Chapter Seventeen #3
‘Across the river,’ I said, more to myself than her. He kept water between Catherine and the letters.
‘Your daddy could be a little dramatic when it came to your grandmother.’ She picked up a sachet of raw sugar and flicked it three times before tearing the brown paper package open and pouring it into her coffee.
‘Said he didn’t want anything he had touched in my mother’s house, as though Catherine might smell the two of y’all on it, like some Eileen Fisher-wearing bloodhound. ’
I spun the straw in my iced latte but said nothing. Alex leaned towards me, one hand hovering beside mine but not quite touching it.
‘Emily, I can’t pretend I know what happened exactly between your grandmother and your parents,’ she said. ‘Paul never offered the details so I didn’t ask, but I know it ran deeper than simple family disagreement. He went to great lengths to protect you from Catherine.’
‘I don’t fully understand it myself,’ I told her, not entirely untrue. ‘But I do know everyone thought they were doing what was right at the time.’
‘Surely,’ she agreed. ‘But like they say, two things can be true at the same time.’
Someone had said that to me once. Ashley.
‘Your daddy gave this to me.’
With the utmost care, Alex removed a delicate silver ring from the middle finger of her right hand then held it out for me to take.
I hadn’t noticed it on her hand but I couldn’t believe I’d missed it.
The ring wasn’t silver but a delicate band of tiny fire opals, each one held in place by tiny platinum prongs.
Each stone sparkled in the sunlight, a fiery rainbow held inside each milky white stone, unexpected strength hidden in plain sight.
It thrummed with protective energy and not only from the gems. I began to slip it on, just to see if it would fit, but as I slid the ring down my index finger, the metal burned against my skin.
What had been ice cold was now red hot. I wrenched it off my finger and dropped it on the table, the tiny circlet dancing on the smooth surface until it came to a stop.
The ring had been spelled to protect and conceal, specifically against a witch.
With a strange look, Alex picked it up and slid the ring back on her finger, rotating it once, twice.
‘Is something wrong?’ she asked, head cocked to one side.
I pursed my lips, wishing I had some aloe or calendula for my irritated skin. She couldn’t have known.
Could she?
‘Paul could be a superstitious soul. He gave me this ring right after Angelica passed, told me to wear it always.’
‘I think that’s a good idea,’ I said, choosing my words with the utmost care. ‘I mean, personally, I just know I would feel horrible if I lost something that was of such sentimental value to me.’
‘Like this, you mean?’
She reached across the table and took my locket in her palm.
I nodded. ‘I never take it off.’
‘It is so very strange to see it hanging around someone else’s neck,’ Alex murmured. ‘After we lost your mom, I couldn’t stand to look at mine. I can’t lie, it was a shock to see Lydia wearing it when I came home.’
‘Dad told me my mom wanted me to have it,’ I said, covering the golden orb with my hand when she let it go.
‘Your mom wanted you to have the world. Angelica gave her life for you.’
She looked away as her words registered on my face, a look of shock I couldn’t cover up quickly enough.
‘That is, she would’ve given her life for you,’ she corrected, twisting her ring around and around on her finger.
It didn’t take a witch to know there was something she wasn’t telling me. I couldn’t believe I was once again face to face with a woman who knew more about my past than I did but had no intention of sharing the truth with me.
Before I could say anything else, Alex spoke.
‘I heard there was a wolf attack at the school dance.’
It caught me off guard. The twins had been adamant about not telling their mother for fear of her using the incident to force them to return to Charleston with her.
‘Jackson told you that?’
‘No,’ she said, her face tightening at my surprise. ‘He didn’t. Which I’m sure we can both agree is a concern. Secrets are never healthy in a family.’
‘Probably didn’t want you to worry,’ I told her, casual, breezy. ‘It wasn’t that big a deal.’
I was not casual or breezy enough.
‘I’d hate to think the twins were in danger,’ she said, fixing me with a level gaze. ‘You’d tell me, wouldn’t you, Emily? If you thought there was something I should know?’
‘If I thought there was something you should know,’ I repeated, all at once too hot, my clothes too tight. Alex’s eyes burned through me and it was a struggle just to stay in my seat.
‘Did they catch the wolf?’ she asked.
‘No,’ I said, looking down at the ground. ‘They did not.’
‘Do you think they will?’
‘I don’t know. I hope so.’
I looked up, forcing myself to meet her gaze. Somewhere in the distance I was sure I heard a foreboding rumble. Even without a weather event, the look on her face was thunderous.
‘Because I swore to both your parents I would protect you, and I will,’ she said. ‘But not at the cost of my own children’s lives.’
Stunned, I stared back, open-mouthed, as a light, welcome breeze swept the clouds from the sky and it seemed as though all of Savannah gave a sigh of relief.
‘Your wallet.’
Lydia appeared out of nowhere, dropping a quilted leather wallet on the wooden tabletop, and I almost jumped out of my seat.
‘Oh man, half the ice is already melted in my coffee,’ she groaned, stirring up the latte with a paper straw. ‘I knew I shouldn’t have gone.’
‘Thank you. We’ll get you another,’ her mother said.
Lydia fell into her chair then leaned forward to take a taste.
‘No need, it’s still good.’
She looked from me to her mom then back again, brown eyes bright and beaming. ‘Catch me up, what did I miss?’
‘Nothing,’ I replied, matching her expression as best I could although, underneath the table, my hands were shaking.
‘The usual getting-to-know-you stuff,’ Alex agreed. ‘Emily and I were getting acquainted.’
Oblivious to the tension between us, Lydia beamed at the pair of us.
‘This is cool, right?’ she said, folding her legs up underneath her. ‘The three of us hanging out together at last?’
‘So cool,’ I agreed weakly.
‘I almost feel as though your mom and dad are with us,’ Alex said, never once taking her eyes off me. ‘Watching over everything you do.’
Lydia grinned, as though it were a reassuring thing to say, but all I heard was a threat.