Briar Rose

by Jana Oliver

  I still might.

  Which was at war with everything he’d been told over the years. The Roses are bad people, they’ll hurt you; and yet now he found himself caring for one far more than was sensible.

  As the night wore on and sleep continued to elude him, he’d thought about the moment he’d given Briar the charm bracelet. How he’d wished it had gone differently . . . better somehow. If Daniels hadn’t been there . . .

  If he hadn’t been born a Quinn.

  After Briar had left the party, her cousin had started talking about some curse and, at first, he hadn’t paid much attention.

  ‘We’ll know in the morning if it’s real or not,’ Saralyn had said to one of her friends. ‘I think it’s total crap. Who would put a curse on Briar, anyway? She’s nothing special.’

  Even now he couldn’t believe it. A curse was just crazy talk. Yet he had this gnawing anxiety that something was very wrong, and it had begun at the stroke of midnight. The pressure in his chest still hadn’t let up, even though it was past seven.

  With considerable effort, he forced himself out of bed and chose a clean pair of jeans and a T-shirt from a drawer, though he wasn’t expected at the stables until noon. Out of habit, he gave a tap to the dream catcher suspended from the ceiling, causing it to turn in lazy circles.

  He was stalling, knowing there’d be another inquisition from his mom. It happened nearly every morning when he’d been out the night before. Who had he talked to? What had he done? Had he been anywhere near that Rose girl? That was one question that always came his way.

  Last night he had been very close to that Rose girl, and it was a good bet someone had already blabbed about it. He never understood how his mom heard about such things; it was almost like she had a network of spies watching his every move.

  Joshua sighed as he trudged down the stairs and entered the kitchen. They’d remodelled it the year before and so it was all gleaming stainless steel and granite countertops now. His mother was at the gas stove cooking breakfast, her posture tense, his father hunched over the newspaper at the table. It was clear that things weren’t right between them and had been that way for a long time. It was quieter than normal this morning: his two younger brothers were in North Carolina, at summer camp. They, at least, got some time away.

  Joshua headed for the coffee out of habit. From out on the porch he could hear Kerry eagerly tucking into her own breakfast, her metal dog tags banging against the ceramic bowl with each bite.

  His father looked up and gave him a smile. He appeared older than his thirty-seven years. His hair was the same colour as Joshua’s and he had a quick smile for everyone. Much like Briar’s dad, his job took him on the road more than any of them liked.

  His mother, in contrast, was fair-haired, somewhere between brown and blonde. She used to smile more when he was little, but that had all changed. Most of the time she was pensive, caught up in her own thoughts. None of them were happy.

  ‘You’re up early,’ his father said. ‘How was the party last night?’

  ‘Good,’ Joshua said, dumping a mound of cereal into a bowl. The milk followed. He took his place at the table, setting his phone by the coffee cup.

  ‘Was the Rose girl there?’ his mom asked, not turning round.

  He didn’t reply. It worked better that way.

  ‘Was she?’

  His dad’s eyes met his and the message was passed: just get it over with.

  ‘Yes,’ he replied.

  ‘You talked to her?’

  For some perverse reason, Joshua decided not to hide the truth. ‘Yes, for a little bit.’ His hand shook as he took another sip of coffee, waiting for the repercussions.

  His mom turned, her eyes widening, and he swore he saw fear in them. ‘Did you . . . touch her?’

  ‘No!’ Josh said, annoyed. ‘I didn’t touch her.’ I just gave her a birthday present and I would do it all again just to see her smile.

  His mother joined them at the table. It was then he noticed that her hands were shaking. ‘It’s her birthday,’ she said evenly.

  ‘I know,’ Joshua replied. ‘She’s sixteen, like I’ll be in a couple of weeks.’

  His dad’s eyes moved back and forth between them, as if trying to read between the lines. ‘Then if she’s sixteen now, it’s over. About damned time,’ he said. ‘Maybe now our families can get on with our lives.’

  He dropped the paper in disgust and rose from the table. ‘I’ll be back Tuesday night. I’ve got a meeting in Atlanta, and it’ll run long, so I’ll stay over Monday. I’ll call you guys this evening.’

  He ruffled Joshua’s hair. ‘Hang in there,’ he whispered.

  ‘I’ll try,’ Joshua muttered.

  With a concerned glance at his son, his father was out of the door and headed towards his car. It was as if he couldn’t leave fast enough.

  Joshua began to count down from ten, waiting for his mother to take the next step, to do the full inquisition. Instead, her face grew pale and her hands shook harder.

  ‘What’s wrong? Are you sick? Do you want me to get Dad to come back?’

  ‘No. It’s . . . just so hard.’

  ‘What’s hard?’ he asked.

  It wasn’t as if she was listening. ‘I’m relieved, but that’s wrong and I know it. I’m so confused. I can’t imagine what Franklin and she are going through right now.’

  Briar’s parents?

  His mother wasn’t making much sense, but she hadn’t for a long time. As he’d grown older, he’d come to realize there was a Before Mom and an After Mom. Before that day he’d nearly drowned in the river, she’d been fun, full of laughter and love. After? She was afraid, scared about everything that had to do with the Rose family. No matter how many times he’d asked, she’d never tell him why.

  As he’d recuperated that summer after his time in the river, she wouldn’t let him out of the house for weeks on end, even refused to let Briar visit him. When he’d finally returned to school, she’d gone to his teachers and told them something that had made them treat him differently from all the other kids. It had all centred on the Roses’ only child.

  ‘Mom, what’s going on? Why are you like this? Briar isn’t some demon. She’s just . . . a girl.’ A pretty one with bright eyes and a great smile. Not that he saw it that often.

  His mother’s eyes were full of tears now. ‘There was this curse. It was one of those hoodoo things. It was put on you when you were born.’

  Joshua’s heart skipped a beat. It can’t be . . . ‘A real curse?’

  His mother nodded. ‘You were supposed to die on your sixteenth birthday.’

  ‘So I’m like . . . dead in a couple of weeks?’ he asked, blindsided.

  ‘No, not now,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘Lily, Mrs Foster, that old hoodoo lady, said the curse left you when . . . you were in the river. When you almost . . .’

  ‘Died. Yeah, I got that part. No one ever lets me forget it,’ he snapped. ‘But what does that have to do with Briar?’

  His mother wiped the tears from her puffy eyes. ‘When you stopped breathing, Lily said the curse moved to Briar, because she was holding your hand.’

  This was so fantastical he couldn’t even wrap his mind around it. ‘Come on, that’s totally bogus.’

  ‘No. Lily called me this morning to let me know that the curse took hold last night. Briar is . . .’

  Dead? No way. She can’t be.

  ‘You are so lying!’

  ‘No,’ she whispered, ‘I’m not.’

  Not trusting his mom’s sanity, he texted Reena.

  Is it true? is there really a curse?

  His eyes met his mother’s brimming gaze. If she was right . . .

  The text pinged on to his phone. it’s for real.

  ‘Oh my God.’ The chair fell over as he shoved away from the table, his hand clenched round his phone. ‘Oh God, no.’

  ‘I’m so sorry, son,’ his mother said, touching his arm now. ‘That’s why I kept you away from
her, why I was so . . . insistent about it. I was afraid that somehow that curse would come back on you somehow. Then you’d be . . .’

  Dead.

  ‘Who . . . did this?’ he whispered. Who hurt her? Who took her away just when . . .

  ‘It’s not important,’ his mother said, reaching out to soothe him. He flinched away. ‘God, I’m sorry, but you’re alive, son. That’s all that matters to me right now.’

  He stared at her, seeing this woman in a different light for the first time. Not crazy, but a mother, one that would shed tears for someone else’s child, but still rejoice that hers was alive.

  His phone dinged again.

  We need to talk. Meet me @ bandstand in an hr.

  ‘Why didn’t you try to stop this, have Lily break the curse?’ he demanded.

  ‘She tried years ago. It didn’t work. But don’t you see? At least now you’re safe.’ Her eyes were brighter now. ‘Now you’ll grow up and have kids of your own and—’

  With a sharp cry of despair, Joshua barrelled out of the side door.

  It was hard to saddle Arabella and talk on his cellphone at the same time. His balance was off, as if something inside him was missing.

  ‘Reena? It’s Joshua,’ he blurted out. ‘Tell me she’s not . . . Tell me this is all some damn sick joke.’

  ‘It’s not a joke.’

  Joshua lost the grip on the saddle blanket and it tumbled out of his hands. Backing up, he bumped into one of the barn supports and slid down the pole until he hit the ground beneath. There wasn’t enough air to breathe, like when he’d nearly drowned. Arabella turned her head in his direction, as if to wonder if he was ill or something.

  ‘Josh?’

  ‘Tell me what happened,’ he said, feeling the sting of tears. ‘Tell me how she died.’

  ‘What? No, she’s not dead, she’s . . . asleep. But we don’t know if she’s ever going to wake up.’

  Briar is still alive? He uttered a silent prayer of thanks.

  ‘But I thought—’

  ‘She fought the curse somehow. It was a close thing. Real close.’

  Joshua closed his eyes to bottle up the tears. Kerry nudged him and he laid his head on her shoulder.

  ‘You there?’ Reena asked.

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘I’m so sorry, Josh. I know how much you care for her.’

  ‘I’ll see you at the bandstand.’

  The phone went silent.

  ‘She’s alive,’ he said, and the collie thumped her tail as if she approved.

  Joshua rose and hurriedly saddled the horse, the tears at bay now. Reena would tell him the truth. Only then would he know what to do, how to bring Briar back to them.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Joshua tied his horse to a post near the town’s bandstand, his fingers stiff and hard to work. The mare took full advantage of the location, leaning her head down to graze on a patch of grass while Kerry, a stick magnet if there ever was one, had already found a likely candidate. She trotted it up to him and he mechanically gave it a toss to keep her occupied.

  It was close to nine in the morning now and Bliss’s residents were going about their business. In some ways, that irritated him – Briar had nearly died last night, but you wouldn’t know it here. Across the street Mr Dale, the pharmacist, entered his shop, his hands full of boxes. Next door, the restaurant was open and the smell of bacon hung in the air.

  Who cursed me? Somebody here in town?

  Joshua refused to believe that. There were a number of squirrelly characters in this place, but for the most part people liked his family, at least when his mom wasn’t raising hell about the Roses. Still, the curse had to come from someone who knew them. Strangers didn’t bother with stuff like that.

  After a few more stick retrievals, Kerry curled up at his feet, panting, reminding him he’d have to find her water pretty soon. Leaning back against the tree trunk, he stared up into the branches, too many dark thoughts tumbling through his mind for such a sunny day.

  He heard the slam of a car door, then Reena walked across the grass towards him, causing Kerry to thump her tail in greeting. From the way his friend moved, she hadn’t slept any better than he had. She slumped in the grass next to him.

  ‘When did you find out about the curse?’ she asked.

  ‘This morning. My mom dropped that bit of news on me over breakfast.’

  ‘Ouch. I found out last night, at the party.’

  He looked at her, his temper flaring. ‘And you didn’t tell me? I thought you were my friend.’

  ‘I wanted to, but Lily wouldn’t let me. She said it’d only mess things up worse.’

  ‘That’s debatable.’

  She broke off a blade of grass and began to tear it into thin strips. ‘You know what happened, I mean, at the river, with you and Briar?’

  ‘Mom said I was cursed, then I died, and Briar got it next.’

  Reena nodded. ‘Lily knew something had happened between the two of you, but it took a while for her to figure it out. Then she told your mom and tried to break the curse. It didn’t budge.’

  ‘Which is why my mom was so fanatical that I should stay away from Briar. Not to touch her.’

  ‘Yeah, Lily wasn’t sure if the curse could go back – you had to die for it to move across the first time, but she didn’t want to take any chances.’

  He didn’t like that very much. ‘Does Briar know it came from me?’

  ‘No.’

  That, at least, was good news. ‘Who did this?’

  ‘I . . .’ Reena sighed. ‘I can’t tell you that.’

  ‘All this damned secrecy doesn’t work for me. I need to know!’ he stormed.

  She glared at him. ‘You have no idea what you’re messing with here. Hell, I don’t and that scares me. This trick is off the rails, and blaming folks just gives this thing more power, do you understand?’

  ‘How can a death curse get any worse?’

  ‘It can, so that’s all you’re going to get from me. Down the line, if Briar makes it, I’ll tell you, but not until then. That’s Lily’s orders and I won’t cross her.’

  ‘You know, that old lady is starting to piss me off,’ Joshua said, glowering at her. ‘Who is she to tell us what to do?’

  A deep frown settled on Reena’s face. ‘I’m going to ignore what you just said. You’re upset. So am I. Let’s not make this a personal battle, OK?’

  ‘I’m just . . .’ Joshua shook his head. ‘I don’t know what I feel right now.’

  ‘Same here,’ she said, gently touching his arm. ‘Last night was . . . hell.’

  ‘Oh, God.’ That was what he’d felt, that deep emptiness, as if some of his own life had faded away with Briar. Maybe it had.

  ‘I was sure she was gone,’ Reena whispered, ‘then she fought the curse, hard, and that’s why she’s not dead. I’m hoping that means she might come back to us some day.’

  ‘That’s possible?’ he asked. ‘Please say yes.’ Even if it’s a lie.

  ‘Lily thinks if Briar can break the curse she’ll wake up again.’

  ‘Is there anything I can do to help?’ Reena shrugged at that, which made him feel useless. Kerry nuzzled his hand and he petted her silky head. ‘Now that I look back, I’m guessing my dad knew about this, but I don’t think he believed it was true.’

  ‘Like Mr Rose, then,’ she said. ‘He didn’t accept it until Gran showed up at his door last night.’

  ‘I swear, if I’d known I had a curse in me, I never would have gone anywhere near Briar,’ he said.

  ‘If you hadn’t tried to save her, she would have died that day too,’ Reena replied. ‘You forget, I was there when they pulled you guys out. She didn’t let go of your hand until they started CPR. She willed you to live, Joshua.’

  ‘That worked out well for her, didn’t it?’ he said bitterly.

  ‘You gave her a few more years.’

  ‘So I could kill her now? That’s no comfort,’ he said, his anger ramping up again. But
who was to blame? His mom? She only wanted to protect him. No, the person who deserved his fury was whoever had cursed him in the first place. Some day he’d learn who that was, and he’d make sure he or she paid for it.

  Joshua exhaled heavily, placing his arms on his knees and leaning forward. ‘So we just wait and hope she gets better?’ He shook his head even before Reena could answer. ‘What if I talk to your great-gran? Do you think I can convince her to help us?’

  ‘It didn’t work for me, but I guess you can try.’ Reena rose to her feet and dusted off her jeans. ‘If she doesn’t change her mind, I have an idea.’

  ‘Whatever it is, I want to be part of it. I want to make this right.’

  She studied him for a moment. ‘Don’t blame yourself. This is not your fault, Josh.’

  ‘I know,’ he replied, though he was lying.

  It is my fault. He felt it deep in his bones. I have to make it right.

  When Joshua brought the mare to a stop in front of the old cabin, a couple of guinea hens trotted off into the woods, raising a holy ruckus as they disappeared into the underbrush. Joshua had always thought the things were God’s idea of an inside joke, nothing more than round feather-covered balls with stubby legs.

  A caramel-coloured hound raised its head from the porch and gave a single deep woof. Then it lay back down, its job done.

  After Reena’s car pulled into the drive, he dismounted and joined her.

  ‘Why does your gran live out here all alone?’ he asked.

  ‘That’s the way she wants it. We keep trying to get her to move in with us, but she won’t do it and she won’t go into one of those “dying places” either. That’s what she calls a nursing home. We check on her every day and hope for the best.’

  ‘But is it safe for her? I mean . . . someone could rob the place or something. It’s out in the middle of nowhere.’

  ‘Most folks aren’t that dumb,’ Reena said. ‘If they are, they’ll find themselves in a world of hurt. Of all the people in this county, you do not want my gran mad at you. Root magic is for real, and it can do a lot of harm if needed.’

  ‘Really. I hadn’t noticed,’ he said sullenly.

  Reena sighed. ‘I know you’re upset, but park that attitude out here. Lily doesn’t take any crap from anyone, not even me.’