Chapter Four
Ruby
Sometime later; a lot longer than ten minutes; I find myself sitting on the outdoor patio overlooking the grounds of the estate. We both have drinks sitting in front of us, and a long-overdue conversation is needed. From where we sit, we can see Kady and Kadir chasing Sugar through the orchard that border the grounds. We have many varieties of trees in the orchard, and due to the coven, they all produce fruit even if they are tropical fruits like mangoes and bananas. Witchy magic can make anything grow. I can see the children trying to reach an apple hanging on a low branch.
Laughing, I gesture to them. "I think that’s the most exercise Sugar’s done in years. They are so much like us." Watching Kadir lift Kady so she can get the apple.
Regan smiles at them then turns back to me, and he gets his serious face on. "Have you been to see Mom and Dad yet?" He asks.
I shake my head. "No. I came here first, wanted to dump my gear. I didn’t want Sugar sitting in the carrier, and to be honest, I wasn’t sure if I would be welcome."
"Not welcome?" He asks incredulously. "Why would you think that?" I take a moment before I answer
"Look, Regan, I know it’s been a long time since I’ve been home. I feel like I’ve been living life in a fog, and the sun has finally come out and cleared it. I know I’ve had conversations with Mom and Dad and even you, but I can’t actually remember what we talked about. I think I’ll make a doctor’s appointment and check it out. "Taking a sip of my drink, I look at him with tears in my eyes. "I’m so sorry. Can you ever forgive me? I’ve neglected everyone."
He pulls his chair closer and wraps his arms around me. "Oh sis, I think you need a long conversation with Mom, she will explain everything. As soon as you finish your drink, jump in the car and go and see her. You will feel so much better when you do."
I wipe the tears from my eyes again. I’m sure it won’t be the last time today. "Speaking of cars, when did we get a valet service?"
He gets a sheepish look in his eye and takes a big breath. “Ruby, the Manor hasn’t been doing so well. In fact, the whole town has been suffering. Julie came up with some new ideas, and we implemented them— that was one.”
"And Julie? Where did she come from, and why was a human working at the portal?"
“We have had to look outside the town for people to work some of the jobs. The minute someone turns eighteen, they leave. I’m not the only one, most businesses have strangers working for them. The majority are from Kingston and the surrounding areas.”
“Ok, ok, I get it; we are desperate. I need to go and see Mom and Dad. It doesn’t sound like all that’s been happening is quite natural.” I drain the rest of my drink, put the glass back onto the table, and stand up. “Wish me luck.” I place a kiss on his head and walk out to find where the damn valet put my car.
Less than half an hour later, I pull my Mustang into the driveway of my parent’s estates.
The founding members of the Arbor Vitae coven all have estates on the same street, so all the children of the coven grew up together. I have nine very close girlfriends. The Tempting Ten they used to call us in high school. I can’t for the life of me, remember when I last spoke to any of them. I really need to do something about that. But parents first, I think, looking up at the place I grew up in. Nothing’s changed from the outside except mom looks like she has a few new rose bushes.
The door to my parents’ home flies open, crashing against the wall. Standing there with her mouth open and tears building in her eyes is my mother. I study her, the woman is gorgeous. She has thick flowing auburn hair, striking jade green eyes, with a smattering of freckles across her nose. She is dressed in a fifties style dress, which accentuates her bust and flares out at the waist. She is the very image of Suzy Homemaker; you wouldn’t guess the women is a powerful witch just by looking at her. She opens her arms wide.
"Ruby, my baby, you’re back." She rushes towards me, enveloping me in a hug that is bordering on abusive. The smell of violets hit me as she encloses her arms around me. The comfort of being back in my mom’s arms and the smell of my childhood makes me instantly relax. Everything’s going to be all right now. We are both sobbing loudly when I hear a voice from inside the house.
"Who is it, Prue? What is that god-awful wailing?" Alastair Miller asks, wandering out the door holding his newspaper in one hand. His mouth drops open in shock, and he drops the paper when he catches sight of me.
I untangle myself from mom's arms, and standing there with her arm around my waist, I wave. "Hi, Dad."
"Pumpkin, you better get yourself in this house and give me a squelch; I have missed you so much!" He shouts at me as I run up the driveway and throw my arms around him as hard as I can. Mom follows, pulling the door closed behind us. Dad drags me into the living area, and we take a seat on the super comfy couches they have in there. I find myself squished between the two of them, neither letting go of the hands they have grabbed hold of. Dad lifts one hand and clicks a finger. I can hear the kettle switch on in the kitchen.
Looking at them, all I can do is burst into tears. Sobbing, I throw myself into mom’s lap. "I’m sorry! I don’t know why I haven’t been here. I don’t remember having had a conversation with you or the girls or Regan for a long time. Every time I thought about coming home, something came up. Then Mr. Whitmore just passed away, we just had his funeral. Then Junior demoted me to sales, and he took away my kitchen...." I ramble. "Suddenly it was like lightning struck. Instant clarity, I told him to shove it, packed my bags, and here I am. Can you ever forgive me for being such a bad daughter?" Mom's hand is stroking my hair and cooing as I blurt all this out.
"My sweet girl, hush now, none of this is your fault." Dad gets up and goes to the kitchen while Mom continues." Honestly, nothing is your fault. We need to talk about some things. Let’s have a nice cup of tea. I have so much to tell you."
Dad comes out carrying a tray with a teapot and some cups on it, placing it on the coffee table in front of us and pours us all a cup. I take a sip of my tea. The soothing warmth sliding through my body, calming me. I take a deep breath. "Ok, Mom, tell me, what’s going on?"
"Where to start?" she muses
"Just tell her everything," Dad says as he munches on a cookie. Crumbs falling onto his shirt and then to the couch. Mom frowns at him, and he just smiles sheepishly.
“Did you know that all the oldest girls from the coven left town at the same time? None of them have returned permanently. Their mothers have all had to hire people to come in and help run their businesses.”
“Yeah. What is that?” I butt in. “Regan had a stranger working at the Manor.”
"It seems that all the young people of the town are leaving. The minute they hit eighteen, everyone finds something better, somewhere far away. We have had to advertise in other towns. They are not living here, they boat in every morning, but they have been pushing to move here. You know we don’t let outsiders live here in town, so we’ve been putting them off.”
"All of the businesses?" I ask her quietly.
"Yes, baby. When Susan ran off, I needed to be there to help Regan with twins. I couldn’t put myself in both places."
I stand up and start pacing. "There’s a stranger in my candy shop, making my candy?" I growl.
"Yes, Ruby. I tried to tell you, but it was like you wouldn’t hear me. This is what led me to my investigation. That’s how I found out you were under a spell."
Collapsing back into the couch, the air whooshes out of me. "A spell?"
"Yes.” Mom nods. “All the girls were under a repelling spell. And now that I think about it more, I think it may be aimed at all the young folk from the town. But we did a counter spell for the coven girls, and I’m guessing it worked now that you are here. We may have to do a whole island spell and lift the contamination."
"Why are you here?" Asks Dad. "Not that I’m complaining," he reassures me, "but it is out of the blue."
"When Mr. Whitmore died, I had a
sudden urge to come home," I tell him, and Mom gasps muttering under her breath, "serious consequences." She grabs hold of my hand.
"Oh honey, the counter spell we did said it may have some serious consequences. I’m so sorry." I just look at her and shake my head.
"Mom, Mr. Whitmore had a bad heart, it could have happened at any time." She looks skeptical but doesn’t say anything else. Sitting up, I take a deep breath. "Well, I’m here now, and I want my store back. I have so many new ideas, and I have some pre-existing orders from the last shop that I need to make. When can we get rid of the new girl?"
"Ruby don’t be like that,” scolds mom. “She has been a great help to your father and me. Now that you are back, Al can finish at the shop too, and she can be your assistant."
Wrinkling up my nose, I take a moment to think about that. "I guess it could work. Is she a Supe? Now that I’m back, I want to combine some spells with candy to give the Supes a new product range. Something they can’t get anywhere else. Hopefully, that will drum up some new business. Maybe some special ones for humans too. Give them things like wings for half an hour, or something— I need to think on it. It may be more than they can handle."
Mom claps her hands together with a thrilled look on her face." I knew this would be the right thing to do. I knew that having the girls back will breathe new life into this old town." She grins at my dad, and he smiles indulgently at her. "I’m not sure if she is a Supe, I guess we could ask the sheriff to have a sniff. His shifter nose is very rarely wrong. Though all supes are supposed to identify themselves when arriving on the island, even if they don’t come through the portal.”
I shake my head at her. "No, don’t worry about it right now, it really doesn’t matter. I’ll just give her strict instructions to follow for the special candy. Maybe you will need to be eighteen to access it, sign a waiver, or something, I’ll think about it.”
The grin that spread across my mom’s face is positively giddy. "That will be fun, what a great idea." She throws her arms around me. "I’m so glad you are home, Ruby." I hug her back and then stand up, giving my dad a hug.
"I’m off. I need to get myself settled. I need to look for somewhere to live. I can’t be a burden on Regan. How about I meet you both at the store at six o'clock tomorrow morning? I need to do an inventory of what we’ve got and what we need. I have so many ideas. I’ve got samples I bought home to show you and to add to the menu."
"Ruby, the guest house at the Manor is still empty. Why don’t you move in there?" Suggests my dad. "It needs some work but shouldn’t take too much."
"What a great idea, I forgot all about the guest cottage. Regan and I used to pretend it was our secret hideout. That’s one less thing I have to worry about, thank you." I kiss them both on the cheek and run out of the door of my parents’ house. Life is looking up.
That afternoon I find myself standing in front of the manor guest house, a little shell-shocked. Turning to look at my brother, gesturing to the building standing in front of us. “Dad said it needed a little work. That... That is a mess.”
It’s a replica cottage of the main manor building. The front porch has been converted to a window covered sunroom at some stage in its life, but now all the windows have holes in them. I guess kids over the years have thrown rocks through them. Some are missing whole panes of glass. The front wooden steps are all rotten and falling down. There are some shingles on the roof missing, and the ivy doesn’t look elegant and refined like the main house, it looks wild and unruly.
"Yeah, I don’t think he’s been out here for a while," he says sheepishly as he steps up to the front door, slipping a key into the lock. "How I see it is, you can stay at the manor while we get some contractors in to fix it up." We both step inside, the sound of a million mice scattering surrounds us. Then I let out a screech as a raccoon scuttles out from under an old couch and races out the front door.
We walk through the sunroom, he unlocks the old front door, and we step into the great room. I look around the dust-covered surfaces, the smell of mold and mildew, causing me to wrinkle my nose. The metal steps, spiraling up to the loft, have rusted out and look as though they need replacing. The metal beams need to be looked at by someone who knows what they are doing. All the furniture needs to be tossed, and as I look down at the floor covered in rodent dropping, I decide that will be redone too.
The sagging kitchen cabinets and the crooked, rusted door on the refrigerator, tells me so much. I don’t even want to look at the bathroom, but I’m a glutton for punishment and wander in. The bathroom tiles are cracked and covered in mold. There are rust-colored stains on the clawfoot bathtub, which has about two inches of debris strewn brown water in the bottom. I just shake my head and turn around and walk right out.
“It needs to be gutted,” I announce to Regan in disappointment. Looking up at the hole, letting the afternoon light filter through, I sigh. “This place is not livable.”
He just shakes his head at me and raises an eyebrow. "Ruby, Ruby, Ruby," he says in disappointment. "Did you forget you have magic?” With a click of his fingers, the hole in the roof is fixed. He waves his hand in the direction of the kitchen and with a flash of light, the kitchen is sparkling and shiny again. The appliances are gleaming, I can see my reflection in the metal. He stamps his foot, and the flooring is instantly clean, the wooden floorboards are polished to a gleam. He turns and smirks at me.
I slap my hand to my head. "Do you know, I don’t remember the last time I used real magic. I’ve tried to brew a few spells, but they always went wrong."
"Yeah, mom thinks that might have to do with the spell that was on you. Go on, give it a go."
I turn to the living area, there is a big open stone fireplace with a big slab of maple for the mantle but it's hanging crookedly. The surrounding wall is empty and looks to be stained with something. What do I want it to look like? I think about some things I’ve pinned on Pinterest and then click my fingers. In another flash of light, rows of bookshelves appear surrounding the fireplace. The mantle, straight and gleaming. I turn to Regan in excitement. "It worked. Thank God! What a relief."
Suddenly, my head feels a bit light, and black spots appear before my eyes. Putting my hands up, I grab hold of Regan.
"Whoa, Ruby! Are you okay?" He asks as he walks me out to the front door. "Let’s get you some fresh air." We walk out to the car.
"I think maybe not having done any magic for a while is taking its toll on me." Regan helps me get into the car.
"Leave it to me, Ruby. You worry about the store for Mom and Dad, and I’ll get the house organized for you. I'll get Maddock to look at the wrought-iron steps and the balustrade on the loft. We will get that bathroom done, also new furniture and all the windows fixed in the sunroom. Just write me a list of what you want doing."
With that, I lean over, placing a kiss on his cheek. 'Thanks, Bro." Leaning my head back against the car seat, I close my eyes. It is so great to be home with family and having someone to lean on.
Chapter Five
Ruby
The next morning, I find myself driving down the cobbled main street of town. The trees lining the road are lush with multiple shades of green, red, and brown. The streetlights are starting to switch off in the early morning, the pale-yellow light of sunrise breaking the horizon. The smell of exhaust from the Mustang lingers in the air as I pull in front of the candy store and hop out of the car. I look up at the building. The whole street is lined with similar storefronts, they all have stone looking facades with big display windows in the front of most. Old fashioned overhanging awnings are above the doorways of most of the buildings, the one over the Candy Connection is striped red and white like a peppermint candy. There is a huge sign above the awning with the words Candy Connection written in old fashioned writing. A faint light can be seen shining in the back of the shop.
Taking a deep breath of fresh air, the distinctive smell of the river prickles in my nose, and a smile appears across my face. So, so goo
d to be home. I watch as Mom and Dad drive up, angle park their car next to mine, and jump out. Giving them both a big hug, we walk towards the store. Dad pushes open the front door, and I wait in anticipation for the tinkle of a bell, frowning in disappointment when it doesn’t happen. Looking up, I notice the bell above the door is missing. That is the first item on my list, I think, as I pull out my iPad, open the notes, and start typing.
Looking around the store, I make more notes. It’s rather dark and cluttered, a few changes are definitely required. More lighting is needed, and maybe the shelves can be painted white with a splash of color for accent. The candy kitchen is out the back, but I want to change that. Perhaps we can put it in front of one of the display windows so people can see when walking past.
“Mom! How do you feel about me making some changes? Where I used to work had the kitchen out in the store for everyone to see. People enjoy watching the candy being made, and I found that fresh samples encourage people to purchase more than they originally wanted."
I’m telling them about the different things I want to do, and they’re smiling and nodding when a throat clearing behind me can be heard. Turning around, I find a woman standing there. She is the woman I fired from the Manor. Her blonde hair up in a bun with a hairnet over it, and she’s wearing an apron tied around her waist. There is a look of annoyance on her face, which snaps into a smile as soon as my Mom and Dad turn around.
"Didn’t I fire you from the Manor yesterday? What are you doing here?" I ask her.
Mom and Dad both look at me in shock. "What, you fired her?" Mom shrieks.
I hush her with my hand and whisper, "I’ll explain later."
"No, she fired my sister," snaps the blonde woman.
"Ruby, this is Jenna Hart; she has been helping us out in the shop for a while. Jenna, this is our daughter Ruby. She is going to take Al’s candy making position so he can retire. She’s got some big plans. Why don’t we all head down the street to the Buttered Biscuit and get a coffee and breakfast and talk over the changes?"
Candy Conniptions (Arbor Vitae Coven Book 1) Page 4