Fiery Gemstones (A Heston Witch Novella) Read Online Free Page A

you have one just like it.”
    She gave her mother an affectionate hug.
    “It is only a dinner, two adults sharing a meal and some conversation. I’ll be home to see the miscreants getting grounded for sneaking out again, I promise.”
    “Ah yes, I knew the girls were up to something, I caught them plotting and planning earlier.”
    Edna gave a wry grin. “I’m certainly going to lose brownie points with the girls for ratting them out but at least I didn’t blab about the spell.”
    “ Spell? What spell? ” Eden asked as she came into the room. “ Aww, look at you. Don’t you clean up nice? Seriously though, what spell?
    With a meaningful look at Evie first to encourage her discretion, Edna replied smoothly. “ The spell that I am most like ly going to have to whip up to get this yahoo out of town. But I’ll try to do it your way first. ”
    “ Please, credit where credit is due people , ” Ethos added as she joined her mother and sisters. “ I came up with the idea. ”
    “ So you did. ” Eden responded graciously . “ And we all helped refine it. Now remember…”
    “ I know, I know, no turning him into a tadpole to drown in my bowl of soup. No spells that would inspire the next generation to explore the heights of magical mastery that I, and I alone can demonstrate. ” Edna simpered shamelessly.
    “Go on, get out of here,” Evie said with mock exasperation.
    “Alright, alright, I’m going already.”
    “Why is she going on her own again?”
    “Cos it’s business and she’d got the best head for it.”
    “ And because this Preston guy has been bugging her and not the rest of us, ” Ethos quipped.
    “ Yeah about that. Why am I always the last to know anything around here? ” Evie demanded.
    “ What do you mean , Gramps ? Ethos a s ked , using the affectionate moniker her daughter reserved for her mother. “ We tell you everything. ”
    “ No , you don’t and let me tell you , I am on to you. Keeping me in the dark about stuff that concerns my girls just doesn’t cut it and I will not tolerate it. Is that clear? ”
    “Crystal clear, Evie but you worry too much. We’re big girls now, we can handle ourselves.”
    Eden added her reassurances to her sister’s a ttempt to calm their elderly mother .
    “And we do not keep you in the dark. You know more about what happens at Red Rock Haven than anybody. It is no use pretending that you don’t cos you’re not fooling either of us.”
    Evie smiled at both of them cheerfully but there was a hint of steel in her eyes that they both knew not to mess with.
    “An d I intend to keep it that way for a while at least.”

#5
    Leeches sometimes walk on two legs.
     
    T he Happy Place was certainly living up to its name tonight. The interior was well lit and bustling with wait staff taking and delivering orders. The ambient lighting showed the pristine white table cloths and gleaming silverware to th eir best advantage. The aromas coming out from behind the shiny double doors that led off to the kitchen area were enough to whet the appetite of the patrons.
    Edna had been sitting at the table that was usually reserved for Heston family and their guests. It was a lovely table within sight of the doors but with raised wicker partitions to give a semblance of privacy. Her nieces were right about one thing, the townies loved to point and stare. She glanced at the large wall clock that was ticking away on the wall right in front of her.
    The slime ball must still be oozing himself into one of his shiny suits.
    He was late and didn’t even have the decency to call and say he’d be late. She knew it was deliberate but she also knew he’d be on his was as she hadn’t seen anything to the contrary since her vision of him with Burt.
    She waved over one of the waiters and asked for a refill of her lemon, water and ice. She needed to be well hydrated if she was going to keep her cool. She needed her wits about her if she was going to follow through on the