Water & Flame (Witches of the Elements Series Book 1)

by Alejandra Vega

  Ben watched the kindly woman’s mouth as she spoke to him. He was so tired, it seemed to echo surrealistically. “I’ll talk about it. It couldn’t hurt. There’s this girl, Abigail—Abbie. She was one of our maids. She hadn’t worked there long, only a few months—”

  “Worked?” JJ interrupted.

  “She kind of quit, or she was fired, or something. I’m not really sure what happened. I’m still trying to figure it out. Anyway, there was something about her, right from the start. We just sort of fit. When I first met her and shook her hand, there was a jolt, like electricity.”

  Ben saw Mabel clasp JJ’s hand on the table as a wide smile lit up her face. Her eyes sparkled and she looked as if she was about to speak. He continued before she could utter a word.

  “I know all the old clichés about a spark or electricity or chemistry and all that, but I’m talking actual, real, live electricity. As if she had been rubbing her feet on a thick carpet on a very windy day and held a lot of static electricity. I could almost hear the ‘bzzztt’ as it arced from her hand to mine.

  “That was just part of it, though.” Ben ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. “We just seemed to have a connection. I’ve never felt anything like it before. I enjoyed it, but it was a little scary, too. But I’m dragging this on…”

  Mabel still had that smile on her face, and JJ’s eyes told him that he understood completely what Ben was describing. He was nodding slightly.

  “My mother had engaged me to this girl, Penelope. It was a marriage that would have helped the families financially, made alliances that would help both. I didn’t want Penelope. I wanted Abbie. Then mother brought the Penelope and me to Europe for a few weeks. When I came home, things weren’t the same, as if Abbie had lost interest in me.

  “I worked on her, just little things to show her how much she meant to me, and she warmed up to me a bit. When my mother tried to push the schedule up for me to marry Penelope, I saw my only chance was to already be married and so I asked Abbie to be my wife.”

  Mabel sighed and JJ just stared at him.

  “I know, it was kind of silly. I had only known her for a few months. Still, it seemed right.” Ben stopped and went to run his hands through his hair again, but dropped his hand to his lap instead.

  “And she told you no?” Mabel asked, her eyes lidded and her mouth turning down into something that was not quite a frown, but close.

  “No,” Ben said. “She said yes.”

  Mabel’s mouth instantly turned upward into a smile. JJ nodded and wore a small smile himself.

  “But that’s not the end of it,” he continued. “We planned to get married in secret and reveal it to everyone when the wedding to Penelope had been planned. Things seemed to be going well.

  “But I became…distracted…for a while. I don’t know what it was, but it seemed like I was constantly in a daze. Maybe I was getting sick or something, or maybe the stress was affecting me. I don’t know.

  “The next thing I knew, Abbie was gone. I was told she quit, that she didn’t want to talk to me anymore. I didn’t believe it. At least, not fully. But she had been distant…

  “My mother took my phone when I wasn’t looking and destroyed it. She also canceled my service and changed the phone number on my account. I lost my contact information and couldn’t call Abbie to find out what happened. She can’t call me either because I don’t have the same number. If I had memorized her number, I could have talked to her.”

  Ben put his head in his hands. “Then when I told Mother that I wasn’t going to marry Penelope, she made it impossible for me to get a job locally, and she canceled all my credit cards and froze my accounts. But you already know that part. It’s not knowing about Abbie, if she cares about me or if I was the reason she left, that’s what’s killing me.”

  JJ and Mabel were silent for a moment, looking at each other, looking around the restaurant dining area, looking anywhere but toward Ben.

  Finally, Mabel spoke. “Dear, please don’t think this is too harsh, but you’re acting like an idiot.”

  Ben’s mouth dropped open as he met the old woman’s eyes. He began to speak, but she continued.

  “I understand trying to find a way to survive, to make money to live. Your mother put you in a bad position and you have to do your best to get out of it. The thing with Abbie, though...” She blew out a breath and took another deeper one. “You have to find out. You have to know where you stand with her. What if she thinks you don’t want her and you’re here thinking that she doesn’t want you and it’s all just a big misunderstanding? Are you willing to lose her forever because of something so silly?”

  “I…what if she does hate me?” Ben said. “I don’t want to irritate her or make her even madder at me. I don’t want to hurt her feelings. Plus, I tried to find her number, but it’s unlisted. Maybe Abigail isn’t even her real name. I don’t know.”

  “Son,” JJ said, “you know as well as we do those are just excuses. What is it really? Are you afraid you might find out it’s true, that she really doesn’t want you? Isn’t it better to know for sure and move on if that’s what the situation calls for? Besides, I think the chances are good that she feels the same as you. She may feel like you abandoned her. Do the right thing. Track her down. Talk to her, and see what the situation is. No matter which way it goes, you’ll have some closure.”

  This was nothing Ben hadn’t thought of himself since she left. Maybe he was just scared.

  “You know, you’re right,” he said. “Not knowing is worse than being sure about where we stand. I will find her. Somehow.”

  Both of the Johnsons smiled, at Ben and at each other. They stayed up for several more hours talking about what he could do and how he could go about his search. When he finally got to bed, he had hope, for the first time in weeks.

  The next morning Ben rose even earlier than normal. He went to the restaurant to help the servers and the cook open up. After two cups of coffee and an hour of chores, he put his mind on autopilot and tried to figure out what he would do to track down Abbie. Even without the coffee, he felt refreshed, his steps lighter and his outlook more optimistic than it had been for quite a while.

  Abbie might have rejected him after all, but just the fact that he was doing something other than hiding made all the difference.

  Once the restaurant was up and running and he was no longer needed—after he had made his greetings to the regulars who came in for breakfast—he got on the internet and tried to search out where Abigail might live.

  It wasn’t as easy as the movies made it seem.

  Ben kicked himself for never asking where she was from or where her family was. He knew her favorite color—sea foam green—and the things she liked to do. He knew her best friend’s name was Zoe—though she had started when she told him, surprised she had said it. But somehow, whenever they started discussing family, she was able to distract him or change the subject. He didn’t know if her parents were alive or dead, where they were, if she had any siblings, or any other information about those close to her. Was she hiding something?

  Without even an idea of where she was from, he couldn’t very well track her down. A Google search of Abigail Henderson in Wyoming brought up no matches. When he searched for the last name Henderson, there were 508 matches, too many to be useful. She could be from Cody, just a few miles away from his home, or she could be from New York or California, trying to start up a new life. He didn’t think so, though. He thought she was local. But how local?

  He finally sighed and threw up his hands. He would have to try a different approach.

  “I don’t want to try to tell you how to go about it,” JJ said to him later that day when Ben explained the trouble he was having, “but when I hire a new person, I have a service do a background check on them. You know, look for a criminal record, bad credit, things like that. It helps me to know what kind of person they are and what I’m getting into.”

  Ben smacked his forehead with
his palm. “Of course. I’m an idiot. There are lots of services out there that do that kind of thing.”

  “Yep. There are even private investigators that do that kind of work. Expensive, though.”

  Ben thought for a moment. “I think maybe I can make it easier than that. All that stuff was probably done when Mrs. Roberts hired her. I just may be able to go straight to the employer. Excuse me, I have a call to make.”

  Two minutes later, Ben heard Lucas’s voice on the phone.

  “Hello.”

  “Hey Lucas, what’s up?”

  “Hey, it’s my long-lost buddy Benjamin Mason. How are things way over there in Custer?” They had talked a few times since he had started working at the restaurant.

  “They’re about the same as the last time we talked,” Ben said. “There’s not much going on here. Listen, I wonder if you could do me a favor.”

  “Sure thing,” Lucas said. “What do you need?”

  “I need you to go and ask Mrs. Roberts for her phone number.”

  “Come again? Isn’t she a bit too old for you?”

  “Very funny, Lucas. I need to ask her where Abbie lives, or at least where she did live before she started working for the estate. I need to track her down. I need to talk to her.”

  “You’re finally coming around, huh? It’s about time. I’ll do my best to either get her number, to have her call you, or to give the information to me directly so I can tell you.”

  “Thanks, Lucas,” Ben said. “You’d be doing me a huge favor. Give me a call as soon as you can to tell me what’s up.”

  “Will do. And Ben?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I really hope it was all just a misunderstanding. I think Abigail is good for you. I hope things work out.”

  “Thanks, buddy, me too. I’ll talk to you soon.”

  “Yes you will. Talk to you later.”

  As Ben ended the call, a small ray of optimism flashed within him. It might be stupid to think things would go well for him for a change, but it seemed he had turned a corner and his luck would start to be good. He pocketed his phone and headed back to the restaurant to look for something to do. It would take Lucas a day or two to get to Mrs. Roberts, and Ben had better distract himself or it would seem like weeks.

  Chapter 33

  Two days later, Lucas called Ben back. As expected, Mrs. Roberts would not tell Lucas anything. His former driver gave her Ben’s new phone number, and she promised to call at noon on the following day. Waiting another twenty-four hours was excruciating, but he survived it and waited anxiously as noon approached.

  Ben left the restaurant and waited in his room for the call. His cell phone rang at exactly 12:00 pm. Mrs. Roberts was one of the most efficient and reliable people Ben had ever met.

  “Hello,” he said into the phone.

  “Master Benjamin?” Claire Roberts’s voice said.

  “Mrs. Roberts, it’s so nice to hear your voice. How are things at the estate?”

  There was a slight pause. “They are fine. We all miss you, though. It’s a regrettable situation, it is. All the staff hopes that you can reconcile with your mother and return.” The last word seemed clipped, as if she was going to say more but decided not to.

  “I miss you, too,” Ben said. “Hopefully things will pass. My mother and I are both stubborn, though, so it may take a while.” He meant it as a joke and tried to insert a chuckle, but it came out as a strange noise instead, like an animal whose tail had been stepped on, surprising it but not really causing pain.

  “Lucas tells me that you need my help?” She turned the statement into a question.

  “Yes, I do. I need to find Abigail. Can you tell me where she lives or at least where she lived before coming to the estate?”

  The line was silent again. Ben was about to ask in another way when Mrs. Roberts spoke again.

  “I can’t tell you information that was in her application, Master Benjamin. Not only is it disloyal to Ms. Huntsman but it is illegal as well. I’m very sorry.”

  Ben exhaled a breath he had been holding since he asked the question. “I understand. I wouldn’t want you to get in trouble. I just didn’t have anywhere else to turn. Thank you for calling me back, anyway.”

  “Don’t hang up yet,” she said in a hurry. “I said I can’t tell you anything she put on her application or that I gathered during the employment process. I didn’t say there was nothing I could tell you. Everyone knows I am a horrible gossip, and I had several long conversations with Abigail—a delightful girl, that one—so who is to say anything if my loose lips let out some little tidbit of information I received in one of those conversations?”

  Ben’s smile felt like it would crack his face. Claire Roberts was exactly the opposite of a gossip. She held personal information so closely she would take hundreds of secrets to her death bed, even if the person about whom the information referred didn’t see it as confidential.

  “That would be wonderful,” he said. He could picture her firm nod, that bun of gray hair shaking as she did it.

  “Good. She was a close-mouthed girl when it came to personal information. She would tell animated stories of her childhood and experiences she had, but she would never mention brothers, sisters, or any family member, really. Only once did she seem to slip, referring to some sort of estate—though it was clear it was not as grand as the Huntsman Estate—in Jackson, Wyoming. It seemed that it might be her ancestral home, old and with a history of several generations of her family. Maybe that’s enough to get you started.”

  “That’s fantastic,” Ben said. “Thank you, Mrs. Roberts. I think that just may be the information I’m looking for.”

  “You’re welcome, dear. I don’t know how easy it will be to find. Most estates that have been in families for a long time have names unrelated to the family. It was very fashionable a hundred years ago to affix grand names to family mansions, like Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello or George Washington’s Mount Vernon and the like. With the internet, it could be enough, though.”

  “I think it will be. Thank you so much, Mrs. Roberts. You don’t know how much this means to me.”

  “I think maybe I do,” she said. “Don’t forget that I basically raised you, Master Benjamin, nursed you when you were sick and even swatted your little bottom on several occasions. It’s clear that you love the girl, clear to me, anyway. No one will ever find out from me, mind you, but I know you well enough to be sure. Go get her. The best of luck to you.”

  Ben felt his face heating. Why wouldn’t she have seen how much Abbie meant to him? He almost asked if she knew how Abigail felt about him, but decided against it. It might insult her. “Thank you again. I have some work to do. Please keep this number and call me anytime. I miss the chats we used to have.”

  “I do, too. We will talk again. Take good care of yourself, Master Benjamin. Without me, I fear for your wellbeing.”

  He laughed at that, a genuine laugh that caused a feeling of comfort to radiate through him. “I’ll do my best. I would ask you to tell everyone hello for me, but it’s probably better that no one knows we talked.”

  “Correct. You always were a clever boy. Goodbye, Master Benjamin, until the next time we talk.”

  “Goodbye, Mrs. Roberts. Thank you again.”

  He hung up and put the phone on his night stand. He had a good feeling about his chances in tracking down Abbie now. All he needed to do was some research and then he could actually go and see her. That part scared him silly, but he had to know how she felt. He had to know.

  With a little work on the internet, Ben found what he was looking for. It was a fairly large, historic estate situated just outside of Jackson. It was informally called the Henderson estate, but most references used the name Aqua Terra.

  Ben’s hands shook on the keyboard as he found more and more information about the estate. It was built around a hundred years ago and was the current home of a number of the Henderson clan. The few pictures he found showed it to be ex
actly as he would have thought. It had ponds and little creeks everywhere, along with a fair-sized lake on the property. It was idyllic and seemed to match Abbie’s personality just right. He wondered at her working as a maid with such a fair-sized estate.

  There was nothing left to do but to go there. If Abbie hadn’t gone back, her family should be able to tell him where she was. If they would.

  He talked it over with JJ and Mabel, and they both encouraged him to go.

  “We’ll be fine,” they said. “It has been nice having a little break from doing everything with the restaurant, but we’re refreshed now and can handle things. Don’t you worry about us.”

  “I feel like I’m abandoning you,” Ben said. “After how you took me in and helped me out, I feel bad about it.”

  “Oh, nonsense,” Mabel said. “We helped each other. Now, though, you need to go and try to figure out what is going on with Abigail. That is much too important to leave hanging. Go, with our blessing and encouragement. If you tried to stay here now, I’d shoo you out with a broom. Go. Go get the girl.”

  Ben laughed. “I’ll go, but I’m not sure if I’ll get the girl. She may hate me and not even speak to me. I’m just going to try to find out exactly what is going on.”

  “She doesn’t hate you, Benjamin,” the old woman said, patting his arm. “Trust me, she doesn’t hate you. Talk to her, tell her how you feel. It will all work out right.”

  With hasty goodbyes, Ben got in his car and started the eight-hour drive to Jackson, Wyoming. He wouldn’t get there until sometime in the middle of the night. He would get a room and go to the estate in the morning. He didn’t want to show up tired from a long drive. He wanted everything going in his favor when he saw Abbie again. He felt he would need it.

  Despite the late hour and the long drive, he couldn’t sleep when he got a hotel room. He opened his laptop and looked at pictures of Aqua Terra again, wishing he still had pictures of Abbie. Before he knew it, he was typing up thoughts about her.