Love Potion #9 (10 page)

Lilith was so shocked by this comment that she didn't have time to hide her response. “Andrea!”

“It's true,” the older woman declared unrepentantly. “She never knew what she had – God bless us for small mercies – otherwise, she'd still be here.” Andrea rolled her eyes in silent assessment of that. “Suffice to say, the man blames himself, but then he was always too quick to take responsibility for the woes of this world.”

Andrea straightened with a sudden primness, as though she had just realized she'd said too much. “But that's all I have to say about that.”

Andrea's words were certainly consistent with Mitch's tight-lipped response about not being married anymore. Something nasty had happened, unless Lilith missed her guess.

“Well, I'm glad your granddaughter is all right.”

Andrea smiled again. “More than all right, although Mitch is fretting up a storm. He's a regular old mother hen. He's asked me to stay a few days so Jen doesn't have to go to a new day care tomorrow.”

“That might be a good idea,” Lilith conceded, touched by his concern for the little girl's fears.

Andrea grinned. “Oh, it is. I think Mitch's exact words were that it could be a seriously ugly proposition to make her go.” She arched a brow. “But just because he's right doesn't mean I won't tease him about being such a worrywart.”

The two women exchanged a warm smile and Lilith decided it was time for a change of subject. “Why don't you come into the front room?” she suggested. “That's where I usually read.”

Andrea turned in the direction Lilith gestured. “Oh, this is so exciting. I just can't wait. You know, I have the strongest feeling about you, Lilith. As soon as I saw your sign, I knew you would have something to tell me.” She flicked a pert glance over her shoulder. “Do you think that's crazy?”

Lilith shook her head. “No.”

She didn't think it was crazy quite simply because it was true. The portent of Andrea's future love was right there in her eyes. Lilith had seen it immediately. A person just had to know where and how to look.

Too late, Lilith wished she'd had a better look into Mitch's eyes.

A reassured Andrea danced ahead, anticipation in every line of her figure. Her gaze roved openly over the furnishings of the front room. Lilith trailed behind her, granting her the opportunity to look.

If there was one place where Lilith most actively and obviously denied her
Rom
roots, it was in her place of business, her fortune-telling parlor. The room was furnished in mission-style furniture, the clean lines of the oak and warm finish of the oxblood leather emanating a definite sense of
this
world.

There were Persian rugs cast on the gleaming hardwood floor and Turkish kilims woven in earth tones cast over the backs of chairs. A particularly spectacular batik from Indonesia of two traditional dancers was framed without a backing and hung over the window so that the light shone through it.

Bookcases stood on either side of the fireplace, their leaded glass doors gleaming. It was there that the evidence of Lilith's livelihood could be found in the wide array of occult titles. There were mineral samples and seashells scattered unobtrusively around the room and fat beeswax candles on many of the tables.

“It's not what I expected,” Andrea declared finally. “But it's very nice.”

Lilith smiled. “What did you expect?”

“You know, red velvet and crystal balls. The usual tacky mishmash.” Andrea took the chair Lilith indicated and practically bounced in place. “But I like this.” She wrinkled her nose. “It seems
real
.”

“Thank you.” Lilith retrieved her cards from their high vantage point and unfolded the silk that surrounded them. She had never been able to resist different tarot decks and had at least a half a dozen decks in the house. This current “working” deck had lovely paintings which patrons seemed to like.

Andrea's eyes widened at the sight. “What an odd place to keep your cards.”

“They have to be respected,” Lilith confided easily. “And granted the honor of the highest point in the room.” She shuffled the deck. “There are those who insist the cards watch over the homes of those who treat them well.”

“Really?” Andrea breathed.

“That's what they say. I certainly have no complaints.” Lilith set the cards on the coffee table, then retrieved a small crystal ball. She took the seat opposite the older woman and smiled. “Would you like to ask a specific question, or shall I just read?”

Andrea's smile shone. “Would you just read?”

Her enthusiasm was infectious, especially as Lilith knew Andrea wouldn't be disappointed by what she heard today.

“Of course.” When Lilith spared the crystal ball a glance as she put it down, a fleeting image there caught her eye. She straightened in shocked recognition.

It was Dritta!

It couldn't be! Lilith blinked and carefully looked again, trying to hide her gesture from Andrea.

But the ball was clear once more.

Lilith must have imagined the image. It couldn't have been Dritta. No, she had left all of that behind, centuries ago, outside an Italian village.

She was upset, that was all. She'd been thinking too more of old
Rom
expectations for her future, expectations that had nothing to do with her life. She was just lonely.

It was nothing more than that.

Lilith deliberately smiled for Andrea, then cupped the woman's left hand within both of hers. The older woman's skin was soft and warm, and there were a thousand lines in her palm.

Impressionable
, Dritta whispered in Lilith's ear. Lilith frowned and chose to ignore the source. But she would have to be particularly careful about what she said. Andrea caught her breath in anticipation as Lilith leaned closer to read the omens hidden in her hand.

“You're right-handed?”

Andrea nodded.

“Then this is what you were born with,” Lilith said softly, with a gentle squeeze of Andrea's left hand before reaching to take her right. “And this is what you have made of it.”

Though there were just the two of them in the room – even D'Artagnan had not deigned to join them – Lilith had a definite sense that they two were not alone. In fact, she looked over her shoulder more than once in the following minutes, but there was no one there.

Yet when she read, Lilith heard an echo from the past in her choice of words, though she never intended any such thing. She knew it was no accident she heard Dritta's wisdom echo in her own voice that afternoon.

Although she wondered at the change.

 

* * *

 

The room had fallen into darkness when the reading was done. What Lilith had seen in Andrea's eyes had been reinforced in her palm and in the cards. By the end, they both had a very clear answer of where Andrea's next love would be found.

It was a really good reading, one loaded with specific details, one of the best readings Lilith had given in a long time. It left Lilith bone tired. She waved to a thrilled Andrea from the porch and leaned against the doorjamb in exhaustion.

Perhaps it was because she was so tired that the unexpected words fell from her lips.

“
Te sav ka to biav!”
Lilith called, though she had no intention of doing any such thing. She blinked in surprised to hear the first
Rom
words cross her lips in nearly six centuries.

Andrea spun around. “What language is that?”

“
Rom
,” Lilith admitted, then clarified. “Gypsy.”

Andrea gasped and her eyes went round with wonder once more. “Are you a Gypsy?”

Oddly enough, Lilith couldn't manage to utter her usual rejection of her roots. It didn't seem right after this day, after this reading.

She really
was
tired.

“I was,” she conceded quietly.

Andrea snorted, an unconscious reminder of Dritta's dismissiveness. “And so you still are.”

Lilith's heart skipped at that, then she gave her head a shake. Because Andrea didn't know anything about being
mahrime
. Andrea didn't know what she was talking about.

Lilith was not
Rom
, not any more.

“What does it mean?”

Lilith grinned and held the screen door open with her toe, feeling suddenly playful. “May I eat at your wedding.”

Andrea laughed with delight. “You will! I just know it! Wait until I tell Mitch about this.” She chuckled impishly as she darted up his porch steps. “He'll be
livid
!”

Lilith turned back to her house, her smile fading as soon as the door closed behind her. Old words echoed in her thoughts, despite the silence of the house.

“It is in your blood, child. Who you are will follow you.”

No. Lilith frowned and locked the door. Nothing had followed her. They had cast her out. They had denied her and she would deny them.

Lilith was
Rom
no longer.

And that was that.

 

* * *

 

4

The Emperor

 

“She told you
what
?”

Livid proved to be a woeful miscalculation of Mitch's response. He was incredulous, skeptical and mad as hops. Andrea tried to find another way to share the good news.

Because it
was
good news.

If only Mitch would
listen
.

“There's nothing to get excited about, Mitch,” she said flatly. “I'm going on a cruise. And I'm going to meet the man of my dreams.” Andrea waved her hand airily. “It's perfectly simple. Lilith said so.”

“Lilith said so.” Mitch echoed in a low growl and paced the kitchen. He was clearly fighting his urge to bellow like a boar. “You know, Andrea, that's not exactly how love is supposed to work.”

“So, now you're an authority on matters of the heart,” Andrea snorted. “What were those credentials again?”

“Ouch,” Mitch said flatly.

Andrea tossed her hair. “I've at least got experience.”

“Ouch again.” Her stepson took a deep breath, then deliberately sat backwards on a chair. Mitch was clearly exasperated, and just as clearly bent on convincing her to change her mind.

In a way, Andrea liked it better when he ranted. When Mitch got all cold and logical, it was harder to refute his points. Andrea braced her feet against the ground, folded her arms across her chest and dug in her heels.

She was going on that cruise.

“Andrea, think about what you're saying.”

Danger, danger. He was very cool and decisive. Andrea knew Mitch would have her agreeing with him but quick if she didn't stick to her guns.

She was going. “I have!”

Mitch arched a brow. “Then consider the source.”

“What does that mean?”

Mitch frowned. “Lilith told me that she's a witch.”

“Pshaw! Wiccans are as thick on the ground as bicycle thieves in this neighborhood. So what?”

Mitch's eyes flashed. “She says that she's six hundred years old. Six
hundred
years, Andrea.” He arched an eloquent brow. “Is this the kind of clear thinking you want in an advisor?”

Andrea blinked, surprised by this information. “She did?”

Mitch nodded solemnly. “She's nuts.”

But Andrea shook her head. “I don't think so. She's certainly lonely, but she's far too nice to be nuts.”

Mitch exhaled and rubbed one hand across his brow. “So, now you're a psychologist. Who says crazy people can't be nice?”

“Mitch! Anyone can see that Lilith's a sweet girl!”

“Which proves nothing.” Mitch's lips drew to a thin line. “Think about what you're saying!”

“I know what I'm saying!” Andrea took a deep breath. “You know, you really should go and have a look at Lilith's place. It's so cute and it must be exactly the same layout as this house. I mean, you'd never believe it, but clearly Lilith has more than one gift...”

“I am not going over there to compare decorating notes!”
Mitch abandoned the chair and cast it aside, his annoyance front and center once more as he glowered at Andrea.

When he continued, his voice was tight and low once more. “Will you please stay on the subject?”

“Well, it was just a suggestion,” Andrea huffed.

Mitch muttered something that Andrea was glad she hadn't clearly heard, then propped his hands on his hips. His eyes glinted dangerously, like gold in candlelight, his lips were taut.

The man could seethe, there was no doubt about it.

Then, Mitch took another deep breath and when he spoke, his words were even. “Andrea,” he said with careful control, “It's not unreasonable that I worry about you. Now, I want you to listen to me for just two minutes.”

He really wanted to make his point. And he was trying not to blow his stack. Andrea supposed that should earn him an audience.

But she wasn't going to make it easy on him.

And she wasn't going to change her mind.

Andrea heaved a sigh of apparent reluctance, then perched on a chair, knowing full well what she was going to hear. “Fine. You have to promise not to take any longer than that, because I know what you're going to say and you could say it in half that time.”

“Look.” Mitch squatted down in front of Andrea, so concerned for her safety and future that her heart wrenched a little. He was such a good son, even if he wasn't exactly her son.

Mitch's voice was intent, his gaze was steady. “Andrea, I want you to really think about what you're saying here. A fortune teller -“

“Not just any fortune teller!” she corrected. “
Lilith
!” Andrea leaned down and patted Mitch on the shoulder. If only he worried half as much about himself as he did about everyone else! She really had to find him a nice young woman who would appreciate him.