“Look at those sunflowers!” Mitch pointed to the flowers in an effort to distract the kids when their song ended.
“Those ones are really big,” Jason said, in his usual quiet voice.
“Orange!” Jen shouted, the contrast marked as always. She shook her beloved Bun by the ear. “I wanna swim!”
“Any minute now.” Mitch turned into the driveway behind the house and his heart sank.
The yard that was now his was a chaotic mess of greenery. The dandelions certainly had been more manageable when he had looked at the house.
Two months before.
Well, Jen would have to make do. Mowing the weeds was hardly on the agenda today.
A striped grey cat sat on the fence between their disaster of a yard and artfully lush garden beyond. The cat was backed by a brilliant array of bobbing flowers. It eyed the Honda’s occupants, then calmly licked its paw.
Cooley took one look and barked, the noise enough to deafen a normal man at such close proximity. Mitch had already started to open the door, only to have 140 pounds of wolfhound muscle him aside and explode across the yard.
Barking his brains out the whole way.
Well, it was no secret that they’d arrived.
The cat gave Cooley the disdainful look that cats everywhere reserve for non-felines and proceeded to clean the other paw with great care. Cooley was beside himself, running back and forth beneath the cat’s perch.
At least he was occupied.
And he was flattening some of the weeds.
Jen began to bellow for escape; Jason was out the door and off to explore – no doubt to look for bugs – and Mitch was left to manage the details. Once he had broken trail through the yard and unlocked the kitchen door, he wasn’t surprised to find no sign of Andrea.
The movers were ringing the front bell.
It was going to be a long day.
And he was, one more time, all on his own.
*
Lilith was in a funk. She rattled through her house, picking listlessly at this crystal or that astrological chart. She was dimly aware of the moving van disgorging possessions next door, but wasn’t really interested.
She was hot in more ways than one.
It was their 579th anniversary and – just like the last 578 times – Sebastian hadn’t shown.
Yet, even given that, today Lilith couldn’t evict Sebastian from her mind. The memory of the evening they’d spent together tormented her. The echo of his last pledge rang in her ears. She had dreamed of him the night before, relived that precious time so vividly that she’d been sure she could feel his hands on her when she awakened in the morning.
But he wasn’t there.
Lilith was alone.
Still.
Maybe it was the heat that tried her patience.
Maybe it was this marathon run of celibacy that was getting on her nerves. Lilith had been patient, but immortality alone wasn’t a lot of fun. She was tired of being resilient and optimistic. She was tired of being cheerful in solitude.
Lilith was done with the waiting.
And Sebastian was late, but any calculation.
Tarot card reader, astrologist and crystal therapist, Lilith had adopted all the trappings of the occult to mask her Gift. She was reluctant to give any hint of the real nature of her talent, so she blamed everything on the tarot cards. People found it easier to believe that a stack of cardboard cards held the secrets of the future than that Lilith could see the truth in their eyes.
For the fact was that the draught for immortality – when Lilith had ultimately earned the right to a sip – had added an interesting twist to her innate Gift. After drinking that elixir, Lilith could see anyone’s match right in their eyes. Regardless of where that lovematch was in the world, she could set anyone on the path to connecting with his or her soulmate.
Maybe it was because her heart had been so full of Sebastian when she had that precious sip.
It was a bitter kind of irony to make her living consoling the lovelorn when she was so lonely herself. Lilith didn’t even know how many weddings she’d been invited to attend, mostly because she had in some way been responsible for introducing the bride and groom.
Always a bridesmaid, as the saying went.
The experience was getting old. She’d stopped going stag to weddings five years before, but it didn’t make her feel any better. The invitations were bad enough.
Sebastian was taking his own sweet time returning to her, that much was for certain. Lilith remembered the way he had kissed her and her skin heated. She closed her eyes and leaned back in her favorite chair to remember every caress, one more time.
The only time.
So much for promises made on the gallows.
Lilith frowned at the room, and caught the knowing glint in D’Artagnan’s eyes. That cat saw too much, and it was a blessing he couldn’t talk. He had moved in with purpose two years before, characteristically disinterested in Lilith’s opinion of his presence.
She wondered whether the cat knew that she only let him stay in deliberate defiance of Rom norms. Cats licked themselves, polluting inside with outside. Cats were dirty in Rom terms. Cats were mahrime.
But then, Lilith had been mahrime herself for a long time. Maybe there was a twisted kind of justice in D’Artagnan’s deliberate adoption of her. Maybe they belonged together.
That wasn’t the most optimistic thought she could have had.
Lilith wondered why she had any concern with mahrime conventions. It wasn’t as if the Rom and their ideas had anything to do with her. Nope, she was just a witch who told fortunes, not a gypsy at all. She had studied gadje witchcraft, learned to mix potions and cast spells, draw circles for the moon and read astrological charts, too.
She was not Rom.
She refused to be Rom.
And that was that.
D’Artagnan started cleaning himself – always fastidious – and even the sight of his little darting tongue made Lilith fidget.
She had definitely been alone too long.
What was keeping Sebastian?
Lilith picked up her deck of tarot cards, shuffled and considered the riddle of what to do. She fanned the cards across the table and plucked one from their midst, her heart skipping a beat when she turned it over.
The Magician.
A card about making things happen. A card for the creative and the powerful. A card hinting that it was time things got done.
By her.
It was a card that demanded immediate action.
Lilith considered it. Why was she just waiting for Sebastian? In every other area of her life, she was the one to take the initiative and make a difference. She had to admit that it would be a lot more romantic if Sebastian just swept into her life again on his own.
He had promised, after all.
Was his promise a lie?
No. She wouldn’t think along those lines. She stood up and went to the mirror. One more time she looked deeply into her own eyes and one more time, she caught no glimpse of Sebastian. Obviously, her Gift didn’t extend to herself. Magick was like that.
But maybe some of the things she had learned over the centuries could help.
The thought had no sooner crossed her mind than Lilith was on the way to her kitchen. She checked the calendar and discovered that both sun and moon were right for a love spell.
That had to be a sign that she was on the right track.
Whether her actions provoked a response or not, it was good just to be doing something. Lilith turned on the radio and tuned into the oldies station. The first song made Lilith smile and turn up the volume.
Love Potion Number Nine.
A potion it would be.
Lilith danced as she conjured, a reckless glee making her feel decidedly younger than her many years. Her cauldron was on the stove and the strongest love potion of all time was rapidly being assembled.
If Sebastian was anywhere within the galaxy, he’d get this message. When he
showed up, Lilith had several hundred years of creative thinking to put to good use.
Lilith felt her desire heat to a fever pitch with every pinch of this and two petals of that cast into the brew. Anticipation hummed beneath her skin and every passing second added to her conviction that this spell would work. The mixture began to boil and its earthy perfume filled the house.
The yearning was enough to make her knees go weak.
Lilith changed softly before the simmering brew.
“Lover true, come to me,
Through the air or across the sea.
Once we loved all night with style
Come back NOW…”
Lilith chuckled under her breath as she thought of the perfect rhyme.
“I’ll make it worth your while.”
She ladled the bubbling green brew into her coffee cup. The last chorus of the song bounced off the kitchen walls. D’Artagnan lashed his tail as he watched from the doorway, his eyes bright. The potion smelled vile.
Lilith held her nose. She closed her eyes. She held her breath.
She took a sip.
*
Andrea sailed in at six, announcing that she had a massive chocolate cake, of all things. Jen and Jason were delighted. Mitch was not.
Junk food was an old issue between Andrea and Mitch.
“You have heard of the four food groups, haven’t you?” he demanded by way of greeting. He felt as grumpy as he sounded.
Andrea, as usual, was unruffled by his attitude.
“Of course! Chocolate, sugar, fat and caffeine, right?” She threw him a wicked smile as she strode toward the kitchen, the cake held high. Mitch rolled his eyes and flicked the door shut with his fingertips before following. “I thought the kids were a bit young for coffee, but otherwise I’ve got it covered.”
Jen was already bouncing in anticipation.
Mitch shoved a hand through his hair and gave it up. Andrea had a heart of gold, even if she was chronically late and more than a little disorganized. Mitch’s deceased father’s second wife was the only family Mitch had left, other than his own children. Despite their ongoing differences of opinion and style, Mitch liked Andrea.
Maybe because of those differences of opinion and style.
Andrea was nearing sixty, her short hair uniformly silver, her blue eyes invariably twinkling. Andrea could afford to indulge herself, after outliving three comparatively successful men, and indulge herself she did. Without apology. She dressed her short and slightly plump figure both expensively and exquisitely. She took lavish trips, often on impulse. She was beyond generous to her friends.
And that generosity extended to Mitch’s kids. Never having had children of her won, Andrea adored Jen and Jason. The kids couldn’t have had a more indulgent grandmother.
Jen was still clapping her hands with delight about the cake, while Jason surveyed it solemnly. Both licked their lips while Andrea kissed them hello. Mitch noticed that the cake’s icing was starting to melt.
To her credit, Jen was much happier since Mitch had taken an hour to whack down a circle of grass and inflate her pink wading pool. And the break he’d had to take to watch both kids in the water hadn’t been that hard to bear either.
Never mind the cold beer he’d treated himself to.
Of course, then it had been back to the grind of moving. This day seemed as if it would never end. He returned to the box he had been unpacking and wondered how he had managed to accumulate so much apparently useless kitchen junk.
Andrea considered the cake. “I could get mocha fudge next time, if you’d rather.”
Mitch gave his stepmother the Eye. Unlike most people, she didn’t flinch. In fact, she smiled at him. “They’ll be up half the night with the sugar buzz, which is that last thing I need right now.”
“Your problem is that you want everything nice and neat,” Andrea informed him with a shake of her finger. “One of these days, Mitch, you’re just going to have to admit that the world isn’t always going to play by your rules.”
“And this was definitely in my plan,” Mitch grumbled. Raising his kids alone was a far cry from the ‘until death us do part’ that he’d always envisioned.
Andrea took a deep breath, immediately catching his meaning, “Mitch, the only two decent things that woman ever did for you are sitting right – “
“Hey!” Mitch straightened and glared.
Andrea fell silent, although it was clear she had plenty more to say.
Mitch glanced pointedly at the kids, noticing that Jen was stretching one finger toward the icing. “We agreed not to talk about that,” he said.
Andrea sighed, grimaced, then served up massive portions of cake. The kids virtually dove in and soon were wearing more icing than Mitch thought they had eaten. Cooley circled, inhaling crumbs, his nose on full throttle.
Mitch watched his kids for a long moment and decided they hadn’t understood Andrea’s comment. Fortunately, they were still too young to pay a lot of attention to adult innuendo.
That would change.
Mitch was dreading the day he wouldn’t be able to protect them from everything nasty in the world, or make everything come right with a hug and a Band-Aid.
“You can’t ignore the truth forever,” Andrea said, taking a bite of cake.
“I can sure as hell try,” Mitch growled. He dug determinedly for the coffeemaker. “And where does it say that your interpretation of events is the truth?”
Andrea rolled her eyes. “Let’s just agree to disagree on the subject of Janice, shall we?” Mitch said nothing – he thought they’d already agreed to that. She moved a box to the floor and perched on a kitchen chair. “I like this place,” she said, then ran a finger across the counter and grimaced. “Although it could use a good cleaning.”
“There’s a sponge in the sink and cleanser in that box,” Mitch said.
Andrea laughed. ‘I don’t do windows.”
“Nana makes cake,” Jen confided around a mouthful of chocolate.
“Nana buys cake,” Jason corrected.
Andrea leaned forward, eyes shining and Mitch sensed trouble. “Have you met your neighbors?” she asked, to his surprise.
Mitch grinned and gestured to the chaos around himself. “You missed the big social tea this afternoon. I was up all night making watercress sandwiches. Cutting off those crusts was really a pain.”
Andrea playfully threw a wad of packing paper at him. “I never know when to believe you,” she complained, then pointed to the house with the cat and the garden. “You have a fortune teller for a neighbor.”
“Go on. Here I thought this was a good neighborhood.”
“It’s quirky, dear. She has the most darling little neon sign out front.”
“Eenie meenie jelly beanie, the spirits are about to speak.” Mitch wiggled his eyebrows and the kids giggled, recognizing the line from the classic cartoons they all watched together.
“But are they friendly?” Jason asked.
“Just listen!” the kids crowed together.
Andrea rolled her eyes and shook her head.
Jen took a chocolate hit on her chest and pulled up her bathing suit to lick it off. Cooley sniffed with disappointment, and she dropped her spoon for him. She went after the rest of her cake with both hands.
Mitch didn’t have it in him to argue with her. Too bad they didn’t’ make a spin cycle just for kids.
“Lilith’s Lovematches is what it says,” Andrea said. “Isn’t that lovely? So romantic!”
“Visa and Mastercard accepted,’ Mitch said. The coffeemaker wasn’t in the box he’d just emptied so he opened another. He was going to need it in the morning. Might as well find it now and make life easier.
“Don’t be silly,” Andrea chided. “I’m sure it’s not really like that.”
Mitch didn’t bother to hide his skepticism. “You mean she does it for free?”
“Of course not!”
Mitch shook his head and dug beneath spatulas.
“Andrea!” Mitch spun to face his stepmother, wishing yet again that she wasn’t so trusting. “How many times have I told you that all of that stuff is garbage?”
“It’s not.”
“It is. These people are all charlatans looking to make a quick buck.”
“You don’t even know her.”
“I don’t have to.”
“And where’s that open mind of yours?”
“These operations are a cover for opportunism, if not more. I don’t even know how many frauds have been uncovered.” Mitch shook a pair of tongs at his stepmother. “You should be more careful about going to these places, let alone about giving them your credit card numbers.”
Andrea folded her arms across her chest, the glint in her eye revealing that she was digging in her heels. “Nonsense. There’s bad in every kind, but lots of these people have a genuine gift. You should go and meet this woman, just to prove yourself wrong.”
“Because I have nothing else to do?”
“Because she’s your neighbor.”
“Cooley’s going to eat her cat any day now, so even a remote acquaintance is doomed to failure.”
Andrea laughed. ‘You’re just afraid you could be wrong.”
Mitch’s head snapped up. “I am not!”
Andrea smiled at him.
No. She smirked, a dare in her eyes.
“Daddy’s not afraid of nothing,” Jen declared. She tapped her chocolate-smeared fingers on Andrea’s wrist with a confidential air she’d obviously copied from that woman. “Nana, we went swimming.”
“Did you, dear?” Andrea’s gaze never wavered from Mitch’s. “I’ll bet you’ve never even talked to a psychic.”
“There’s a yawning hole in my life. You probably haven’t ever talked to a real one either.” Mitch spied his prey at the bottom of the box, beneath a collection of faded Tupperware. “Ha!” He set the coffeemaker on the counter triumphantly.
Could he possibly be so organized as to have packed the filters in the same box?
Time Travel Romances Boxed Set Page 103