by Raven Snow
Rowen sighed. She looked from Ben back to Eric. “You mind starting off?” she asked Eric. “I need to have a word with my mother real quick.”
Eric nodded. He leaned in and pressed a kiss to her forehead before she walked off back toward her mother. Tiffany still looked quite out of sorts.
“Are you all right?” asked Rowen, coming up beside her mother. She shoved her hands into her pockets a bit awkwardly, not sure what she should do.
Tiffany stared at her daughter for a moment. She looked so lost. Finally, she nodded. “I suppose so. Yes.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe Dakota would do something like this. He really killed both those people?”
Rowen nodded. “It certainly seems that way,” she said. “How did you know to come here when you did?”
“I just had a feeling,” said Tiffany. “Us Greensmith mothers always do. We know when one of our own is in trouble.”
Rowen glanced back to the ambulance pulling up. It was likely for Peony. “Nadine and Lydia didn’t get that feeling, too?” she asked, noting their absence.
Tiffany went a little pale. “I took the car without asking,” she admitted. “They are going to be so mad at me.”
“Probably,” Rowen said, knowing already that Aunt Lydia was going to make an absolutely huge deal out of all of this. “You saved my life, though. You probably saved several lives.”
Tiffany shook her head, not looking very comfortable with the praise. “I didn’t even know you guys were really in danger. I certainly didn’t know he had a gun.”
“But once you did you made a point to get me out of harm’s way,” Rowen pointed out. She was willing to give her mother a little more credit than she was giving herself. “I have to go talk to the police now, but… Thank you. You really came through for me today, I… ah…”
Tiffany took a deep breath. She smiled. “Don’t thank me. You’re important to me. Making sure you were safe was what I had to do.”
That was nice to hear. Rowen wasn’t sure what to say to it. “Why did you ever date a guy like Dakota?” she asked instead.
Tiffany spread her hands in a helpless gesture. “I couldn’t rightly tell you,” she admitted. “I’ve never had the best taste in men. You know that. You know our family’s luck with men.” Her eyes strayed to Eric talking to the police. “You seem to be doing all right for yourself, though.”
Rowen looked back at her boyfriend and felt a sudden swell of fondness for him. “Yeah,” she said. I think so too.”
Chapter Fourteen
The town of Lainswich did not run the Greensmiths out of town. Rowen had been fairly certain they had every reason in the world to. There wasn’t exactly any legal precedent for it, but it seemed fair.
The Greensmiths brought nothing but trouble to Lainswich. Ghosts, murderous ex-boyfriends, witchcraft. There wasn’t a very compelling case for keeping them around to be made. Rowen had braced herself for the fallout of Dakota’s arrest.
If anything, the townsfolk were furious at Edward. A staple of the community had betrayed their trust. He wasn’t going to get off too easily from that one. They almost seemed more angry with him than they were with Dakota. At least there was some consensus that Dakota was disturbed and needed help. Edward had no excuse.
So, the town hadn’t turned on the Greensmiths. Instead, letters of support poured into the Lainswich Inquirer’s inbox. Peony wasn’t in the hospital for long but, while she was, there were plenty of flowers and visitors. Apparently, Tina really did know a lot of people. She told anyone who would listen about how Peony had saved her life without a second thought, and a lot of people did listen.
Even Roland had seemed impressed. He had swung by to check on Peony. He was released shortly after she was. He swung by the Lainswich Inquirer again, but it was only to offer Rose his old signs and an apology.
“He said Dakota was right. He was being a hypocrite. He said we were better people than he gave us credit for,” Rose told them all over dinner one night. With her reason to hate the man taken away, it was quickly replaced by sympathy. “Poor guy. He’s so lonely, and now the whole town is talking about how he had that affair. I know apologizing doesn’t excuse him, but… We should invite him over for dinner some time or something. No friends or family. That seems rough.”
The Greensmith’s had friends and family in abundance now. With Tiffany around, their family was bigger than ever. She still didn’t seem to know how long she was staying. Rowen couldn’t help but hope it was for awhile. She knew her mother loved her now. She had always hoped she did, but now she knew. Her mother would sooner die than have any harm befall her. It was a good feeling knowing someone loved you so thoroughly. Things were still awkward between them, but maybe that could be fixed.
Margo’s love for David wasn’t quite so unconditional. Those two seemed to be bickering constantly lately. David had had just about enough of Lainswich. He was moving back to the city and wanted Margo to come with him. Of course, she had no intention of leaving Lainswich. She seemed offended he would even ask that of her.
Rowen wasn’t sure how that whole thing was going to play out. At the moment, they seemed to be in a perpetual cycle of fighting and making up. They would argue well into the night about this and that. They would shout it out and then lapse into sudden silence as they made up. The making up part was even more awkward to overhear.
The house was so overcrowded and noisy, Rowen and Eric should have been looking for a house even harder now. Instead, they were busy trying to negotiate a king-sized bed up the narrow attic stairs.
“Watch it, watch it, watch it,” Rowen warned, trying to angle her end of the mattress up a landing.
“Watch what?” Eric snapped, impossible to see behind his end of the load. “You’re going to have to give me better instructions than that.”
“It’s just a general warning to be careful,” Rowen muttered.
“Because I wasn’t being careful already,” Eric grumbled right back at her before going back to the furniture moving.
The trailer had been nice, but who was Rowen kidding? They spent more time in the Greensmith house anyway. Living out in that trailer was just a waste… Which wasn’t to say that they wouldn’t get their own place eventually. Maybe when they knew each other a little better. Maybe when they were completely comfortable with the good and the bad of each other’s personalities. Maybe then it would work out and they could go in on a home together.
In the meantime, Rowen couldn’t think of any place she would rather be. Besides, Eric would have to go back to work soon. The months he had taken off were almost up. To think that Rowen would be content living on her own during that time was a lie. She had grown far too used to having a large family on hand at all times.
Rowen and Eric dropped the mattress onto the bare floor the moment they managed to squeeze it through the door. Breathless, they flopped down on it together. “I’m shocked this thing even fit,” sighed Eric.
Rowen smiled. She reached out and took his hand in her own. She stared up at the attic ceiling and imagined them waking up like this for the foreseeable future. It seemed nice, too nice almost. It was like this whole house had a spell over it. Things were good. They were weird but good. Rowen couldn’t imagine that they could get much better. She leaned over and pressed a kiss to Eric’s mouth. “Life is good,” she said.
Eric didn’t answer her. In response, he simply leaned over and kissed her back. That meant quite a bit. It also meant that they didn’t get the rest of the moving done that night, but that was all right.
Authors Note
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Books by Raven Snow
Harper "Foxxy" Beck Series
1) Roller Rink Witchcraft Kindle Edition / Paperback Edition
2) Shake Your Green Thing Kindle Edition / Paperback Edition
3) A Murder Most Rosy Kindle Edition / Paperback Edition
4) Felonies and Felines Kindle Edition / Paperback Edition
Lainswich Witches Series
1) Greensmith Girls Kindle Edition / Paperback Edition
2) Hexes and Exes Kindle Edition / Paperback Edition
3) Murders and Mothers Kindle Edition / Paperback Edition
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