5
Yvette stared at the ceiling, her mind racing as the ache in her gut only intensified. The scene they’d witnessed on Main Street on the way home from her father’s house kept replaying on a reel in her mind. Her beloved town was in serious trouble, and sleeping proved to be impossible.
As quietly as she could, Yvette slipped from the bed and shrugged on her robe. She glanced back at her husband, who had somehow managed to fall asleep, and tiptoed out of the room. She headed for the kitchen, made herself a cup of tea, and sat at her desk. After waking up her computer, she typed in Maeve Woods .
The author’s book came right up, showing the cute cover. Immediately she noted that the version on the internet had a broom and sparkling magic just like Poppy had said. Of all the pictures that showed up online about the book, not one of them had a cover without the broom.
Did her dad somehow have an early edition? Or was the book at her dad’s the one from the store that had been magically altered? She had no idea. What she needed to do was find the author.
Maeve Woods didn’t have a website, and as far as Yvette could tell, The Witch of Redwood Grove was the only title she’d ever published.
Frowning, Yvette clicked on the tab that would only bring up news articles. There were a handful of mostly positive professional reviews and a write up in The Gazette , Keating Hollow’s local newspaper, but not much else.
She pulled up the article and scanned it. When she got to the last paragraph, she finally found something that might be useful.
Maeve Woods is the pen name of Marylin Woodsenhoff. She grew up in the redwoods in a small town just outside of Keating Hollow.
Yvette typed Marylin Woodsenhoff along with address and came up with absolutely nothing.
Letting out a groan, she deleted the word address and did another search. The only information she could find were some posts on a social media site that suggested that Marylin lived in a town called Moonstone Ridge. The name sounded vaguely familiar, and when she searched maps, she found the tiny unincorporated town was just a few hours away and up the mountain.
“Jackpot,” she muttered and wrote the name down on a notepad along with Marylin Woodsenhoff.
A little more searching revealed that Moonstone Ridge was an old mining town that was now considered a ghost town in the Trinity Forest. There was one tiny post office and a gas station, but nothing else other than some old homes and possibly a farm stand.
Yvette was still at her computer trying to search property records for Marylin Woodsenhoff when the sun started to peek in through the window.
“Have you been up all night?” Jacob asked from behind her, startling her.
She jumped in her chair and spun around to find him looking disheveled with dark circles under his eyes. It appeared he hadn’t slept well after all. “I got up at three o’clock. Been searching for Maeve Woods.”
He placed one hand on her shoulder as he looked down at the notes she’d scribbled on the notepad. “Any luck?”
“A little. Not much. It looks like we’re going on a road trip today.”
“To Moonstone Ridge?” he asked, raising one eyebrow.
“Yep.” She raised her arms and stretched. Her shoulder popped, and she let out a sigh of relief.
“Isn’t that the area that gets mudslides every spring?” he asked, frowning.
“Not every spring, but yes, there is a section of the road that seems to get wiped out regularly. The state is trying to reroute the highway, but environmental regulations keep stalling them. For now, there is a bridge that hugs the river that is just wide enough for one car, so traffic can still get in and out.”
He nodded. “All right. How about breakfast first, and then we’ll swing by your dad’s and pick up that book?”
“Sounds good.” She glanced at the clock on the wall. It was just after six. “If you’ll get breakfast started, I’ll go shower the ick off me. I can’t shake the feeling that the curse from that book is clinging to me somehow.”
“Yvette, that curse is clinging to the entire town. I imagine you could use a flamethrower on your skin and you’d still feel that way.”
“That’s quite the visual,” she said as a small shiver ran down her spine. “Thanks for that.”
He chuckled softly. “Sorry. I’ll get the bacon on. You go wash off whatever remains of that curse and then fuel up for the day ahead.”
Yvette gave him a kiss on the cheek and headed for the shower.
Jacob glanced at his wife and said, “Ready?”
She clutched the book she’d just picked up from her father’s house and nodded.
He put the Toyota in gear and glanced in the rearview mirror. The kids were on the porch, waving as he and Yvette left the Townsend homestead. Clair was taking the kids to Noel’s farm that was right next door so that the cousins could play. If Jacob and Yvette weren’t back yet in time for dinner, Clair and Lincoln would take over again.
A pang of regret hit him square in the chest, and he had to fight the urge to turn around and gather their children into his arms and keep them there. But what would he do then? Life in Keating Hollow wouldn’t be the same if they didn’t figure out how to reverse the curse that Yvette had unknowingly unleashed on them.
He made a left turn out of the Townsend driveway, and when he got to the main highway, instead of going west toward town, he steered the vehicle east toward the mountain and Moonstone Ridge.
“I told my sisters to text me with updates. I want to know if things get worse in the light of day,” Yvette said.
Jacob wasn’t sure what good that would do. The last thing they needed right now was to be worrying about more issues at home. But he kept his thoughts to himself and said, “Hopefully by the time we roll back into town tonight, all of this will be behind us.”
She gave him a skeptical look but said, “From your lips to the goddess’s ears.”
It wasn’t long before they were driving along the river, deep in the redwood forest. The river was gushing with fresh snow melt and was high enough that Jacob imagined one good rainstorm would have them in flood territory.
“I wished for this, you know,” Yvette said with a tired sigh.
“For the town to be cursed?” Jacob asked, his eyebrows raised.
“No, of course not.” Yvette rolled her eyes at him. “During sisters’ night, I wished for us to have more time together. I even envisioned us on a drive through the woods. I saw this road. I saw the sun shining through the trees. I never imagined it would be because we were searching for a reclusive author after I ended up cursing the entire town! And I certainly didn’t wish for all this anxiety. I swear, if my blood pressure gets any higher, you’re gonna have to be on alert for a stroke, because?—”
“Yvette,” he said, reaching across the vehicle to grab her hand. As he rubbed his thumb over her fingers, doing his best to soothe her, he said, “None of this is your fault.”
“But I’m the one?—”
“Who read the spell out loud. I know,” he said gently. “But you didn’t call on your magic. And you certainly weren’t cursing anyone. The spell you read aloud was meant to bring peace and harmony, not destruction and despair.”
“I know, but in the book, the spell backfires because of bitterness,” Yvette argued.
Jacob shook his head as he navigated a curve in the road. “But you’re not bitter. Not even close. Of all the people I know, you’re the least bitter one out there. You love your job, your kids, your family, and last I checked, you were pretty fond of your husband. What’s there to be bitter about?”
That got a small smile out of her. “You’re not wrong. I do sort of like my husband.” Then she sobered. “What if I’m bitter deep down and no one knows it? I could have harbored some dreams to be a Hollywood movie star or a high-powered businesswoman. What if secretly I’m envious of women who managed to escape their hometowns?”
Jacob let out a huff as he scoffed. “You? Envious? I don’t see it. Plus, I think you know that if you did want any of those things, I’d pack the kids up and follow you wherever you wanted to go. So, no. I don’t buy it. There is no way you’re the reason that spell backfired. It’s not your fault that Keating Hollow and your family are mimicking that book. I’m one hundred percent certain that there is something else at play here. Something sinister was cast by someone else, and all of us, including you, are just innocent bystanders who got caught in the fallout.”
“One hundred percent?” Yvette asked.
“Yes,” he said firmly. “And now, whoever did this is gonna be in a world of hurt, because we both know that no one crosses the Townsend family and gets away with it.” He winked at her and reassuringly added, “We’ll figure this out, Yvette. And soon enough, the family businesses will be thriving again, and the magic in the store windows will be restored and delighting the tourists just like it does every spring.”
“I hope you’re right, otherwise…” She stared out the window and finally added, “There is no other alternative.”
He squeezed her hand again. “Nothing gets the Townsends down for long. We’ve got this.”
Yvette turned to look at him, her eyes misted with emotion when she said, “I love you, Jacob Burton.”
“Good thing, cause I’m not letting you go, Yvette Townsend-Burton. Ever.”
“Ever? Now you just sound kinda creepy,” she said, laughing softly.
He grinned at her, pleased that he’d been able to pull her out of her funk. It wasn’t often that Yvette got down on herself. And while he understood why she was upset, today was not the day for that. He needed her at the top of her game if they were going to find Maeve Woods and get this curse reversed.