Witch Clan: Matriarchs, John Stormm [great reads txt] 📗

dry cleaners, and she said it would be fine if I came over today to take her to the matinee.

Emma stared, struck dumb. Clearly, she was smitten by the charm of this visitor. It was Ella Mae who gathered her wits and spoke first.

“We’ve been expecting a gentleman caller since midsummer. Would you know this man?”

“Indeed, I would,” Lee smiled at the women as he looked up to meet their eyes, “I would be the man you were expecting.” With this, a flash of light arced in his eyes and the distant rumble of thunder punctuated his sentence.

“Is that rain, I hear?” Startled out of gawking at the stranger, Emma looked around. “And it looked as if it was going to be such a lovely day. Do be careful not to get caught in it.”

“I promise to have your daughter in the theater before a single drop of rain can touch her lovely hair.” Lee smiled broadly, as Lorry was coming through the front door.

“What’s this about rain?” Lorry asked, stepping onto the porch.

“We thought we heard a little thunder in the distance, dear,” Ella Mae said. “Nothing to worry yourself about. You and Lee have a fine afternoon.”

“I take it you’ve met then,” Lorry said.

“We’ve met your fine young man.” She smiled at her granddaughter. “Now you two get along now. Your mother and I have plenty to occupy our time.”

“We’re going to see that new James Dean movie,” Lorry said as she kissed her mother and grandmother on their cheeks. “I’ll tell you all about it when I get home. I just gave Daddy his insulin. I should be home before he needs another injection.” She and Lee rushed off hand in hand.

“Is it Jimmie Dean or James Dean?” Emma sighed watching the pair leave.

“It’s both, and it’s neither.” Ella Mae chortled at her daughter’s puzzled frown. “Jimmie is a singer. James is an actor, and Lee is dating our Lorry,” to which she and Emma broke out laughing themselves to tears.

Lorry saw Lee steadily for the next several weeks, so much so, that Emma and Ella Mae had taken to administering Edward’s insulin shots more and more in Lorry’s absence. This was taken as a good sign by all, including Lorry’s father, who said it was fair time that Lorry should have her own life to live as a wife and mother. It was apparent that Lorry was very much in love with Lee.

Summer turned to fall. It was an Indian Summer and still quite balmy in October. Lee had bought himself a new Harley-Davidson like the one they had seen in the James Dean movie. Lee and Lorry would go on day trips on his bike almost every weekend. One night Ella Mae awoke to a thundering roar as the bike pulled up to the house. She peered through the curtains as Lorry got off and ran into the house crying. She pulled on her robe and went downstairs to see what was wrong. Her granddaughter was sobbing in the dark.
“Are you alright, dear?” she asked softly. “Can Grandma be of any help?”

“No.” Lorry pulled away. “I’m fine. I’ll be okay.”

“No, dear,” she whispered. “You are not fine. You are crying. Let me help.”

“Oh, it’s nothing, Grandma,” Lorry sobbed. “I made a darned fool of myself and fell down some stairs.”

“Here.” She pulled out her basket from besides the window seat and lit the kerosene lamp in the parlor to examine Lorry. “Let me have a look at you, and we’ll see if Grandma can fix you right up.”

There were several nasty bruises. The first was a darkening weal on Lorry’s cheekbone. She wet a towel in the kitchen and dabbed it liberally with oil of lavender as a cold compress for her granddaughter’s cheek. For the ribs and arms, she smeared on an ointment made of arnica. It was obvious that the bruises encircling Lorry’s arm did not come by falling down any stairs.

“Did Lee hurt you, Lorry?” she asked pointedly.

“No, Grandma,” Lorry answered. “Don’t be silly. Lee would never hurt me.”

“I just wanted to be sure,” Ella Mae replied, believing none of it. “It’s just that some of these bruises are pretty bad. I’ve a bottle of rosemary you can rub on that facial bruise tomorrow. It will help it fade faster. I can make more, so you can use it all up. Okay?”
“Thank you, Grandma,” Lorry said, gratitude shining in her eyes. “I’ll be okay. Lee’s taking me to the Halloween ball next week. I’ll need to look my best. I’m going as a black cat, a witch’s familiar.”
Ella Mae winced at the reference, and they both laughed.

* * *

“I have a very bad feeling about this one,” Ella Mae remarked to Emma that day.

“What could go wrong?” Emma asked. “They’re both madly in love.”

“Perhaps, madly is the problem,” she replied. “I believe Lee may have hurt Lorry. Madly in love, or not, we’ll need a spell to keep his darker nature in check.”

“I think you’re making too much of nothing,” Emma retorted, clearly taken in by Lee. “But a good spell never hurt anything,” she added.

What exactly could a good spell hurt? Ella Mae tamped down her feeling of guilt. As it was, Robert had returned home from a lengthy tribal council and it was time she returned home with him.

* * *

It was good to be home and tend her own garden. She caught up on all the news with Robert, and spent some time working on her spell craft. The dark fae could not tolerate silver. It was like poison to them. Still, dark or light, life was about choices. All people had an affinity for one choice or another, but it was always their own choices that made them who and what they were.
“Something I had never considered,” she scolded herself, “was having a fae male in the clannad. I think we’ll need an appropriately masculine, silver clan medallion for our newest member. Tradition will compel him to wear it, and he’ll have to make better choices or suffer the effects.” It was the perfect idea. She had some money stashed in a jar in her cupboard and took it to the jeweler’s.

“I’d like to commission a masculine version of this silver cross as a gift for my new grandson-in-law,” she said as she handed the jeweler her own on its chain, “and I’d like it on a slightly thicker silver chain.” The pendant was a Celtic cross with a tiny emerald centered at the crosspiece, and crafted with Celtic knot work round about.

“With all the Irish in the neighborhood, I’ve seen my fair share of these,” the manager said. “I can have this made for you in a few weeks. The silver chains I have already in stock. Take your pick.” He motioned to the display case.

“Here’s three hundred dollars cash in advance.” Ella Mae pushed the money at him.

“A silver pendant won’t cost nearly so much as this, madam.” The jeweler’s eyes widened.

“If you would be so kind as to make this effort your priority,” she explained, “I have no idea how soon I may have to present this gift.”

“Oh,…OH!” the jeweler said, catching the hint. “I’ll get to it, right now. Check in with me in a few days.”

“Thank you, ever so much.” she said, putting the money in his hand.

* * *

It was Halloween, and Ella Mae took the trolley across town to visit her daughter.

“I have the charm being made this very moment,” she told Emma excitedly. “As a clan member, he’ll have to wear it, or risk casting aspersions on our family honor. He’ll also have to curb his baser nature, or it will give him no end of discomfort.”

“I knew you’d come up with something, Mom,” Emma replied proudly. “But, if they have a child, won’t she get her nature from her father?”

“I’ve already considered that and I have just the spell for that too,” Ella Mae beamed. “I’ve a copy for you on this vellum. Put it in a safe place until you need it. I never know how long your father and I may be around to help or not. You may be the one to train this next adept in the craft. We have to be careful how we handle things. It‘s always a dangerous thing. to offend the Sidhe.”

Emma tucked the folded vellum away in her sewing basket, seemingly missing the hint that she might not be around to guide the women’s circle. The sound of distant thunder rumbled louder as Lee’s motorcycle was pulling up to the house. Ella Mae went out to the street to speak to him as he waited for Lorry.
“Lee, you will be a welcome addition to our clan. You know this,” she said. “But my family is precious to me, and you must see to it that you do none of them any hurt. Do you understand me, son?” She stared straight into his eyes. “Neervallat. You hear me!

“I hear you, old woman,” Lee rumbled, eyes flashing as he revved the mighty engine and called, “LORRY!”

Lorry