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“You know those documents you found last night?”
“Yes.”
“Those are why—well, part of the reason—your father and your mother came to see me on Thanksgiving Day.”
I raise my eyebrows.
“The other reason,” he continues, “is because of the messages that you and I have received.”
“You and I and Pat Lamone, apparently.”
“Yes.”
“So it’s all connected.”
“Whether it is or not, I don’t know, but I get the feeling your parents think so.”
I rise from the table, head to the kitchen, and wash my hands, drying them on the dish towel. Then I grab the mahogany box containing my cards.
“How can you draw for your father when he’s not here to hold the cards and give them his energy?”
“I can do it. I’ve done it before, with family matters. I have my father’s energy inside me. My body comes from his body.”
“I see.”
I chuckle. “You don’t see it at all, but that’s okay. Thank you for trying to understand anyway.”
“No, I do understand, Ava.” He squeezes my hand. “I won’t pretend to put the faith in the tarot that you do, but I respect the fact that you do, and from what I’ve seen from the readings you’ve shared with me, you do have good insight and good intuition when it comes to the cards you draw.”
“That means a lot to me.” I take the cards out of the box, unwrap the scarf, and hold on to them for a moment.
Somewhere in this deck are the tower and the hierophant—the two cards that have caused me the most consternation over the past several days. Already I know I won’t draw either of those in this reading. I’m not sure how I know, but I’m utterly confident.
I shuffle the deck once, twice, three times, and then I hold it to my heart, imagining my father—his strength, his intelligence, his creative force, and the love he has for his family.
Then I cut the deck.
The three-card spread.
Mind, body, spirit. Past, present, future.
I close my eyes, breathe in deeply, and then I draw the first card.
The two of cups.
And it’s not reversed, thank God.
My parents’ marriage is strong. Not that I believed otherwise, but seeing it in the card helps a lot. Two lovers stare into each other’s eyes.
But…
There is a downside to the card.
The lovers sometimes create such a bond that it excludes others. My parents never excluded Gina and me from their love. To the contrary, we were cherished by both Mom and Dad.
That’s not the feeling I’m getting here.
No. I’m getting a more sinister feeling…as if my parents have excluded us from information that we need to know.
That we have the right to know.
I gulp.
“You okay?” Brendan asks.
I nod. I won’t panic. Already I know this. I will face whatever comes.
“Tell me about the card,” he says.
“It’s the two of cups. A card of romance, attraction.”
“Makes sense, I guess,” he says, “since your parents just had their twenty-fifth anniversary.”
“Right. Except it was supposed to be a happy occasion. A warm occasion. But all I felt last night—and the feeling is the same as I look at this card—is that they’re excluding Gina and me from something. Something big.”
“I’d say they know what the documents mean,” Brendan says. “And maybe the odd messages too.”
“That’s definitely what I’m feeling here.”
“You said the first card in the three-card spread represents the mind or the past.”
I can’t help a smile. Brendan is taking me seriously, remembering what I tell him about the tarot and my use of the cards.
“Usually. Nothing is set in stone, Brendan.”
But it occurs to me that I’m saying that for myself. Obviously, my mother and father were happy together in the past. For the past twenty-five years, for sure.
But now?
God, I hate feeling this way.
I inhale a deep breath.
I stave away the panic.
I won’t have another attack. I know this in my soul.
I breathe in again as I draw the second card.
The ten of pentacles.
Oh, God.
Family. That’s the word that shoves itself into my mind when I see this card. Sometimes finances…and I wonder…
Finances…
The deed transferring everything to my father.
Why?
“What do you see, Ava?” Brendan asks.
Family. Affluence. Riches.
Something’s about to happen. Something with regard to my family. Both my family as a whole—the extended Steels—and my nuclear family. Mom, Dad, Gina, and me.
I regard the two cards together. The two of cups and the ten of pentacles.
Marriage and family. Changes in the family dynamic.
The past, my parents, and their happy marriage.
The present, something wavering, becoming unthreaded or unraveled.
“The ten of pentacles,” I tell Brendan. “Sometimes called the ten of coins. It’s usually associated with family matters.”
“That seems interesting,” Brendan says, “given the focus on your family lately.”
“Yes, but it may indicate financial matters, affluence, or riches.”
“Your family already has that in abundance.”
“I know. I’m getting the feeling of a change here. This card represents the present or the body. And…” I shake my head. “Something’s changing, Brendan.”
