“I didn’t get a really good look. It happened fast. I just grabbed Yoda and ducked. Then it wasn’t there.”
“I didn’t see it, but I heard it, too. And when I opened the window to call to Sonya, I smelled sulfur.”
“I know Cleo’s theory on that, and I guess it makes sense—considering the rules of this weird road.”
“What’s the theory?” Trey asked her.
“She conjured the bird. Hester Dobbs. But once it was outside for more than a few seconds, poof. Because she’s limited, that power’s limited. And yet … I know she lured Catherine—the second bride—out into that blizzard.”
“She bespelled her,” Cleo said easily. “Catherine walked out under a spell, and by the time it broke, it was too late.”
“Maybe.”
“Or … she had more power then. It’s been a couple of centuries.”
“She tried to lure me out, that night. I heard the pounding at the front door, saw a blizzard out the window.”
“But when you opened the door,” Cleo pointed out, “no blizzard.”
“I see where you’re coming from,” Trey said. “Still, if Sonya had stepped outside, and hadn’t been able to get the door open—it would’ve been a long, cold night.”
“I think Dobbs would have enjoyed that. But I didn’t have Yoda or Cleo then. Or you. And now I’m going to sound like Cleo, but I think Clover’s looking out for us, too, as best she can.”
Her phone played “I’ll Be There for You.”
“See?”
“Okay if I go take a look at the portrait?”
“Let’s do that. I want to know what you think.”
The three of them walked down together and into the music room.
“That face,” Trey murmured. “That’s Clover. It’s beautiful. She looks happy but … serene.”
“You’ve seen her twice. But she isn’t pregnant.”
“No, not like this.”
“I’ve thought about that.”
Sonya looked over at Cleo. “Theory time again?”
“Clover died, and never got the chance to rock her babies, nurse them, cuddle them, sing to them.” Cleo sighed. “If there’s a choice, I wouldn’t want the constant reminder of what I wanted so much and never really had.”
This time Sonya didn’t roll her eyes, but took Cleo’s hand. “And still she plays music, and comes off as happy. At least content. I think she’d have been a wonderful mother.”
When her phone played “Let It Be,” Sonya laid a hand over it in her pocket.
“They look good there, right there,” Trey commented. “Together. I wonder … I wonder if you’ll find the others, the ones after Astrid and before Clover.”
“I looked this morning.” Cleo shrugged. “I kind of hoped, but since Sonya found both of these, I guess that’s for her. If and when.”
“And I wonder, if I’d kept walking last night, if I’d have ended up … somewhere else for a while. I think next time, don’t wake me up.”
“Oh, Sonya.”
“It’s not Hester Dobbs doing that. I’m as sure of that as any of this. Breaking the curse—and I can hardly believe I’m saying curse—means finding the rings. The more I see, hear, feel? It seems it matters.”
“If it happens when I’m not here, call me,” Trey said to Cleo. “And stay with her. I need a key. I need to be able to get into the house.”
“Oh.”
Because her knee-jerk remembered doing just that with Brandon, she shoved it aside.
Trey wasn’t Brandon. He wasn’t anything like Brandon.
“All right. Yeah, that makes sense, too. I’d as soon not go wandering at three a.m. to a … slip in time. But I feel better about it knowing the two of you would be here.”
She shook her head. “And I have to think about something else. Like doing the dishes and taking the dogs out.”
The kitchen, not unexpectedly, sparkled when they went back.
“Should’ve known. Molly’s fast. I’d feel better walking Yoda until I’m sure that bird doesn’t come back.”
“I’ll get my jacket.”
“And,” Cleo said when Trey walked away, “I’ll make myself scarce.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“Please. I’m going to take an hour to paint, then maybe go watch something on my tablet or read. And try not to be jealous you have a man to curl up with. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Dinner was so good, Cleo.”
“It damn well was.”
* * *
The humans walked; the dogs romped.
As they circled the house, Sonya looked up at the lights in Cleo’s studio.
“It’s so nice knowing she’s up there. All that goes on in the house barely fazes her.”
“It’s good you have someone steady with you.”
She tilted her head to look up at him. “A lot of people—most, really, at least at first—don’t think of Cleo as steady. But she is. Her mind’s wide open to everything, which makes an interesting combo with the steady. I got lucky being assigned as her roommate in college.”
“From where I see it, you both did.”
“I’m going to agree with that. When I walked in, the first day, she’d already set up her side of our very tiny room. Some of her artwork on the wall, a little shelf with crystals and photos and books, and a pillow on the fluffy red duvet that read: IMAGINE.
“I’d never shared a room before,” she added as they herded the dogs into the house. “So I was nervous about it, and how we’d get along. Both art majors, so I knew we’d have that. But I grew up in Boston and she came from Louisiana. Who knew? Then I saw her art and I knew we’d definitely have that.”
After wiping off the paws, Sonya straightened. “And she gave me Xena.”
“The plant in the library.”
“She was just a little thing back then. Cleo’s grandmother had started her from another African violet, and told Cleo to give it to her roommate. That she was good luck. And to be sure I named her. When I said Xena, Cleo lit right up. By the time I’d unpacked, it was like we’d known each other forever.”
The dogs raced up the stairs ahead of them.
“You did get lucky. My first college roommate was … let me think of the right word for him. Oh yeah, prick. A sanctimonious prick.”
“This surprises me. You strike me as someone who finds a way to get along with everybody.”
“I was white, straight, from a solid family—and tax bracket—he assumed were his type of Christians. He figured I was one of his group—that is, opposed to anyone who wasn’t all of the above. After several weeks of trying to ignore, argue with, or block his bullshit, I told him I was bi, an atheist, my great-grandfather was Paiute, and my parents had an open marriage. He moved out, and that’s how I got along with him.”
Fascinated, Sonya paused at the door of the library. “You lied to him.”
“It was that or punch him in the face. Seeing the shock on that face was nearly as satisfying as punching it. Anyway, I got another roommate, and we got along fine.”
“Do you know where he ended up? The sanctimonious prick?”
“Never gave him another thought.”
“I believe that. I believe you have that power. Okay, come see what you think of how I’ve built your web page. It’s not ready to go live,” she told him. “I still have some additions, some tweaks, then testing, but you’ll get the feel.”