Spells: A Bayou Magic Novel, стр. 52

“What is it?” Lucien asks.

“As you know, Lucien, I come from a long line of witches. They predate record, as far as I know. So, the craft is engrained in me. Was since the day I was born. My sister was the same, goddess rest her soul. She died because of her gifts years ago. Because we were taught to use what we were given. To use it for good.”

“That’s one of the things I admire about you,” I admit.

“Millie, you mentioned that you’re beginning to remember bits and pieces from your previous time here. Can you tell me about it?”

“Lucien and I were married and lived in New Orleans, in the home we live in now in the Garden District. He worked at the hospital. I don’t know if I worked.” I frown as I think about it. “I don’t think so. Everything I’ve seen is from after we had the baby. Sabrina.”

Miss Sophia looks at Lucien. “Is that how you remember it?”

“Of course.”

She nods. “Good. You were part of the coven, even back then. And as you know, it’s a small community. So, I’d heard your names mentioned throughout the years.”

“Your family knew ours?” I ask. “This is fascinating.”

“Oh, it’s about to get even more interesting,” Miss Sophia replies. “It’s not just that my family knew yours. It’s that—”

“That you were ours,” Lucien finishes for her.

“What?”

“Sabrina was my grandmother,” Miss Sophia says gently.

I sit back in the chair and stare at the woman I’ve come to love so deeply in the past decade. All this time, I was working with my great-granddaughter?

“I—”

“It’s okay,” Miss Sophia says and covers my hand with hers. She reaches for Lucien’s hand, as well. “I know this is surprising and confusing.

“Lucien, Gwyneth and Aiden, your parents, and their parents before them, have also been a part of the coven for as long as I can remember, and for as long as we have records.”

“How could they have known when I was born, who I am?” he asks.

“They didn’t,” she says. “They loved the name Lucien and gave it to you. And then you began to grow, and the things you knew…well, let’s just say that’s not a coincidence. And then I met Millie as a young girl, and I knew what was happening. Millie, when you came to me as a teenager, so eager to learn, I was very happy because I knew then that destiny had been set into motion. No one thought you’d return so soon. But your bond was—is—incredibly strong. Your love, unshakable. When Lucien died, Millicent was distraught, just a shell of who she once was. And Lucien’s family was happy to take Sabrina, to raise her in the coven and teach her. To ensure that she knew how much her parents cherished her.”

“That’s what I said in the letter,” I whisper.

“There’s a letter?” Miss Sophia asks.

I nod and reach for my bag. “I’ve been carrying it with me. I know I shouldn’t, in case it gets ruined, but I just haven’t been able to put it away.”

I pass her the old paper, and Lucien and I watch as she reads it.

Miss Sophia is our grandchild.

I grasp onto his hand at the sound of his words in my head. This is incredible.

“Well,” she says as she tenderly folds the letter. “Isn’t that lovely?”

“We also have the handfasting cord from then, and are wearing the original wedding bands.”

Her eyes fill with tears. “What a gift.”

“I have Sabrina’s baby shoes at home,” I inform her. “And you’re welcome to see them. But, Miss Sophia, can you tell us about her? When I realized I’d been here before, and that I’d had children in other lifetimes, I didn’t really stop to wonder what’d happened to those children. Until Sabrina.”

“It would make sense,” she says. “You’re living in the house that she was born in. And you’re living in a time not far from the one in which you lived with her. In the grand scheme of things, it’s as if it happened last week.”

“Yes.” I nod and wipe a tear from my cheek. “That’s how it feels.”

“She was a wonderful woman,” Miss Sophia adds. “I was very close to her. She was funny and happy. Much like you, Millie.”

I press my hand to my mouth and let the tears fall.

“She was the most talented witch I’ve ever known, even to this day. She just knew. She always had the answers.”

I smile up at Lucien. “You just said that about your own great-grandmother this morning.”

Miss Sophia’s eyes sharpen. “Which one?”

“Well, it would have been Sabrina’s great-great-grandmother.”

“Esther?” Miss Sophia asks.

“That’s right.”

“Oh, I’d heard stories,” she says with a small laugh. “To talk about people long dead with you is so refreshing. It’s as if they’re still here. Nanna, that’s what I called Sabrina, often spoke of Esther’s grimoire and wondered where it was.”

Lucien and I exchange a look of surprise, and then he reaches into his briefcase and pulls the book out, setting it on the table as he smiles.

“I found it just this morning.”

Miss Sophia gasps in shock and covers her mouth with her hands. “You’re kidding.”

I reach over and open the front cover. “It’s two hundred years old.”

“Oh my goddess,” she whispers, lovingly running her hands over it. “This is my four-times-great-grandmother’s grimoire.”

“I suddenly feel really old,” I say with a laugh.

“You’re not,” she replies. “You’re a thirty-year-old woman. Our DNA won’t match. Nothing links us biologically. It’s all spiritual.”

“It’s fascinating,” Lucien adds. “I can tell you that I don’t think anything like this has happened in any of my other lifetimes.”

“That doesn’t surprise me,” she says. “Your Power has grown stronger as time passed. Your link to each other became more powerful. From what I was told, your death was sudden and had nothing to do with Horace, but that evil was escalating, and you feared that he’d get to Millie. You needn’t worry, because he did not.”

“Thank the goddess,” Lucien whispers.

“And now,