A Witch's Curse (3 page)

“
Why not? They don’t hold any memories for you.”

“
True. Just doesn’t seem right though to discard them like yesterday’s news. They’ve more right to be here than I do.”

“
You’re such a romantic.”

* * * *

Their day’s efforts proved very productive as well as extremely tiring. The first floor gleamed from
top to bottom. To Carolyn’s great relief, they even managed to banish the harsh, lingering, hospital odor from the library. Lastly, they tackled the master bedroom so Carolyn could rest in a real bed and not on the sofa. Carolyn planned to clean the remaining rooms on the second and third floors in the evenings after work and on the weekends. She’d left Maggie alone to run the store by herself for too long already.

Carolyn stood
on the front porch, waving at her friend until the fog swallowed Maggie’s car. With one more deep breath of the brisk night air, she went back inside to lock all the doors and windows before going upstairs to lie down for a few hours. Understandably dismissing last night as a fluke, she didn’t necessarily assume she would fall asleep again tonight. Still, she needed rest, and should she sleep, and should her mystery man appear…

In
her bedroom, she found Chester curled in a tight ball on the rocking chair next to the bed, sleeping serenely. Undressed, Carolyn went into the bathroom to take a long, hot, soapy shower and tried unsuccessfully to release the sexual frustrations she had since waking. After toweling off, she put on a pair of fresh panties, an oversized t-shirt, and crawled into bed. Surrendering to her exhaustion, Carolyn fell into a deep slumber.

Fi
nding herself back on the garden path lined with the neatly trimmed hedges, she gazed into the dense fog, wondering if her anonymous lover would come to her again when powerful hands rested her on her shoulders. She shivered with an unrepressed desire as he pressed his hard erection into her backside. His rich, deep voice filled her with an overpowering craving to take him inside her.

“
You’ve come back to me, my dearest Caroline. I have waited so long for you to return to me,” he breathed in her ear.

She wanted to protest that she wasn’t Caroline, except, the words wouldn't come out. For reasons she didn't understand, this man completely captivated her. Her body blossomed to life at his briefest touch, and she didn’t dare break the spell. Least of all now, when his powerful hands roamed down her sides and raised her t-shirt over her head. Carolyn lifted her arms and struggled for breath as the soft material of her tee slid enticingly over her stiffening nipples.

She sagged against him as he reached around to
cup her breasts, toying with her sensitive nubs, making them harder and more erect. A fierce yearning grew in her belly, a longing that wouldn’t quench easily. Her core heated to the melting point then spread between her legs. His kisses burned on her ears, neck, and shoulders. Carolyn trembled as his hand moved down to cover her lace panties and rub her mound; light, long strokes at first, then harder and faster, stoking the heat inside her.

Pearls of moisture seeped through her soft inner lips from the intense emotions he ignited inside her. A decadent thrill coursed through her when he forcefully grabbed her panties and ripped them from her body. His fingers splayed her wet fold and ran his fingertips up and down, driving her to new heights of bliss.

Carolyn’s eyes widened as he removed his fingers from her
slick heat to place them in his mouth and lick her juices. “Mmm, you taste just as sweet as I remember.” Her heart pounded as his hand slid back down to her aching mound and slipped a finger inside her. She gasped as his thumb found her swollen clit, tracing gentle circles on her swelling bud.

In her mind, Carolyn believed this to be only a dream, yet somehow, one that felt oh, so real and oh, so good. She didn’t want him to stop, ever, and urgently wished he would lay her down, plunge his cock into her, and pleasure her like no man before.

A small voice in her mind nagged at her, wanting to know who this midnight caller was and why he only came to her in her dreams. Dreams she never had before
coming to this house. Chester chose that moment to jump on her stomach, hissing at nothing. His fur stood straight up on his arched back.

“
Chester! You scared the crap out of me. What is wrong with you?” she yelled. Even though highly upset, Carolyn held and stroked him in an effort to calm him along with her racing heart. Chester finally quieted, yet continued staring toward the ceiling. Slowly, he turned his head as if following an invisible bubble floating out the room. Emitting a short
meow
, he jumped off the bed and padded from the room as if nothing had ever been wrong.

“
You just wait until the next time you're having a great dream and find out what happens to you, buster.”

Carolyn checked the clock on her nightstand and determined she had slept for close to four hours. Doubting she would be able to get back to her dream, Carolyn reluctantly threw back the light blanket, discovering she was completely naked. Her tee lay crumpled on the floor next to the bed, and her torn panties were all the way across the room.

“
What the...? Did I strip in my sleep? Was I even asleep? Could the dream have not really been a dream and possibly be something else, or am I going crazy?”

Carolyn shook her head and hoped she would soon be able to puzzle out what all this meant before she went insane.

Dressed, she
walked downstairs to the kitchen to brew a pot of coffee. Chester sat on the floor, batting an old, dried leaf, as if playing with a mouse. “Where did you find that?”

Then she noticed the
housewarming gift Maggie gave her the day before, sitting on the counter. The leaves, brown and withered, lay scattered on the counter top. “This isn’t possible! Plants don’t die overnight, not when they're as healthy as this one was.”

Grudgingly writing the dead plant off to a disease she wasn’t familiar with, Carolyn dropped the remains into the wastebasket and put on the coffee. No sooner had the machine finished brewing a fresh pot, she heard a light tapping on her front door.

“
Who could be up at this hour?”

Hoping
her midnight caller had come back to finish what he started earlier, Carolyn ran to the door. Instead of finding her dream man, she looked down at a stooped, white haired, old woman holding a covered plate.

“
I’m sorry if I’m disturbing you, it’s just that I saw the light on and thought you might be up. I’m an early riser too. My name is Sarah Burns, and I live across the street. I baked this pie for you as a welcome to the neighborhood gift.”

Carolyn took the still warm plate. “That’s very kind of you, Mrs. Burns. I’ve just made some coffee, would you like to come in?”

“
Thank you, I would. You must be Ester’s granddaughter. I’m so pleased to finally meet you.”

“
Yes, I am. Are you sure that we haven’t met before? You look familiar to me, but your name doesn't ring any bells.”

“
Well, we were never formally introduced, but I do stop into your shop from time to time. You sell the best fruit in town and keep exactly the right herbs and spices I need. I made this from some apples I bought there.”

“
You are an early riser if you’ve had time to bake a pie already.”

“
Oh, I don’t sleep much, never did. Ester was the same way. Sometimes, we would talk all night and half the day.”

“
You and my Grandmother were friends?”

“
Your grandmother had many friends, my dear. She and I had been best friends for more years than I care to count. I do miss her so.”

Carolyn poured them each a cup of coffee. “Milk? Sugar?”

“
No, thank you. I take mine black.”

“
Me too. I’m afraid I don’t have anything to offer you to eat, I only moved in yesterday and wasn’t planning on doing my grocery shopping till today.”

“
Why don’t we partake in a slice of the pie then?” Sarah said with a slightly wicked smile on her lips.

“
Pie this early in the morning?”

“
Why not? I find pie is best fresh from the oven. Don’t you?”

A conspiratorial grin formed on Carolyn's mouth. “You’re right and the aroma is divine.”

While Carolyn removed two plates and a tray from a cupboard, Sarah asked, “Do you mind if we sit next to the fire in the living room? My old bones need all the warmth they can get these days.”

“
Sit anywhere you want, Mrs. Burns. I laid the logs last night. I only need to light the kindling.”

“
Don’t bother, dearie. I can light the logs for you,” Sarah said, moving into the living room.

Carolyn cut two large slices, put them on the tray with the coffee, and carried them into the living room, finding a fire roaring in the fireplace and Sarah seated comfortably, rubbing her outstretched fingers together.

“
How did you get the fire started so quickly? Lighting the kindling takes me forever.”

Sarah smiled. “I’ll show you someday. When you’re ready.”

What does she mean by ‘when
you’re ready’? I'm old enough to play with matches.
Setting the tray down, Carolyn sat on the sofa, facing Sarah. “You knew my Grandmother well?”

“
No one knew her better or longer.”

“
I never met her, I’m sorry to say. What was she like?”

“
She was a kind, gentle old soul. You would’ve liked her very much.”

“
I can’t understand why my mother told me she had died.”

“
Your mother
,” Sarah said as if the words hurt her mouth on the way out.

“
You knew my mother?”

“
From the day she was born until the day she broke your grandmother’s heart. She was always so serious. Took everything to heart, she did.”

Carolyn nodded.
“Yep, that's Mom.”

“
They fought like dogs over a bone, those two did. Ester kept hoping and praying your mother would outgrow her willfulness, only she never did.”

Carolyn took a bite of pie. “Mmm! This is the best tasting pie I’ve ever had.”

“
I’ve made a lot of pies in my time, sweetie, so I’ve had lots of practice.”

“
Practice makes perfect and this one is definitely perfect.”

“
Thank you, my dear.”

“
What was the final argument between them about? I assume there was one?”

“
Oh, yes. And what a doozie. Your mother was dating a boy who was all wrong for her. Anyone with half a brain recognized he was no good, anyone but your mother. She
loved
him,” Sarah said, rolling her eyes. “Nothing Ester said would dissuade her. One day, your mother up and ran away. Eloped with that sorry excuse for a man.”

“
My father, you mean?”
Can’t anyone say anything good about my father? Is he really the jerk everyone says?

“
Yes. Ester tried to patch things up with your mother after he abandoned you, but your mother kept sending all of Ester's letters back, unopened. Your mother never would admit when she made a mistake.”

Carolyn nodded in agreement, as she recalled the fights they'd had over the years. At times, Carolyn had felt as if she was the mother, disciplining a stubborn child.

“
Ester did tell me she received a phone call from your mother. She informed Ester the two of you were fine alone and wanted nothing to do with her. Ester’s heart broke when your mother died in that car accident, last year, and she cried for days and days. Her health never was the same afterward.”