The Spell of Four

by Casey Morgan

  “I’m sure it’ll all work out just fine,” he added, undoubtedly after seeing the pained look on my face.

  Then he practically skipped out the front door and closed it quickly behind him, leaving Shanna and I alone again.

  Great. I just traveled thousands of miles to find out my ancestors are assholes. I guess that was always a possibility, though. I didn’t know what awaited me in Ireland, and I had known I should be prepared for bad news as equally as likely as good news. But actually finding it out is a different reality than just imagining the possibility.

  Maybe that was why my mom was given away – so that she could have a better life in the States.

  I put my hands to my temples and tried to rub away the headache that was forming there. I really didn’t want to deal with more bad news.

  Wait, I though – nearly as an afterthought because I had been too busy dwelling on the news about my ancestors to think about much else. Did Shanna just say she married “guys,” plural? That’s really weird.

  I shook my head a bit. I must have heard her wrong.

  But once again, I decided not to pry. Even though she was the one who had brought it up, it really wasn’t my business and I didn’t want to get off on the wrong fit with her, as either a current hotel guest or a potential future friend.

  “That would just be crazy if it turned out we were related,” I said to Shanna. “Would you have some time to maybe go through some papers with me?”

  “Sure, but why don’t you get settled in first?” she suggested and smiled sweetly at me. “I’m sure you’d like to relax for a minute after your trip. When you’re ready, come down for that free pint. The door to the pub is right over there.”

  She pointed towards a hallway to the right of the front desk.

  “Thanks, that sounds great,” I said.

  Another handsome Irish elf walked into the lobby. Again, he was over six feet tall, and built, but this elf had long blonde hair pulled back in a braid and lighter green eyes. He had the same familiar body language as Brody, as well as a similar appearance.

  “Where’s my brother?” he asked.

  That would explain the similar appearance, I thought.

  “Down the street, babe,” said Shanna.

  She gestured to me, but I was thinking, ‘Babe?’ Did she really just call him ‘babe,’ too?

  “This is Mila, our new guest,” she informed him.

  The elf glanced at me quickly.

  “Oh, aye. How ya doin’?” he asked me.

  Then he turned back to Shanna. It was like his eyes wanted to only be on her.

  “We might be related,” added Shanna.

  She turned to me.

  “This is Ryan. He, Brody, and I own the bed and breakfast.”

  “Related? Really?” asked Ryan.

  He looked me over again.

  “That’s a bit of fascinating coincidence,” he said. “I can see the resemblance, though. You two are like peas in a pod.”

  “Can you show her to her room, love?” asked Shanna. “I’ve got to talk to our towel supplier.”

  “Are we out again?”

  “No, but close enough.”

  “Come along, Mila,” said Ryan. “I’m sure I’ve got your key here somewhere.”

  Ryan escorted me upstairs. As he walked away from Shanna, I was sure he gave her a pat on the rump.

  I thought I had misheard, but she did say “guys” and that she was married. I looked back. There were two wedding bands on her finger. How odd!

  Upstairs, the Irish elf fumbled with his ring of keys for a moment. He tried a few that were wrong, and I grew a bit inpatient. I wanted to throw out a magic spell to open the door and let me in, but I didn’t want to be rude when he was clearly trying to do it himself.

  Then finally he found the right one and unlocked the door. I went in and set my bags down. He took the key off his ring and handed it to me.

  “Here ya go now, don’t lose it,” he said. I supposed he didn’t know that I didn’t really need it. “Breakfast goes from 7 until 10 am. It’s a good bit of food. Very hearty. I hope yer not a vegan or nuthin’ like that.”

  “No. Thanks,” I said. “But before you go, if you don’t mind. Can I ask you something?”

  “Sure.”

  “Are you and Brody both married to Shanna?”

  I had told myself to shut my mouth and mind my own business, but I couldn’t help it. I was too curious, and I had never been known for holding my tongue.

  “Aye, ‘tis true, we are,” he said.

  He seemed nonchalant about it, as if it was nothing unordinary. I began to feel dumb for not knowing this tidbit about local culture.

  “Oh, please pardon my ignorance. We don’t have that kind of thing in America,” I said.

  “Actually, we don’t have it in Ireland either,” admitted Ryan. “We just did it, is all.”

  He shrugged.

  Wow. I had to admit, I admired his honesty.

  “Have a nice stay, Mila,” he told me.

  “Thanks.”

  Ryan left the room and I got myself settled in. The whole place was like living inside an antique. All the furniture and fixtures were old and quaint and kept spotless.

  There was even an old-style tub on four legs in the bathroom. The four-poster bed was extremely comfortable.

  I kicked off my shoes and stretched out for a few minutes. I zonked out for a good 20 second power nap. Normally, I wasn’t big on those, but the travel had made me tired. A quick nap refreshed me. I decided to grab a quick shower and get changed for dinner.

  While I was in the shower, I thought about the idea of having two boyfriends or two husbands. It just seemed crazy to me. How would you keep the guys from not getting jealous of each other?

  I supposed that since Ryan and Brody were brothers, they were used to sharing things? Strange that they would decide to share a woman, though. Shanna must be very special.

  Still, the thought of holding together a relationship like that sounded exhausting. I could barely manage to take care of my fish and I had to give them to a neighbor just to be able to make this trip.

  Two guys at once?

  That was a lot to take care of.

  Of course, maybe I was looking at it the wrong way. What was a relationship if not a partnership, right?

  That was the way my parents were. They were the loves of each other’s lives. Mom was devastated when dad passed away from cancer. Looking for her family was the only thing that got her through the depression.

  I mean, if you were really into someone, even if it was two someones, you tried to help each other out, right? And if you had two people helping you, that had to be better than one, right?

  I was in the shower washing myself when I thought, What about the sex?!

  I blushed.

  Here I was in the shower, thinking about it and blushing. I mean, the sexual positions with two guys were pretty endless.

  Wow.

  Shanna must… She must be pretty open minded.

  Then again, it might be really nice to be spooned and spoon at the same time. Those two elves she’s married to are certainly easy on the eyes.

  Part of me imagined doing some dating I while I was here. Once I found my grandparents and we were reunited, I could ask out a local boy. The Irish accent was just too much of a turn on for me to pass up this opportunity.

  I smiled to myself. Then I realized it was the first natural smile I had smiled in weeks. Coming here seemed as if it had been the right thing to do. After all, it was bringing me out of my depression and that was good, even if my relatives turned out to be jerks.

  Maybe I would find a nice Irish witch or elf to date. I was ready for one guy, one relationship. Something that wasn’t a total disaster.

  My previous boyfriends were just a string of weirdos when I looked back at them. There was Mike, the neat freak and germophobe werewolf, who was constantly worried about catching something from someone or something.

 
; Then there was Eric, the corporate witch. He had lots of money, but he was just using me for sex.

  I felt more like one of his employees than his girlfriend. He was always “scheduling sex”, which started out as a lame, half-joke, but I soon began to realize that it was what he actually did.

  Gary, the jock, another Were, was pretty fun. A bit of a musclehead, but always a good time.

  The only problem with him was that he was incredibly stupid. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t any rocket scientist. I barely watched the news myself anymore, but Gary? He once insisted that New Mexico was not part of the United States. Can you believe that?

  I mean, jeez, when you’re an American and you don’t even know the fifty states? Come on.

  All those relationships had been disasters. We would break up and I would go crying to my mother. She would dry my tears and tell me that my perfect guy was coming, and that I just had to be patient.

  She always insisted that when I met him, I would know. I would feel the zing, she used to always say.

  The zing was some sort of magic that had happened between my parents when they first met. My father had been shy. He was a military brat, who moved around a lot with his father, who made spells for the military.

  My dad had just entered Mom’s high school right before the winter dance. When Mom saw him sitting alone on the bleachers, she bravely walked over and asked Dad to dance.

  He smiled, took her hand and they both felt the zing right away. Or so goes the story they always used to tell me. At that point, they knew right away that they were meant to be together.

  Now they were both gone.

  I turned off the shower and grabbed a towel. I wasn’t going to let the depression take over again.

  I was in Luck’s Hollow.

  Magic happened here.

  If Shanna could marry two elves and I could find my family, then maybe I would feel the zing with a nice Irish chap and spend the rest of my days as happy and in love as Mom and Dad were.

  Maybe that was just what I was telling myself to try to have the best trip possible and focus on something other than my grief and loneliness. But at least it beat sitting at home in the States, moping around and being sad.

  I was determined to have a good time here in Luck’s Hollow. And things were already off to a great start now that I was at Hennessy House.

  Chapter 3

  Aiden

  I was tending bar in the Hennessey House. It was what I had done to make money ever since I first started working, except for when I had taken a break to run off to the mountain to herd sheep.

  People often thought that was a strange thing to do but I had needed the break and relaxation. Plus, it paid well. Elves were in demand as shepherds because of our unusual stamina and strength.

  And I wasn’t sure if this was part of the reason for the high pay but I noticed that sheep and elves shared a mystical connection. It seemed that sometimes all I had to do was whistle low and under my breath for a scared or runaway sheep to calm down and follow me.

  Eventually, though, I had come back to what I was familiar with. I missed Hennessy House. My older brothers, Quinn, Brody and Ryan had made me a barback before I was even old enough to tend bar, but you know how it is. When you’re a teenager, you know your alcohol by the time you’re like fourteen.

  Pouring a Guinness is an art unto itself and I learned that well before I was old enough to order one.

  This was a real job though and I took bartending here seriously. How could I not? My family had owned the Hennessy House for generations. I was the youngest. It could all fall on my shoulders one day. You don’t want to be the last in your bloodline to destroy the family legacy, after all.

  It also paid well – although, unless I had some big tippers during a shift, not as well as the shepherding gig. I had an apartment two villages away, but I was saving up to buy a car or at the very least some new clothes. Maybe get myself a proper girlfriend.

  I had always been too free spirited and independent to want to tie myself down. But now that Quinn had a family of his own and Brody and Ryan had married Shanna, I was beginning to see the appeal of relationships.

  It would be nice to come home to a loving woman at the end of a long evening of hard work. Or perhaps she would come home to me, after working hard at whatever job she had.

  Just as I had that thought, a woman – no, a witch – walked into the pub. At first, I thought it was Shanna, but no. She looked a lot like Shanna, though. She could’ve been a sister or definitely a cousin.

  Like Shanna, she was gorgeous. Long, flowing red hair, beautiful eyes, curvy breasts and nice plump ass — she was the entire package.

  I scrambled to find something that might impress her. She looked and sounded like an American, so I figured that showing off my business acumen to her could do the trick.

  I had designed the bottle for Odell’s Hard Cider. If I could get her to order one, then I’d have something to talk to her about, at least.

  As soon as I started to approach her, I felt a tightening in my chest. I was sweating for no reason and it took all my strength to keep my hands from shaking.

  Fuck, usually I was pretty cool and collected around the ladies. What kind of hold did she have on me? Had she put some spell on me? Or was I just madly in lust?

  “Hello, miss,” I greeted. “Can I get you something?”

  “Oh, I’m just in from the States, what do you recommend?” she asked.

  “Well, we have a local brew that’s very nice, called Odell’s Hard Cider. I designed the label on the bottle meself,” I smiled.

  “That’s sounds good,” she smiled back. “I’ll have that. What’s your name, by the way?”

  “I’m Aiden Hennessey. My family runs this place,” I explained.

  “Wait a minute— Brody and Ryan—”

  “They’re my brothers. My brother Quinn also works here, as does mi sister,” I explained. “It’s a family affair.”

  “Oh, nice,” she smiled.

  “I’ll be right back.”

  I walked back to the bar feeling proud of myself. I didn’t stutter. Now how about that?

  I really couldn’t explain why she had me feeling so nervous. Why didn’t I just ask her out, like I normally would?

  I realized I didn’t even know her name. I was stupid, to not have asked. Something was really throwing me off my game, that was for sure.

  Grabbing the hard cider and opening it, I rushed back to her table and set the bottle in front of her. She touched my hand as I let go. There was something that happened in that moment.

  It was a spark of electricity and I don’t mean static shock – it was something else. I think we both felt it. I stood there for a few seconds and she looked up at me. I supposed we were both wondering what happened.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name,” I told her, when my tongue finally worked again.

  “Mila Jackson,” she introduced herself.

  She tasted the cider.

  “Oooh, this is good.” she said. “And you say you designed the label? You’ve got quite an eye for design.”

  “Thanks,” I said. “The brew is really taking off. Not just locally. Odell’s has achieved national and international distribution now. My friends own the orchard where we grow the apples.”

  “Yeah,” she said, taking another sip. “There’s another taste in there. Very subtle. What is it?”

  “I’ll tell ye the secret, but you have to keep it to yourself,” I said, leaning in close.

  She leaned in to listen. Mila smelled incredible. I tried not to look down the front of her shirt, but as she leaned over, I felt it was impossible to avoid. Fortunately for me, she didn’t notice.

  “My mates add hazelnuts,” I whispered. “So that’s where it gets its distinctive taste from, but— Ya know. Shhh.”

  “Sure-sure,” she promised. “I wouldn’t tell on you.”

  “I used to herd sheep,” I told her. “They love to graze in or
chards full of hazelnuts. And who could blame them? Hazelnuts are delicious, whether you’re a sheep, or an elf, or a witch!”

  “That’s very true,” she said, laughing. “How interesting that you were a shepherd.”

  I thought at first that she might be making fun of me, but she smiled at me with a look of genuine interest and curiosity on her face. But I decided I had talked enough about myself. It was time to focus on her.

  “So, you’re American,” I noted. “I’ve never been to the States. Is it as crazy as they say?”

  “I don’t know,” she thought. “What exactly do they say?”

  “Well, that you have too much money, too much food and too many guns,” I said diplomatically. “Do you have to carry a gun around everywhere?”

  “No,” she laughed. “The news exaggerates. But there are a lot of restaurants and some people have a lot of money, I guess.”

  “And television,” I added. “Lots of television shows. You have television shows like Ireland has sheep.”

  “Are there that many sheep around here?” she asked. “I mean, I guess you would know.”

  “Oh, aye,” I assured her. “I enjoyed being a shepherd.”

  “And now you’re not? Why’d you give it up?”

  “I was really baaaaaaad at it.” I joked.

  It was an old joke, but an effective one. She laughed out loud and I felt a real connection developing between us.

  “Just pulling ye leg,” I told her. “I was pretty good at it, actually. I might go back to it one day, or just do it now and then for a temporary break. But it was far away in the mountains, and I like being near my family.”

  Oh, fuck. I couldn’t stop rambling. She really had me talking on and on like an idiot. That was how much I enjoyed meeting her.

  How could I get this girl’s number?

  No wait, she wasn’t from around here.

  She must be staying in one of the rooms in the House.

  What am I saying? She has a cellphone.

  Too many thoughts flooded my brain at once. And I couldn’t even imagine how much blood was flooding my cock. I had to admit — she made me rock hard. I just wanted to keep being around her.

  “You’re funny,” she said.