Page 103 of Witches of Honeysuckle House

“Oh, honeybee.”

“Mommy,” Clara mumbled into Evie’s chest.

Evie ran her hand over Clara’s hair and pressed her mouth to the top of Clara’s head. Her tears dripped onto Clara’s scalp, andClara sobbed when she realized she was the one who had made her mother cry.

“I wanted to save the house,” Clara said. “It’s not fair we have to let it go. It was trying to keep you safe. It didn’t mean to siphon your magic, and now there’s no one left to protect it but me.”

“You’re right,” Florence said from behind Clara’s mom. “It’s not fair.”

Clara looked up at her aunt. She brushed the back of her hand over her eyes and hiccupped through her tears. “Then why can’t we fix it?”

“We can’t always fix the things other people break. All we can do is find a way to live with the pieces that are left behind.” Her aunt, too, had tears in her eyes, and that only made Clara cry more.

“I wish we could,” Evie said. “But the only way to put an end to all of this is to let the house go. To let it have what it’s wanted all along.”

“To die?” Clara pulled back from her mom, wriggling free of her hold. “No one wants that!”

“No, honeybee.” Evie held her arms out to her. “To make it so we can live the lives we were always meant to have, without the women who came before us getting to choose what that looks like.”

As her mother said the words, the lights in the room glowed brighter.

“See?” Evie asked.

“But this was what my spell was for,” Clara said. “To bring us all back together. We can’t let the house go, now.”

“Your spell worked,” her aunt said. “It brought me home. It opened this room so we could release the house without your mom and me losing our magic.”

The light winked off then back on, almost like a question.

Florence knelt and rested a hand on the floor. “Thank you for protecting us. For saving me. I’m sorry I didn’t understand.”

Clara looked from her aunt to her mom. Evie dropped her arms to her side, then she knelt, too. “Without Clara’s spell, we’d never have known the truth,” she said to the house. “We’d never have had the chance to say goodbye.”

The walls groaned and Clara groaned right along with them as she sat on the floor between her mom and her aunt. She leaned her head against her mom’s shoulder, and Evie wrapped an arm around her.

“I love you, House,” Clara said through her tears. The hardwood softened beneath her, and she sank into it like she might into one of her mom’s hugs.

Part XIIIThe Ten of Cups

A card of family, of home, and a promise for the future.

Chapter Sixty-Five

Florence, Now

As her niece said goodbye to Honeysuckle House and her sister cradled the girl in her arms, Florence watched them, a sadness boiling deep inside her, threatening to spill over. Though she couldn’t stop her tears from falling, she wouldn’t let herself break. She wouldn’t make this moment about her.

This was their loss. Their home, something Florence had left behind long ago. She had no right to this sorrow. She’d turned her back on her family and on Honeysuckle House. She would do what she had to do to help make things right, but she wouldn’t intrude on their heartache.

The house had other plans.

The floorboards underneath her lifted up, and Florence fell into Evie and Clara.

“Sorry,” Florence said to her sister.

But before she could back away, Evie threw an arm around her and pulled her in close. Clara, too, burrowed against Florence’s side. Even Ink, who hadn’t moved from where he’d been lying in the middle of Clara’s spell circle, jumped up and joined them.

“I never would’ve been able to do any of this without you,” Evie said.