Fiery Gemstones (A Heston Witch Novella) (4 page)

“Adam,” she said with certainty and she could feel his pleasure in the simple fact that she knew him. She felt his delight at the sound of her voice. Everything was just perfect and that was as it should be.

Esther came awake slowly, still steeped in contentment, with receding images of the beauty of paradise flickering behind her eyelids. This had been no ordinary dream. It was apparent that the closer to her fifteenth birthday that she got, the stronger her gifts were becoming. It was definitely part of her heritage as a Heston witch.  She just didn’t know if everyone got these dreams or if it was just her. She made a mental note to ask Elvira. Elvira would definitely know.  Or maybe her Aunt Edna could help.

Definitely not mum, she’ll freak out for sure.

Esther struggled with the realisation that she’d been watching the first moments when the Creator had presented Adam with his mate Eve. She knew the Hestons were direct descendants of the first mother. Family lore held that they were the offspring of the unnamed daughter of Eve who had been estranged from the family for marrying Cain. From Esther’s research that was the result of endless hours spent in the Heston private archives, she’d discovered that that her name was Edalene. Edalene had been written out of the family annals, disowned and shunned by the bereaved Eve after Abel had been killed. Her name wasn’t even noted by most ancient scholars, she was just called the wife of Cain.

Huh, looks like dysfunctional families are not exactly a modern phenomenon!
She thought
to herself as she got out of bed and padded to the bathroom

Dressed up to the nines with somewhere
unpleasant
to go to.

“
W
ell my dear, don’t you look absolutely wonderful,
”
Evie cooed.
“
I haven’t seen you all dressed up in ages. My, that lovely sea green
does bring
out the blue in your eyes
, doesn’t it?
”

Evie beamed at her daughter
with pride in her eyes
.

She works too hard. I hope this is pleasure and not business but
somehow
I doubt it.

“
So who is the lucky lad
, then?”

Wishing she was dressing up for dinner with a totally different man, she pushed thoughts of Burt out of her mind with reluctance and turned to greet Evie with a soft smile.

“
Alas
,
dear
mother
mine;
it is only
a business dinner
.
And I wouldn’t call my dinner partner a lucky lad either, though I do feel distinctly unlucky.
I have to have a sit down with that imbecile Preston Williams.
”

“
Whatever for?
”

Evie was aghast.
She was yet to meet the man but from the reports she’d heard of his behaviour since he came into
Silverline City
, that
slime
ball was not the kind of man any mother wanted her daughter socialising with.

“
It’s a long story
,
mother.
”

“
That’s what you all say. Make it short.
”

“
Ok
,
ok.
”
She turned to face the gilded mirror that
had been a present from her mum many years ago as she struggled to fix her brunette hair into a sleek chignon. Satisfied
,
she turned to put both her hands on her mother’s shoulders and looked into the caring grey eyes that she had known and loved all her life.

“
He
has been a bit persistent
and annoying with
his attentions and his
outrageous
bids to buy
Red Rock Haven
. I am simply going to mee
t with him in a congenial place
, at our expense I might add, just to make it crystal clear that neither
Red Rock Haven
, nor any of the Heston properties will ever be his.
”

“
How long has he been bothering you? Why haven’t you told me about all this?
”

“
Not that long
,
mother
. It’s just that he is starting to grate
on my nerves and I want to nip his stupidity in the bud before I lose my temper and
end up
do
ing
something that
he
will
surely
regret
for a long long time
.
”

“We
ll, you will do as you see fit.
I know and you know that I trust you implicitly, that goes without saying. But if it was just a simple dinner you wouldn’t have gotten that look on your face earlier when you were looking in the mirror.”

“And what look would that be mother?”

“The one that says ‘I’m a serious business woman and a Heston witch so everybody scram
.
’”

Edna laughed out loud.

“
If you recognised that
look it’s only because you have one just like it.”

She gave her mother
an affectionate hug.

“It is only a dinner, two adults sharing a meal and some conversation. I’ll be home to see the miscreants getting grounded for sneaking out again, I promise.”

“Ah yes, I knew the girls were up to something, I caught them plotting and planning earlier.”

Edna gave a wry grin. “I’m certainly going to lose brownie points with the girls for ratting them out but at least I didn’t blab about the spell.”

“
Spell? What spell?
”
Eden asked as she came into the room.
“
Aww,
look at you.
Don’t you clean up nice?
Seriously
though, what spell?

With
a meaningful look at Evie first to encourage her discretion, Edna
replied smoothly.
“
The
spell
that
I am most like
ly going to have to whip up to
get this yahoo out of town. But I’ll
try to
do it your way first.
”

“
Please, credit where credit is due
people
,
”
Ethos added as she joined her mother and sisters.
“
I came up with the idea.
”

“
So you did.
”
Eden responded graciously
.
“
And we all helped refine it. Now remember…”

“
I know, I know, no turning him into a tadpole to drown in my bowl of soup. No spells that would inspire the next generation to explore the heights of magical mastery that I, and I alone can demonstrate.
”
Edna
simpered shamelessly.

“Go on, get out of here,” Evie said with mock exasperation.

“Alright, alright, I’m going already.”

“Why is she going on her own again?”

“Cos it’s business and she’d got the best head for it.”

“
And because this Preston guy has been bugging her and not the rest of us,
”
Ethos
quipped.

“
Yeah about that. Why am I always the last to know anything around here?
”
Evie demanded.

“
What do you mean
,
Gramps
? Ethos a
s
ked
,
using the affectionate moniker her daughter
reserved for her
mother.
“
We tell you everything.
”

“
No
,
you don’t and let me tell you
,
I am on to you. Keeping me in the dark about stuff that concerns my girls just doesn’t cut it and I will not tolerate it.
Is
that clear?
”

“Crystal clear, Evie but you worry too much. We’re big girls now, we can handle ourselves.”

Eden added her reassurances to her sister’s a
ttempt to calm their elderly mother
.

“And we do not keep you in the dark. You know more about what happens at
Red Rock Haven
than anybody. It is no use pretending that you don’t cos you’re not fooling either of us.”

Evie smiled at both of them cheerfully but there was a hint of steel in her eyes that they both knew not to mess with.

“An
d I intend to keep it that way
for a while at least.”

Leeches sometimes walk on two legs.

T
he Happy Place was certainly living up to its name tonight. The interior was well lit and bustling with wait staff taking and delivering orders. The ambient lighting showed the pristine white table cloths and gleaming silverware to th
eir best advantage. The aromas
coming
out from behind the shiny double doors that led off to the kitchen area were enough to
whet
the appetite of the patrons.

Edna had been sitting at the table that was usually reserved for Heston family and their guests. It was a lovely table within sight of the doors but with raised wicker partitions to give a semblance of privacy. Her nieces were right about one thing, the townies loved to point and stare. She glanced at the large wall clock that was ticking away on the wall right in front of her.

The slime ball must still be oozing himself into one of his shiny suits.

He was late and didn’t even have the decency to call and say he’d be late. She knew it was deliberate but she also knew he’d be on his was as she hadn’t seen anything to the contrary since her vision of him with Burt.

She waved over one of the waiters and asked for a refill of her lemon, water and ice. She needed to be well hydrated if she was going to keep her cool. She needed her wits about her if she was going to follow through on the plan her sisters had come up with.

“I can always hope that I get to handle him my way,” she consoled herself under her breath.

“Ms Heston?”

Preston had arrived, sans his usual entourage of flunkies which was unusual. Edna thought he went everywhere with them and found herself mildly disappointed not to see Burt again. He was dressed casually in a pair of khaki coloured slacks and a pale blue shirt.
The attire made him seem a little more human but Edna knew she would never warm up to the guy. Something about him just rubbed her the wrong way, even the pompous way he called her Ms Heston.

“
Preston,
”
she said coolly, deliberately calling him by his first name.

She could tell by the look on his face that he didn’t like it and she couldn’t care less. Still, Evie had taught her some manners at least. She gestured to the seat across from her.

“Please, won’t you have a seat?”

Making no apologies for his tardiness, he picked up a menu and scanned what was on offer for the day. The Happy Place served a set menu for each day with three alternatives for each course, one of which was usually vegetarian.  He took his time ordering his dinner then laid aside his menu with an air of accomplishment
.

“Well, Ms Heston, I can’t say that your call wasn’t a pleasant surprise but what made you change your mind? Did I finally come up with the magic number?”

He looked up at Edna expectantly.

You wish,
she thought snidely. 

He sm
iled at her as if he’d heard
her thoughts and they amused him somehow.
She still co
uldn’t get a fix on his mind
and all her attempts to plant
positive suggestions in his thoughts
did not seem to be getting through. She couldn’t even influence his menu choices.
She’d tried to make him order the
salmon dish but here he was chom
ping down on his medium rare steak with relish.
Something was definitely strange about this guy.

“
Er
r
, not actually, but you certainly caught my attention.
”

“
Re
ally? I would have thought I’d done that ages
ago.
”
He leered
at her.

This cannot be
happening
,
she thought, starting to panic a little
.