Six Times a Charm

by Deanna Chase

  Melissa turned to the calendar that hung over the phone. She burrowed around in the mug of pens on the counter until she found her red felt-tip. Red for date nights. It was supposed to be a sign of romance, but it had become more like blood. She drew a giant X across the previous day and then switched to a black ballpoint to cross off the current square.

  I sympathized with her. I really did. But a little voice nagged at the back of my mind: Twenty-six first dates in a year? That could drive anyone crazy. And what would happen if she actually did like one of these guys? Would she have to fit a second date in before the next competitor’s slot? Or would she skip one of the first dates? And if skipping became the answer, then what would she do about her rotation of sources—push it back as well to keep the sequence between Frantic Dating, Dedicated Metro, etc.?

  I was much better off, really. I’d already decided which man to target—Jason. I could invest all of my thoughts and energy into figuring him out. In fact, I’d sketched out a perfect conversation just that morning, ready to ferret out specific information on Ekaterina Ivanova.

  I’d waited until I was shelving books near him. When he looked up, I said, “Things are really busy around here. Lots of new users. I guess grad students must be getting really busy, with the end of the term so close.”

  OK, so it wasn’t my most graceful conversational gambit. It sounded a bit like one of those games where you have to get your team-mate to say a key word—Password, or Taboo, or one of those things. Still, I had his attention.

  “Nice dress,” he said, and I almost melted in front of his grin. “Is the library having a costume party?”

  I tugged at my lace cuffs and cursed Evelyn under my breath. “This is something new we’re trying. To make the collection come alive.”

  Before he could reply, someone rang the bell at the coffee counter. It was probably just as well. I’d seen the look in his eyes. There was confusion there. Confusion, and just a spark of pity. Great foundation for a romance.

  But better than a mama’s boy who needed to be surgically separated from his cell phone. “I’m sorry,” I said to Melissa. “Better luck next time.”

  She sighed. “Yep. I’ll have to start reviewing the next candidates.” She had a stack of responses to her most recent Washington Today ad. She brushed her hands, as if she were shaking off excess flour. “Enough about that, though. Are we still on for yoga tomorrow?”

  “I don’t know,” I said. I hated going to yoga with Melissa. She was a lot more flexible than I was, and she was somehow able to listen to the instructor at the same time that she levered her body into impossible twists and turns.

  “You know you’ll feel better after you go to class.”

  “I’m worried about leaving Neko.”

  “You went to the library all day today. You came over here. What could he get into tomorrow that he couldn’t do today.” I shook my head, still looking for a way out. “Come on,” she urged. “Rock, paper, scissors?”

  We’d settled disputes with the game since we were in elementary school. “All right,” I said, reluctantly. We counted together, touching our right fists to our left palms. “One. Two. Three.” I went for rock, but she chose paper.

  “Paper covers rock,” she said, laughing. “Yoga it is.”

  “Best two out of three!”

  “Don’t be a bad sport. I’ll meet you at the studio tomorrow.”

  I gathered up my purse and followed Melissa to Cake Walk’s back door. “I should have gone for scissors.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Don’t be late.”

  I stepped into the alley, but then I turned back to look at her. She was framed in the doorway, her overalls dusted with flour and her hair ruffled from a full day’s work. “Do you think I’m crazy?” I asked. “About this whole witch thing?”

  She shook her head, and her smile was the same one I’d known since third grade. “You might be crazy, but this ‘witch thing’ doesn’t prove it. I’m not exactly sure what’s going on, but we’ll figure it out. You might want to pick up some more tuna on the way home, though. Spare Stupid Fish for another day.”

  It was strange, I know. I should have been panicked about having Neko in the house—I mean, it’s not every day that a girl conjures up a half-man, half-cat with a better fashion sense than she can ever dream of having.

  But Neko just wasn’t frightening. I should have been worried about his magical powers, about what he could do to me, to the house, to all of Georgetown and the world, but I couldn’t be. Not when he got so aghast at the notion of my re-using a tea-bag. Not when he was horrified that I would wear flats with an above-the-knee dress. Not when he had actually hissed in dismay at my Peabridge costume.

  Strange things were happening, but they weren’t frightening. Not terrifying, anyway. And besides, I was never going to work another spell, so none of it really mattered. Only a fool would play with magic, I had told myself all afternoon. Only a naive idiot.

  “No more magic,” I said to myself as I walked down the cobble-stoned Georgetown street. If only I had listened to those words of witch-free wisdom.

  Chapter 6

  I sat across from Gran and waited for her to finish pouring me a steaming cup of tea. I’d skipped out on the library for the afternoon, telling Evelyn that I needed to return Gran’s car to her after moving in. I just hadn’t mentioned that I was handing off the keys in the middle of the Four Seasons’ lounge.

  It wasn’t my fault. Gran had suggested that we meet for an afternoon snack, her treat. I couldn’t very well refuse—the woman was my only living relative. Besides, I’d heard great things about the hotel’s precious sandwiches and delectable sweets; I wasn’t going to pass those up. After Gran had invited me, I’d taken a moment to phone Melissa, offering to do some advance work for Cake Walk. Who knew—maybe the Four Seasons served some treasure that Melissa just needed to perfect and make her own, with a jazzy name and a reasonable price. I was willing to take a hit for the team.

  So far, my little afternoon escapade had not been disappointing. Our waiter had presented us with a compartmentalized box, filled with glass stoppered bottles of tea leaves. Gran and I had inhaled our way through the choices, from pear oolong to lavender Earl Grey to apricot pekoe. I had finally chosen the oolong, reveling in the dark amber brew that now perfumed the air like some rare elixir. Gran offered me sugar, which I declined, but I accepted a drop of cream.

  Okay. So I’d lied to Neko on the night of his transformation. I did like cream in my tea. But just a bit, and I never kept the stuff in the house. I didn’t use much of it on my own, and it always went bad before the carton was empty. Nothing stinks up a refrigerator as much as spoiled milk products.

  Besides, even if I’d had cream on hand the other night, I wouldn’t have shared it with the cat-man. I didn’t want to do anything to bring out the feline side of his personality. That just creeped me out. The night before, I’d come home from meeting with Melissa to find two voles and a mouse stretched out on my front porch, their tiny corpses lined up like a magical offering.

  Neko. I’d already decided not to mention him to Gran. Not Neko, not Montrose, nothing at all about that strange night. She’d only worry about me, and since I wasn’t going to be working any more spells, there was no reason to put her through that.

  A waiter swooped by our table and set down a tiered tray. I could make out some cucumber sandwiches (crusts neatly trimmed from impossibly thin slices of white bread.) There were also tiny bites of curried chicken salad on glazed walnut bread, and a dollop of egg salad with feathery dill on pumpernickel. I would leave the egg for Gran; it was her favorite, but I could never get past the smell. I helped myself to smoked salmon on lemon brioche.

  “I really appreciate your getting away from the library,” Gran said. “I just wish you hadn’t changed out of your new outfit. I wanted to see it. I’m sure it’s darling.”

  I took my time chewing a pale orange bite. After I swallowed, I looked down at my neat A-line skirt.
An A-line skirt that I’d never wear to work again. An A-line skirt that Jason Templeton would never have the opportunity to admire—even from a distance, much less from the up close and personal view of the sometimes tricky side zipper. “I can’t wear those things in public, Gran. The skirt has honest-to-God hoops, and the quilted petticoat looks like something out of a museum.”

  “The stays must make you stand up straight, though. You’ve always needed a reminder about your posture.”

  Thanks, Gran. I love you too.

  I settled for, “Before I forget—here are your keys. I left the car with the valet.”

  Gran set them on the table between us. For just a moment, it seemed that she put them there to keep them available, like an escape hatch. In case one of us needed to flee the scene. How strange was that? I chased the thought away by asking about her board meeting. She had just come from her monthly session with the concert opera guild board of directors.

  “It was fine, dear.”

  “Fine?” Something was definitely wrong. Gran could talk about the opera board for hours—long, detailed stories about the volunteers who performed above all expectations, or the prima donna sopranos who arrived at the theater, expecting special treatment that wasn’t to be found anywhere outside of New York’s Metropolitan Opera.

  “Yes, dear, fine.” She glanced around distractedly, as if she were trying to find a waiter. A buffer. “Do you need more tea?”

  I looked down at my still-full cup. “Um, not yet, Gran.” Now I was beginning to get worried.

  “Jane, will you make me a promise?”

  Whew. So that was it. Just another one of Gran’s promise binges. She had me going there for a moment. “About what?” I asked.

  “I can’t tell you yet.”

  “What?” I started to ask, but then I remembered my manners. “Pardon me?” I heard the sharpness, barely hidden under my voice.

  “I’m going to ask you to do something, and you aren’t going to be very happy about it. Promise me, though, that you’ll do it. It’s very important to me. More important than anything I’ve ever asked of you before.”

  Wait a minute. This was more than the usual Gran request. This time, she wanted to bind me before I even knew what was at stake. What was going on?

  Suddenly, all the bits slipped into place. Gran’s nervousness. Her luring me with afternoon tea. The “fine” concert opera guild board meeting.

  Uncle George.

  Uncle George wasn’t my real uncle. He was a friend of Gran’s, her oldest friend. For decades, he’d taken her out on dates—the only grown-up evenings she’d had the entire time that I was growing up. Uncle George and my grandfather had known each other in elementary school, and George had stepped in to help out around the house when my grandfather died, decades ago.

  Truth be told, I’d never liked the man all that much. He pulled quarters out of my ears for way too many years. I mean, it was one thing to be amazed and giggly when I was five years old. But when I was fifteen? And he had jowls—honest to goodness jowls just like a bull mastiff. They wobbled beside his mouth when he talked.

  But he made Gran happy. In fact, he was the one who had gotten her interested in concert opera. She said that he made even the longest board meetings bearable; he was the president.

  And now, it seemed that he was finally ready to move their relationship “to the next level.” Uncle George was going to ask Gran to marry him. It made sense—I had finally secured a real house through the Peabridge, and even though Scott was out of my life forever, it was pretty clear that I wouldn’t need to move back home with Gran.

  I wondered if she would wear a white dress. I mean, I didn’t have any trouble with that—I’m hardly a conservative person. Something tea-length, maybe? With a small bouquet of sweetheart roses? We could even have the wedding in the Peabridge gardens, use my cottage’s kitchen to serve up punch and wedding cake. I was sure Evelyn wouldn’t mind. She’d welcome the opportunity for publicity.

  “Jane?” Gran asked. “Do you promise?”

  I smiled, now that I knew we were on safe territory. Before I could say anything, though, the waiter materialized again. He swept away the sandwich tray and set in place another tiered wonder—this one packed with little bites of dessert. Even in the midst of my reluctance to promise—for form’s sake, mind you—my mouth watered at the sight of the coconut-dusted scones, the bite-sized lemon meringues pies, and the cherry-crowned pistachio financiers.

  Gran smiled at the treats, as if she were a child on Christmas morning. I almost thought that she was going to clap her hands. “Look, Jane! All of my favorites!”

  “Gran—”

  “Here. Let me serve you.” She spent a century selecting treasures, maneuvering them onto my plate with hands that showed every single year of their age. Okay. So, she was still nervous. What was going on here?

  She bit into a tiny raspberry tart, and I watched her jaws move as she polished off the treat. “What?” she asked me, when she realized I was staring. “You can’t be full already?”

  “Gran, why did you bring me here? What did you want to ask me?”

  She set down her plate and met my eyes for the first time since we’d been seated. “Promise—”

  “Gran, I promise. You know I’ll help you plan your marriage to Uncle George. I think it’s wonderful that you’ve finally decided to get married.”

  “Get married!” Gran was loud enough that several other tea-patrons turned to stare. “What are you talking about? Who said anything about marriage?”

  “Well, why else would you bring me here? Why would you be going on and on about this great promise I’m supposed to make, about your incredible secret?”

  Gran laughed. It was the deep laugh that I’d heard since my earliest childhood—the one that carried her through my toddler tantrums, my grammar school superiority, my high school rebellion. The sound carried relief, but also a hint of desperation.

  The more she laughed, the more disgruntled I became. Okay, so she probably wasn’t going to get married. She and Uncle George didn’t need to change their relationship now, after years of their friendship working just fine. But the idea wasn’t that outrageous. She didn’t have to act as if I were some clown, sent solely to entertain her. I plopped a cocoa-covered miniature truffle into my mouth and let the bittersweet chocolate melt its comfort over my tongue.

  “Jane,” she said, when she could finally draw a breath. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to mislead you.”

  “You did, though,” I said, and even I could hear the sulkiness in my voice. I sat up straighter and pushed my shoulders back. “What’s going on, Gran?”

  “Promise—”

  “Fine! I promise! I’ll do whatever you’re going to ask me to do.

  She nodded her head, finally satisfied with my pledge. “There’s someone who wants to meet you.”

  “You want to set me up on a blind date?”

  Gran’s smile was small, almost wistful. “Not at all, dear.” She took the napkin from her lap and folded it into a precise rectangle. She set it beside her plate, as if she were through with tea. “The person who wants to meet you is a woman. Her name is Clara. Clara Smythe.”

  Smythe was Gran’s last name. And Clara had been Gran’s sister. Great-Aunt Clara had died decades ago, in a car crash, just a month before my mother was born. That was why Gran had named my mother Clara, and it was a terrible irony that my mother had also died in a car….

  “Clara?” I made it a question.

  Gran nodded. “Clara. Your mother.”

  The room had suddenly become too warm. I wondered why they couldn’t control the temperature better in a public space. I felt as if a giant fan had sucked all the air out of the room. I stared at Gran, unable to process her words. I realized that I was tapping my butter knife against the table, and I set it beside my saucer, lining it up precisely with the edge of the table.

  “My mother.” My voice didn’t sound like it belonged to me. It was
a little voice. A child’s voice. A voice that was swirled in a cotton candy of hope, spoiled with the sour dust of fear. “She’s dead.”

  Gran shook her head. “She isn’t, dear. She never was. That was a story that we told you, that she decided I must tell you, when she left.”

  “When she left….” I knew that I should say something more, that I should be thinking faster than I was. But my brain seemed stuck in neutral. I could hear my thoughts revving, faster and faster as they chased each other.

  My mother was alive. My mother had left me. My mother had let me think that she was dead for all these years. Gran had let me think that my mother was dead for all these years.

  As I tried to think of something to say, something to ask, something to jolt me back onto the ordinary path of being, the waiter appeared from nowhere. “And how are we doing here?”

  I looked up into his false smile, and I could not think of the right response, the polite words that everyone knew.

  “We’re fine,” Gran said.

  “More tea?”

  “No, thank you.”

  The waiter nodded professionally and transported over to the next table. I looked into Gran’s face. “What happened?”

  “Your mother was very young, dear. She had no idea how much responsibility a newborn would be. She tried—she really did. But she just couldn’t do the job.”

  Job. I’d been a job. For one insane moment, I pictured my mother punching a time clock, her hair wrapped up in a bandana, her face weary from long hours on the graveyard shift.

  “So she just abandoned me?”

  “Jane, dear, she left you with me! That’s hardly ‘abandonment.’ She knew that I could take care of you, that I could give you everything you needed.”

  “Except the truth!” I heard how loud I’d become, how melodramatic, but I couldn’t stop myself. “I should have known the truth! You should have told me that my own mother thought that I was too much trouble—”

  Gran cut me off, a clear sign of just how upset she was. “She was sick, dear. She was lost.” For one horrible moment, I thought that Gran was going to cry. I had never seen her cry, not ever. She swallowed hard and touched the corners of her mouth with her napkin, and when she spoke again, her voice was even. Quiet, but even. “Your mother had a drug problem. She stayed away from the stuff while she was pregnant—that’s how much she loved you. But after you were born…. And when your father left….”