I shrugged. I knew that. But I also knew I had to go. My overworked brain and stressed-out heart weren’t giving me a choice in the matter.
“I’ll watch out.”
I grabbed one of the kerosene lanterns and filled it up, then lit it. The glass case would keep the flames from going out, and those woods were likely to be pretty darn dark.
The lantern gave just enough light to see me to the top of the hill. Where my worst fears were realized.
There, where the clearing had been, there was only chaos. A large oak tree had uprooted by the root balls and fallen completely over, covering most of the area of the clearing. And with all the tree limbs everywhere, it was hard to tell where that tree stopped and the general chaos began.
My sacred clearing, the place where I received my Goddess’s blessing every full moon, was gone. It was just too much to bear.
“OPAL?”
Orville’s voice came from directly behind me. I refused to look back at him, hoping in my heart that he’d just go away. I didn’t want anyone to see me this way. Crying and broken. Not even the man I loved with all my heart.
Of course, there was no way he would do that. No, the man came to sit beside me on the soggy, wet ground.
We sat in silence for a few minutes, looking at the crisis before us. When I finally got my weeping under control, he spoke.
“This isn’t as bad as it looks, you know. I can have a tree guy up here in the morning. The clearing will be as good as new in a couple of days. Long before we have to start preparing it for the wedding.”
“I’m not sure there’s going to be a wedding. I think I made a bad bet.”
He looked at me, his brows furrowed. “Please tell me you aren’t serious about that.”
I still wouldn’t look at him. I’d spent the past hour thinking about that very thing. It was one thing when the omens came from man. It was a totally different thing when they came from the Goddess herself.
That tree had stood for well over a hundred years. It had been strong and healthy and beautiful. And a small part of me felt I was the cause of its demise. It wasn’t a pleasant thought.
“You said I shouldn’t take the omens too much to heart because they were from man, not nature.” I gestured weakly in front of us. “Well, nature sure told you.”
He just swallowed and went into thoughtful mode. Another few minutes passed.
“Don’t do anything rash, okay? No calling off the wedding, no telling anyone you’re having doubts about it. Not for a week. Seven days. Opal, after all we’ve been through, can you give me seven days to put all this right? Please?” His voice cracked on that last word, and it just about broke my heart.
As if it hadn’t already been breaking.
“Seven days, Orville,” I whispered. “But if the omens don’t start going the other way, the wedding is off. I couldn’t bear what might come next.”
I meant it too. If the universe didn’t want me getting married, who knew what it might take from me next?
Next time, it might just be Orville himself. That wasn’t a risk I was willing to take.
Chapter 12
The next morning, I threw myself into the shop work. Which wasn’t as easy as it sounded, as we still didn’t have power. But who needed power when there was work that you could do without it?
And, as the school was out because of the lights too, we even had the tiny little beings to use for manual labor. Don’t report me. They didn’t work all that hard at it.
We opened the curtains as wide as they would go, and the bright morning sun helped to provide light. I waffled on opening the shop but the truth was, I just wasn’t up to seeing people. Even being around family was tough right now. Especially ones like Kimberly, who kept giving me that look.
She knew something was wrong with me. Really, really wrong. But, Goddess love her, she wasn’t about to pry until I was ready to talk about it. I wasn’t sure that would ever come to pass.
The kids demanded a break about mid-morning, and I agreed. Looking at the main shop, I allowed myself a brief moment of pride. My shop is never all that dusty, but right now, it shined. And there was that wonderful, clean lemon scent in the air too. We’d have to do this joint-effort cleaning thing more often if it got results like this.
Almost made me want to throw open the shop just so people could see it at its best. Almost.
Unfortunately, the break did something besides just give us a chance to rest before tackling the upstairs. It gave me time to think again. That wasn’t a good thing right now. Not with the thoughts in my head.
I was reaching for my phone to do something I hadn’t done in over five years. I was going to cancel date night. Part of that was the fact that I just didn’t think I could bear to be alone with Orville right now. I’d agreed to give him seven days to clear up this whole murder and omen thing, but that didn’t mean we’d be spending a heck of a lot of time together while he tried to do that.
Personally, after that downed tree, I kind of thought it was a lost cause.
But I didn’t get a chance to make that call. The phone rang in my hand. My daughter, Ruby.
“Hey, Mom!” Her voice was bright and happy. Just what I needed. Maybe the Goddess hadn’t totally turned her back on me after all.
“Good morning, Ruby. How are things in your neck of the woods?”
“Pretty good, actually. Amie and I just brought in a fairly big bounty jumper, and we wanted to celebrate. So we’re inviting the whole family over for dinner tonight. Orville, Kimberly, and the kids too, of course. Amie and I are even cooking! What do you think about that?”
It all sounded good to me. Well, with the possible exception of including Orville. But if we all rode over together, there wouldn’t be a real chance for us to be alone, now would there? And it would keep me from having to break a long-running date night streak too. Not that the streak had much meaning right now with the possible end of it all in sight.
“Can I ask what the menu is?” I knew my daughter and my niece. To say they weren’t at home in the kitchen would be putting it mildly.
“Nope. We’re gonna surprise you. But don’t worry, we’re making more than one thing, so we’re covering our bases.”
“Okay,” I said slowly. Might be worth making a casserole to take along, just in case. “Can I bring anything to help?”
“Hm. Well, we wouldn’t say no to a nice bottle of wine to go with dinner.”
“White or red?”
She laughed. “Does it ever really matter?”
Well, no, not with us it didn’t. But I wasn’t so sure about the Minehearts. They were a whole lot fancier than us. But I’d pick up a bottle of each, just to be safe.
The phone was still in my hand, but it took me more than a minute to make the next call. Orville answered on the first ring.
“Hello, Opal.” He paused for a second. “I’ve been wanting to call you all morning...” His words trailed off.
“Oh? Is something up?”
“No. I was just that worried about you. You, well, you weren’t yourself last night. And for good reason too. I just needed to know that you were okay. You being the one to call me, though, means a lot. Thank you. Unless, of course...” He trailed off again.
“I’ll keep our bargain, Orville. I was calling about date night. There’s been a change of plans.”
Silence.
“Orville?”
“You’re canceling date night?” His voice was more than a little strained. The man was hurting. And all because of me. I didn’t like that.
“Not canceling so much as giving it a change in venue. The girls have invited the whole family over for a family dinner tonight. To celebrate a big bounty bust or something. We’re supposed to bring wine.” I paused. This next part was the part I’d have to sell. “I thought maybe we could all ride together?”
My car was old enough to still have bench seats in the front. It would be cramped, but we could do it.
“That only makes s
ense, doesn’t it? But can I be the one driving?”
“When have you ever gotten an argument from me on that?”
He chuckled. “I love you, Opal.”
I smiled at the phone even though my heart was still in the process of breaking apart. “I love you too, Orville. That will never change, you know.”
“To the moon and back again, Opal.” There were voices behind him. The station sounded busy. Not that it was ever really all that quiet. “What time should I pick you all up?”
“Dinner’s at six, so say around five? That way, if the girls need any last-minute help, I’ll be there to oblige.”
“See you at five.” He didn’t hang up like he normally did. “And I should warn you that I have a surprise for all of you.”
Then he hung up. Darn the man, anyway. He knew I wasn’t big on surprises.
THAT STUPID SURPRISE thing of his was a ploy. I just knew it. He was probably thinking it would give me something else to stew on besides the whole canceling the wedding thing. Not that he was wrong in that. It did.
The only thing that saved me from driving myself batty about it was the fact that he’d said it was a surprise for all of us. Not just me. That made a big difference. I didn’t mind nice surprises for my family so much. And if it was coming from Orville, it would be a nice one. Not a doubt in my mind about that.
Come to find out, it was a very nice surprise indeed. Thinking back to it, he’d kind of given me a hint with the whole ‘what time should I pick you all up’ question. I’d thought it was just a slip of the tongue as we’d be taking my car.
It wasn’t.
Orville pulled onto the drive at the farmhouse at five minutes till five in a van. We all piled out to give it the once over.
It wasn’t new, or anything like new. It had a few years on it, but it didn’t look bad and the engine had a nice, smooth sound to it.
He smiled over at Kimberly. “I got tired of waiting for Opal to upgrade and give you her car, so I decided to beat her to it. The van’s all yours, Kimberly. It’ll seat seven, so we can all go places together in one vehicle. Even invite Gray along, if you want to.”
Kimberly just blinked at him. It was obvious she didn’t know what to say. For once, neither did I. This was an awesome gift, with a lot of meaning behind it. The van said we were a family and were going to be sticking together.
So yeah, I was speechless too. My man had just upped the pressure, and he knew it too. He would not make this any easier on me than he had to. In fact, just the opposite. He was determined to change my mind.
Not that the van was bought with that in mind. Knowing Orville, he’d had the thing for weeks and was just waiting for the first time we needed it to let the cat out of the bag. Just the kind of thing he’d do.
He glanced at me. “I know I said I’d drive, but how about we let Kimberly test out her new wheels?”
I nodded. That was fine with me.
Kimberly walked around the van, making little sounds as she went. When she finally made it back to Orville, she threw her arms around him. “Thank you! I’ve been looking for a new vehicle, and this is perfect. But I’m going to pay you back for this, you know.”
“Nope. I won’t take one red cent. I got it at a steal from an online police auction. People on the force got first dibs, so I took them up on it.” He tapped the hood. “Low mileage, too, only used to run a little home-made moonshine across state lines every other weekend.”
“Moonshine? Oh, I love that!” She eyed the side of the van. “Would you mind if I had Gray take a crack at painting it? Maybe a full moon wolf scene or something?”
He laughed. “It’s yours, so go for it.”
Personally, I thought the wolf moon scene would be especially appropriate for their family vehicle. What with baby Pearl being a high-powered witch and Gray being a werewolf. But then, she didn’t know any of that yet. Not unless Gray had come out to her. And I was betting that he was waiting a bit to do that.
We grabbed our stuff from the house, switched baby Pearl’s car seat base over to the van, and headed out.
Chapter 13
I knew as soon as I walked into Amie’s house that this was an intervention of some sort. There was wedding stuff everywhere. I gave Orville an evil glare but he just shook his head and took a step back. He wasn’t claiming responsibility, and my man didn’t lie.
So this was all just rotten timing. And here I’d been looking forward to a night with the full family. Funny how it had never crossed my mind that the upcoming wedding would be the full focus of the evening.
Ruby gave me a big bear hug. “Sapphire told us how stressed-out you were about putting together the wedding, so we’re pitching in. Consider us your new wedding planners. I’ve already got a line on some beautiful silk flower bouquets, and I’ll start on the trellis archway and the flowers for that tomorrow.”
“And I’m in charge of photography and wedding invitations,” Amie said with a grin. “Both are kind of up my alley, you know.”
Sapphire (she and Archie had beat us there) grinned at me. “Unless I’m missing something, that just leaves me with doing the cake, and I think I’ve got a handle on that, too, by the way, and you with the dresses. It’s all coming together.”
I swallowed and nodded. It was all coming together, all right. Right up until the time when I pulled the plug.
Orville threw an arm around my shoulders and squeezed. Not that he had to worry. I’d given him my word on the seven-day thing. But the thought of putting my family through all of this for nothing... but then again, there would still be a wedding, wouldn’t there? Just a single instead of a double. The universe hadn’t seemed to take exception to the union of Sapphire and Archimedes.
Not that I held that against them. Not at all. I wished only the best for my sister. Her new husband, too. As much to my surprise, I found that I was growing rather fond of the man myself.
It’s just that I truly wished with all my heart that the universe had done the same for me and Orville. But no. Perhaps I was destined to be the crone of the coven forever. Who was I to try to change my destiny for personal happiness? At least, that’s what the universe seemed to be asking. A witch could take a hint.
The first part of the evening really put my acting skills to the test. I smiled and tried to join in on the wedding talk, as I knew they expected it of me. But my heart just wasn’t in it. How could it be? The only way I made it through was by pretending we were simply planning Sapphire’s wedding and keeping my own interest in it out of it.
Not that it worked, but I tried.
Amie, Goddess bless her, helped me tremendously mid-meal by changing the subject to the recent demise of Reverend Castle. Yes, technically it could be seen as still connected with the upcoming wedding, but at least it served to get everyone’s focus off the ceremony.
I’d take any port in a storm right now.
“So, how is the investigation coming?” she asked.
Orville shook his head. “It’s a nightmare. I went from having no suspects to having half the town having a reason to kill the man. Right now, I’m just trying to narrow down the top suspects. Come to find out, the reverend wasn’t the man I’d thought he was. Not by half.”
Amie nodded. “Yeah, that’s kind of what I’ve heard too.”
He raised an eyebrow at her. “Oh? You’ve been looking into the case too? Any insights come up that you’d like to share?”
“I hope me stepping in doesn’t upset you.” She paused. “But I kind of needed something to do, and I thought it might help out. But so far, all I’ve found out is that Reverend Castle didn’t deserve the title of Reverend. Which it sounds like you already knew.”
“Cheating on his wife, taking advantage of young women, and gambling. That’s what I’ve got so far. You find anything to add to that?”
“Unfortunately, no. That’s my list so far too. I’ll send you the names I’ve come up with, though, so you can compare notes. Most likely you have more on you
r list than I have on mine.” She took another bite, then chewed thoughtfully. “I don’t suppose I could get access to any security footage you might have?”
He shrugged. “You’re more than welcome to take a look, but there’s nothing there. My dispatcher had some time on her hands, so she took the initiative to contact area business with outside cameras. There were only two that covered the area of the church. And unfortunately, they only covered the front entrance. Nothing at all on camera within an hour of the time of death. Wind’s Crossing goes pretty quiet once the shops and stores close.”
“Believe me, I remember that.” She hesitated. “Still, I wouldn’t mind taking a look, if you don’t mind. I have some equipment that I can use to maybe see something she might have missed.”
“Knock yourself out. I’ll send the files over to you tomorrow.”
And then the talk went back to the wedding again. As in, who we were going to get to officiate the ceremony.
I just couldn’t catch a break.
AS HARD AS IT WAS, I survived. I think Orville had counted on driving us all home and then having me take him back to his house. But that wasn’t going to happen.
Besides, we went right by his place on the way to the farmhouse. Even he had to admit that it made no sense to have to double back to bring him home.
He turned to me as he got out of the van. “Thank you for tonight, Opal. I know in my heart that things are all going to work out.” He was being somewhat cryptic for good reason. We had an audience.
I swallowed and met his eyes. My vision was just a little blurry from the unshed tears. “We should know within a week, either way.”
Orville took a deep breath and nodded. We waited until he made it inside and then drove off. I think it surprised Kimberly I didn’t stay with him. Luckily, she didn’t question it.
Good woman.
We made quick work of putting the kids to bed. We’d come home to find the lights back on and everything in good shape. It was a close call, but we managed to save the food in our freezer and refrigerator. The bags of ice that Gray had dropped off that morning saved us.
Witch of a Bride (Witch Reborn, #3) Page 8
