A Very Opal Halloween Page 3

  If I stayed there any longer, I knew I wouldn’t be able to fight the tears I felt coming on. It wouldn’t do to show signs of weakness. As the eldest of the Ravenswind family, I had to be strong. Always. There was no place for tears in my life.

  I stepped out and walked slowly down to the waiting room, taking the time each step gave me to get my emotions into check. It was a struggle, but by the time Sheriff Taylor came into sight, the pressing need to cry had passed. Somewhat.

  But the man somehow knew all the same. He was good about that. He gathered me into his arms, and we stood there in silence for a minute.

  Finally, he asked. “Everything okay?”

  I nodded into his shoulder. “Yes. Healthy and whole, beautiful baby girl. And Kimberly’s doing fine too.”

  He didn’t take his arms away. He was good. It would be up to me to end the closeness. Something I was finding it very hard to do right now.

  Then I thought about Nancy and the ones back home. Pulling away from him, I wiped my moist eyes.

  “I’d better call Nancy, or I’ll never hear the end of it.”

  He grinned at me. “You’ve got that right.”

  In a matter of seconds, I had her on the line. “I figured you wouldn’t be in bed yet.”

  “Are you kidding me? I almost had Amie convinced to bring me to the hospital. If you’d waited five more minutes, we’d have probably been on the road.”

  That sounded about right. Nancy could be very persuasive when she wanted to be. Persistent too. “Well, there isn’t any need to come tonight. Mother and daughter are going to need some good rest after the night they’ve had. I’ll bring you to see them tomorrow after school. Deal?”

  “Deal.” She hesitated. “They’re really okay?”

  I smiled. “More than okay. They’re pretty much perfect.”

  “Good. I’m really sorry you missed out on talking to your mom tonight. I know how much that meant to you.”

  “The Goddess knows best, child. I was meant to be here tonight.” And now, at least, I had a feeling I knew why that was. “Now get to bed. I don’t want to hear bad things from your teacher tomorrow, you hear?”

  She laughed. “You know I’m the teacher’s pet. She only has good things to say about me.”

  She wasn’t wrong. “Tell Ruby I’ll be home in a couple of hours. I want to see Kimberly situated in her new room before I leave.”

  We ended the call, and I turned to find my sister, Sapphire, standing behind me with her new husband Archie Mineheart. She was holding a large thermos.

  “The sheriff gave us the good news. I brought something along to celebrate the event.” She lifted the thermos.

  I was guessing coffee, though why that would be a celebratory drink I didn’t know. But when the aroma hit me when she poured me a cup, my eyes teared up again.

  It was Mom’s special eggnog, warmed to just that perfect temperature. I hadn’t tasted it in all these years since her passing. And I’d especially missed it every holiday.

  In fact, I’d craved it. With a passion.

  I swallowed and sank down onto one of the waiting room couches. The perfect ending to a busy night. Or so I thought. The sheriff proved me wrong.

  “I know you didn’t get your seance,” he said. “And I’m sorry about that. But I do have a consolation prize for you.”

  I opened one eye and looked at him. “You do?”

  He nodded, glancing up at the others too. “Yup. I just checked my email. Hadn’t had a chance all day what with the craziness Halloween always brings to Wind’s Crossing.”

  Then he went silent. It was one of his more annoying traits. He would make me beg for it. Normally that would take some time. Not tonight.

  “Please enlighten us with your grand news.”

  He grinned at me. “Well, since you insist. The court just signed their approval on your petition for guardianship. You are now officially Nancy Jefferson’s sole guardian.”

  Oh, praise the Goddess.

  “Of course, there is some bad news to go along with that.”

  Wasn’t there always? But this time I just looked at him. No way was I going to ask to be told bad news.

  “No more funding for being a foster parent. You’re off the county’s purse strings.”

  I’d have hit him if he’d been closer. Good thing for me Sapphire was in range of him. She took care of that for me. The money had never been a selling point in becoming a foster parent for Nancy. Every cent of it was sitting in a college fund for her. The fund would still grow even now. This was only the first step in my plan. I wouldn’t be fully satisfied until Nancy could call herself a Ravenswind. Legally.

  But there was time for that.

  “So, should we mark our calendars for a seance next All Hallows’ Eve?” Archie asked.

  I shook my head. “No need anymore.” I took another long sip of the eggnog and sighed. Then I looked up at Sapphire. “Mind telling me why you never shared Mom’s recipe with me?”

  “Well, for starters, it isn’t Mom’s recipe. It’s mine. Remember that summer when I was really into kitchen experimentations? This was one of my successes.”

  My brows drew together. “That can’t be right. Mom said this was passed on to her from another generation.”

  Sapphire laughed. “Yes, she did. But she didn’t say it was a generation from the past, now did she?”

  I had to give her that one. Any other night, I might have been upset about having the secret recipe kept from me for so long. But not tonight.

  “You are going to share now, right?”

  “Of course.” She reached into her bag, pulled out a recipe card, and handed it to me. I placed it in my purse with care. No way was I losing it now.

  Funny how Mom had found a way to answer my question without me even having to ask it. Good thing too.

  Because I was really thinking that any seance trying to contact my mother’s soul on the other side would be unsuccessful from this point forward.

  I truly didn’t think she was there any longer. In a way that scared the holy hell out of me. Not that she was back in the world. That was more than fine by me. If anyone deserved a second go-around in life, it was Mom.

  It scared me for what that meant for the future.

  Sapphire and I are powerful witches. Ruby and Amie are too. Well, Amie especially now. But Mom? That woman had true power. I’d even pit her against a Light Witch if it came to it. Which it wouldn’t. Not in our family anyway.

  But if the Goddess had seen fit to bring back my mother’s soul, then the fight ahead must be a scary one indeed.

  I took another sip of my eggnog. Absolutely perfect. It was just enough to dull the worry.

  Whatever the future held, we’d face it together as a family. And somehow, someway, the Ravenswinds would make it. The Minehearts would make it too. After all, like it or not, they were family now.

  Smiling at Sapphire, I stood up. “Come on. There’s someone I want you to meet.”

  The End

  Other Books by Belinda White

  ACCIDENTAL FAMILIAR Series (Gemstone Witches):

  All Too Familiar

  Relatively Familiar

  Un-Familiar Magic

  BENANDANTI SERIES:

  Finders Weepers

  Sister's Keepers

  Demon Peepers

 

 

  Belinda White, A Very Opal Halloween

 

 

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