Miss Enchanter - Ophelia's Story (9 page)

Then one day Adela went into the backyard and
when she came in she was carrying not only the little dog from next
door, Cooper, but a larger white cat as well.

Ophelia stared at the other cat and wondered
what she was doing there. The other cat looked bored and shut her
eyes as if to sleep. Ophelia had been bored and she did not like
the presence of another cat and the chance that this new one would
take anything away from the cushy life she was living in the house.
When Ophelia walked up to the other cat and said out loud in human
words “Who the hell are you?” She was beyond shocked when the other
cat actually answered her saying “Who the hell are YOU?”

Turned out Thelma was the other cat and when
they found out they were actually cousins, their quest began to
find their way back here to Enchanted.

Ophelia’s thoughts were interrupted when she
heard the front door open. Sebastian walked in, his arms full of
wood.

“Hi Ophelia, have a supply of wood for the
fireplace. It would not do to run out in this weather.” Sebastian
said.

“Oh, hi, thanks. Can I get you a cup of
coffee or hot chocolate or anything?” Ophelia offered.

“Thanks, but Tom and I cut the wood and so we
also took some to my sister’s house, his wife, Isabel. Isabel makes
the chocolates for Thelma’s Chocolate Shop, so I got my fill of
both hot chocolate and her freshly baked blueberry muffins.”

“Thelma still at her Chocolate Shop now?”
Ophelia asked Sebastian.

“Yeah, but the kids are pretty much tired
already from sledding, snowball fights and making snowmen, so
Catherine should be heading back soon to relieve Thelma there.
Don’t know what Thelma’s plans for after that though, I mean if she
will come back home right away or not.” Sebastian said.

“Well, as you can see, there is nothing much
going on here. I’m a bit embarrassed to still be in my pajamas. You
must think I am a real slug or something.” Ophelia said.

“Not a bit, it’s a good day for it. Well,
I’ll be going, unless there is anything I can do for you here.”

“No, thanks for bringing the wood. Tell
Catherine I said hello and maybe one day soon I will get to meet
Cody.” Ophelia told him.

“He is right there with the other kids having
a ball, a snowball.” He added, laughing.

I could tell you a few things about
Snowball.
Ophelia thought to herself, thinking of Adela again.
“Take care in all that snow, Sebastian, bye.”

When Ophelia woke up the next morning, she
noticed that the weather was much calmer outside now than when she
had gone to bed. She had made herself a sandwich for dinner after
waiting for Thelma to come back. When Thelma wasn’t back after
Ophelia had taken a good long hot bubble bath, Ophelia gave up
waiting and had gone to bed.

“Coffee, dear?” Thelma offered when Ophelia
walked into the kitchen.

“Yes please. I tried to wait up for you last
night, but I guess the hot suds from the tub relaxed me so much I
just wanted to sleep.”

“Good thing you didn’t. I didn’t get back
here until this morning. I stayed in town all day and then Luna and
I went back to her house and I spent the night there.”

“Oh. Luna was in town too? I guess I was the
only one who was too chicken to brave that snow yesterday.”

“It was a fun day. Actually, Luna, Hugo and I
are not usually here in the winter. As you know, or did I tell you
– we were actually leaving here when I somehow found myself on that
expressway and started our adventure.” Thelma said.

“I think you did, I believe you said that it
was Luna’s rather, hum, healthy, backside, that bumped you off of
your ride and then you wandered onto the I-75 Expressway.” Ophelia
said, trying to be diplomatic.

“You can say it, Luna’s big ole bubble butt!”
Thelma laughed.

“Sounds so mean though. I would never say
anything like that in front of her. I would not hurt her feelings
for the world.”

“Luna know she has a big butt. It was
actually your mother who gave her that big backside, did you know
that?” Thelma asked.

“How would that even be possible?”

“Your mother and ours were sisters, as you
know. You never had a sister, but believe me, there can be
competition and jealously and petty fights between sisters all the
time.”

“No sister, but we had that Donald kid living
in our house and although we were not related, he was raised as if
we were. So, I know what you mean, but what happened with your
mother and mine to produce such an attribute?”

“Your mother put a curse on her. She said
that our mother Ophelia’s first born daughter would have a butt as
big as the watermelon that they were fighting over. I lucked out
that Luna was born before me, or I would have gotten stuck with it.
I always wondered if your mom didn’t name you after her out of a
guilty conscious.” Thelma said.

“Well, that was just plain mean. Why didn’t
anyone ever take the curse off again? Or can that be done?”

“Your mother wasn’t around when Luna came
along and then after a while everyone just got used to it. Luna
never seemed to be bothered by it and I was very good at biting my
tongue. I never teased her, not even when I was angry.” Thelma
said. “Of course, it is fun to laugh about it every once in a
while. I supposed we have all gotten so used to it that it is a
non-issue anymore.”

“Speaking of Luna and curses and the likes,
when can the three of us get back together and be able to talk more
about the old county and coming here?” Ophelia asked, hoping that
Thelma would answer that it would be sooner rather than later.

“In due time dear, you will know everything
that we know. But for right now, how are you doing? Do you like
Enchanted as much as you always thought that you would?”

“Yes, I do. Of course, it will be nice when
the weather is better and traveling back and forth to the hill and
in the Village will be easier. I do need to get back to The Spa
before too long though, I have a lot I want to accomplish there.”
Ophelia answered her cousin as she took out the bread to make some
toast.

“I’ve always found sitting by the fire on a
cold day or evening jumpstarts my thoughts and dreams. It is nice
to be alone with your thoughts sometimes. Makes things clearer
somehow, don’t you think?” Thelma asked.

“Funny you mention that. I had time last
night to myself in front of the fire and I was able to see things
more clearly. I guess I wasted the time though, because my thoughts
were all of Mrs. Johnson and Donald.”

“Everything needs to be sorted out in your
mind in order to get a fresh perspective and for you to be able to
move on. Did your reminiscing yield any discoveries?”

“Actually, yes. I always blamed Donald for
mom and me not being able to be alone with each other and for not
being able to come back here. But now I do realize that Donald only
had his father, just like I only had my mom at the time. Neither of
us wanted to share our only parent with each other or anyone else.
I should have been kinder to Donald after he lost his father in the
war, but instead, I was meaner to him and resented him more. I feel
badly about that now.” Ophelia said, handing Thelma the plate of
toast and some jam.

“What matters is that you realize it now and
that you change your actions so they are not repeated. Looks like
you are starting to change a bit in that direction.”

“How so?”

“Only a few days ago when we first got here,
you walked into the kitchen asking me what was for breakfast and
seemed rather taken back that I had not prepared your meal for you.
Now look at you, you made yourself some toast, but also made enough
for me as well. I’d say that is progress.”

“I just wish my mother could know how sorry I
am for all the grief I gave her about John and his son Donald. I
was such a brat back then.”

To her surprise and before she could stop
herself, Ophelia started crying. “Oh Thelma, I miss my mom so
much!”

Thelma put her arms around her cousin. “We
know, Ophelia, we know.”

Ophelia felt foolish. She could not remember
ever breaking down into tears before, not even after realizing she
was stuck in the car with Adela.

“Ya think I am starting to grow more mature,
Thelma?” She asked.

“What are you now, about a hundred? I’d say
it’s about time.” Thelma answered. “I do know that Luna has several
things to attend to today, so why don’t we spend today baking. I
can show you several recipes that are relatively simple, but that
taste so good. Then tomorrow we can take them into town to the
Chocolate Shop and you can spend the rest of the day at The Spa if
you want to.”

“Sounds like a plan. Thank you, Thelma, for
everything. I know we are cousins, but I have come to look at you
as a mother figure in a way, Luna too.”

“Oh my! We are all so vastly different when
it comes to our personalities. Your mother is a total spitfire.
Sexy, adventurous, fun loving, rather demanding and always gets her
way. Not to mention she is so totally gorgeous. Luna is more the
logical, kind, loving, and everybody’s favorite Granny type. She
always knows what to do exactly when it needs to be done. I would
say that Luna has the best memory out of all of us, almost total
recall. That is one reason why I want all of us to be together when
we speak of the old country.”

“And you? How would you describe your
personality?”

“Grumpy old bitch I supposed, yes, I rather
like that description.” Thelma laughed. Now let’s get busy on these
recipes and tonight we can have some cookies for our desert after
we have our roast beef, mashed potatoes and whatever else we decide
to have.”

“I’m going to gain a ton of weight being
here! Thankfully, I now own a Spa.” Ophelia laughed as she ate the
rest of her toast.

When Ophelia woke up the next morning she
felt relaxed and happy. She looked out the big bay windows of her
bedroom to find that the strong wind had finally stopped.
Everything had a thick blanket of snow on it and the ice in the
trees sparkled in the sunlight.

She dressed and walked into the kitchen,
fully intending on making breakfast for herself and Thelma. When
she smelled the coffee and noticed a note on the pot she was
disappointed. The note was from Thelma and it said that she would
be gone most of the day and for Ophelia to not worry about her and
that she would see her tonight.

Ophelia wondered where Thelma would have gone
so early in the morning and in such deep snow. There was a fire in
the fireplace and a plate of muffins on the table. Ophelia poured
her coffee and walked to the front door. There were no wagon tracks
indicating that Thelma had gone to the Village, but then the snow
might have blown over them. She realized with a start that she
missed seeing Thelma this morning.

I thought Thelma and I were going to take
the baked goods we made yesterday to the Chocolate Shop today. Oh
well, she must have forgotten.
Ophelia drank two cups of
chocolate coffee and got dressed. She wanted to go back to The Spa
and get back to making plans for it, at least décor wise. When she
was ready to leave she went out onto the porch and rang the large
bell.

Within a minute a small sleigh appeared.
Ophelia had thought that she would recognize which miniature pony
was pulling it. Zippy, Ace, or Caramel, but she couldn’t decide
which one it was this morning. They were all so beautiful and well
trained. She climbed into the sleigh and took the reins and was
pleasantly surprised how quickly the sleigh moved through the snow.
The air was not very cold this morning and Ophelia looked around at
the woods, lake and bridge in awe.
Every time I see it, it just
becomes more magical.

They arrived at the hill and Ophelia walked
towards the Village. She could see the snowball forts that the kids
had set up the other day in back of the Recreation Center. She
walked onto Main Street where she went into the restaurant and sat
in the same booth that she and Thelma had sat in on her first visit
there. Jill walked up and said “Hi Ophelia, just you today?” And
handed her a menu.

“Hi, Jill, yes, just me this morning. I am
starving too. Thelma and I baked a lot yesterday, but we were too
tired to sample what we made and then this morning Thelma had
already left by the time I got up.”

“Well you are in luck then, because Thelma
dropped off some goodies this morning so you probably know better
than I do what we have to offer today.” Jill smiled.

“Start me off with a big orange juice, then
two eggs over easy, one of the English muffins we made and hash
browns. Oh, and of course a big mug of coffee, surprise me as to
the flavor, and for desert I would just love a piece of the
pineapple cheesecake Thelma made yesterday.”

“Coming right up.”

True to her words Jill was back in record
time with her order. Ophelia thought she would never get used to
how wonderful the food smelled in Enchanted and even better, how
wonderful it all tasted. Everything fresh and made to perfection.
Ophelia was just digging into her hash browns when a pretty young
woman stopped at her table.

“You are Ophelia, right?” She asked, holding
out her hand to shake.

Ophelia took a second to wipe her hand clean
and then shook the lady’s outstretched hand. “Yes, I am, and you
are…?”

“I am Isabel, Sebastian’s sister. I make the
chocolates for Thelma’s Chocolate Shop.”

“Oh yes, hi, Isabel, it is nice to finally
meet you. I have heard nice things about you and I just love the
chocolates you make. I have eaten way more than my fair share of
them since I got here. Would you like to join me?”

“I would, but I have more running around to
do before I meet my husband, Nick, I just saw you and thought I
would stop by and introduce myself.”