Whitley clasped her hands together beneath her chest. “Oh, Ev, your wish came true!”
Evanee leaned back in her seat, stroking Prim’s soft fur. A smile poured across her face. “You’re right. I almost forgot about my wish. I did wish to find my prince. And I found him! You guys, you’re amazing.”
Esmerelda licked her paw and swiped it across her fur. “You don’t have to tell me that.”
“But you’re the one that’s amazing,” said Whitley. “You solved the mystery. Well, you and Lane anyway. Essy and I owe you so much for helping.”
“Nah, Whit, I’m pretty sure we’re even. You found me Lane, and I solved the mystery for you.” Evanee scratched Prim behind the ears. “You know, Prim and I are really going to the miss the two of you when you’re gone.”
“I wish I could say I was gonna miss Prim,” said Esmerelda. “I’m gonna be honest with you, Evanee. You’d have a much happier cat if you just let him be who he really is.”
Evanee face fell. “You mean a tomcat?”
Esmerelda nodded. “Yup. He doesn’t want to wear pretty dresses and crowns. He wants to chase mice and hot girl cats.” She fluffed her fur.
As much as she didn’t want to give up her princess cat, Evanee knew in her heart Esmerelda was right. “I think you’re right, Essy.” She slid the little tutu off Prim’s waist. “No more calling Prim a she or my little princess. It’s time for me to respect who he really is. Thank you.”
Esmerelda nodded. Then she looked up at her sister. “Listen, Whit. As much as I’m not ready to go back to being homeless, I’m anxious to get the rest of these dresses delivered so I can resume my normal life again and find love for myself. We’re not doing it sitting around here. So, I think it’s time we split, don’t you?”
“You have to go already?” asked Evanee, her bottom lip pouting out.
“Yeah, I think Essy’s right. I’m not looking forward to going back in that snow globe again, but we’re two dresses down. We have to keep moving.”
Evanee reached over and picked up the globe. “So, what do we do? How do I put you back inside?”
“You just have to shake it. The magic will take over and put me back in the globe.”
Evanee frowned. She’d gotten used to having Whitley and Esmerelda around. She wasn’t sure that she was ready for them to leave. “So what do you want me to do with both of you once that happens?”
“We got bounced around a lot before we made it here to you,” said Esmerelda. “It’d be nice if you’d just drop us off at the next person in line.”
Whitley giggled. “I don’t think it works like that, Essy. The snow globe is magic. It has to pick the next person, not us. Otherwise the dress won’t have any special significance to them.”
Esmerelda sighed. “Whatever. Let’s just get on with it. Drop us off wherever you want. Preferably someplace in a warmer climate.”
Evanee laughed. “I’ll do my best.” She held her arms out wide to Whitley. “Now come over here and give me a hug. I’m gonna miss you.”
“Aww, Evanee. I’m gonna miss you too!” The two women hugged.
Then Evanee turned to Esmerelda and picked her up. She gave the cat a hug too. “I’ll miss you too, Es.”
“Yeah, crazy to say, but I’ll miss you too. You and I had a lot in common. We’ve both been looking for our fairy-tale prince.”
“I hope you learned from everything I went through,” said Evanee.
Esmerelda rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I guess.”
Evanee put Esmerelda down on the love seat next to Prim. “You want to say goodbye to Prim?”
Prim began to come towards Esmerelda, but she put a paw out, stiff-arming him. When he stopped moving, she patted his head. “It’s been nice knowing you, kid. You’ll make someone a very happy feline someday.”
Whitley and Evanee giggled.
Then Whitley clapped her hands together. “Okay! It’s time for us to go. You ready, Essy?”
“Yup,” she sighed. “Ready as I’ll ever be, I guess.”
Evanee wiped away a tear. “Goodbye, girls. I’ll miss you.” She gave the snow globe a big shake. The snow inside swirled upwards into the water. Evanee shook it again and again. As it moved, it seemed to hypnotize her, and she found she could barely pull her eyes away from the globe. She continued shaking until all of a sudden it was snowing outside again!
Whitley held her arms out wide. “It’s working,” she whispered.
And then a brilliant burst of light shot out of the snow globe, and a terrifying cracking noise split the air, as if lightning had just struck right next to Evanee. Frightened, she squeezed her eyes shut.
But as quickly as it had come, it stopped. Evanee opened her eyes again to discover that not only had it stopped snowing, but Whitley was nowhere to be seen! The ground was covered in a fine layer of snow.
She glanced down at Esmerelda, who stared up at her curiously. “Essy!” she hissed. “Are you alright?”
“Meow,” said Esmerelda.
Tears streamed down Evanee’s cheeks as she picked up the snow globe and peered down into it, and there she was. Seated on the edge of her bed, Whitley gave Evanee a little wave before blowing her a kiss.
Evanee waved back, her heart heavy. She really was going to miss those girls.
“Alright, ladies, we’re going to straighten that front leg with ease. Palms pressed forward, and we paint the walls slowly down, down, down,” Evanee instructed as she looked out at the group of women in her morning yoga class. She inhaled and exhaled thoughtfully, feeling centered and even. She lowered her head and closed her eyes for a relaxing moment and promptly heard a round of giggles emanating from the crowd.
Curious, she opened her eyes and looked up to see a herd of small white goats flooding her yoga space.
“What the—” she whispered, climbing to her feet.
She stared as the goats ran about, jumping on some of the women while others ran and leapt about like small children. She couldn’t believe her eyes. Where in the world had goats come from?
And then, there he was.
Lane Dawson.
He wore his good jeans, a clean pair of boots, and her favorite flannel shirt. His hair was freshly washed and curled adorably around his ears. He strode over to her confidently, smiling from ear to ear.
“Lane!” she said with a laugh. “What in the world is this?”
He threw his arms around her and squeezed her to him. “I happen to remember you mentioned once, a couple months ago when we first met, that you wanted to borrow some goats.”
“But you don’t have any goats!”
He smiled. “I didn’t have any goats. I do now.”
“You got goats? For me?” She wanted to cry. She’d never in her life been this happy. They’d been inseparable since the fire. He’d stayed by her side while she’d been in the hospital recovering, and since she’d been home, they’d spent all their free time together. She’d fallen head over heels in love with the man.
“And for me. I thought maybe we could share them.”
“Share them? Like coparenting? They spend one day at your place and then one day at mine?” she said with a giggle. She looked out at the goats as all of her yoga women laughed and fawned over them. The smiles on all their faces brought joy to her heart, causing a lump to form in the back of her throat.
“Not exactly,” he said, letting her go and taking a step back. “I was hoping maybe they’d live with us.” He pulled a box out of his pocket and got down on one knee. “Evanee Woods, I love you with all my heart. I feel like some mystical cosmic force has drawn us together and put you in my life. I can’t imagine my world without you. Will you be my princess forever and marry me?”
Evanee’s eyes were filled with tears as she nodded at him. She didn’t even have to think about the answer. “Yes, Lane. Oh, yes!” She’d found her prince.
42
One Year Later
Evanee swirled around in front of the mirror. Her long sk
irt flared out around her ankles. She giggled to herself. It was perfect. Absolutely perfect! She hadn’t gotten a chance to wear Lane’s mother’s dress to the festival parade the year before because of everything that had happened, but this year, she was wearing it, and she couldn’t be more excited.
“Ev, you ready? It’s time to go!”
“Almost!” she hollered back. She rushed to her dresser and slipped on a pair of vintage earrings she’d found at an estate sale and then donned a fancy necklace that matched her dress. And as the grand finale, she slipped her wedding ring on her finger. With one last glance in the mirror, she smiled. “There! Now I’m ready.”
She rushed out the bedroom door and into their little log cabin’s kitchen. Lane whistled at her. “My goodness, I’ve got the prettiest wife in all of Stoney Brook.”
Evanee leaned forward to give him a kiss. “Thanks, sweetie. Did you remember to grab Rachel’s flowered wreath?”
Lane’s eyes widened, “Oh, no. It’s in her room. Here, you take her, and I’ll go grab it.”
Evanee swept the little rosy-cheeked baby out of Lane’s arms and covered her face in kisses. “You look so sweet in your little dress, sweetie. Priscilla did such a great job on it. One look at your sweet little face and it wasn’t hard to convince her to come out of retirement.”
“Got it,” said Lane, holding up the little flower hair wreath Evanee had made for the festival. He put it on their daughter’s head and stood back to admire her. He shook his head. “Wow, my two gorgeous beauties. How did I get so lucky?”
“I’m pretty sure I’m the lucky one,” said Evanee, accepting a kiss on the cheek from her husband.
Lane grabbed Rachel’s diaper bag. “Okay, we better go, or we’ll be late meeting Gemma and Matthew.”
Evanee tickled Rachel’s little cheek, making her smile. “Is your dad riding with us?”
“No, he said he’d drive himself into town.”
“But he’s going to be there, right?”
Lane chuckled. “He wouldn’t miss it for the world. He’s too excited to see Rachel in her dress.”
Evanee’s head bobbed. “Good. What about Doris and Bill?”
“Don’t worry, Ev. They’re all going to be there. It’s Rachel’s first festival. None of them want to miss it. Now come on, or we’re going to be late!” Lane opened the front door and let Evanee and the baby out, shutting the door behind them.
The second he did, Prim came tearing out of the cat door and went shooting past the herd of goats in the yard and towards the hen house. “Where in the world do you suppose he’s going in such a hurry?”
“I don’t know,” said Evanee, watching him curiously. She saw his tail disappear around the side of the henhouse. “Lane, can you buckle Rachel into her car seat? I wanna go see what Mr. Prim is up to before we take off.”
“Sure thing, I’ll pick you up down there.”
Evanee held her dress up as she walked down to the henhouse, where she saw Henny Penny squawking at something. She looked around the corner to see Prim crawling underneath the hen house!
“What in the world?” she breathed. Gathering her dress up around her, she got down on her haunches and peered under the foundation to find Prim and a black-and-white cat she’d seen around the farm a handful of times. And there, snuggled in close to the black-and-white cat, were a whole litter of kittens!
“Prim!” breathed Evanee. “No way! You’re a father?”
Lane pulled the truck down to the road next to the henhouse. With his window down, he hollered outside. “What’s he up to?”
“Lane! You’ve gotta see this. There’s a mother cat down here and a whole group of kittens. I think Prim’s a father!”
Lane jumped out of the truck and raced around to have a look for himself. He smiled when he saw the new family. “Well, I’ll be,” he sighed. “Prim, you little devil. I didn’t even know you had a girlfriend!”
Evanee shook her head. “Well, he’s got more than a girlfriend now. He’s got a family.”
Lane put his arm around Evanee’s shoulder. “So do we, darlin’, so do we!”
I really hope you enjoyed Evanee and Lane’s mysterious adventure and love story. If you did, I have one favor to ask. Would you consider leaving a short review on Amazon, please? I really want this book to reach more readers, and one way to do that is to have a whole bunch of feedback from readers like you that liked it.
Thank you in advance. I appreciate the time you took to read this book, and I wish you nothing but the best!
XOXO
M.Z. Andrews
Also by M.Z. Andrews
Curious about how Whitley and Esmerelda Snow managed to get themselves into the predicament they’re in? Then you might be interested in reading the prequel to Snow Cold Case.
Get the prequel, Deal or No Deal, FREE by signing up for my newsletter.
The Mystic Snow Globe Mystery Series
Prequel: Deal or Snow Deal
Book 1: Snow Cold Case
Book 2: Snow Way Out
The Witch Squad Cozy Mystery Series
The Witch Squad: Book 1
Son of a Witch: Book 2
Witch Degrees of Separation: Book 3
Witch Pie: Book 4
A Very Mercy Christmas: Book 5
Where Witches Lie: Book 6
Witch School Dropout: Book 7
Witch, Please!: Book 7.5
The Witch Within: Book 8
The Coffee Coven’s Cozy Capers Series
That Old Witch!: Book 1
Hazel Raises the Stakes: Book 1.5
That Crazy Witch!: Book 2
The Witch Island Series
Behind the Black Veil: Book 1
About the Author
I am a lifelong writer of words. I have a wonderful husband, whom I adore, and we have four daughters and two sons. Three of our children are grown and three still live at home. Our family resides in the midwest United States.
Aside from writing, I’m especially fond of gardening and canning salsa and other things from our homegrown produce. I adore Pinterest, and our family loves fall and KC Chiefs football games.
If you enjoyed the book, the best compliment is to leave a review - even if it’s as simple as a few words - I tremendously value your feedback!
Also, please consider joining my newsletter. I don’t send one out often - only when there’s a new book coming out or a sale of some type that I think you might enjoy.
All the best,
M.Z.
For more information:
www.mzandrews.com
[email protected]
Snow Way Out: A Mystic Snow Globe Romantic Mystery (The Mystic Snow Globe Mystery Series Book 2) Page 30