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Cephea Collins stooped over the ceramic pot of foxglove, picking off the cobwebs she could use for dressing people’s wounds. The leaves of the plant she’d harvest later, adding them to the basket of herbs to be tied into bundles and dried. Humming to herself, she didn’t know she wasn’t alone any more until she heard the squeak from the front step.
“You didn’t tell me you was coming, Daniel.” She smiled up at the Sheriff, who looked sharp in his brown uniform. Was it only a month ago she’d been the one to sneak up on him as he first paid her cabin a visit, trying to solve a murder?
“I’ve been meaning to drop by, to check up on you.” He looked around. “Way up here on the mountain, it seems so quiet, so lonely.”
She followed his gaze, but she didn’t see anything lonely at all. The beech and yellow birch trees towered over the delicate pink blossoms of the mountain laurel, and she’d seen three deer this morning. It certainly wasn’t quiet, either, with the pecking of the northern flickers, the chirping of the red-eyed vireos, and the screeching of the red-tailed hawks.
She turned back to look into his eyes and saw something there that made her heart beat a little faster. There was more than one kind of lonely.
“That’s mighty thoughtful of you, Daniel. I’da made a batch of black walnut cookies if I knowed you was comin’ round.”
He took his hat off and twirled it around in his hands. “I probably can’t stay too long, anyway. I have a new case I’m working on.”
She could tell by his hesitant posture he wanted to ask her something but didn’t quite know how. “You need my help?”
His look of relief told her all she needed to know. “I’d be much obliged, Cephea.”
She sat down on the cedar bench and patted it. “Sit down. Tell me all about it.”
He joined her, not too close, but not all that far away, either. She stifled the urge to reach out and run her hand through his soft, brown hair. “Well, Cephea, there’s this man, Andrew Hull. His daddy just died and left his entire estate to him. But Andrew himself turned up dead this morning. He was only thirty and in good health. Once played football for the University of Tennessee.”
“You think somebody kilt him?”
“I don’t have any evidence, but it’s pretty strange, all right.”
“Who does the daddy’s money go to now?”
“The dead man’s sister, Adelynn Hull.”
“Did you chat with her?”
“Ah, yes. I did. Chat, that is. She’s someone I knew back when. Moved away two years ago, but was in town for her father’s funeral. And then this happens. Guess she’ll be planning two funerals now.”
Cephea nodded and waited for him to say more. When he didn’t, she asked, “How well you know this Adelynn Hull? I reckon money’s kilt more people than war.”
Daniel sighed. “We dated for several months. After Matthew’s mother died. And then Adelynn left to take a job in Nashville.”
Cephea chewed on her lip, hoping her face wasn’t giving away what she was feeling. Another woman who’d once held Daniel’s heart. And now that woman was back in Reidville. She scanned his face, looking for signs of what he was feeling right then. He sure wasn’t sitting easy on that bench. But someone he’d cared about was in trouble. So that meant he was in trouble, in a way. And that would never do.
She jumped up so fast, it almost startled Daniel off the bench. “Time’s a-wastin’. Let’s go take a gander at that dead man. The younger one, I mean.”
Daniel held open the door of the Model T for her, then cranked up the engine before hopping in. She knew he was proud of his car, one of only a handful in town. Cost him five-hundred dollars, but he’d used a little bit of the money his own father left him. She’d never ridden in a car until his, and it took some getting used to, especially the smell of the gasoline and the engine that rumbled like a miniature steam locomotive. She didn’t know how in the world he managed all those levers and pedals.
When they arrived at the Funeral Home and Daniel led her to the back room, she had a strong image of the last time she was here. Complete with a body in an ice box, only this time there was no bashed-in skull, no dried clotted blood, no brain parts poking through.
“How was this man found, Daniel?”
“A neighbor came to drop off some fresh-baked peach pies. Found him like that.”
“So he’d been all by hisself?”
“Well, the neighbor didn’t see anyone else there at the time.”
“Hmm.” Cephea bent over the body and sniffed around his mouth and nose. Then she opened his eyelids. “Might check the privy at his house. See if they’s any traces of vomit.”
“Think it was a stomach flu?”
She pointed to the area around his mouth. “See there? Dried saliva. And his pupils are wide and dark.”
He bent over to look at what she was showing him. “So, worse than stomach flu?”
“Can you smell that? A bit like a mouse, one that’s nibbled on carrots. This weren’t no stomach flu for sure. Hemlock, I’d reckon.”
“Hemlock?”
“Pretty little plant. Some folk confuse it with Queen Anne’s lace. But every part of hemlock’ll kill you, if you get too much.”
“So, you’re saying it could be poison.”
She could tell part of Daniel’s thoughts were far away. Far across the great ocean, back on the fields of the Ardenne in the middle of the war. He’d told her about the Germans using poisons. Gases, mostly. Mustard gas and something called chlorine. Men gasping for breath, suffocating where they stood.
She tapped him lightly on the shoulder, and he cleared his throat. “Well, then, Miss Cephea Collins, looks like we have a murder on our hands. How would someone have given the hemlock to him?”
“Why, all kinds of ways. The seeds and roots are the most deadly. Could be ground up and added to most anything.”
“Is there a cure?”
She shook her head. “Cows and sheep eat it all the time. It be one of a few plants stays green in winter. And first to grow in the spring. But once it’s in the poor critters, they die quick-like.”
“So, it’d be easy to find?”
“Hard to throw a rock and miss it in some places. ’Specially along cricks and streams.”
The sound of a door opening and closing, followed by a woman’s voice, caught their attention. A moment later, a tall woman breezed in with skin so pale, Cephea wondered if she’d covered herself in talcum powder or a paste of feverfew petals. Her honey-colored hair, with its bobbed waves like a rolling field of golden hay, made Cephea touch the ends of her own long, straight black strands. Echoes of the townsfolk’s whispers sprang to her mind. “Melungeon girl. Melungeon witch.”
Daniel placed the cover on the box that held the body, then introduced the new arrival. “This is the victim’s sister, Adelynn Hull. Adelynn, this is Miss Cephea Collins. She’s a legend in these parts. Knows everything about plants and potions.”
Adelynn didn’t acknowledge Cephea. “Where’s your sidekick, Deputy Corwin?”
Daniel rubbed the back of his neck. “Guess you wouldn’t have heard, yet. We lost Corwin ’bout six months ago. A black bear attack.”
“That’s too bad. He was a good man.” Adelynn turned her attention to Cephea and scanned her from head to toe as she batted long, spidery lashes. Whenever she started talking, her painted lips were like two red petals opening and closing. Cephea had never seen anything like it.
Adelynn said, “You used the word ‘victim’ when referring to my brother.”
“That’s because we think your brother was poisoned. Intentionally.”
“Surely you don’t mean murder? That’s preposterous. Andrew wouldn’t harm a flea.”
“Nevertheless, that’s what it looks like.” He didn’t add anything for a moment, the silence between them heavy in the air.
Finally, Adelynn spoke. “There’s no reason to beat about the bush—you think I killed him for the money, don’t you?”
Daniel looked over at the ice box, then back at her. “The woman I knew two years ago isn’t a killer. You seem to have done pretty well for yourself over in Nashville. And Andrew was going to give you an allowance, wasn’t he?”
“So he said. It was more than I needed, and I told him so.”
Cephea noticed the other woman’s eyes were tearing up and looked around for a cloth, but before she could reach for one, Daniel pulled a kerchief out of his pocket and handed it over. “You and your brother used to be close, didn’t you?”
“He was my protector, my hero. But he didn’t like me going to Nashville. Thought I should have stayed here and . . .” She blinked her watery eyes at Daniel. “And married you.”
Daniel cleared his throat. “I didn’t know he felt that way. He never said.”
“He wouldn’t. Didn’t like to talk much. Except to me and our parents and Lynette.”
“Lynette? Lynette Palma, your cousin?”
“Since she lives nearby, over in Rogersville, we were almost like sisters.”
“Was she to get an allowance from Andrew, too?”
“He hadn’t planned on it. I’m not sure why. Unless it because he was fixing to become engaged. I don’t think the two women got along one bit.”
“Engaged?” Cephea could tell by the way Daniel’s voice pitched higher, he was shocked by that news.
“To Maggie Morland. She’s Hiram Morland’s daughter. You remember Hiram, don’t you? He was County Clerk for a while.”
Cephea listened to their back-and-forth chatter and felt like a third wheel on a donkey cart. She’d lived up on the ridge all by herself after her parents died five years ago crossing the flooded Clinch River. She came into town every week to sell her potions and tend the sick, but she didn’t have family here. Nor had she made many friends. These names were all strangers to her.
And Adelynn was like some exotic bird who’d flown in on southerly breezes from another land. The way Adelynn was staring back, Cephea must look like some kind of strange animal to her, too.
Adelynn pointed to the necklace Cephea was wearing. “That looks familiar. Where did you get it?”
Cephea fingered the blue crystal shaped like a teardrop. She remembered the day Daniel gave it to her. The day he saved her life. She felt him stiffen beside her, and she decided to give an honest answer. Well, mostly honest. “’Twas a family heirloom.” And it was, too—just not her family’s, but Daniel’s.
Adelynn tore her gaze away from it. “I guess I only thought I’d seen it before.” She gave Daniel a sharp look and seemed like she was about to add something, but didn’t.
He said, “I’d like to talk to your cousin. Where might I find her this time of day?”
“Lynette’s a ticket taker down at the Nickelodeon. They’re showing Pollyanna with Mary Pickford. And a Harold Lloyd short.”
“You staying at your father’s house?”
“Until the funeral. After that, I’m not sure.”
“You mean you’re not returning to Nashville?”
“I like working at Castner Knott. I get to model these fabulous Madeline Vionnet beaded, fringed dresses and CoCo Chanel cloche hats. But I miss a lot of things back here.” She fluttered her eyelashes at him. Cephea definitely thought they looked a little like gossamer spider webs or maybe caterpillars. She couldn’t tell from his expression whether Daniel liked that or not.
“All right, Adelynn. I’ll check back with you if I learn anything.”
Adelynn started to go, but stopped and then walked over to Daniel to gave him a big hug. “I missed you,” she said, before heading out.
Cephea continued staring after her until she was out of sight. “She’s quite a lovely woman, Daniel.”
He nodded. “It felt strange seeing her again. Like a ghost from my past sneaking under the door.”
“I grant you she’s a slip of a lass, but don’t reckon she’d fit under that there door.”
Daniel turned to look at her, and then he laughed. “Don’t reckon she would, at that.” He called in the coroner’s assistant to let him know they were finished with the body for now, then asked Cephea, “I’m thinking I’ll head up to check on Adelynn’s cousin, Lynette. Want to come along?”
“That’d be right fine. But what’s a nickel-o-deon?”
“They show moving pictures.”
At her blank expression, he added, “You’ve never been to the moving picture show?”
She shook her head. “You mentioned those before. But what makes them move?”
“Well, they have this film, and they capture images on each frame, and then feed those frames one after the other real fast through a projector. It looks like the action is happening right in front you.”
“Like a flipbook?”
“Yes, exactly. Where did you see a flipbook?”
“My daddy was a powerful fine sketcher. He drew pictures that looked real, too.”
Daniel led her to the Model T, but before he got in, he said, “Don’t know I ever mentioned how sorry I was about your parents. Horrible shame. I was busy with the war at the time, but I remember hearing about that flood when I returned.”
“I miss ’em. Every day. Like you do your wife.”
“They say everything happens for a reason. But if there is a God up there in heaven, I can’t imagine why he’d be so cruel. Rolling people’s lives around like dice.”
Cephea couldn’t argue with him on that. They drove to the Nickelodeon in silence, but she didn’t mind. Being with him was plenty.
When they stopped in front of the small building with the lighted sign on top and the ticket window in the middle, she realized she’d passed by this place before but hadn’t given it much thought. Above the ticket window was a row of large pictures in frames. Pictures of handsome men and pretty women wearing clothes that even put Adelynn to shame.
Daniel pointed up at them. “That one there is Lillian Gish. And over there’s Rudolph Valentino.”
“They look right proud of themselves, don’t they?”
Daniel looked at them again. “They do look a little . . . posed. Maybe even a little pouty. Guess all that money of theirs doesn’t make them happy.”
He headed for the woman seated at the ticket window. “Greetings, Lynette.”
“Hello, Daniel. The next showing for Pollyanna isn’t until two.”
“I’m not here for a showing. I need to ask you a few questions.”
“Should have guessed, since you’re in uniform. Is this about Andrew? I heard the news this morning from a friend who lives near Doc Baile.”
“Afraid so. I know how close you and Andrew and Adelynn were. This must be hard.”
She blinked back tears. “I still don’t believe it. Can’t believe it. He was so young, so healthy. This isn’t more of that flu that went around a month ago, is it?”
“Not flu. Cephea here thinks your cousin was poisoned.”
Lynette turned her teary eyes to try and focus on Cephea. “Cephea Collins? I’ve heard of you. You look a lot more . . . normal than I would have guessed.”
“She’s an expert in herbs and potions. A healer. She tended to a lot of those flu patients you were referring to.”
“Well, even if it was poison, who would do such a thing? And why?” She added under her breath. “Unless it’s Maggie.”
Daniel asked, “Maggie Morland, Andrew’s betrothed?”
“Don’t know what Andrew saw in her. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she put a spell on him.” Lynette addressed Cephea directly. “You know about spells, don’t you? Did she come to you for something to hex him with?”
Cephea shook her head. “They’s no spell for love, Miss Palma. It grows all on its own. Or it don’t.”
Lynette shook her head. “I still think she had something to do with it. She has a garden. Full of flowers and herbs. Bet there’s a plant in there somewhere she could fashion a poison from.”
“We’ll look into it, Lynette. And you can’t think of anyone else who might have wanted Andrew dead?”
“I hope you’re not thinking Adelynn. On account of the money. She loved Andrew. She didn’t care about that money. And I didn’t care about that money. We just want our Andrew back. You just make sure you find out who did this, Daniel.”
He and Cephea stepped back to let a group of young girls buy tickets. Since it was clear they were going to take awhile, he waved at Lynette and ushered Cephea back to the Model T.
“Well, Cephea. Looks like your expertise with plants may come in handy. You can tell me if Maggie Morland is growing peaches, peppermint, or poison.”
When he placed his hand on her arm to help her up into the car, a sudden warmth radiated from his skin to hers. She’d never felt anything like that before. But she’d never met a man like Daniel Praeger before. She thought back to how he’d said he never got sick. About how he’d “seen” her in danger miles away, even as he was sitting in his chair at home, half-asleep. She fingered the necklace, the one that was his grandmother’s. The same grandmother some called a witch. Witches, warlocks, potions, and poisons. Sounded like a nursery rhyme.
The roads through town were none too kind on Daniel’s Model T. They were accustomed to horses and mules, and recent rains left rocks and roots exposed. It was bumpy, but by the time they got closer to Maggie Morland’s, they were in a stretch of the valley Cephea loved—Berea Holler, where the Clinch River lay on either side of the wooden bridge. It reminded her of the brook behind her house up on the mountain, which sang her to sleep at night.
Maggie Morland still lived with her parents, who didn’t think it was proper for a woman to work, according to Daniel. They could see Maggie’s garden as they neared the house, Cephea rattling off the plant names, ending with, “And blackeyed peas and garlic and kale.”
“No hemlock?”
She’d been keeping an eye out for that very thing. “None I can see.”
They found Maggie inside, with her mother, both dressed in black. No one would ever whisper behind Maggie-the-gardener’s back the way they did with Cephea. Not with her long, golden hair and green eyes. After all, the witches in Cephea’s story books never seemed to have blond hair, now, did they?
Daniel noted the women’s black clothing. “News got here real fast. Who brought word of Andrew’s death?”
“Doc Baile stopped by. Just a couple hours ago.”
Daniel removed his hat and apologized for bothering them. Then he added, “But we think Andrew might have been murdered. Poisoned.”
Maggie’s mother gasped, placing a hand over her throat. Maggie frowned, her face growing dark like a cloud before a gullywasher. She said, “I knew that there money was evil. I didn’t want him to take it. Give it all away, I told him.”
Daniel said, “Yet it would make a nice pot to help a couple of newlyweds just starting out in life.”
“We didn’t need it. I said I’d marry him long before that money came along. All money’s good for is sending souls straight to hell.”
“To be honest, we’re not sure money’s the motive for Andrew’s death.”
Maggie frowned. “Maybe it is and maybe it ain’t. Maybe it’s something even older than that.”
“Such as?”
“The tenth commandment. Thou shalt not covet.”
“But you said it wasn’t his money—”
“I’m talking jealousy.” Tears started flowing down her face, and Cephea nodded at Daniel’s pockets for another kerchief. He shrugged, letting her know he’d used his only one on Adelynn. With all the teary-eyed women they were encountering, Cephea guessed he’d have to start buying handkerchiefs by the pound.
Maggie’s mother was twisting the red crocheted throw on the sofa so hard, it looked like a bloody rag in her hands. She spoke up for the first time, her voice cold. “She wanted him bad, that woman. Couldn’t stand the fact he’d pick another. Told Maggie to her face she’d make her sorry.”
Daniel and Cephea exchanged confused glances, and Daniel asked, “She?”
“Lynette Palma. That’s who you should ask. She was head over heels for him, but he spurned her over my Maggie.”
Daniel asked, “Just how long have you and Andrew been betrothed, Maggie?”
“We met for the first time when we ran into each other in town. It was just after I got back from spending some time in Knoxville with my aunt. About six months ago. It was love at first sight, and he proposed not long after.”
Daniel thanked them for their time, bundled Cephea back into the Model T, and cranked it up to start the engine. When he slid into the driver’s seat, she blinked at him with wide eyes. “I don’t understand, Daniel. Lynette’s his cousin. Loved him as a brother. Those waterworks of hers at the Nickelodeon weren’t no crocodile tears.”
“Apparently, that familial love turned into a different kind at some point. But if Lynette’s our killer, don’t know I’ll be able to prove it.” He rubbed his forehead. “With both Lynette and Maggie blaming each other, who knows? Maybe they did it together. And by pointing fingers at each other, they’re just muddying the waters so I can’t see the truth.”
He slumped against his seat. “We don’t get a lot of poisoning cases around here. Since none was found at Andrew’s house, makes it even harder for me to build a case. As you say, hemlock can be found everywhere. Not easy to trace.”
Cephea pulled off her necklace and held it out to Daniel. “Take hold of it.”
He looked at it, then back at her, and finally took the necklace. “Why?”
“I want you to think hard about Andrew. About yesterday, when he was by hisself.”
“Cephea, I’m not sure—”
“It worked before. I was wearing it then. But you’d touched it and then you had visions like one of those moving pictures, remember?”
“Maybe it was all just a dream. Or instinct. It can’t have anything to do with that necklace.”
“Can’t hurt none to try again, can it?”
He hesitated, then slowly closed his eyes and seemed to be concentrating on what she’d told him. She waited, holding her breath, willing him to look back to the murder, to let those muddy waters part so he could see the truth. After several minutes, his eyes opened suddenly, and he thrust the necklace at her.
They sped down the road back the way they’d come, along the bridge through the holler, and into town. He pulled the car in front of the Nickelodeon, where Lynette was still taking tickets, and parked.
He strode up to her and said, “Get someone to fill in for you. We need to talk.”
Her hands gripped the edge of the counter. “I don’t know—”
“Just do it.”
She looked back into the lobby and called for someone named Ethel and asked her to take over. Daniel ushered Lynette over to stand next to the car, where Cephea was still seated in front and could hear everything they said.
“Lynette, Andrew proposed to you, didn’t he?”
Her face registered shock, but she quickly recovered, shaking her head. “I don’t know what you mean, Daniel.”
“He proposed beside the yellow rose bushes that grow wild along Siler’s Creek. He was wearing his new gray mail-order suit from the Sears catalog, and you wore a pink dress.”
Lynette’s mouth hung open. “How did you—” Then she stood up straighter. “Yes, he proposed. And I said yes. What of it?”
“That’s before Maggie Morland moved back home and spoiled everything, isn’t it?”
“I . . . I still don’t know what you mean. Andrew loved me, not Maggie. She tricked him into thinking he cared for her.”
“But that’s not what really happened, is it, Lynette? After he proposed to you, he met Maggie, who’d been away for a while but had come back to town. It was love at first sight, and he called off his engagement with you. So you vowed revenge and carefully gathered up some hemlock and fashioned a poison. Poison you put into his favorite rye whiskey. If you couldn’t have him, no one would.”
Lynette stood very still for a moment. Then she took off running toward the theater and dashed inside. Daniel ran after her, telling Cephea to stay put. But as she watched the other two disappear inside the building, Cephea decided she didn’t want to be alone inside the car. Not with Daniel’s recounting of the crime still hovering in the air like a poison all its own. She got out to breathe in lungfuls of fresh air.
Worried about Daniel and Lynette both, Cephea waited as long as she could stand it and decided to walk through the alleyway between the theater and Tinsley’s Five and Dime to the street behind. The wind picked up and whipped dust from the dirt road into her eyes. Unable to see through her now-watery vision, she ducked into the back of the theater.
It was a shelter from the wind, but it was also quite dark. So dark, she almost didn’t see Lynette off to her left, with her hand raised in the air. Cephea jumped back, but she soon saw Lynette wasn’t holding a weapon, but a small vial.
Lynette uncapped the vial and brought it closer to her own mouth as Cephea cried out, “Ain’t worth it, Lynette. I’ve seed cows suffer more’n any animal should from hemlock poison. It be the devil’s brew.”
Lynette’s hand trembled and paused half-way to her lips. “But I don’t want to live without him. I can’t live without him. He was everything to me.”
Before she could swallow the poison, a strong hand grabbed the bottle and handed it over to Cephea, who took it with a sigh of relief. Daniel held Lynette’s shoulder’s tightly as the trio made their way back to Daniel’s car.
Lynette was silent and emotionless as they drove her to the jail, and stayed silent and emotionless as she sat on the little wooden bench inside the cell. Apparently Andrew Hull’s late father also had one of the new phones in town installed, because Daniel was able to call Adelynn and gave her the news.
Adelynn breezed into the office still sporting those long, spidery lashes, although now it looked like her eyelids were tinged with some kind of bluish-gray powder. When she blinked, it was like curtains rising and falling. But those lashes didn’t stay black for too long, her tears making dark trickles down her face.
“I can’t believe it was Lynette, Daniel. When we were girls, we were as thick as thieves. Just like sisters. I’d never in the world imagined she could do something like this.”
Daniel patted her on the shoulder. “People grow up. They change, become someone we don’t recognize anymore.”
Cephea couldn’t stand the sight of those black rivers any longer, so she found the washroom and grabbed a little towel she handed to Adelynn. The other woman took it, but barely looked at Cephea, addressing herself to Daniel. “Now that I have all that money of Daddy’s, I can afford an attorney for Lynette.”
“She’s going to need one, all right. I’m sorry you have to deal with this on top of planning two funerals.” He hesitated. “If you need any help—”
“I’ll call. I think we’re going to be in touch a lot, Daniel. I’m so glad I can count on you.”
After letting Adelynn meet with Lynette briefly, Daniel escorted her outside. They were gone for several minutes, making Cephea wonder what exactly was being said between them. But it wasn’t any of her business. She had no claim on Daniel. And Adelynn needed a good friend right now, didn’t she?
When he finally rejoined Cephea, she touched his face briefly. “You have trouble written all over. Is it Lynette? Or something else?”
He nodded at the crystal she wore. “I saw it clear as day, Lynette poisoning Andrew. That makes twice I’ve had visions. But . . . is it me? Is it you? Is it the crystal?”
She smiled at him. “What was it your Gramma said? ‘There are more things between heaven and earth than you can dream of and that’s the Shakespeare’s truth’.”
The muscles on his face relaxed a bit, and she added, “Adelynn is a mighty pretty girl. Kinda like a white rose.” Cephea didn’t like the way Adelynn looked at Daniel, but Daniel had his own mind, and if roses were what he wanted, so be it.
Daniel nodded. “Roses are nice.” Then he smiled at her. “But roses have thorns. And I’ve always been a bit partial to wildflowers.”
Cephea’s heart beat a little faster, and try as she might, she couldn’t keep the warm flush from spreading across her cheeks. She fingered the crystal necklace again, and his eyes grew serious as he stared at it.
He said, “I’m not comfortable with that thing, whatever it is.”
“It shore helped with two crimes.”
“I think we should be careful. Not use the crystal for policing any more. It’s . . . it’s against the laws of nature. It might have bad consequences if used too often. We just don’t know.”
“Then you believe in it, in its powers?”
He folded his arms across his chest. “I don’t know what to believe. Quite frankly, I’m a bit spooked by this whole thing. Witches, warlocks, crystals, visions—it’s a bit too much for me. As you once noted, I’m a man of science, of logic. I’ve solved plenty of crimes without the need for any hocus-pocus.”
Maybe he was right, maybe not, it wasn’t her place to say. She trusted him like she’d never trusted anyone before, which made her a little skittish, too. Every time she’d trusted someone, got close to them, they disappeared from her life. But despite it all, she hadn’t, wouldn’t, lose her faith in nature and the world around her.
“I see magic every day, Daniel. The sun and moon, they rise and set. Trees and plants know when to seed and flower. Babies are born. People fall in love. Who’s to say where one magic begins and another ends?”
He gently pulled her hand away from the crystal and wrapped his large hand around her much smaller one. His touch reminded her of the time a nearby lightning strike made the air tingle and buzz like a swarm of bees trapped in a jar. She wasn’t sure which of the two scared her most, the lightning or how his touch made her feel. But one thing she did know—if a lightning bolt were to strike her down right this second, she’d die quite happy as long as she was holding hands with this wonderful, amazing man.
