He picked up the tiara and set it on top of my sign. “I’d attach it to the sign, and when she joins you, make her wear it out of the airport.”
I burst out laughing. “Brilliant.”
He pulled out a second tiara and set it on my head. “You’d best wear one yourself, too.”
It didn’t take us too long and we had a beautiful sign. Jennifer’s name sparkled with sequins, and the sign was dotted with rhinestones, and Olivia found me a stick that we stapled the sign to so that I could hold it up. Very professional. I was practically jumping up and down on Monday morning when it was time to leave for the airport.
Rafe said, “Are you sure you don’t want me to drive you, Lucy?”
I shook my head firmly. “I’ll be fine.” The truth was I didn’t love driving in England, and I’d never actually navigated my way in and out of Heathrow, but how hard could it be? Besides, Jennifer and I needed some alone time. Some catching-up girl time. To that end, I’d told Violet that I was going to be late arriving at the shop. She’d heaved a huge sigh of discontent, but I was getting used to those.
I slipped into a pretty spring sweater in pale blue that Alfred had knit for me and wore it over cream trousers. Then I set out for Heathrow with Rafe reminding me yet again to call immediately if I had any problems.
I walked over and kissed him. “What will you do while I’m gone?”
“I’m still trying to make head or tail of that alchemy book. Something about it is bothering me.”
“Probably the spell. Look, when I get some time, I’ll take a look at it too. Between us, maybe we’ll figure out what to do with it. Or who it belongs to.”
I think that was my biggest worry. What if some witch/alchemist had misplaced this and needed it back? I knew how I’d feel if my grimoire went missing. Maybe I didn’t study it as diligently as I should, but it was always there. If I needed a spell, I knew where to go. It was part of my bloodline. Part of my heritage. I wondered if this was the heritage of someone else and they were frantically searching. It had come to Rafe in a mysterious fashion, after all. The New Zealand collector claimed not to have sold it to him. So who had? And why?
Book collecting wasn’t particularly secretive, but the intermediary seller had disappeared when Rafe tried to contact them.
I couldn’t worry about that now. I had my best friend to pick up at the airport. My best friend and bridesmaid. Sometimes I’d catch myself glancing at my engagement ring just to see it sitting there on my finger announcing my news to all the world.
I got in my little red car, then got out again, as Henri the peacock had waddled up and stood behind my car, clearly waiting to be fed. I got out and scolded him while simultaneously giving him a treat. The bird didn’t seem to notice the mixed messaging. He was clearly only receiving the message that had the treat in it. Then he waddled off quite happily, and I got back in the car one more time.
In good traffic, it was about an hour and a quarter to the airport. I gave myself two hours to account for traffic and any wrong turns I might make. I headed down on the A40, played Billie Eilish, and tried to control my excitement. Now that almost everyone was here, this wedding was getting real.
Maybe it was the rhythmic driving or the music taking up one part of my brain and leaving some other part of it free, but I started to think about that spellbound alchemy book. I wondered if I was right and the reason Rafe wasn’t getting anywhere was because he wasn’t a witch. The New Zealand collection had been amazing, if you went in for old books, but there were no grimoires, no alchemy texts. I believed the collector when she said that alchemy book hadn’t come from her. Where, then, had it come from?
And what about that strange gift in the rune box? Sylvia had said she might go back and try to get Karmen to sell her the secret formula to her youthful appearance. Had she? And if so, why hadn’t she signed her name to the note? That must have been a very expensive gift, and Sylvia wasn’t one to hide her good deeds.
By concentrating hard, I managed to get to the right terminal and breathed a sigh of relief when I parked the car. I grabbed my homemade sign and tiara, ignored the surprised glances that people shot me as they saw my garish placard, and made my way into the terminal. I went up near the big exit doors where Jennifer would come out and took up my position.
I wasn’t the only person standing there holding a sign with someone’s name on it, but I was definitely the only one that had prettied up their sign. Among the dark-suited, serious drivers holding papers and cardboard up with person or persons’ names in black felt pen, I felt that my limousine service was head and shoulders above theirs in the wow factor. No one else was greeting their ride customer while wearing a tiara.
The plane was on time, but even so, it was probably half an hour before Jennifer came out.
I caught sight of her before she saw me. Her dark hair had grown longer. Otherwise, she looked the same as always. Her brown eyes lit up when she saw me, and she threw back her head
