The Second Life of Magnolia Mae

The Second Life of Magnolia Mae

by Angela Schroeder

published by Blue Tulip Publishing

This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and events are fictitious in every regard. Any similarities to actual events and persons, living or dead, are purely coincidental. Any trademarks, service marks, product names, or named features are assumed to be the property of their respective owners, and are used only for reference. There is no implied endorsement if any of these terms are used. Except for review purposes, the reproduction of this book in whole or part, electronically or mechanically, constitutes a copyright violation.

THE SECOND LIFE OF MAGNOLIA MAE

Copyright © 2014 ANGELA SCHROEDER

ISBN: 978-1-942246-11-4

Cover Art by P.S. Cover Design

To my daughter. Remember that you are the hero of your own story. You may have secondary moments but are never a secondary character.

CHAPTER ONE

T
HE COLD BIT AT
her bare arms; she rubbed her hands over them in an effort to fight off the chill. It had not been that cold when she left the house that morning. She should have known better. It was late autumn, and that meant sweaters, hoodies, hot chocolate, and bonfires. No, Magnolia had to wear a blue-ribbed tank and jeans with the knees ripped out. Her long black hair hung down to her waist, blowing slightly in the cool breeze. She had sacrificed being warm to work in the greenhouse after school. Knowing that she would be digging in dirt had kept her from wearing anything nicer. She truly did not care what everyone at school thought about her clothes. There was nothing she could do about the hand she had been dealt in life, not yet anyway. In a few more weeks, she would be eighteen and could finally leave this place behind.

“Why are you standing out in the cold?” A low gruff voice questioned from behind her. A quick glance over her shoulder was all she needed to see the look of disapproval on Bash’s handsome face. He had graduated two years before but often came back to help his uncle with the FFA projects. “Are you trying to get sick?”

“Why, yes, Bash, I was hoping that I would catch pneumonia. Then I could get a room at the hospital and watch television.” The snarky reply escaped her lips before she had even thought.

Shaking his head, he grabbed her arm and pulled her back into the greenhouse that was only a few steps behind them.

“Waiting on your brother again?” All the gruffness smoothed out of his voice. His one redeeming quality in Magnolia’s eyes was that Bash had been the only one who had not treated her differently after her parents died three years before, leaving her twenty-two-year-old brother to care for her. “I can give you a lift home.” His blue eyes held her gaze, blue eyes that had always haunted her. Eyes that she saw even in her dreams. She shook her head, breaking off eye contact.

“He’ll be here. He probably just had to work late.” It would certainly be handy to have a cell phone at moments like this.

“Mag, I can take you home. It’s not a big deal. Here…” He handed her his phone. “…call Jace and tell him that you have a ride home.”

She let out an exasperated sigh as she took the phone from him and called the farm store. The ringing on the other end of the line stopped when her brother answered the phone. All she managed to say was his name before he interrupted with a quick explanation of having to stay until closing time.

“It’s alright. I got a ride home,” she assured him. “I love you. Be careful.” Her fingers flipped the phone shut. “I guess it’s your lucky day.” A lopsided smile crossed her face as she scooped her bag off the floor.

“I suppose it is.” His smile seemed genuine where hers had been forced.

She felt a twinge of guilt for treating him the way she treated everyone else at that school. Bash had never treated her differently. He’d never snickered behind her back about her clothes coming from the thrift store. He had never cared that she lived in a small farmhouse on the outskirts of town and had never once teased her for always telling her brother that she loved him. Everyone else had been merciless toward her.

They made sure to lock up the greenhouse before heading over to the large black truck. After she tossed her bag onto the seat, she hoisted herself up into the truck. The engine roared to life, and the lights illuminated the football field across from them. Neither of them said a word until Bash pulled up to the diner.

“I’m hungry, come on.”

Magnolia pulled at the frayed strings on her jeans. She did not want to go in to the diner. It was usually filled with her classmates. She hated seeing them in school and tried her hardest to avoid them afterward.

Bash had walked around the truck and pulled open her door. He tugged his hoodie over his head and handed it to her. “Put this on.”

Soon she was enveloped in his soft blue sweatshirt. It smelled of him, a mix of Old Spice and hay.

“Come on. My treat.” He reached out his hand, helping her from the truck.

All eyes in the diner turned toward them when Bash opened the door. Magnolia held her head high as she walked next to Bash. She heard the whispers, she knew the rumors, and she also knew that Sarah had been eyeing Bash for the past few years. The glare coming toward her from the place where Sarah sat with her cheerleader groupies was almost enough to blind a person.

A foot shot out, throwing Magnolia off-balance. The floor approached her face quickly, and a pair of strong hands grabbed hold of her with her nose an inch from the ground.

“Walk much?” Sarah giggled with her friends.

“Yes, and usually just fine when you’re not around.” On her feet, Magnolia stared down at the cheerleaders then turned away to go toward a back table. There was no need for a menu. Jace brought her here every Friday on payday. It had become a tradition after their parents died.

Bash slid into the seat across from her. The looks and snickers from Sarah’s table reached them.

“What did you ever do to her?”

“Apparently, I was born in the wrong town. Didn’t you know that this is Sarah’s town?”

“That so?” a smile sounded from his voice.

She bobbed her head up and down and lowered her voice to a whisper. “She’s going to be crowned Harvest Queen at the Halloween masquerade with you at her side.” Her eyebrows arched when she saw the shock on Bash’s face.

He shook his head slowly in disbelief.

“She’s made it known through the school.”

“I don’t even go there anymore. Even if I did, I wouldn’t want to go with her. She is evil.” The last part came out in a low hiss, causing Magnolia to laugh.

When their food arrived, they ate in comfortable silence. Magnolia dipped her fries into her milkshake. Bash raised his eyebrows but didn’t say anything about her odd eating habits. He had his double bacon burger polished off before she’d started on her grilled cheese.

A loud grating voice came from across the diner. “You know she is the reason her parents died, right? Who can blame them for doing whatever it took to get away from her?”

The expression on Bash’s face turned dark as he stood, tossing the money for their food on the table. He pulled her up with him, holding her hand tightly in his.

“She’s going to do the same to poor Bash.”

A low growl came from his throat as he dragged her across the floor toward the door. He paused in front of the pack of hyenas the town called cheerleaders. “She is better than you will ever be.”

Sarah’s jaw dropped as he walked away with Magnolia tucked close to his side.

CHAPTER TWO

T
HE HOUSE WAS
NEARLY
dark, the only light coming from the bedside lamp in her mostly white-walled bedroom. Her father had painted a mural on one wall of her bedroom the year she was confined to her room with scarlet fever. Every day for a week he came into her room to paint more for her. The scene depicted a young girl walking through a forest filled with red blossoms, instead of grass. She remembered how she had thought it was like watching a private show just for her.

She flipped open her government book and tried to concentrate on the words, but Sarah’s words echoed in her head. She was right, though she didn’t know it.

If not for Magnolia, her parents would be alive. She’d known they were going to get into a car wreck. She had seen it two nights before it happened. The screams had echoed in her head, the bursts of lightning mixed with the flashes of red and blue from the emergency responders had been forever implanted in her memory even before it had happened. The dream had seemed so real — they always seemed so real — that she’d cried hysterically until her parents found her curled on the floor of her room. They had assured her that it had only been a nightmare. Two nights later, they’d gone out in a storm to pick her up from rehearsal. Trying to avoid the deer had thrown their car into a hydroplane that had connected them with a lone tree in the ditch.

Tears slid down her flushed cheeks as she shoved the government book away from her.

Sarah had been her understudy in the musical. After the accident, Magnolia had stopped singing. Sarah had taken to tormenting her about being the reason her parents had died. She relived that night often. She should have called them and said she’d get a ride with someone else. She could have asked Bash to take her home; he’d had been at the school helping his uncle.

“M&M!” Jace’s voice boomed through the house. “Are you up?” He was soon at the doorway to her room. His light brown hair and golden brown eyes reflected the light from her lamp. His shirt was dirty from working a twelve-hour shift at the farm store. “How was school?” He tossed himself onto the old beanbag chair next to her bed.

A groan escaped her as she shifted on her bed, letting her hair hang over the edge so she could see her brother. “It was no different than any other day.”

“Why the tear-streaked face?”

“Just thinking about Momma and Daddy. I miss them. Tell me again how they met.” Her eyes closed as she listened to Jace describe the day their father had been riding his horse down the side of the road and caught the eye of the beautiful new girl from town. She knew the story by heart; it had been memorized for as long as she could remember. The cowboy on the dancing horse had caught her momma’s eye, and she’d known she would marry that man someday. Magnolia let out a sigh. She felt the covers being drawn over her and heard Jace whisper good night.

The howl of the wolf caused her to glance over her shoulder as she ran silently through the forest. Her eyes moved back to the moonlit path before her just in time to see the fallen log.
She leapt over it,
but her bare
foot landed on something sharp,
slashing the tender flesh open. With a tug at the bottom of her skirt,
she ripped enough material to quickly bandage the wound,
but she was not quick enough.

Blue, shining in the moonlight,
peered
down at her. It took a moment to realize the blue belonged to the eyes of the man who was now looming over her. Panic began to swell.

He swooped down so quickly she did not have a chance to scream. “I’m here to help.” A deep smooth voice
whispered into the darkness near her ear. His
breath
warm against her skin. Strong arms scooped her up.

“They’re coming.
We have to move now.” His movements were swift and silent like a ghost,
moving through the black forest. It felt like hours before they came upon a fire in the distance. “Your home?”

She glanced from the firelight to the glowing blue eyes and did not want to
answer his question.
Though she already knew that he was aware of who she was,
It seemed that he did not care.
He should. He was not of her people.
He should not be here with her. Would he find himself in the stocks for helping her? A few more steps and they emerged from the forest to the camp.