Chapter 13
Thirteen
I start walking back to the cottage just as the sky is beginning to turn to night. I just make it past the village hall when I hear my name being shouted behind me. I turn to see Hannah standing there panting from running a few feet.
“I thought it was you! I was putting the recycling out and saw you.” She smiles. “Come in for a coffee. I need to apologise for last night.”
“You don’t have to apologise! I had a wonderful time.” I smile back.
“I was sloppy though, wasn’t I?” she whispers embarrassedly.
I whisper back, “Not any worse than I was by the end. Turns out I am not an attractive kebab eater.”
“You are funny, Harri.” She laughs. “Coffee?”
“I should really get back. Aradia really wants these chops.”
“Quick one?” Her beautiful hazel eyes are hard to say no to.
I look at my watch. A quick one will not hurt, plus Hannah seems like she would be a good friend to keep. Even if my days here at Brindlewood are numbered. “Sure, a quick one would be nice.”
I follow her back to the house where the familiar heat of the log burner warms my bones and the sound of her boys playing in the background brings the comfort of a family home.
I follow Hannah to the kitchen where she flicks on the kettle and brings out two cups, placing them on the side.
“Soooo, did Sam get you home safe?” Her face is eager for some village gossip.
“He did.” I smirk at her.
“And?”
“And?”
“Oh, come on, Harri, did he stay over?” she asks excitedly.
“Like a sleepover?” a small voice asks behind us.
Hannah takes a biscuit barrel from the side and passes it to Alfie who is stood sleepily in his Spiderman pyjamas next to his mum.
“Why don’t you and Toby have a biscuit party in the front room while Mummy chats to her friend, OK? I’ll let you stay up a little later tonight as a treat!”
His little face lights up at the news of a later bedtime and biscuits. She ushers him off and he happily obliges.
“Sorry about that. Alfie loves asking questions.” She smiles. “So did he?”
“No, sorry to disappoint you, but he didn’t.” I laugh.
“Ohhhhh, man! I thought you really hit it off!”
“Did we?”
“Oh, come on, Harri. The man was drooling over you.” She makes a ridiculous kissy face.
Lois appears from the garden with a pile of firewood. She looks out of breath and sweating slightly in a big black duffle coat.
“Oh, hi, Harri. Didn’t know you were stopping by. How’s your head?” She laughs.
“Yeah, fine. Just having to let Hannah down with the lack of village gossip.”
Hannah’s face goes a slight shade of pink. “I was not gossiping! Just interested in the love life of my new friend,” she protests at Lois and me.
“Han, babe, you love gossip.” Lois dumps the pile of wood on the floor and makes her way back out to the garden.
She stops at the back door and turns back at us.
“I’ve got a load more to chop, so sorry for being rude and not chatting, but I want to get it done so I can come back in.
Bloody freezing out there.” She quickly rubs her arms.
“No worries! See you later.” I wave.
She nods and heads back into the cold. Hannah smiles at her then turns back to me, eager to find out more.
“So, nothing at all happened?” She leans on the counter, staring intently at me.
I take a sip of my coffee. “Well, he came back for tea.”
Her eyes light up with a juicy titbit of goss. “And was it just tea?” She smirks.
I sigh. Well, I am here. Might as well tell someone what really happened. “Just tea, then maybe a little kiss.”
“Oh my God, stop it! I told you!” she squeals.
“Hannah, calm down.” I laugh as she is flapping her hands around. “But then, I think I ruined it.”
“How?” Her face drops into a puzzled look.
I sigh. “Greg called me, and I picked up.”
“Greg, ex Greg? Slept with your friend Greg?” Her eyes are wide and shocked.
“Yeah.”
“Oh dear…”
“I know.”
We sip the coffee she has made, and silence falls around us. She agrees that I should not have picked up the phone.
She breaks the silence. “So, you do like him?”
I pull a face of disgust. “Greg? No.”
“No, silly! Sam! You said you think you have ruined it. You wouldn’t say that if you didn’t like him.” She smirks playfully.
I roll my eyes as my grin creeps up my cheeks. “OK, you have got me there. I wouldn’t mind getting to know him better. There. Happy?”
“Very.” She laughs. “But I don’t think you have ruined it. I have never seen Sam so giddy over a girl in… well, since forever!”
My cheeks begin to blush again. “Really?”
She rolls her eyes, smiling. “Girl, he talks about you at any chance he has. He has got it hard for you.”
I sip my coffee, trying to hide the smile that has filled my face.
I told myself not to, but I can’t help feeling like I am falling for this village dream with the local butcher boy.
If only I was not being forced to marry a man, so my family’s secret is not exposed.
That is a slight downer on the situation.
I breathe out. “Well, I am flattered. I just… I don’t think I am at the point where I can have anything serious right now.”
“I get that.” She pauses then smiles at me. “But, when it’s true love, you have no choice but to embrace it.”
“Jesus, Han, we had a cuppa and a snog. It’s hardly love,” I protest, shaking my head.
She raises her eyebrows and takes another sip. “Knew it was more than a ‘little kiss’.”
I laugh. “Anyway, I’m glad you shouted me. I wanted to say thanks for last night. I had a wonderful time! Even if you bailed early!”
“I am sorry, but…” She pauses and looks out of the window to see where Lois is. “OK, can you keep a secret?”
“Yeah, of course. Is everything OK?” My voice is concerned.
“So, I am never like that with drink. I always handle it better. Anyway, this morning I still felt ill then realised, I am late. Really late. So, I took a test and, well, I’m pregnant!” Her little face beams with happiness.
“Sorry what? How?” I ask before feeling a bit rude for doing so.
“Oh, yes, duh, two women. So we wanted another baby, and we have had the same donor as the boys, but it just wasn’t working. Anyway I had one more go last month, and I didn’t tell Lois. I figured that it wouldn’t work again and, well, it has.”
I feel the colour drain from my face. Of course, she’s pregnant. I saw it. I saw it in my dreams. I feel a bit weirded out by it all. But the dream felt so real. Even down to the feeling of what she was carrying. A girl. I could sense a baby girl’s energy through the dream.
Hannah’s face looks concerned. “Are you OK, Harri?”
I snap out of my thoughts and back into the room. “Oh God, yes! No, I am so happy for you! This is so exciting! When are you telling Lois?”
She seems satisfied with my reaction and smiles once more. “Soon. I won’t be able to hold it in but I wanted a cute way to tell her.”
“Maybe put a pregnancy test in a gift box? I’ve seen people do that before!”
“That is an idea! God, I can’t believe we will have three!” She rests her coffee cup on the side and pats her stomach gently.
I hum quietly. “She’ll be so loved by her brothers.”
“She? You already putting on sweepstakes for the gender, Harri?” She laughs.
“Oh yeah, just a guess. I can see you with a girl.” Plus I sensed her in my dream.
“As long as it’s healthy, I’m happy,” she coos.
I finish the rest of my coffee and place it next to Hannah’s.
“I’m so happy for you, Hannah, I really am.
Secret’s safe with me and let me know if you need anything at all.
” I give her a hug which she happily accepts and squeezes me.
“Right, I best go before Aradia gets upset about dinner.” I laugh.
She rubs my arm affectionately. “Oh yes, sure! Sorry to keep you. I had to tell someone. So, thank you for listening.”
“Always. Thank you for taking me in.” I give her another hug. She’s such a sweet girl.
“Any time.” She smiles as she walks me to the door. “You know where we are. It’s nice to have a girl to chat to.”
“It’s nice to have a friend who won’t sleep with my fiancé.”
“And you know I would never go there.” She sniggers.
It makes me laugh as I step out through the door. “See you later!”
“Bye, babe!” She waves enthusiastically at me, her beautiful face glowing with the excitement of her little family growing. I can’t help but share the feeling of love that is shining out of her.
I hurry back down the path to join the road to the cottage. It is now pitch black outside, so I use my torch on my phone to find my way home. I walk fast through the darkness eager to tell Granny about the dream and the links to the real world. It’s surely just a coincidence, right?
I turn onto the muddy drive and see the cottage glowing at the bottom in amongst the trees. As I make it to the front door, I swing it open.
“Granny!” I shout, hurrying into the kitchen.
“What’s happened?” she panics in her reply.
Out of breath I try to get out what I need to say. “I think… I think I can tell the future.” I double over with a stitch from trying to rush home to tell them.
She puts down the pot she was just washing up and looks at me with a worried expression. “What do you mean, sweetheart?”
“I have dreams. I’ve had them for a while now. But I think it tells me the future, not just mine, others who are around me. I dreamt Hannah is pregnant and she just told me she is.”
She gasps excitedly. “Hannah is pregnant?”
Great secret keeper I am! “Oh shit, yeah, but you didn’t hear me say that.”
“Oh, fantastic news! They make such good parents.” She beams.
I feel impatient. “They do. But, like, the dreams, Granny?”
She wipes her hands on her apron. “Yes, sorry, right. Back to the future dreams. You say they started recently? Have you seen anything else?”
“I saw Greg betray me. I dreamt he stabbed me in the heart.”
Her brow furrows. “Wow, OK, yes, it certainly sounds like this is something, Harri.”
“So, what do I do?” I ask, puzzled.
“Whatever you want to do, my darling. You can choose to embrace it and learn how to manipulate it. I’m guessing the dreams right now are hazy and difficult to read, but with the right learning you can understand them deeper, and they will become more clearer. Or…”
“Or?”
“You leave it. You will have more which stay as hazy as they are now, and eventually, they fade into nothing.”
I pause for a moment. Do I want this? I think of all the women before me and what they went through to have these powers. Everything they endured. The people they have helped. The women who were wrongly accused.
Not a chance in hell I’m letting them down. “How do I embrace it?”
She smiles proudly. “Now let me see.” She walks into the front room and beckons me to follow her. She starts rooting through the bookcases. “It is here somewhere…” Dust flies off the incredibly old books that she moves until she pulls out a large red leather-bound book. “Here.”
She sits down on the floral sofa and tells me to sit with her. She blows the dust off the spine and opens it. She quickly flicks through the pages. “I’ve read about dream telling before I know I have. Ah, here!”
She points to a page which looks like it is written in Latin. “Mmm, yes, I thought that. Mmmm, OK…” She traces the page with her finger and brings her glasses up her nose to read a little better.
“You can read that?”
“Of course! Easy. I’ll teach you sometime,” she says so flippantly like it’s the easiest thing to do.
I shake my head at her, smiling at her. “What does it say?”
“It basically says that to take power on dream telling you must be aware of the dream while it is happening. Instead of feeling fearful of the dream, embrace its message and learn from it. Sometimes a dream telling will be harder to read but the signs are always there. One must focus before sleep to ensure they are ready to receive the dream telling. Dream telling doesn’t occur every night, just on times when a future warning or celebration must be told through the dream.
This can be the future of the witch or someone the witch is close to. ”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that if you’re right, then yes, you can tell the future.” She sets the book on her lap.
“Does that mean I am like you and Aunt Aradia?” Emotions swirl inside me.
“Oh, darling, powers or not, you are like us. You have our blood; you have our soul. But yes, Harri, you are a witch through and through and you can choose to take this gift and use it for your benefit or others, or you carry on like I said before and let it phase out.”
I sink into the sofa. “Is this real life, Granny?”
“Beautiful, wonderful real life.” She rests her hand on mine.
“Look, take some time, it is a lot of responsibility to take on. Dream telling is extremely powerful. You will have the knowledge of someone’s life including yours and the future can be positive or negative.
It can be a lot to have that knowledge.”
“On top of everything I have going on.” I place a cushion over my face.
Granny laughs at my dramatic gesture. “Ah yes, with great power comes great responsibility, but if I know you like I think I do, you’ll do what’s right.”
I peek from the side. “You think?”
“Jim called to say thank you for your offer of giving him a few weeks’ break. You have so much good within you, Harri. I know you will do the right thing for you.”
I place the cushion on my lap. “Thanks, Granny.”
“You’re welcome. Now, let’s take a break from dream telling and you can help me cook these bloody lamb chops your aunt has been going on about. When she wants something, she does not stop going on about it.”
We head to the kitchen and spend some time cooking up dinner ready for when Aradia gets home from teaching yoga. The kitchen is full of joy and laughter. I want to hold on to this life for as long as I can.