I talked about Lucas and the way I felt in his arms — and then I talked about Chase some more. Could I possibly be so screwed up that I’d managed to fall in love with two men at the same time?
I talked until my throat closed and I couldn’t talk any more.
As impossible as it sounds, it felt as if the Mother Tree drew me into the shelter of her arms. Lucas said she wouldn’t let my pain go unanswered and she didn’t. The comforting smells of warm spring mixed with the frigid winter air and brought with them the remembrance of hope. In the darkness of the night, I felt the caress of sunlight on my face.
“We do not experience life in the same way,” the Oak said, “but I, too know of anger, disappointment, hurt, and yes, I know of love. These emotions stir in the depths of my heart as surely as they stir in yours. But still, you have not named that which joins all these things and for you causes the deepest pain of all. You have spoken of much to me, Jinx Hamilton, now speak of that.”
Shaking my head, I said, “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Ah,” the Tree said, “but you do. The common thread that runs through all these concerns is loneliness. You are consumed by the absence of a friend and counselor for whom you yearn. You do not wish to speak to me of the aos si because when last you did, I denied you the contact with her for which you so long.”
My eyes filled with tears. “Will you let me see her now?” I asked. “Will you let me talk to Myrtle? Please?”
Around me, a heavy, crystalline snow began to fall. The flakes formed a luminous nimbus that encircled the Great Tree and blinded me with its brilliance. I raised my hand to shield my eyes, and when I took it away, Myrtle stood before me, young, lithe, and as goldenly beautiful as I remembered her.
“Are you real?” I asked, afraid she would disappear again if I so much as blinked.
“As real as you are,” Myrtle smiled, holding out her arms.
Springing off the bench, I threw myself into her embrace. “Can you stay?” I cried. “Please tell me you can stay.”
“I can stay,” she assured me. “Have no fear about that.”
“Then you’re healed?” I asked excitedly. “You’re back to your old self?”
She hesitated, looking up at the Mother Tree as if listening to her voice. “Sit down, Jinx,” Myrtle said. “There are things I must tell you.”
We returned to the bench, and Myrtle took my hands.
“I am well,” she said, “but I am not as I was. When I realized the threat Chesterfield poses to the Grid and to your family, when I understood how much we all failed to piece together the clues he left for us, I asked the Mother Oak to allow me to return so that I might join this fight at your side.”
The Tree’s voice stirred in my mind. “I granted the request,” the Oak said, “but Myrtle could not come back to you as the aos si. That part of her was not yet healed. To be with you, she gave up who she has always been.”
“Oh, Myrtle,” I said, the tears now flowing freely down my face. “I am so sorry.”
“Do not be,” she said. “This is my gift to you. I am here of my own choosing. I would be nowhere else.”
“If you aren’t the aos si,” I asked, “then what are you?”
Myrtle smiled. “I do not yet know,” she said. “That we must discover together in the new year that lies ahead of us, but for now, dear Jinx, it is Christmas, and we are reunited. Let that be enough.”
Enough? That was everything.
About the Author
Juliette Harper is the pen name used by the writing team of Patricia Pauletti and Rana K. Williamson. As a writer, Juliette's goal is to create strong female characters facing interesting, challenging, painful, and at times comical situations. Refusing to be bound by genre, her primary interest lies in telling good stories.
Six of Juliette's series are currently available. The Jinx Hamilton Mysteries opens with Witch at Heart, a lighter paranormal tale featuring a heroine who possesses powers she never dreamed existed. Jinx has been minding her own business working as a waitress at Tom’s Cafe and keeping up with her four cats. Then she inherits her Aunt Fiona’s store in neighboring Briar Hollow, North Carolina and learns that her aunt has willed her special “powers” to Jinx as well. They say admitting you have a problem is the first step and Jinx has a major problem. She’s a new witch and she has no earthly clue what that means — until she’s given the opportunity to use her magic to do a good thing.
In Book 2, Witch at Odds, Jinx accepts her new life as a witch and is determined to make a success of both that and her new business. However, she has a great deal to learn. As the story unfolds, Jinx sets out to both study her craft and to get a real direction for her aunt’s haphazard approach to inventory. Although Jinx can call on Aunt Fiona’s ghost for help, the old lady is far too busy living a jet set afterlife to be worried about her niece’s learning curve. That sets Jinx up to make a major mistake and to figure out how to set things right again.
By Book 3, Witch at Last, A lot has changed for Jinx in just a few months. After the mishaps that befell her in Witch At Odds, she just wants to enjoy the rest of the summer, but she’s not going to be that lucky. As she’s poised to tell her friends she’s a witch, secrets start popping out all over the place. Between old foes and new locations, Jinx isn’t going to get her peaceful summer, but she may just get an entirely different world.
Book 4, Witch on First, has Jinx walk out the front door of her store in Briar Hollow on a Sunday morning only to find her werecat neighbor and boyfriend, Chase McGregor, staring at a dead man. Under the best of circumstances, a corpse complicates things, but Jinx has other problems. Is her trusted mentor lying to her? Have dangerous magical artifacts been placed inside the shop? Join Jinx and Tori as they race to catch a killer and find out what's going on literally under their noses.
Book 5, Witch on Second, opens just a week before Halloween. Jinx and Tori have their hands full helping to organize Briar Hollow’s first ever paranormal festival. Beau and the ghosts at the cemetery are eager to help make the event a success, but tensions remain high after the recent killings. Without a mentor to lean on, Jinx must become a stronger, more independent leader. Is she up to the task in the face of ongoing threats? Still mourning the loss of Myrtle and her breakup with Chase, Jinx finds herself confronting new and unexpected foes.
In Book 6, Witch on Third, Jinx and crew have just survived Briar Hollow's first annual paranormal festival -- SpookCon1 as Tori calls it, but on the last night, they get a nasty surprise. The Strigoi Sisters are alive, and they're working with Creavit wizard Irenaeus Chesterfield! With Chase still stinging from the breakup and Lucas Grayson more than a little interested, Jinx has plenty on her plate without a new evil trio in town. As the team works to discover Chesterfield's motive, something happens in the Valley that changes everything for the Hamilton family.
Six volumes of the best-selling Lockwood Legacy are currently available. The story chronicles the lives of three sisters who inherit a ranch in Central Texas following their father's suicide. The titles include: Langston's Daughters, Baxter's Draw, Alice's Portrait, Mandy's Father, Irene’s Gift, and Jenny’s Choice. The seventh, Kate’s Journey, will appear in 2017.
Descendants of the Rose is the first installment of the Selby Jensen Paranormal Mysteries. The second book, Lost in Room 636, will also be available in 2017. Selby's business card reads "Private Investigator," but to say the least, that downplays her real occupation where business as usual is anything but normal.
And don't miss the hilariously funny "cozy" Study Club Mysteries, a light-hearted spin off of The Lockwood Legacy. Set in the 1960s, this series takes on the often-absurd eccentricities of small town life with good-natured, droll humor. The first book, You Can't Get Blood Out of Shag Carpet, is already listed in the Amazon store with You Can't Put a Corpse in a Parade will be coming in 2017.
Juliette has also made forays into the arena of short fiction arena with Before Marriage, a light, sweet romance a
nd Langston’s Ghost, a short-story companion to The Lockwood Legacy books.
Fermata: The Winter is the first in a four-novella post-apocalyptic survival series. Five years after an unknown virus divided the world into the living and the dead, four survivors stumble into a winter sanctuary. Brought together by circumstance, but bound by the will to stay alive, a concert pianist and a girl from South Boston forge a friendship and a purpose to cope with their new reality.
For more information”
@jharperbooks
www.julietteharper.com
[email protected]
Also by Juliette
This book is the first
Jinx Hamilton / Shevington novella.
There are six full-length novels
in The Jinx Hamilton Mystery Series.
The seventh,
The Amulet of Caorunn
will appear early in 2017.
Witch at Heart - Jinx Hamilton Book 1
Witch at Odds - Jinx Hamilton Book 2
Witch at Last - Jinx Hamilton Book 3
Witch on First - Jinx Hamilton Book 4
Witch on Second - Jinx Hamilton Book 5
Witch on Third - Jinx Hamilton Book 6
Juliette Harper is also the author of The Lockwood Legacy.
Six full-length books are currently available in that series including:
Langston’s Daughters
Baxter’s Draw
Alice’s Portrait
Mandy’s Father
Irene’s Gift
Jenny’s Choice
These books may also be purchased
in two specially priced collections:
The Lockwood Legacy Books 1-3
and
The Lockwood Legacy Books 4-6
The Lockwood Legacy includes
a companion set of short stories.
The first two installments are:
Langston’s Ghost: Aftermath
Langston’s Ghost: From Limbo to Lust
Other works in Juliette Harper’s catalog include
Descendants of the Rose: A Selby Jensen Paranormal Mystery,
You Can’t Get Blood Out of Shag Carpet: The Study Club Mysteries Book 1,
the Fermata Post-Apocalyptic Series
includingFermata: The Winter and Fermata: The Spring,
and Before Marriage, a short-story romance.
Christmas in the Valley: A Jinx Hamilton / Shevington Novella Page 7