The three women spotted us and immediately made a beeline over. All three of the Hartley sisters had a striking resemblance to each other, and it was obvious that they were related, although they weren’t identical. Each of them seemed to have their own unique style. I’d met them briefly during my visit, when I’d accompanied the entire crew to their local café, Tout de Sweets, for the Halloween costume contest. They’d been dressed up as the Sanderson sisters from Hocus Pocus.
“Sage Whitaker! It’s so good to see you again!” the lady with short, dyed red hair exclaimed, her large eyes sparkling with mirth.
“It’s good to see you ladies, too. You remember my friend, Nellie Banks? She was here for Halloween.”
“Ah, yes, you had the remarkable Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde costume, didn’t you?” the sister with long white hair braided over her shoulder asked, smiling at me knowingly.
“Yes, that was me,” I admitted.
“We just loved your makeup!” the third sister exclaimed. She wore a fashionable hat over her short snow-white hair. “So creative!”
“Thank you,” I was surprised they remembered me, although I shouldn’t have been. Sage had filled me in on the Hartley triplets. They practically ran Hartwood Creek and knew everything about everyone.
“We hear Nix officially moved out of the apartment,” the one with dyed red hair remarked, fixing her all-knowing smile on Sage. “That’s wonderful, dear. Are wedding bells in the future?”
“I’m not sure about that, Betty,” Sage chuckled awkwardly. “We’re taking it one step at a time and enjoying the journey.”
“Ah yes, such a beautiful way to look at it,” the sister with longer hair sighed dreamily. “Take your time and enjoy yourselves.”
“That’s the plan, Dorothy,” Sage smiled.
“It is the twenty-first century; I suppose there’s not so much pressure in today’s society for women to marry before living with a man.” Betty said thoughtfully.
“Good thing, too. I was ever so tired of the rigid expectations placed upon women. Notice it was never the men who had to carry those expectations? I’m loving the new-age freedom women have,” Dorothy added with a twinkle in her eye.
“Although we do love a good wedding,” the sister wearing the hat remarked. “And a baby shower.”
“Alice!” both Betty and Dorothy scolded. Alice smiled happily, sending a knowing look my way.
“Are you visiting for the holidays, dear?” Alice asked me, although I could tell by her question that she already knew the answer.
“Actually, I just moved here.”
The sisters didn’t seem surprised at all by my answer.
“Yup, Nellie’s Hartwood Creek’s newest resident,” Sage chimed in, tossing her arm around my shoulders. “I convinced her to move closer. She’s taken over renting the bachelor apartment above Parker and Tabitha’s garage.”
“Well, isn’t that lovely! Welcome to Hartwood Creek, Nellie. I’m sure you’ll be very happy here.”
“Thank you. I think so, too,” I replied.
“Well, we better get back to shopping! We’ve got to meet Daphne and Nix soon for dinner.” Sage smiled.
“We won’t keep you then, dearies. We have a lot of shopping to do ourselves. Have a Merry Christmas!”
“Merry Christmas!” Sage and I said at the same time. The Hartley triplets made their way deeper into the toy shop, and we walked outside.
“Okay, was it me, or did they act like they know something?” I asked once we were on the street, a door and brick walls away from the Hartley triplets.
“Oh, they undoubtedly do. They have an uncanny ability of knowing everything, even before people know it themselves…” Sage glanced over her shoulder to make sure they weren’t behind us listening in. She linked arms with me, guiding me away from the toy shop. “They call themselves the Messengers.”
“The Messengers?” I repeated, bemused. “That sounds somewhat ominous.”
“Yup. Remember how I told you they like to meddle with townfolks’ lives, and have a tendency of trying to trick couples into drinking the infamous love elixir?”
“Oh my gosh, I remember that now. You were so panicked after your first date with Nix!”
I’d laughed at the time, but after speaking to the Hartley sisters, and seeing their knowing gazes, I was a touch uncomfortable. A shiver rolled through me, not an unpleasant one, but an intuitive one. It told me that they knew something about me. Probably a lot of somethings.
