Chapter Twenty Eight

That Precious Moment

Veda

When I woke up, my ears hurt and there were too many people to count leaning over me. The face that was closest to mine was Antony. I wouldn't have sat up, but doing so would have cracked our skulls together. Horrified, I screamed, rolled off the bench, and landed with a crack on the floor.

“It's okay,” Intarsia said, half-catching me.

I cut my eyes at Antony accusingly.

At that very moment, Fair Isle clocked him over the head with the crook of her umbrella and he joined me on the floor with a thud. Crab crawling backward, I scrambled to get away from him.

“You made him break his spell,” I breathed in relief once there was a decent distance between me and my worst cousin.

Intarsia looked around the room at all our relatives as if she was asking permission to speak. Antony's father was there too. He shrugged his shoulders and looked at the floor as an expression of resignation. Intarsia cleared her throat with a girly cough. “We couldn't break it by ourselves. Even after Hattie and June got here and we'd emptied all our houses of everyone who could cast a spell. It was still too strong. I thought we had it when Salinger tore out the scarf, but we didn’t. Antony's spells were so well woven. Finally, Fair Isle decided there was only one thing to be done. She got on her boots and went to find Antony.”

I glanced over at her. Not just her cheeks had turned red, but her whole self: her ears, her throat, and even her hands. Even though she still wore black, she was wearing red, like I'd always envisioned for her. She was bursting with pride, but she was also embarrassed to have so much attention on her. She didn't need their approval. She was proud of herself. For the first time, she had done something that I hadn't done first.

Intarsia went on, “She found him at Cold as Stone. He was in a stupor. He was reading one of your books. Fair Isle didn't wake him up. She dragged him to her car and brought him here. All by herself.”

Admiringly, I looked back at Fair Isle. I could never have lifted Antony. He was tall and full of muscles. She did it all by herself?

“When she got back here, we called a family council, woke him, and forced him at knife-point to break the spell.”

I looked around the room. Everyone was holding knives. Looking down at Antony’s bruised face, Fair Isle must have kicked the crap out of him to bring him here, and from the cuts on his arms, the family had done some convincing of their own.

“Then you woke up, so that pretty much brings you up to speed.”

“What's going to happen to him? He killed me and desecrated me within the book. If Salinger hadn't started reading another one of my books, the act would have murdered me.”

Intarsia recoiled slightly. “We haven't talked about that yet.”

“When she says 'family counsel' she means that we called his parents,” Fair Isle said drolly. “They were the only family members who weren’t here already.”

“Where's Salinger?” I asked, looking from face to face. My eyes stopped at Hattie. She and June were staring at the ceiling like they didn’t want any attention on them and they certainly did not want to answer. “Is he okay?” I asked the sisters.

Hattie stepped forward with less concern for consequences than June. “He's at Emi's.”

The revelation made quite the sensation.

Hattie had nothing to lose, so she spoke and everyone listened. “I am only welcome back here because my marriages are over. We need to stop this. Our blood is getting thin and Emi, one of our strongest, the constructor of the hidden library, has a daughter. Even if you don't want to include her in your witchcraft, we could at least welcome her back into the family.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“You're only saying that because she's your niece,” Willow said without reservation.

Everyone grumbled.

“But you say she has a daughter?” Willow asked sheepishly, taking a step closer to the sisters.

They nodded.

“We'll talk about it later,” Willow said, glancing at Fair Isle, who was standing prone over Antony's unconscious form. “We have some things here to deal with. Bring Salinger back to the house. Veda's asking for him.”

With that, I was bundled off to my bedroom away from the family members who were obviously planning to use my living room for the discussion. I knew they didn't feel like they could leave the house until they had decided what would happen to Antony. They couldn't call the police. They had to deal with it themselves. I wasn't invited, but I didn't care. My future was not here.

June helped me into bed, while Hattie called Salinger. There was no answer. She promptly left the house and I heard an ignition turn over in the driveway. She was going to pick him up, but I wasn't worried. I knew everything would be fine. Turtle Hill was a book designed only for healing. He was safe inside my imaginings.

It was unfamiliar to trust him, but it wasn't until I gave into him that I realized how hard I had fought against him. Not fighting anymore felt wonderful. Trusting felt safe.

I eased myself into my bed and found comfort.

June wanted to clean the blood off me, so I let her. She took off her dove-gray coat and rolled up the sleeves of her perfectly tailored blouse. Then she got a basin of water, a face cloth, and started the job. I could have just got in the shower, and I almost said so, when I looked at her.

“Am I your daughter?” I asked quietly.

She pursed her lips in a business-like way. “You've never wanted our relationship to be like that, and it doesn't have to be. Zellica will always be your mother.”

I smiled at her. “My mother would have raised me to be bohemian. You raised a proper lady.”

She gave me a wicked smile. “Sometimes you're bohemian and sometimes you're a proper lady. You don't have to have labels, and I will always be here for you.”

“You and Hattie performed quite the miracle with Emi's situation. Having her provide shelter for Salinger in our family's time of need.”

She averted her eyes. “You don't even know the best part.”

“What's the best part?”

“She's not even home.”

I smothered a laugh.

June leaned in. “They don't need to know the details. Besides, they will all love having her back in the family. I mean, if she'll forgive us.”

“She will.”

June finished cleaning up my bloodstains. “I wonder what's keeping Salinger.”

“I'm going to Whitehorse with him,” I suddenly said.

June stopped at the door and turned.

“I plan to spend the rest of the summer there.”

She didn't reply at first but cast her gaze upwards. “I think everyone in the front room would be interested in hearing that when deciding Antony's fate. It'll be easier for everyone in the family if you are vacant for the time being. How soon do you want to go? Should I book flights?”

I nodded. “The sooner the better.”

The older woman smiled and it looked like she was a teenager again, reliving something she had once had and loved. “Tomorrow is soon enough, but just to be sure. You aren't leaving to get away from Antony, but in order to be with Salinger...” Her voice trailed off.

I chuckled weakly. “I'm in love with him. We’ve come to an agreement, but I don't want to call him my new boyfriend. That sounds so weird like I've labeled him with a cute title that doesn't describe my feelings. A boyfriend should get me a pop and take me to the movies.”

“He's not going to do that?”

“He might,” I conceded. “But, how I feel about him doesn't feel ordinary. It feels like something amazing is going to happen.”

“Like what?” she asked kindly.

“Like that moment! That one really exciting moment.”

June knew what I was talking about. “The moment when the girl becomes precious?”

“Yeah.” My eyes filled with tears. “I never thought I'd have that moment myself. I thought the girl didn't know she had become precious. Yet, I feel it, and the other way too.”

“The other way?” she asked curiously.

“I’ve had the moment where the boy becomes precious. He feels precious... to me.”

June didn't ask for specifics. She nodded her understanding and left the room. She had things to do. Within minutes, I heard her voice join the other voices in the living room.

I closed my eyes.