Mischief in Mudbug (Ghost-in-Law, #2)(34)

“I have no problem with those beliefs,” Sabine said and gave Adelaide a smile. “And I certainly hope this is a good omen. Thank you.”

Catherine narrowed her eyes at Sabine. “You don’t believe in that sort of thing, do you?”

Sabine shrugged. “I believe there are far more things in this world that can’t be explained than can.”

Frances gasped. “But surely you’re a Christian. You do believe in God, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Sabine said, “but I don’t limit His creations to only those I can understand.”

Frances relaxed a bit but still seemed far more stressed than the comment deserved. “Well, I suppose you could have a point.”

Adelaide laughed. “Oh child, it’s gonna be so good having you home.”

Sabine smiled back, comfortable that at least one person was truly happy to meet her and hopefully lacked a hidden agenda. “Well, it’s not exactly my home. I already have a home in Mudbug…and a business, for that matter. But I hope to visit.”

“You own a business?” Catherine asked and shot the attorney a questioning look “What kind of business is it?”

Sabine groaned inwardly. Apparently Alford had judiciously elected to leave out any information about her profession, not that she was surprised. After her exchange with Frances, she was afraid the answer to that question might push the family into scheduling a full-fledged exorcism. “It’s a retail shop of sorts,” she said, hoping that would distract them for a couple of days.

Catherine perked up a bit. “Clothing? I couldn’t help but notice your shoes. They’re very…interesting. I thought maybe one of those shops that carries old, unique items.”

Sabine looked down at her pumps. They were white with different varieties of multi-colored flowers covering them. The five-inch heel was dark redwood. Interesting? Unique? Catherine uttered those words like she was wearing fuzzy, bunny house slippers. “Actually, I got these at Macy’s.”

Catherine glanced down at the shoes again and frowned. “Really? I’ve never seen anything like them before.”

Sabine stared at Catherine, starting to feel a little irritated at their stiff-minded beliefs. Might as well lay it all out now. “I love the unique. I’m a psychic, and I own a paranormal shop in downtown Mudbug. I sell different magical items, herbs for spells, candles, that sort of thing. And I do tarot readings as well as channel dead relatives for those who are interested in talking to the other side.”

The room went completely silent. Everyone was staring at her, with the exception of the lawyer, who looked irritated with the entire mess. The expressions ranged everywhere from confused (Catherine), to excited (Adelaide), and horrified (Frances).

Frances removed the hand that was covering her mouth. “You sell pagan items for profit?”

Sabine nodded. “I haven’t ever heard it put quite that way, but yeah, I guess I do.”

Frances stared at her, her eyes wide with fear, “You don’t…I mean…I’ve heard that some people sacrifice chickens.”

Catherine frowned. “You’ve been reading the newspaper again, Frances.” She shot a look at Adelaide, who looked down at the floor. “You know reading the paper gets you upset.”

“That’s okay,” Sabine said. “It’s a common enough question.” From fools. “I don’t do anything like that in my shop. It’s really more about fun than anything else.”

Adelaide started to laugh. “Just what this family needed—something to shake the foundations.”

William frowned at Adelaide. “Our foundations are fine, Adelaide. Don’t you have something to take care of in the kitchen?”

“Certainly, Mr. Fortescue,” Adelaide said. “I’ll just leave you folks to sort out the rest of Sabine’s life for her.” She gave Sabine a wink and headed to the kitchen.

“Well,” Catherine said, “this is certainly unexpected but nothing so dire as can’t be fixed. You’re a Fortescue now. I’d be more than happy to give you the money to start another enterprise…perhaps clothing, as we talked about before?”

“But I—”

Catherine gestured to Sabine to take a seat. “We have plenty of time to talk business. Now, it’s time to talk family. Frances helped me pull all the photo albums from when she and Adam were children. I thought you might like to see those first.”

Sabine sat on the couch and looked over at Beau. He was trying to appear nonchalant, but Sabine felt the tension coming off him. He looked around the room, barely glancing at the people, and for some inexplicable reason, she knew he got more in that glance than most would in a bio. He was sizing them up, reading them like he would a newspaper, then systematically calculating the inherent risks and consequences.

Sabine took in a deep breath and tried to concentrate on the album Catherine had placed on the table in front of her. Tried to squelch the bad feeling that she had just stepped into the eye of a hurricane.

[page]

It was long after dinnertime when Sabine and Beau drove through the giant iron gates on their way back to Mudbug. Sabine had been silent during the long drive down the winding road back to the highway, and Beau fought the urge to ask for her thoughts. But eventually he couldn’t stand the silence any longer. “So…that was something.”