“Amazing. Do sit down.”
“All right.” Molly glanced toward the beaded curtain. “But I don’t want to miss my friend. He should be along at any minute.”
“I guarantee that he will find you.”
“If you’re sure.” Molly obligingly sat down and surveyed the glass ball and the deck of cards with some interest.
“Now, then, we shall begin.” Evangeline cupped the glass ball in her hands. Her heavily made-up eyes met Molly’s. “Tell me what it is you wish to know.”
“Well, since you ask, what I’d really like to know is how this all works.”
Evangeline blinked. “How it works?”
“The tricks of the trade, so to speak.” Molly leaned closer. “I’ve heard that professional fortune-tellers are very good at guessing things about their clients’ personal lives. How do you do it?”
“You want to know how I do it?” Evangeline looked scandalized.
“Exactly. Not quite my field, of course, but I’m curious. What are the clues that you use? Clothes? I expect you can tell a lot from people’s clothing. But so many folks just wear name-brand jeans and sport shoes these days. What can you tell about people wearing that kind of thing?”
Evangeline’s expression congealed. “I do not use tricks. I am gifted with a touch of the second sight. It runs in my family you see.”
“Hmm.”
“My powers are very real. And even if I were a charlatan who used cunning to deduce facts about my clients, I would not tell you my secrets.”
Molly wrinkled her nose. “I was afraid of that. Oh, well, it was worth a try.”
“Look here,” Evangeline muttered, “I can tell you anything you wish to know about your love life.”
“I doubt it. I don’t have one.”
“Well, you soon will.” Evangeline picked up the cards and began to lay them out, one by one on the table. “Aha. See the blue king?”
Molly glanced at the card. “What of it?”
“He represents a man you have recently met. This man is tall. He has dark hair and eyes the color of the ancient amber in my necklace. They are the eyes of a man of power. A man who will change your destiny.”
Molly laughed. “I see you’re acquainted with Harry Trevelyan. I’ll bet you’re his aunt. I believe Josh mentioned an Evangeline Trevelyan. How did you identify me, though? Did you figure out who I was when I told you that I was waiting for someone, or did Josh describe me to you?”
Evangeline gave her an exasperated glare. “I figured it out because I’m a fortune-teller. It’s my business to know things like that. Now, let’s get on with this, shall we?”
Molly shrugged. “What’s the point? Now that I know who you are and you know who I am, I’m not going to be amazed or astounded by anything you tell me about Harry.”
“What if I told you that I do not know who this Harry is?”
Molly grinned. “Come off it, you know Harry. Admit it.”
“You’re making this extremely difficult,” Evangeline said brusquely. “Let’s take it again from the top. You have recently met a tall, dark-haired man with amber eyes. This man—”
“You forgot handsome.”
Evangeline looked up from her cards with a ferocious scowl. “I beg your pardon?”
“Aren’t you supposed to say that I’ve recently met a tall, dark-haired, handsome man?” Molly pursed her lips. “I always thought it was tall, dark, and handsome. Yes, I’m sure that’s the way it goes.”
Evangeline tapped one long, crimson nail against the table. “All right, so he’s not so handsome. I wouldn’t be too choosy, if I were you. What are you? Thirty? Thirty-two? Time’s running out, friend.”
“I wasn’t complaining about Harry’s looks. I just said you’re wrong. He is tall, dark, and extremely attractive.”
Evangeline eyed Molly as if she had serious doubts about her IQ level. “You think Harry’s good-looking?”
“Well, maybe not in the traditional sense,” Molly admitted. “But, then, I’m not much of a traditionalist. In my family we tend to go for the unusual. Harry is definitely not the boy next door. He’s one of a kind.”
“You can say that again,” Evangeline grumbled. “Don’t know how he turned out the way he did. His father was one of the most handsome men I’ve ever laid eyes on, and his mother looked like a fairy-tale princess. Something obviously went haywire when the two sets of genes combined.”
Beads jangled softly.
“Cut me some slack here, Aunt Evie.” Harry glided into the tent. “Can’t you fake it a little on the tall, dark, and handsome bit? You owe me that much, at least.”
Molly spun around in her chair, relieved to see him. “Hi, Harry.”
“Hello.” Harry let the beaded curtain close behind him.
Evangeline’s eyes gleamed with amusement as she rose from her chair. “As I was just explaining to your friend, I never falsify these things. I have my professional standards to uphold. But I will concede that handsome is as handsome does, and beauty is in the eye of the beholder, et cetera.”
Harry laughed. “How are you, Aunt Evie?”
“The arthritis has been acting up again, but other than that, I can’t complain. Good to see you. Josh said you were going to pay us a visit.” She walked around the table, arms outstretched, bells jingling.
Harry accepted Evangeline’s enveloping hug with equanimity.
Molly tried to read his face in the gloom. As usual, his expression gave no clue to his feelings. It was impossible to tell how well the interview with his uncle had gone.
Harry glanced at the stack of packages on the floor as his aunt released him. “Not hard to tell where Molly’s been. I was afraid of this.”
“I found some really terrific kitchen gadgets,” Molly said. “Wait until you see them. One slices carrots into cute little baskets, which you can fill with olives and things for an hors d’oeuvre tray. And there’s another one that makes little boats out of cucumbers.”
Harry’s mouth kicked up at the corner. “When was the last time you felt an overpowering urge to make carrot baskets and cucumber boats?”
Evangeline chuckled. “Don’t tease her, Harry. I’m sure she’ll enjoy her gadgets.”
“Not likely. She’s got a kitchen full of high-tech gadgetry that puts this stuff to shame.” He glanced at Molly with an indulgent expression. “I warned you not to get suckered by the sales pitches in the exhibition halls.”
“Must you be so negative?” Molly retorted. “Not everyone is a con artist, you know.”
Harry smiled coolly. “I’m not negative, I’m realistic.”
“Sounds like the same thing to me. And for your information, I did not get taken in by fancy sales pitches,” Molly said. “I examined the products and watched the demonstrations. I liked what I saw, so I bought some of the items.”
“Those hucksters sell nothing but useless junk. Everyone knows that.”
“Hah. Every single item is guaranteed for life,” Molly informed him triumphantly.
“Is that a fact? And just how are you going to collect on the guarantees?” Harry asked. “When the fair closes, the product demonstrators will vanish. And so will the guarantees.”
Molly raised her eyes toward the heavens. “You know what your problem is, Harry? You think everyone in the whole world is out to deceive and defraud.”
Evangeline looked at Harry. “You two know each other fairly well, I take it?”
“I know Harry better than he thinks I do,” Molly said darkly.
“We’ve known each other a month,” Harry told his aunt. “Molly has a lot to learn.”
Evangeline chuckled. “Being the gifted seer that I am, I know who she is. But why don’t you introduce us properly?”
“Sorry about that,” Harry said. “Evangeline, meet Molly Abberwick. Molly
, this is Evangeline Trevelyan. One of my aunts. Best fortune-teller in the family.”
“Nice to meet you,” Molly said.
“A pleasure.” Evangeline sat down at the table, picked up the cards, and reshuffled them. “Let me see, where were we?”
“You were telling her that I was tall, dark, and ugly, I believe.” Harry pulled aside a heavy bit of drapery at the back of the tent. He plucked a folding chair out of the shadows.
“What I really wanted to know was how a fortune-teller makes such accurate guesses about her clients,” Molly explained. “I realize that some fortunes are generic. Most people want to hear that they’ll come into money or find true love. And I suppose it’s always safe to say that a client is about to go on a journey since nearly everyone travels at one time or another.”
Evangeline’s smile twisted wryly. “Your friend has natural talent, Harry.”
“What can I say?” Harry crossed the tent with the chair in one hand. “She’s smart. A sucker for a sales pitch, maybe, but basically smart.”
“Such flattery will get you nowhere.” Molly turned back to Evangeline. “I want to know how a fortune-teller or psychic goes beyond the obvious clues. How do you personalize a fortune?”
“She’s also got a streak of curiosity a mile wide.” Harry dropped the folding chair lightly down next to the table, opened it, reversed it, and straddled it. He rested his arms along the back of the chair. “I’m told it runs in her family.”
“Interesting,” Evangeline murmured. “Well, my dear, I’m afraid I can’t satisfy your curiosity in the matter of telling fortunes. What can I say? There are no secrets. It’s a gift.”
“Are you talking about the Trevelyan Second Sight?” Molly asked.
“No,” Harry said coldly. “She isn’t. Because there is no such thing.”
Evangeline cocked a disapproving brow. “You should have a bit more respect for the Sight, Harry. After all, you’ve got more of it than anyone else in the family.”
“The hell I do,” Harry said.
Molly studied Evangeline intently. “If you won’t tell me the tricks of the fortune-telling trade, tell me about the Trevelyan Second Sight.”
“Damn,” Harry muttered.
“It runs in the family,” Evangeline said smoothly. “Harry won’t admit he’s got a full measure of it. He used to spend some of his summers with us, and I can tell you that I’ve seen flashes of it in him since he was about twelve. And of course there are the reflexes. He can’t deny he got those, too. A genuine throwback to the first Harry Trevelyan.”
“Harry told me that his ancestor lived in the early eighteen hundreds,” Molly said.
“That’s right.” Evangeline shuffled the cards with a thoughtful air. “He was sort of an early private investigator. He used to solve crimes and find missing people.”
“Did he claim to have psychic powers?” Molly asked.
“No,” Evangeline admitted. “He apparently failed to understand his own talent. He wanted to deny it for some reason. But family legend records that he had the Sight. He also had excellent reflexes. We know that because there are some fascinating stories of how he saved his own life and the lives of others when he was confronted by some violent people in the course of his work.”
“Fiction,” Harry said. “Pure fiction.”
Molly ignored him. “Did anyone else in the family become a private investigator?”
“No,” Evangeline said. “No money in it. The Trevelyans took their psychic talents to the stage, instead. Mind readers, daredevils, knife throwers. That kind of thing. Every Trevelyan since the first Harry has wanted to believe that he had a touch of the Sight. Some did. Some didn’t. The talent tends to skip around a lot.”
Molly gave Harry an appraising look. “This Harry does have good reflexes.”
“And here I thought you admired me for my brain,” Harry said.
Evangeline reshuffled the cards. “In the Trevelyans, the reflexes have always been linked with the gift. The faster the hands, the keener the Second Sight, Granny Gwen always said.” She scowled at Harry. “And you have more speed than anyone else in the family, Harry. It broke Granny Gwen’s heart when you refused to follow in the Trevelyan tradition.”
“In case you haven’t guessed,” Harry said to Molly, “my sainted great-grandmother, God rest her soul, had a real talent for laying guilt trips on people who didn’t do what she wanted them to do. She was mightily irritated when I decided to go after a Ph.D. Granny Gwen wanted me to make a career out of throwing knives or racing cars or jumping off tall towers into little pools of water.”
Evangeline gave him a reproving frown. “You’re not being fair to your great-grandmother, Harry. It wasn’t the fact that you wanted an education that angered and hurt her. It was your refusal to acknowledge the gift of the Sight. She was convinced that you were the first Trevelyan to be born with a complete dose of it since Harry the First.”
“Sounds a bit like the Abberwick family talent for invention,” Molly mused. “It skips around, too. My sister got it. I didn’t.”
Harry gave her an odd look. “I’m not so sure of that. Your energy was channeled into building up your business because your family needed a stable income. But I think that successful entrepreneurship is a form of inventive genius. Most people fail at it. You didn’t.”
Molly was so stunned by the unexpected compliment that she couldn’t think of anything to say. She gazed at Harry, aware of a fierce warmth in her face. He smiled his faint, mysterious smile, and the heat descended straight into her lower body.
Evangeline glanced from one to the other with a perceptive gaze. “I think that’s enough on the Trevelyan Second Sight. How did it go with the old man, Harry? I know Leon’s been sniping at Josh all summer.”
“Uncle Leon hasn’t changed a bit,” Harry said. “But he and I arrived at another one of our little understandings. He’ll back off. At least for a while.”
Molly heard the ice in his voice. It sent a small shiver through her, melting the sensual warmth.
Evangeline seemed blissfully unaware of the dark chill in Harry’s words. She winked at Molly. “Harry has a way of dealing with Leon that none of the rest of the family can match. For some reason Leon will listen to him.”
Molly smiled. “Maybe Harry does have some genuine psychic ability.” She raised her hands in mock threat. “You know, the power to fog up men’s minds, or whatever.”
Harry gave her a disgusted look.
“Why do you say that he might actually have the Sight?” Evangeline asked with startling intensity.
Molly leaned back in her chair and shoved her hands into the pockets of her jeans. “It seems to me that Harry changed his own future. And then he changed Josh’s. That’s got to be a gift of some kind, don’t you think? How many people do you know who alter their own destinies and the destinies of others?”
Harry stared at her.
Evangeline slanted him a sidelong glance. “You know, I hadn’t thought of it quite that way. She’s got a point, Harry.”
“The only kind of power I exerted over my future and Josh’s was the power of common sense,” Harry said.
Molly grinned. “Whatever, it’s a heck of a lot more impressive than mumbo jumbo.”
Amazingly, Harry turned a dull shade of red.
“Well, now.” Evangeline’s mouth curved in a knowing smile. “Let’s see about the future of your love life, Molly.”
“Forget it,” Molly advised.
Evangeline ignored her. She peeled a card off the top of the deck and laid it down, face up. “Aha. Here’s the blue king again. He’s not going to disappear, it seems. When he turns up twice in a row, one must pay attention. It means your love life is about to become very interesting.”
“Coincidence. Or a very skillful job of shuffling.” Molly got to her feet. “I told you, I
’m not interested in having my fortune read.” She swept out a hand and scooped up the cards in a single motion.
“Coward,” Evangeline murmured.
“No.” Harry laughed as he got to his feet. “She’s smart.”
“Thank you,” Molly said demurely.
Evangeline spread her hands in a gesture of surrender. “Very well, I give up. If Molly doesn’t want to know about her love life, that’s her decision. Harry, when do you intend to start back to Seattle?”
“There’s no rush.” Harry glanced at his watch. “I want to say hello to Cousin Raleigh and his wife and a few of the other members of the family.”
“Raleigh’s handling the Ferris wheel.” Evangeline idly shuffled the cards. “A word of warning. He wants to borrow money. He and Sheila have a baby on the way.”
“I stand warned. Come on, Molly, I’ll introduce you to some more of the family.”
“All right.” Molly looked at Evangeline. “I hope I’ll see you again one of these days.”
“Something tells me you will,” Evangeline said with serene confidence.
Harry helped Molly gather up her packages. Then he paused beside the fortune-telling table. “Take care of yourself, Aunt Evie.”
“I will.” She smiled up at him. “You do the same. By the way, I’m going to give you a call next week. I want to talk to you about updating the video arcade. It’s one of our biggest draws, and you know how quickly those darn games go out of date.”
Something indefinable—resignation or perhaps even pain—came and went in Harry’s gaze. It vanished immediately, leaving behind a cool, shuttered expression. Molly wanted to reach out and put her arms around him. She wanted to offer comfort, but she was not sure why.
“You know where to reach me, Aunt Evie.”
Molly came to a halt beside the table. “Are you sure you won’t tell me how you got the blue king to come up twice in a row, Evangeline?”
“Aunt Evie will never reveal a trade secret.” Harry picked up the deck of cards and began to shuffle them with practiced grace. “I, on the other hand, have absolutely no professional ethics when it comes to this kind of thing. Here, I’ll show you how to make one particular card come up over and over again.”
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