Page 46 of Cursed Luck
“And what happened to his voice?” her father asked.
Edward’s eyes flashed with pain. “She cast a spell and took it away.”
“Mia Terra Hemslock!” her mother snapped. “You better have a good reason for using a silencing spell on a person without their consent.”
She crossed her arms under her breasts and ignored the way his gaze lowered to them. “I did. He was about to lie to me about a woman I’d just caught him fondling. I didn’t want to hear it.”
“He was fondling another woman in front of you?” her father asked, his brows drawn in confusion.
“If you’re true soul mates, that wouldn’t be possible,” her mother stated.
She ignored Edward’s smug look and stated, “I know what I saw, Mother.”
“Edward?” her father said.
He stood straighter and turned toward her father. “Yes, sir?”
“Please tell us what she didn’t allow you to say.”
Edward nodded, but the door chimed when an older man came in and stopped his words.
Mia sighed with relief and stepped around them. “Hello! How may I help you?” she asked, hoping she could prolong whatever gibberish Edward was preparing to spew. Mia knew what she saw, and the hole it had caused in her heart still ached.
She half-listened to the customer’s need for a bouquet of sunflowers, his wife’s favorite, and the fact Edward was formally introducing himself to her parents. Why had earth deemed today the day to wake her? She forced a smile for the man and set aside her inner teen who wanted to stomp with indignation.
By the time she finished helping the man and returned to the group, her parents were listening to Edward share about his family. He was at ease around them, which did not surprise her in the least. Her parent’s energy brought calmness to any occasion.
“Edward was telling us he’s a Broderick! How wonderful!” her mother announced.
Mia narrowed her eyes. “Why does that matter?”
“The Broderick coven has been around for centuries, dear, a powerful family who was rumored to be cursed. Is any of it true, Edward?”
The grief on his face nearly made her knees buckle. The urge to wrap him in her arms overwhelmed her and drove out the anger and pain of his betrayal.
“Yes, ma’am. My mother and her mother and the generations prior were cursed, it seems. The seventh daughter died giving birth to their seventh child, also a daughter.”
Her mother darted forward and pulled him into her arms. “Oh, how awful. I am so very sorry!”
“Thank you,” he muttered, his eyes shut as he squeezed her mother as tightly as she did him. After another moment, he loosened his grip and offered them a smile. “My sister and her husband managed to break the curse, and I have a beautiful niece.”
“Praise be the goddess,” her mother said and stepped into her father’s side, no longer taking sides with Mia.
“All right, please tell us what happened,” her father said.
“I’d been out of town for business and was able to get on an earlier flight. I never told Mia because I wanted to surprise her.”
Mia scoffed. “That you did…”
Her mother clucked her tongue. “Mia, don’t be rude!”
“I’d planned on coming here first thing but remembered I needed to talk to someone. I wanted to ask her first to see if she had any interest in working here before coming to Mia about it. You see, Mia’s business has blossomed in the last few weeks, and I can see it’s been taking a toll on her—”
“Has not!” Mia lied.
“Dear, that’s not what the others say,” her mother announced.
“Others?” Edward asked.
