Kentucky Magic

Part 2, Chapter 2

Katherine gasped at Trina’s words. Being psychic was something that ran in their family…at least in the females. Katherine had realized her skills at foretelling things very early in her life. But other than letting her make a living and stay in Paintsville, Being able to know things in advance had the seemed more of a curse then a blessing to her. Trina had come to live with her at a very young age following the accidental deaths of her parents in way car accident. Not once had Katherine ever wanted to discover whether or not Hurn knees might have the Sullivan psychic power.

Still there was every chance that Trina had merely been speaking her wishes out loud rather than any kind of psychic foretelling of the future. Katherine was completely aware of the fact that the relationship she had with Trina was more like a single mother rather than a one between a niece and her aunt. And it also was quite common for children of single parents to try and fix them up with dates and so on. She didn’t want to jump the gun and assume Trina could—

“I didn’t see it until I’d been home for a while, Kat. It didn’t happen while I was in the truck with Edward. More like thirty minutes ago, while I was on the phone with Tommy.”

Katherine saw the reluctance on her niece’s beautiful face. “How long have you—”

“Have I known? Since I was little, Aunt Katherine. But I saw how you felt and so I kept quiet.”

Katherine looked at her niece, who was really more like her daughter, and her heart ached. Sitting on the bed, she hugged Trina tightly. “I’m sorry, Trina. I should have been there for you. Instead you’ve kept all these—”

Trina gently pushed back from her aunt. “Kat, I’m okay. I’ve always been all right with this…the power. I never brought it up because I didn’t want to hurt you. And maybe I’m wrong about the future I saw for you. It’s probably just wishful thinking on my part.”

“You are silly, squirt!” Katherine tapped Trina’s nose lightly with her index finger. “Now, let’s talk about dinner.”

Katherine moved over to her closet, slipping off the overalls and pulling a lightweight cotton dress. “I still can’t believe how warm it is this year.”

Trina nodded as she came off the bed. “Yeah. Tommy said it is possible that we’ll beat the record of seventy-nine degrees.”

“Let’s go cook dinner, okay?”

Hooking arms, the two Sullivan women walked to their small kitchen.

*****

Edward took the next three days to settle into his new home. His first night sleeping was difficult because of all this sounds of nature going on just beyond his four walls. On the fourth day he was glad when the phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Mr.Johnson! This is Trina. Do you remember that we met the other day?”

Edward grinned at the excitement and enthusiasm he heard in the young girl’s voice. “Of course I remember you, Trina. Who could forget such a beautiful vision walking on the side of the road?”

More giggling answered his question. Prima finally stopped laughing long enough to ask him a question. “ I am Calling to see if you can come over tonight for some dinner. Cat and I Would really like to have you join us if you can?”

“That sounds like a Good idea Trina but how about you and your aunt join me for some barbecue. It looks like it will stay warm right up until a later this evening. I have already set the grilled up and I have stakes, Berger’s and hot dogs in the French. That way you and your aunt could give me some tips on how to decorate this place. I sold most of my furniture in Lexington and I will need to buy new soon. What I do have is some great Jak chairs and tables which is why I suggested the barbecue. So what do you say?”

“That is really nice of you, Mr.Johnson but I have already invited Someone else to join us as well.”

Edward grinned as he replied. “Tell you what, Trina, call Tommy and ask him to join us here. How would that be?”

He could hear Trina’s laughter through the phone line as she started to reply. “Gee Mr.Johnson you are so cool!”

“Thanks Trina, and please call me Edward. How does sixty-thirty sound?”

“It’s a plan and we’ll be there!”

Edward grinned at the disconnected receiver in his hand. He’d forgotten how boisterous and engaging children, even teens, could be. Shrugging his shoulders, he decided to get busy or his guests would be here before he was ready.

*****

Edward finally turned out the last light. God! He couldn't remember the last time he’d laughed as much as he had this evening. Between Trina and Tommy the gentle jesting and bad jokes never stopped. By the end of the first awkward half hour he felt as if he’d known these two kids since they were born. Towel drying his hair a little bit longer before he climbed into bed, he considered his other dinner guest.

Katherine was something else entirely. She’d shown up wearing a cotton dress and every time the breeze blew he went a little crazy looking at her. Tossing the towel aside, he crossed and slid open one of the glass doors a few inches. In spite of Christmas being less than a week away, the temperature continued to flirt around seventy degrees and above.

Hopefully it would cool off some by Christmas time although he wasn’t sure snow would be a good idea. Crawling into bed, Edward decided he could always ask Katherine for some lessons on driving in snow and on ice. He closed eyes and soon drifted to sleep.

Chapter 3

Katherine looked at her watch once again. It had been thirty minutes since the light went out upstairs. The drug she’d slipped into Edward’s last glass of wine should have him deeply asleep by now. She hated doing it this way, but telling him what she wanted wasn’t part of the plan either. Taking a deep breath, she began climbing up the trellis at the one end of the deck. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that he’d left the door open. Breaking a lock to get in was something she really didn’t want to do.

She crossed the bedroom silently until she reached the closet. As quietly as possible she opened it and slipped inside. Easing the door closed, she finally turned on her flashlight. Going under the clothes hanging on the right side, she started to press against the wall panels, hoping to find the correct one quickly. If only she’d had a little longer the day Edward arrived, she was sure she’d have found it then.

The problem was that when she’d finally gotten the journal deciphered, work for the remodeling had already begun. Discovering that she had less than one day to get into the house and find it had made her stress out, which had made her all thumbs. Hopefully she’d find the right panel and be out of here before Edward could awaken. Suddenly the wall fell away beneath her hand.

“Damn!” she muttered as fell against the rest of wall, bruising her shoulder. Hating the idea of putting her hand somewhere she couldn't see, she quickly flashed the light all around. With any luck all the creepy crawling things would scurry to anywhere but here. Shifting about on the floor she finally stuck her hand back, feeling around.

“Family legends, journals of secrets and magical pendants my ass,” she muttered softly. The whole time she continued to wiggle her fingers around, trying to find the so-called mystical necklace. “Great-grand pappy if you were here right now I’d be cramming this damned thing down your throat!” 

*****

Edward was nearly asleep when he heard a creaking noise in his bedroom. Lifting his head, he caught sight of the black figure moving into his closet. As the person turned to entire the small room, the moonlight was bright enough to silhouette the body. Since he’d spent the evening watching it, he easily recognized the rounded curves.

Damn! He had hoped the fact that he’d seen Katherine holding a capsule over his wine glass, followed by the funny taste, had been a figment of his imagination. He’d rationalized that perhaps she’d been taking some kind of medicine herself. But after the questionable flavor-change in the wine, added to the undisputable fact that she was now breaking and entering his home, he accepted the fact thatKatherine had attempted to drug him. He was sure it had been done so she could get in and back out without getting caught. As he eased silently out of bed, he did wonder why the hell anyone would burglarize his closet.

As Edward neared the closet he could hear Katherine talking. “Great-grand pappy if you were…now I’d be…this damned thing down—”

Edward fought back a grin. The other important fact beyond Katherine burglarizing his closet was that there really was something worth stealing, or at least in her opinion.

“Ah ha!”

He smiled as he listened to Katherine. Perhaps she’d found this so-called important thing. He moved away, deciding his next plan of action.

Katherine was nervous as she pulled the small pouch from within its secret hiding place for who knew how many years. Shaking the pouch was a mistake, which Katherine realized about two seconds later as the dust floated through the air.

“Achoo!” Katherine froze as she realized what had just happened. “Damn!” she added more quietly. Please God, let Edward still be asleep. Standing she re-stirred the dirt, which unfortunately kicked in as she reopened the closet door.

“Mmm-aaachoooooo! Oh shit!” She dropped the flash light in surprise and realization that she’d just blown the whole thing. Unfortunately it thudded loudly, so quickly deciding to cut her losses Katherine took off towards the open glass door.

Near the foot of the bed she was tackled like a professional linebacker. They flew through the air and landed on the bed. It took her a few seconds before she realized that she was now flat on her back and Edward was atop her, straddling her thighs. Breathing hard, and still startled, she looked up at him. It was still dark, and it could be someone other than Edward.

CLAP CLAP

The lights came on immediately and she had to squint as the brightness startled her pupils. After a few seconds, she eased her eyelids wider. The first thing she noticed was that was just sleeping shirtless, he was buck naked! And hot damn, as her great-aunt Hazel used to say, Edward was one damn fine buck indeed!

“Good evening, Katherine. Did you forget something?”

Edward’s calm voice caused her to giggle nervously. “You are probably wondering what I was doing in your closet, right?”

“If it wouldn't too great an imposition, I think an explanation should do something to ease my doubts.”

“Uhm…do you think you might put some clothes on first?”Katherine hated to cover the best looking man she’d probably ever seen, but she did need to focus on the facts. And the fact that she was becoming more aroused as she stared at him wasn’t helping.

“How about I turn the lights back off? I’m not sure you won’t decide to run if I get off you.” Edward clapped again and turned off the lights.

Katherine nodded. “Well, I could promise, but I’m guessing that my actions haven’t inspired you to trust me now.”

“You were in the house the other day, weren’t you? Since you couldn't disappear fast enough, you pulled that stunt of knocking on the front door.”

Katherine nodded once again. “I am sorry. I only needed five more minutes and you never would have known I’d been in here.” She smiled up at him. In the moonlight, which was bright once again across the bed, she could see his chiseled features, strong neck and his broad shoulders. Damn! Why did he have to be so frickin’ good looking?

“I’m sorry, but what was the last thing you said?”

Katherine flushed hotly as she realized her thoughts had been spoken out loud. “Oh, uhm, nothing…it’s just that I had to find this—” she held up the small packet in her hand, before going on. “Once I had the journal deciphered, you had all those people crawling all over the place.”

“What is so vitally important that you attempted to drug me in order to steal it from my house?”

She saw the way his one eyebrow quirked upwards, non-verbally questioning her as well. It seemed every little thing Edward did was affecting her physically, arousing her. Unnerving was that he most likely had no idea how he was seducing her, and it was even more possible that if he had been attracted to her, she’d blown it now. Maybe he could forgive the stealing thing…once he knew the full story. But trying to drug him…well, that was a lot more serious.

“You saw me?” she asked him softly.

“I saw the capsule, and then my wine tasted strange.”

“Why aren’t you asleep?”

Edward grinned. “I poured the wine onto one of my plants.”

“Oh no! I can check the plant tomorrow, and make sure there hasn’t been any damage. It might need to flushed and even repotted.”

“That has to be a first! My burglar offering to care for my plants.”

“This belongs to me, so technically I’m only breaking and entering. And since the door was open, I’m guilty of just entering.” Katherine smiled up at Edward, hoping he would see and agree with her logic.

Instead Edward surprises her by grabbing the small pouch from her hand. “What do you have in here?”

“No! You mustn’t open it!”

It was too late. Katherine watched as the pendant she’d never seen, only heard stories told to her since she was a very young girl, fall into Edward’s hand. The gold chain dangled and the gold encased stone was flat against his palm.