Incorrect Spelling

by Candace Sams

  “I’ll need to go into town and place some resumes with advertising agencies. Just in case this doesn’t work. It was foolish of me to have quit my job, but I couldn’t stay with people who’d put gender over accomplishment. It wasn’t fair.”

  “I agree,” Rowan asserted. “Besides, as you say, staying there wouldn’t have helped your situation. Perhaps this was meant to happen. Maybe you needed a change, and this incident was meant to show you that.”

  “I don’t know. I’m still scared.”

  Rowan took her hand. “Come into the garden with me. I think it’s time I showed you that surprise I promised.”

  Sky did as he requested and left her lists of things to do sitting on the kitchen table. Intrigued by Rowan’s secretive demeanor, she followed him deep into the garden, near the edge of the woods.

  “How much do you know about Fauns?” Rowan asked.

  She shrugged. “I know they’re vegetarians, which was proven by your eating only salad and vegetables tonight. And I know they love animals and nature, and are their caretakers.”

  “True enough.” He shed Eartha’s borrowed robe. “But do you know what we really look like? What we change into when we’re in our own reality?”

  Sky took a deep breath and shook her head. “I-I wasn’t aware you might be a shapeshifter.”

  “Sit down on that rock over there. Watch, Sky Pyewackett. I’ll show you something few in your world will ever see.”

  Mesmerized by his words and what she might witness, Sky did as he told her.

  Rowan turned toward the woods and stretched out his hands.

  She heard distant rustling. After a few moments, the sounds of animals moving in the bushes became more pronounced.

  She stared into the darkness, straining to see. The area surrounding them was suddenly lit by the green, soft glow of thousands of fireflies. In the midst of all the glowing, tiny insect bodies, several deer moved forward. One of them was a fawn that looked as if it couldn’t be more than a day or two old. The doe accompanying the fawn stood very near her baby, but reached out her soft brown muzzle to Rowan. As the doe did so, Rowan changed.

  But what a change!

  The indescribably sexy man before her took on a shimmering, ethereal aura as his skin transformed to a light, glowing blue. His long hair became even longer, the already huge muscles of his body became even more pronounced, and when he turned to look at her, there were two short horns jutting out, just to the inside of each temple and over his eyes.

  Sky stood, and felt her eyes widen in surprise. He approached. She remained quite still. The old stories of shapeshifters were part of her heritage. Still, she’d never imagined actually seeing an entity who could change his appearance.

  “This…this is how you really look?”

  He nodded. “Blue skin, horns, pointed ears and all.”

  She reached forward to lift the heavy fall of hair from around his left ear. The delicate point at the top of that appendage protruded upward.

  “It’s amazing. Simply fantastic. Incredible,” she babbled.

  “And here is the fawn your aunts would have summoned had they not misspelled their enchantment.” Rowan held out his hand, and the tiny baby deer walked forward on spindly legs.

  Sky slowly knelt down and held out her hand. “It’s lovely. Simply perfect,” she whispered.

  “It’s very rare and precious that a wild animal will trust a human this way. As does its mother. And for their gift of trust, I’ll extract a promise from you.”

  Sky gazed up at his glowing green eyes. “What promise?”

  “Never allow the deer to be hunted on your property. Keep your woods as a sanctuary where the animals can come for safety. Grow plants that deer love, and secure shelter in the woods where they can hide, even in the worst weather.”

  She swallowed hard. It wasn’t a hard promise to make. “I swear it,” she readily agreed.

  “Will Eartha and Windy agree to this as well?”

  By the light of a thousand fireflies, Sky smiled at the gentle fawn before her; awed by its wide-eyed, innocent gaze. “Of course. We all will. Willingly.”

  “And what do you think of me other than my being amazing, fantastic and incredible?” he jokingly asked.

  Sky stood and looked him over again. “I think your race must be the most wonderful in all of the Fairy Realm. How marvelous you are. How positively ethereal.”

  He briefly dropped his head back as he laughed. “You’ll swell my already excessive ego.”

  “Perhaps there’s a reason it’s so large,” Sky quietly admitted. “You’re quite breathtaking.” Then, she changed subjects. Her next thoughts were much more serious. “Rowan…what will your queen do if you stay too long?”

  “Just as your aunts opened the door between our worlds and allowed me to come through, she can do the same thing from the other side. She could summon me back.”

  “What happens if you don’t go? It’s still up to you to come or go, isn’t it?”

  He stepped closer and pushed back a strand of her hair. “You’ve insisted often enough that I go back.”

  She chewed on her lower lip and ran her fingertips over his blue shoulders. “I-I was just wondering.”

  “Don’t worry, little witch. The queen won’t do anything to harm you, your family or your property. I’ll make sure of that.”

  “How? And…why would she?”

  “Why don’t you go inside now? I think you’ve been exposed to magic from the Fairy Realm, quite long enough.”

  She frowned at the disregarded question, but took one last, long look at the Faun before her. She gazed at the gentle deer grazing the wild herbs near her garden. “Thank you for letting me see you as you really are. And for bringing the fawn for me.”

  “Happy birthday, Sky.”

  As she turned to leave, she looked at him over her shoulder. “It’s been the most wonderful birthday of my life. Job or nor job. I thank you from the bottom of my heart, and I will keep my promise about the woods.”

  “Good night, little witch.”

  Perplexed that he hadn’t asked her to stay with him, and even more confused by her need to leave him alone in the garden, Sky slowly walked away.

  Feeling more at peace in his Faun form, Rowan found a soft, fern-filled spot under an oak. He settled down, even as the deer around him did the same. Still, he stayed awake a long time thinking. It was deep into the night before he turned on his side, intending to rest. As he settled in, he noticed it was about the same time the light in Sky’s room finally went out.

  With her notice delivered. Now came the time to part from her company.

  Sky emptied the contents of her desk into a small box, even as her coworkers and immediate supervisor begged her to reconsider her position. But she still felt, as Rowan had said, that this was the time to leave Fitsby, Sotherland and Sotherland. It was two o’clock when she stopped her packing, finished signing termination papers, and rechecked her computer queries as to openings in other firms. The responses were all very polite and professional, but there was nothing currently open. Perhaps in a few months’ time there would be, but not now.

  Her anxiety over leaving her only source of income grew, but Mr. Fitsby’s apparent lack of concern over whether she stayed or went steeled her to do what she must. She wasn’t wanted at this place any longer. With that knowledge, she left work after having dropped off her box of personal items at a nearby post office, to be mailed home. She had nothing to carry but a briefcase full of current resumes, for interviewing with other advertising companies — companies who might be interested in her if she was sitting right in front of them on an impromptu visit. She had all her recent advertising histories in print, ready to show anyone who was interested.

  Much later, her concern increased tenfold. Still, she tried to see something positive in all that had happened.

  “At least I’ve got my vacation pay coming and haven’t taken any sick days,” she muttered beneath her breath. After una
nnounced appearances at several firms, they all said the same thing. They wanted her, but there simply weren’t any vacancies.

  With a heavy heart, Sky trudged to the train station early and sat thinking the entire trip home. After exiting the train, she walked toward the cottage, with a knot in her stomach. Twenty-seven years of age was too young for this kind of angst. But it was all hers to endure.

  The day before, Eartha, Windy and Rowan had furiously pored over plans to turn the unused front parlor into a small shop. She’d drawn up advertisements and had dated them as to the times they should be sent, to different newspapers. At the time, all that enthusiasm seemed grand. Now, it appeared as though they were all only prolonging the inevitable.

  She was engrossed in skeptical thoughts about the future while she walked down the paved road to the front door. Putting her hands over her brows to shade out the last of the afternoon sun, she scarcely believed what she saw.

  The fences around the garden and the cottage itself had been repaired and were freshly whitewashed. The front gate, which had hung crookedly over the walk for years, was also painted and now seemed perfectly straight. There were piles of fresh vegetation lying on the mown lawn and even bigger piles within the garden. She picked up her pace.

  As she got closer, a large figure was clearly visible in the garden. Raking the gravel of a newly placed garden path, Rowan stopped when he saw her. Sky tried not to smile at the sight of his mountainous form in the old overalls, work shirt and boots. Apparently, the rest of great grandpa’s clothing was now in use.

  He shot her a brilliant smile and put his rake aside. “Hello, Sky. We weren’t expecting you until this evening.”

  “I-I put out all the resumes I could. There aren’t any openings right now.”

  “Bugger them!”

  Sky burst out laughing. When she finally got her mirth under control, she said, “Why is it I can never stay in a bad mood around you?”

  “We make the worlds we live in. Don’t let anyone depress you, Sky. They aren’t worth it. Besides, I don’t think you’re ever going to have to work someplace that doesn’t appreciate you. Not if you don’t want to.”

  “Are you insane? We could never make enough money from selling a few trinkets and vegetables to maintain this land. Not for long.”

  “I beg to differ. Come with me.” He quickly leaned forward, kissed her soundly then led her deeper into the garden.

  As he held her hand, Sky felt as if she’d known him forever instead of just a couple of short days. He was both exciting and comfortable, unlike any man she’d ever known. He was boyishly charming while presenting a mature, strong front to which she could cling if necessary. Part of his charm, however, was that Rowan never made her feel like she needed anything but her own ingenuity. He was both supportive and intelligent enough to let her make up her own mind, without demanding his needs be constantly met. He wasn’t vain but understood his attractions. He seemed to understand her deepest needs.

  As she followed him and mused over her sudden urge to have him in her life, she finally took stock of her surroundings. She felt her jaw drop as she viewed all the work that had been done in a single day.

  All the vegetation lying around was weeds. They’d been culled from every flower bed, every fence line and border. The gravel paths had been cleaned and smoothed to perfection. Someone had even hauled in some old stone slabs from the back of the old carriage house, and carefully placed them to make a new path from the cottage.

  “We can’t have anyone falling when they tour the gardens,” Rowan told her.

  Sky spun around and stared at him. “Tours? What tours?”

  “I was thinking about how you might draw people to your home when they could easily go to another village or farmer’s market for their goods. But you have something right here, in your own cottage garden, that none of your competitors has. At least, that’s what Windy and Eartha say. And I think they’re quite ingenious.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Witches! The three of you should let people know you’re practicing witches and that you’ll share your goods, and maybe a bit of your knowledge, with the world. In that way, others might see your products as being different from what they can get in nearby villages. They’ll come to your farm to tour the gardens, and maybe even hear Eartha and Windy talk about what it’s like to be Wiccan. This could accomplish two things.” He held up one finger each as he counted down. “First, they draw paying customers. Second, they educate people about your lifestyle. It seems to me that this is something your world desperately needs…more open minds. You can do all this without letting the world know of the real magic you possess.”

  Down to the last comma, period and crossed t, Sky couldn’t fault his logic or her aunts’ perceptive ingenuity. “I had no idea my aunts were so…”

  “Far thinking? Capable? Intelligent?” he chided.

  She hung her head in shame and tucked her hair behind her ears.

  “Just because they’re older doesn’t make them incompetent, Sky. It makes them richer in knowledge, and the wisdom to use it tactfully. True, they did open the gate to the Fairy Realm with a mistaken spell, but they’re far more enterprising than you can imagine. It’s just that no one has ever bothered to ask them their opinions before. Someone has always been there to look after them, and those people have not allowed them to make certain decisions on their own.”

  “They told you that?” she meekly asked.

  “They told me how your parents died in a ferry crossing from Scotland, and how they, and everyone else, always assumed that two older women couldn’t manage for themselves. I was informed that it was your parents’ wish that you stay on here and look after Eartha and Windy. Your aunts are aware that you love them, but they want you to have a life of your own, and not worry so much on their account. Do you understand?”

  Sky’s lower lip trembled. “They’ve told you all that?” she repeated. “And they wouldn’t come to me with their concerns?”

  He smiled and placed one palm against her cheek. “They love you so very, very much. They’re two of the most innocently sweet creatures that have ever walked this earth, and they would never dream of hurting you in any way. They only told me these things because a stranger can often listen better than someone close. And I’m told I’m a very good listener.” He winked. “They have plans for this old place; plans that would amaze you. And those plans will work, though they do need your help for much of the business end.”

  She blinked back tears. “I’ve been treating them like my parents did. As if they weren’t able to look after themselves,” she absently reiterated his very thoughts.

  “Listen to them and put faith in them and yourself. You are needed here. Not to support them, but to support yourself. While you worry over selling the goods of others, you can do far better staying here and using your brilliant mind to sell your own crafts.” He kissed her cheek. “Wouldn’t it be better to work for yourself instead of someone else? To be master of your own destiny instead of having to depend upon others? You’ve been gifted with that opportunity. Few have it.”

  She suddenly saw light where there were only gloomy shadows before. Rowan had a knack for making her really look at how blessed she was. “You’re saying that if I worked as hard to make this place a success, as I do for other people, we could make this a paying proposition.”

  “Exactly!”

  Sky looked around her. “If we mowed that meadow over there, and put in a border of wildflowers, it would make a perfect place for picnics.”

  “There! That’s the spirit,” he told her.

  A new strength formed in Sky’s core, and she didn’t discount Rowan’s part in its origin. “I’ll need to go to town, secure the proper permits, and get papers from the health authorities. We might even be able to sell food, homemade products with a special label depicting witches or something. We’ll need a website…”

  “Now you’re thinking!” he encouraged, as he took h
er hand. “Come see what else we’ve already done.”

  Sky’s anticipation grew with each step they took. The old chicken coop had been completely repaired, painted and cleaned. Rowan had even cut out wooden shapes of moons and stars, painted them blue and silver, then nailed them to the white coop. She believed they could easily sell fresh eggs with such a nice cage attracting a tourist’s attention, instead of the unpainted, innocuous shed that had been there before.

  In his own way, Rowan perceived that a prettier environment would attract better revenue. She found his insight uncanny.

  As she continued her survey of the work done, she found Eartha and Windy picking up the piles of weeds that Rowan had cleared. They were also in the process of making a new compost pile behind the barn. She hugged them both, told them what a stupendous job they were doing, and was rewarded with glowing smiles.

  She then let Rowan lead her around the rest of the property.

  The garden had been tilled and was ready for the planting of early summer vegetables. Sky could almost see pumpkins growing, surrounded by tall sunflowers and beds of brightly colored zinnias. Daisies could fill the borders of the beds surrounding the house, and herbs would be planted near the back door, right in the sunlight, ready for kitchen use. But the biggest surprise was yet to come.

  Rowan led her into the front of the house where the unused parlor was located. The furniture had been pushed aside and the beginnings of oak display cases were already lying on the wooden floor.

  “Of course, everything will need a new coat of paint, the furniture will need recovering, and I’ll polish the floors. But this can be done and ready in two weeks. By three, you can open your gift shop. The gardens will be just planted by then. In three months, I can guarantee that your plants will outdo anything in Britain. Fauns are excellent gardeners. And we do love working outdoors. No adverse weather stops a Faun’s garden from looking stupendous!”

  She shook her head in amazement. “How could you have possibly done all this in one day? Where did the wood for the display cases come from?”