Sapphire met me at the station and took me to her house. She declared my bones fit and unscathed, but I did end up with a nasty sprained ankle and a whole lot of bruises. Hopefully, they’d all be healed and gone before my wedding night. But even with Sapphire’s powerful healing magic, it would be a couple of weeks at best before I’d be walking without my walking stick.
What walking Orville and her would allow me to do, of course. Which wasn’t much. Sprains heal better with rest. Or so the two of them kept telling me.
Fine by me. Sewing didn’t require me to stand, and that’s where my focus needed to be right now, anyway.
A quick phone call and Nancy was back on the school bus route, at least temporarily. She didn’t complain. The girl was a champ. I kind of thought there was a secret crush involved with a boy on that route. I was hoping eventually she’d confide in me.
The shop was going to stay closed until things mended with Kimberly. And I wasn’t really sure how long that was going to take.
Come to find out... not all that long.
When Sapphire pulled into my drive Friday morning to deliver me back home, Kimberly’s van was parked out front.
I didn’t let my hopes get up, though. It was entirely possible she was just back to grab a few more things.
Yeah, right. My hopes were soaring as I walked through that front door. I just hoped they didn’t come crashing back down in short order.
Sapphire saw me in the front door and onto the sofa, then she left. Before Kimberly even made it downstairs. This was one of those two’s company and three’s a crowd situations.
I was sipping a cool iced tea when Kimberly finally came down. My heart fell when I noticed a distinct absence of a baby.
She stood at the foot of the stairs and stared at me for a minute. I stared back. This was her show, not mine.
“I heard what happened yesterday. Are you okay?”
I lifted my foot slightly and motioned to it. “That took the brunt of it, but there are bruises under these clothes too. Bottom line, I’ll live.”
“I’m glad.” She hesitated. “And I mean that, too. I’ve been a bit of a fool, haven’t I? Accusing you of all kinds of horrible things. I shouldn’t have done that.”
I scratched my cheek and shook my head. “Well, to give you full credit here, you had just seen your baby—who can barely sit up by herself now—riding on a broom. I think you need to give yourself a pass on that one.” I know I did.
Kimberly swallowed. “It was a shock. I’ll give you that. My first time fainting too. But that doesn’t excuse me from what I said. Not after everything you’ve done for us. I don’t honestly know where me and the kids would be right now if it wasn’t for you.” She hugged herself. “Or if I’d even still have my kids.”
“You’d have them. With or without me. You’re a fighter and a good mother.” I started to mention the Goddess’s choice again, but I decided to keep my beak shut. This was hard enough for her without adding fuel to the fire.
She gave me a sad smile. “I’d like to think so, but when I think back... I’m not so sure that would be the case. I was on my last legs when Nancy brought you into my life, Opal. You saved me. You saved all of us. And look how I repaid that.”
I patted the cushion beside me. “Well, for starters, you’ve repaid me by becoming a darn fine partner at the shop. And by helping me out around here. A house like this is too much for just one old lady and a little girl, you know.” I watched as she crossed the room toward me. “Like it or not, Kimberly, you and your kids are family now. Even in the hard times. Family is family.”
And that’s when the tears started. I let her cry it out, sitting on the sofa beside me and leaning into me.
It was the first time I’d ever seen the woman cry. Baby Pearl must have put her through the wringer the past few days. Not an easy victory, for sure.
Once she stopped, she looked up at me with red and swollen eyes. “Can you teach me to be a witch?”
Okay, so I hadn’t expected that. I should have, but I hadn’t.
“That’s not something to be done lightly, you know. The Goddess will know if your heart isn’t in it. And it’s not something She’s going to require of you. If it was, She would have chosen a witch to give birth to Pearl.”
Kimberly swallowed and wiped her eyes. “I’m sure. I’ve actually been thinking about it for a while now, but I knew you wouldn’t want me to rush into it, so I waited. I think I need this. Not just for Pearl, either. For me too.”
“Then that can be arranged.” I hesitated. “You do realize that you wouldn’t be able to cast spells like an elemental, right? Hedge witches can be strong, with time and determination, but they lack that elemental power that makes us Ravenswinds so... well, powerful.”
“I know. But even being a hedge witch would help me understand things better, wouldn’t it? Help me understand my daughter better?”
“I think maybe it would at that.”
She took a deep breath. “Then that’s what I want. I want to be a witch.”
Now that we had that out of the way, I felt I was safe to ask my most burning question. The one my heart was aching to hear an answer to.
“Does this all mean that the three of you are coming home?”
“If you’ll have us, yes.” She hesitated. “Gray told me that you offered him the attic. Did you really mean that? You’d truly be okay if he moved in here?”
“I would. And Orville would too, by the way. That attic is fairly huge.” That was putting it mildly, as it ran practically the entire length and breadth of the house. “If you wanted, you could all turn it into a home for your whole family. Wouldn’t think it’d take all that much to put some walls up to make rooms.”
Her eyes lit up. I could see the wheels turning.
“And you wouldn’t mind if we added to the staircase out back to go on up to the attic?”
“Fine with me. Safer too, if you all are going to be spending a lot of time up there.”
She hugged me. I hugged her back. Finally, all was right with the world again.
The killer had been caught, the church had a new—and hopefully much more pious—leader, the wedding was coming together nicely, and we were adding yet another valuable member to our family. Gray.
Now all I had to do was sew two beautiful wedding dresses. A piece of cake.
Wedding cake at that.
Epilogue
June fifth. Finally. My wedding day was here.
Well, our wedding day. At least I was sharing the stress with three other people. That helped a little.
Not that Orville or Archimedes seemed all that stressed. But then, all that was really required of them was to put on their tuxedos and stand up front by the new preacher and wait for us to come down the aisle.
Grooms had it so easy. Brides? Not so much. I totally got the whole Bridezilla thing now. Sapphire wasn’t quite that bad, but she was getting closer with every passing moment.
Especially as it was five in the afternoon, and the weather radar showed rain headed our way. The men folk weren’t around because of the old tradition of not seeing the brides on their wedding day. Personally, I kind of thought that was a tradition started by men who didn’t want to be roped into wedding day chores. Hard to do chores having to do with the wedding and not see the bride too.
That didn’t mean we couldn’t call them. As far as I knew there wasn’t a tradition about not talking to the bride.
He answered on the first ring. “Don’t worry. I’m on it.”
“You got a way to turn those clouds around or something?” I mean, I’m an Air witch, and even I couldn’t do that.
“Nope. But you do remember I was a Boy Scout, right? And in the military for a while, to boot? I believe in contingency plans.” He was quiet for a minute. “Especially for something this important. I’ve waited a lifetime for this day, Opal.”
“I’d love to hear about this contingency plan of yours.”
He chuckled. “Sor
ry, it’ll just have to be a surprise. Just you and Sapphire cover your dresses in plastic garbage bags if you have too, but be up on that hilltop by eleven-thirty. You have my word that this will all work out. Rain or no rain.” Then he paused. “Just stay away until then, okay? We’ve got this.”
That was asking a whole heck of a lot, and he had to know that. But what could I say? Or do, for that matter.
I looked over at Sapphire. “Orville says he has a contingency plan to deal with the weather. All we have to do is be up on the hilltop by eleven-thirty, and all will be well. According to him.”
I’d expected sputtering or gnashing of teeth. What I hadn’t expected was her total—well, for the most part, anyway—relaxation. It would appear that my sister had even more faith in my man than I did.
Huh.
The girls started carrying the food up around ten. When Ruby came back down smiling, I knew that whatever it was Orville had pulled out of his hat; it had worked.
Even I relaxed a bit after that. As much as was possible, anyway, what with my curiosity level so high. I really wanted to know what was going on up on top of that hill. But that wasn’t going to happen until a whole lot closer to midnight.
If that time ever came. The clock was moving mighty slow right now.
By eleven o’clock, Sapphire and I were dressed and ready to go. By now, it was just the two of us down at the farmhouse. All the others were up on that hilltop waiting for us. Well, Amie was waiting at the foot of the hill with her video camera. So we weren’t totally alone.
That had been our decision. The path up that hill was a very long wedding aisle. The two of us had walked that path many, many times. Every twist, every turn, every tree root was engrained in our memory.
That helped when you were walking up a heavily tree-lined path in the moonlight. Even with a full moon, that path could be dark.
Not that we had to rely on our memories tonight. We had Amie, our resident Light Witch. And tonight, she earned her title. I’d have to remember to get the spell from her later because it was nothing short of beautiful.
As the two of us walked the grassy path, the way before us glowed in a healthy white light. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear there were fireflies and dragonflies involved, too, as tiny specks of the light seemed to glow and twinkle as we passed. As if each speck of brilliant light was giving us its blessing as we passed.
Just maybe, this wasn’t all Amie. Just maybe, the Goddess was involved as well.
It had rained, but only briefly. It would appear the Goddess had our backs on that one too. At least until we hit the top of the hill.
The first clap of thunder came just as we crested up to the hilltop, and the accompanying lightning flash illuminated the scene brightly before us.
Orville had outdone himself.
Sapphire reached out and took my hand. “Would it be fitting if I said I loved Orville right now?”
I got that. My chest was fairly bursting right now with love for the man myself. We stood there silent for a second. Right up until the second clap of thunder came.
“Um, I think we need to head in unless you want to get wet. I’m not sure I could stop that in time.”
We took Amie’s warning in the spirit it was intended. We headed in.
The 'in' was to a large party tent kind of structure. Only, this wasn’t your average party tent. No ugly green or white walls here. No. None of that at all.
In fact, in the glow of the full moon, it was almost as if we were walking into the illusion of a party tent. The walls and ceilings were completely clear fabric, which allowed the blessed moon rays in.
Well, I was pretty sure they started out as completely clear fabric. Until Gray and Kimberly got ahold of them. They’d been spending a lot of time lately out at Gray’s trailer, just the two of them. I’d thought maybe they had just needed some kid-free time alone together. Now, I was thinking that hadn’t been the case.
They had turned the tent into a magical clearing all in itself. The walls were painted with trees and flowers. Once inside, it was hard to tell where the tent stopped and the woods actually started.
It was breathtaking.
I smiled at Kimberly and Gray and mouthed, “Thank you.”
They grinned back at me and nodded. I was kind of hoping this tent would survive the night. It would only be fitting to be used again for their wedding. Not that one was planned. Yet.
Then the music started, and my mind focused on the here and now. Especially when Orville and Archimedes stepped out from behind a partition and walked over to stand before the podium.
They took their places on the pentagram, which was only possible because of the person we had found to officiate our ceremony. None other than Shaman Crowe. And yes, as it turned out, he was licensed for this kind of thing.
Orville waited until he was firmly in place before turning to look at me.
My breath caught at the sheer sight of the man. He was a handsome man, even in jeans and an old t-shirt. In a tuxedo? Goddess help me. If I felt any more love and attraction for the man, my heart really would burst. Shatter into a million pieces. I’d never thought you could love someone to the point of pain. I’d been wrong.
I took Sapphire’s cue and walked slowly beside her up that aisle, between all of our standing friends and family, and felt like I was leaving the world I’d known all my life behind.
I was walking through a long doorway to a life I’d never imagined I’d ever get to live. A life of love, humor, laughter, and family. A life shared totally with the man I loved more than life itself.
My new life was waiting at the end of the aisle.
And I was more than ready.
THE END, FOR NOW. BUT if you're in the mood for more, please check out A Very Happy Halloween. It's a short story all about a very special day. And yes, baby Pearl is back in high-flying style!
Join Belinda White's Witches & Wolves Newsletter
WANT A LITTLE BACKSTORY on the Gemstone Coven Gang?
Would you like to keep up to date with what Belinda White has coming out next?
Do you like easy and fun (not to mention delicious) recipes?
Want to be a part of writing a fun and exciting cozy mystery with her?
If you're nodding your head right now, then you totally need to join Belinda White's Witches & Wolves Newsletter!
And, saving the best for last... you get a free 13,000 word story just for signing up!
Enjoy!
Witch of a Bride (Witch Reborn, #3) Page 13