They had already gone through the spiritual process of trying to figure out if the ostrich was the soul of one who had passed on before us and came up with nothing.
“Nope,” she shook her head. I took note of the lack of eye contact.
“Then why is Petunia looking for the owner?” I asked. My intuition told me she was holding back.
“I would like to bring him as my guest to your wedding.” She twisted her body back and forth, nervously pinching at the sides of her housecoat.
“Are you okay, June?” Patience looked aggravated with me being there. “You seem a little on . . .” She looked as though she was searching for the right word. “Edge. On edge.” She leaned over and deeply inhaled. On the exhale she said, “You ain’t sick are you? Because if you are, I’ve got a good funeral package for you.”
“No. I’m not sick,” I intoned flatly.
The Karima sisters were always trying to get me to buy my funeral package. I probably should, but I’d like to think I was going to live a little while longer.
“Shame.” She shook her head. “Constance would’ve been thrilled if I got you to sign up.”
I looked over at the yellow ball.
“Do you know where that yellow ball came from?” I asked pointing to it and dismissing any talk about funeral arrangements for myself.
Patience glanced around my shoulder, tilted her head.
“What yellow ball?” she questioned, looking as if I had two heads.
“That ba—” I twisted around. “Where did it go?” I asked looking at the empty space where the ball had been. “I swear there was a yellow ball there. In fact,” I danced around in a circle, scanning the floor for the ball. “That ball has been everywhere I’ve been today.”
I bent over and looked under the chairs before getting on my hands and knees. Frantically, I crawled around, eyes to the ground and looked for the ball.
“June,” Patience whispered. “I think I better call someone. You are scaring me.”
“I’m fine!” I waved an arm in the air over my back and continued to crawl.
“I don’t think you are.” Her voice was absolutely emotionless and it chilled me.
I stopped. Took a deep breath and rolled back on my heels. I looked at Patience. If I didn’t straighten up, it’d be all over Whispering Falls that I was losing my mind, right here before my wedding.
“I’m sorry, but I guess the stress of the wedding coming up has really gotten to me.” I used my hand to push me back up to standing. I brushed down my pants to get off any lint I’d picked up from the carpet. “What about you? Have you been okay?”
I finally got around to the real reason I was there. I was supposed to check on her mental health for Constance and she if she needed any special treatment, not show off my own crazy.
“Why would you ask me such a thing, June?” Her eyes narrowed.
The interesting thing, my intuition told me she was fine and Constance was worried for nothing.
“I just wanted to make sure because you haven’t decorated for All Hallows’ Eve yet.” Normally, Patience was the first one to decorate for the annual event where we keep open our shops until the late hours and let children of Locust Grove come and gather candy to celebrate. It was our way of showing off our true heritage without giving our little secret away to the world.
“I’ll be working on that later today or tomorrow.” Patience crossed her thick arms. Her head jerked when the yellow ball bounced down the stairs and stopped abruptly at her feet.
“That ball!” I screamed and looked up the steps. “Whose ball is that?”
“My ostrich.” She kicked the ball with her toe. She jerked her fingers at the joint without moving her hand as if she were telling someone to get away or move away, thinking I didn’t see it. “I have to go play with him now.”
“But.” I called after her as she hurried away. Only she didn’t stop. She left me standing there.
There was nothing wr
ong with her, but there was something wrong in the funeral home. It was going to have to be Constance’s problem. I had my own to deal with.
Chapter Five
“June, come on.” Oscar yelled from the family room of my small cottage, soon to be our cottage. “We are already late as it is and we still have to get Eloise.”
“I’ll be just a minute.” The image staring at me wasn’t of the happy bride I had always pictured myself as. I had all but given up hope on any help from Raven since I hadn’t heard from her. “Now what?” I asked myself.
No matter how much I was prepared to stand up for myself against the aunts, an uneasy feeling stirred deep within me. Something was not right. My gut told me Patience and my wedding had something to do with it. Was she the key I was seeking to find peace between the two aunts?
The phone rang, bringing me out of my thoughts. I was sure Oscar would answer it since he was closer to the kitchen and sure enough, Oscar’s voice greeted the caller.
“June! Raven is on the phone,” Oscar called from the kitchen.
No amount of primping and makeup was going to make me feel better inside and I had a newfound hope she had some sort of answer for me.
“Oh, you come out here to talk to her, but not hurry for me?” Oscar winked his crystal blue eyes at me and smiled a bright toothy grin before putting his arm around my waist and pulling me to him. He brushed a gentle kiss across my forehead. “You look beautiful.”
“Thank you.” The touch of his lips on mine was a warm velvet sensation. The red cocktail dress was the perfect choice.
“Are you two making out?” Raven’s voice screamed through the end of the phone.
“Oh,” I giggled and put the phone up to my ear, pulling away from Oscar. “Did you get the information I need?” I tried to talk in code. Oscar was already as anxious as me and I didn’t want him to know I was going to bamboozle his heritage.
“I’m sorry, June.” Her voice flat. “Every Dark-Sider I asked said the same thing.”
“What was that?” I knew better than to ask, but I did against my own intuition.
“Don’t get married outside of the heritage. Meaning, don’t marry a Good-Sider,” her voice trailed off.
“I know what it means. I’ve got to go.” Her news didn’t make me feel a bit better.
“You aren’t thinking about calling off the wedding, are you?” Hurriedly she asked before I hung up the phone.
“Oscar,” I reached for my cloak I had hung up on the coat rack next to the door. He grabbed the edges and helped put it around my shoulders. “I’ve been thinking.”
“That is not a good sign.” His brows lifted.
“Eloise, Aunt Helena, or I, well,” I gulped, “will kill one or the other before this wedding goes off. I shouldn’t have to be worried about Dark-Sider versus Good-Sider. I should be worried about what drink I’m going to be having on the beach on our honeymoon.”
“Don’t worry about them. No one is going to kill anyone. It’s a happy day.” He smiled; his beautiful teeth glistened. I ran my tongue over my imperfect front teeth that were slightly overlapped. “We are going to tell them how we want it. It’s our wedding and no matter what, K.J. is going to marry us and we are going to use the Native American black clay wedding vase for the ritual.” He hugged me tight. “Got it?”
“Got it,” I said knowing I didn’t have it.
No matter how good Oscar’s words sounded to my ears, they didn’t register with my intuition.
“Don’t forget this.” He grabbed my charm bracelet off the counter and clasped it on my arm. “This will make you feel better.” He twirled it around and took a look at all the charms Mr. Prince Charming had given me since he showed up on the front steps of my home on my tenth birthday.
“Mr. Prince Charming and I have had our differences, but he has kept you safe for me.” Oscar rubbed the turtle charm that kept me steady on my journey to finding our heritage, the owl charm to keep me wise about my secrets, the purple stone gave me clarity, the angel wings protected me with guidance from above, the dove gave me hope when I thought I was in trouble, the third eye let me peer into the future and the small potion bottle provided harm to none when I had to put my spiritual powers into full play.
“You’re right.” My nerves settled a little bit. “Plus he hasn’t given me any charms lately which means we are a-okay.”
“Right.” Oscar and I looked down.
Mr. Prince Charming was doing figure eights around my ankles before he hacked as though he had a fur ball. Quite the opposite.
“Until now,” I groaned picking up what looked to be a ghost charm to add to my collection.
Chapter Six
“Ghost charm?” Bella stirred uneasily around her shop. Her turban sat atop her blond hair.
“Yea, ghost charm.” Deep down, I knew Bella knew about the charm. My eyes shifted to my ornery fairy-god cat. When our eyes met, he raised a paw, licked it and tucked his head to clean his ear. “And neither of you are looking at me.”
Ahem, Bella cleared her throat. “You weren’t supposed to get it until after the honeymoon.” There was a certain alarm in her tone.
“After? Don’t you think you should’ve told me if I needed protection?” My brows lifted, my throat dried, my heart sped up. “This is the last thing I need tonight.”
“And that is why I didn’t say anything.” Slowly her head tilted toward Mr. Prince Charming, her black lashes swooped down. Mr. Prince Charming stared at her before he went back to cleaning himself.
“Spill it while you put it on there with the rest of my charms.” I uncurled my palm in front of me revealing the charm.
She reached out, her long nails had little wedding bells painted on them, and took the charm and unclasped my bracelet. Her ankle length green dress dragged the ground as she swooped around the counter where she used all sorts of tools to put the charm on the bracelet.
“The charm means swift, fast action.” Bella motioned me over and stretched the bracelet from clasp to end. “And I don’t think you need to worry about this until later.”
I stuck my wrist out. Later? “How much later?”
“After the wedding and honeymoon.” She patted my hand in a reassuring way.
“Oscar is not happy with how things are going down. First the aunts, then the June’s Gems, Patience, and now this,” I groaned and jiggled my wrist to make sure the bracelet was secure. Losing it would be the topping on the cake.
“Aunts?” Her head tilted.
“Oh yea.” I shook my head. “We can talk about it on our way to Full Moon. Oscar is already mad that I had to come here to see you before I went. He went to get Eloise and will meet me there.”
“Let me get my cloak.” She held up a finger and disappeared into the back room. “Ready?” she asked, immediately appearing in the doorway.
“As I’ll ever be.” I bit back the feeling something bad was going to happen.
In short order, we made it down Main Street but not without oohing and aahing over the decorations for tomorrow’s All Hallows’ Eve festivities. I had to get on the ball with my decorations. It would be a good distraction. The full moon hung over the village, millions of stars dotted the darkness along with the fireflies, the teenagers of the community.
I filled Bella in on the day’s events and the teens darted around us. Teenager souls came back as fireflies which was perfect since they both like to stay up late and sleep all day.
“I might just kill one of them.” I sucked in a deep breath, taking in the fresh night air.
“You will figure it out.” She assured me. “But I highly suggest you keep the ghost charm to yourself until after the wedding.” She said it again like I didn’t get it the first time, sending the hairs on my neck to standing.
I stopped when Full Moon Treesort came into view. Amethyst Plum had wrapped the stairs going up to the lodge in purple wisteria vine. I choked up with tears when I saw the Drowsy Daisies and Moonflowers spread evenly around th
e vines.
Drowsy Daisies and Moonflowers were my mom Darla’s favorite flowers along with the wisteria vine. Candelabras, six long white candles and six long black candles, were on each step. The candles were lit and let off a romantic scent of roses. A light wind blew, bringing all the fragrances into one lovely scent.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” Bella wrapped her arm around me. “When Amethyst asked about your favorite flower, everyone told her about Darla’s love of certain flowers.”
“You did good.” I tilted my head and rested it on her shoulder, taking in all the twinkling lights Amethyst had hung around the beautiful bed and breakfast.
The two-story structure was the main building of the treesort. It wasn’t your typical bed and breakfast. The rooms were tree houses with different themes and Amethyst had promised me the honeymoon suite for our wedding night.
The wall of full-length windows was filled with all of my friends from Whispering Falls, looking out at me and Bella. Oscar stood between the aunts with a smile on his face and K.J. stood behind him.
Mr. Prince Charming and Bella stood back as they let me go first. Gently I touched the flowers with each step. The Singing Nettles flowers hummed the bridal march. My insides warmed. Some things in my life might be unsettled, but this I knew was right with the world, my world.
Oscar had been the one since the day I met him when we were children and hid under the tree to eat all the Ding Dongs I wanted, until Darla found out. She too loved Oscar. She and my father knew what they were doing when they made the betrothal arrangement to bring our two families together.
“The agreement,” I gasped realizing that was our way out of the aunts’ demands.
Chapter Seven
“Congratulations!” Everyone held up a glass of champagne when I walked into the Treesort.
Oscar rushed over with a flute for me. Gently he bent down and gave me a light kiss on the lips. The crowd erupted and chanted more, more, more.
“I guess we have to give them what they want.” Oscar’s smile reached his eyes. Before I could answer he pulled me close and kissed me long and hard, sending the pits of my stomach into a swirly whirl.
