Witch Reborn Box Set: Books 1-3: Includes Gemstone Coven Holiday Shorts 1 & 2
Page 15
In fact, she seemed downright worried.
I just didn’t get it. If Tory stood to inherit a bloody fortune, wouldn’t the woman be happy about that? The girl could have the best of things, go to the best of schools, live the best life money could buy. What was I not seeing here?
Maybe inviting Orville to go with us might not have been such a great idea after all. I’d need to make sure I could get a little time alone with Callie too. There were questions I had that she might feel better answering if the sheriff wasn’t standing right beside me.
Too late for that now. I’d just have to improvise. Besides, a night out of the house would do us all good. Of course, I’d have to find a way to make it up to Bridget. She’d be fine on her own for no longer than we’d all be gone. But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t make my life miserable when I got back.
The bird was family, and she knew it. She didn’t take kindly to being left behind. But taking her with us... well, that wasn’t going to happen.
After dessert—a simple dish of ice cream tonight as I’d put all my remaining stamina into the meal itself—we drug out a kid-friendly board game. Another rousing adventure with Dinosaurs, Chutes, and Ladders it was. Orville turned out to be really good at it. And the fact that he made his little dinosaur come to life with every move had the kids in stitches.
Have I said lately how much I love my man?
He saved the real kicker of the evening, though, until he was ready to leave. “Walk me out to my car?”
I looked at him. A request like that was one thing in the spring, summer, and fall. It was quite another in the dead of winter. But with that came the fact that he had to have a reason to ask, which meant I couldn’t exactly turn him down.
“Let me grab my coat.”
We walked out to his car, parked out front right by my own. He opened the passenger side door and reached in to pick up a newspaper on the seat. “Thought you might find the social news part of today’s paper especially interesting.”
He handed me the paper and then bent down to kiss me. I saw the curtain in the living room’s window twitch. We had a watcher. I tried to turn my head to take the kiss on the cheek, but Orville wasn’t having it. He took my face between both his big, strong hands and planted one right on my lips.
Then he looked down at me. “I’m getting tired of hiding our feelings, Opal. Besides, be honest, do you really think we have anyone here fooled?”
I swallowed and glanced back at the window. This was something that we would have to have a long talk about, but not tonight. It was too bloody cold out here, and I’d had far too long of a week to go into it now.
“You know how I feel about this, Orville, but I’ll think about it. That’s the best I can give you right now.”
“Well, if that’s your best, then I guess I’ll take it.” He paused ever so slightly. “For now.”
Then he got into his car and waved to me before backing out of the drive. Why did love have to be so complicated?
The kiss and the brief conversation had distracted me so much that I almost forgot the newspaper I was holding. Once I got inside, I unfolded it to the social section.
Right there in the primary spot was an engagement announcement. Maude Fontaine was getting married.
Who to, you ask?
Why, to none other than the family attorney, one Theodore Kramer. And just like that, things got even more interesting.
THE CHECK-IN TIME AT the Golden Daze was at three in the afternoon, but I kind of figured Callie would be okay if we got there on the early side. After all, this was a playdate too.
I let the kids pack up some of their favorite toys to keep them occupied and to share with Tory. When I saw the size of the bag they ended up with, though, I put my foot down. “Nope. Not gonna happen, guys. Trim that down a lot. You can take one game, and two toys each. And try to pick something a four-year-old would like.”
Frowning, I saw the corner of the magic kit sticking up. “And no magic kit. That’s for here only.” The last thing in the world I wanted to do was have an incident at Callie’s that left the place smelling like a dead rat gone missing.
Mason looked almost in tears. “But I got to practice. I can’t get good if I don’t practice.”
I knelt down in front of him to make our eyes on an even level. “That’s true. But in order to make the practice really count, you have to take breaks too. Today is a break day. I promise it won’t hurt your career as a magician one bit.” I hesitated. “And you can bring your cards to show Orville and Callie your card trick if you want.”
His eyes lit up, and he darted back into his room. One crisis averted.
I stood back up, far easier said than done, to find Kimberly standing in her apartment’s doorway watching me. “You’re really good with him.”
I shrugged. “He’s a good kid. You’ve done a good job raising him.”
Her eyes went to the door of the kid’s space. “I’ve tried my best, that’s for sure. It wasn’t always easy, but we made it this far.”
“Yup. And now you don’t have to worry about having to do it all on your own. You’ve got me.”
She smiled at me. It looked like she wanted to say something, but baby Pearl gave a cry from behind her. “Looks like someone’s ready to get up from her nap.”
Kimberly went to tend the baby, and I went in to supervise the kids' repacking chore. By one o’clock, we were all ready to head out. There was no way we would fit all of us into one, single vehicle. Especially with luggage involved. So, the plan was to meet up at the bed and breakfast around check-in. Sue me if I was planning to get there a bit earlier than that.
The trouble was, I wasn’t the only one that had that idea. Maybe something in my demeanor last night had given my plan away. Or just maybe Orville had wanted a little time to talk with Callie on his own too. Either way, we pulled into the small parking lot just as he was getting out of his car.
“Hmm,” he said. “I thought we were meeting here around three?”
I met his gaze, stare for stare. “Yes. So did I.”
Kimberly and the kids were busy taking the bags out of the trunk, so luckily it was just me and Orville. He scrubbed his chin.
“Don’t suppose there’s any chance you’d let me have a one-on-one conversation with the owner?”
“Considering that I’m the reason you even know about her, what do you think?”
He blew out a breath. “Well, I had to ask.”
“Agreed. No harm, no foul there.” I hesitated. “She seemed rather concerned when I said you were coming, just so you know. Take it real easy on her, okay? I don’t know why, but I think she’s scared.”
He glanced at the kids and Kimberly, his eyes lingering on Nancy. “I think maybe I know one thing that might be the cause of that.”
I followed his gaze to Nancy, and it hit me like a ton of bricks. Tory. Callie and Maggie had been friends, not family. As such, Callie most likely had no legal right to Tory. Poor thing. No wonder she was worried.
We went in to find a nervous Callie waiting for us. I wanted nothing more than to give her a hug and tell her things would be okay. But who was I to assure her of that? How did I know what would come to pass? Getting the adoption passed for Nancy to become my daughter had seemed to take forever. And yes, I was on pins and needles the entire time. Nothing like having a prize like that be at stake. I had to figure that Callie felt the same.
I’d seen the affection in her eyes every time she even so much as glanced at young Tory. The love was definitely there.
She didn’t make us wait for the extra time to check-in. “Don’t see the need to make you wait,” she said. “Right now, you’re the only guests I have. February isn’t a huge time for tourism in Michigan, in case you haven’t guessed.”
I glanced around. The place was just as well kept and clean as it had been on my first visit. “I have to ask. What do you do for income in the down months? A place this big can’t be cheap to keep running.”
I felt my eyes widen. “They must. But then Kimberly was telling me your kitchen has the best reputation for a good home-cooked breakfast in town.”
She smiled at me. “I try.”
We all signed into the old-fashioned guest book (well, all the adults, anyway), and then followed Callie down a long hallway. She glanced over her shoulder at me on the way. “I put you all back here for a reason. These two rooms are the most private ones I have. This part of the house was an add-on built right before I bought the place.”
She opened the door and waved for us to go in. “Plus, you said that you wanted two bedrooms, so I thought my little suite would fit the bill nicely.”
I stepped in and almost dropped my bag. The room was gorgeous, and the furniture! Oh, if she ever sold out, I’d be buying up this place’s furnishings in a heartbeat. They wouldn’t last long in my shop either.
The hardwood floor was waxed and buffed to a high, bright finish, the sofas—two of them!—looked soft and comfy, and there was an overstuffed chair that both Orville and I could easily fit into with a standing reading lamp behind it. I could so live here. I love my farmhouse, but dang, this was nice. Maybe it was time to do a little updating back home too.
The one thing I didn’t see, however, was a bed.
Callie stepped in and past me, walking over to a door on the right. “The sofa on the right makes out into a bed if you need it. And the other sofa sleeps quite well for a single person too. This room,” she said as she threw open the door, “has a twin bed and a bunk bed. If the sheriff doesn’t mind downgrading to a twin-size bed, this might be perfect for the boys.”
She nodded to the other side of the room where there was an almost identical door straight across from this one. “That room only has one king-sized bed, but it has loads of floor space, and there is a rollaway bed in the closet if you want to use it. And I have a portable crib that I can bring up for the baby, too, if you like.”
“That would be lovely if it isn’t too much trouble to set up,” Kimberly said. “Otherwise, we have a sleeping basket that I use sometimes at home when I have Pearl in the bed with me.”
“No trouble at all. It only takes a few minutes to set it up, and she’s small enough to fit it still.” Callie smiled into baby Pearl’s bright eyes that were currently taking in everything around her. Nothing much got past baby Pearl. “I’m guessing in another year, that won’t be the case.”
I glanced over at the super-focused baby Pearl. The woman wasn’t wrong. Not that Pearl was fat. Far from it. But she was... long, I guess is what you call babies that aren’t old enough to stand up yet. She was going to be a tall drink of water. Just like the last Pearl was.
Orville looked around the suite. From his expression, I gathered he was just as pleasantly surprised by the accommodations as I was. Callie ran a fine bed and breakfast. It was a shame it wasn’t earning her a profit. It should be.
But then his eyes went from the room to Callie, and I held my breath. I had an unpleasant feeling I knew what was coming next.
I was right.
Chapter 19
“Once we get the children situated, we need to talk,” Orville told her.
The change was instant. She almost wilted right before our eyes.
“I was afraid that might be the case,” she said quietly. “It isn’t often I have guests come to stay here that live in Wind’s Crossing.” She turned away, probably to hide those watery eyes. “Especially when they bring the sheriff along with them.”
Enough was enough. I stepped up beside her and laid my hand on her shoulder for support. “I invited Orville as a close friend of the family. But the fact that he is sheriff does factor in a little. That doesn’t mean this has to end badly. I’ll help you any way I can. You have my word.”
She shook her head and wouldn’t meet my eyes. “Follow me.”
Back down the long hall we went, but we turned down yet another hall into a part of the house I hadn’t previously seen. It didn’t disappoint either.
I’d kind of been wondering where Tory was. Part of me was afraid she’d closeted the girl away with a friend or something for our visit. But that wouldn’t have been too easy to explain to me when one of the main purposes of this visit was to let the kids get to know each other.
The room we ended up in was a large open room with plenty of seating and a large, clear set of sliding glass doors leading out onto a small, but extremely tasteful sunroom. Tory was in the sunroom, happily playing with a dollhouse and all its fixings.
“This area is usually off-limits to Tory when we have paying guests. But when we don’t... well, I don’t see the reason to keep her from it then. She loves that sunroom so.” Her voice hitched just a little there at the end. “Why don’t you kids go and join her? There are a lot of toys in the toy box to choose from.”
Like that would be a problem. I’d seen Nancy’s eyes when they’d lit on that dollhouse. Funny, I’d never even considered getting her one. Until now. I might have missed the Christmas opportunity, but the girl had a birthday coming up soon. It looked like I had more shopping to do.
Once the kids went out to join Tory and the doors were once again closed, Callie wilted even more. She drifted over to a chair and sat heavily before looking to Orville.
“Might as well get this over with,” she said.
Orville pulled a chair over a little closer to her. Well, I say pulled. Actually, it was more like he carried a chair over. Most likely he didn’t want to risk scratching her perfect hardwood floor.
As he was settling in, Kimberly looked at me. “While you all talk, and the kids play... would it be so wrong of me to cut out for a while?”
I smiled at her. “Let me guess. You want to borrow the car while you’re at it, don’t you?”
She blushed and nodded. “If you don’t mind. And if you’re okay with me leaving Pearl and Mason to you and Nancy for an hour or two.”
The sunroom looked like it had plenty of room to spare. “Fine by me. But could you maybe set baby Pearl up in her bouncy seat out there with the other kids? A little sunshine couldn’t hurt her, you know.” Besides, Nancy was more than capable of a little babysitting while we grown-ups had our little chat.
She nodded and hurried to get her set up. We waited until she was on her way out to the car before Orville started in.
“Tory is Malcolm Fontaine’s granddaughter, isn’t she?”
That’s my man, all right. Jumping in with both feet.
A tear leaked from one eye as she turned away. “That has never been proven.”
“But you know it’s true all the same, don’t you?”
She hesitated, but finally gave the nod. After all, a DNA test wouldn’t take long to provide the needed proof. In the meantime, the family resemblance was stunning enough.
“Callie, I don’t understand. If she is Malcolm’s granddaughter then she’ll have money. Real money, not cookbook money. Don’t you want that for her?”
Now the tears started in earnest. “I would think you of all people would understand that there are more important things in life than money, Opal Ravenswind. Like growing up with a loving mother and not a bunch of people that just want you for the money you bring to their bank account.”
Orville shot me a glance. Yeah, like I was the one that had rushed into all this.
“I take it you haven’t formally adopted her?”
She drew in a deep breath. “All the paperwork is done. I’ve been trying to get it formalized for months now. I knew that when Malcolm died, I would risk losing her if anyone found out. I was really hoping he’d give me the time I needed to...”
“Make it official?” I finished for her
.
Callie just nodded. “If it comes out that Tory is an heir to the estate, everyone and their brother will be vying for her. People with a heck of a lot more influence and pull than what an author of cookbooks has. But I can give something none of them can. Stability. Love. I’d be happy if we never saw a dime of that stupid inheritance.”
Yeah, you wouldn’t be the only one, I thought. Maude Fontaine would be pretty darn happy herself. Plus, that new fiancé of hers would be pleased as punch too.
“When Ashley was here, do you know if she ever actually got to see Malcolm?” Orville asked. “Did he know he had a granddaughter?”
“No. I thought maybe he was just being his normal greedy turd self, but Opal got me thinking. I don’t think Malcolm even knew Ashley came to visit him.” She wiped her eyes. “If he had, maybe things wouldn’t have ended the way they did. Maybe poor Tory would still have a mother.”
“I’m going out on a limb here, but you don’t think Ashley’s crash was an accident, do you?”
She sat up straighter, her eyes now filled with anger. “No. I don’t. She was a careful driver, and she never drank more than one drink at a time. And when she drank, she ate.”
“And she never drank Peach Schnapps, did she?” I asked.
Orville gave me an odd look but didn’t say anything. I hadn’t really had the chance to fill him in on everything I’d learned from Gray yet.
Callie shook her head. “She couldn’t stand fruity drinks. She was a whiskey sour kind of gal all the way. Ashley hated sweet drinks.”
“And why is that relevant?” Orville asked. But he was looking at me, not Callie.
“It’s relevant because according to the newspaper article about the crash, the car had an open bottle of Peach Schnapps in the floorboard, and there were stains of where it had fallen onto Ashley’s blouse. Kind of odd, huh? Seeing as how she had only drunk one whiskey sour at the bar while she ate an order of loaded fries and chatted with Gray.”
His eyebrows arched. “There’s that Gray again. It sounds like I need to have a chat with him.”