The Forgettable Miss French (Shadowvale Book 3)

by Kristen Painter

  Ginny focused on the towering circle of trees. “Let’s go. Slowly, with respect, and confidence. We found this place, and we deserve to be here. And we deserve to put our names in that book.”

  They walked boldly, if not solemnly, forward as a group, slipping through the trunks as they entered.

  The book sat in the center of the clearing on a beautiful carved pedestal, pages open and waiting.

  They stopped just inside the circle of trees, the book still several yards away. A carpet of blue-green moss blanketed the grove floor. The thick trunks of the twelve trees that encircled the grove rose into the sky, their branches forming a dome with only a circle of midday sky showing through at the center. The book and pedestal sat beneath that. The book was bigger than Ginny had expected and gave off a faint glow.

  “You were right, Easy,” she said. “It definitely glows.”

  A sense of calm and sacredness existed within the grove. Like the quiet space inside a grand cathedral, except this one had been grown, not built.

  “It’s beautiful,” Gwen said.

  “It is.” Ginny took a breath, absorbing the moment.

  “Who enters this grove?”

  At once, Ginny realized they were surrounded by at least twelve warrior women leveling bows at them. The nymphs Lucas had mentioned. “I…I’m Virginia French. Ginny.” Where had they come from? “This is Ezekiel Grayle, Gwen French, and Lucas Cartwright.”

  The woman in front of Ginny kept her bow steady. The arrow notched into it was tipped with a sharpened flint that looked like it would slice through a body like a hot knife through warm butter. “Why have you come here?”

  “Because we have curses we’re desperate to remove. We want to put our names in the book.” Ginny lifted her chin. They had every right to be here. “You are the nymphs who protect this grove?”

  “We are. I am Lylianna, captain of the grove guard, and these are my soldiers.”

  “Nymphs. Just like last time,” Lucas whispered.

  Lylianna glanced at him. “This grove is our home, and we are charged to protect it, but also the book that resides within.”

  Lucas stayed close to Gwen, his hand on her back. “We mean this place no harm. I swear on my wolf.”

  Lylianna’s eyes narrowed as her nostrils flared. “You’re all wolves.”

  “Yes,” Easy said. “That’s part of the reason why we’re here. Our ability to shift into those wolves has been compromised by a curse.”

  She looked at him. “All four of you?”

  He nodded. “But we’re also burdened with a second curse that prevents anyone from remembering us.”

  “And you want that curse removed as well?”

  “We do.”

  She shifted her gaze to each of them in turn before coming back to him. “No.”

  Panic knotted Ginny’s gut. “What do you mean no?”

  “There are too many of you,” Lylianna answered. “The book must be protected. Only two of you may write your names in it.”

  The four of them stood there, stunned.

  But Ginny’s amazement quickly turned to anger. She took a step forward, ending up with the tip of Lylianna’s arrow inches from her heart. “That’s unacceptable. I’ve looked for this grove for ten years. Ten years of no one remembering me. Ten years of feeling like a stranger in this town. Ten years of no friends. No neighbors to wave hello at me. No one to nod in greeting as I pass them on the street. Ten years of being alone, except for my aunt, who is only able to remember me occasionally due to her stroke, and Seymour, the lake monster, who mostly remembers me because I bring him pie.”

  Lylianna blinked. “You dare to argue with me?”

  “Yes, I dare.” Ginny lifted her hands in frustration. “Did you hear me? My life has been incredibly hard, but the thing that’s kept me going is this place. The idea that someday I would be able to get rid of this curse by putting my name in that book.” She stabbed her finger at the nymph. “Then you try to tell me I can’t?”

  “I did not say you can’t.” Lylianna looked both surprised and astonished to be challenged. “I said only two of you will be granted permission.”

  “I heard that. And I refuse it. We’re all putting our names in the book. All of us. So unless you’re prepared to actually put that arrow through me, I’d suggest you step aside.”

  “Ginny…” Easy’s voice was filled with caution.

  Ginny held her hand out toward him, a gesture to tell him she had this.

  The other nymphs looked shocked. Good, Ginny thought. Let them be shocked. Let them know that she wasn’t going to be denied this.

  She crossed her arms. “Should I get Amelia Marchand involved in this?”

  Lylianna lowered her bow a few inches. “I don’t deny your request without reason. The book can only absorb so many curses at a time.”

  “I understand that. But let me explain it more clearly. We have four people with three curses. Because of an accident, my curse of being forgotten has spread to all of us, as has Ezekiel’s curse of not being able to shift into our true wolf forms. My aunt has also been cursed with memory troubles by a stroke. Those are the curses that must be removed. You’re the guardian of this place, so you must know how to make that happen.”

  Lylianna dropped her bow all the way. The other nymphs did the same. “There is a way. But it requires sacrifice.”

  “What kind of sacrifice?”

  “You must balance the bad of your curse with something good. You must offer that good thing to the book.”

  “I knew it,” Easy muttered.

  Ginny ignored his comment. “Each of us?”

  “The three of you with curses to be removed, but especially you and the young male wolf. You are the originators of the main curses. Only you two and your aunt need put your names in the book.”

  Ginny pointed to Lucas. “What about him? He has both curses as well.”

  Lylianna glanced at him. “You bear no curse of your own?”

  “No.” Lucas’s brow furrowed. “Just the two I inherited in the accident.”

  Lylianna looked at Ginny again. “Then he will be freed when those curses are gone.”

  “You swear that he’ll be curse-free without putting his name in the book?”

  “On the tree that gives me life, I swear it.”

  “Okay,” Ginny said. “Then what kind of good thing do we have to sacrifice? We didn’t exactly come out here with our most valuable worldly possessions.”

  “It needn’t be something valuable by the world’s standards, only valuable to you.”

  Easy stepped forward as he dug in his back pocket. “I have a challenge coin to offer as my sacrifice. It was given to me by my CO after I completed my last mission in Afghanistan. I went home after that, but he stayed. The next mission was his last.” Easy pulled the coin out of his wallet and turned it over in his fingers. “He was killed by an IED. Good man.”

  After a moment, he held up the coin. “Will this do?”

  Lylianna nodded. “Place the coin on the book.”

  Easy did as she directed, then stepped back.

  The book gleamed brightly for a long second, then the coin disappeared into it.

  Lylianna gestured at Easy. “Your offering is accepted.”

  Easy took a deep breath. “Good.”

  Lylianna focused on Ginny and Gwen. “What will you two offer?”

  Ginny bit the inside of her cheek as she glanced at her aunt. “There’s only one thing I can think of. And it would be from me and my aunt, because it’s meaningful to both of us.”

  Gwen’s eyes went wide with realization. “Ginny, no.”

  “I don’t have anything else. Do you?”

  Gwen shook her head. “No. But—”

  “He would be okay with it.”

  With only a moment of hesitation, Gwen nodded. “Yes, he would.”

  Ginny looked at Lylianna again and unhooked her father’s ID bracelet from her wrist. The wind rustled the leaves overhead.
“This is the most cherished thing I own. It was a gift to my dad, who was also my aunt’s brother, from my mom. It was the only personal item that survived the car crash that took their lives when I was three.”

  She held out the heavy silver bracelet. Her wrist felt bare and much lighter without it. A tear slid down her cheek.

  Lylianna gestured toward the pedestal. “Lay it on the book.”

  Ginny walked over and placed the bracelet in the valley between the pages. The names already written there were a blur, impossible to read no matter how hard she tried to focus. The magic at work, no doubt.

  The book and bracelet shone brightly for a moment, then dissolved into the pages.

  “Your sacrifice is accepted,” Lylianna said. “You may write your names.”

  Easy held his hand out toward the book. “Ladies first.”

  Ginny went back to the book. A slim feather pen lay in the same spot where she’d placed the bracelet. It definitely hadn’t been there before. She would have seen it when she’d put the bracelet down. She took the pen and wrote her name on the first blank line.

  She stepped back, expecting to feel something. Different, at least. But she didn’t. Not even a tingle of magic ran through her.

  She held the pen out to her aunt and moved out of the way.

  Gwen approached the book and added her name, then handed the pen to Easy. With a great flourish, he signed his autograph.

  He put the pen on the book and stepped away. “Is that it? We’re curse-free now?”

  Lylianna nodded. “You are. Go home. Live your lives in peace.”

  Lucas frowned. “And what if we aren’t curse-free? What if something went wrong? Or the book didn’t get it all?”

  Lylianna narrowed her eyes. “The book is faultless.”

  “I hope so,” Lucas said. “Because if there’s even a hint of curse left, we’re coming back here.”

  “No,” Lylianna said. “You won’t. The memory of this place will vanish from your minds before morning breaks. You will know that you’ve been here, but not how to find the grove again.” She bowed her head slightly. “Be well.”

  Ginny’s mouth came open. “We didn’t agree to a brain-wipe. We’ve had enough issues with memory to—”

  Lylianna raised her hand, cutting Ginny off. “What is done is done.” Then she nodded, and all twelve of the women turned and disappeared into one of the grove’s trees.

  “What is done is done,” Gwen parroted.

  “Apparently,” Ginny said. “I guess we might as well go home.”

  Chapter Thirty-one

  On the way home, Easy sat up front with Ginny. The air flowed over them, warm and sweet. And while hope was strong in all of them that they were free of their curses, a weightier feeling was underneath the hope. A sense of not knowing what had actually been accomplished in the grove until they could test things out.

  To Easy, there seemed to be a little sadness in Ginny, too. He put his hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry you had to give up your dad’s bracelet.”

  “Me, too.” She glanced at her wrist. “Funny how you can still feel a thing even when it’s gone. But I think he would be happy to know that he could do something like that for me.”

  Gwen leaned forward. “He would.”

  Lucas leaned in, too. “Did anyone feel anything when they put their name in the book? I thought there’d be some kind of power surge or something, but then, maybe I didn’t get it since I was sort of cured by association.”

  “No, nothing,” Easy said.

  “Me either,” Ginny agreed.

  Gwen tipped her head. “I thought there’d be a physical sensation, too. I hope that wasn’t all a bunch of smoke and mirrors.”

  “Well,” Lucas said, “I can’t for the life of me pick up the scent of the grove anymore. I mean, it’s completely gone. So that part was definitely real.”

  Easy looked at him. “We need to test this out. Make sure we can be remembered and that we can shift into what we’re supposed to shift into.”

  “Agree,” Gwen said. “Because we might not be able to get back to the grove, but we could certainly lodge a complaint with Amelia Marchand if the curse removal didn’t take.”

  “Let’s get ice cream,” Lucas said.

  Gwen snickered in amusement. “You and your stomach.”

  Ginny nodded, smiling for the first time since they’d left the forest. “I’d be okay with that.”

  “I’m in.” Easy grinned. “I love ice cream.”

  “Do you?” Ginny asked. “What flavor?”

  “Yes,” he answered, laughing. “All of it.”

  “Then you’re going to love the Creamatorium.”

  He made a face. “The what?”

  “It’s the best place in town to get ice cream,” Lucas said. “You’ll see.”

  Easy raised a skeptical brow. “The name is kind of morbid.”

  Ginny snorted. “Yeah, I suppose it is. But the ice cream is killer. Hey! Maybe that’s why it’s called the Creamatorium?” She laughed at her own joke.

  The sound pleased him to no end. She was happy, and that made him happy. Having the curses removed would be the icing on the cake now.

  The fact that he’d had to give up his commander’s coin wasn’t great, but it was nothing like what Ginny had sacrificed. But he’d do it all over again for her. She was worth it. So was having his curse removed.

  He just couldn’t get over the feeling that, for her, the sacrifice had been much greater. There had to be a way to help her get over the loss, because it was plain that had been difficult for her.

  Of course, now that Ginny could enjoy life, they’d have a ton of fun together. There would be all kinds of ways to distract her. Granted, he still had a book to finish. That hadn’t changed.

  But without the distraction of his curse hanging over him, he might become a better, and faster, writer.

  Time would tell on that front.

  He already knew that having Ginny at his side made him a better man. A happier one, too.

  Maybe he wouldn’t wait until his book came out to make things permanent. Especially if they were truly curse-free.

  Ginny pulled into the parking lot at the Creamatorium and found a spot for the Jeep. They all got out and went inside. Lucas and Gwen stood a little ways off, studying the selections.

  Easy was in ice cream heaven. The board of flavors was overwhelming. “Okay, just so you know, we’re coming back here. It’s going to take months for me to try all of these.”

  She nudged him gently with her elbow. “Then I probably shouldn’t tell you the selection changes every month.”

  He put a hand on his head. “I may never leave.”

  She stared up at the board along with him. “What are you going to get?”

  “I need a lot more time before I can answer that.” He read a few of the flavors and descriptions, then looked at her. He was caught off guard by how beautiful she was. And even though she seemed to be dealing okay with the loss of her dad’s bracelet, Easy remained deeply sorry she’d had to give that up. It seemed unfair.

  In a way, that was his fault. If she’d gone to the grove alone, there would have been no need for a sacrifice to balance things out.

  He owed her.

  She caught him watching her. “What?”

  “Nothing. Just thinking about how pretty you are.”

  She blushed and poked his arm. “You’re supposed to be picking a flavor.”

  “I want it all.” And he realized as he continued to take her in how true that was. He wanted her as his wife. And as the mother of his children. As the woman he’d grow old with. He wanted to share his hopes and dreams with her just as much as he wanted to know what hers were.

  He leaned in, nuzzled her neck, and planted a kiss just below her ear. “I love you, Ginny.”

  Her mouth rounded, and her eyes went wide. “You…do?”

  He nodded as he slid his arm around her waist. “Yep. Now, what flavor am I going to get? D
ecisions, decisions…”

  She laughed. “You can’t just say a thing like that and then go right back to ice cream.”

  “I can’t?” He tipped his head. “Why not?”

  “Because…because that’s a big thing to say.”

  “Not that big. But true.”

  “And you thought the middle of the Creamatorium was the place to tell me?”

  “I thought you should know.”

  “Well…” The corner of her mouth quirked up in a funny little half grin. “I love you, too.”

  He grinned and tugged her closer. “Good to know.”

  “Having said that, don’t read too much into the flavor I’m about to order.”

  “Oh? Which one?”

  “Wedding Cake.”

  He found that flavor on the board and read the description. “Vanilla bean ice cream with swirls of rose-scented buttercream frosting, chunks of wedding cake, and pieces of crystalized violets.”

  “It sounds a little weird, but it’s really good.”

  His grin widened. “No comment. I think I’m going with Banana Bomb. Banana ice cream, fudge and marshmallow swirls, and graham cracker pieces.”

  “I haven’t had that one.” She gave him an optimistic look. “Can I taste yours?”

  There were so many ways to answer that, but he just nodded and said, “Absolutely.”

  They approached the counter to order, meeting Gwen and Lucas there. They put their orders in, found a table, and sat down to wait. And see if they were remembered.

  Within minutes, a server approached with their ice cream. She handed out the orders perfectly. Then came back with glasses of water for all of them.

  Ginny gasped in obvious relief. Then she went silent as if struggling with emotion. “Wow,” she whispered. “It worked. The server knew us. She didn’t once look at any of us like she’d never seen us before.”

  Easy gave her hand a squeeze. “It’s over. Your curse no longer exists.”

  She nodded, smiling and clearly emotional.

  Gwen put an arm around her. “It’s all done, honey.”

  Lucas sat up a little taller. “It’s a good day.”

  “That’s for sure.” Easy let go of Ginny’s hand and picked up his spoon. “Now all that remains is for us to shift.”