by Mona Marple
Violet followed the progress of the trial in breaks from her shifts at Screamin’ Beans Coffee House, where she had progressed from back of house to waitressing. She wasn’t allowed to call it waitressing in front of Ellie, of course.
Old Man River had remained loyal to the end. He’d refused to give a statement to the police, even though he knew that Dusty had visited his caravan that night to silence him with death. Old Man River wasn’t scared of death in any event. He’d been to war and seen plenty of death, and then he’d had a farm and seen plenty of death there too. What mattered to Old Man River was loyalty. He’d been loyal to the men who kept him on at that circus long after he stopped being useful. His conscience let him sleep at night.
Glory sold the circus for an inflated price because of the media attention around Rufus’ death. The place had been soured for her and she could never recover from that. She had no idea where she would go, or what she would do. She had many skills, most of them geared towards illegal activity, and the thought of a new adventure appealed to her.
Frances Hampton remained with the circus. The new owners were even more hands-off than Dusty had been, which suited her fine. She sold the tickets and went back to her van to read and fuss Zoey, who had started watching cat videos on the TV and was getting closer to the perfect meow. She still planned to retire to East Kentucky, but she was in no hurry. She’d even started chatting to one of the Three Bearded Brothers - Josh or Jonah or was it Johannes? - and although it freaked her out how his mouth was kind of hidden under all of that facial hair, his voice was thick like velvet.
Ellie had passed her night school module. The tricky spell that she struggled to pronounce had finally made sense to her, and she had signed up for the next year. She had started using magic in silly ways through the day, when no customers were watching.
She had set the broom to sweep the coffee shop after closing a few days after Dusty’s trial finished. She was in a hurry to get out and head across to Violet’s, where an intimate farewell do for Glory would take place.
Ellie turned up with cherry pie as her offering, and greeted Glory and Violet with hugs.
“How are you feeling?” Ellie asked.
Glory grinned. Her dreadlocked hair was piled on top of her head and her eyes were outlined with thick layers of black kohl. “Okay, I guess.”
“She’s dreadfully excited to get the heck out of this dump,” Violet said. She appeared with her hands, and face, dotted with paint. The place really was a dump, Ellie noticed. “We’re practicing spells. Glory’s a natural.”
“Of course,” Ellie said with a smile.
“I’m really not!” Glory argued. “That’s why this place is so messy. I keep trying to move objects but the spell breaks and they… well, they break.”
“Minimalism is so in right now anyway,” Violet said with a bat of her hand. “Come in, come in. Tea? Coffee? Mimosa?”
Ellie laughed. It was so good to see Violet acting like a mother hen. She would miss Glory terribly when she left.
“A mimosa sounds awful nice,” Ellie accepted. “Where are you heading off to, Glory?”
“I don’t know yet,” Glory admitted.
Violet eyed her. “You told me you had it all planned.”
“Well, yeah, I guess I dragged my heels on making plans.”
“You know, dear, you have a home here for as long as you want,” Violet said.
“I couldn’t impose,” Glory said.
“Yes you could!” Ellie exclaimed.
“You’re family, it wouldn’t be imposing. This is your home.”
“Really?” Glory asked. Her nose crinkled with excitement. “Maybe I could stay a while longer?”
“You’ll stay forever!” Violet said. “If you want to, I mean.”
Glory smiled, her eyes filled with tears, and nodded. Violet pulled her into a hug. “Then it’s done. And maybe you can take over some of my shifts at the coffee house? You’d be a fabulous waitress.”
“Barista!” Glory and Ellie exclaimed at the same time, and the three of them burst into a fit of laughter.
THE END
Continue your visit to Mystic Springs with the four book box set or the next in series, New Year in Mystic Springs!
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New Year in Mystic Springs
A Mystic Springs Paranormal Cozy Mystery
Copyright © 2020 by Mona Marple
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
As an author, I rely on the help of readers to spot those pesky typos that sneak through on each book. Thank you to Nadine Peterse-Vrijhof, Barbara Makuch, Roxx, Trisha J Kelly and Darla for your help tracking them down in this book!
For Coco:
How lucky I am to have a puppy like you.
You ask for nothing other than my love. You want nothing but to be close to me.
You have changed my life, fur baby.
I love you.
1
The gothic structure came into view as the car followed the curve of the gravel path. The daylight was already fading despite the early hour and the dark blue sky made the outline of Houndswood Manor appear even more ominous.
“Nervous?” Taylor reached across and squeezed Connie’s hand.
“No,” she lied after a quick glance in the back. The babies were asleep, which meant they wouldn’t get to bed on time.
“You should be,” he said with a grimace. “I’m not joking when I say my family are, well, difficult.”
“All families have their issues,” Connie said, although the truth was that his warnings had made an impression on her. They’d started weeks before, when he’d first suggested the idea of them accepting the invitation to spend New Year with his relatives. Connie had perhaps been too keen with her response, and he’d spent that whole evening explaining that his family weren’t like other families. She wanted to meet them, though. She wanted to understand where the man she loved had come from, who had nurtured and shaped him before she found him.
She first knew Taylor as a respectable, decent guy as the town’s Sheriff. Then he found a space in her heart and she saw him differently.
He was a widower and they’d made their commitment to each other not through marriage, but by her legal rights as mother to his baby twins. Connie didn’t think she’d ever had such a blessing in her life as those babies, with their angelic faces and that baby powder smell.
“Not all families have issues like mine,” he said as he slowed the car to a stop outside the building.
“We’re the first to arrive,” Connie said, to change the subject.
“They’re always late,” Taylor said. Connie reached across and planted a kiss on his cheek. Perhaps he was the nervous one.
“It’s going to be fine,” she reassured him. “You’ll see.”
They climbed out of the car and each grabbed a car seat. The infants continued snoozing as their car seats were placed in the hallway of the old building. Taylor insisted on fetching all of the bags from the trunk, which gave Connie the chance to explore. She peered into a study, a lounge, a dining room with a huge circular table, and a kitchen. Roaring fires warmed each room and the walls were adorned with coats of armour, decorative swords, and even a stuffed bear head.
There would be no staff present for the three days of their stay, which was fine by Connie. She could busy herself making drinks or meals if the company did become awkward. And the twins could provide a great escape when needed. She’d given it some thought, but she remained hopeful that the weekend would go well. It would be her first time meeting any of Taylor’s family and she wanted them to like her.
“I still don’t know why she’s insisted we all come along,” Taylor said as he returned from
the car with the last of the bags.
“Family get togethers are always nice,” Connie offered.
“But she’s suggested it, Con. She’s paid for it! For everyone. That’s unheard of.”
“People mellow as they get older.”
“Not her,” Taylor said. “Money’s her God. She worships it. She likes the Benjamins more than she likes any of us!”
Connie laughed but his expression was serious.
They were interrupted by the crunch of gravel outside, and Taylor took a deep breath then returned to the hallway. He gazed out, hands on hips.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he muttered. Connie went to his side and watched as a Victorian-style carriage stopped by the door, pulled by the biggest beast of a horse she had ever seen in her life. A man jumped down from the front of the carriage and offered a hand to the elderly woman sitting in the back. A younger woman sat next to her, her face impossible to read.
“She’ll need more than a hand!” Taylor shouted. He stalked across the gravel and glared up at the woman. Her hair was loose, wild, and as silver as the cutlery indoors. It trailed all the way down towards her navel. Her face had the saggy look that came from decades of life, and she wore all black. “What are you thinking, mother? You can’t possibly get down from there!”
The woman humphed in response. “And it’s nice to see you too. How long has it been? Two years I reckon.”
“It hasn’t been two years,” Taylor said. Connie didn’t think it had, either. He’d popped in on her just a month or two ago when a police job took him near her house.
“I’ll check,” the woman promised. “Well? Are you just standing there? Get me down!”
Connie moved forward as if to help, but the twins woke and began to cry in perfect unison.
“Oh, Lord. You couldn’t have left them with someone?”
“Mother!” Taylor hissed.
Connie scooped the babies up and rocked them until they grew quiet. They looked out at the scene with as much interest as she felt. Connie knew that Taylor’s mother, Eliza, was disabled, the claw-like hand evidence of the stroke that had debilitated her almost ten years before. The carriage-worker climbed up and began to manhandle Eliza from behind while the young woman watched, helpless.
“Gentle! I’m not dead yet, you know!”
“Honestly, mother, what on earth possessed you? Couldn’t you have asked Zeb for a lift?”
“I wanted to arrive in style,” Eliza said. “I might be dead soon. You’d all like that, huh?”
“Where’s your wheelchair?”
“In the back with the luggage,” the carriage-worker said. Taylor fetched it and put it into position by the bottom of the steps so that his mother could collapse into it as soon as she’d got down from the carriage.
“Is she not coming to say hello?” Eliza called, and it took Connie a moment to realise the woman was referring to her.
“Let’s just get you down first,” Taylor said. There were three times where it seemed obvious that Eliza would fall from the carriage face-first onto the gravel, but eventually the two men got her down safely and into the wheelchair. Connie watched as Taylor reached into his wallet and slipped the man an extra note for his trouble. He fetched the luggage from the carriage and was then off without a word of goodbye.
“Hi,” the younger woman said with a small wave as she stayed close to Eliza’s side. “I’m Lynn, Eliza’s nurse.”
“Nurse?” Taylor raised an eyebrow.
“I help with her physiotherapy,” Lynn explained. “Wheel her around. Give her her medicine.”
“Let’s see her then, shall we?” Eliza snapped as Taylor pushed her into the entrance hall. Connie’s stomach began to feel queasy. Perhaps she had underestimated Taylor’s warnings after all. Connie had a baby in each arm and so could do little more than offer a smile. “Oh. I see. Likes her food, does she?”
“Mother!” Taylor snapped.
Connie gave an awkward laugh. She’d lost most of the excess weight she had, but she wasn’t skin and bone, and she was okay with that. Or she had been until she’d met Eliza.
“No match for Adele, huh?”
The mention of Taylor’s first wife made Connie’s cheeks flush with colour.
“You hated Adele,” Taylor said. His eyes met Connie’s and he mouthed an apology. She shook her head a tiny fraction. It wasn’t for him to apologise for someone else. If his mother was horrid - and it seemed that she was - that wasn’t Taylor’s fault.
“With good reason,” Eliza muttered. “Well, Connie. What kind of name is that? Short for something?”
“No,” Connie said. “It’s just my name.”
“In my day we gave out good strong names, didn’t we Charles?”
“Charles?” Connie blinked.
“My legal name,” Taylor said with a wince. “Charles Thompson.”
“You changed your name?” Connie raised an eyebrow.
“She told me I had to if I was going to go into law enforcement. She was worried that all the criminals I came across would target the family. Or, to be more accurate, the business.”
“So you had to change your name?” Connie repeated. “Wow.”
“I never liked that darn name anyway,” Taylor said with a wink. “And don’t worry, I’ve been Taylor so long that everyone refers to me as that now. Apart from mother when she’s making a point.”
Connie realised that the old woman was watching her.
“You have a beautiful name, Eliza,” Connie said. She spoke a little louder than she would normally on account of the hearing aid she could see fixed behind each ear.
“Yes,” Eliza said. She eyed the babies suspiciously. “You’d better find me a bedroom away from those. I don’t want them disturbing my sleep. Lord knows I had enough years of you four refusing to sleep. Horrors you were, every one of you.”
“Okay, let’s go,” Taylor said. He pushed Eliza across to the far wall and pushed the tongue of a stone gargoyle, then turned back to Connie and pulled a face.
“This is a genuine modern replica, huh?” Connie joked as a section of the stone wall opened and revealed a gleaming metal lift.
“Right? A crazy place for a crazy family,” Taylor said with a shake of his head.
Connie heard him, gave a smile, but decided not to correct him. All of the evidence she had would appear to show that his warnings about his family were warranted after all.
She planted a kiss on top of each baby’s head and listened to the retreating noise of Eliza barking out orders.
The man she loved had a whole life she didn’t know about. A name she never knew he’d changed!
Connie felt a chill move across her spine and wondered what else she would discover over the course of the weekend.
2
The door opened and three teenagers skulked straight past Connie and up the stairs, each one lost in their own head-phoned world.
“Your bags will stay out there! I’m not the maid!” A woman with a black pixie cut and lithe figure called up the staircase after them. A short man, most of his features hidden by facial hair, gave a snort and the woman offered a playful punch to the top of his arm.
“Can I help?” Connie offered. The two jumped apart a little at the sound of her voice, and she saw that they were younger than her and Taylor. “With the bags, I mean? I’m Connie by the way. You must be Taylor’s younger brother? And you’re his wife? I can’t remember all of the names yet, sorry!”
The woman’s cheeks flushed but she held out a slim hand and gave a surprisingly firm shake. “I’m Lottie, pleased to meet you.”
“And I’m Zeb,” the man said, his voice bursting out from in between his moustache and goatee. “The younger brother, you’re right. Lottie’s my sister-in-law.”
“Oh!” Connie said with a laugh. “Sorry! It’s just with you arriving together…”
“Christopher’s out there,” Zeb’s tone darkened a little as he indicated back out through the grand fron
t door with a nod of his head. “He’s in a foul mood, you should save his welcome for another time.”
“He’s always in a foul mood lately,” Lottie said with an eye roll. “He’ll be making calls for a while yet.”
“I’ll go and unpack,” Zeb said.
“Good idea,” Lottie said. She handed her own luggage to Zeb and the two took the staircase two steps at a time, their heads bent together as they talked quiet enough for Connie not to hear. She pursed her lips and watched until their figures had retreated.
A few moments later, when Taylor’s own shape came into view, she was still gazing up towards the first floor.
“Hey babe,” he called. “Have you just been standing there pining for me?”
Connie let out a laugh. “You caught me!”
He skipped down the stairs and wrapped his arms around her. “Have I told you lately how much I love you?”
“Put her down!” Eliza’s voice was like nails on a blackboard, the high tones of her orders and complaints being barked out from the open lift doorway.
“You worked out the lift?” Taylor asked.
“Well I couldn’t be relying on any of you to help me. I’d be waiting all weekend!” Eliza said, though Lynn was by her side. “I thought I heard people arrive.”
Taylor shrugged. He’d been closed in the room they were using as the nursery, getting the twins down for the night.
“Zeb and Lottie arrived,” Connie said. “And some teenagers.”
“You mean Christopher and Lottie? The teenagers are theirs,” Taylor explained.
“No, it was Zeb. I thought they were a couple. Apparently Christopher’s outside in a foul mood.”
Taylor laughed. “Well, she is closer to Zeb’s age than Christopher’s.”
The door burst open and a large man appeared, his cheeks red, his hair receding. He appeared to be sweaty with no reason to be, it was neither hot nor had he physically exerted himself. He ignored Connie, Taylor, Eliza and the nurse and went straight to the bottom of the stairs, and hollered: “Pixie, Faerie, Ocean, get down here for your cases right now!”