The Hidden Grimoire by Karla Brandenburg (pride and prejudice read TXT) 📕

I laughed. “I asked Nora the same thing.” Most people didn’t want to know the secrets I knew, but Kyle had said he understood. Judging by his question, he wasn’t afraid of the answers. “This is relatively new to me, too. Nora says today is for honoring those who have gone before.” As I spoke, a shadow took shape beside Kyle’s chair. I gasped and jumped to my feet.

Kyle sprang to my side to shield me while he surveyed the room. “What is it?”

The specter looked like Kyle’s Aunt Polly who, a little more than three years ago, had come after me with a gun. But it couldn’t be. Polly was currently institutionalized. She and Kyle’s mother, however, were twins—Kyle’s mother who had died when he was a toddler.

I glanced at him, and then at the shadow of the woman beside him. He couldn’t see her.

“Brynn?” He took my arms and studied my face.

I took a trembling breath. “They say at Halloween the veil between life and death is thin. Nora said those who have gone before are able to make themselves known to us today.”

Gooseflesh rose on Kyle’s bare arms. He pulled away, then brushed his face with his hand. “Trick or treat?” he asked.

I shook my head.

“So now you’re telling me you see ghosts?”

How would he react to knowing his mother stood beside him? As it turned out, I didn’t have to tell him. The shadow whispered his name.

Kyle.

He screwed his eyes shut, as if unwilling to look.

The shadow held out her hands, but Kyle kept his eyes closed.

The voice echoed in my head. “Tell him love doesn’t die. Tell him I’m sorry for all he’s suffered. Tell him I’m proud of him.”

I nodded, and the shadow returned my nod.

I refilled Kyle’s wine glass, took his hand and wrapped it around the stem. He opened one eye, his expression wary.

“Nora and I did this earlier,” I told him. “I thought you might want to, too.” I tapped my glass to his. “To those who have gone before. To your mother.”

He held my gaze and took a drink.

I drew a breath to relay the message I’d been given. “Love continues beyond death. Those we love remain with us, even when we can’t see them. I know your mother would be proud of you, and even if she’d survived, I doubt she could have shielded you from the trials you’ve had to go through, but I know she would have tried.”

He relaxed. “I’m sure your parents would have done the same.” He touched his glass to mine. “To your parents.”

We both took another drink, and I ventured a glance at the shadow. She folded her hands over her heart and faded away.

Chapter 6

When Kyle’s cell phone rang its first alarm, I lay sprawled across him on the bed. I rolled onto my back and rested my forearm across my head as the second alarm sequence increased in volume. Ash arched her back at the foot of the bed and made her way toward the pillows, purring loudly. I scooped her up and cuddled her.

With the third, and louder, alarm sequence, I added my voice. “Kyle!”

He bolted upright and glanced around the room to get his bearings. He reached for his phone and turned off the alarm.

The cat jumped to the floor and walked out of the bedroom. I flapped my hands at Kyle to shoo him out of bed, too.

“Cruel,” he said, his voice rough. “It’s not even light out yet. And it’s cold.”

“And Hillendale is waiting for you to protect and serve.”

He growled and burrowed his face into my neck. “I’d rather protect and serve you.”

I giggled and hugged him.

With a heavy sigh, he pulled away. “I’ll bring home dinner tonight?”

“Sounds good.”

He threw back the sheet, giving me a front-row seat to admire his finer attributes as he headed toward the bathroom. He returned a few moments later and sat on the edge of the bed to tug his clothes on. I pulled my knees to my chest, certain I would never grow tired of this man.

He leaned over to kiss me. “See you when you open the store.” And then he was gone.

I pulled on my bathrobe and stopped in the bathroom before going downstairs. When I flipped on the light in the workroom, Ash was situated beside the window in a Sphinx-like pose, her ears twitching with whatever was happening outside.

A grimoire lay open on the worktable, waiting for me. The recipe was for arthritis. I checked the pot of turmeric growing at the end of the table, plenty to get through the winter months. With the rhizomes budding, I’d have more to plant before spring.

While I blended the recipe, the sun made its appearance. Ash sat up, still as a statue as she watched the wildlife chasing around the yard.

I put the product into a tin, picked a handful of thyme from one of the window boxes, tied it into a bundle and hung it from a hook on the ceiling to dry. When I returned to the book on the table, the page had turned. Funny how I’d become accustomed to the animated recipe books in such a short time.

Now, there was another book to worry about, one I wasn’t eager to see again. I glanced over my shoulder, wondering what secrets the hidden grimoire held and what it would call on me to do. Just thinking about the skull and crossbones sent a chill through me. Nora had said she’d only used the book a couple of times over the past twenty-some-odd years. With any luck, it would leave me alone.

And then what? Would Jason’s daughter inherit the family gift? Would the book call on her? A better question was whether I would be able to teach her what I knew. If my cousin meant to keep me from his daughter, the way my uncle had kept me from Aunt Nora, she might