Collards & Cauldrons

by Bella Falls

  Gia zoomed over in a wake of purple dust and hugged me about my neck. “I hope the next time we see each other it will be for friendlier reasons. Ciao, bella.”

  “Ciao, Gia.” I did my best to imitate her accent and failed.

  Once we got on the road, I settled into the backseat and closed my eyes.

  “You okay, Charli?” Matt asked, checking on me in the rearview mirror.

  We drove over a pothole and my left hand bounced until my pinky touched Mason’s. He glanced at me, his eyes sparkling with care and a little mischief. His pinky hooked through mine and held on.

  “I will be,” I promised.

  Epilogue

  It took me more than a week to recover from Charleston and my visit to the Angel Oak. My friends and family insisted on visiting and feeding me at all hours of the day. The barn became the only place I could hide from their incessant attention since nobody believed me when I told them I was fine.

  I fed another carrot to the baby unicorn, who I swear had grown bigger in the short time we were gone. It nuzzled my palm, searching for more goodies. The hair of its mane turned from pink to purple.

  “That’s a nifty trick you can do, sweetie,” I crooned at the mythical creature. “But I don’t have any more carrots for you.”

  The unicorn snorted a huff and offered me its head to rub instead. Careful of its horn, I scratched between her ears.

  “I knew you’d be out here.” Matt’s voice echoed off the wooden walls of the barn. “If you’re playing hide and seek, then you’re not doing it right, standing out in the open like that.”

  “I’m not hiding, exactly. I just needed a little breathing room,” I explained.

  My brother wrinkled his nose. “And you wanted to breathe here?” He patted Rayline’s back and bounced her in his arms.

  “Don’t talk to me about strange smells.” I pointed a finger at my niece’s bottom. “What comes out of there isn’t exactly rose petals.”

  “Oh, I know. She blew out her diaper the other day.” Matt closed his eyes at the memory. “It took me ages to clean everything up.”

  I took my niece from him and cradled her in my arms, trying hard not to shake her too much from my laughter. “Did you poo all over your daddy?” I held up her hand and gave her a tiny high-five. “Good job, Junior.”

  My brother opened his mouth and I could tell by his expression he wanted to ask if I was okay. I held up my hand to stop him.

  “First, don’t ask. Second, seriously, don’t ask. Third, I’m really fine. And yes, it’s truly awesome that my talents have been coming back. But no, I haven’t heard from Abigail. Does that cover it all?” I challenged.

  Matt regarded me for an extra moment before giving in. “Got it.”

  The unicorn whinnied and trotted over to visit the baby. Rayline squirmed in my arms until I positioned her so she could sit up and see the funny pony. She reached out with her tiny digits and tried to squeeze around the unicorn’s horn.

  “Uh-uh, gentle, Sunshine.” I pulled Rayline back so the baby wouldn’t tug on the horn or strands of the mane that turned from purple to a bright green.

  The unicorn neighed and leaned her head closer with slow deliberation, allowing the baby to touch her. Rayline squealed with delight and drooled.

  “I think they might be each other’s soul mates,” I marveled.

  Matt leaned on the pen. “I can’t believe my daughter has a unicorn for a friend.”

  “We really should name her,” I suggested. “Nobody should be nameless for too long, and if we wait for your daughter to be able to speak, the name might end up something dumb like Da-da.”

  “Hey,” Matt complained, smacking my arm. “I can’t wait for her to say Da-da.”

  Holding the baby prevented me from hitting him back, so I kicked him in the shin instead. “It’ll get confusing if you and the unicorn are both Da-da.”

  “You’ve got a point,” he conceded. “It should be something cute, like Dazzle or Twinkle or Bubbles.”

  I wrinkled my nose. “It won’t be small forever. Maybe something more dignified like Opal or Pearl.”

  “She’s not jewelry.” Matt pondered more choices. “How about something special like Splendor. Or Stardust. Or Glamory.”

  “Is that a word?”

  “I don’t know,” he admitted. “But it sounds unique.”

  We came up with names based on food such as Pickles and Waffles and Ice Cream but dismissed those as too silly.

  The unicorn backed away and shimmied for a second, its multi-colored tail lifting away from its body. With a nicker, she farted, and a cloud of rainbow sparkles sprayed out of her behind. Rayline giggled, and the creature neighed with happiness, trotting around her pen and returning for the baby to pet her again.

  Matt stood with a dropped jaw. “If I hadn’t seen it, I wouldn’t believe it.”

  “Me neither.” I nudged his mouth closed with my finger. “I think she just named herself.”

  “What? Rainbow Sparkles?” my brother asked.

  Kissing the top of my niece’s head, I breathed in that yummy baby scent. “If only you tooted like that, Junior.”

  “Oh, this little one does not produce rainbows. Trust me,” Matt exclaimed.

  The unicorn whinnied her approval and I stroked her ever-changing mane. “You like your name, Rainbow Sparkles?”

  She shook her hair out and stomped on the floor of the stall.

  “How about just Sparkles?” I asked.

  The unicorn nodded its head, and I handed the baby back to my brother to keep my niece from getting speared by the horn.

  “Sparkles it is.” Matt held Rayline up. “Sparkles, I’d like you to formally meet your friend Rayline. We call her Sunshine.”

  “Or Junior,” I quipped.

  “Don’t ruin the introductions,” my brother complained. “Sunshine, this is Sparkles.”

  Matt and my niece stayed in the barn until Rayline created a smelly reason for him to return to the house to change her diaper. Left alone, I talked to the unicorn by myself.

  I detected Mason’s presence before he spoke. “You here to check in on me, too?”

  “No. I came over to see you and ran into your brother. He told me where you were.”

  “Tattletale,” I murmured with a sigh, pushing off the fence of the stall.

  Mason joined me in watching the unicorn. “He also told me you’d come up with a name. Rainbow Sparkles?”

  “Just Sparkles. If you stand here long enough, you might find out how we came up with the moniker.” The image of the unicorn raising her tail and aiming her behind at the detective tickled me, and I giggled.

  “What’s so funny?” Mason asked.

  “Stand here long enough and you might find out,” I repeated, snickering. “Why were you coming over to see me if you weren’t checking on me.”

  The detective breathed out a long sigh. “Fine. Maybe I was. But I had something else I wanted to talk to you about.”

  I ruffled Sparkles’ mane, focusing on her instead of the butterflies flitting around in my stomach. “Go ahead.”

  “This might sound crazy, but ever since we came back from Charleston, I’ve been having odd dreams,” he started.

  “Like what?” I pressed.

  “Well, in most, I’m flying through the air.”

  “That’s not that strange. You are an expert in flying a broom.” Something I’d been adamant I wouldn’t do again anytime soon.

  He rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah, but when I’m flying, I’m not alone.”

  Chills ran down my body and the hair on my arms stood up. “Mm-hmm?”

  Mason took a beat before continuing. “I’m sure that it’s you who’s sitting in front of me. I have my arms wrapped around to hold onto the handle in front of you.”

  My breath hitched. The detective wasn’t dreaming. He was remembering.

  “And that’s all you dream about? Flying on a broom with me?” I didn’t want to push him too hard f
or fear it might shatter the tiny bubble of hope growing in my chest.

  “No.” Mason placed his warm hand over mine. “The visions of flying remain, but I see more than just where we’re headed. I see things that can’t come from me. They’re from you. Like knowing how it was for you growing up in your family. And experiencing what it’s like when you work your magic.”

  A squeal of excitement rose in my throat, but I choked it down. “That sounds different, but not odd.”

  “Why?” he asked. “I know you know the answer.”

  I allowed myself to look at him. His eyes pleaded with me to tell him the truth. “Because those aren’t dreams. They’re your memories. We flew together several times on your broom. And while we did, we shared our magic, which allowed barriers between us to break. You shared some of your experiences with me as I did with you. Out of all the people in the world, you were the one who understood me fully. Until…”

  “Until my memories of you were stripped from me,” Mason finished. “And after our visit to the Angel Oak, they’re coming back?”

  I opened my mouth to tell him yes but lacked the confidence to know for certain. “I can’t promise that.”

  He squeezed my hand and let go. “I know. But whether or not I’ll recover whatever happened between us or if it only comes in my dreams, I know that whatever exists between us?” Mason turned to face me. “I’m not afraid of it.”

  “Really?” I took a step back. “Because, sweet honeysuckle iced tea, I sure am.”

  A barrage of questions flooded into my head. What if he remembered but he’d changed his mind? What if he never remembered and we just remained friends? Too many what if’s clouded my vision until he reached out and brushed my hair away from my face.

  “Charli,” he uttered, cradling my face. “Be scared if you want. I’ll be brave for both of us.” He leaned closer until his breath blew across my skin.

  My eyes fluttered in anticipation, and I started to close them until the unicorn nickered and raised its tail.

  “Oh, no.” Despite knowing what was coming, I couldn’t stop watching.

  With an undignified sound, a glittering rainbow cloud erupted from the creature’s behind, ruining Mason’s and my moment.

  “Huh. Sparkles. Now I get the name.” He sighed and placed his forehead against mine, stroking my cheek with his thumb. “To be continued,” he breathed out.

  “Let’s go inside and I’ll pour you some sweet tea,” I offered, gripping his hand in mine.

  “Lead the way.”

  We left Sparkles with waves and promises to return. The afternoon sun warmed me, but not as much as the hope of combining the past and the present with Mason did. There was still a lot of healing left, and I couldn’t predict where we’d end up.

  On my way to the house, I couldn’t help but think about Abigail. I’d waited to hear from her that she was okay. Every day, I checked my mailbox and searched around my house for a hidden note. Once I got ahold of her address, I could mail her the gifts I’d bought at the market in Charleston as a reminder of what we’d started together. In another week or so, I would enlist everyone’s help to try and track her down if she didn’t send me word.

  Our first meeting hadn’t gone well, but I knew in my gut we’d see each other again. Her willing sacrifice to try and keep me away from whatever problems she knew my blood relatives could bring to me, she’d earned her spot in my chosen family. And as my family, I would risk a lot to protect her. Even if that meant I cut out the rest of those related to me by blood.

  While Mason and I drank sweet tea and rocked on my porch in companionable silence with Biddy and Peaches in our midst, it felt like both of us waited at a crossroads to find out which way things would turn. As Mama Lee said, what fun would life be without a few surprises? I hoped the detective would be a part of at least some of them in my future.

  “Are we good?” he asked between creaks of our rocking chairs.

  I smiled and gazed out at the horizon. “We will be.”

  Dear Reader -

  Thanks so much for reading Collards & Cauldrons! If you enjoyed the book (as much as I did writing it), I hope you’ll consider leaving a review!

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  Southern Charms Cozy Mystery Series

  Magic and mystery are only part of the Southern Charms of Honeysuckle Hollow…

  Suggested reading order:

  Chess Pie & Choices: Prequel

  Moonshine & Magic: Book 1

  Lemonade & Love Potions: A Cozy Short

  Fried Chicken & Fangs: Book 2

  Sweet Tea & Spells: Book 3

  Barbecue & Brooms: Book 4

  Collards & Cauldrons: Book 5

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  Flea Market Magic: Book 1

  Sassy witch, Ruby Mae Jewell, uses her savvy know-how to find a good bargain and her elemental magic of fire to search for objects and relics imbued with magical powers to keep them out of mortal hands. Of course, in her quests, she faces murders, mysteries, and mayhem!

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  Acknowledgments

  I usually save thanking my supportive husband until the very end, but for this book, I want to put him front and center. I truly appreciate the encouragement and patience you give to allow me to live out my dream. You deserve many home cooked meals to make up for the nights you have to eat leftovers.

  To my group of writer friends who are located far and wide: thanks for getting together in person once in a while and reminding me that having a community is what makes us better!

  Special thanks go to my plot sisters, Danielle Garrett and Melanie Summers, who gave up lots of their time to help me work through my story, and to my other coffee coven members, Tegan Maher and Cate Lawley for pushing me with writing sprints.

  And finally, a big thank you to my readers, especially my reader group members, the Southern Charmers! Not only do you help me do cool things like name unicorns but you also make sure to keep me on track and ready to share more stories with you. Thanks for reading!

  About the Author

  Bella Falls grew up on the magic of sweet tea, barbecue, and hot and humid Southern days. She met her husband at college over an argument of how to properly pronounce the word pecan (for the record, it should be pea-cawn, and they taste amazing in a pie). Although she’s had the privilege of living all over the States and the world, her heart still beats to the rhythm of the cicadas on a hot summer’s evening.

  Now, she’s taken her love of the South and woven it into a world where magic and mystery aren’t the only Charms.

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