Page 9 of One More Time

Her insight along with the sharpness of her voice stilled his tongue for a few tortured breaths. ‘I’m afraid so.’ A stab of dread pierced his stomach.

She sat back and sighed. ‘I have to tell you, it’s in more ways than one.’

Charlie sat further still. ‘I’m sorry, but I don’t understand what you mean?’

‘You don’t need to worry yourself with such things right now.’ She tilted her head to the side. ‘She has many secrets, this woman, ones she will take with her into another life, to protect those she loves.’

‘That sounds like our darling Grace.’ Clasping his hands upon the table, Charlie squeezed his eyes shut. He wasn’t going to cry, not here, not now. ‘I would give anything to see her live.’

Sitting forward, the fortune teller brought her hand over his. ‘Do you really mean that?’ Her tone had softened, but her touch was strong.

Charlie’s eyes opened now, wide and hopeful. ‘Yes, of course I do.’

‘Hmm. Well, beware of what you reply to my next question.’ She drew in a breath, watching him like a hawk. ‘Would you give up your own life, to save hers?’

Charlie didn’t hesitate. ‘Absolutely.’

‘I see.’ The woman rose with the aid of her walking stick, slowly unbending her body, then shuffled to a little side table. Collecting a notebook and pen, she moved back, sat, then pushed it toward him. ‘Would you write it down, in your own words, what you just agreed to?’

‘Yes, of course.’ Charlie clicked the pen, and then wrote:

I, Charlie Wilson, will give my life for the love of my life, Grace Burrows.

Closing the notebook, he placed the pen on top and, while wishing Grace carried his last name instead of Rodger’s, slid both back to the fortune teller.

Charlie released his held breath with a whoosh. ‘Now what?’

She raised both hands. ‘You allow it to be done.’

Although wrapped up in the magic, Charlie felt himself coming back to reality, along with his cynicism. ‘Just like that?’

She nodded. ‘Just like that.’

‘Right then.’ For the first time since sitting opposite her, he rested back. ‘So, how will I know this is working?’

‘I know you’re not usually a believer.’ The fortune teller eyed him inquisitively as she passed the brooch back.

Clasping it tightly, it was his turn to nod. ‘You’d be right there.’

‘So what do you expect from me to prove my words are true, huh?’ She slowly shook her head. ‘A puff of smoke, the bang of firecrackers? Or maybe for me to wave my arms around saying “Abracadabra”?’

Charlie felt a pang of shame. ‘Of course not. It’s just … being a man of practicality, it’s very hard to believe in something I cannot see, or touch, for that matter.’

Tutting, she graced him with a knowing smile. ‘You sceptics have such misconceptions about fortune-telling. It has nothing to do with hocus-pocus. It is about the fortitude of an open mind, and heart.’ She leant in closer. ‘The power of the spoken word is all that is needed, and a genuine belief in the powers that be.’ She patted his arm. ‘Trust me, and you will see.’

A shiver overcame Charlie, but he also felt peculiarly reassured. ‘I will try to.’

‘Good.’ A singsong voice carried from the doorway as a lady asked for a reading, and the fortune teller acknowledged the giggling young couple with a nod. ‘I’m just finishing up here. I won’t be long.’

Charlie took it as his cue to leave. Rising, he gave the fortune teller a smile. ‘Thank you.’

‘You take care now, Charlie.’

It was only after he’d passed the loved-up couple, kissing at the foot of the stairs, that he realised she’d called him by his name. But how did she know it, when he hadn’t told her?

Turning back, he watched the young twosome disappear through the curtain, something about the woman’s hair and the way it bobbed around her shoulders reminding him of Grace. There was something oddly familiar about the young chap too …

Wanting to get back to Grace, he shrugged the déjà vu off and took steps away, back into the meandering crowd. He wasn’t sure what to make of what had just happened within the wagon, but maybe he wasn’t meant to. If anything, Grace would be over the moon that he’d sought the fortune teller out, and it had also helped to take his mind off things, if only for a little while. In a crazy kind of way, it had made him feel like he wasn’t so helpless, as if he had a grip on the reins of his future, and Grace’s. Just how, he hadn’t a damn clue.