Page 14 of Pure Magic
Rolling down the road in silence makes me think of my family and the trips we’d take to the lowlands to visit cousins. Mother loved to travel and visit.
“You’re thinking of your mother,” Sara Beth says. “I heard it despite your mind being closed. You were thinking very loud. She liked to visit with family.” She shakes her head as if to dispel my thoughts from her head.
I should be angry or annoyed, but I can’t conjure any ill emotions. “Mother loved to go and see people. Father didn’t, but he indulged her once a year.” Longing tightens my chest even though the memories are happy ones.
Sara Beth places her hand over mine on the reins. “It’s very hard to lose our parents. I still miss my mother very much, and she was not an easy woman.”
“She made you, so in my mind, she was magnificent.” I have no idea why I say this. Maybe because she’d have heard it without the words.
Pulling her hand back, she says, “You can gather your things from the rooming house and move them into the coven house. We have several rooms vacant at this time.”
My heart stops for an instant before it pounds fast and hard. “Thank you, high priestess. You are too kind.”
“Maybe I just want to be able to keep an eye on you.” She tries to look stern, but a hint of a smile ruins the attempt.
“Look all you like, Sara Beth.” I wink, and she frowns, which makes me laugh.
Chapter
Five
SARA BETH
Rather than make him drop me off, and then go to his rooms, we go directly to the rooming house. Seeing the dingy house and rough woman running the establishment, I’m glad I asked him to come to the coven house. It’s a depressing place, and I’ve only been here a moment.
Livy Walters looks me up and down and sneers. “Found yourself a woman so fast, sir?”
“A friend, Mrs. Walters. I’ll be leaving your generosity today and would like to settle my bill.” He smiles tightly.
She scoffs and spits in the street. Her gray dress might have been blue once, and it’s seen more days than it had in the cloth. Frayed and threadbare, it does little to keep out the cool air. One shoulder bare, and her breasts close to making an appearance, she looks at me as if I’m a streetwalker. “It’s a halfpenny for the two days. I’ll not cheat you as some might.” Pushing her stringy, mousy hair back from her face, she stares at me.
Adam hands her the coin. “I’ll get my things.”
“You know she’s a witch, don’t you?” she asks far too loudly, using the word witch like the worst curse.
I keep my voice low. “Livy Walters, you needn’t be cross. My kind has long protected you and yours. Your father called on my mother when illness took you as a child. Scarlett fever that injured your small heart. Betty Ware healed your heart and saved your parents from losing their only child.”
Sorrow crosses Livy’s brown eyes, but she shifts quickly back to anger and pushes graying hair back from her leathery cheek. “And what did she save me for? This life? It’s a misery. You can tell yourself that your mother did a good thing, and I suppose she did as she was asked, but my death as an infant would have saved me from a lifetime of despair.”
I wish I had all the words to put forth how each person has their role in Goddess’s plan, but Livy Walters would not listen or understand. “I’m sorry you feel that way, madam. How can I help?”
Livy’s laugh is derisive as she says, “Send one of these big men to paint my house, witch.” She stomps into the house.
After a moment of staring at the empty doorway, I shift my attention to Adam, who watched the entire scene.
Passersby stopped to listen and now move on with their day.
Adam says, “I didn’t realize your family had a history with this house.”
I shrug. “How could you? It was long ago, and I only know because I’ve read my mother’s journals.”
“What will you do?” He studies me as if he may already know what I’m about to say. Perhaps he does.
“Wisdom says to leave it alone and forget the altercation.” I never could follow such edicts. “I’ll send someone to paint her house and fix whatever needs attention.”
Grinning wide, Adam touches my cheek before he rushes inside to gather his things.
When we arrive at the coven house, Sylvia is working in the still room to the right of the front door. She peeks her head out. “Do you need me, Sara Beth?”
