Page 18 of Heir to a Curse

“I was going to clean the back of it,” Leigh said.

“But it tore out of her hands, like someone shoved it open!” Rosa exclaimed; eyes wide.

“Maybe it was the wind?” I said, examining the door and looking around outside. If the wind was blowing at all, it was faint enough to barely cause any stir in the trees. I tugged on the door, testing the slide. It still moved slow and sort of clunky, lots of tugging to get it moving in either direction. The track had too much gunk in it and needed to be oiled. I had stuff in my truck for that, but I wasn’t going to leave the girls alone right that minute. “How about you ladies take a break for lunch? I’ll grab some stuff from my truck to fix it.”

Had Montana said he was going to set up a banquet for lunch too? I’d have to check and get the crew eating if that was the case. Happy, fed workers meant completed projects. It was almost one.

“We were nearly done,” Rosa protested.

“Let’s go find food,” I offered. “When we get back, I’ll work on the door and clean the track.” I planned to put a lock on it of some kind as well, and I had a handful of miscellaneous ones in my truck lockbox. “Plus, we need flowers,” I reminded them.

“What about the ghosts?” Leigh asked.

I made a point of examining the room. “You see any?”

Both girls looked around with wide eyes.

A bit of movement in the grass caught my eye and I pointed. A fluffy white bunny sat near the edge of the walkway nibbling grass. “Look there’s a bunny. That’s a good sign, right? Would a bunny hang around if there was a ghost?”

“What if it’s a ghost bunny?” Rosa looked at her sister.

“A ghost bunny who eats grass?” I asked, pointing to the piece of grass sticking out of its mouth. The bunny sat there, not four feet away, unfazed by our presence. I couldn’t recall ever seeing a rabbit that white in the wild before. Most of the time they were a mix of brown and gray. This was something out of a movie or TV show. I stared at it, looking for the normal signs of wild on it. How odd.

Jerry appeared on the path from the house. “Everything okay back here?” He looked at his daughters.

“There was a ghost, daddy,” Leigh said. “It pulled open the door.”

“Yeah?” Jerry said, not seeming worried at all. “What do we know about ghosts, eh?”

“They watch over us,” Rosa said. “Maybe it’s Mrs. Sofia.”

“Could be,” I agreed. Sofia always bought the girls beautiful gifts and had lavish tea parties the few times she’d seen them. Most of the parties had been at Sofia’s apartment in the city, which had gone to her brother, and those had been very English, with pinkies raised and tea smelling of flowers.

“Lunch is ready at the house,” Jerry said. “Big deal in the dining room. Lots of food.” He pointed toward the house. “Little twink seems to think it’s important to feed everyone,” he said more to me than the girls.

“What’s a twink?” Leigh asked. “Like a Twinkie? I like Twinkies.”

“A twink is a cute boy,” Rosa informed her.

I blinked at Jerry. He frowned at his girls. Guess they weren’t so little anymore. “Montana is the chef here,” I informed them. “He is happy to feed lots of people. Let’s go see what he has put together for lunch. Maybe the ancestors want a little nap. I’m sure all your cleaning is exhausting for them.”

The girls smiled and headed toward their dad. The rabbit didn’t move.

“Masks on,” Jerry informed them. “We’ll keep to our table and don’t touch anything you aren’t going to take.”

I followed behind them at a slower pace, pausing to close the door to the shrine, and expecting the rabbit to run away. It remained in place, chomping away at the grass. Brave little thing. I added rabbits to the list of things I wanted to research before I went to bed tonight, and followed Jerry to the house.

Montana had outdone himself again, full sandwich bar with fresh baked bread and every topping desired. There was also a dessert section which I avoided. Sugar and me were a slippery slope, which made my joints ache and my stomach expand. Instead of sitting with the group, I built a sandwich, then headed to my truck to find supplies I needed and made my way back to the shrine, intent on fixing the door before the girls were done with lunch.

The rabbit was gone, though I’d added some extra bits of lettuce to my plate for it. I set my plate on the side of the fountain, took a bite of the sandwich and headed back to the door. I would have chosen an alternative for the track if I’d set the original door, however changing it completely now would mean going back to the city to try to find one in the right size or ordering one, or possibly even new doors. Maybe I would do that down the road, but for now it just had to be workable. I spent some time cleaning out the track, sprayed grease into the groove to ease the glide and debating if the door needed some paint. Technically the entire shrine could use a new coat of paint.

I added that to my list too, then headed back in to take another bite of my sandwich. Half of it was gone. Had I really eaten so much already? I frowned at it, but took another huge bite, chewing slowly and swallowing as I let the sound of trickling water soothe me.

All the offering plates gleamed, clean of ash and dust thanks to the girls. Even the decorative tree on the wall sparkled with hints of gold and other metals used to inscribe names. I went to stand before it, examining it for a few minutes before finding where Sofia’s name was. Her branch of the tree should have ended. She’d never had any children. Many times over the years I had asked her why. She’d hadn’t given a specific reason, claiming more that she didn’t want her curse to rest on her children, though I still wondered if it was a choice or a physical thing.

Now the section of her tree that should have ended had a branch extending from it, with my name scrawled beneath it. Tears blurred my vision as I reached out to touch her name. That woman never did listen to me. Making me heir. Adding me to her family. Did she understand how much those meant? Even if they were just symbolic?

I let out a long breath of air. She probably had. Savvy lady that she’d been. The idea of not seeing her ever again really hurt.

“I wasn’t ready,” I told the empty room. “Knowing doesn’t mean we can really prepare. I wasn’t ready to be alone.” But that was a bit of a lie too. I had friends. The guys, Addy and her family, a huge handful of acquaintances; there were people in my life I cared about. I wasn’t really alone. Grief amplified that I felt lonely.

“Still maudlin, I guess,” I admitted and made my way back to my sandwich. Only a few bites of it left. I guess I was hungrier than I had realized. I stuffed the last of it in my mouth and stared into the water, looking for the face again, but finding nothing but my own.

I was looking at the half-closed right door when it slid all the way open, a slow glide, almost like the wind pushed it, though there wasn’t enough breeze to actually move a door that heavy even on a newly cleaned track.

“Sofia?” I asked into the quiet, wondering if she was visiting me from beyond, but there was nothing, and no one. Not even when I stepped outside. I took the extra pieces of lettuce and put them in the spot I’d seen the rabbit before, then headed back to the house to build another sandwich, oddly still hungry and feeling like I’d only eaten a quarter of it. “Haunted?” I said more to myself than anyone in particular. “Or just guarded? I hope for the latter.”