CHAPTER TWO #2
Immediately I sent Hattie protection. Normally I would have asked permission first, but she’d already come to me requesting help, so I’d deal with the karma—if there was any.
“Your fingers are getting very warm, Kate,” Hattie said.
Stepping a bit closer, I put my free hand on her other shoulder. “Take a deep breath in with me, Hattie,” I directed. “Breathe in light and protection...a deep breath. Now hold it. And slowly release your breath, blowing away any negativity that you are carrying.”
I talked her through the simple energy work, and after a couple of minutes I loosened my grip and lifted my hands from her shoulders.
“Everything okay over here?” Dex asked, popping his head in from the connecting door.
“Dex?” I motioned to him. “I could use your help, if you have a moment.”
He walked directly to me. “I could feel your magick from all the way across the building, Kate,” he said softly, so Taylor would not overhear him.
“Dex is a very talented psychic,” I told Hattie as she glanced from me to him. “I’d like his opinion on this, if you don’t mind.”
Hattie nodded. “Okay.”
“This is my friend, Hattie Broussard,” I introduced her to him.
“Sure.” Dex smiled and nodded. “I’ve seen you in here before. You deliver the houseplants.”
“Correct,” I said. “But today, Hattie brought her bridal gown in to me to find out whether or not it’s been cursed.”
Dex’s eyes sharpened at my words.
“Would you mind reading it,” I continued, “and giving me your opinion?”
Dex shifted his gaze to where the gown hung behind us. “Sure,” he said. Reaching past us, he gently rested his fingertips on the lace sleeve of the gown.
As we watched, Dex’s muscles stiffened and the pattern of his breathing changed. He was silent for a good two minutes before he lifted his fingers away from the material.
Nervously, Hattie reached for my hand, and I held it as we waited.
“Interesting,” he said. “I mostly picked up on the happy memories of Hattie’s grandmother, and her mother, who have both worn it previously.”
“That’s right. They did,” Hattie said, her voice full of wonder.
“Did you pick up on anything else?” I asked him.
Dex stepped back from us. “The seamstress who altered it most recently. Her name was Sue Ann.”
Hattie laughed a little. “Wow! How did you know that?”
“I’m a postcog psychic,” Dex explained gently. “I typically don’t see the future. Instead, I see the past—what is known as retrocognition.”
“Which makes him damn good at psychometry—the reading of objects,” I explained.
Hattie looked from the gown and then back to me. “So, the gown isn’t cursed?”
“No,” I said, “the gown is fine.”
Dex had caught my slight inflection on the word ‘gown.’
Hattie frowned. “Then my fiancé and I have just had a run of really bad luck?”
“May I touch your hand, Hattie?” Dex asked politely.
“Sure,” Hattie said. Letting go of mine, she gamely held her right hand out in front of her, palm up.
Dex reached out and rested his fingertips on top of her palm. His eyes scanned over the bride-to-be and narrowed in concentration. I would have sworn that the color of his eyes changed. They had shifted to a deeper shade of midnight blue.
“Spider webs...” Dex muttered, lifting his hand away from Hattie’s. His eyes swung straight to mine for confirmation.
“Yes,” I said quietly. “I saw them too.”
“So...can one of you tell me what’s going on?” Hattie asked nervously.
“Well,” I said to Hattie. “The good news is that the gown is not cursed.”
“What’s the bad news?” Hattie asked in a small voice.
I chose my words cautiously. “It appears that someone has laid a jinx against you.”
“I knew it,” she hissed. “I knew something hinky was going on!” Hattie’s face flushed with anger, and she began to swear under her breath colorfully, and with a vengeance.
“Easy,” I said, even as my lips twitched in admiration for her chutzpah. Here I’d been worried that she’d be terrified...which is exactly why I’d said jinxed and not hexed. But Hattie seemed more angry than scared.
“Why on earth would someone do that to me?”
“Jealousy most likely,” I answered. “In my experience, when someone throws negative magick, it’s because they are jealous and/or they want revenge.”
“Can y’all get rid of the jinx?” Hattie wanted to know.
I nodded. “I absolutely can.”
“What do you need from me?” she asked.
“Would it be all right if I held onto the gown for a few days?” I asked her. “Seems to me this whole thing started over the gown.”
“It’s the catalyst,” Dex agreed.
“I’ll take excellent care of it,” I promised the bride.
“I trust you,” Hattie said. “Thanks, Kate.”
A short time later, I escorted my friend to the door. I kept my arm around her shoulders as I walked her outside. “You keep that protective herbal sachet on your person, going forward.”
“I will,” Hattie promised, patting between her breasts. “I’ll keep it close, like you said.”
“Either in your pocket or tucked in your bra exactly like you’re doing now.”
“And I’ll give the other one to Johnny, tonight.”
I gave her a bolstering hug. “Call me if you need anything.”
“I will. Thanks, Kate.”
“Blessed be,” I told her and waved as she left.