I’m not sure what would have happened next because the judges from the Holiday Happening Committee marched right in. “Violet!” Sharon Waterman, Historic Society member and judge, gave me an enthusiastic hug.
Caught, I could only smile and pat her on the shoulder. “Hello Mrs. Waterman.” I nodded at the other two judges. “Mr. Coomer, Mr. Davis.”
Sharon stepped back from the embrace but kept my hands, giving them a squeeze. “We wanted to drop by and congratulate you, in person.”
The store decorating contest. I thought. Please don’t let it be a runner up prize.
“Of course the results won’t be posted until Sunday afternoon,” Mr. Coomer said, “but we needed to make sure that you and your mother as co-owners are both present at the awards ceremony tomorrow.”
“Awards ceremony?” I did my best to sound calm.
“Yes, we wanted to inform you that your shop has won first prize for best décor, and for most creative use of theme, in our Holiday Happenings Contest.”
“Both?” My jaw dropped. “We won first prize in both categories?”
“Yes you did.” Mr. Coomer nodded.
“Thank you!” I grinned and accepted the handshakes from the three judges.
They filled me in on the details, the when and where for the awards ceremony, and I saw Matthew zipping up Charlotte’s coat. They began to walk towards the door.
“Well, hello Professor Bell.” Mr. Davis stuck out his hand.
“Mr. Davis.” Matthew shook his hand.
The man knelt down. “And this must be Charlotte?” He held out his hand for the girl too, and she shook it. “Heard we had a little excitement trying to find you last night, young lady.”
“Oh!” Sharon Waterman zeroed in on that. “This is the child that had North Main Street in a tizzy.”
“North Main?” I asked. Our shop was on South Main...It was a hell of a long walk for a child to make alone, and at night. My stomach flipped over at the thought of that cute little girl all alone. “Charlie, how did you get all the way up here by yourself?”
Charlie shrugged. “I followed the fairies. They told me where to find you.”
Matthew took her by the hand and flashed a bashful grin at the other adults. “We have quite the imagination.”
“I didn’t imagine it Daddy!” Charlie insisted. “They told me to follow the lights and the jingle-bells so I did.” Her bottom lip pouted out. “It was like magick.”
While the other adults had a good chuckle over the girl’s comment, I didn’t. The spell, I thought. The spell I’d used on Thanksgiving night. While everyone around me chatted, I tried to remember my exact wording... Sugarplum spells and silver bells that merrily do ring...had been the beginning.
“We’ll let you close up.” Sharon patted my arm. “Congratulations dear. We’ll see you and Cora tomorrow.” The trio of judges left, and Matthew and Charlotte followed them out. I waved to everyone and locked the door behind them.
“Charlie must be a sensitive,” I said, watching as Matthew loaded his little girl in the car. When he shut her door, he caught me staring. In defense, I flipped the sign over to ‘closed’ and stepped away.
I shut off the lights at the front of the sales floor, ran the closing reports, and deliberated over what had happened. “Somehow my spell called her to the store,” I muttered to myself. “Which shouldn’t surprise me. Her father had been fairly open minded when it came to magick.”
As if to confirm my realization, Tank gave me a head-butt to the back of my leg.
“Not now Tank. I’m having a crisis.” I pulled the work apron off, tossed it over a nearby wall hook and started to count down the drawer.
It took three tries to get it right.
Tank jumped up on the counter to sit beside the register. “Meow,” he cried, and spat out a jingle-bell.
I did a double take and clutched the countertop as the room spun around me. “Sugarplums and silver bells.” I picked up the jingle-bell. “Matthew has silver hair now. Meaning he could literally be the ‘silver Bell’. His daughter was looking for the Sugarplum Fairy.” I gulped and stared at that little trinket, hard. “And I’d chanted, ‘if you need some joy and magick, my call you will hear.’”
My stomach took a nasty pitch. “Could that have caused Matthew to act so…smitten today?” I wondered. It was horrifying to realize that my witchcraft had gone so wonky. I’d never had a spell backfire in such a spectacular way before. I’d damn near lured the girl and her father to the shop.
For Witches, ethics and integrity were both vitally important and yet...because I’d worked a spontaneous spell, the results were chaotic. “Like some novice, I didn’t consider all of the ramifications of my phrasing.” Covering my face with my hands, I groaned in frustration.
The good news was that the spell was destined to end at midnight on Christmas Eve. So I could safely work to lessen the spell’s unexpected affects on the Bells, and then all I had to do—in theory—was to allow the magick to run its course. And everything should settle down.
In theory, anyway.
CHAPTER FOUR
On Monday, the first prize ribbons for best décor and most creative use of theme in the Holiday Happenings Contest were proudly displayed in our front window. Mom and I, as co-owners of the flower shop, had been awarded the prizes at a short ceremony the afternoon before, and now word had gone out, and the traffic through the store had increased noticeably. Which is exactly what we’d hoped and planned ahead for.
What I didn’t expect was the sheer amount of children wanting to know when the Sugarplum Fairy would be making a return appearance. Since I typically worked the afternoon to evening shift on Saturdays, I agreed to take one for the team and redo the character for the next four Saturdays. However, in order to pull this off, we needed some help.
Mom
