“I’ll do my best. I’ll try to help your son, and whatever you were trying to warn me about, I’ll look out for it, too.”
But the tension in the air around me remained. Guessing wasn’t enough. I had to know. I had to receive the message that Thomas had come back to tell me.
I stood, my hands bunching into fists. “I’ll be back, Thomas. Try to show yourself again if you can.”
With one last look at the breathtaking views off the cliff and down across the mountains, I turned and shifted, lumbering down the trail toward my truck.
If nothing else, it was good to see my old friend. For now. And I might just be an old bear, but old bears were stubborn. I’d figure out a way to communicate with my friend. You could count on that.
Chapter Four
Emma
“Honey?” I offered, smiling at Jacqueline as I lifted the little jar.
Even though she smiled as she took the container of honey, the mood in the room was still incredibly tense as we sipped the tea I’d made while Travis dressed. I’d never really given my son permission to have a girl here, especially not without me being home. And he certainly hadn’t asked.
But I wanted to make a good impression. And I also knew deep down that Travis was an adult, and I didn’t want to treat him like a child. He was a man now, and my little man had a new girlfriend. It might be a little hard to wrap my brain around, but I wouldn’t risk alienating him by making this whole thing into a bigger deal than it was.
Besides, even if I didn’t know if the relationship was destined to be long-term, I didn’t want to get off to a bad start with the girl on the off chance she ended up being my daughter-in-law or having my grandchildren.
Whoa. Okay, that was a whole other thing. I must be really flustered to be jumping between trying to remember my son was an adult, and suddenly imagining him married with kids. I needed to take a deep breath, keep smiling, and try not to say anything too stupid.
Yeah, I could get through this one situation without putting my foot in my mouth. Right?
Ugh. I wasn’t sure. So I reached for my tea and took a big drink, hoping to buy myself some time.
“So,” Jacqueline said, a small smile twisting her lips. “Are you guys witches?”
I choked on my tea.
“What?” Deva said in a high-pitched voice.
I started coughing out the warm drink while Beth patted my back, all our gazes locked on the young woman across from us. Grabbing a napkin from the table, I patted my mouth, took a few deep breaths, then looked at my friends. This was all pretty dang new to me. Should we just treat her like she’s crazy? Confess? Jump on my old broomstick, cackle, and fly off?
Carol gave a grin that was so forced it was painful to look at. “Who, us?”
We all laughed, and there was no way Jacqueline didn’t know how tense and uncomfortable we were. But I didn’t care, my gaze kept sweeping to where my broom was in the pantry in the kitchen. I’m sure the others knew how to fuel the thing and get us out of here. Or maybe there was a spell we could hit her with? Or was bespelling your son’s new girlfriend a no-no even for witches?
Jacqueline raised her arm and showed us a tattoo on her arm. It was a very specific Wiccan symbol. More complicated and beautiful than any I’d seen before, with dark lines on the outside, and tiny lines and symbols within the symbol. Whoever had tattooed the thing was a true artist, and I wasn’t usually a fan of tattoos.
When none of us responded, she said, “I’m a witch, too.”
That was the moment Travis chose to come back into the room. He seemed to have caught the tail end of our conversation, because he chuckled. “I don’t know about Mom’s new friends, but she’s just a regular mom. No witchy stuff going on here.”
“Besides, witches don’t really exist! That’s stuff for Halloween!” I said, smiling brightly, my gaze begging the girl to drop the conversation.
“The tattoo is nice,” Deva began slowly, “but maybe you could tell us more.”
To my surprise, Jacqueline nodded as Travis took the seat next to her. “Witches run in my family line. For the most part, all the women in our family have the gift, although my brothers have a few unique abilities that would make them weaker warlocks.”
Deva and Carol exchanged a look, and then Carol asked, “what kind of witch are you?”
Jacqueline grinned. “Well, I can do a lot of things, but mostly, my specialty is music. I can play any instrument and sing nearly any song. And through my music, I can make people feel the way I want. That’s why one of my minors is music.”
I looked at my friends. She did sound an awful lot like a witch, but they’d be the ones to know for sure.
“I haven’t met a lot of music witches,” Deva said, and some of the tension in the room eased a bit.
