Page 64 of Oohs, Ahhhs, and Orbs

Logan brushed a kiss over my cheek. “I need to take Sammy outside. I’ll be right back,” he murmured.

“Traitor,” I mumbled, then gratefully took the cup of coffee from my mother as she walked it over. She stared at Logan with wide eyes as he passed her with a smile, before taking a seat next to Grandmother. I sat down in the chair facing them. “It’s a bit of a long story, but do you remember that athame you bought at the estate sale a couple of months ago?”

“The one I was sent to retrieve and put a binding spell on so it would no longer cause problems?”

I blinked at her, taking in her words. “What?”

“That athame had been lost for over a hundred years. Someone found it about fifty or so years back and thought itmight have been valuable. They wanted to sell it, but before they could, the person died. Every other person who owned that athame had terrible luck that resulted in either death or total loss of everything important to them. The council sent me to retrieve it before it could do any more harm.”

I sat back heavily in the chair. “I thought it was supposed to be sold in the shop,” I muttered, wanting to face-palm. Everything was my fault.Son of a bitch.

“Oh dear. Please don’t tell me you brought it into Oohs, Ahhhs, and Orbs,” she pleaded.

“I wish I could,” I sighed.

“And you allowed your power to fill it. Oh, Bridgette.”

“It was the Gainsburg witch,” I said sadly. “I had no idea. She killed three witches in town, trying to gain enough magic to break free. I think the spark of power I allowed was enough to let her out. She was able to break free during the lunar cycle.”

“Last night was the full moon. She came after you, didn’t she?”

I nodded. “Logan first. She was going to use my mate as leverage so I wouldn’t fight her.”

Grandmother snorted. “How’d that work out?”

“Her athame is a ball of metal, and she’s been banished to the ether forever.”

She nodded proudly. “That’s my girl.”

Mother spoke up, interrupting. “Did you saymate?”

I nodded, smiling proudly. “Logan is my mate. He was one of the detectives in charge of the murders. He came to question me, then he asked me to help with the case.” I looked both of them in the eye, making sure they knew what I was about to say was serious. “We bonded.”

My mother gasped and raised a hand to her mouth as tears filled her eyes. Grandmother smiled softly. “You said the binding vows.”

“We did,” I nodded.

“Good. I’m so proud of you, Bridgette.”

“Is he good to you?” my mother asked gently, hesitantly, and I turned to look at her, my lower lip trembling.

“He loves me.”

She smiled softly. “I can see that, sweet girl. But is hegoodto you?”

I thought about the way he holds me, how he looks at me, and the way he is always concerned about my well-being. “He makes me smile. He always likes to have a hand on me when we are close, as if he’s reassuring himself I’m there. He offered to quit the job that he loves, which makes himhim, because he was worried I wanted to leave him,” I sniffled. “Yeah, he’s good to me.”

“Okay, baby,” Mother said quietly. “That’s really good.”

“Thanks,” I said, giving her a tremulous smile.

Grandmother cleared her throat, and when I turned back to her, her eyes seemed suspiciously red-rimmed. “So, the drama is over, and you vanquished the Gainsburg witch.”

I looked down at my coffee and sighed sadly. “It’s my fault, though. All those witches died because of me.”

“Bridgette,” Grandmother said softly, and waited until I looked back up at her. “You aren’t responsible for the actions of others. You didn’t harm them. Perhaps they wouldn’t have died, perhaps Glenda,” she spat out, “would have found a way anyway. Stop blaming yourself. Besides, it brought your mate to your door. It was Fate, darling. You know how Fate works.”

I nodded, still sad about the deaths and likely always would be. But she was right. What was meant to happen would, no matter what. Fate had a plan, and it wouldn’t be derailed.

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