me."
"Very good my child," Dinera said.
Courtney took the cup, holding it for a moment as if she wasn't sure what to say. "I offer up unconditional love to my daughter and promise to see to it that she learns everything her elders have to teach her."
"Excellent." Dinera smiled at Courtney, as she handed the cup back to Rosette.
"I drink the last sip in honor of Mamman Merci and thank her for teaching me the medicinal powers of potions and notions."
"Our coven is now bonded and formed," Dinera said.
"As it is will, so mote it shall be." They all repeated as one voice.
"Now the fun begins," Bianca said. "It's time to light the Yule Candles and make our sacred wish."
Dinera stepped forward first, lighting her red candle. "My wish has been fulfilled. All my DeFliehr witches united as one. A coven of power so immense that none shall ever break our bond."
Rosette went next, "I wish the rest of the world could share in our circle of unconditional love and acceptance. Diversity is the spice that sweetens the melting pot of life."
Bianca lit her candle. "I wish to use my healing skills to the best of my ability and I know it's selfish, but if Brandon would like to give me a ring for Christmas, I'd be open to that, too."
"I hear ya." Rowan took her candle. "I think it's way past time for Dylan to put a huge rock on my finger. In just a couple of days we'll have officially been together for a year now, and well, it's time already."
"Yeah," Tabitha agreed. "I want to be a flower girl."
"What's your wish, Tabitha?" Rowan stayed in the center of the circle to help her light her candle.
"I want to turn my brothers into toads."
Rowan and Bianca both giggled.
"I'm not kidding," Tabitha said jutting our her lip. "I wanna make then big green warty toads."
"I think you need to try for something a little more realistic," Rosette said.
"Yeah." Courtney snickered. "How about turning your step-mom into a toad? I mean, she's already big and I bet she's got warts."
Tabitha giggled. "Mommy, that's not nice."
"And what's so nice about turning your brothers into toads?" Courtney asked. "My wish is that you would stop being such a diva and try to love your brothers a little more."
"Even baby Brice?" Tabitha wrinkled her nose. "All he does is poop and cry. He's the worst brother of all."
"If you want her not to be such a diva." Dinera gave Courtney one of those icy glares. "Lead by example."
Before Courtney could get in a proper comeback, red and silver sparks swirled around the Yule Log and goose bumps popped up on Rowan's skin.
"Speaking of diva's," Rowan said as Odessa materialized.
"I wish I could find William," Odessa said, her voice surprisingly choked with tears.
Tabitha looked up at her, hands on her hips like she had suddenly taken over as the coven high priestess. "You need to give him his heart back."
"What she needs to do." Courtney grabbed Tabitha up into her arms. "Is stay the hell away from me and my daughter."
Odessa disappeared, but not before producing a big clap of thunder to herald her departure.
"Goddess bless my William's soul," Dinera said, her voice surprisingly void of any emotion.
"As well as that of Cindy and that poor child who never got a chance to live," Rosette's voice shook with the emotion that Dinera always seemed to lack.
Cindy had been Courtney's sister and Dylan's wife when she'd drank a potion to take her own life, as well as that if the stillborn baby that bled her to death.
"I should have done better in teaching her our craft." Dinera admitted. "If I'd only known she had any skills before it was too late to harness her power."
"We only see what the Goddess chooses to reveal," Rosette reminded her.
"I miss Aunt Cin." Tabitha sighed. "But, I'm glad Uncle Dyl has Aunt Row now."
"I thought we honored the dead on Samhain," Courtney said.
"Our loved ones never leave us, they always live in our hearts."
As if Dinera even had a heart. Rowan had to bite her lip not to speak out of turn. She loved her Grandmère dearly, but sometimes she wondered how the old lady dealt with the guilt of killing her own husband. The man she had claimed to have loved. The man, who from all accounts, hadn't deserved to have been driven mad.
Dinera grabbed Rowan's arm as the others went back into the house to enjoy the spiced apple cider and a carrot cake that Rosette had baked earlier that day.
"William got what he deserved," Dinera said, her voice barely a whisper. "Just as you avenged your mother's rape, I avenged his adultery."
"What if he'd never hooked up with Odessa?" Rowan asked. "If they had never had Amalie, than I wouldn't have been born."
Dinera led Rowan back to the still burning Yule log and sat down with agility that defied her age. She patted to the ground beside her and Rowan joined her, both of them sitting cross-legged in front of the fire pit.
Much to Rowan's surprise, Dinera hiked up her skirt and pulled her white pearled athame from a garter belt. She drew a horn rimmed sun god into the dirt and handed over the double edged knife.
Rowan had no idea where Grandmère was going with this, but she too drew the same figure.
"As the Sun God starts his new journey across the sky, may he lighten our path and forgive our sins. Our mistakes left in the dark slumber of the nothingness that was our past."
Dinera used a loose stick from the Yule log to wipe away their drawings and then handed it to Rowan to toss back into the flames.
Rowan felt tears welling up in her eyes, and she wasn't even sure why. She'd fooled them all. Even after making a drunken confession to Courtney, Dinera was the only who knew the full truth behind the deaths of Charlie, those who had aided in her mother's rape, and tortured her throughout her fifteen years of existence.
"Little Tabitha may be the most powerful witch to ever descend from the DeFliehr bloodline," Dinera said, offering Rowan a lacy handkerchief from her bosom. "But, in you we have both mine and Odessa's blood flowing through your veins. As much as I dislike that man stealing trollop, she was, and still is, a witch of immense power. You're the chosen one. Not little Tabitha. Don't you ever forget that."
"Thank you." Rowan reached over and hugged her grandmère.
"Now shall we join the others in partaking of Rosette's Yule feast?"
Rowan stood and before she could offer any assistance Dinera made it to her feet, adjusting her formal gown.
"My darling, just so you know," Dinera said, putting her arm around Rowan's waist. "I've given Dylan the ring William gave me many years ago when he proposed to me back in the old country."
"What if Dylan betrays me, as William betrayed you?"
"That will never happen." Dinera lowered her voice. "William never came to me of his own free will. I cast a spell to force our marriage. I kept casting spells to keep him from leaving. I never had any love for him and he never loved me."
"What about all the spells I cast on Dylan?"
"Remember how sick you were about this time last year?"
Rowan nodded. She'd spent a horrible twenty-four hours of hell, alternating between puking, pooping and bleeding, until there was nothing left in her. It had taken her a week of bed rest to recover her full strength.
"I'm sorry I made you suffer so," Dinera said like she actually meant it. "As Rosette told you, that spell we did released any magickal hold either you or Cindy had placed on Dylan."
"I know she told me and she felt so bad for making me so sick."
"When Dylan returned to your bed last Christmas Eve, he returned under his own free will and he has not strayed from your side even once. Quite a feat considering the genetics he inherited from his womanizing father."
"He's nothing like Billy."
"Oh, yes he is." Dinera laughed. "I just wish you could have met Lizzie. You would have loved her and I know she would have welcomed you into the Dalton clan."
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"I know, Dylan loved her so."
"He loves you even more. He's your soul mate and the two of you were always meant to be united as one."
This time Rowan used the dainty lace handkerchief to dap away tears of joy. They stopped on the patio, just outside the French Doors silently watching her beautiful sweet Rosette, her best friend Bianca, little Tabitha and even Courtney, the sister she had always wanted despite her twisted conception. For the first time ever her heart felt like it might just burst from all the love and acceptance that her grandmère had brought together by creating their coven.
Dinera took Rowan's left hand, kissing her ring finger.
"When Dylan places that ring on your finger on Christmas morning I will rest easy in knowing that priceless ruby is where it was always destined to be."
"And so it is," Rowan said.
THE END
Dear Readers,
Thank you for downloading this short story! Reviews are appreciated. If you find any formatting errors or typos please let me know at
[email protected].
I always enjoy hearing from my readers and appreciate your support.
Jezebel
Other books by Jezebel Jorge
Wicked Desires (A Ring Dreams Snippet)
Wanton (A Ring Dreams Snippet)
Desire (A Ring Dreams Retro)
Hexed (Book 1 of Ring Dreams)
Shattered (A Ring Dreams YA)
Infinity (An anti-Valentine's Day Novella)
Odessa's 50 Flavors of Freak
Under My Skin
The Lady Is A Tramp
Jezebel Jorge is a practicing witch and gifted medium. When she's writing it usually feels like she's merely taking dictation for the voices running amok inside her head demanding to be heard.
She