She searched the letter, her heart beating in a crescendo until he turned it over and she read her name at the top.
To my beautiful Eloise,
The sweetest written words she could imagine
Her heart quickened and her breath caught. The rain even seemed to quiet in anticipation.
"You're the one. That's it. You make me notice my own smile, which is weird, but it is what it is. My mind lights up when you're around. And not just my heart or my nerves, but my thoughts come to attention just waiting to hear yours so that I can join in, be a part of something spectacular. Because you're funny and weird and bold. You're beautiful and sexy. You make the words I've never been able to feel or say come alive."
"You," she licked her lips, a combination of rain and salty tears blooming on her tongue as she weighed the risk of this question. "You can love me? Give me your heart?"
His smile was wide and brimming with happiness. "It's already yours, Ladyhawk," he whispered then bent down and took her mouth sealing his confession with a kiss that healed one of the small roots of brokenness inside of her.
They kissed in the rain, something new blooming under their feet as small ballerina roses slowly popped up from the ground all over the field.
They ended up under the canopy of the willow tree, closing its curtain as he lay her on the soft clover ground and made promises with his mouth and hands and she answered with her own promises. House later, as the storm drifted off and she lay in the crook of his arm, her cheek pressed to his warm golden chest she pulled in a deep breath.
"I missed your smell. I smelled it in Orlando, before I even met you."
He looked down at her, running his hand through her mussed hair. "Really? What do I smell like?"
She told him and he smiled widely. "When my dad would get particularly," he paused and she nodded her understanding. "I would come out here. Camp. My mom always made sure there was a pile of hickory wood for me to burn. Small bundles of it with a tarp to keep it dry under this willow."
Her eyebrows raised. "Really?"
He nodded and tucked auburn hair behind her ear as memories glazed his eyes. "And sweet oranges were what Crystal would give me whenever she came over."
She smiled, running her fingertips over his chest. He was solid, warm, here. Her skin against his felt decadent. "Did she look exactly the same back then?"
"Exactly the same. I swear that woman hasn't aged in thirty years."
She laughed and nestled into him, the sound of chickadees calling and the crickets chirping as the sun dipped and two hearts found rest.
31. Bonfires and Peaches
"To a new start," Eloise said, as she plugged in the cafe lights lighting up the back alley in a zig-zagging of twinkle. She had transformed the back of The Black Cat into a gorgeous patio; the herringbone brick replaced in places, the tables and chairs refinished and ready to take on inclement weather. Ursula brought in all kinds of planters madeof beautifully stained wood filled with white, cream and pink flowers.
Tess painted a mural on the wall facing the back of the cafe. It was a picture of faceless women together in the coffee shop with distinguishing features: light auburn hair, a dark regal neck framed in braids, red cateye glasses, long black braids with a beanie, wild black hair. There was a woman with a short blonde bob handing a pink coffee cup to a woman with long, silver tresses. And all around the mural to frame it were the seasons. Autumn trees, winter birch with a Cooper's hawk in its branches, bursting iris and tulips with snowdrops, and a sleeping racoon under the shade of lush hydrangea bushes with butterflies and golden sunshine.
It was a new chapter in their lives. Spring was full and summer was hinting at its soon return as the days grew hotter and the hydrangeas started blooming their moppy white and blue heads.
Eloise had settled into this life in Salem as if her soul sat down and saidfinallyafter so much looking. Evenings were mostly spent on the front porch listening to crickets with books and iced tea or in the back garden underneath the canopy of the forest and the warm cafe lights with snacks and good conversation.
And every Friday night was her and Taylor on his back deck listening to the rushing river as they talked and flirted, sometimes sat silently with Lady Macbeth somewhere nearby. She still hadn't gotten used to looking up to find blue eyes watching her in that way that made her feel lovely. That could be a love language in itself; being seen.
And Lady Macbeth was busy herself as she had three new little kits. Ursula had called as Eloise was doing inventory. She'd left the clipboard shoved next to the sugar and run home to help a raccoon give birth to three babies. The dinner club they now called The Lost Souls Witches, came that night to celebrate with pie, honey wine and homemade biscuits for Lady.
Her life was not what she would have expected it to be, but it was better than she could have imagined.
Maybe there was magic in the unplanned beauty.
The town had mostly welcomed them all back with a few apologies, and more than a few sighs of relief to have Eloise back at The Black Cat. But still, there were some who would always look at them with disdain in their eyes and fear along their skin. That was the way with people. You couldn't be loved, or even accepted, by all. But to feel like they could walk down the street in welcome rather than disdain was enough for these women.
And now, all of her closest friends were opening the back of The Black Cat with her in celebration. She'd come early this morning and smiled in wonder at the sight of the front of the cafe. The sleeping vine had blossomed overnight. Pretty in Pink climbing roses were a shock of dark pink against the black brick and the sight was glorious. She'd clipped a couple and put them in a glass bowl of water, their fragrance blooming throughout the cafe.
"Eloise, it's gorgeous. People are going to fight for seats back here instead of inside," Kelsea gushed. She wrote a small piece for the local newspaper celebrating the expansion.
Shellee had blessed this without pause and then asked Eloise if she was looking to start her own cafe in town. When she told her she would never do that to Shellee, the woman laughed and said, "Then maybe you'd think about buying the Black Cat. This woman needs to retire!"
