To Have & to Hold (8 page)

“It gets better with each sip.” April winked at her.

Cate
blew on her hot brew then took another drink. She looked up, over April
’
s shoulder, through the plate glass window and flinched. Her hand trembled and her tea cup clattered in the saucer.

Michael?

She
stilled
.

Then, the man was gone.
He
’
d
peered in the window, tried the door, then
walked toward the bar and grill
e
.
It couldn
’
t be. It had to be his American doppelganger. Michael lived in London. She hadn
’
t heard from him since she
’
d left England. Word from her stateside lawyers was that the International Bar investigation had wrapped up and an indictment would come any day now. Someone was going to jail.
Cate
feared it was Grayson. Her heart squeezed painfully.

“You look like you
’
ve seen a ghost. Are you okay?” April glanced over her shoulder out the window.

“I
’
m fine.”
Cate
sipped her tea and lowered her eyes.

“You don
’
t look fine. You look scared.”

“No. I just thought I saw someone I know from England.”

“You
’
re from England?”

“No. I grew up here, originally. I lived
there
the past few years, after I married. I moved back a few months ago.”
Cate
worried the lacy paper doily on her saucer by shredding the edge closest to her.

“How does your husband like this area?”

April
’
s question punched
Cate
in the solar plexus, stealing her breath. She missed Grayson. He would love her house
, and, as a
born loner, he
’
d love the
rugged rolling landscape, the seclusion.
The more remote the area, the better, as far as he was concerned.
Now she knew why.
Beware.
Dragons.

“My husband
, Grayson,
and I are separated. He
’
s still in England.”

“I
’
m sorry. That must make the pregnancy more difficult.” April squeezed her hand in sympathy.

Cate
lifted a shoulder. “It
’
s not been bad so far.” She was lying
. Oh
,
how smooth she
’
d gotten at glossing over the truth.

“Liar.”
April squeezed
Cate
’
s
hand, then picked up her own cup and cradled it in two hands.

Cate
tried to shrug off the uneasiness that had
moved in to
her shoulders at the sight of the man on the street
who
looked so much like her old friend. She did feel a hint of regret for not calling him. She
’
d sent him a quick note of apology before leaving England to say she
’
d be traveling to America to attend to a family emergency and didn
’
t know when she
’
d be back. The last part was true at least.
The emergency?
She had to get away from her only remaining family--Grayson--before he ate her. Michael didn
’
t need to know the particulars.

“Any chance of a reconciliation before the baby arrives?”

Cate
drained her cup. “Not much, I
’
m afraid. I
’
d need a miracle.”

“I can
’
t produce a miracle.” April tapped her pale pink painted fingernails on the table and considered her, then looked into
Cate
’
s
cup. “However, I can tell you if a miracle is on the way.”

“How?”
Curiosity sparked inside
Cate
. So she hadn
’
t imagined the energy when she
’
d stepped through the door. She
’
d wondered if the tea shop, or rather its owner, was
magickal
, but couldn
’
t guess what form her magic might take.

Cate
didn
’
t sense shifter. N
o dragon mage, were-creature, or vamp. Thank God.
Cate
seemed to be a magnet for shifters. You had only to look as far as Grayson and
Cate
’
s
indefatigable attraction to him to see how she drew the deadliest shifters. She was too tired to deal with another one. April
’
s energy was different.
Fresh.

Something she hadn
’
t encountered before.

Elf?
Diviner?
Intuitive?

She really couldn
’
t guess by looking at April.
Magic
k
was funny that
way. Sometimes, you couldn’t
tell what lurked below the surface until the
magickal
decided to reveal the gift. Yet
Cate
always picked up on
magic
k
.
Maybe not the specifics, but the existence of it nearby.

She’
d detected
magick
around
Grayson for years, but had assumed he’d never been taught to acknowledge the
magickal
or supernatural realm until he’d gone and done the
unthinkable
and shifted into a dragon.

“Lift your cup in your left hand. Swirl the contents.
Three times, clockwise.
Invert the cup to drain the liquid onto your doily. Then hand me your cup.”

“You
’
re an oracle? You read tea leaves.”

April rested her chin onto her upturned palm and smiled. “Yes. Tea leaves.
Auras.
Chakras.
Zodiac.
Tarot.
You name it. If it can be interpreted, I can read it. Are you game?”

“I
’
m not sure.”
Cate
didn’t really want
to know her future or have a virtual stranger poking about the ruins of her life.
Past.
Present.
Or future.
Her heart ached enough, battered by her past and bereft by a future she didn
’
t want to imagine without her husband.

Cate
took a deep breath. What did she have to lose? She
’
d already lost almost everything of importance in her life. She caressed her baby bump. No. Not everything. She still had the precious life that grew inside of her. Flesh of her flesh.
Blood of her blood.
She
’
d make it
through,
carve out a new life for herself and her child.

“
You
’
ve got nothing to lose. If the message doesn
’
t resonate with you, then chalk it up to my lack of talent. You can tell everyone I
’
m a lousy seer.”

The woman
’
s uncanny ability to read her thoughts made
Cate
wonder if April couldn
’
t also read minds. She shook her head and laughed at the other woman
’
s self-deprecating humor. Her openness appealed to
Cate
. She
’
d been hiding for too long.
Time to seize the moment.
“I
’
m game. Let
’
s do this.”

“Good for you. I
’
ll grab two more cups. I read leaves a little differently from others.” She stood and grabbed two more teacups from behind the counter. “I use
multiple
cups,
it gives me more shapes to interpret and therefore a broader picture of what
’
s going on.”

“Well, I
’
ve never had my leaves read, so I wouldn
’
t know.”

April slipped back in her
across from
Cate
and poured tea into the two new cups, filling them about half full. “Go ahead and drain the liquid from both of those cups into my empty cup. Remember left hand, swirl three times, clockwise.”

Cate
drained the two cups.
Drew in a deep breath.

“Focus on your destiny,” April said. “Let
’
s see if that miracle you need is waiting around the corner.”

“Okay.”
Cate
picked up each cup and carried out the ritual as April had instructed. “Give it your best shot, Golden Girl.”

April
’
s eyebrow disappeared into her wispy bangs.
“Golden Girl?
Those three older women from that eighties TV show?”

“
Nooo
.
Golden Girl--Captain America
’
s girlfriend.”

“Oh, got it. A
nickname I can
definitely
get behind
, given my love of Captain America
’
s form-fitting tights.
Yum.”
She chuckled, accepting the
cups
Cate
handed her and lined
them
up on the table in front of her. April tilted
a
cup first one way, then the other as she examined the contents of first one, then the next, and finally the last. She studied the tea leaves with a seriousness and focus
Cate
admired.

“Hmmm.
Not far in the distance, you
’
ll have your baby.
A circle with a dot.
And I
’
d say that six months qualifies as
‘
not far distant.
’
There
’
s also a heart in cup number two, which represents a lover and a G. So I
’
d assume that Grayson is part of your not-distant future. I can
’
t say exactly when. I
’
m sorry.”

Cate
tried to remain calm. Hope would not spring eternal. She wouldn
’
t allow it. Stomping the perpetual pest, she kept her breathing even and her face a mask of non-response. No highs, no lows. Steady. Even. It
’
s the only way she knew how to survive.

“Your present shows disappointments. Suffering and sacrifice.
And a false friend.”
April glanced at her, a troubled look on her face.

Cate
grunted. That sounded right. She
’
d been betrayed by her husband. What more duplicity could you ask for? Now there
’
d be more? “Great. It never ends. Just plaster a D for Dupe on my forehead. Apparently, my naiveté is limitless.”

“No. Trusting someone isn
’
t a flaw,
Cate
. The flaw is with those who use others for their own purposes and intentionally deceive them.” April paused, as if making a decision. “The tea leaves near the handle, which represent those events closer to actual fulfillment, are the most worrisome to me, though.”

“Just spit it out, Golden Girl. Don
’
t worry about my feelings. You
’
re Captain America
’
s sidekick. Read on.”

“You
’
re going to be visited by an unexpected guest. There will be intrigue and an accident. In the end I see happiness, but it comes at a great cost.” April paused and blew out a heavy breath.
“My advice?
Be careful. Don
’
t take any unnecessary risks.”

“Damn. You read all of that in the little specks at the bottom of those cups? Hope for the distant future
, maybe
. My present sucks, which I could have told you, and my near future doesn
’
t look rosy.”

“No. But it gets better. You
’
ve got a bit of hard work ahead of you, my friend. I
’
m sorry. But on the bright side, your miracle is on the horizon
if you can make it through the next few days
. So hang on. If you find your way through, you
’
ll be fine.”