The Magic Of Halloween Night

Chapter 7

Sunday

My evening with Cass making out under the stars was magical, but as I’d already acknowledged, frustrating as well. I wasn’t a teenager, and a relationship that involved a lot of making out, but little else was bound to get old at some point. I wanted to let myself move forward with Cass. I wanted to wake up to him every morning and go to bed with him every night. I wanted to give myself to him completely, and yet, I was terrified. Rolling over onto my back, I stared at the ceiling. I’d been meaning to take the time to really sort through my feelings, and since Paisley was with Anna, and I didn’t need to be at the haunted barn until this afternoon, now seemed as good a time as any. I was an adult in my thirties. I’d had intimate relationships in the past. Not a lot, but a few. As far as I knew, nothing awful had happened to any of the men I’d slept with, so in my mind, it seemed clear that sex in and of itself was not the igniting factor. Of course, I’d never loved any of the men with whom I’d had relationships, so maybe it was love and not sex that set things off.

Of course, Gracie clearly loved Tom, and while I’d never been so bold as to ask outright, I suspected there was an intimacy factor involved in their friendship. I didn’t know the extent of things, but clearly, Gracie loved Tom, and he seemed to love her as well. Neither Gracie nor Tom had died prematurely, so perhaps intimacy, even in the presence of love, wasn’t the igniting factor.

I’d spent a lot of time in my youth studying the curse, but I guess in a way, I still didn’t understand exactly how it worked. What I did know was that my great-great-grandmother, Edwina Birmingham, seduced Jordan Hollister away from her best friend, Hester Stinson, and, in retaliation, Hester, a purported witch, had laid a curse on the happy couple. That curse had stipulated that any Hollister daughter born to Jordan and Edwina, or any daughter born to their descendants, would suffer the tragic and early loss of their beloved. Neither Jordan nor Edwina were concerned about the curse because the couple only had one child, a son they named Samuel. Samuel married a woman named Anastasia, who he brought to live at Hollister House. Anastasia gave birth to twin daughters, Gwendolyn and Gracie.

Aunt Gracie had never married or had children, and although she seemed to love Tom, and was even most likely intimate with him, neither had suffered premature death. Gwendolyn, on the other hand, had moved to Denver, where she married a man named Richard Hastings. Richard fell to his death on the couple’s first anniversary, so Gwendolyn, who was pregnant with twins at the time of her husband’s death, moved home, where she delivered Phoebe and Penelope. On the twins’ second birthday, Gwendolyn died of a broken heart, leaving Gracie to raise her nieces.

My mother, Phoebe, married a man named Roderick Collins. Ten months after marrying, they had a daughter, me, and four years after that, Roderick and Phoebe were killed in an automobile accident. And then there was Penelope, who never married or had children. She loved to travel and never seemed to stay put until an unfortunate encounter with a French artist, a hot Ferrari, and an ill-advised joy ride ended in her death on a narrow country road just outside Paris.

I supposed the fact that although Penelope never married or had children, yet she still died a premature death, might be something worth thinking about. I’d always assumed that Gwendolyn and Richard, as well as my mother and father, had died early due to the curse, but the fact that Penelope didn’t fit the pattern and yet had still died at a young age, might indicate there was more going on than I’d initially believed.

“Do you need anything before I head over to the Harvest Festival?” Gracie asked after poking her head in through my partially open bedroom door.

“No. I don’t have a shift until this afternoon, so I’m taking advantage of my downtime to lay around and not do much of anything.”

“Seems like a good plan. I’ll let you get back to it.” She started to close the door.

“Aunt Gracie.”

She opened the door once again. “Yes, dear.”

“Have you ever stopped to think about the specifics of the family curse?”

“Specifics?” She looked surprised by my question.

I sat up, tucking my pillows behind my back. “What specifically activates it? Is it falling in love? Being intimate? Marrying? Having children? I’ve never really understood at what point the curse becomes active.”

Gracie entered the room and sat down on the corner of my bed. She paused before answering. I sensed that she understood the seriousness of my question. “I’m not really sure what act specifically activates the curse. I guess I figured the curse must be tied either to marriage or to children, but I never really stopped to decide which. Both your grandparents and your parents died after they had children, so I suppose that might be the trigger, but I do sometimes wonder what would have happened if both my sister and my niece would have married, but decided not to have children. Would they have been able to live out their natural lives with the man they chose to love or were they destined to die a premature death at the moment they fell in love?”

“What about Penelope?” I asked. “She died young, and she neither married nor had children. I guess I’ve always attributed the death of my parents to the curse, and Penelope’s death to her own actions, but recently, I’ve had cause to really consider things. I’m beginning to think that my prior logic really doesn’t stand up under any sort of scrutiny.”

Gracie looked shocked. Almost as if she had never really stopped to consider the fact that while we believed my parents died from the curse, we’d never attributed the curse to Penelope’s death either.

“I take it this has to do with Cass,” Gracie said.

I nodded. “To a point. I love him. I’ve tried not to love him, but I do. And I know he loves me. Don’t worry, we have no plans to marry or produce offspring, although it did occur to me that we might raise Paisley together. I don’t think that would ignite the curse. You raised mom, Aunt Penelope, and me with Tom’s help, and neither you nor Tom met with premature death.”

Gracie didn’t respond, but I could see that she was really thinking things over.

I continued. “Of course, asking Cass to live with me and help me raise Paisley as nothing more than friends is really asking a lot, which I guess is what has me asking all these questions. Is it really necessary to avoid a relationship that involves intimacy? If we simply live together as a couple but don’t marry, will that alone be enough to activate the curse, or is it a marriage that is the trigger?”

“I suppose those are good questions, but I’m afraid I don’t really have an answer.”

I shifted slightly on the bed. “I know this is none of my business, and I’m not trying to make you uncomfortable, but it seems obvious to me that while you and Tom never married, you have been intimate.”

Gracie didn’t verify my comment, but I could see it was true.

“I guess the two of you and the relationship you share has me wondering if something similar wouldn’t be possible for Cass and me. I do love Cass. There is no denying that. But I know you love Tom as well. Looking back, you probably have for years, so love doesn’t seem to be the thing that sets the whole thing in motion. If not love and not intimacy, then what?”

“I see you’ve given this a lot of thought,” she finally said.

“I have. If there is any chance at all that my loving Cass or being intimate with him would result in his death, I’d end things, walk away, and never look back. But if love and intimacy are not what triggers the curse, then why should I sacrifice what we have? I’ve gone over this again and again in my mind. I’ve tried to figure out how it all works. All I really know is that a curse was voiced, and people who I loved died. That was enough for me until now. Until Cass. But now, I find I want more, which has me thinking about things in detail. I thought about Penelope and the fact that she was still a young woman when she died. If Penelope hadn’t been married or even been in love when she died, why are we so certain that it was the curse and not simply circumstance that was behind the accident that killed my parents?”

Gracie slowly shook her head. “I don’t know. I guess I’ve never considered Penelope’s death as part of the equation.” Gracie glanced at the clock. “I need to go, or I’ll be late for my volunteer shift, but I think we should discuss this at another time. It’s important. To both of us, I think.”

I nodded. “Yes. I agree. It is important to both of us. I know for me, figuring out where Cass might be able to fit into my life for the long haul is probably the most important thing on my mind.” I leaned back into the pillows. “I can’t help but visualize the life Cass and I could have. The life we could share with Paisley. I want us to be a family, but after a lifetime of avoiding any action that might activate the curse, I can’t easily give that up either.”

“I understand,” Gracie said, turning to leave.

“Cass doesn’t believe in the curse. He isn’t afraid to take the chance.”

“Tom, either.” Gracie paused at the door. “I guess, as the last remaining Hollister women, it’s up to us to decide how much we are willing to risk to have our heart’s desire.”