Chapter 3
Chapter
Three
Mercedes had everything packed up and moved from Tallowfield to Harmony Glen within one day. And she was not sad to see Tallowfield go. It was nice to spend a day alone with Pearl and move into her brother Finn’s old room. The best part was being there to send Pearl off to college.
However, now it was time to earn her keep.
Mercedes tried to get Hetty, Pearl’s mom, to not make her a lunch, but Hetty was pretty insistent.
She was the kind of witch who always seemed to want to mother people she cared about.
Unlike the pureblood, driven, macabre family Mercedes came from.
For the first time in ages, Mercedes felt like she could be herself.
Pearl was so lucky she had the best family ever, even if her older brother Finbar was a bit grumpy.
Although he seemed to have mellowed out since Margaid came into his life.
She’d met them both at the party, and more officially last night when she was moving in.
Finbar had been gruff, barely saying anything to her, but Margaid was this redheaded ball of sunshine and happiness.
How those two ever got together was beyond her, but Mercedes could see the absolute tenderness, devotion, and love in Finbar’s sea-green eyes when he glanced over at Margaid.
That glashtyn was head over heels smitten.
The kind of love she hoped to experience one day.
She’d been looking but had yet to find it.
There had been an inkling of hope while texting Magnus, and that hadn’t turned out the way she expected at all. Her pulse quickened thinking of all the sexting they’d got up to before meeting.
Mer: Favorite snack?
Mag: Snack? Not sure you want me to say.
Mer: I think I do.
Her cheeks heated and she banished those thoughts away. Even though it had been a while since their disastrous first date, it was hard to move on from that hope of something more. She missed their texts. She missed talking with someone who got her.
“You’ll like this, dear,” Hetty said, breaking through her thoughts. “It was Pearl’s favorite lunch. I make the bread myself.”
“You’re so kind to me, Hetty.” Mercedes hugged her. “You’re a treasure.”
“Have a wonderful first day and…” She trailed off, frowning. “Magnus will be fine.”
“You don’t sound so sure.”
Hetty smiled half-heartedly. “I am.”
“Well, from your lips to you-know-who’s ears.
” Mercedes headed outside, full of happiness, hopeful but also nervous for her first day of work at the bed-and-breakfast. At least someone was thinking about her, and she had to admit she was a bit apprehensive as she walked through the sleepy streets of Harmony Glen to the old Victorian home on Pleasant Street.
It was imposing, this massive mansion. She’d been told it was the old funeral home and it still sort of had that uneasiness to it.
Without a doubt, there were still spirits hanging around, though none of them were malevolent.
At least she didn’t get that vibe.
In fact, the messages she was getting from the other side were telling there that those who still lingered in the old funeral home were excited about the prospect of having guests coming to the bed-and-breakfast. She just hoped they weren’t completely chatty and bothered her while she worked, because that had always been a problem for her.
Witches either saw it as a blessing or a curse to be born with the ability to talk to the dead, or the ones that remained behind. Her family would have used it for something bad and dark. So she never told them. Let them think she was a useless witch. That was fine with her.
Mercedes wasn’t sure how she felt about her power.
At first, she loved it, especially dating a particularly handsome soldier ghost when she was a younger woman.
It was the kind of relationship that didn’t last forever because of crossing through the veil, but back then, she’d only been looking for fun.
How many other people could claim they lost their virginity to a ghost? Not many.
However, beyond Elliott, her ghost ex-boyfriend, spirits could be a bit demanding and a wee bit intrusive at times.
That was the last thing she needed, especially since she was going to have to keep her wits about her to deal with Magnus, who she knew was not exactly thrilled about her working there.
Hopefully, Sven had smoothed things over.
Mercedes stopped in front of the impressive home on Pleasant Street, took a deep breath, and quickly checked to make sure her hair was still neatly braided before she headed up to the front door.
Come on. You’ve got this. You’re not usually this nervous.
With sweaty palms and her heart racing, she knocked on the door, holding her breath as she waited.
Sven greeted her, opening the massive wooden front door. “Welcome to Room with a Tomb dead-and-breakfast. Are you excited?”
“I am, but also nervous.” She stepped in, and Sven shut and locked the large door behind her. The thud of the door echoed in the empty entranceway. Like it was sealing her fate.
“About Magnus? You don’t need to worry about him, he’s okay with it. Now.” Sven looked to the side, giving Mercedes a feeling that Magnus wasn’t completely okay with it.
That’s not your concern. Sven hired you and as long as you do your job, you’ll be fine.
That’s what she had to keep telling herself. She was a hard worker and she was going to give this job her all while she figured some stuff out. She had every right to work here, especially since she didn’t know anything about their curse or the supposed revenge issue with Magnus.
“When are you planning on opening?” Mercedes asked as she took in the sights of the impressive front lobby.
She could see where they were still working on aspects of it.
This lobby had been a new addition built onto the Victorian architecture.
The peachy carpet and textured wallpaper gave it away as construction from the late eighties or early nineties. Maybe as the funeral home expanded?
“Soon. We’re a work in progress. I’m hoping our guests will overlook this front entranceway.
A lot of the renovations we’ve done ourselves.
Come on, I’ll show you around.” Sven floated up the stairs to another lobby, and Mercedes ran up after him.
There was an elevator, which was good, but when she got to the top, she marveled at the sight of the dark wood, intricately carved banister and staircase that wound its way up to, what she assumed, would be a bedroom.
There was a gorgeous parlor area and dining room, all antique and lush. Lots of jewel tones.
The front desk stood next to the winding stair case. She craned her neck to take in the full scope of it. There was a beautiful gilded chandelier way, way up. The landing had a large stained-glass window with a window bench. Almost like the perfect place to curl up and read.
It was then she caught movement out of the corner of her eye, a flash of gold and wispy light, then intense green eyes stared at her, narrowing, before it vanished through a wall.
A spirit, and one who was a bit suspicious of her. Except, not a traditional ghost like she’d dealt with before.
Who was that?
More importantly, what kind of haunts lurked here?
“You seem particularly focused on the landing,” Sven remarked, curiosity lacing his voice as he craned his neck to look.
“You have ghosts,” Mercedes stated.
“I assumed we do, but I can’t communicate with the dead. It’s a bit weird being undead, but not really able to communicate with mortal spirits or see them,” Sven replied.
“Maybe they don’t trust you. I mean, you should be able to.”
“Who knows. I do…” Sven trailed off, pink blooming in his bone-white cheeks. “Enough of that. Behind the front desk is a little hidden room where we keep cleaning supplies and where you can lock your purse and coat away.”
“Sort of like a staff room?” Mercedes asked.
“Yes, I suppose so. We’ll feed you breakfast and lunch.”
“Hetty made me lunch.” Mercedes held up the brown paper bag. “She insisted.”
Sven smiled. “Of course she would. Come, I’ll take you to the kitchen and you can stash your lunch in our fridge.”
Mercedes nodded, her pulse thrumming between her ears as they headed to the kitchen, which she knew was Magnus’ domain.
Please don’t be in there. Please don’t be in there.
Sven pushed open the metal kitchen door. The bright, modern, and clean kitchen was empty. Not a sign of a hunky ghoulish Viking anywhere, and she let out a sigh of relief.
“The fridge is over there,” Sven said, pointing it out.
“Thanks.” Mercedes tucked the paper bag lunch into the fridge and quickly shut the door.
She took a moment to admire the Victorian kitchen, which was all brickwork and gleaming wood floors.
The pots and pans hanging on the walls were copper, but there were also polished stainless steel.
Everything was meticulous and had its place. “This is a beautiful kitchen.”
“Well, Magnus loves to cook, and we had to have everything up to code. His days of skewering an animal over a fire pit are in the past.” Sven winked at his little joke, which sounded like it had a bit more truth to it than she wanted to think about.
“I’ll show you the bedrooms. The rooms are going to need a refresh and cleaning.
So, I think the first task is to strip the linens from the five guest bedrooms and take them downstairs to the laundry room.
We have industrial machines we salvaged when The Clothes Spin laundromat got all new ones.
Magnus is quite handy at fixing equipment, especially with a little help from our buddy Phineas. ”
Mercedes smiled at the mention of Phineas.
A young swamp man who had eyes only for Pearl. Mercedes knew for a fact that Pearl was smitten with him too, but neither of them were bold enough to do anything about it. She wished she could help both of them overcome their shyness, but that would be hard to do with Pearl so far away.