It’s A Plunderful Life Read online

  My mouth curved into a smile, and I glanced from my mother, who was watching me earnestly, to Toni, who had to be in on the joke. But, no. Toni stood very still, her face totally unreadable. “Mom…” I said. “What are you talking about?”

  She leaned in close. When she spoke, her voice was barely a whisper. “Magic.”

  I nearly choked on the saltwater taffy I’d just stuck in my mouth.

  “The Enchanted Forest is so popular with our guests because there is real magic here,” she insisted. “And the women in our family are the protectors of that magic. We have been for generations. It’s inside us, and outside of us, and all around us.” She held out her arms to encompass the whole of that very bland bedroom.

  “I don’t…What does any of that mean?”

  “When you went into that cottage today, were you frustrated? Tired? On edge?”

  “That’s a bit of an understatement, but yes.”

  “Of course you were. And those strong emotions, when met with a strong enough stimulus, create a magical spark, so to speak. I checked that bathroom after I got you buckled into Mother Goose. You’ve never cleaned a bathroom like that with just elbow grease. You did it with magic.”

  I fiddled with the lollipop stick, spinning the lollipop slowly in its vase. Obviously, Kurt was suffering from dementia, but whatever was going on with my mother wasn’t so obvious. It made me sick to think about it, but I was going to have to start looking into some sort of assistance for her.

  I really, really hoped I wasn’t going to have to put her into a nursing home. She was absolutely fine physically. But mentally…

  Coocoo for cocoa puffs.

  “Sure, Mom,” I said, being careful to keep my voice neutral. I tried to meet Toni’s gaze—while she might be mad at me, surely she would help me get my mom the appropriate help—but she wouldn’t meet my eyes. “I cleaned the bathroom with my special magic powers. Very useful. Cool.”

  She folded her hands in her lap. “You don’t believe me, and that’s okay. When you met Brad, you so desperately wanted to be normal. We talked then, and decided the best course of action was a memory wipe. Neither of us ever expected you to come back. I wasn’t sure the magic had survived that, to be honest. It’s been so many years…”

  I tried to picture that conversation. “Hey, Mom, could you take away my magic powers so I can marry this guy with an accounting degree and move to Louisville?” I coughed into my hand to cover up a laugh.

  “You need some proof,” my mother said quietly. She reached over and grabbed a handful of sour cherry hard candies. Placing one in her mouth, she set another in the palm of her hand. The hard, shiny surface of the candy reflected my face back at me, perfectly clear, like a very tiny red mirror. And then, as we sat there watching it, the little ball of candy burst into flame.

  I jerked back, but my mother sat there calmly, the candy burning on her palm. Unable to stop myself, I reached out, my hand moving closer to the burning red orb. Although the flame crackled, with blue at its base and little tongues of golden-yellow flickers, it gave off no heat. I met my mother’s gaze, and she nodded. Taking the candy from her, I held it between my fingers, my skin bathed in fire. As I watched, the flames suddenly disappeared, and the candy turned to a perfect orb of water, clear and blue. There was nothing holding the water together—it just was.

  “Go ahead,” my mother said. “Put it in your mouth.”

  I hesitated, but finally lifted it to my lips and gingerly set it just inside my mouth.

  It was sour cherry hard candy. Pulling it out of my mouth, I saw that it was back to normal. Just a plain piece of candy, my face once again looking at me from its reflective surface.

  Toni looked away.

  My mother sighed, her face looking more tired than it had before. She popped another piece of candy into her mouth. “Magic takes a lot out of you, especially when you’re doing silly tricks like that. It’s easier when your magic is fueled by high emotions.” She looked at my face, which I assume still looked like I’d been on the losing end of a fight with an outraged opossum. “Usually, I mean.”

  I put the piece of cherry candy down on a napkin on my tray. Sure, it tasted fine, but a minute ago it had been a cold fire and then a ball of astronaut water. I wasn’t eating that. “Are you telling me that you can do magic tricks?”

  “Not tricks, baby. Real magic. And so can you. But you see what it takes out of you.”

  I sure did. Despite all the sugar I was ingesting, I still felt pretty awful. “Wait—was that how you were cleaning the cottages?”

  She nodded. “Yes. I was hoping that if you got frustrated enough that it would jump-start your magic.” She chuckled. “You always did hate to lose.”

  So she hadn’t morphed into some superhuman cleaning machine. That was comforting, at least. “And the candy bars?”

  “As I said, it’s exhausting to use magic. I wouldn’t normally use magic to clean—that’s not what it’s for. But I figured I could make an exception if it meant helping you find your way back home.”

  And by home, she meant magic.

  I sat up a little more. “So, do I get a wand or something?”

  She laughed. “Don’t be silly. We don’t use wands.”

  Oh, yes. Because wands would be ridiculous. “But then how do—”

  “We can talk about it more when you’re feeling better. For now, you need your rest.”

  She started to get up, but I was still struggling to comprehend everything. “You wiped my memory?”

  “I had to, baby girl. You would have been miserable trying to lead a normal life if I hadn’t.”

  It struck me as a very poor trade—an ordinary life with a man who would ultimately give me up instead of…whatever this was. “Mom,” I whispered. “I gave up all of this…for Brad?”

  She reached out and took my hand in hers. “Oh, baby. Don’t think of it that way. A woman raising a child, loving her family, building a life, making a home—that’s magic, too.” From the doorway, Toni sucked in a breath, and my mother turned, extending her other hand to my stepsister. I expected Toni to refuse it, but instead she slowly moved forward, reaching out to grasp my mother’s hand. “And a woman who chooses not to marry, not to have children, but instead to dedicate her life to doing the things she loves, that’s also magic. A woman living her best life—that’s always magic, and doing it puts its own special kind of magic back into the world.”

  Toni nodded, her pale eyes more watery than usual. A wave of exhaustion washed over me, and I pulled my hand away. “I’m still tired.”

  My mother patted my hand and laughed. “Oh, I imagine you are, baby girl. You’re going to feel rough for a day or two, but you’ll be okay soon enough.”

  She stood, putting an arm around Toni’s shoulder and pulling her close. My stepsister leaned against her, her eyes closing for a moment. Then my mother looked down at me. “Eat your candy, then get some rest. You’ve had quite a day.”

  She and Toni walked out, their voices drifting down the hall, the stairs, and then fading away. I nibbled on another piece of fudge, the magic of the Enchanted Forest settling over me as the sun’s rays disappeared beyond the horizon.

  6

  I woke to rain. The patter of droplets against my window was soothing.

  The splash of rain on my face was less so.

  I sat up, wiping the water from my cheeks and staring up at the ceiling, where water pooled along some unseen crack and then, after a tantalizing moment, fell onto my pillow.

  Perfect. My ceiling was leaking.

  I dragged on some yoga pants and a T-shirt, then checked the time. It was after nine, which meant my mother had let me sleep in. I suppose almost dying after cleaning a bathroom had some benefits.

  “Mom,” I called as I made my way downstairs. I found her in the kitchen, sitting with Kurt at the table and helping him with a crossword puzzle.

  “Nine down,” he read. “Eagle’s crib.”

  “That’s a to
ugh one,” she said, rubbing his back. “What do you think?”

  He lifted his eyes to look at her, then brushed a finger over her hair. “I’m happy you’re here.”

  She smiled, but I could see the tears forming in her eyes. “I’m happy to be with you, too, darling.” Then she saw me and quickly blinked away the tears. “Feeling better, baby girl?”

  I didn’t want to bring a problem to her, especially not when she was having a moment with Kurt, but it was her house and she would definitely want to know. “Sorry, but there’s a leak in my room.”

  “Oh, dear.” She dropped a quick kiss on Kurt’s cheek, then stood. “I’ll call Wilder.”

  I looked down at my outfit, doing a quick calculation to figure out when the last time I’d showered was. “Sure. Sounds good. But, um, maybe tell him there’s no rush, okay?” And I hurried back up the stairs, locking myself in the bathroom so I could pull myself into some semblance of a reasonable, rational human with basic hygiene.

  Sure, he wasn’t exactly a genius, but that didn’t mean I had lost every shred of vanity.

  It took twenty minutes to shower and fix my hair, which had decided the South Carolina humidity was a perfect excuse to take up five times the space it once had. I put on a quick coat of mascara, then slicked on a bit of lip gloss.

  I wanted to look decent, but I also didn’t want to look like I was trying too hard.

  Which I wasn’t.

  I stepped out of the bathroom, smoothing down a crisp linen jacket over a black tank top and jeans. I still looked a bit worn from the—we’ll call it an incident—the day before, but otherwise my appearance wasn’t half bad.

  Look, at forty-nine, I was generally pretty pleased with not half bad.

  Wilder was downstairs when I walked down, and my mother looked at me, her smile telling me I was perhaps a bit on the better side of not half bad. “Oh, there you are, Cass. Want to take Wilder up and show him the problem?”

  “Sure.” As if Wilder was unable to follow directions as simple as, “There’s a leak in the guest room.” But I appreciated my mother’s meddling. It would do me some good to spend time with a man again.

  Wilder gripped his toolbox and followed me up the stairs. “Must be nice to be back home,” he said.

  Sure. It was awesome. My life had fallen apart, I was living with my mom again, and, oh right, I had some special magic powers that made me feel terrible if I actually used them. But I simply said, “It is.”

  I showed him the guest room. He set the toolbox down, hands on his hips. He looked good in jeans, his hips still narrow, his stomach still flat enough that nothing lapped over his belt. “Welp,” he said finally. “There’s a leak.”

  Sharp as a tack, that one. “Yes, I gathered that. What can you do about it?”

  He studied the water dripping from the ceiling for a moment more, then nodded. “Hold on.” Then he very carefully moved the trash can from beside the door to my bed, shifting the pillow so the can sat beneath the leak. “There you go.”

  “That’s it?”

  He grinned, and I realized he was teasing me. Good to know he wasn’t a total idiot, although that just made those good looks of his all the more dangerous. “No, of course that’s not it. I can get up on the roof and take a look, but I’m not a roofer. I’d feel better having a professional check it out. Unless, that is, you think your mom would be cool with having a bunch of duct tape covering up wherever the water is coming in?”

  “I don’t think that’s what she had in mind, no.”

  “Then I’ll call Jacob. He does good work.” He started to slide his cell phone out of his pocket. “The thing is, though, that he books up pretty far in advance.”

  That didn’t sound promising. “What are you saying?”

  “It might be a few weeks before he can get out here. I’d call someone else, but I don’t like to mess around with roofs. Do you have somewhere else you can stay for a bit?”

  Oh, sure. I was just overflowing with accommodation options. That’s why I was living at home again.

  “I’ll figure it out.”

  In the end, it was my mother who solved the problem.

  “You’ll just have to move in with Toni for a little while,” she announced at dinner after I’d laid out the situation.

  “Oh, I don’t think—” I started to say.

  “Absolutely not,” Toni snapped.

  “It’s the perfect solution,” my mother said. “Toni has two beds, and the room’s plenty big enough for the both of you.”

  I doubted that. I could practically hear Toni hissing, “This room’s not big enough for the both of us,” like her room was an Old West saloon and I was the unwanted new sheriff in town.

  Also, “You’d better sleep with one eye open.”

  No, thank you.

  “Mom, maybe I should just look into getting a hotel.”

  “I think that’s a very good idea,” Toni said, stabbing a piece of salmon with her fork using more force than necessary.

  “Nonsense,” my mother said. “You actually used to sleep in the same room all the time when you were younger. Remember? You said you wanted to share a room even though we had two.”

  Toni blinked at her. “Evelyn, we did that one time.”

  “And you had so much fun together.”

  I swiped my napkin across my lips, thinking hard. “Didn’t we set fire to the floor of my closet that night?”

  There was a flicker of something in Toni’s eyes. “That’s right. We did.” She turned to face my mother. “And it was definitely fun.”

  If my mother heard the implied threat, she didn’t acknowledge it. “Well, I’m sure you girls can avoid starting any fires now that you’re, you know, middle-aged women.”

  “Who are you calling middle aged?” Toni muttered. But she had given up resisting my mother, and I knew I would be moving in with my stepsister that night. Did I want to sleep in the same room with someone who hated me? No, I definitely did not. But even so, I couldn’t tamp down the little spark of joy at the thought of sleeping in my old room again.

  Later, I carried my overnight bag down to what was now Toni’s room. Pushing the door open, I caught my breath. I was home. Really and truly home.

  Sure, Toni had changed it almost entirely. Gone were the homey patchwork quilts that had been on the twin beds for as long as I could remember. In their place were cheery yellow coverlets flecked all over with sprays of pink rosebuds. The desk against the near wall had at some point been painted cream, and there was a stack of books propped up to one side. Between the beds was a single nightstand, a small potted plant the only thing on its surface.

  But it still had the sloped ceiling and wide plank floors I remembered. And as I moved to the window, my heart constricted. There was the castle, just as I remembered it. Its exterior would glow silver in the moonlight, I knew, and the scent of honeysuckle would waft in when we opened the window.

  I noticed some plaques hanging over the desk and moved closer to check them out. They were awards from the South Carolina Carnivorous Plant Growers Association, which was not a thing I had known existed until just that moment. All I could picture was a group of carnivorous plant enthusiasts trotting their prize pitcher plants around like Miniature Pinschers at a dog show, and I bit down on my lower lip firmly to suppress a grin.

  “Making yourself right at home, huh?”

  Toni stood in the doorway, her pale eyes fierce.

  “Lot of awards here,” I said, gesturing to the wall. Maybe if I asked her about her interests, we could have a decent conversation. “You must be very skilled at…” I glanced at the plaques for help, but none of them clarified what the awards were actually for. Breeding them? Raising them? Feeding them the shredded souls of divorced older sisters?

  But Toni slipped by me, positioning herself between me and the wall, effectively shutting down that conversation.

  I sighed. She could resent my presence here as much as she wanted, but it was my mother’s h
ouse and her word was final. “Which bed is yours?” I asked.

  She clomped across the room. Sitting down on the bed on the right, she said, “They’re both mine. But if you’re asking where I sleep, it’s here.” She crossed one leg over the other and leaned back against the wall, the top of her head brushing the sloped ceiling.

  I nodded and set my bag on the bed to the left. This had been where I’d slept when I was growing up, and it was the one I would have chosen had she given me the choice. I wondered if she remembered, although it seemed likely that if she had, she would have taken my old bed just to spite me.

  “You can fool Evelyn all you want, but I know what you did.”

  I pulled out my pajamas. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said.

  “I know you made that leak on purpose.”

  I whirled around, shocked. “You think I created that leak? How? Think I stayed up late poking holes in the ceiling with…what? The pencil I have in my purse?”

  “No.” She leaned forward, her eyes very serious. “With your magic.”

  Ah, yes. “Right,” I said, turning back to my bag. “I was so desperate to spend more time with you and all your copious charm that I sabotaged my own room so I’d have to move in here. Not only that, but I did it with magic, which, as you know, would probably have killed me given how cleaning the bathroom went.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her stretch out on her bed. “Whatever. I know you did it. You can’t stand the thought of me getting the good room.”

  “That’s right,” I said evenly. “It was really burning me up inside.”

  The heat had left her voice when she spoke again. “Don’t touch Agnes.”

  I glanced at her. “Who’s Agnes?”

  She waved a hand at the plant on the nightstand. “My crocodile fern.”

  I wasn’t sure exactly what she thought I might do to her plant, but this was an easy promise I could keep. “Fine. I won’t touch it.”

  “Her.”