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His words flayed her open, shattered through her protective walls. Heat crawled up her spine as ecstasy took hold. A swirl of color exploded behind her eyes. “I’m coming.” Her orgasm rippled through her limbs like a warm, flowing wave.
“Ah…baby.” And then his groan filled the air. His liquid heat filled her, and the hunger built again, spurring another orgasm.
His broad chest heaved with heavy breaths as he buried his face in her neck and held her tight. “You’re incredible. I’m so glad I found you.”
“Me, too.” A warm contentment spread throughout her body. Happiness like she’d never known filled the cracks in her heart. She wanted to tell him that she loved him, but it was too soon.
“Are you ready to get out of here, or do you want to head back to the festival?” He pulled up his pants, still breathing hard and fast.
“I’d like to spend the rest of the evening making love to you in a bed.” She adjusted her skirt and then wrapped her arms around his neck. She never imagined sex could go from being hot and dirty one minute, to sweet and intimate the next.
Placing a kiss on her lips, he pulled her close. “I think that can be arranged. You can be sure of one thing, curses be damned. I’m not going anywhere.”
CHAPTER12
BROOKE
The drive to her mother’s house in Croton took just under an hour with traffic. Brooke didn’t bother to call beforehand. She just showed up. This couldn’t wait. After she got out of her car, she swallowed hard against the butterflies floating around in her stomach.
Her mother’s old, white Volkswagen sat in the driveway.Good, at least she’s home.Brooke didn’t know how Sarah would feel about her stopping by unannounced, but it would be worth it if she got answers.
A cool breeze caressed her skin, taunting her with the implication of summer ending and fall rolling in. The clock was ticking. When a stray leaf floated through the air and landed at her feet, she figured it must be a sign. The threat of the season changing twisted around her neck like a vice.
She rang the doorbell and tapped her foot as she waited. Eventually, she gave up and figured she’d try out back. The soft notes of wind chimes clinked together. Their music floated through the air as she came around the side of the house, passing rows of lavender, bursting sunflowers, and night-blooming jasmine. Their scents mingled together, perfuming the air, filling her head with a hotbed of painful memories. She spotted her mom sitting at a green wrought iron table in the center of the garden, flipping through a deck of tarot cards. Seven lit votive candles and a crystal sat in the center of the table.
Her mother’s hand stilled as she lifted a card, and then she turned to face Brooke. A surprised smile spread across her face. “Brooke? I saw that a loved one was going to pay me a visit. I’m preparing for a client.” Sarah motioned to her tarot deck. “It’s been a long time. I’m glad you’re here.”
What did one say to a mother who had only seen her kids a handful of times in the past seven years? She’d missed out on birthdays, homework, plays, football games, and both her and Drew’s graduations from high school and college. “Hello” didn’t seem appropriate. Sadness leaked into Brooke’s heart for all those lost years. She sucked air into her lungs and breathed through the sudden well of emotion. Why wasn’t Brooke enough for her mom to stay? She knew the answer. She could chalk it up to the curse.
“It’s good to see you, Mom.”
Everyone said they shared the same eyes, but her mother’s seemed colder and filled with a lifetime’s worth of pain.
“You, too.” Her mother’s voice tugged Brooke out of the past. “Come in and sit down. How about some iced tea? I could go inside and make us a pitcher.”
“Thanks, I’m good.” Brooke’s mind drifted to the day her mother left as she walked across the lawn and sat down at the table on one of the garden chairs. School had just ended, which meant the official start of summer. She’d worn the blue and yellow halter dress, Brooke’s favorite. When she came down the stairs, clutching her suitcases, Brooke knew in her heart that she wouldn’t be coming back. Painful memories from that day still haunted her like ghosts. Tamping down the ache inside her, she cleared her throat and set her keys on the table.
“Have you eaten? I could heat up some leftover stew. I made up a batch and dropped some off at the foodbank.” The Aquarius in Sarah gave freely to the world, just not to her own family. As her mom pushed her astrology wheel to the side, her rose perfume drifted in the air, stirring another flash of memory. Brooke beat back the remnants from the past and focused on what she came here to do.
“Thanks, but I’m not hungry.” Brooke’s stomach twisted. They made small talk for a while and then her mom flipped a card from her tarot deck. “The Ace of Wands. It looks like business is going well.” Her mother looked up and cocked her head to the side. “How’s Drew?”
“He’s doing well. He got his first job out of college. You’d know that if you called him more.”
“You’re right. I should.” Sarah sighed. “And I regret letting so much time pass. I’m proud of both of my children.”
Brooke’s anger flared. “You have a funny way of showing it.” She bit down on her lip. Her and Drew went to see her here on weekends after she left. She’d call and write letters, but over the years, the visits and calls eventually stopped. The rejection never failed to chafe. The hurt of her mother leaving when she needed her the most still lingered.
“I guess I’ve made a real mess of things.” Regret flickered in her mother’s eyes.
“Why didn’t you come back for us?”
“At first, I was ashamed of how I left things. I kept thinking I’d come back and everything would be okay, but too much time had gone by. That old life…well…it was too confining for me.”
Brooke snorted. “While you were living on your own and finding yourself, I took on the role of parent to a lost, angry teenager.” Drew had started getting wasted on school nights until she’d stepped in. She’d stayed home every weekend her entire senior year to keep him out of trouble. Memories from that awful time washed over her and left her reeling. The sacrifice of missing out on prom and parties seemed trivial when she thought about what could’ve happened. Eventually, Drew grew up and graduated college with an engineering degree. They survived, despite their mother abandoning them.
“I feel awful about that. If I could go back and change things, I would, but I can’t. Fate doesn’t always follow what’s in the deepest recesses of our hearts, Brooke. Our charts hold the answers.”
“I’m not here to discuss the meaning behind our charts. I’m here because I have questions about Melinda. Do you have anything of hers? An heirloom? Anything at all?”
