Chapter Three
Three
L iberty took a cup of her morning mushroom mud from Sera as she plopped down on the sofa in the back of Sera’s part of WiCKed Sisters. The overstuffed love seat was nestled between bookcases filled with new and used books. The room was cozy and truly a reflection of Sera. Old-timey but modern. Bookish and quiet. And today it was a place to hide.
She should be in her own back room at her altar, making a potion for the morning or taking the time to shuffle her tarot decks for her appointments. But after her reading last night, she had doubts.
The first time she had sex, Danny bragged about it to their classmates—taking something she’d thought was special between the two of them and making it into something else. She’d wanted to put a hex on him, but her mom had come home, saw the open page in her grimoire and done what her mom always did.
She fixed it. She made Liberty a cup of tea and then talked to her about sex and sharing her body and her emotions with a man. From that moment forward Liberty resolved to let no man have that kind of power over her again. And she’d succeeded, for the most part.
Something she’d struggle to keep doing once they were alone at Merle’s place.
“You okay?” Sera asked as she sank down next to Liberty on the love seat.
“When aren’t I?”
“When you answer a question with a question. So, what’s up? Did you get the DNA results back?”
“I knew you two talked about stuff behind my back,” Poppy said as she breezed into the room and sat on the ottoman across from her and Sera.
“We don’t,” Sera reassured her. “I was just trying to figure out what’s up. So, Liberty...?”
She took a sip of the mud which was supposed to give her mental clarity and usually did but wasn’t really working today. “I got them back. Nothing. No paternal connections at all.”
“That sucks,” Sera said.
“What are you going to do?” Poppy asked.
She lifted her head and narrowed her eyes, looking over at Poppy. Had Merle told her?
“What do you think I should do?” she asked. Then realized she was lying to try to catch her friend out. Poppy would never lie to her about this. “Never mind. I talked to Merle and he’s going to use some of his computer skills to try to find out which John Jones donated the sperm that resulted in me.”
“He is?” Poppy asked. “I thought you two were like oil and water.”
“That’s because you have been distracted by your ex-husband,” Sera said. “Those two are like magnets that can’t keep apart but one of them always turns away before they connect. This is exciting news.”
Liberty shook her head. Sera was the most observant of the three of them. Probably because her friend had grown up in the foster care system and was always watching the people around her to keep herself safe. “How is it exciting?”
“Well you did want to confluence with him...”
Liberty had to laugh and Poppy joined in. She’d created a version of kiss, marry, avoid called Charm, Curse, Confluence that they’d been selling in their shop. When the three of them had named Merle, Liberty said confluence. There was a part of her that was always thinking of that tall, sexy gamer in her bed.
Maybe it was that he was so controlled. He never really let anyone see his emotions. There was so much he kept hidden. Why she wanted to be the one to draw him out, she couldn’t explain.
Nan had always said...or used to say, when she’d been herself...that the harder an emotion was denied, the more explosive it would be when it finally was released.
She took another sip of the mushroom mud and closed her eyes, trying not to cry. Nan was a shadow of the woman she used to be—sometimes so vivid and present but other times a distant, angry stranger.
“I did want to. But he’s Poppy’s cousin and I don’t want to mess that up.”
“You couldn’t,” Poppy said.
“You know that’s not true,” Liberty said softly. “Your friendship with Gemma changed the day you and Alistair got a divorce.”
“That’s different. She’s still friends with him and his family,” Poppy said.
“Still, it ended. Men always mess things up,” Liberty said.
“Not all men,” Sera replied quietly. Her friend had just fallen in love with Wesley Sitwell. He had come on strong, like a total douchebag at first. But then he fell for Sera and her shop. The two of them were practically living together.
Actually, they were the one couple she knew that seemed made for each other.
“So you’re not sleeping with him?”
“No. Why would I be?” Liberty asked Poppy.
“Because it seemed like the kind of the thing you’d say to Merle. I’ll shag you if you help me. ”
Liberty shook her head and smiled. “Yeah, well he beat me to the punch.”
“He asked you for sex?” Sera sounded slightly shocked.
“No, for a favor.”
“A sexual one?” Poppy asked.
“Pop, do you need to get laid? Not everything is about sex,” Liberty said.
“Maybe. Everything with Alistair is making me nuts. We are divorced. Also, we’ve been chatting online...”
“What?”
“Why?”
Liberty and Sera exclaimed at the same time.
“Never mind that. What did Merle ask for?”
“That I join his D she was using their advice and friendship as guidance.
And Merle... He was like a protection spell.
Which was ridiculous because she didn’t need anyone to protect her from anything.
She had to deal with Nan on her own.
She took a deep breath and went into the office.
“Thank you for coming down so quickly, Liberty.”
“No problem. What’s going on?”
“She was agitated earlier and we had to use some medicine to calm her down. She’s sleeping now, but she said she had a vision and needed to talk to both you and your mom. When we asked her what it was about, she just mumbled stuff that made no sense. I’m not sure if seeing you will calm her down or not.”
Nan had visions before she’d started living in the care home. The stronger they were, the more emotions that were tied to them. While not always entirely accurate, there was always more than a kernel of truth to them. “I’d like to see her.”
“She’s calmer now. If you’d like I’ll take you down to her room,” the doctor said.
Liberty nodded. When they stepped out into the hall, she automatically held out her hand and Merle grabbed it again. They followed the doctor to Nan’s room and when they stepped inside, Nan peered up from the bed. Her blue eyes were cloudy and unfocused.
“Liberty, is that you, girl?”
“It’s me, Nan.”
“You got a man with you?”
“Yes, this is Merle. You know him from the shop,” she said.
“That’s right. The boy who watches you with hungry eyes,” Nan said with a laugh. “The hot one you pretend not to notice.”
“Yeah. That one.”