A Witch's Curse (4 page)

Not wanting to relive the horrible day her mother died, Carolyn changed the subject. “Why didn’t Grandmother try to contact me then?”

“
I’m not sure why. She wouldn’t tell me. She did, however, make me spy on you, in a way.”

When Carolyn looked puzzled, Sarah continued. “I told her about your quaint, little shop. Ester had become bedridden by that time, so each week, she would give me lists of items to buy and tell her every detail about you, no matter how small, when I returned. She did say you were much better off with the herbal store than you were when you worked at that dreadful flower shop.”

She's right. I am. I hated the flower shop.
I never could understand why someone would kill a living, breathing flower so some silly girl can look at a pretty bouquet for a few days. Why not give a live plant instead, something she would be able to enjoy a lot longer than dead flowers?

“
I wish I had met her. More coffee?”

“
Yes, a splash more please, thank you.”

Carolyn refilled both cups and looked at the portrait over the fireplace. “What can you tell me about them?”

Following Carolyn’s gaze, Sarah said, “Them? Don't you know anything about your family? No, I suppose you wouldn't. She's your great, great, great aunt Caroline Wexford, and her husband, Caleb Harrison.”

“
Harrison? As in Harrisonville’s Harrison’s?”

“
Yes. Your great, great, great uncle was the grandson of this town’s founding father, Abraham Harrison. I hadn't thought about the resemblance before, but you are the spitting image of your aunt.”

“
Surely, you didn’t know her?”

“
I’m old, child, but not
old
. Hard to tell now, what with the portrait so dirty, but I viewed the painting so many times when you were still able to make out their faces clearly.”

His name’
s Caleb and he’s my Uncle? Now I understand why he called me Caroline, not Carolyn, as I first thought. He thinks I’m her, his dead wife. “
They’re a very handsome couple. “What’s their story?”

“
Well, they had been married about a year when, one morning, she caught him with the maid in the study. She found them naked on the window bench.” Sarah’s voice turned sarcastic. “Naturally, he denied anything happened between them and that the maid set him up. Of course, Caroline didn’t believe him.”

“
I can't say as if I blame her. So what did Aunt Caroline do?”

“
Caroline threw the maid out the front door exactly as she found her, without a stitch of clothes on. According to the story, she made a pot of tea so she and Caleb could sit and discuss things rationally, like two civilized people. Only she substituted hemlock for tealeaves. Caleb died first, and she, according to legend, cursed him to forever roam this house until he could prove his innocence.”

“
How awful. She didn't even give him a chance to explain?

“
No, not according to the legend.”

“
Don’t tell me you believe Caleb Harrison actually haunts this house, do you?”

“
Of course I do. I’ve seen him. He comes mostly at night, floats about for a bit with those sad blue eyes of his, and disappears.”

“
All because his wife cursed him?”

“
She wasn’t only his wife, she was a witch, and a very powerful one, I might add.”

“
Are you serious? How can you say something so preposterous?”

“
Because all the women in your family are witches. Have been for centuries.”

“
You’re joking.”

Sarah smiled and shook her head.

“
Grandmother was a witch?”

“
The best I ever worked with.”

“
My mother?”

“
Yes, at least, if she had wanted to, only she wouldn’t let Ester teach her in the ways of the order. You are too, you know.”

I’ve let a lunatic into my house!
“What makes you think we’re witches?”

“
My dear, I’ve been a member of your grandmother’s coven for over fifty years.”

Enough
! I’m not going to sit here and listen to this crackpot. For all I know, she laced this pie with poison.
Visions of Snow White danced in her head. “I think you better leave now,” Carolyn said, her voice icy.

“
I understand, sweetie. This is all new to you. Think about what I’ve said and I’ll drop by in a couple days.”

Carolyn stood, walked over to, and held the front door open. “I highly doubt if I’ll change my mind,
Mrs. Burns
. What you‘ve accused me and my family of is utter nonsense.”

“
You will,” Sarah said with conviction. “Give yourself some time and you’ll come to believe I told you the truth. Goodbye, my dear. So very nice to finally be able to talk with you.”

Chapter Two

What Sarah told her left Carolyn disconcerted. She knew witches and ghosts only as bedtime stories to scare little kids, a myth, or as a costume
worn on Halloween. But honestly, what did she really know about her family? What else explained her midnight caller, or her sleeping for that matter? Yes, she felt horny as hell right now, and Caleb was heat on two legs, but she’d been horny before and known lots of sexy men, though she’d never before unconsciously stripped herself naked because some fantasy man caught her eye.

Hoping for an answer, Carolyn went into the library and began rummaging through her grandmother’s desk. What she discovered shocked her even more. In the center drawer, she found pages and pages of handwritten spells; spells to find a lost object, a truth spell, a love spell and many more.

Okay, so Grandma was a nut. She believed herself to be a witch, as Sarah obviously does
too. Believing herself a witch doesn’t mean she
was
a witch with real powers or that these spells actually work.
Standing, Carolyn wandered over to the bookshelves and browsed through the titles. She found sections on exotic roots and herbs, most of which she already owned, another on cults, witchcraft in particular, and more sections on spells, potions, and incantations.

Chester, who had been sunning himself on the room’s only windowsill, jumped down, headed for the closet door
, and began scratching away with a determined frenzy.

“
What’s gotten into you?” Carolyn asked. She opened the closet in order, curious as to the source of Chester’s agitation. Anticipating a mouse, all she found were shelves filled with old shoeboxes. Chester, however, only had eyes for one in particular.

Carolyn carried the box
to the desk and cut the string holding the cover closed. Chester suddenly became uninterested and went back to the windowsill. Inside the box, she found a bundle of unopened letters tied with a red ribbon, all addressed to her mother. Opening the first letter, Carolyn noticed the date; she had been about three months old at the time.

Dearest Daughter,

Please forgive me for the hateful things I said to you. The matter of who was right and who was wrong no longer concerns me. You followed your heart, as was your right. The harsh reality is, you are a single mother with limited resources. Please come home and allow me to help you raise your daughter. If you won’t come home for me, or for yourself, come home for her. Doesn’t she deserve all the opportunities and advantages I can provide her? Doesn’t she possess the right to

decide for herself if she wants to follow in her family heritage?

Your Loving mother,

Ester

Family heritage? She makes
this sound as if we’re from a long line of bankers or bakers. Does this mean my family tree is a walnut tree? Is my whole family nuts? I didn’t think genetics allowed one to pass on delusions.

Carolyn read more letters, all written in the same vein as the first, with Ester pleading for her daughter to forgive her and come home. Every letter held the same stamp, ‘Return to Sender’. Carolyn’s mother never read a single one.

I loved Mom deeply, but she did have her faults. She would rather die than admit she made a mistake or needed help. Mom, why didn’t you tell me? Did you think I would choose her over you?

Chester caught her attention by rubbing himself against her legs under the desk. Carolyn picked him up to scratch him behind his ears. Pacing back and forth in the large library, Carolyn said,
“This still doesn’t mean they were real witches who could cast spells or curses, does it? There is only one way to be sure, I’m going to try one of Grandmother’s spells. If the spell works, then Mrs. Burns is right, and I guess I’m a witch too. You’ll still love me if I’m a witch, won’t you, Chester?”

Chester continued to purr while rubbing his chin against her arm. “Why can’t people love as unconditionally as cats?”

Setting Chester down on an overstuffed
, leather chair, Carolyn went back to the desk and sorted through her grandmother’s spells. Finding the one she wanted, she said, “This will be the perfect test. I lost Mother’s bracelet somewhere during the move, and I’ve searched everywhere. If this works, then I’ll be a believer.”

Carolyn read the spell several times then lit a candle she found alongside the papers in the desk drawer. Concentrating on the bracelet, she recited the words, “Goddess of the Moon, hear me now and help me find that which I seek. I invoke the law of three so that what once was lost will now return to me.”

Carolyn repeated the incantation two more times before extinguishing the candle. Leaning back in the creaky chair, she said, “I guess all I can do now is to wait. I wonder how long one of these spells take?” Glancing at her watch, she jumped up, “I’m late! I promised Mags I’d meet her for lunch. Guard the house for me, okay Chester? I won’t be gone long.”

Carolyn whizzed
into the
Fillet o' Sole
parking lot with minutes to spare. She spotted Maggie sitting at a table in the far corner, two glasses of white wine sitting on the table.

Maggie held her hands up defensively in front of her. “Before you start, I know this is the middle of the day and you don’t normally drink, but I thought we should give your inheritance a proper toast.”

“
Don’t apologize, Mags. After what I’ve just been through, I could use a drink.”

“
Why? What happened? Another dream I hope?”

Carolyn related all the weird goings-on she had, starting with last night’s dream and her waking up to find her clothes tossed around the room, the upsetting visit from her new neighbor, Mrs. Burns, and all she had said about Carolyn's family.

“
Wait a minute. Is that her name…Burns? I told you about the crazy old woman who comes in every week asking all kinds of personal questions about you, didn't I? You remember the one I mean? The real nebby nose? That old bat needs a new belfry to haunt.”

“
Yeah, I do remember you telling me, and I suppose she could be the same woman. But...”

“
But what?”

“
But, she made me think about all that's happened since I moved in, and what she said makes about as much sense as anything else I could imagine.”