4
Ihadto call Hank to let him know I was running behind. Judge Sinclair didn’t want to reschedule for another day. I couldn’t blame her. The faster we got this over with, the better. She held the family there while I made the drive over to River’shouse.
I didn’t elaborate much to Hank and he didn’t ask. He had no problem keeping Margo longer, so I thanked him again and hung up. I confirmed he would still be at my house at 6, and he volunteered to keep Margo until then and drive her back over withhim.
I thanked him profusely, something I seemed to be doing a lot lately, and hung up just as I pulled into River’sdriveway.
I’d met the crone a few times, mostly at the local bookshop where I spent a lot of my time. I knew she was a powerful witch. I also knew she had a shop where she made gorgeous hand-tooled leather handbags I lusted after. I could never seem to grab the one I wanted, though. She sold them faster than I could snatch them up. So it was no chore for me to go to her house, especially if she had some of her newer work ondisplay.
I got out of the car and the scent of jasmine hit me square in the face. Like most witches, River’s home had a plethora of plants surrounding it. Her home was painted a pretty, vivid purple with white posts surrounding the wraparound porch. Jasmine and Clematis wrapped up the posts and scrambled across the top of the roof. Right at the front of her gate, two large rosemary plants grew which made me smile when I remembered the conversation I had withPepper.
I knocked on the door and it clicked open. I stifled a smile and pushed through. “River?” Icalled.
Her husky voice greeted me. “Come to the back, dear. I know why you’rehere!”
Incense smoke filtered through the house and I walked through a cloud of what smelled like patchouli. Her house was full of plants, crystals and books. It made me feel relaxed andcalm.
I got a little giddy as I kept going to the back of the house and realized I was heading toward her studio. The smell of leather hit me square in the face and I gasped as my gaze caught sight of the most gorgeous bag I’d ever seen in my entirelife.
It was black supple leather in a satchel shape, accented with purple and green fringe. On the front of the bag a forest scene with a hand-tooled silver full moon. Wolves and stags sat on the ground staring up at the moon as if inworship.
I didn’t even let River greet me. “Is this for sale?” I asked, forgetting tobreathe.
River’s gaze went down to the handbag and back up to me. “It wasn’t supposed to be.” She was a slight woman with the longest, prettiest wild silver hair I’d ever seen. Her eyes were a bright, silvery blue and she never wore a stitch of makeup. She didn’t need it. River must have been pushing 70, but she didn’t look a day over 50. She was a handsome, talented woman and she knewit.
I couldn’t help the feeling of disappointment. My face fell. “Oh,” I said. “Okay.”
A smile played over her lips. “But I can make an exception for you,Helen.”
I gasped with excitement, but River held up a hand. “As long as you let me give you areading.”
My head tilted in curiosity. That didn’t seem...outlandish. “Is there any other catch?” I asked her, trying not to pounce on her offer and look tooeager.
She lifted a thin shoulder. “There’s always the risk you won’t like what it has to say.” She smiled sadly. “I’d say for this one it’s a distinctpossibility.”
My mouth twisted to the side. I really, really wanted that purse. “Well, nothing is set in stone,right?”
“Free will is always there,Helen.”
“Deal,” Isaid.
River held out a hand and led me over to a small table. A purple and silver cloth covered it. On top of the cloth rested a single white candle, a cone of incense, and a deck of well worn tarot cards. It might have been hard to believe, but I’d never had a reading before. Most of my time was spent indoors reading, outside reading, at the coffee shop reading, or visiting Pepper’s shop. I visited Hank a few times a year, but mostly during planting season. The only reason I knew about River’s purses was because Pepper mentioned them to me and I jumped online tolook.
I sat in the surprisingly comfortable chair and folded my hands in my lap. River sat down in the chair in front of me, lit the incense with a flick of her hand, and picked up the deck of cards to shufflethem.
When she was finished, she asked me to cut the deck. I touched it, concentrated, and cut the deck where it feltright.
She took the cards back, shuffled them again and began to lay the cards out. I didn’t know a thing about tarot so I watched River’s face carefully. But she was a pro. Her face was carefullyblank.
When she finished, she took a deep breath and huffed out a laugh. “There have been changes in your life over the last couple of days,yes?”
I blinked. “Yes.”
“I can see maybe a new pet? Unexpected?” She concentrated on the cards in front of her. “And a man.” River frowned and tapped another one of the cards. “Two men. Though I don’t think you’ve met the other oneyet.”
My heart sped up a little bit. Maybe the other man was theone.
“One of these men will not have your best interests at heart, though it will be very difficult to tell which one. One will steal your heart. One will steal your breath. Both might break yourheart.”
