Witch Christmas

by Caroline Mickelson

  Her fingers began to tingle. It was spell time.

  Chapter Four

  To Tessa's horror, her first spell didn't work. At all. She stared at her hands. Hadn't Aunt Trudy assured her that she'd have three spells available during the holidays? She turned to Minx, who lay stretched out on the twin bed closest to the wall. "I didn't misunderstand, did I?"

  In true feline fashion, Minx appeared wholly uninterested in the conversation. Her green eyes stared at Tessa without so much as a flicker of interest.

  Tessa made a face. "You're as useless to me as everyone else is." She stood and began to pace, all the while trying to ignore an unsettled feeling in her stomach. Where had she gone wrong? Maybe the problem wasn't even her. "I wouldn't put it past Evelyne to convince Aunt Trudy to leave me powerless during the holidays. I'm just so sick of it, Minx. This whole idea that I need to be taught a lesson, it's ridiculous."

  A knock at the bedroom door interrupted her monologue. "Tessa? Honey, it's Mop. Is everything okay in there?"

  Tessa did the near impossible and held her tongue. But that did nothing to deter Liam's mother.

  "Tessa? I know you're in there. I heard you talking to someone. Are you alone?"

  Alone? No, she'd snuck a band of rowdy pirates up the stairs and into her bedroom when no one was looking. Of course she was alone. Why, why, didn't she have access to unlimited spells? The things she could do to her mother-in-law to keep her out of the way...the options were endless. Which, she realized, was exactly the reason that her coven members had given her so few to use for the duration of her visit. Curse them all.

  "I'm just a little tired," Tessa called through the door. "I'm going to take a little nap until Liam comes home. If that's okay with you," she hastily added. She really needed to be left alone if she was going to cast a proper spell.

  "Do you need another blanket?"

  Minx hissed. Tessa shared the sentiment.

  "No, thank you. Just a little peace and quiet is all I need." Forget the peace, she really just wanted quiet.

  "Oh, of course, I'll just be downstairs if you need me."

  Tessa counted to twenty, twice, to ensure that her mother-in-law had indeed left her alone. She glanced at the clock to gauge how much time she had before her husband returned. She picked up the photo of Liam and Damian and laid it on the nightstand. She rubbed her hands together until she felt a familiar warmth, all the while forcing herself to focus on the image of the two little boys. Once her mind was closed to all thoughts except Damian, she positioned her index finger on her palm and began to trace a silent spell.

  Just when she began to give up all hope, a familiar low whistling sound, not unlike the wind through the trees, surrounded her. Success! With a grateful heart, Tessa surrendered to the force of her magic as it carried her away.

  ***

  "The room's empty. Tessa's gone." Liam stood in the kitchen, his hands gripping the granite counter top. He locked eyes with his mother. "Where did she go?"

  Mrs. Kennedy shrugged. "How should I know? She said she wasn't feeling well."

  "That's all she said?" Liam demanded.

  "I think so." His mother cocked her head and thought for a moment. "She just said she needed a bit of peace and quiet."

  "What happened to the two of you making pie crusts together?" A quick glance around the kitchen confirmed that their plans had gone awry. There was no sign that anyone had baked anything. "Did you argue?"

  "Of course not." His mother waved for him to join her at the kitchen table. "You're working yourself up over nothing."

  Liam didn't move. "Tessa is everything to me."

  "Did you check under the bed?" Uncle Rodney, who'd had two beers too many, asked. "Maybe she's looking for that cat of hers."

  Liam didn't dignify the question with an answer. He hadn't looked under the beds, but he'd looked everywhere else. Including the closet, and Tessa's cape and broomstick were still there, along with her luggage. He ran his hands over his face. Had his wife been so utterly miserable with his family that she'd felt the need to flee? If so, he'd missed every sign. Damn.

  "Sit down, son." His father pointed to a seat at the table. "And don't be so hard on yourself. Women are the devil to figure out." He turned to his wife. "Except for you, of course. Now, what happened after we left?"

  She shrugged. "Nothing really."

  Liam and his father exchanged a glance but neither said a word. Instead they waited.

  "Right after you left, Tessa said she wasn't feeling well."

  Liam frowned. Had Tessa mentioned to him that she wasn't feeling well? No, he'd have remembered. Not that it would be unusual under the circumstances if she felt a bit under the weather. He bit his lip. Had she seemed off when they were wrapping presents? With Tessa it was so hard to tell. She was always so full of attitude, and her cynicism and snarky responses to life often masked how she truly felt. Normally he was adept at reading her true feelings but he'd obviously missed something big. He'd failed Tessa, something he'd never wanted to do.

  "And?" his father prompted. "What happened then?"

  "Well, I...my intention was to simply..." Liam's mother's voice trailed off.

  Liam narrowed his eyes. Fairies were lousy liars and clearly his mother was struggling. "Did you ask her if she was pregnant?"

  Mop nodded, but kept her eyes downcast. "I couldn't help myself."

  "Well, you're going to have to find a way to control yourself, Mop. Tessa is not just my wife, she's my world. Baby or no baby, got it?"

  His mother looked up and met his gaze. "I'm sorry, son. I just so badly want to become a grandmother."

  "And harassing my wife is the way to encourage her to embrace the idea of becoming a mother?" A stab of guilt pierced Liam's heart as he saw his father reach for his mother's hand. A good husband consoled his wife, his father obviously understood that. Now it was his turn. Liam stood. "I'm not angry with you, Mop. But if you want Tessa and me to spend time with you, then you're going to have to give her space."

  Mrs. Kennedy nodded. "I promise to try."

  "What are you going to do, son?" his father asked. "Do you need my help?"

  Liam shook his head. "I'll give her a couple of hours and if she's not back, I'll track her down. Until then we just have to wait. Let's just hope she's gone off alone somewhere quiet to hear herself think."

  ***

  A thunderous crash was the first sound that Tessa heard as the spell delivered her right in the middle of...where? She glanced around to try to get her bearings. There was a melancholy honky-tonk sound coming from a corner jukebox. Smoke assailed her nostrils, she lifted a hand and waved it in front of her face. At least it was cigarette variety, not the trapped in a burning building kind. Still, it made her want to gag. And what was that horrendous noise coming from outside the building? It had at first sounded like a crash, but it was more of a roar. She took a tentative step, but stopped when she heard something snap underfoot.

  Because it was too dim to see clearly, she knelt down and gingerly touched the floor. Sticky. Ewww. She pulled her hand back, no longer caring what she might crunch. As her eyes adjusted to the dark she saw that she was in a bar. A biker bar, which would explain the loud noises coming from outside the building. How was it that people who rode motorcycles didn't go deaf? She glanced down at her feet and realized that she'd stepped on a small pile of peanut shells that sat atop sawdust. Damian obviously favored first rate establishments.

  She glanced around, ignoring the stares of several burly men. And women. What were they called? Biker chicks? She met the gaze of one woman and held it for a long moment. The two women certainly were dressed as if they were from two different worlds, Tessa had never owned a bandana in her life and she'd never worn black leather. Well, not in public anyway. But the gleam of spirit and strength she saw in the woman's gaze was something she recognized. She nodded, the other woman did the same, and Tessa turned her attention to the group of men standing by the bar.

  It was
impossible to tell which one was Liam's black sheep brother from this far away. She strode toward the bar and nudged her way into the center of the crowd. A hush fell over the assembled men, ten of them in all, as they turned to look at the newcomer.

  A large man with a gray, grizzled beard spoke first. "What are you looking for, young lady?"

  Tessa flicked her hair over her shoulder with her clean hand. "I suppose a lemon scented, heated towel would be asking too much?"

  An uneasy titter rippled through the group, as if they didn't know what to make of her or her request.

  "I'll settle for a glass of water and a paper napkin then."

  These were procured in short order and Tessa did the best she could to clean her hands. This was as close as she'd ever come to camping. Much as she'd always thought, it wasn't for her. Satisfied she'd removed three layers of yuck, she snapped her fingers to get the bartender's attention. "A beer, please. Imported, something Dutch preferably."

  She ignored the bartender's blank look and turned around to survey the men standing around her. Some were tall, some were short, some were old, some were young, but none looked like a grown up version of the little boy in the photo. But her spell had brought her here and she refused to believe faulty magic was at play. She motioned for the men around her to spread out, which they did, affording her a better view of the rest of the establishment. There were plenty of dark corners in which Damian could be lurking. She turned back to reach for her beer but it was nowhere in sight.

  She rapped her knuckles on the bar counter. "Where's my drink?"

  But her answer didn't come in the form of human speech. Instead, a puff of blue smoke exploded and the last person Tessa expected to see materialized on the opposite side of the bar.

  "Forget about your drink. You're going home."

  Chapter Five

  Tessa gasped. "Aunt Trudy!" She swiveled around to see how the occupants of the bar reacted to seeing a witch materialize behind the bar. But everyone was still. Unmoving. Frozen. She turned back to her aunt. "What are you doing here?" she hissed.

  "What am I doing here?" Her aunt shook her head. "Rich, Tessa, even for you."

  Tessa squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. "Unless you're here to pour me a drink, you can go now."

  Eyes blazing, Trudy came around the bar to stand in front of her niece. "Your insolence is astonishing to me, Tessa. Truly astonishing. Sometimes I struggle to remember what an essentially good person you are. But this isn't the place to have this conversation. We're leaving. Now." She slipped her hand under her niece's elbow.

  Tessa jerked her arm free. "Go on home and leave me alone."

  "Oh, I most certainly will go home, right after I deposit you into your husband's loving arms." She narrowed her eyes. "I assume he has no idea where you are."

  "I'm not going to dignify that with an answer."

  "Just as I thought."

  "Aunt Trudy, you have no idea what you're talking about, or what I'm doing here."

  The older witch folded her arms across her chest.

  "I mean it, Aunt Trudy, don't make me waste a spell on sending you home."

  "Tessa, I love you enough to save you from yourself."

  As if they were gunslingers in the old west, the two witches locked eyes on each other and lifted their hands in unison but before either could cast the first spell, a man's deep voice interrupted them.

  "Ladies, surely it doesn't have to come to this?"

  Tessa and her aunt whirled around.

  "Who are you?" Trudy demanded.

  But Tessa didn't need to hear the answer. The man in front of her was all grown up now, a far cry from the clean scrubbed boy in the photograph. His hair was long, his face weathered, and his jaw line boasted a four inch scar. Despite how much he'd changed, his cocky boyhood smirk hadn't. This was Liam's good for nothing little brother.

  ***

  Liam slammed the dresser drawer closed and sank onto the bed. Exasperated, he rested his elbows on his knees and dropped his head into his hands. Damn. He'd searched the room over twice and couldn't find a single clue as to where his wife had gone. What on earth had happened in the short time he'd been gone that Tessa would just disappear? That she'd been overwhelmed by spending so much time with his family, he could believe. But that she'd disappear without leaving word for him wasn't right. It wasn't Tessa. She was vocal. Silently fading away wasn't her style.

  He straightened when he felt a scratch on his arm. It was Minx. Half-heartedly, he rubbed the cat behind it's ears. To his mind, cats were far too needy. He preferred dogs, but Tessa loved Minx. She rarely went anywhere without her. A chill ran through him. Tessa wouldn't voluntarily leave Minx behind. Which could only mean one thing. She hadn't left of her own free will.

  With Minx tucked securely under one arm, he ran down the stairs and headed for the kitchen. Just as he'd expected, his parents and his uncle sat around the kitchen table. He frowned when he realized what they were doing. "Why are you drinking champagne?"

  Flute halfway to her lips, his mother paused. "Why is that creature in my kitchen?"

  Minx hissed. Liam tightened his hold on the feline. "Don't tell me you're celebrating."

  His father looked away, his mother took an unladylike gulp, but it was his uncle who confirmed their treachery. He lifted his flute. "Ding dong, the witch is-"

  "Be quiet, Rodney." Liam's father scowled at his brother and motioned for his son to join them. "It's not what it looks like."

  Liam stood his ground in the doorway. "That's funny, because it looks like you're celebrating the fact that my wife is gone."

  "Nonsense." His mother reached for the bottle and refilled her glass. "I tell you she's not missing. I think she's left of her own volition."

  "Why would she, mother? Unless she got fed up with your haranguing her about grandchildren."

  Mop gasped. "You called me 'mother'."

  Liam could think of a lot worse things to call her, but he held his tongue. His focus needed to be on his wife. She needed him. He could feel it.

  "Liam, son, sit down." His father stood and pulled out a chair. "We'll help you get to the bottom of this."

  Liam gently dropped Minx to the ground. The cat shot out of the room, hopefully in the direction of his mother's new silk throw pillows. It would serve her right for being so indifferent to Tessa's plight. He slid into the seat across from his father.

  "I'm struggling to understand why you're so upset," his father said. "If Tessa is truly a witch-"

  "Oh, she's a witch all right," his mother interrupted. She shrugged when Liam shot her a warning look. "What? She bewitched you, didn't she?"

  Liam groaned.

  His father cleared his throat. "As I was saying, if Tessa's a witch, then it seems to me that she can get herself out of any trouble that she's in, right? One little spell and poof," he snapped his fingers, "she's home."

  "That would only be true if her hands are free. She casts silent spells," Liam explained. Again. He'd already told his family about this but they appeared to have forgotten. "She has to be able to touch her index finger to her opposite palm so that she can trace a spell."

  "Handcuffs would make that hard," Rodney offered, "but not impossible. It would sort of depend on if her hands are cuffed behind her back or in front."

  Liam could only stare. He was related to this man? No wonder his wife had fled.

  "Now, hold on there, Rodney makes a good point," Liam's father said. "Not about the handcuffs, of course. But what if Tessa is unable to cast a spell? She'd have trouble getting home, wouldn't she? Can she just 'think' her way home or chant a spell?"

  Liam was grateful that at least one person around the table other than himself was aware that this wasn't a joke. "She won't be able to just pop back here if she's unable to use her hands."

  "So, just go to her wherever she is and get her," Rodney suggested.

  "I can't. I don't know where she is. My only hope is that she'll make a wish to be rescued." />
  "Rescued? Really, Liam? Such a dramatic word," Mop chided. "How do you know she's not out Christmas shopping? Or meeting a girlfriend for a cup of hot cocoa?"

  His wife didn't shop, she used her magic to get whatever she wanted. She didn't have any girlfriends, nor did she drink anything as tame as hot cocoa. But Liam kept this to himself, his mother was already convinced that his bride was wholly unsuitable. There was no need to hand her more ammunition. He countered with a question. "You're absolutely certain that she didn't give you any indication where she might be going?"

  "No, she didn't give me any indication that she was going at all. I already told you, son. She said she wasn't feeling well and wanted to go upstairs to her room."

  Liam slammed his fist on the table. "Something had to happen." He turned to his father. "Pop, did you notice anything at all about Tessa's behavior that might explain this?"

  He shook his head. "Look, son, I imagine this isn't easy for you to hear, but your wife isn't exactly easy to get to know." He held up his hand to forestall Liam's protest. "You love her, I see that. We all see that. But it's going to take us some time to get used to her."

  "Because she's a witch?"

  "No, Liam, because she's Tessa."

  An uncomfortable silence filled the kitchen. Liam refused to meet his father's eyes. He knew his father wasn't being malicious, he was being honest. Tessa was an acquired taste. And she did herself no favors by putting up a snarky front when she was uncomfortable. But she was...well...Tessa. Easy? No. But she was amazing in so many ways, ways that his family could easily see for themselves if they would just give her a fair chance. If they would just look behind the witch and see the woman.

  "I'm sorry, son," his father said.

  Mop pushed aside her champagne flute. "I am too. Really, I am. This isn't how we wanted your first Christmas together to turn out."