by Raven Snow
Everyone from Lichen Hallow looked at one another again. Some murmuring started. Rowen didn’t rush them to supply her with a response. This was a tough thing to think about.
“I did it,” said one of them, faster than Rowen had imagined. “It was just me,” Orville continued.
Some of the folks complained about that. They were silenced quickly enough by Brenna making a silencing hand motion. “Are you sure about this?” she asked Orville.
Orville shrugged. “Well, technically, it was me. The rest of you just helped out after the fact. This is all my fault, and it’s not fair of you to go down because of it.” The way Orville put emphasis on every word, not letting anyone object, made Rowen wonder about the validity of what he was saying. Had he really killed Timothy Lucas all on his own? Somehow, Rowen doubted that. She didn’t doubt that he had been partially involved, but it seemed to her the murder had been planned between multiple people beforehand.
“I can’t promise anything, but I can tell the Chief of Police that that’s my theory,” said Rowen. She nodded to Orville. “That you’re the one responsible for the murder. You can say whatever you want from there, I guess. You can claim it was an accident, something you did out of passion maybe.”
“I did it because I hated the guy. He deserved to die,” Orville said, bluntly. “I planned it for a while.”
“Well, you can tell him that instead,” said Rowen. “It isn’t any of my business. I… kind of agree with you. The more I look into this, the more it seems to me that your actions were warranted.”
“Do all of your little friends think that?” asked Orville, looking at the mouth of the pier. Willow and Peony had joined Rose and Reginald. “Seems like they could tell everyone what went down here pretty easily.
“We’ll follow Rowen’s lead,” Rose assured them.
Reginald shrugged when he realized eyes were on him. “I don’t fully know what’s going on here, but I’ll trust Rowen’s judgment on it.”
“I wish there was some better way I could reassure you, but that’s about the best I can offer,” said Rowen.
“And Edith?” asked Orville.
“What about her?” Rowen asked right back. “I’m sure she’ll be fine. It looks to me like she has plenty of people who care about her right here.” Orville looked at the people gathered around him. After a moment, he nodded. “Can you give me a head start on all of this?” he asked. “I’d like to have a word with my sister and my mother.”
Rowen nodded. “Yeah, of course. I’ll call tomorrow night.”
Orville nodded. With that, he and those with him walked back off the pier and through the trees. It was only once they were gone that Rose, Peony, Willow, and Reginald all rushed to her side. “Well, that was exciting,” said Peony.
“That was horrific!” Reginald exclaimed, looking soaked and shaken. It was difficult to tell whether he was cold or frightened. Maybe it was a bit of both. “Do you do this kind of thing all the time?!”
“Kind of,” said Willow.
Rowen ignored his question. She had an important one all her own. “What are you doing here?”
“You called us,” said Reginald.
“Yeah, I called you to see if you could bail Eric out of jail. I figured you’d wire the money or something, not rush out here and get directly involved.”
“We were already on our way back,” said Reginald. “It was a surprise for your aunts.”
“Aww,” said Peony. That’s sweet.”
“You told us to pass on a message to Eric that he was supposed to come right here. Well, I came here first thing after landing, and Peter went to retrieve Eric. They should be getting here any moment, actually.”
Rowen shook her head, baffled by how all of this had turned out. “So… You jumped into the water and saved me, I take it?”
Reginald flashed a smile at Rose. “It was a team effort, but yeah.”
“I appreciate it,” said Rowen.
“What was I supposed to do, let you drown?” Reginald reached out and gave Rowen a pat on the back. It was about then that two people burst through the woods. Peter and Eric stood there, both of them looking very out of breath.
Eric looked around wildly. After spotting Rowen, he rushed to her side. “There you are,” he gasped. “Peter here said that you were in trouble.”
“We were,” said Rowen. “But we’re out of it now.”
“Why are you soaked?” asked Eric, reaching out and touching the collar of her shirt. He looked around, no doubt noticing that Reginald and Rose were soaked as well.
“Nearly drowned again.”
“What?” Eric looked her over more thoroughly, as if there might be some physical sign that she had nearly drowned. “Did someone push you in?”
“Of course someone pushed me in. What? Do you think I waded in there on my own?”
“Who did it?” Eric demanded.
“Orville, but he and his friends are on their way back home. He said he didn’t mean to do it, but between nearly drowning and the bloody nose, I’m starting to wonder.”
“So you did invite Orville and the rest of Lichen Hallow down here!” Eric shook his head like he couldn’t believe it. “What were you thinking?! Why didn’t you wait for me?”
“Leaving Orville out was sort of the goal, actually,” Rowen said with a sigh. “I should have known the town would come together and help him out. That’s what they do.”
“So, I was right?” The concern slipped from Eric’s face for a few seconds there. “It was the whole town that carried out the murder?”
“It was certainly something like that. At the very least, the bulk of the town knew about it. Orville has decided he’ll go down for the crime. If it’s okay with everyone here, I’m going to let him… Well, I’ll help him to the best of my abilities.”
“I don’t really care,” said Willow, while Peony just shrugged.
“I’ll respect your wishes,” Reginald said with a shrug as well. Peter did the same. Neither man seemed to have much stock in any of this.
Eyes turned to Eric. He sighed but nodded. “Timothy Lucas was a bad person. I don’t think anyone deserves to be killed, but I don’t think more than one person really needs to go down for it.”
“I guess,” Rose agreed. “They were trying to save Edith. If someone like that was hurting one of you, I might do the same.”
Rowen exhaled, slowly. A definite weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. She hadn’t been able to predict how everyone might react. “All right, well, let’s go home and dry off.” She nodded to Reginald and Peter. “I’m sure Lydia and Nadine will be excited to see the two of you.”
Epilogue
The news was playing in the courthouse waiting room. Rowen knew she should probably be off helping her cousins, but she couldn’t take her eyes off it. Peony, especially, resented her for not coming to help. God knew the poor girl deserved a break. She had been dealing with Lydia and Nadine for weeks now. Rowen and Eric had long since moved back into their now wasp-free home. That left Peony all alone.
And yet Rowen still couldn’t take her eyes off of the television. Julia Martinez was talking about the murder of Timothy Lucas. Orville had supplied the police with a complete confession. After looking into it, the facts checked out. Things were going well. Rowen had been willing all of this to go smoothly, but magic didn’t always work out the way you wanted it to. Regardless, she was glad that it didn’t look like the entirety of Lichen Hallow was under suspicion. As much as those people hated her, she knew what it was like to be close to others, to be willing to do absolutely anything for them… Well, anything but help them fuss over Aunt Lydia’s dress at the last minute.
“Do they know it’s our turn?” asked Reginald, standing there in his typical business casual. His hands were shoved in his pockets and he kept rocking back on his heels, impatient.
“I’m not sure it matters to her,” Rowen said with a shrug. “She’ll be ready when she’s ready and no sooner.”
>
Reginald groaned, paperwork in hand. It wasn’t quite their turn yet, but they came next. No one could seem to calm him down with everything cutting it this close to the wire.
Suddenly, Peony came around the corner looking absolutely exhausted. “Close your eyes,” she told Reginald.
Reginald raised an eyebrow at that. “Why should I close my eyes? This is a courthouse wedding. It’s not like-”
“Close your eyes!” Aunt Lydia shouted from around the corner.
Reginald did as he was told. Peony squinted in his direction for a few seconds, trying to determine if he was doing what she had told him to or not. “All right. His eyes are closed.”
Rose, Willow, Nadine, and Margo all came around the corner. Lydia brought up the rear. The dress she had gone with was that white nightmare with all the chiffon. The only thing she had added to it was a faux fur stole. She came to a stop in the center of the room, looking not unlike a polar bear attending its high school prom.
Rowen smiled and went to her. “You look gorgeous,” she said, quietly, leaning in and giving her aunt a hug.
“She does, doesn’t she?” Rose was beaming. “See? I told you that you looked gorgeous, Mom.”
“Flatterers,” said Lydia with a wave of her hand. Of course, she was smiling the whole time and hadn’t told them to stop. “Well, it’s our turn, right? Should we just go in?”
“Not quite yet,” said Rowen. “You’re next, though. It shouldn’t be long now.”
“Can I open my eyes yet?” asked Reginald with a sigh.
“Not yet!” Aunt Lydia snapped. “Really, what would be the point in opening your eyes now if you were only going to see me before the wedding anyway? It’s bad luck!”
“Marrying a Greensmith is bad luck,” muttered Willow.
“Marrying anyone you’ve known for less than three months is bad luck,” added Margo.
Rose gave them both a smack on the arm, even though Rowen was sure she agreed that the wedding was too soon. Rowen had to agree on both counts. Sure, it was too soon, but Eric was right. They were adults, and they were going to do what they were going to do. Let them enjoy it. If it didn’t work, then Rowen and all the rest of the family would be there for them. That’s what the people who love you were supposed to do.
“There’s still some paperwork to fill out,” said Reginald, shaking the papers out in front of himself blindly.
Eric caught them and brought them to Lydia. “Do you need a pen?” he asked, providing one.
“Oh, this is so exciting.” Aunt Lydia gave an excitable little hop. “Another Greensmith. Our numbers are really growing around here.”
“Greensmiths?” asked Peter. “You’re changing your names, aren’t you?”
“What?” asked Nadine.
“Of course we aren’t,” said Lydia, her pen hovering above the papers that had been handed to her. “What, did you think we were going to be Lydia and Nadine Powers? No, we’re keeping our last names. If anyone is changing their names, it’s you guys.”
“Wait, wait.” Reginald was having a hard time talking to everyone with his eyes covered. He kept scanning the room, not sure when he was actually facing someone. “We didn’t talk about this,” he pointed out.
“I thought it was obvious,” said Lydia.
“Well, we can’t change our names,” said Peter.
“Well, I don’t see why you just thought we would,” countered Reginald.
“Eric here did,” said Lydia.
Eric threw his hands up in the air. “Hey, don’t bring me into this.”
“Maybe you can hyphenate,” offered Peony. Everyone turned on her glaring. Even Reginald had dropped his hands from his eyes to do so.
“Oh… Oh, Lydia. You look positively stunning,” said Reginald.
“You weren’t supposed to see me!” Lydia complained as Reginald began to quickly cover his eyes again. “Well, there’s no point in covering them back up now; you’ve already looked.”
Reginald dropped his hands. “You look breathtaking,” he said again.
That got a smile from Lydia. It went away fairly quickly, though. “Now what is this about you not changing your name? A Greensmith doesn’t change their name, you know? It’s even worse luck than marrying a fella.”
“Next,” called a woman from the doorway.
Everyone stood and headed down the hall. “Come on,” said Rowen when she noticed her aunt lagging behind. Come on,” she said, trying to give her most reassuring smile. “Worst case scenario, it goes poorly and you can warn Nadine away from the other brother.” Actually, worst case scenario, both men were killed in some freak accident related to marrying a Greensmith girl. Rowen left that part out.
Aunt Lydia smiled at her niece. “What would I do without all of you?” she asked.
“Don’t you remember what you said?” Rowen asked with a smile. “Our numbers are growing all the time. At this rate, you’ll never have to find out.”
*The End*
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