by Raven Snow
“We just thought it might be good to sit down and have a talk with you,” Aunt Nadine clarified. “How you feel about something is how you feel about something. There’s no right or wrong way to feel.”
Rowen felt the corner of her mouth twitch. She smiled as she looked down at her tea. It felt nice to have her feelings validated even slightly. Lately, she had felt so uncertain of herself. She was second guessing everything.
Aunt Lydia continued. “We love you like you’re our own. You know that. We just… We love your mother too, of course.”
Aunt Nadine nodded. “She was the baby growing up. We might have spoiled her just a bit,” she admitted. “You know, Grammy wasn’t around all that much when she was a girl.”
Aunt Lydia leaned back against the back of the love seat, having prepared herself her own mug of tea. “Our whole family has always been unlucky in love,” she said. “Grammy went through a phase after your grandfather died. She wanted to get out of the house and see the world a bit, I suppose.”
That did sound like Grammy. Not the being away from her family part, but the wanting to see the world. She had always been rather adventurous. “She told me about some of that,” said Rowen, thinking back to Grammy’s stories of other countries and the sort of witchcraft they practiced there. “Did she ever take you guys along with her?”
“I went a couple of times,” said Aunt Nadine, her mouth quirking into a small smile at the memory. “It was a lot of fun, but… I don’t know. I feel guilty about it now, I suppose.”
“I stayed here to take care of your mother and look after the house,” said Aunt Lydia. “I was on my last year of high school. Your mother was, oh, eleven, I think?”
Aunt Nadine nodded. “That sounds about right.”
“Did you mind?” asked Rowen, feeling a bit nervous about what she was meant to take away from this story.
“Not terribly,” said Lydia. “I was mad at the time, of course. I had grand plans about where my life was supposed to be headed after high school. I wanted to go out with my friends. I at least wanted to be able to travel the world.” She looked at Nadine when she said that.
Nadine gave a start and looked determinedly back down into her cup with a muttered apology.
Aunt Lydia sighed and went on. “It all worked out for the best, I suppose. I never really fell in love with this house until I was left in charge of it. The town, our family history, all of it. It was a… a coming of age for me.”
“Did you ever tell Grammy you wanted her home more?” asked Rowen.
“Of course,” said Lydia. “Are you kidding? Whenever I talked to her, I never let her hear the end of it.”
“And she ignored you?” Rowen took a sip of her tea.
“She had her reasons,” said Lydia. “I’m not excusing her, but she did have her very own well thought out reason for every choice she made. It all made sense in her own mind, I suppose.”
“Is this supposed to make me pity my mother?” Rowen asked, wary. If anything, this was making her pity Lydia a bit. She also found herself thinking a little less of her Grammy - more so now than finding out that she was an adulteress or a murderer. For some reason, it hit her harder to know that her Grammy had ever betrayed the family.
“Oh, no,” said Lydia, her serious exterior melting away to one of relative nonchalance. “I got over it. Later in life, Grammy apologized plenty. We all do things we regret. Considering all she’s done for me since, I’m not going to hold a grudge over it.”
“We’re not saying that you should forgive your mother,” Aunt Nadine added, quickly.
“Oh, no,” Lydia agreed.
“What Lydia is trying to get across is that your mother is only human. She didn’t leave you because she didn’t love you enough.”
“At least, I don’t think she did…” Lydia muttered.
Nadine elbowed Lydia in the ribs. “She loves you,” Nadine said, blankly. “But, maybe she learned some bad habits from our mother and, maybe, she’s just deeply, deeply flawed.”
Aunt Lydia nodded. “You don’t have to forgive her for what she’s done in the past. Just… keep an open mind about having a future together, okay? For us? Maybe she’ll leave again soon, but maybe she won’t. If she doesn’t, well, it would be awfully nice to have the whole family together again.” Aunt Lydia’s smile became sad. Her thoughts had likely turned to Grammy.
Rowen nodded. She took another sip from her mug. “I appreciate that,” she said. “Really.” She wasn’t going to bet on her mother sticking around for any extended period of time, though. “I just wish she would stop running off with these guys she doesn’t plan on even staying with, you know? She believes in all that business about the Greensmith girls never being able to carry on relationships that last.”
“We don’t,” interjected Aunt Lydia. Hastily, albeit a bit lamely, she added, “Oh, but your relationship with Eric is going great. Just great. You two look like you’ll last.”
Rowen rolled her eyes. She wasn’t fooled. She knew her whole family didn’t really believe that she and Eric stood a chance. “No,” she said. “You’re probably right. We just got into a fight today, actually.”
“Oooh,” said Nadine. “That’s why he’s spending the night out in that horrible trailer. I was beginning to wonder.” Like Lydia, Nadine quickly realized she had said something wrong. “Not horrible. It’s just fine for your first home together. It’s… cute.”
Rowen let that slide and recounted why he was angry with her instead. Her aunts listened intently, Lydia nodding knowingly every so often. “I don’t know,” she said, finally. “Maybe I should apologize. It’s not like he’s being all that unreasonable or anything.
Lydia began to say something, but Nadine cut her off. “We’re the last people who should be giving you advice about this sort of thing. Whatever you do, we’ll be here for you. Just know that. It doesn’t matter what you decide.”
“Thanks.” Rowen placed her empty tea mug on the table. She stood and leaned forward to hug the both of them. “I mean that. Thank you.”
“Any time, dear,” said Aunt Lydia, hugging her back.
“Don’t mention it,” said Aunt Nadine.
Out of the corner of her eye, Rowen spotted her mother coming back in from the herb garden. Tiffany lingered near the entrance to the den. For a moment, Rowen thought she was going to come in. She didn’t.
Chapter Nine
A phone call from Ben was what woke Rowen up. “Eric,” she groaned. “Eric, can you hand me my phone?” The nightstand was usually on his side of the bed.
Of course, Eric didn’t respond. He was still in the trailer while Rowen was back in her attic bedroom. It took a couple more rings for her to realize that. When she did, she groped for the phone and nearly knocked it right onto the floor.
“Hello?” she managed after finding it.
“Did I wake you up?” asked Ben.
Ben’s voice woke Rowen up a bit. She sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes with one hand. “Yeah, but it’s fine. What’s up?”
“I was just seeing if you were free today,” said Ben, getting right to the point while still being vague.
“Sure.” Rowen wasn’t free, but she imagined any news Ben had for her might as well be work. Julia Martinez would certainly kill for the sort of relationship she had with the Lainswich Police Department. Most of them might hate her over there, but she still got most of the breaking news first. “What do you need?”
“I want you to come down to the hospital and have a word with Roland Davies, if you don’t mind,” said Ben.
“Yeah.” Rowen swung her legs over the side of the bed and got up in search for clothes. She might as well get started now. There would be plenty that needed to be taken care of today. Besides, she wanted to swing over by the trailer before she got going today. She needed to have a word with Eric. “I’m not sure what you want me to do, though. That guy hates me.”
“He might,” Ben agreed. “But you also saved his life. He�
��s a jerk, but he’s not without… I don’t know…some certain code of honor.”
That sounded about right to Rowen. Roland had always struck her as the proud sort. It seemed likely that he would be loathe to give her a hard time for awhile. “I can meet you up there, I guess.” She wasn’t sure how much he would know. What would he give to her that he couldn’t give to the police? Of course, if they thought it would help… Well, she was willing to help. Besides, it seemed more than likely that she would, at the very least, get a good story out of this. “Just tell me when, all right?”
“Could you be here in, maybe, an hour?” he asked. “I know it’s short notice, but-”
“It’s fine,” Rowen assured him, cutting in. “I’ll be down there in a bit.”
“I appreciate it,” said Ben. “I’ll see you when you get here.”
“See ya.” Rowen hung up and headed downstairs. The rest of the house was already awake. They were all milling about the house on their own little morning routines. Her cousins would be getting ready for a day at the office. Her aunts would be getting ready for whatever they were doing with their day. They always had plans. Tiffany would likely go with them.
Rowen stopped in the bathroom. She put her hair up in a messy bun. She put on a quick layer of powder. There wasn’t enough time for a full face of makeup - not if she wanted to talk to Eric. Still, Rowen wanted to look her best. She primped for about ten minutes before heading out.
It was a nice day. The sun was out. Birds were singing. The day was a warm one. Rowen passed by Margo on her way to the trailer which made her do something of a double take. It wasn’t often that she happened upon that particular cousin outside enjoying nature.
“Good morning,” said Margo. She was seated at the base of a tree, an apple in hand. She took a bite out of it. From the look of it, she was already dressed and ready to go for the day. Her hair was even curled.
“What are you doing out here?” Rowen asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I’ve been up for awhile,” said Margo. “They released Terry. I picked him up first thing this morning and took him back to his place.”
“Seriously?” Rowen was more surprised to hear that Margo had taken the time to go pick Terry up and take him home than she was to hear he had gotten released.
“Yep. I was the first person he called,” she said with a sigh. “You know he had that falling out with his folks after he married me. Apparently, that’s ongoing. He didn’t want them to know about this. Though, I’m sure they have heard already. Lainswich is a small place. Heck, we wrote about it in the paper.”
“And how did David take that?” she asked.
Margo made a face and took a big bite of apple, delaying actually answering the question. “Not well,” she said, finally. “He left with Eric about thirty minutes ago.
Rowen’s heart felt like it had leapt into her throat. “Eric left?” she repeated. “Where were they going?”
Margo shrugged. “Eric said he was going to look into something,” she said. “David just tagged along. He wanted some time alone. Which is fair, I guess. I suppose I wouldn’t like it if he ran off to pick up an ex-girlfriend from prison.”
“That’s surprisingly levelheaded of you.” Rowen sighed and pulled out her new cell phone. Maybe she could learn a thing or two from her cousin. Maybe she should just leave Eric alone for awhile and let him clear his head.
The phone went straight to Eric’s voicemail. Rowen swore then tried again. The same thing happened a second time.
This time, Rowen left a message. “Hey, Eric. It’s Rowen… Obviously. Apparently, you already headed out. Let me know what you’re up to, okay? I’m headed to the hospital to have a word with Roland Davies. The police asked me to be there, so… yeah. Call me back when you get a chance… I love you.” Rowen hung up the phone.
“You’re going to talk to Roland?” Margo asked.
Rowen nodded. “Ben called me just a little while ago. I said I’d be up there soon.”
“Care if I tag along?” asked Margo. “I need a distraction. Plus, I don’t want to moderate the blog. I’m sick of… you know.”
“Actually working?”
“Yeah, that.” Margo tossed her apple core into the grass. “You should tell Rose we’re going. She’ll definitely want to tag along.”
Rowen was skeptical of that. “The last time she came with me to visit Davies, things got a little more exciting than I think she was prepared for.”
“This is a hospital, though,” Rowen pointed out. “I doubt she’s going to get attacked by a serial killer at the hospital. And I think you underestimate just how much she dislikes Roland Davies.”
That was a fair point. There was no point in heading on to the trailer now anyway. Rowen sighed and motioned for Margo to follow her back to the house.
It turned out that Margo was right. Rose wanted to tag along. She still seemed a little shaken from the day before, but mention of visiting Davies pulled her right out of that funk. She said it was because she wanted to get a good story out of it. Rowen had her doubts, though. She was pretty sure it was just because Rose wanted to see a man she disliked as much as Roland suffering.
The local hospital wasn’t far. Ben was waiting for them in the lobby. He made a point to smile when he saw Margo and Rose. “I didn’t expect the two of you,” he said. “Happy to have you both here. I was thinking about asking you if you wanted to come,” he added to Rose. “You played a part in saving his life too, after all.”
Rose looked away, unable to keep a smile from her face. “I didn’t do that much,” she assured him, though it was obvious to anyone watching that she was flattered. “I’m happy to help if I can, though.”
Ben led them all upstairs. Roland was on the third floor with a room to himself. The hospital was seldom very busy.
“I said I didn’t want to talk,” said Roland, when he glanced up and saw Ben. “I’ve told you all that needs to be said. Let me get some sleep, will ya?” It didn’t even look like Roland had been trying to sleep. No, he seemed to be staring quite intently out the window.
“I’m here with guests,” said Ben. “I thought you might want to thank these girls in person.”
Roland looked up at that. He saw the Greensmith girls assembled before him and his perpetual scowl deepened. “Come here to finish me off?” he asked.
Rowen rolled her eyes at that. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she said. “If I wanted you dead, I wouldn’t have chased after your attacker.”
Roland made a face at that but said nothing. He looked all right to her. He had a black eye and some bruising around his throat, but Rowen couldn’t see why they had made a point to keep him here. “Thanks,” he muttered.
“What was that?” asked Rose, earning a frown from Rowen. She was really pushing it. Rowen knew she had heard him.
“I said thank you,” snapped Roland. “You likely saved my life back there, and I appreciate that. You might be a bunch of witches, but you did me a good turn.”
“You’re welcome,” said Margo, even though she hadn’t been there.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Roland added quickly. “You’re still a bunch of sinners, and you’re going to burn for it.”
Rowen sighed. Of course, he had to ruin it at the end there. “Why won’t you answer the chief here’s questions?” Rowen asked, motioning to Ben and getting to the point. “Don’t you want the man who attacked you to be stopped before he does this to someone else?”
Roland looked from Rowen to Ben then back again. “I told him all I know,” he said, but the way he said it made it sound like an obvious lie. He couldn’t look her in the eye when he said that. He just glanced back out the window.
Rowen looked at Ben. She lowered her voice. “Will you give us a minute alone?” she asked.
“Of course.” Ben nodded to Margo. “Do you want to come wait out in the hall with me?”
Margo scoffed at that. “Why on Earth would I?”
“Because you weren’t ev
en there,” Ben said, as if that should be obvious.
Margo made an annoyed tsking sort of sound, but she followed him out into the hall - albeit reluctantly. The door closed behind them, and Rowen and Rose were left alone with a fellow neither of them much liked. Rowen pulled up a chair.
Roland eyed Rowan and her chair. “I’m not sure why you’re getting comfortable. I don’t have anything to tell you either.”
Rose hadn’t bothered grabbing a chair. She remained standing, arms crossed over her chest. “Will you tell us what you told Ben?” she asked, beating Rowen to the first question she was going to ask. Rose was already planning out their next article, it seemed.
