Witch of a Godmother Read online

  Witch of a Godmother

  Witch Reborn 1

  By Belinda White

  Copyright 2020 Belinda White

  Table of Contents

  Copyright Page

  Witch of a Godmother (Witch Reborn, #1)

  Introduction

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  A Note From Belinda

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  Introduction

  My name is Opal Ravenswind, and I’m a witch.

  But not just any witch. Goddess, no. I’m the High Priestess of the Gemstone Coven and a personal favorite of the Goddess herself. Well, all my family are Her favorites, actually. Not that She would ever admit that to anyone. Goddesses aren’t supposed to have favorites, you know.

  My niece, Amethyst, even came up with a name for us. “Team Destiny.”

  Personally, I’m not sure how I feel about our team being named after Amie’s familiar. But then, I have to concede that her feline familiar is far different from most. Goddess touched that one. So, I guess if the Goddess doesn’t have a problem with the name, neither do I.

  I’d make more of a sticking point of it, but the team includes members outside the Gemstone Coven, so I’m trying to be flexible here.

  My daughter (Ruby) and Amie have left the family farmhouse and moved into a place of their own. Before you start to think I might be getting lonely here all by myself, well, you can think again.

  I’ve moved in a whole other family to take their place. There’s my ten-year-old newly adopted daughter, Nancy, and most recently her older friend, Kimberly and her brood. A son of five years old, and a three-month-old baby girl.

  Oh yeah, about that baby... she has my mother’s soul.

  How do I know this? Well, it was kind of a had to be there moment. That first instant after baby Pearl’s birth, I recognized her for who she was. For just a brief moment, my mother and I shared a long gaze into each other’s eyes. A soul gaze that left no doubt in my mind.

  Then the eyes had changed. I’m not sure how reincarnation works, but it would make sense that the new life form wouldn’t exactly remember their previous time on earth. Who knew how many times we had traveled this place before in different bodies? Only the Goddess knew that, and She wasn’t telling.

  The problem was that even if the baby didn’t know who she was, she still was. In other words, the powerful soul in her still remembered that it had magic. I had a funny feeling that things would get mighty interesting in the old farmhouse as baby Pearl got older.

  One of these days, I’d have to find a way to let Kimberly in on the secret. But that day isn’t today.

  Well, that’s pretty much my life right now. We are all getting settled into our new lives and lifestyles, and things are going pretty well.

  At least they were until I went to that Fontaine estate auction. I kind of wished I’d skipped that one...

  Chapter 1

  “I didn’t do it, Opal. I swear it.”

  Kimberly seemed more than a little distraught. Her eyes were wide, and she looked close to tears.

  “Well, if you swear you didn’t do it, then I believe you.”

  “You do?”

  Granted, she’d only been working in the shop for a few months now, and a few of those weeks had been in extreme part-time mode while she recovered from childbirth. Not something I could fault her for, as I’d known the situation going in. In fact, that was part of the reason I’d hired her.

  “I do. But if you would be so kind, I’d be interested in knowing what it is I believe that you didn’t do.”

  She swallowed and nodded. She still didn’t look too sure about it. I was really hoping she’d come out of her fear of me soon. It was getting cumbersome. And, in a way, we were family now. Even if she didn’t really know that yet.

  It was complicated.

  “You told me yesterday that you’d decided to keep the desk from the Fontaine estate, and you asked me to move it into the back room.”

  I nodded, as non-threateningly as I possibly could. “That’s right. I did.”

  “Well, Nancy helped me, and we put it right where you said you wanted it. I swear it was fine after the move. I checked.”

  I tilted my head, wishing she’d get on with it already. “And I take it now it isn’t fine?”

  Kimberly shook her head, and yes, a single tear leaked out. “No. The middle desk drawer on the right-hand side is broken. It looks like someone tried to break into it. But no one’s been back there this morning. At least, not that went past me.”

  And no one had gone past me either. Which only left one alternative. An alternative I didn’t much care for.

  My anger must have shown, and the tears started in earnest. I’d be ever so glad when this learning about my moods phase was over. It wasn’t her I was angry at. I hadn’t lied when I said I believed her.

  “There’s no call to cry, child. I know you didn’t do it. I sat at that desk to do the books last night after you left with the children to go home. That drawer wasn’t broken then.” I gave her a slight smile. “I’d swear to that myself.”

  She looked confused. “Then how...” her voice trailed off as her eyes widened. “You think someone broke in?”

  I took a deep breath and nodded. “I wish I could say otherwise, but I can’t. It’s the only explanation I can think of. I’d better call the sheriff.”

  She nodded, then hesitated. “You would really have believed me, even if you hadn’t seen the drawer?”

  “Of course, I would have. You’re not a liar, Kimberly. If you were, you wouldn’t be working for me, now would you?”

  It seemed pretty simple to me.

  The baby let out a whimper in the backroom, and Kimberly went to check on her. Once she’d left the room, I dialed Orville Taylor. Orville was the sheriff of Wind’s Crossing and the surrounding county.

  He was also my man. Only no one but the two of us knew that last part. He was more than willing to share our status with the world, but I wasn’t so sure about it. I didn’t want the fact that he was courting a known witch to hamper his chances come reelection time. There were still a fair few townsfolk who didn’t approve of the pagan lifestyle.

  Pagan. You have to love that word. Or not. People tended to use it to describe anyone who didn’t believe the same way they did.

  So be it. I’m a pagan. And darn proud of it too. I would never deny my Goddess just to gain popularity here on earth. Wouldn’t be anywhere near worth it in the long run. But don’t think that means I’m against God and all the Christians out there. From my standpoint, we share a lot of the same viewpoints. Kindred spirits in my eyes.

  “Hey, Opal, what’s up? You’re still coming to my place for dinner tonight, right? My famous pinto beans are stewing up right nice in my crockpot. Should be an enjoyable dinner by all accounts.”

  I smiled. Orville had taken to fixing dinner for me every Tuesday night. It was kind of nice to have an evening out every week. I loved Kimberly and the kids, but Orville’s place was just so... well, quiet. A person needs that every now and again.

  “Counting on it. And I’ll even bring the cornbread. The sweet kind, of course.” I paused. “Unfortunately, that isn’t why I’m calling. It’s the sheriff I’m needing right at the moment.”

  His voice sobered instantly. “What’s happened. Is everyone okay?”

  “Relax. Everyone’s fine. But that desk I got from the Fontaine estate has seen better days.”

  “What happened?”

  “Well, it looks like the shop had a visitor after I locked up last night. I wouldn’t have noticed it at all if they hadn’t broken the drawer on the desk.”

  “Crap. I’ll be there in a couple minutes.” He hesitated. “Wait a minute. You got coffee?”

  “Nope, haven’t made my morning run yet.”

  “In that case, make it ten minutes. Maybe more if there’s a line at the Flour Pot. Kimberly still drinking Chai tea?”

  “Yes. And you know I wouldn’t complain if a Raspberry Delight found its way here too.”

  He chuckled. “Like I’d come from the Flour Pot without a few of those.”

  The call disconnected, and I glanced out the front shop window. There weren’t any customers waiting to get inside, so I decided to leave the sign on closed until we got things squared away.

  I parted the curtain into the back and made my way over to the desk. Kimberly was changing the baby at the dressing table. She glanced over.

  “It looks bad, doesn’t it?”

  “Well, it certainly doesn’t look good,” I said, running my hand over the surface of the drawer. My fingers didn’t make it too far, though, before I thought of myself and stopped. I doubted if the sheriff would go to the trouble of taking fingerprints,
but it was better to be safe than sorry.

  “Now that Pearl is wide awake, I’m going to put her in the sling and wear her for a while. I can open the shop if you want... or would you rather wait until the sheriff has come and gone?”

  “Why don’t we keep closed up for a bit yet. I’d like you to do a quick inventory of the front stock. I’ll take care of the stuff back here. It doesn’t look like anything but the desk was touched, but that just isn’t making any sense.”

  She nodded, grabbed the inventory book from the file cabinet, and started off.

  I didn’t really need an inventory book for the back room. One side of the room was now taken by my new to me desk and the baby’s crib and dressing table. The other side still held the spell lab where Ruby and I made our potions and brews. The walls of that side were covered with shelves filled with all the magical ingredients we might ever have need of. Some of those were quite pricey and hard to come by.

  I have to admit; I was more than a little relieved when I found nothing missing from the stock. Curiouser and curiouser.

  When Orville knocked on the back door, I was still standing there, staring at the desk. What secrets could an empty desk possibly hold?

  “Come on in,” I called. Normally that door was locked at all times. Like I said, some of the items back here were far rarer than those up front. Plus, the baby spent a lot of time back here. We certainly weren’t going to take any chances of losing her.

  To say she was a pretty little thing just didn’t do her justice. Baby Pearl was beautiful beyond compare. And I really didn’t think that was just my personal bias, either. Sometimes magic manifested in ways other than... well, magic.

  The sweet smell of coffee, Chai tea, and raspberry-filled donuts filled the room as the door opened. Hmm. Smart of him to make me associate those smells with him. Hitting a whole other sense on that one.

  Having the heart involved in a relationship was good, yes. But when you got all the other senses involved? It was even better. Love involved so much more than just a heart. And I loved everything about this man.

  Too bad he was the sheriff, and I was a devout spinster. Destined to be the coven’s crone by the look of it. Oh, who was I kidding, I was the coven’s crone already. Not that I minded that title, as it denoted the wisest of the group. But it wasn’t a title I had expected to be wearing well before I hit the fifty years on earth mark.

  Orville nodded to me, then walked through the curtain to take Kimberly her tea and donut. When he came back, he took a quick look at the desk and whistled.

  “You weren’t kidding, were you? What were they trying to do, take the whole drawer?”

  “Looks that way, doesn’t it?”

  He nodded. “By the way, Kimberly said to tell you that nothing on the expensive side of things at least was taken from out front.” He glanced around him. “How about back here?”

  “Nope. Not a darn thing. Whoever it was, they seemed to have a single focus on that drawer.”

  He walked over to it and tried to open it. No luck. “Don’t suppose you have the key?”

  I grinned at him. “Well, at least that was one thing I did right. I put the desk key on my keyring when I decided to use it for the business books.” I slid the right key to the front of my keyring and handed it to him. “Don’t suppose you’ll be taking fingerprints, then?”

  An eyebrow arched. “Do you think it would do any good?”

  Considering that, I shook my head. “No, not really. That only works if you have the person in the database already, right?” He nodded. “And that only becomes a factor if they were stupid enough not to wear gloves. Which I will bet isn’t the case.”

  If they were smart enough to figure out how to break into my shop without leaving a sign of it by an apparent forced lock or broken glass, then I was betting they were a pro at this kind of thing.

  Orville turned the key in the lock and when we heard the slight click, he pulled the drawer gently. It slid out perfectly.

  “Well, at least they didn’t damage its functionality,” I said. That much at least was in my favor. Though I was figuring it wouldn’t be cheap getting that woodwork repaired. I might just have to live with a damaged drawer. Kind of ticked me off, honestly. That was my favorite piece from the entire estate.

  He looked over his shoulder at me. “Will it hurt anything if I take out the whole drawer?”

  “Go for it.”

  The drawer slid out, and Orville immediately turned it upside down and then started knocking on it.

  “Huh. You think maybe a hidden compartment?”

  He shrugged. “You never know, do you? These old desks sometimes hold things like that.”

  I looked at the desk with a whole new respect. I hadn’t heard of the maker of this one, but it looked like I had a bit of research to do. Usually, a creative desk maker will use the same kind of style for more than one desk. Unless, of course, it was a custom one-off job. With Fontaine’s money, that could well be the case.

  I nodded to the drawer. “Anything?”

  He frowned at it. “Not a darn thing, actually. Just an ordinary, very empty drawer.” His eyes met mine. “Was there anything in it when you bought it?”

  “Nope. It was clean as a whistle.”

  Orville pulled out the desk chair and sat down heavily, staring at the desk. “Well, this is a puzzler. Why on earth would anyone go to the risk of breaking into a shop to steal a single desk drawer that is totally empty?”

  “You thinking something like a college prank? A fraternity test of some kind?”

  Wind’s Crossing was definitely not a university town, but the next town over to the North was. Our small town was often the butt of their juvenile prank wars.

  He rubbed his chin. “Maybe, but it just doesn’t feel right. Unless it’s one of your... more Goddess-loving clients, they wouldn’t even know the desk was back here. And you haven’t had it all that long, have you?”

  “Three days total. But Kimberly just moved it into the back for me yesterday. They could have seen it out front before that. Wouldn’t take too much effort to look behind the curtain.”

  “Well, right now then, that will have to be my working theory. It’s the only thing that makes any kind of sense at all. Not that those fraternity tests have any kind of sense to them.”

  I took in a deep breath and blew it out. “So nothing to be done about it then. I’ll have to get a quote on getting it fixed. See if it’s worth it.” Then I looked him in the eye. “You don’t think they’ll be back, do you?”

  More chin scrubbing. “I wouldn’t think so, not if that theory holds out, anyway. It wouldn’t make much sense to hit the same place twice. Word will get out that I’ve been here. Should put the fear of God into them if they have half a brain.”

  Walking over to the back door, I looked down at the lock, then opened the door and looked at the other side. Nothing. Not a single dadgum sign that someone had broken in.

  “I think there might be a problem with the fraternity theory, Orville,” I said after closing the door again. “I mean, it makes sense that they would break in from the back, right? The front of the shop is right on the street and pretty well lit all night long. But there isn’t a mark on this door.”

  He chuckled, then glanced at the closed curtain before pulling me into a fierce hug. His hard lips met mine in a quick kiss, then he leaned his forehead onto the top of my head.

  “I do so love it when you say something silly, Opal. Makes you seem more like one of us fallible humans.”

  I stood a little straighter. “Doesn’t seem so silly to me, sheriff.”

  “Uh-oh. I’ve gone from Orville to sheriff.” He grinned at me as he took a step back. “Better watch my step from here out or I’ll be having cornbread-less soup beans tonight.”

  He walked over to the door, opened it, then locked it. “You can time me if you want.” Then he stepped out the door and closed it behind him.

  I heard the lock click into place. Ten seconds later, he was opening the door again with that crap-eating grin still in place. “Sorry it took so long, I had to dig out my credit card.”

  He held up the offending piece of plastic as proof. I was so not going to live this down. He’d been after me to update the locks on the shop for years.

  “Now will you please consider getting deadbolts on both doors?”