Autumn cleared her throat. “Look, to my knowledge no one in my family knows about their relationship. Holly isn’t even aware that I know.”
I eyeballed her. “And how did you discover it?”
“Duncan and I accidentally walked in on them in the atrium at the Drake mansion last November.”
I picked up another votive in soft purple and sniffed it. “Lilac,” I said. “This is a good scent for protection, isn’t it?”
“It is.” Autumn nodded. “Looks like some basic correspondences are starting to come back to you.”
I blew out a long breath and went to the counter, placing the candles in the basket with the crystals, herbs, and incense. “If I’m honest, they’ve never left me. I’ve simply tried to ignore them for a very long time.”
Autumn held up a few glass votive holders. “These would work for the tea lights and the votives.”
“I like those,” I said. “They’re pretty.”
“No reason your magickal accessories can’t be attractive,” Autumn pointed out.
I ended up purchasing the plain tea lights, the scented votives, and the candle holders as well as the incense and holder, the crystals, the herbs and salt.
While Autumn rang me up, I’d had another idea pop in my head for reinforcing the energetic wards I was about to erect at the cottage. It was old-school, and entrenched in so much Southern folklore most folks wouldn’t think twice about seeing it hanging above the front door in the cottage. Now all I had to do was find one…
Autumn was packing everything in a sturdy handled brown paper bag when Ivy and Willow came back.
Willow held up a small bag of cookies. “Look, Mama!” she said. “I brought you one too.”
“Thanks, sugar pie,” I said distractedly, and wondered if I’d be able to find what I was looking for at the local antique shop. Were they even open on a weeknight?
“Until seven o’clock,” Ivy said, seemingly out of the blue.
I frowned at her. “I beg your pardon?”
“The antique store is open until seven,” Ivy said with a grin.
“Oh,” I managed to smile in return. “Thank you, Ivy. I hope they’ll have what I’m looking for.”
“Oh, are we on the hunt for more mag—” Autumn caught herself. “More items for your home? Because I love a good quest!” Autumn rubbed her hands together, making me chuckle.
“Are we going hunting for an old horseshoe, Mama?” Willow asked from around a mouthful of cookie.
“How did you…” I trailed off, studying my daughter who smiled innocently up at me with her unique blue and brown eyes.
“Told ya,” Autumn said, smugly, as she came from around the counter. It took me a moment to reply to her.
“Yes, Autumn, you certainly did,” I said calmly, and took Willow’s hand.
“Have fun antiquing!” Ivy waved.
Autumn held open the shop door and the three of us trooped down the block to the antique shop.
That evening, as soon as I put Willow to bed, I got to work. To my surprise, I found that my magick came back to me easily. I created magickal wards around the interior of the cottage first. Using a mixture of water, the herbs and sea salt, I marked protective pentagrams over every doorway, on each window and mirror in the cottage.
To seal the spell, I blessed and empowered the iron horseshoe, and nailed it open end up on the doorframe around the inside of the front door. That way all the protection and good luck would be held safely within the home.
As I tapped the final nail in place I felt the wards lock down. It made the hair rise on the back of my neck. I walked through the cottage, feeling and testing for any weak spots in my protection, but I found none. Lastly, I took the remainder of the herbed water and tossed it over the front porch to wash away evil, and to keep trouble from our door.
***
April sped by, and before I knew it, the month of May had begun and Autumn and Duncan’s wedding was here. The rehearsal and following dinner was to be held in the ballroom at the Drake mansion, which was smart. We—I meant the Drakes—had plenty of space for the rehearsal and lots of room to set up not only a bar, but tables for the dinner on the opposite side of the ballroom.
In the days leading up to the wedding, I’d worked my tail off. Then again, so had Candice, Violet, and Nina. In addition to managing the Drake household, Nina was cooking a gorgeous meal to serve to the wedding party for the rehearsal dinner. The morning of the rehearsal I’d dropped off Willow at preschool and had personally supervised the placing of the rental tables, chairs in the ballroom, and the set-up of all the rehearsal table décor.
My sneakers were silent as I zipped around the ballroom. Today I had my hair in a high ponytail and had dressed for comfort with denim capris and a blue t-shirt my former boss, Annie, had given me. It read: Bridal Consultant. Only because… full time multi-tasking NINJA is not an actual job title. On stressful days like this, I needed all the reasons to smile that I could get.
Violet had outdone herself with the floral centerpieces. Each container was a rustic metal watering can in different shapes and sizes. Flowers in a rainbow of colors: peach, yellow, pink, blue and even a touch of lavender and green were accented by dusty silver foliage. The plan was to re-use the centerpieces for the food table at the reception tomorrow.
The Drake’s staff was more than up to the task of handling a dinner party for twenty-five guests, and I left them to it. I had a final meeting to go over the details of the wedding reception with the caterer and his waitstaff. I also wanted to get out to the site and check to see that the reception tents were being put up in place and the tables and chairs were being delivered.
They wouldn’t be set
