Spells: A Bayou Magic Novel, стр. 37
“I understand, a stór mo chroí.”
“Before I read the letter, look at this.” She pulls out a tiny pair of shoes from the box and gives me a watery smile. “Her shoes.”
“So tiny.”
She sets the footwear beside her flowers, then opens the seal on the envelope.
“I’m nervous. I don’t remember what this says.” She unfolds the paper and clears her throat.
“Dear Lucien,
With your unexpected passing, I know that it won’t be long before my life will also be finished. At least, this time around. I know I’ll see you again soon, but the unknown of how long that might be leaves me with an unyielding ache in my chest. I long to hear your voice, to feel your strong arms around me, just once more.
Our daughter has gone to live with your parents. She’s happy out on the farm with the animals and her very own puppy. They’ve promised me that they will teach her our ways and make sure she knows how very much we both love her.
I’m spending these last days in our house, committing every moment here to memory with the hopes that those memories will follow me through to the next lifetime, wherever that may be. Each life with you is precious, a mhuirnín, but this one was extra-special. I was convinced that this would be the time we would grow old together, enjoy our children and grandchildren, and live a somewhat normal life.
But that wasn’t meant to be. I know you’d tell me not to be angry. That there’s nothing we can do about the hand that fate dealt us.
But I am angry, my darling. For you’ve been torn from me once again, and I’m left here to mourn you. My only solace is the knowledge that the pain won’t last for long.
You are my heart. My beloved. And my soul being linked to yours is the greatest joy and honor.
Because my time grows near, I don’t want these few possessions to be found by anyone else. They’re private, just between the two of us. I know I’ll never be back here, in this time and place, but it’s my hope that no one finds this hiding spot until the house is one day torn down. I’ve put a spell on this attic, ensuring that it will remain as it is for no less than one hundred years.
I love you, my treasure.
Millicent
Tears fall down her cheeks as she folds the letter and lovingly returns it to the envelope. Suddenly, she gasps, and her eyes find mine.
“Lucien, did I take my own life?”
“No.” I pull her to me and kiss her cheek. “No, darlin’. Whenever one of us dies, the other does as well, not long after. A few months at most.”
“I always thought dying of a broken heart was a cliché,” she says. “But after reading this letter, I know it’s not.”
“No. It’s not.”
She hugs me tightly and then presses a kiss to my chest.
“Is there anything else in the box?” I ask.
“Actually, yes.” She wipes her cheeks and reaches in to retrieve another item. She comes back with a red pouch. She opens it and shakes the contents into her palm. “Oh my goddess.”
Two gold bands wink in the light. They’re strung on a piece of rope that’s tied in a bow.
“Our wedding bands,” she says.
“On the cord from our handfasting ceremony,” I add softly, feeling close to tears myself. What a treasure this is! I would have thought that anything we owned before, aside from this house, was long gone.
“Lucien.” She licks her lips as she tugs the bow free and untangles the rings, which look as shiny as the day I bought them in the French Quarter a century ago. My heart pounds in my chest, as I already know what she’s thinking.
I don’t need to be able to read her mind to know.
She’s a part of me. We’re two halves of a whole.
I know her as well as I know myself.
I take her hands in mine and look deeply into her beautiful brown eyes.
“Tell me.”
“We don’t need a feast and a priestess to bind our souls together. We can perform the ritual ourselves, whenever we want. It’s our choice.”
“I understand that. But I don’t want to push you, Millie. I’ve been ready for a decade, but I’m happy to wait for you to be ready, too.”
She shakes her head and makes a fist around our rings. “I’m ready.”
Chapter Sixteen
“Have you ever tasted blood? It’s warm and sticky and nice.”
--Susan Atkins
“Oh, it’s been a good day.” He grins into the face of his toy. The man cries and says something unintelligible, but that doesn’t upset him the way it usually would.
No, nothing can kill his good mood today. Everything is going so nicely now. Just the way he’s wanted it to from the very beginning. His girls know he’s nearby. They’re getting the little gifts he’s left for them.
Especially his headstrong Millicent. She’s always been a willful child, but after this punishment is over, she’ll understand that he’s doing this for her own good.
Yes, he thinks to himself, it will be wonderful.
Now that his plan is in full swing and everything is as it should be, he’s decided that now is the perfect time for him to play a little. To have an evening of enjoyment. He hasn’t taken the time to practice and relax in far too long.
He can’t let himself forget what he’s already learned.
No, that won’t do.
So, tonight is for fun.
“We’re going to have the time of our lives tonight, Lucien.” He claps his hands and turns to his toolbox, which he keeps on the opposite side of the room from the beds the toys lie on. “I think I’ll use this beauty today.”
He pulls out a hacksaw, a drill, and a cauterizer.
The toy keens