Chapter 21 An Ambiguous Meeting #2
"I organize events for various groups and help raise funds for local causes."
"That's your job?"
Fae paused, and Tilly watched in fascination as her sister seemed to struggle. "Well, in a sense. It's how I spend my time."
Bess smiled in understanding. "Ah, you're a trophy wife."
"Bess," Ursula reprimanded.
Fae's stiff shoulders stiffened even more. She looked impossibly difficult to move and even she could see that her sister was uncomfortable. Seeing her sister uncomfortable was rare.
"May I use your bathroom?" Fae suddenly stood.
"Uh, yeah. It's inside, third door down the hallway."
Bess shrugged nonchalantly. "What? I didn't say being a trophy wife was bad."
Eloise and Ursula gave her a look.
"I also didn't not say it wa-," Bess said under her breath, but at the same time, and as the last word was leaving her mouth Eloise shoved Bess's sandwich into the teen's mouth garbling her words.
She gave Eloise a wide-eyed stare telling her she couldn't believe she'd done that.
They ate silently for a few minutes until Fae came back with a concerned look on her face.
"There's a tree growing in your bathroom? Like, a real tree."
"Oh," Ursula looked to Eloise as they tried to communicate. The tree only appeared when needed for calm nights and seemed the house was acting up.
Eloise nodded. "The house was built around it. Salem charm, am I right?" She laughed.
Fae frowned.
"So Fae, what brings you to town?" Ursula asked, moving the scene along.
"I hadn't seen my little sister in a while. She never comes to visit." Her smile wasn't joyful or teasing and Tilly held in a deep sigh.
"Work and life keep me busy, Fae." She made sure her tone was carefully curated. Take care of the one not taking any care. That was the rule.
"You think I'm not busy? I'm busier than you," she said with a smile and shake of her head. Poor, silly Tilly.
"Yeah, gotta keep those participation awards shining." Bess smiled widely.
"Why don't we go get coffee started, honey," Ursula said as she stood and pulled on Bess's arm.
Bess's vicious smile did not leave her face as she allowed Ursula to usher her into the kitchen where Tilly imagined she was about to get a speech.
She couldn't decide if she was grateful or disappointed.
She'd spent her entire life ensuring she made the world that Fae walked around as comfortable as she could.
She and Ursula shared that trait; trying to keep peace.
"She is very outspoken," Fae observed.
Eloise tilted her auburn head with a small half smile and said, "Well, she's one of those young women who call it as they see it.
Going to be one hell of a full-grown woman one day.
The world and its insecurities will not be safe.
" Then she speared a piece of grilled peach and closed her teeth around the tines of her gold fork keeping her eyes and slight smile on Fae, who once again shifted in her seat.
Tilly looked down at her lap and smiled.
She should have known that Bess being separated by wood and glass would not keep this space completely at ease.
Where Bess was unfiltered and raw, Eloise had honed that particular character trait over nearly four decades and she had no qualms about offering truth with a little sugar.
Bess was a shot of espresso.
Eloise was a carefully crafted latte. Sometimes you didn't even realize the espresso was there as you swallowed it down.
She loved that about her.
"Hey, ladies. Sorry I'm late."
Jen's long, graceful stride made Tilly immediately smile.
Seeing her dearest friend set off an aggressive happiness that never waned over the years.
"Hey, Fae," she greeted kindly, though Tilly felt the coolness in her voice as she picked up a chair and sat it between Tilly and Fae as Eloise smirked and handed her a glass of wine.
"Hello." She frowned at Jen's closeness.
"Jen," she reminded her.
"Right."
Jen smiled wolfishly. "So, what are we celebrating tonight?"
Fae frowned. "Celebrating?"
"We try and always celebrate something when we're together," Jen explained. "Life tends to be horrific or boring if we don't."
Fae nodded slowly, uncertain by the logic. "If you are always celebrating, then nothing is truly special," she argued.
"Or, every day is filled with a little pocket of special," Jen parried.
"I am celebrating that Bess and Tess helped me paint the inn's kitchen cabinets the most gorgeous light lavender. Completely transformed the too-white kitchen." Tilly lifted her glass and Jen clinked hers against it. "I spent enough of my life before moving here forgetting the good," Tilly added.
Fae rolled her eyes at this and to Tilly's horror replied, "Your entire marriage wasn't bad, Tilly. You act like he beat you."
The thickness of silence was felt around the table. Eloise looked to Jen before her eyes took in an ashen Tilly, her index finger running the rim of her wine glass and eyes cast down to the table.
Tap tap tap went Tilly's other hand against her thigh.
It happened suddenly. One moment, Tilly was watching her sister tread water with these incredible friends and the next, Fae's scream filled the backyard shocking women and the animals until they realized what was happening.
A vine of star jasmine had wrapped itself around her left leg and was now winding around her right in an impressive knot.
"Do something!"
"Right!"
Tilly dove down and placed a hand on the dark shiny leaves feeling a shot of aggravation and protection. She frowned, unsure of what she was feeling, but trying to soothe the plant, rubbing her thumb over the waxy leaves and whispering kind words of comfort. "It's okay. Shhh."
"What are you doing?! Cut it!"
Finally, the vine let her go, unwinding and slinking back until it was again wrapped around the white picket fence and up around the cattle arch with the twinkle lights where the jasmine would later bloom.
"All good!" Tilly stood straight and smiled at her sister who examined her ankle carefully.
"What happened?" Bess asked as she and Ursula came back with a tray of coffee, coffee mugs, and a small casserole dish of what looked like crisp.
By the cinnamon and clove smell, Tilly would bet apple.
"Your weed vine wrapped around my ankle while I was just sitting here."
Ursula looked at Tilly, Jen and Eloise wide-eyed but silent.
"Oh, must not like you."
"Bess," Ursula groaned, her patience having found its limit.
Bess raised her hands in the air with a look of what?
"Would you like coffee or tea, Fae?" Ursula asked brightly.
"No. This, this place is," she shook her head, her eyes looking a little wild.
"There's a rodent acting like a human in the kitchen and you have a tree growing in the bathroom and a vine that-" she held up both hands and caught her breath.
"None of this is okay. You are all insane.
You're just as crazy as the town claims!
God, Tilly, and you're part of this, this.
..coven? Or whatever the hell you freaks are?
" Her eyes were now more than a little wild and her voice was high and scared.
"Fae, we're not, like bad witches. We're," she looked to her friends for help and Jen stepped forward.
"Why don't you sit down? Have some tea?"
"No," a firm shake of her head as she was backing away from them, her hands out in front of her like they were a threat.
"We're not going to hurt you," Tilly said, her eyes imploring. "And we're not doing any of the things that the town is accusing us of."
Fear was replaced by a diferent look in Fae's eyes. Tilly recognized it because it had cut her for years, had tried to tell her who she should be or shouldn't be. Disgust.
"You're a freak, Tilly. You always have been. Mom and Dad put up with how weird you are in the name of family, but we have bent over backwards to make you feel a part of us for you to be ungrateful and now, what, a creepy cosplay witch?"
Oh, the rage. Where it came from, Tilly could not discern because in this moment she felt it churn in her own belly. A rage that must have been there for years.
When she was five and her mother told her not to cry because they had to move and crying was selfish.
When she was twelve and Fae switched their rooms in a weekend because she liked Tilly's window lighting better and their mother did nothing.
Twenty-seven and her mom telling her that husbands don't always treat their wives well.
"Bent over backwards?" she asked, stepping toward Fae. Her voice was controlled, words slow, anger deep. "You guys bent over backwards for me?" Fae's eyebrows dipped when Tilly let out a shrill laugh.
Her friends looked to Jen who watched Tilly with raised eyebrows and hope.
"You guys bullied me. Mom raised me to suppress my emotions so that all of yours could go unchecked.
My anxiety was born in my purple bedroom where it was the only safe place for me to cry and my anxiety took on a voice that sounded like yours because you treated me like I was vermin in our own house.
You spent our childhood scaring me and our adulthood shaming me.
" Tilly walked toward Fae who took a few more steps back but then was stopped abruptly pulling out a gasp by something standing behind her and when she looked, a dog the size of a small pony stood against her back making her look twice until Tilly's voice pulled her attention back.
"You are a narcissist who only cares about yourself and your own interests and I have been the one bending over backwards to make sure you have been taken care of.
Even now, you come to my town, my inn, my magical home and into my coven of friends and accuse me of being a creepy witch?
" She smiled and Fae shrunk back. "Fine," she leaned in.
"I'm no longer an anxiety-ridden little Nguyen, Fae.
And while I'm nothing like you, you need to leave and face the consequences of your sad excuse for a marriage that failed.
I'm not your safe place. You didn't spend the collateral to create a safe space with me over my thirty-seven years, Fae.
What the hell makes you think I'm a place for you to park your shit now?
Leave," she said pointing a strong finger over Fae's shoulder.
"Go to my inn, pack and then leave. And my marriage?
" Tilly closed the distance between them, her voice lowered but powerful.
"You're right. He didn't hit me. Not with his fists.
But he did with his words and his silence and control.
And when I finally worked up the courage to run away with the tiny amount of money I had squirreled away because he liked to take my money too, there was a moment in my car when I thought I wish I could run to my sister.
" Her eyes filled with tears and Fae's eyes wavered for a moment.
"I wish that you had been a safe place for me to run.
But you weren't. You aren't. I created my own family and you will not harm them the way that you harmed me. " She lifted her hand again. "Leave."
All at once the doors and windows of The Lost Souls House whipped open, then slammed shut drawing a scream from Fae as she jumped and toppled over the high back of Casper.
Three raccoons grabbed at her hair as she lay shocked on the ground trying to get her bearings and she flailed her arms wildly when she realized what little hands were touching her, her shrieks loud enough to reach the town center.
"Should we help her?" Eloise asked, head tilted and watching next to the rest of them.
"The coffee is getting cold," Jen replied.
"I hate cold coffee," Ursula said.
"Cold coffee is the worst," Bess agreed.
Tilly smiled and turned with Jen's arm looped through hers as Eloise dished out apple crisp and Bess draped a flannel blanket over Tilly's shoulders, kissed her cheek, and whispered in her ear, "I'm lucky you're one of my creepy witch aunts."
Something loosened at those words.
She didn't turn to watch as Fae ran, the house doing its job making sure she knew she was unwelcome, as were the bushes and plants slapping her along the way.
She ate and drank warm coffee with her family.
Because this was her family.
A well of emotion filled her; deep and solid and so fierce that she knew she would lose the battle against tears, and that was okay. So, she cried happily into her apple clove crisp and laughed as they passed around the honey wine.
The evening turned blustery, a whipping wind that was sharp as rain and darkness covered Salem, ushering them all inside where they found Jenson and Taylor sitting at the island, one cake pan between them and two forks.
Candles were lit and the house was playing rainy day jazz as Sulphur and Georgia sat on the island.
The women in surprise and curiosity closed the door behind them as the storm built.
"We interrupting?" Jen asked.
"You boys having that friendship date finally?" Bess asked with a grin
With the fork halfway to his mouth Jenson said, "The cake is not good. I think we forgot something. But this is nice."
"Yeah, I feel like, no stress. And I had to arrest two people today," Taylor drank from a cat mug and made a face pointing to the chocolate cake. "But that is not edible. And we used icing from a jar."
Jenson licked icing off the fork nodding.
Eloise and Ursula laughed, both hugging their men as everyone else got out mugs and made tea, the kitchen filled with warmth and chatter.
Tilly smiled as she filled strainers with tea; family could be detrimental to one's heart. But this kind of family could heal.