Perfect.
“We’re taking a collection to pay for the funeral,” Tammy went on, nodding toward a jar that sat on the counter. It had the words “Grant Memorial Fund” on it in a cursive font, the words surrounded by hearts. Clearly, someone had put the graphic together on their home computer and printed it out on a color inkjet printer. “Poor things didn’t have much to their name, but the town wants to do right by them.”
“That’s very kind of you,” he said. He reached into his pocket and brought out his wallet, then dropped two twenty-dollar bills into the jar, where they lay on top of the collection of fives and ones that already rested there. Part of him wanted to contribute even more, but he pushed back on that impulse, knowing that doing so would attract too much attention.
Although he knew guilt was an unwieldy emotion at best, he was still troubled by what had happened to Lyssa Grant. He’d never intended to shoot her, only intimidate her and her daughter into cooperating with him.
The waitress’s eyes widened a bit. “No, that’s very kind of you, sir. Thank you so much.” She looked as though she wanted to tear up again, but managed to gather herself and add, “And what would you like for breakfast?”
He asked for a Denver omelet and a side of hash browns, and sipped his coffee as the waitress walked away to take the orders from an older couple who’d just sat down in a booth across from the counter. The coffee seemed to be easing his headache, or maybe it was simply that the news he’d just received had somewhat improved his outlook on life.
After all, no one was going to go out of their way to rescue a dead woman….
7
Jake pulled into the driveway of a small house on a quiet, tree-lined street of historic homes. Just looking at the place made me feel a bit better — it was painted off-white with dark red shutters, and had a small front porch and cheerful flowerbeds filled with pansies and snapdragons and Icelandic poppies in shades of red and orange and yellow.
Parked out in front was a new-looking slate-blue Jeep Renegade. Did everyone in the Wilcox clan drive shiny new cars?
My companion tilted his head toward the Jeep and said, “Looks like Laurel is still here. Come on — I’ll introduce you.”
Nervous butterflies fluttered in my stomach. It was one thing to be around Jake — after spending more than twenty-four hours in his company, I viewed him as almost familiar — but I didn’t know whether I was mentally ready to meet other members of this family I hadn’t even known I had.
I nodded and tried to tell myself that it could be worse. At least I was only meeting one person this time, rather than a large group of Wilcoxes. And Jake had said that Laurel worked with him on his witch-finding project, which meant she must have mentally prepared herself for the eventuality of long-lost relatives popping up out of the blue.
We got out of his truck, pausing only to collect my bags of purchases from where they sat on the back seat. The air outside was warm but definitely not hot, smelling of fresh-mown grass and a clean, spicy scent that might have come from the ponderosa pines that covered the mountainsides all around the town. A small breeze tugged at my loose hair, friendly, as if inviting me to come closer and explore.
Following Jake, I went up the porch steps. He paused at the front door and gave a single knock, then called out, “Hey, Laurel — it’s Jake and Addie. We’re coming in.”
Without waiting for a reply, he opened the door and stood aside so I could enter. The house didn’t look much bigger than the one my mother and I had rented in Kanab, but it was about a hundred times nicer. All the windows were open, letting in more of that delicious air, and filmy curtains billowed in the breeze. The walls were painted a cheerful butter yellow, and the floor and the window frames and the beams in the ceiling overhead were all the same rich dark oak, mellowed with time. Everything had been decorated in a sort of shabby chic cottage style, from the overstuffed couch and matching chair in a friendly teal and yellow print to the picture frames in various shades of rubbed seafoam green and yellow and white.
From down the hallway I heard footsteps, and a moment later, a girl around my own age appeared in the doorway. Like Jake…and myself…she had dark hair — I was starting to get the impression that most Wilcoxes were dark — but her eyes were an interesting warm hazel, almost amber as the light shining through the open windows caught in them and reflected the golden flecks within. And she was very pretty in a sort of fresh, unfussy way, like someone who would have been hired to model in skin care commercials. Looking at her, I felt the same little tingle I’d experienced when I first met Jake. Nerves, or something else?
“Addie, this is Laurel,” Jake said, and I raised a hand and gave a small wave, not sure whether this was the kind of situation that warranted a hug.
Laurel, however, didn’t seem to harbor those sorts of reservations, because she came forward and wrapped her arms around me, giving me a quick but enthusiastic embrace. “Hi, Addie,” she said. “It’s so exciting to meet a cousin I didn’t even know I had.”
“Same here,” I replied, even as I inwardly reflected that I wished the circumstances of our meeting had been a little different.
Something in my expression must have tipped her off that I didn’t exactly share her enthusiasm, because her smile faded a little and she said, “And I’m so sorry to hear about your mother. That’s not — I mean, we didn’t plan — ”
“It’s okay, Laurel,” Jake cut in. “We all know this wasn’t anything we wanted to have happen. Does Jeremy have any updated information on the situation?”
“Not really,” she said, looking subdued. I felt a little sorry for her; the last thing I’d wanted was to make her feel awkward. “But in a way, I suppose that’s good news. There’s no sign that you’ve been followed, or that anyone was able to tell which direction you went when you left Kanab.”
Thank God. Even though I’d dozed off a little on the drive to Flagstaff, I’d still been on edge, unsure whether I’d look over my shoulder at some point and see a cavalcade of black unmarked SUVs converging on Jake’s truck. If that was even what Agent Lenz would use to pursue us — I didn’t know what actual government agents did in situations like that, and was only going on what I’d seen on television or in the movies. Come to think of it, I hadn’t even seen a strange vehicle parked on my street in Kanab, so I didn’t know how Randall Lenz had gotten to the house. Maybe he’d popped up straight from Hell.
“Good,” Jake said. He looked over at me. “Want a little tour?”
“Sure.”
Laurel glanced at her cousin, as if trying to get a read on his current state of mind, but he looked pretty impassive to me. Then again, it wasn’t as if I knew him well. Someone who’d been around him his whole life might have been able to pick up a few tells that I’d overlooked. “I’ll get going, then. Jeremy wanted me to go by Best Buy and pick him up another spool of fiber-optic cable.”
“For what?” Jake asked. “I thought he had everything pretty well hooked up.”
She shrugged. “I’ve learned not to ask. But he’s always fiddling with something. Will you be coming in tomorrow?”
A pause, and then he said, “I’m not sure yet. It depends on when Addie and I are going to be meeting with Connor. I’ll let you know.”
For a second, she looked slightly confused, as though she wasn’t sure why it was necessary for me to meet the clan’s primus so soon after my arrival. But then her shoulders lifted again, and she said, “Okay. Have a good one, you two.”
She went over to pick up a black fringed purse that sat on the small round dining room table, then headed out. After she was gone, I looked over at Jake.
“You didn’t tell her about my father?”
“No,” he said. “Or Jeremy. I thought it was better that Connor learned about your father first. Right now, my brother and Laurel just think you’re a Wilcox cousin of some sort, and nothing more than that.”
I supposed he had a point. If it turned out that I had a half-sibling I did
n’t know about, I probably wouldn’t have been thrilled to have that person’s identity bandied around the family before I had a chance to learn such a piece of important information for myself. “Makes sense,” I replied. “Are you going to call him today?”
“Yes,” Jake said without hesitating. And though I wasn’t sure how much I looked forward to that meeting — after all, finding out your father had unprotected sex with a college girl half his age had to be awkward at best — I did appreciate the way Jake had answered my question so quickly. That meant he wasn’t trying to hide anything from me, wasn’t playing any games. Probably, the only reason he hadn’t called Connor already was that we’d been on the road the entire time and he didn’t want to have that conversation while he was driving. “But let’s get you settled first.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
After that, he showed me around the cottage. Not that there was all that much to see — it had two bedrooms and a bathroom, and a small but extremely modern kitchen with quartz counters and a subway-tile backsplash. Everything looked new and basically untouched, as if no one had actually lived there yet.
Which turned out to be the case. Oh, the house had had its share of inhabitants over the years, since Jake explained that it had been built in 1910, but he’d bought it some six months earlier and had spent the time ever since renovating the place. So, in a way, I would be the first person to live there in its new incarnation.
“This is just temporary, though,” he added hastily, as if not quite sure what to do about my silence as I followed him around the house. “Like I said, you’ll want to get your own place once we get all the money sorted out.”
I slanted a look up at him. “I thought you said I’d get some sort of stipend.”
“Oh, you will,” he reassured me. “I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about the money from your father’s estate. He was a very wealthy man. Damon and Connor inherited everything — ”
“Damon?” I cut in. I didn’t think I’d heard Jake mention that name before, although maybe he had and I’d just missed it.
For a second, he appeared very uncomfortable, gaze sliding away from mine. But then he looked back at me and said quietly, “Damon was Connor’s — and your — older brother. He died about seven years ago.”
More questions immediately rose in my mind. Had Damon met with some sort of accident, the way Jake’s fiancée Sarah had?
Something in his face was telling me not to ask. I didn’t know what had happened, but I could tell I needed to let it go for the moment. “Oh,” I said.
An awkward pause, and then Jake pulled in a breath and went on, “Connor’s been managing all of the money ever since then. But you’re entitled to some of it.”
“I don’t know,” I said, my tone dubious. Right then, I didn’t know whether trying to lay claim to an inheritance I hadn’t even known existed was the best course of action. I didn’t want to step on any toes. “It’s really not that big a deal. I’m sure I can manage just fine with the stipend.”
Jake leaned against the countertop and shook his head. “You’re Jackson Wilcox’s daughter. That’s kind of a big deal. And you’ll get your part of the inheritance. Connor’s a really honest guy — he’s not going to try to cheat you out of anything. Really.”
His eyes met mine, earnest, as if he needed me to acknowledge that I had nothing to worry about from this unknown half-brother of mine. And maybe I didn’t…but I also wished I could convince Jake that the stipend alone was far more money than I’d ever had in my entire life. It was becoming more and more obvious to me that the Wilcox clan operated in a sphere so different from my own, they might as well have been on another planet. Not just the whole witch thing, although that was hard enough for me to wrap my head around. No, it was clear that they had a lot of money, and were used to throwing that money around. Most likely, my thrift-store and coupon-clipping existence would be utterly alien to them.
Even the house we stood in — I didn’t know much about real estate, but I had to guess that even a small place like that had to have cost a couple hundred thousand, considering the neighborhood where it was located. Add in the cost of all those renovations, which couldn’t have been cheap, and it seemed to me that Jake must have sunk at least a quarter million in making sure it was ready for its first guest. But as far as I could tell, he didn’t see anything terribly strange about spending that kind of money for a place that might not even end up being used.
“Okay,” I said quietly. “I believe you. I just wanted you to know that I hadn’t even thought about any kind of inheritance. I mostly….” The words trailed away, and I crossed my arms, even though it was certainly warm enough in the house. “I mostly just want to meet my brother.”
Because once I knew Connor was real — and if I was able to see any kind of resemblance between the two of us — then maybe I’d start to feel more connected to this place, wouldn’t feel so adrift. I’d continue to mourn my mother, of course, but at the same time, I might begin to feel there was something I could hold on to.
“Of course,” Jake said. His tone was gentler, as if he understood why I was so focused on Connor. “And I’m going to call him soon. Are you okay to be by yourself here?”
Good question. The events of the day before would be seared into my brain until the day I died, but at the same time, I’d had Jake with me through all of it. Would I be able to manage once he left me alone, or was his presence the only thing preventing me from completely falling apart?
“Sure,” I replied, with a confidence I certainly didn’t feel. “You’re just two doors down, right?”
“Exactly. Here — I’ll show you.”
He led me back out to the front porch, then pointed up the street, in a direction I thought was north. “See that big green Victorian house? That’s mine.”
It was hard to miss. The cottage where we stood was probably the smallest house on the block, while Jake’s was definitely the biggest. It stood an imposing two and a half stories tall, and had a turret on the front and a massive stone front porch.
“All that house for just you?” I blurted, and the faint smile he’d been wearing disappeared.
“We bought it when we — well, when Sarah and I got engaged.”
With the intention of starting a family there, I supposed. Ouch. There was no way I could take back the words, and so I glanced away from him and murmured, “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” he said, although a certain tension to his jaw told me that no, it really wasn’t. “I suppose it does seem like kind of a big place for one person to be rattling around in. I’ve thought about selling it, but I just never got around to starting the process. Anyway,” he went on, making an obvious attempt to lighten his tone, “if you start to feel weird being here by yourself, just come on over. I’m only going to be making a few phone calls and making up to Taffy.”
“‘Taffy’?” I repeated, wondering if I’d heard him correctly.
“My dog,” he explained. “She’s probably got her nose out of joint about being abandoned for the past day, even though Jeremy went by and fed her and took her on her walks.”
For some reason, learning that Jake had a dog made me like him that much more. I’d always wanted one, but because my mother and I had moved around so much and so many rentals wouldn’t allow pets, that was a dream forever unfulfilled.
“Well, go take care of your dog,” I told him, realizing I was smiling as I spoke. “I’m just going to get settled here. If I need to, I’ll come by.”
“Sounds good.” He hesitated for a moment, as though unsure whether he should give me a hug, as Laurel had, or whether he should just leave. But then he seemed to decide on an awkward pat on the shoulder, because that was what he did, just before he headed down the porch steps and began walking toward the big Victorian he’d pointed out to me.
I stood on the porch for a minute after he disappeared into his house. Maybe that was simply because it felt good to stand there and feel t
he breeze play with my hair, or maybe it was because once I went back into the cottage and started to put my things away, I’d be agreeing to take this next step in my life.
Then again, what else could I do?
Frowning slightly, I went inside. Even though I was now alone, I didn’t feel strange about being in the cottage by myself. There was something so warm and friendly about the place — had Jake chosen all this furniture, or did Laurel help him? — that I knew it was going to be okay. Not good, because it was going to take me a while to get to that place, but okay was a start. Okay was better than where I’d been the day before.
Hanging up my two shirts and putting away my few toiletries in the bathroom took all of two minutes. I went back out to the living room and sat down on the couch, glad to feel how comfy and soft it was, as though someone had gone to the trouble of breaking it in. Or maybe that was just how it had been constructed. I wouldn’t know, since my mother and I had never owned a brand-new piece of furniture.
It was very quiet. I could tell this was the sort of street that didn’t get much traffic, except for the people who actually lived there. A bird sang in one of the trees outside, and I felt something tight and hard and painful within me begin to let go, as if someone had loosened an invisible knot.
Oh, it still hurt. I didn’t know how easily I’d ever be able to let go of that hurt, or whether I’d even want to. Not completely, anyway. I would never forget what Agent Lenz had done to my mother, how a single moment of recklessness had torn her from this world. At the same time, though, I also had to recognize that she wasn’t coming back, and that I needed to focus on making sure I made the most of this new chance at life I’d been given.
I felt safe there. Maybe I was being too confident in the abilities of the Wilcoxes to shield me from Agent Lenz and the organization he worked for, but was even a government agency any match for hundreds of witches and warlocks?
That probably depended on what their individual talents happened to be. All the same, the mere fact that this new family of mine had lived in this place for more than a hundred years, growing and prospering and yet still managing to keep their true natures hidden, spoke to their resourcefulness. Jake’s actions alone had already showed me a little of what they were capable of.
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