“This goes beyond modern medicine. It was always going to be this way. And I wouldn’t change a damn thing.” Gigi cleared her throat.
The house groaned and shuddered, and the record player stopped on a dime. The grandfather clock sent out one long, mournful chime.
“So, what we’re going to do now is enjoy our time together. I’ll have no fussing and no hysterics.” She looked pointedly to Aunt Kay. “Everybody hear me?”
They all nodded. Uncle Brian cleared his throat.
“Is there a time frame?” he asked, his voice gritty as muscovado sugar.
“Whenever the good Lord calls me home. But I’d say sooner rather than later.”
Everyone was crying. Jake was squeezing her thigh under the table so hard Sadie was sure it would leave a bruise, but she couldn’t bear to push him away. Instead, she grabbed onto his hand like an anchor and squeezed back. Tava’s tears came out turquoise. Anne was trying to be stoic, but her shoulders were shaking. Raquel’s face was buried in Seth’s shoulder, and he ran a soothing hand over her back, his own tears refusing to fall.
And then, in the silence, the television turned on of its own accord and John Wayne’s voice filtered through to the kitchen.
“Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway,” he said in that trademark twang.
“I’ve always hated that damn picture,” Gigi said with a scowl.
There was silence around the table as True Grit played on in the living room, and then Tava laughed. Anne joined in a moment later, and then they were all laughing through their tears. The air was still heavy as they ate Gigi’s cherry cheese pie, and their hearts were still breaking, but they were breaking together, and that was its own kind of beauty.
As the people around the table dispersed to do dishes or head for the living room, Jake grabbed Sadie’s hand and gave it a gentle pull, nodding to the back-patio door.
She swallowed hard but followed.
“So, Gigi, huh?” he asked once they were in the garden.
“Yeah,” Sadie croaked, reminding herself that it was Gigi she should be concerned with. Not the small space between them that begged her to close it. Gigi. Not the way Jake’s skin looked in the moonlight or the way he ran a distracted hand through his hair.
Her chest tightened. All the change, the family, the looming threat of death, the life debt, gave her heart palpitations. She was losing control. And fast. Constantly feeling like she was about to choke. But being near Jake—somehow he diffused it. She wondered if that was what love was. The subtle easing in her chest. The lending of strength when you needed it most.
“I know this is a bad time,” he said, his hand on the back of his neck now, “but there really is something I need to talk to you about. It can’t wait any longer.”
The palpitations started again.
The ground grew warm beneath her feet. Seeped into her soles and wound through her body until it became so hot that Jake took a confused step back.
One more day, she reminded herself. I have almost everything I need now. The herbs. The knot of Isis. I can do this. Just keep him at bay awhile longer.
The nearby foxgloves, a flower symbolizing healing, began to droop in unison. Jake was talking, but she wasn’t listening. The pale pink of the foxgloves reminded her of the Mount Diablo buckwheat that grew on Wild Rose Hill outside of town. It was the one flower she could never get to grow in her garden. Blooming only once a year and thought to be extinct by most botanists, it was a powerful symbol of love. More than that, it was said to be the flower that had given Evanora Revelare, her ancestor, her magic. Why hadn’t she thought of it until now?
“Sadie,” Jake said.
She had to get that flower.
“Are you listening to me?”
It would be the thing that put her spell for Gigi over the top. She had to find Raquel. Make her go with her. Because there was no way she was going alone to Wild Rose Hill at night.
“Sorry.” She threw the word over her shoulder as she headed back to the house. “We’ll talk later!”
Cherry Cheese Pie
The easiest, foolproof, no-bake dessert around. Seth would beg me for this dumb ol’ pie for every special occasion he could think of, but Sadie never could stand it. That girl just has something against being peaceful, I think. A slice or two of this pie will help to ensure peace when an argument is sure to happen. Perfect for family gatherings.
Ingredients
1 (8-oz.) package cream cheese
1 (14-oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
? c. lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 (9-inch) prepared graham cracker crust
1 (21-oz.) can cherry pie filling
Directions
1.?In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Beat in milk until smooth. Stir in lemon juice and vanilla, then pour mixture into graham cracker crust.
2.?Cover and refrigerate for three hours or until set. Top with cherry pie filling.
??9??
SADIE RUSHED THROUGH THE house and found Raquel on the front-porch swing, Seth leaning against the railing as they talked.
“I have a favor,” Sadie said in rush.
“No,” Seth said.
“I wasn’t talking to you,” Sadie said shortly. “Raquel, my beautiful, wonderful best friend. How would you like to go for a little drive?”
“Where to?” she asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion.
“Wild Rose Hill,” Sadie answered innocently.
“You must be out of your mind,” Raquel barked. “You, of all people, know that place is haunted.”
“She does know. Which would beg the question: Why, sister?”
“Mount Diablo buckwheat.” Her voice was a little breathless.
“Oh, come on,” Seth said, rolling his eyes. “Seriously?”
“Should I know what this is? I mean I’m not exactly filled with comfort with the word devil being in the name.”
“It’s for Gigi. I’m working on a spell for her. For the cancer.”
“And this flower is supposed to be crazy powerful. Where our magic originally came from,” Seth added.
“Not only that,” said Sadie, “but remember that fire a few years ago? Wild Rose Hill was blackened. And now it’s lush again. The most powerful Revelare flower, life growing from death. It’s the perfect symbolism. Please,” she pleaded to Raquel. “I don’t want to go alone, but I will if I have to.”
“Alright, alright, keep your shirt on. I’ll come,” Raquel said. “But Seth is coming too.”
“I am?”
“No, he’s not,” Sadie said with a short laugh. “He doesn’t believe in what I’m doing.”
“Seth?” Raquel demanded with an arched brow.
“Fine, fine. I’ll go,” he said after only a moment of pause.
Sadie refused to acknowledge that she was grateful for his presence. Because the second she admitted that, it would mean she was giving credence to the haunting. And everyone knows that the moment you look the dark things in the eye, they become far too real.
Wild Rose Hill was twenty minutes outside of town, and the trio was silent as they drove. They all knew the stories. And knew, too, that Gigi would have banned them from going, which is why they didn’t tell anyone. Sadie idly thought about Jake. About what he was going to tell her. And knew that she didn’t want to hear whatever he was having trouble getting out. She couldn’t hold him off forever, but a little while longer wouldn’t hurt. It was just another dark thing she didn’t want to look in the eye.
The hill loomed eerily in the distance, like the arched back of a slumbering giant. Around the base was a forest of trees that stopped abruptly as the incline grew steeper. Then, at the top, was a single, towering oak.
“I already have goose bumps.” Raquel shivered.
“They’re just stories,” Sadie told her.
“Nothing is ever just a story,” Seth said from the backseat, sounding like a Revelare.
“We’re here.” Sadie cut the engine and let the silence fill her. None of them moved.
A rock hit the side of the car, and all three of them jumped.
“Fuck it,” Seth said taking a deep breath. “Let’s go. This better be worth it,” he added to Sadie.