A Charming Spell (Magical Cures Mystery Series) (17 page)

“So,” Oscar held Gandolf’s cuffs with one hand and gestured between all of us. “This spiritualist thing is real?”

Chapter Thirty

It didn’t seem like it was only two weeks ago that the entire fate of Whispering Falls was on the verge of being non-existent, or the fact that Oscar Park didn’t know the real me, but fourteen days can seem like a long time when everything was falling into place – well, almost everything.

“I told you that you needed to find a new man.” Madame Torres was still going on and on about the Make-Me-A-Match profile she had made unbeknownst to me. Even from the bottom of my bag she was still loud. “It worked for her.”

“Just ignore her,” I told Ophelia as I blew Madame Torres off while I was waiting for the book club to start.

I had reserved a spot in Ever After Books that was set up for such clubs. I loved how Ophelia complemented the room with big fluffy white couches that had snuggly covers on them to curl up with while everyone got the opportunity to discuss the book. She even had coffee and tea from The Gathering Grove and pastries from Wicked Good. 

It was our very first book club meeting and I hated to admit that I never once opened or read “Gone With The Ghost”. After all, I had spent all of my free time telling Oscar about our past and his. Besides, I was here mostly for the company and meeting up with friends.

After he rescued us from that terrible Dark-Sider, Gandolf, Izzy said that there were special instances where people can know about us. Since he did save our hinnies, Oscar was definitely considered a special circumstance.

“Don’t you wish she had an off button?” Ophelia twirled her finger around and pointed to my bag.

“Sometimes.” I winked and patted my bag. “I have to say that she was a big help in solving Alexelrod’s murder. I was convinced that you and Colton had something to do with it that night. I was even going to go tell Gandolf, but you know how that turned out, and here we are.”

“Yes, here we are.” Colton walked up behind us holding a fresh cup of coffee from The Gathering Grove. He wrapped Ophelia in his arms and kissed her on the head. She glowed…literally.

I had to admit that Colton looked devilishly handsome in his new Whispering Falls Sherriff uniform, but not as good as Oscar did.

“What about the amendment to the laws?” Ophelia questioned. “In particular, the one where spiritualist shop owners can’t be in a relationship and have two businesses?”

“That’s a good question.” I had been working with Izzy on how we can update the old spiritual laws. Although the laws were good, sometimes the laws have to grow with the community, and our laws hadn’t been changed or tweaked in over one hundred years. “Aunt Helena is very good in the law department, so we’ll have a meeting with her, then we will bring it to a village vote.”

There was excitement, not only with Colton and Ophelia, but also with Gerald and Petunia and whoever else had a relationship in Whispering Falls. They way I looked at it, if the shop owners were happy, it would show in their stores, and that would bring more business to Whispering Falls.

“How are you and Oscar?” Colton asked.

He had gotten to know Oscar a little better after they took Gandolf into custody. They had even hung out for drinks one night in Locust Grove. Oscar was curious about our gifts and he probably felt more comfortable talking to a man about it.

“We’re fine.” I smiled. It would take Oscar time to truly understand what all took place over the last few months. “What about you two love birds?”

Madame Torres was right. Make-Me-A-Match got it right when they paired Colton and Ophelia.

“We are great, right honey?” Ophelia turned to face Colton and gave him a peck on the cheek.

“Good afternoon.” Eloise strolled in with Petunia following closely behind her.

“Good afternoon.” I reached over and tugged on Petunia’s sleeve. A chipmunk ran out of the neck of her shirt and nestled right in the crook of her neck. Petunia picked the little brown fury creature up and stuck it in her hair. There were a few shakes and wiggles of the messy updo before the critter settled in. “Have things settled down? How are things?”

“Great!” Petunia clasped her hands together. “Ever since the whole Gandolf thing, and you giving me a power potion reversal for the animals,” she gestured toward Alise, Colton’s mom. “They have been shipped back to the community out west and are no longer my problem.”

Even though the animals were bad souls, I still couldn’t believe that Gandolf had meticulously plotted the entire plan. Thank goodness, he was gone forever.

“Tell me, have you talked with Oscar any more about tonight?” Eloise asked with a little hope in her voice.

Since I had been given the all clear to tell Oscar about his past, I also told him that his past included Eloise. He was shocked and elated to find out that he had an aunt still living and loved that she did have pictures to prove it, but sad that he didn’t remember her.

Eloise didn’t care if he remembered her or not. She only wanted to love him. With a little bit of coaxing, Eloise invited us over for dinner and he agreed to it.

“We will be there by six.”

“Oh!” Eloise threw her hands in the air and wrapped them around me, giving me a big bear hug. “I can’t stay. I have to rush home and get things ready. I was sure he wouldn’t agree to it.”

Petunia and I stood with our mouths open, as Eloise didn’t waste any time getting the heck out of Ever After Books and pushing everyone out of her way in the process.

“It looks like it’s just you and me kid.” Petunia laughed and plopped down on the one of the couches.

The other members of the book club couldn’t make it because they were still working in their shops. Luckily, I still had Faith on the payroll and she was able to keep the paper going and also keep my customers happy.

“Why don’t we wait until we can meet at my cottage some night?” It was hard for me to give up any night because I wanted to continue to work with Oscar to regain his memory.

He still had no recollection of us being in love, and I didn’t tell him all of that. I figured that I’d let nature take its course. If he falls in love with me it will be even better, because there would be no magic involved…well, no real magic.

“That sounds like a great idea.” Petunia stood back up and clasped her hands in front of her. “I have a lot of baths to give today and hair brushing if you would like to help?” She stretched out her hands.

“Of course I would.” I accepted her offer in helping me up.

Even though Oscar didn’t remember us, or our time here in Whispering Falls, it was okay. I had the best of both worlds. I had my dearest friends in the world and a best friend in him.

For Eloise’s sake, I did wish that he had some memory of her.

Chapter Thirty-One

There was no reason to get fancy or even dolled up for Oscar. He still looked at me as a best friend. Wearing my red dress and flat sandals would be perfect for a night at Eloise’s. After all, it wasn’t about me.

“June, are you ready?” Oscar was still good about letting himself into my house just like he had crawled through my childhood window so many times in Locust Grove.

“Almost.” I grabbed Madame Torres off the bedside table and threw her in my bag. The night air could sometimes be a little chilly. The cloak Eloise had given me would be perfect so I plucked it out of my closet before I made my way down the hall.

“You have to be kidding me!” A soft gasp escaped from my lips when I saw Mr. Prince Charming doing his signature figure-eight move around Oscar’s feet. It was the first time that I had ever seen him be nice to Oscar.

“I guess someone is starting to come around.” Oscar bent down to pick him up.

“I wouldn’t do…” I was going to warn him, but it was too late. Mr. Prince Charming was already up in Oscar’s arms, nudging him with his nose. “I guess you two are friends?”

Meow, meow
. Mr. Prince Charming bounced out of his arms and out of the door that Oscar had left open. There was no way that I was going to see Eloise and make Mr. Prince Charming stay home. He loved her just as much as I did.

“Looks like we are ready and he knows the way.” Oscar pointed out the door.

“Yes.” I smiled. A feeling like tiny butterflies fluttered in my chest. I shut the door behind us. We followed Mr. Prince Charming’s tail that was dancing in the tall grass just beyond the Gathering Rock into the woods.

“Why does she live so far back in the woods?” Oscar asked.

“Whispering Falls used to be a Good-Sider community, up until recently when I took over as Village President. I believe that everyone can work together.” The less information for him to process was probably better for everyone. I knew he would learn all of it soon enough. My intuition told me.

“And I gave all of this up?”

“Yep.” I nodded.

“Why?” He asked the million-dollar question that I knew I was going to have to answer sooner rather than later.

“I was in a little pickle.” We continued to walk deep into the woods. When we made it to the clearing where Eloise’s treehouse sat, I stopped and let Oscar take it in before I finished my story.

“Wow.” The amazement on his face was exactly how I had felt when I first saw where she lived. It was the most spectacular house ever. “I’ve always wanted to have a real treehouse. And that is my aunt’s?” A huge grin crossed his face like a little boy who had just caught a foul ball at a baseball game.

“And she’s wonderful.” I put my hand on his arm for him to stop. He turned to me. His blue eyes were mesmerizing and I wanted nothing more than to kiss him. “About the pickle I was in.”

“You must’ve done something worse than burn down a shed if I was willing to give up an aunt with a treehouse.” He joked. There was nothing funny to me about it. If he only knew that I would take back what he did in a heartbeat.

“I was accused of a crime and you weren’t allowed to help me.” I swallowed. “In fact they took you off the case until the crime was solved.”

Something beyond the tree caught my eye. I glanced over and saw the three Marys levitating between the trees. Mary Ellen was in the middle and gestured for me to continue.

“You went to the Elders, which I will explain later, and told them you wanted to be released of all of your powers in order to help me. Only you didn’t realize what you were saying and were also stripped of your memory.”

“Oh.” He didn’t flinch, blink, or looked shocked. He just stood there, listening.

“Over the past few months I have been working on a spell to bring you back to me.” I threw my hand over my mouth. “I mean back to the spiritual world.”

“You and I?” He played finger ping-pong between the two of us.

I nodded my head. My heart soared when I noticed his eyes suddenly fill with a fierce sparkle…almost like
magic
.

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