“Uhhh,” Isaid.
River held up a hand to silence me. “You will undergo drastic changes over the next several months. A new way of life will open to you. Your magic…” Riverpaused.
“River?”
Her lips pressed together. “Your magic will...change.” She shook her head. “I can’t figure out what that means.” She motioned for my hands. I put them on top of the table. River took them in her warm hands and opened my right palm. She traced one of the larger lines on my palm. “You will have a crossroads soon. You will be forced to make a choice. About what is not clear at thistime.”
River let go of my hand and refocused on the cards. “And there will be someone else, a person who wishes you harm. But they will not act in a direct way.” River sighed. “You must be so very careful and choose who you spend your time with wisely. Midnight Cove is changing, Helen Reaper. You must beready.”
I sat back in my chair stunned. “Gosh, River. That wasn’t intense atall.”
She smiled at me, her bright white teeth glinting in the lower light. This area of the room was darker than the others. The magic here was deeper somehow. “I could sense the changes coming to you in your aura. It made me want to dig deeper. Helen, be careful. You have much joy ahead of you, but it will not come without a price.” River stood and went back over to her work table. She picked up the purse. “It isn’t quite ready yet. If you give me a week, I can make sure it’s ready to go. There were some final touches I needed to make toit.”
I stroked my hand over the supple leather. “Are you sure you don’t want me to pay forit?”
River shook her head. “Your payment was your reading. My kind of magic needs to come out. If it doesn’t it will cause major issues with my health. But approaching someone like I approached you freaks peopleout.”
“I’m a necromancer. There isn’t much that weirds meout.”
River laughed. “And I am glad for it. I also know you’re here for anotherreason.”
I’d forgotten all about thewill!
She reached over, rummaged through her purse and pulled out a manila envelope. “Martin’s will.” River handed it over. “I haven’t readit.”
One of my eyebrows quirked up. “Seriously?” My lips twitched. “I suspect you may be in for asurprise.”
“That’s part of the reason. I don’t want anything to do with those heathens he callsfamily.”
I grinned at her then and told her I’d just left the courthouse. When I told her I’d raised Martin so the will I was holding would be the final, tears shone in River’seyes.
“So whatever this will says, it’sfinal.”
“Wow,” she said. “You have an unparalleled talent, Helen. Imagine how many people you’ve helped and how many families you’ve stopped from taking advantage of theirrelatives.”
I reached out and gave River a hug. “Thank you. I’ll be back exactly seven days now for thatpurse.”
She laughed and gave me a squeeze. “I look forward toit.”
I gave her a wave and headed back to the car with the envelope inhand.
Judge Sinclair gaveme a grateful look once she opened the door to let me into her office. I handed over the new will and watched as the judge opened it. Her only reaction was a slight quirk of hereyebrow.
The Klink family was fidgeting likecrazy.
“What is that?” Mrs. Klink kept asking, but Judge Sinclair ignored her until she was ready tospeak.
“Martin Klink has bequeathed his entire estate to one River Romanov, except for a single horse kept on the property of his farmhouse. He has bequeathed that to his two children with a note that says only, ‘Goodluck.’”
I pressed my lips together to keep from grinning. What a ridiculous day this hadbeen.
“What?” said his widow. “That can’t betrue.”
“Based upon the evidence Mr. Klink gave today, this will is the most recent and true copy. This willstands.”
His children wore mutinous looks. “I do not want that horse,” his sonhissed.
“Neither do I,” his sistermuttered.
